With the completion of the first True Inheritor mission, Basking Moon Academy returned to normal.
No one knew when the second mission would come, so everyone seized the chance to diligently cultivate.
But beneath the calm surface of the academy, a massive storm was building up power.
An overt change, however, was that after the completion of the first mission, Wei Tianchong became a rising star in Basking Moon Academy. His status as a True Inheritor reserve was enough to blind all the people who didn’t know the real story. As for those who did know the truth, they could only envy the Wei Clan’s luck for finding such an outstanding servant student.
Fortunately, after returning from Tiger Roar Peak, Wei Tianchong buried himself in cultivation and was unaffected by what was going on outside. He had no idea that he had become a celebrity.
The numerous materials had been exchanged for various bottles of precious cultivation medicine. Wei Tianchong tirelessly cultivated and worked to improve himself.
Even though there were still many places where he lacked understanding, compared to the bossy and arrogant young master he was in the past, Wei Tianchong had truly matured a lot.
Occasionally, Wei Tianchong would go with Shi Meng to Tiger Roar Valley, but rather than reaping rewards, they mainly went to increase their combat experience.
Although they mostly didn’t make back their money, with these battles, Wei Tianchong and Shi Meng gained a lot more practical combat experience and were no longer caught unawares when running into danger.
Half a month later, Wei Tianchong broke through and officially entered Spirit Lake.
By this time, a hundred-some students had gotten there ahead of him, including An Rumeng, Cai Junyang, and the other exceptionally talented students.
For his four-cycle self to close the distance with these geniuses made Wei Tianchong feel very proud of himself.
When the news reached the Wei Clan, the entire estate celebrated!
Following Tang Jie’s arrangements, Wei Tianchong chose a new spell for himself: Darkwind Warrior.
Darkwind Warriors were elite warriors among the countless lower-class evil spirits of the Shadow Domain. They were much stronger than the Evilhook Shadow Soldiers, and they even had their own Darkwind spell arts. When moving, they turned into gusts of wind, and only in battle would they solidify. In terms of both speed and strength, they were superior.
The only disadvantage was that it wasn’t possible to summon multiple Darkwind Warriors at once, unlike with the Evilhook Shadow Soldiers, and they took more time to summon. Even so, this was still an enormous boost to Wei Tianchong’s strength.
Besides that, Wei Tianchong learned a protective spell, the Windshroud.
Unlike other spells, the Windshroud spell required sacrificing a shadow soldier, and the defensive strength of the Windshroud would depend on the strength of the shadow soldier sacrificed. Its greatest advantages were that it could be cast extremely quickly, didn’t require much special training, and consumed little spiritual energy.
After the battle at Tiger Roar Peak, Wei Tianchong kept thinking about how he had been unable to cast any spells because his mind had been blank. This was precisely why he had chosen such a spell.
Tang Jie was very understanding about this and approved of his decision.
After learning these two spells, Wei Tianchong continued to diligently cultivate night and day.
Besides that, he also worked to improve his relationship with the little fox.
As he got stronger and continued to assiduously attend to the fox’s needs, the little fox gradually began to adjust its opinion of him. It was no longer so aloof, and while it still didn’t take commands, at least it was more affectionate.
As for Shi Meng, he had limited talent and also lacked resources, so he was still some distance from Spirit Lake. But he wasn’t discouraged because of this, continuing to practice the spells he had so that he could help out his young master during the mission.
He had been planning to learn some offensive spells to help his young master, but to his surprise, Tang Jie had him learn an escape spell and also told him to diligently cultivate it.
Though Shi Meng didn’t get it, just like Wei Tianchong, he followed Tang Jie’s advice and did as he was told.
As for Tang Jie, he continued to cultivate every day. It was just that he had moved his focus to the Violet Lightning Lunge.
The Violet Lightning Lunge was a formidable spell art of the Basking Moon Sect, and at the highest level of cultivation, one’s body would become like lightning and could move as swiftly as the wind. Whether in battle or flight, it was extremely effective. In the past, Tang Jie had relied on his powerful body, so he was clearly lacking in his cultivation of the Violet Lightning Lunge. This time, he devoted eighty percent of his energy into the spell, leaving the remaining twenty percent for the Divine Court Thousandshift.
He cultivated the Divine Court Thousandshift to strengthen his golden bullet.
With ten-thousand-some spirit coins left, Tang Jie didn’t let this money sit idle and continued to purchase large numbers of broken tools.
As his body grew stronger and he grew more proficient in the Weapon Mantra, the number of times he could use the Weapon Mantra every day increased, and so he needed more and more broken tools.
In two short months, with Tang Jie spending several hundred spirit coins on extracting various tools, he quickly spent ten-thousand-some coins, and his golden bullet was finally the size of a ping-pong ball.
The golden ball had consumed countless weapons to finally reach this state, which caused Tang Jie to emotionally sigh.
Today, he destroyed his final broken weapon and became utterly destitute. All he had left were a few dozen spirit coins, but his golden ball was now the size of a chicken egg.
Tang Jie played around with the golden ball in his hand, turning it over. With a sudden thought from him, the golden ball began to lengthen, turning into a slender dagger.
Tang Jie smiled at the dagger in his hand. With a twitch of his fingers, the dagger began to spin between his fingers like it was dancing, but it did him no harm. Finally, it made a graceful arc and flashed with cold light before vanishing.
Anyone would have undoubtedly been shocked by this display of skill and believed that Tang Jie had practiced for many years. But this was actually the work of the Divine Court Thousandshift. With the power of the spell art, he was able to rapidly grasp the form of every weapon and how to use it.
The dagger disappeared, and Tang Jie’s arm trembled. A golden light appeared on his right hand, and then a golden gauntlet covered it.
This was also made from that golden ball.
Tang Jie tested the gauntlet and found that even the Heartbreak Saber couldn’t hack through it. But the gauntlet could only prevent direct damage and was powerless at stopping the special effects of spell arts. Even so, it was still a treasure that could both attack and defend.
Finally, Tang Jie’s hand trembled again, and the golden ball turned into little finger covers.
The five sharp protrusions seemed to be ordinary, but with one punch, they could shatter stone without a need for activating spiritual power!
As the golden ball grew larger and it gained more transformations, the Weapon Mantra’s power gradually began to show itself. It was no longer so difficult to use.
With this item, Tang Jie felt his confidence rising. He felt like he could even fight against a Mortal Shedding Realm Spirit Master now.
As he was brimming with confidence, he heard a ding from his belt.
Looking down, he saw that the jade amulet had made the sound.
It was Xu Miaoran.
Tang Jie felt his heart grow hot.
Examining the jade amulet, he saw that a line of elegant words had been written on it: “In the major tournament a few days ago, I got fourth place, losing to Senior Sister Tai, Senior Sister Shen, and Senior Brother Lan. I’m so angry. Ugh, why did they have to be geniuses? But a loss is a loss. What about you? How did your tournament go? Ah, forget it. I know that you can’t say, so you don’t need to answer me. I wish that everything goes well for you. Grandma is looking for me again, so I’ll stop here. Goodbye.”
Tang Jie really wanted to tell her that he hadn’t taken part in the academy’s major tournament. Everyone was so busy vying for the True Inheritor position that no one had any interest in fighting over that little medicine and ranking. And with some students hiding their strength, the academy’s major tournament this year had become a feast for those with no hope of vying for the True Inheritor spot.
Alas, he couldn’t tell any of this to Xu Miaoran, so he could only look at the jade amulet and sigh.
The inability to reply tormented him. Time after time, he had picked up the paper crane, only to put it down with a sigh.
This sort of feeling of only being able to watch from a distance and not play was somewhat like looking at pictures of beautiful women on the internet. It was an unbearable feeling that only filled him with more longing.
Sageheart was too far away from Endsea. Even if he sent a letter, it would take half a year to arrive at the minimum.
Wait…
Tang Jie was shaken.
That’s right!
Write a letter!
Why couldn’t he write a letter?
Sageheart and Endsea were still trading partners. Even if a letter would take half a year to arrive, he could still write one!
Why did he have to keep sighing over that paper crane he couldn’t use?
Even the tardiest letter was still a letter. So long as the other side was willing to wait, it didn’t matter how long it would take to deliver.
Tang Jie slapped his forehead. “I’m such an idiot. I can’t believe I didn’t think about such a simple thing.”
He immediately went into his house and began writing a letter.
He spent the entire afternoon writing it.
It was a very, very long letter.
He recounted everything that had happened since their parting. He wrote things that he could say and even some things that he shouldn’t say onto the letter, and pages began to pile up.
Only when the stack had reached twenty-some pages did Tang Jie realize that it was dusk.
Putting down his brush, he read over the letter. Upon seeing that there was nothing too blunt here that a girl’s family wouldn’t accept, Tang Jie put the papers into an envelope and went to the post station.
He passed the letter to the student there, who glanced at the address and said in surprise, “Horizon Ocean Pavilion?”
“Yes, Horizon Ocean Pavilion. I have a friend there.” Tang Jie smiled.
“Is that so?” the student chuckled. Looking at the name of the recipient, he said, “Xu Miaoran… So it’s a girl. But Horizon Ocean Pavilion is rather far away. It will take a while for your letter to arrive.”
“Yes, but it will get there eventually.”
After mailing off the letter, Tang Jie inwardly rejoiced. He felt like he could see the letter being placed on a cart, then on a boat, all the way into Xu Miaoran’s hands. He felt like he could see Xu Miaoran smile as she opened the letter, felt his pages and pages of letters crossing the sea to convey his thoughts to his beloved…
As he was lost in his fantasies, he heard someone urgently shouting, “Tang Jie! Tang Jie!”
Turning his head, he saw Shi Meng sprinting toward him.
Shi Meng looked like he was flying—a result of combining Windform with the new running spell he had learned, the Rapid Step spell. He came up to Tang Jie and shouted, “I was looking for you! Why are you here?”
“What happened?”
“The second mission has come out!” Shi Meng shouted, not a sliver of joy on his face.
“What sort of mission is it?” Tang Jie hurriedly asked.
“The Valley of No Return!”
“What?” Tang Jie shuddered. “It’s the Valley of No Return?”
“Yes, the Valley of No Return. Anyone who comes out with the Iceflame Red Lotus is the winner!” Shi Meng said, a bitter look on his face. “I really didn’t think it would be there… Tang Jie, did you predict this? Is that why you wanted me to learn an escape spell?”
“I knew that the next mission wouldn’t be easy to get through… but I didn’t think it would be there.” Tang Jie also bitterly smiled.
He looked at Shi Meng. “I hope that you haven’t been slacking off on your cultivation of that spell.”
Shi Meng winced.
He naturally hadn’t been slacking off. The problem was that he hadn’t been cultivating the spell for very long, and the Valley of No Return was a far more dangerous place than they had imagined.