An eagle-nosed man sporting a long beard and wearing a gray robe appeared before the crowd. He scanned the people and said in a deep and dignified voice, “My name is Nan Baicheng. Following Master True Person Changfeng’s orders, I have come to announce that True Person Changfeng will be taking another disciple.”
This Nan Baicheng was none other than the branch master of Basking Moon’s Anyang Prefecture Branch from back then.
He had originally been a registered disciple under Yan Changfeng, not a True Inheritor. After the Shi Wunian incident, where he had done his utmost to delay Shi Wunian, Xiao Biehan had personally praised him. Thus, Yan Changfeng had promoted him to a True Inheritor disciple, at the same time freeing him from his post as Anyang Branch Master and allowing him to return to cultivate.
For Nan Baicheng, this was a gift from the heavens.
While Branch Master seemed like a rather lucrative post to a normal person, for those of Immortal sects, spending every day handling trivial matters meant that there was no time for cultivation, so it was not very valued. Moreover, no matter how much secular money one made, it could not be exchanged for Immortal resources. It was normally only people who didn’t have much hope of cultivation that would take this sort of job.
In the Rosecloud Domain, political power was important, but cultivation was even more important. So long as one possessed heaven-shaking powers, then even if one lacked any sort of political post, no one would dare to look down on them. At most, they would be restrained by the rules and would be unable to go beyond their authority, but they would still have extraordinary status that most people could only hope for.
Thus, Nan Baicheng had truly ascended to the heavens, becoming Yan Changfeng’s disciple. From now on, he was not an outer disciple of Yan Changfeng, but one of his actual disciples.
But as he had become a disciple rather late, he was still at the Mortal Shedding Realm, and he could only be considered a Tier 1 junior disciple. Yan Changfeng was seeking a student to take as a disciple, so his junior disciple had come personally to select an excellent talent for his master.
Everyone became agitated upon hearing Nan Baicheng, and nobody dared to speak loudly as they looked up at the platform.
Nan Baicheng began to speak about how the disciple would be selected.
Yan Changfeng had permitted any Basking Moon Academy student in their sixth year or less to participate in the disciple selection.
Participating students had to complete the three missions Yan Changfeng had issued.
He would select only one person from each mission.
Ultimately, these three would become True Inheritor reserves, and Yan Changfeng would personally select the student he most favored to be let in through the gate.
Nan Baicheng would oversee the initial selection, and Yan Changfeng would only appear to pick from the final three.
After stating the conditions, Nan Baicheng looked around. Seeing that all the students were quiet and somber, he nodded in satisfaction. “For this disciple selection, all students that fit the condition may take the mission. There will be no contribution points upon completion of the mission, only the right to be a True Inheritor reserve. I will now issue the first mission. Once this mission is complete, I will issue the second.”
He waved his hand, and a mission appeared at the very top of the academy’s bounty board.
“Target: Lin Lang, 18 years old, the son of former Minister of Personnel of the Sageheart Kingdom Lin Yuanming, a sixth-year student of Cloudflow Academy, Spirit Sea Tier.
“Former Minister of Personnel Lin Yuanming of the Sageheart Kingdom colluded with Godhead Palace, selling out his country, and his entire clan was executed. Only Lin Lang, who was studying in the academy, was able to hear the news and flee. He is currently a fugitive in the area of the Yan Province.
“The students of Basking Moon are ordered to capture him and bring back his head. The reward is the status of a True Inheritor reserve!”
Barring extraordinary circumstances, the Basking Moon Sect normally sent out people corresponding to the tier.
Since Lin Lang was a sixth-year student, it only sent those in their sixth year or less after him.
There was a picture at the bottom that showed what Lin Lang looked like. Unlike Tang Jie, Lin Lang’s appearance had been made public.
Yan Changfeng’s True Inheritor mission matched the Basking Moon Sect’s style, only asking for the result and not the process.
Anyone who handed over the head could complete the mission. The students could also fight each other so long as it was outside the school. After all, the school didn’t care once they were out of the grounds.
Of course, killing each other was still not allowed.
Upon seeing the mission, Cai Junyang winced. “A pursuit mission. There’s so many people out there in the world, so how in the world is someone supposed to find a single fugitive?”
The students chatted to each other, wondering how to complete this mission.
Someone mentioned how Tang Jiye had escaped pursuit and had still not been found. The same was true for Lin Lang, so the chances of completing the mission seemed slim.
Compared to finding him, killing Lin Lang wasn’t a problem. What did it matter that he was at the Spirit Sea Tier? The Basking Moon Academy students were on a higher level, and anyone who went after him would undoubtedly be confident in their abilities.
Tang Jie chuckled.
This was an interesting mission. He had also been a fugitive fleeing from the Basking Moon Sect’s pursuit once. He had never expected to become the hunter all of a sudden.
Someone said, “It’s not like everyone can be like Tang Jiye. Look there! It says that Lin Lang is in the Yan Province region.”
Another person snorted, “The Yan Province has seven prefectures and twenty-six counties, holding a population of tens of millions. There’s no use in knowing that.”
“Haa, I think that this mission is just to make things hard for us,” a student muttered. Quite a few of them immediately decided to withdraw.
Even Cai Junyang sighed and pessimistically shook his head.
But Tang Jie narrowed his eyes, seemingly with something on his mind.
Cai Junyang saw the strange look on his face and asked, “Hey, you have an idea?”
Tang Jie answered, “I’m wondering if True Person Changfeng is actually thinking about taking a disciple.”
“Mm? What do you mean by that?” Cai Junyang asked in confusion.
Tang Jie replied, “If he wanted to take a disciple, why would he give out such a difficult mission?”
Cai Junyang was flabbergasted. “You’re saying…”
Tang Jie answered, “Unless the True Person doesn’t want to take a disciple, there must be a way to quickly find him. Thus, Lin Lang isn’t Tang Jiye. There’s no way he will be able to escape.”
“What’s the method?” Cai Junyang urgently asked.
Tang Jie chuckled, “So you really want to be True Person Changfeng’s disciple?”
“Of course!” Cai Junyang frantically said. “Everyone does.”
Tang Jie solemnly said, “Then we are rivals, my brother.”
Cai Junyang fell silent.
Tang Jie patted Cai Junyang on the shoulder. “I’m sorry. I can’t tell you.”
Tang Jie left.
Cai Junyang was so angry that he was shaking, shouting, “Alright, Tang Jie! Don’t blame me for not saying hello! Brothers are brothers, but a True Inheritance is a True Inheritance! I’ll keep a close eye on you. Even if you can find Lin Lang and kill him, I’ll steal his head from you.”
“You’re welcome to! The Immortal Path is rife with struggle, and one must walk the Great Dao alone. The fights that should be fought must be fought, and you have to take responsibility! Brother Cai, if you can steal the head from me, you must have been better at stealing than the other students, so I will have no complaints!” Tang Jie loudly replied without looking back.
“Alright! Then it’s settled! If I take the head, you can try to steal it from me!” Cai Junyang shouted back.
Their conversation had drawn the attention of everyone else. The crowd looked back and forth between the two, but more gazes were focused on Tang Jie’s back.
Perhaps this guy, who was so cunning that he could even fool the academy, really had a way of finding Lin Lang?
Everyone had the same idea.
After leaving the Bounty Platform, Tang Jie went straight to the Inkscent Parlor.
The Inkscent Parlor was where students went to study. Tang Jie had not been there in some time, as he had already passed the examination. No one had expected this to be his first destination after leaving the Bounty Platform.
Some students trailed him, and they were all confused. Someone said, “This kid must be trying to fool us. Keep a close eye on him, and we’ll soon find out what’s up.”
Everyone else agreed.
But Tang Jie really wasn’t trying to fool anybody.
Upon entering the Inkscent Parlor, he went to the library and asked the student manning it if he could borrow a book to read.
The books kept in this library were ordinary books that covered a variety of topics, though there was nothing related to cultivation among them.
Students came to the academy to cultivate, not to read books in their free time. Thus, the library was a very empty place, and even the books on the shelves were covered in dust.
Tang Jie began to look, and when he saw a book regarding the Basking Moon Sect’s history, he pulled it out, wiped off the dust, and began to read.
He had understood much about the Basking Moon Sect through his classes, but because of his cultivation, his understanding was ultimately limited.
As he flipped through this history of the Basking Moon Sect and came to understand how it worked, he gradually began to develop an image of it in his mind.
As he read through the book, Basking Moon Academy was already in an uproar.
The news spread at an alarming rate, and everyone soon knew that Yan Changfeng was looking to take a disciple and had issued a mission.
Countless students became anxious to try their luck and hunt down the mission target.
But that elusive target gave everyone a headache, and nobody knew where to start.
The more impatient ones immediately applied to take the mission, and once they received permission, they rushed off to the Yan Province in the hopes that they would get lucky.
The sneakier ones were in no rush. They began to gather friends and form teams, planning on seeking out a chance to steal from other students.
Some quick-witted ones went straight to Heaven One Pavilion and bought tracking spell arts. Although this was a last-minute effort, it was better than no effort at all.
There were even extremely wealthy people who offered a high price for Lin Lang’s head.
The academy was in turmoil as all the students began to move, employing their own methods to prepare for this hunt of Lin Lang.
Only Tang Jie had decided to go to the library in the Inkscent Parlor, where he read book after book.
After one entire day, he finally left the parlor.
When he arrived at the Carefree House, he found that Liu Hongyan, Ping Jingyue, and Cai Junyang were waiting for him.
Liu Hongyan angrily glared at him. “You only come back now? We’ve been waiting an entire day! And that little brat of yours is really something, saying that she wouldn’t open the door unless you came back.”
With Tang Jie’s return, Yiyi could now show her face in public. She was cute and innocent in contrast to Tang Jie’s brusque attitude, so she was rather popular. There were even students who offered to buy Yiyi, though they were all refused. She was smart and clever, and when it came to these people who wanted to buy her, whether it was because they actually liked her or wanted to use her in medicine, she would nastily scowl.
Tang Jie chuckled. “I taught her to do that. All of you know that Yiyi is a sprite, and there are always people in the academy eying her. That’s why I forbid her from interacting with anyone else alone.”
The real reason was that while Yiyi was a known entity, the little tiger was still a secret.
