Wei Tianchong was left utterly gobsmacked. He muttered, “Void Blade… That’s Void Blade. Dear heavens, it can use Void Blade!”
When Wei Tianchong looked at the fiend fox again, his eyes held the ecstasy of picking up a precious treasure.
Void Blade was an extremely rare space-type spell. Attacks that could tear through space were essentially unstoppable and possessed horrifying strength. However, they were limited in their range and moved very slowly.
Although it had various flaws, Void Blade was still an extremely useful spell.
He hadn’t expected this fiend fox to be capable of using such a powerful spell, and it was no wonder it hadn’t used it on Wei Tianchong. One strike would have separated his head from his body, which wasn’t what Divine God Luo wanted.
Meanwhile, Tang Jie looked at the shorn fake mountain behind him and then looked at the little fox.
The little fox was clearly much more listless after making this attack. Tang Jie sighed, “So it was a mixed-blood fiend fox, probably the offspring of some fiend Titan’s affair. As its bloodline isn’t pure, it can only make three Void Blades at best.”
“That’s still not bad!” Wei Tianchong happily said.
But Tang Jie unhappily shook his head. “Are there assassins without ordinary moves? That would be no good. Come and let me see how sharp your claws are.”
The fiend fox angrily bared its teeth at Tang Jie. It rushed at Tang Jie, thrusting out a foreclaw which gleamed under the sunlight.
Tang Jie thrust out his palm in response, and as it met the claw, he sent the fiend fox flying.
“Too weak!” Tang Jie shouted as he punched.
The fiend fox blinked around in the air, running on its four feet in a large arc to get around to Tang Jie’s back and claw at him again. But Tang Jie punched at it without turning his head.
At this moment, there was another flash from the fiend fox’s mouth, and it unleashed another crescent moon.
Wei Tianchong cried out, “Watch out!”
This was a close-range Void Blade, and if it cut at Tang Jie’s head, it would instantly kill him.
But Tang Jie simply executed a roll, the Void Blade passing over his head and slicing into the ground. At the same time, he threw out a large number of needles.
The fiend fox hissed and waved its tail. Its body instantly became nine.
Thudthudthud! Five of the phantoms were pierced through and dissipated by the needles. The remaining four came together and lunged at Tang Jie, eight claws striking at his body.
Boom! Tang Jie flew into the air with several bloody wounds on his body.
But after this attack, the little fox had become even more listless. It dropped from the sky, unable to maintain its flight.
Once the smoke had scattered, Tang Jie stood back up.
He smiled as he looked at his wounds. “So you even had a clone combination attack spell. Not bad, not bad. Although you can only use your attacks a few times, they have enough power. And you also have a cunning personality that knows how to make sneak attacks. You have a lot of potential.”
Rather than being angry, he was actually happy to have fallen into the fiend fox’s trap. He looked at Wei Tianchong and chuckled. “Young Master, congratulations on obtaining this fiend beast with so much potential. Young Master will be like a tiger with wings with this fiend beast at your side!”
“Unfortunately, it still doesn’t seem willing to listen to me,” Wei Tianchong regretfully said as he watched the little fox run out of his embrace again.
Tang Jie’s face turned grim. “A good bird knows how to choose its perch. This small fox was born intelligent, and it only follows you because of Divine God Luo’s order, so it’s normal for it to not obey you. But if you defeat it, it will naturally listen to your orders.”
“That probably won’t happen.” Wei Tianchong shook his head.
While Tang Jie had an easy time fighting the little fox, the fox’s speed alone was enough for Wei Tianchong to feel sure that he could never beat it. For a person like him who relied on puppets to fight, their greatest fear was nimble opponents.
“Don’t worry. So long as Young Master is prepared to listen to me, I can guarantee that you’ll be able to get much stronger in very little time,” Tang Jie beamed.
“Oh? And what’s that?” Wei Tianchong asked. For some reason, whenever Tang Jie started grinning, he would always get a bad feeling.
“Get rich on Tiger Roar Peak,” Tang Jie replied.
Wei Tianchong felt his vision go black as he almost fainted.
As they stood at the entrance to Tiger Roar Valley, Wei Tianchong’s legs trembled.
His scared appearance had the villagers laughing. Sitting on Tang Jie’s shoulder, Yiyi raised a finger and made an embarrassing gesture at Wei Tianchong.
Tang Jie had to remind him, “Don’t be like this. Act like a man. Look at the other students. Is there anyone going up ahead all shaking like this?”
“But they’re not going to Tiger Roar Peak!” Wei Tianchong replied from between clenched teeth.
He really hated himself for agreeing to Tang Jie’s suggestion and going to Tiger Roar Peak.
Was it for the little fox? Or was it because Tang Jie was just that good with words?
He was saying that if they went along with his wondrous plan, they were certain to succeed.
What did he consider a wondrous plan?
Let out his puppet and have it draw the tiger away so that he could go into its cave and take the fiend beasts that it hadn’t eaten…
What sort of wondrous plan was that?
Do you really take that tiger for a fool? You think it will fall for the bait a second time? And what sort of value could a fiend tiger’s left-overs have?
If some other person had told him this, Wei Tianchong might have immediately slapped them.
But the one who had said it was Tang Jie!
Tang Jie had never deceived him or swindled him, and he probably wouldn’t even have gotten this far without Tang Jie, so he really didn’t even have a choice. Rather than believing in this lie, he believed in Tang Jie, believed that Tang Jie would never hurt him.
But even so, as they stood in front of the valley, Wei Tianchong felt an inexplicable fear.
“Trust me.” Tang Jie patted Wei Tianchong and said, “Once you take this step, you’ll have an even brighter future.”
“Or maybe no future at all,” Wei Tianchong tearfully said.
Tang Jie saw that he wasn’t moving a muscle and was speechless from anger. He decided to just kick Wei Tianchong in the butt, saying, “Just go in already.”
“Aaaah…” Wei Tianchong shouted, his arms flailing as he fell into the valley.
Once Wei Tianchong had disappeared into the valley, Tang Jie walked over to the supervising Spirit Master and said, “Student Tang Jie would like to request entry into the valley from the esteemed master.”
The Spirit Master raised his head and looked at Tang Jie. “You want to go into the valley?”
“Yes,” Tang Jie replied. After some thought, he smiled and said, “This student has already entered Spirit Lake and should not be able to enter the valley anymore, but as the esteemed master has just seen, my young master has entered the valley to temper himself. I cannot rest easy, so I would like to enter the valley to serve him.”
“If a Spirit Lake student enters the valley, they cannot attack any fiend beast, cannot pick any herbs, and cannot help any student in any form or through any words. Do you understand these rules?”
“Yes. Violators will lose five points, and severe violators who cause too much loss will be stripped of all their profits and expelled from the academy,” Tang Jie sternly said. “This student would not dare to lie. I have come this time only to protect my young master. But so long as my young master is safe, I will never strike first. And if I do strike, I am willing to take the punishment.”
The rules of Basking Moon Academy had always been simple and straightforward, and those who accepted the price could simply ignore the rules. It was just like how Ye Tianshang could throw over his student token and essentially publicly ignore the rules. Thus, Tang Jie did not attempt to conceal his goal.
The Spirit Master wasn’t surprised either. Nodding, he said, “That being the case, I will give you an observation mission. Follow the map and see how the fiends, sprites, and monsters of the valley are doing, and then note it down and make me a report. If you do it well, you can even get a few contribution points. If you break the rules, however, you will lose points, so behave yourself. Your young master has the jade talisman for protection and won’t easily fall into danger. If you recklessly attack, you will do more harm than good.”
He gave Tang Jie a token and ordered, “This token cannot leave your person, or else it will be considered a breach of the rules!”
This jade token had the ability to conceal one’s breathing and spiritual energy. It also recorded a student’s actions. If a student used an offensive spell, it would immediately be recorded.
After handing over the token, the Spirit Master searched Tang Jie and made sure that he wasn’t bringing in anything to the valley that he shouldn’t be before letting him in.
The Spirit Master was very thorough, and he soon found a little talisman. When the Spirit Master was about to take a closer look, Tang Jie covered it up and softly said, “It’s just a small thing that doesn’t do anything.”
“Mm?” The Spirit Master glanced at Tang Jie.
“Esteemed Master, please overlook it,” Tang Jie said, coolly stuffing a small bundle into his hand.
The Spirit Master felt the bag and immediately had a good guess as to how much was inside. He whispered, “The audacity, bribing an esteemed master!”
Despite his words, he kept a tight grip on the bundle.
Tang Jie smiled. “This student promises that the valley will suffer no loss and that I am only going to ensure the safety of my young master.”
The Spirit Master gave Tang Jie a long look before growling, “Remember what you’ve said. When you get back, I’m going to search you. I won’t forgive you if I find anything.”
“Esteemed Master, thank you!” Tang Jie deeply bowed and then entered the valley.
Once they were in the valley, Tang Jie said, “Yiyi, go and find the young master and have him head over to Tiger Roar Peak without delay.”
“And if he doesn’t listen to me?” Yiyi asked, tilting her head.
“Then draw out some fiend beasts to chase him and force him to come,” Tang Jie said with a smile.
“Alright, I like that!” Yiyi clapped her hands and jumped, instantly covering a vast distance.
For her, this was an extremely amusing mission.
“Remember to take note of the direction and make sure he doesn’t run the wrong way!” Tang Jie shouted.
“I know!” Yiyi’s reply came from the distance.
Tang Jie chuckled as he watched Yiyi leave, and then he headed for Tiger Roar Peak. As he had the energy concealment talisman, he was not impeded by any fiend beasts and was able to smoothly make his way to Tiger Roar Peak.
Not seeing the fiend tiger, Tang Jie headed up the mountain path. He passed the stele, went into the formation, and stepped onto the blood-colored stones like he was walking through his own garden. There was no more murderous intent with every step, only boundless leisure and relaxation.
He arrived at the summit and went up to that large rock upon which the fiend tiger had always perched before.
Tang Jie sat down and sighed. “When we last parted, I thought it would be a very long time until we met again… perhaps even never. I didn’t think we would meet again so soon.”
“It seems like your plan succeeded,” a low tiger growl came from behind him.
Tang Jie said without turning his head, “Mm, there were a few twists, but everything went smoothly overall.”
“Congratulations… How is my child doing?”
Tang Jie finally turned his head.
A large tiger had appeared behind him.
Its dark green eyes carried irrepressible longing and concern.
Tang Jie laughed.
“You want to know? Why not see for yourself?”
“What did you say?” Wang Poguan said in shock.
Tang Jie raised the beast talisman.
In a flash of light, little Bao’er appeared on the ground.
The little tiger was furious after being penned up for half a day, and he wanted to lunge at Tang Jie.
But he was soon left dumbstruck by what he was seeing.
A giant tiger identical to him was standing next to him, both strange and familiar.
Their bloodline connection made it so that he didn’t fear this enormous existence. On the contrary, he felt a vague affection. But in his hazy memories, he could find no such figure.
The little tiger was rather at a loss.
He looked at Tang Jie and then looked at Wang Poguan. With his limited intelligence, he couldn’t understand what was going on, so he let out a strange growl.
When Wang Poguan saw the little tiger appear before him, he began to tremble all over in excitement.
After sending out his child, he had thought that he would never see him again.
Perhaps that cunning human had tricked him again and enslaved his child.
Perhaps Tang Jie had failed, his secret had been exposed on death, and the little tiger had been seized by the Basking Moon Sect.
There were countless scenarios, most of them ending in tragedy. He was so afraid of failure that he didn’t even dare to imagine the possibility that he might one day meet his child.
But at this moment, his child really had appeared before him again, those innocent and large eyes looking at him with that confused expression, and Wang Poguan was so excited that he could no longer control himself.
“You… Why did you bring him back?” Wang Poguan asked Tang Jie in agitation. “This is too risky!”
“Don’t worry about it. I just wanted you to see him and know that he’s doing well. I think this is more useful than anything I could say,” Tang Jie chuckled. He then awkwardly said, “I can’t let other people see him, so he spends the majority of time locked up in my house… He’s gotten a little fat and has a fear of strangers. I hope you won’t mind too much.”
Wang Poguan looked back at the little tiger and said in a trembling voice, “My child… you’ve grown bigger!”
Unable to control himself any longer, he rushed over and began to lick the tiger.
The little tiger hadn’t adjusted to this tempo and desperately struggled, but he could never break free of his excited father.
Tang Jie felt like he was about to tear up.
He slowly took a step back and softly said, “Let’s not rush things. You two will have the rest of the day to get to know each other.”
In shock, Wang Poguan raised his head and looked at Tang Jie.
“Thank you!” he said.