Tang Jie chuckled. “So did he give you all of his cultivation so that your strength suddenly soared?”
The Rosecloud Domain was not the world of martial arts novels. The Spiritual Space could only be expanded through one’s own power. Spirit transfer was possible, but this was merely giving one’s spiritual energy to someone else. It was impossible for someone to get stronger by leaps and bounds upon receiving spiritual energy from another. Moreover, to reach the Mortal Shedding Realm, one had to build the Heaven-Earth Bridge, the Celestial Heart Realm required the Heart Foundation, and the Violet Palace Realm required opening the Violet Palace. Each realm had its own qualitative evolution that had nothing to do with spiritual energy quantity.
Thus, while it was theoretically possible for Wei Tianchong to go from Spirit Spring to Spirit Sea, it was impossible for him to have ascended to a new realm.
But he was just joking, and Wei Tianchong understood. He bitterly said, “His injuries caused his Heaven-Earth Bridge to be severed, his Celestial Heart to collapse, and his Violet Palace to be annihilated. His cultivation fell all the way until he only had his Spirit Eye left. It’s a miracle that he even survived, and it takes ages for him to use a spell art. I could have knocked him over with a slap. You think he had the strength to boost me?”
“Then it must be some divine secret art!” Shi Meng’s eyes flashed like stars. Even if there were no treasures, getting a secret art from the likes of a Titan like Divine God Luo was still wonderful.
After all, Tang Jie’s current level of strength was closely connected to the Divine Firmament Sword Classic.
Even Tang Jie felt that this was the greatest possibility.
Wei Tianchong covered his face. “He was planning to teach me…”
“‘Planning to’?” Tang Jie and Shi Meng felt their hearts thump. “What happened after that?”
Wei Tianchong explained, “When he woke up, because his injuries hadn’t healed, all of his cultivation had dispersed. Originally, he thought that the Five Divines Faith would have been doomed without him there, so he might have had no descendants, causing the legacy of the Five Divines Faith to end. Too ashamed to face his ancestors, he decided to struggle in order to pass down his secret arts…”
Tang Jie grimaced. “Oh god; don’t tell me. You let him know that the Five Divines Faith hadn’t been exterminated?”
Wei Tianchong silently nodded.
“Ugh!” Tang Jie and Shi Meng slapped their foreheads.
There was no need to ask about what had happened next.
This old man had been under the impression that the Five Divines Faith had been wiped out during his millennia-long sleep, so he had been determined to find someone who could inherit his teachings. He didn’t dare to find anyone that was too formidable for fear that they would betray him. After great difficulty, he had managed to find this fatty who was easy to deal with, but the moment he started asking questions: “What? The Five Divines Faith is still around? Its legacy is there, but it just lacks talented individuals? Oh, then forget it. I don’t have any more business with you…”
Tang Jie and Shi Meng sighed.
If a person didn’t know how to grasp an opportunity, then they could even waste spirit coins raining down from the heavens.
But on the other hand, if he had been the one to do the mission, he would have never met Divine God Luo, for he would have never fallen for the fox’s bait.
Divine God Luo had been a fierce tyrant and was bound to not lightly trust anyone he raised. For him, only the people that could be controlled could be trusted, and in that situation of his, finding someone he could control had been far too difficult.
He had chosen Wei Tianchong not because of his good character, but because he didn’t have much ability and was easy to deal with.
But he hadn’t expected that the Five Divines Faith would still exist. With this load off his mind, he breathed his last.
He died very simply and cleanly.
This thought made Tang Jie feel a lot better. Waving his hand, he said, “Forget it. Even if you didn’t get anything, what’s important is that you’re okay.”
“Who said I didn’t get anything?” Wei Tianchong jumped up. “I already said that I had a lucky encounter! A lucky encounter!”
“Without any magic treasures, spirit medicines, or arts, what else could he have left you?”
“That!” Wei Tianchong said, pointing at the stone platform.
Tang Jie and Shi Meng looked at where he was pointing and saw the little fox cutely looking back.
“Just that?” the two of them asked in unison.
“Mm!” Wei Tianchong excitedly nodded. “A fiend fox! What do you think? I now have a fiend beast pet!” Fiend beasts had a wild nature and weren’t easy to tame. Thus, few people in the cultivation world were able to raise fiend beasts. In this aspect, the Beast Refining Gate did the best job, but they mostly used refined beasts that didn’t have any rationality.
It was a miracle that Tang Jie had Yiyi, and it was a great surprise that Wei Tianchong now had one of his own.
This fiend fox shared a deep affection with Divine God Luo, and Divine God Luo was unwilling to leave it in the wilderness, ignorant of the human world. He saw that Wei Tianchong was a rather honest and straightforward person, so he entrusted it to Wei Tianchong such that their meeting was not a waste. The fiend fox was obedient to Divine God Luo, so it accepted Wei Tianchong. If not for Divine God Luo’s order, the fiend fox probably would have already run off.
But this little fox was a fiend fox that had only just entered the lower grade, and Divine God Luo had inadvertently come across it in the mountains, so it might not have a very good bloodline. To call this a “miracle” would be abusing the term too much.
Wei Tianchong appeared excited, as if he was waiting for everyone to be envious.
Tang Jie and Shi Meng glanced at each other, sighed, and began to walk out.
Wei Tianchong’s face instantly fell. “Hey, hey, what are you doing? It’s still a fiend fox! A lower-grade fiend fox! One that followed Titan Divine God Luo! I don’t mind if you’re not envious, but you should at least compliment me a little!”
“True…” Shi Meng did not slow down. He leisurely replied, “It is a fiend fox that managed to fool you into walking into a pit!”
Wei Tianchong’s face turned red. As the two of them walked farther and farther away, he grabbed the fox and ran after them. As he rushed out of the cave, he went up to Tang Jie and Shi Meng and said, “I need to discuss something with the two of you.”
“What?” they asked in unison.
“Uh… just, don’t say anything about how I fell for that trap,” Wei Tianchong said awkwardly, dropping his head.
The two of them were rendered speechless.
Regardless, the fiend fox of Wanxin Village had been dealt with.
Once they were out of the cave, the three of them departed the small mountain together.
“So where are we going now?” Shi Meng asked Tang Jie.
“Fengyin,” Tang Jie replied.
“We’re finally heading to Yan Province this time.” Shi Meng smiled.
Fengyin was a county city in Yan Province. After going here and there, they were finally headed to where all the other students were going.
“Why are we going to Fengyin?” Wei Tianchong asked.
“To find a woman, Xu Mujun.”
“Who is Xu Mujun?” Shi Meng asked.
“A fourth-year student of Cloudflow Academy.”
Wei Tianchong curiously asked, “What’s her relationship with Lin Lang?”
“Lovers,” Tang Jie chuckled.
Shi Meng’s eyes glinted. “Lin Lang’s woman? So she wasn’t at Cloudflow Academy?”
“Mm, she’s at Yan Province’s Fengyin. That’s her hometown. Not long after Lin Lang escaped, she left the academy for a mission. Lin Lang must be with her. If we find her, we find Lin Lang,” Tang Jie explained.
“How do you know all this?” Wei Tianchong was even more curious now.
This information seemed simple, but finding it couldn’t have been easy. How had Tang Jie managed it? Moreover, why was he so certain that they would find Lin Lang if they found Xu Mujun?
Tang Jie chuckled. “On the day True Person Changfeng issued his mission, I went to Inkscent Parlor to do some research. Do you know what conclusion I reached on that day?”
“True Person Changfeng truly did want to take a disciple!” Shi Meng and Wei Tianchong blurted out in unison.
Tang Jie had said this to Cai Junyang and the others, and he had later told Shi Meng and Wei Tianchong the same thing.
But neither Cai Junyang’s group nor Shi Meng and Wei Tianchong had paid much attention to these words. They had only taken it for the simplest and most boring conclusion Tang Jie had reached when searching for clues.
But Tang Jie didn’t think so.
This was because the first thing Tang Jie had said when True Person Changfeng’s mission had come out was: “If he wanted to take a disciple, why would he give out such a difficult mission?”
Yan Province was too big and had too many people. Lin Lang also knew a spell to change his appearance. Let alone students, even Basking Moon Sect disciples might not be able to hunt down Lin Lang.
If True Person Changfeng really wanted to take a disciple, he wouldn’t have issued such a difficult mission.
And now, Tang Jie had repeated himself.
Shi Meng and Wei Tianchong glanced at each other and then asked Tang Jie, “You mean…?”
Tang Jie casually replied, “Once the general direction is confirmed, the rest becomes much easier. Since I’m sure that True Person Changfeng wants to take a disciple, there could only be one reason that this mission would be given out… Lin Lang is already within the Basking Moon Sect’s reach!”
“What?” Shi Meng and Wei Tianchong blurted out.
“Tang Jie, you’re saying that the Basking Moon Sect has been able to track down Lin Lang the entire time? That they’ve always been able to find him?” Wei Tianchong was astonished.
“Correct.” Tang Jie nodded. “The Basking Moon Sect issued this mission precisely because they could already track Lin Lang down. From the very beginning of this mission, there existed definite clues that could be used to track down Lin Lang.”
“Then why doesn’t the Basking Moon Sect catch him?”
“There are two reasons. The first is to test the students. The second is to leave him behind to draw out other spies. This matter was probably inspired by what happened with the Hawk Hall. The Basking Moon Sect threw out the fishing line to try and bait out the big fish. But as time passed and all the fish that could be caught were caught, Lin Lang lost his purpose as a chess piece, so they let the students go after him, to test and temper the students and give him one last purpose.”
“Oh, I see.” Shi Meng nodded. “In other words, the Basking Moon Sect intentionally let Lin Lang go?”
“No.” Tang Jie shook his head. “Lin Lang escaping definitely was not the Basking Moon Sect’s intention.”
“Why?”
“Because of the rumors! If the Basking Moon Sect had intentionally let him go, Chang Xinkuan wouldn’t be in such a passive position. His situation proves that Lin Lang really did manage to escape because someone on the inside leaked information to him. It’s just that the Basking Moon Sect managed to find him and proceeded to use him as bait for their own plans.”
“Since it wasn’t intentional, how could the Basking Moon Sect have been able to track down Lin Lang?” Wei Tianchong was confused.
“That’s the problem!” Tang Jie smiled. “The Basking Moon Sect initially didn’t know that Lin Lang would escape, so how did they find him? Think about it!”
Shi Meng froze for a moment, and then he shouted, “The clues that you found? I see… So you were just doing what the people from the Basking Moon Sect did?”
“Haha, you finally get it,” Tang Jie laughed. “To find Lin Lang, how could the Basking Moon Sect not start with Cloudflow Academy? And how could Cloudflow Academy not cooperate? The only difference is that they didn’t need to use Chang Xinkuan as a go-between. Once I confirmed that the Basking Moon Sect had a firm grasp of Lin Lang’s trail, all I needed to do was look through the Basking Moon Sect’s investigation record and then follow their trail, walking the same path!”
“But you don’t have the authority to inspect that record!” Wei Tianchong shouted. How could Tang Jie inspect the activity records of the Basking Moon Sect?
“Correct! But the problem is that I did manage to see them… They were in Inkscent Parlor for anyone to read!” Tang Jie declared.
At that moment, Wei Tianchong and Shi Meng understood everything.