Early in the morning, the students headed to the Bounty Platform to pick up the trial mission.
While the mission to the Valley of No Return was a True Inheritor mission issued by Nan Baicheng, it was issued in the form of a trial mission. The True Inheritor reserve position was simply an additional award offered by the trial.
Thus, on the surface, this was still a trial mission.
This was also the first trial that Wei Tianchong and the others were taking part in, a large-scale and dangerous trial.
When they arrived at the Bounty Platform, they saw that a large crowd was already standing in the square.
Nan Baicheng stood on a high platform, and when he saw that just about all the students had arrived, he began to loudly speak.
“Everyone here already knows the details of this trial, so I won’t say any more about it. I will now speak about the trial’s rules.
“One: This trial will last for thirty days. During the trial period, no one is allowed to leave.
“Two: The Valley of No Return is dangerous, so the academy has prepared a shelter for all students. A student in danger can flee into the shelter, but entering the shelter will be considered giving up on the mission, and everything gathered in the valley must be handed over.
“Three: On this journey to the Valley of No Return, thirty percent of all that is gained must be handed to the academy. This is the fee the academy takes for protecting you and for sealing the valley. Anyone who attempts to hide anything will be severely punished. Of course, the academy will assess what you bring in and assign them a contribution value. Depending on what you bring, you will receive varying numbers of contribution points.
“Four: The one who hands over the Iceflame Red Lotus will be the True Inheritor reserve for this mission.
“Has everyone understood my words?”
“We understand!” all the students roared.
“Very good.” Nan Baicheng nodded and flicked his hand. Countless parchment scrolls flew over to the hands of the students—one for each of the several thousand students.
Nan Baicheng announced, “This is a map of the Valley of No Return. The basic terrain and the location of the shelter are marked there, but no other information will be provided. Everyone will be searched before entering the valley. Refining tools like pill furnaces are not allowed, and large-scale damaging spell weapons and art relics are banned. If there are any violators… you still have time to put those things away!”
Several students ran out of the crowd. It was clear that they had such items.
The Basking Moon Sect had always been strict in its management of sealed grounds like the Valley of No Return. It wanted to make a profit, so it forbade refining tools like pill furnaces so that students couldn’t immediately use their gains and prevent the academy from turning up anything. As for those items that could be directly consumed, the academy would turn a blind eye, but items that could refine many things were not allowed.
Large-scale damaging spell weapons and art relics could destroy the terrain of the Valley of No Return, so they were banned.
The Basking Moon Sect had been strict about these rules for many years, and it was precisely through these strict rules that it had ensured a constant cycle of resources for the sect. Otherwise, even a vast sea of resources would eventually run out.
A few moments later, once everything that needed to be said had been said, Nan Baicheng said, “Now, all students, board the boat.”
As he spoke, a massive junk broke through the cloud layer above the mountain peak and appeared before everyone.
This tower junk was seven floors tall and nearly a thousand meters in length. It was such a magnificent sight that it seemed enormous even from the ground. The students sighed in wonder as they looked at it floating in the air.
While studying at Basking Moon Academy, they learned only spells, not arts. For them, the abilities of Immortals to cruise through the clouds, travel a thousand kilometers in an instant, and produce clouds and rain with a wave of the hand were still too distant. Even their fighting styles still carried many mortal attributes.
Only when this giant ship appeared did all of them realize that they were true Immortal cultivators, possessing abilities far above the capabilities of ordinary people!
“Truly magnificent.” Squeezed together with Tang Jie, Wei Tianchong looked admiringly at the ship. “It would be great if we could have a ship like this one day.”
Tang Jie chuckled. “Then work hard. So long as you’re willing to work hard, you’ll get one eventually.”
“Mm!” Wei Tianchong waved a fist around. “Relax. Just watch me.”
Tang Jie secretly mused, I wonder. If you’re still so courageous when you discover that we have to enter the valley alone, then I’ll be convinced.
The giant ship parked in front of the peak, and an enforcer student shouted, “All students, board the ship on your own! Be quick about it!”
“How is there not even a gangplank?” a student shouted.
The ship was hovering about thirty meters away from the summit, yet there was no gangplank provided for boarding. There was only a cliff with a sharp drop between them and the ship.
The enforcer student grunted, “That all depends on your ability. If you can’t even board the ship, then it’s best if you don’t go to the Valley of No Return.”
It felt as if the test had already begun.
Thirty meters was neither too near nor too far, and it wasn’t hard for the majority of the students. But that frighteningly steep cliff made their hearts quail. Without a flying spell, there was a high chance that a fall would result in death.
Students began to board the boat, landing safely on the ship and looking back with challenging stares.
Tang Jie chuckled. “If that’s all, what are we still waiting for? Let’s go.”
The three of them walked toward the ship.
In the past, Wei Tianchong might have been afraid of the steep drop, but after training in Tiger Roar Valley, he had grown bolder. He activated the Mistnet Step, lightening his body, and he easily made his way onto the boat.
Shi Meng was next. His Rapid Step spell was designed for leaping and sprinting, so he easily boarded the ship.
Once the two of them were aboard, Tang Jie was just about to jump when someone suddenly pushed him.
This push caused Tang Jie to stagger, his circulation was thrown into disarray, and he could no longer activate the Violet Lightning Lunge.
He had been positioned next to the cliff, and his foot immediately struck empty air. He fell off the cliff, but at the very last second, Tang Jie thrust his foot backward, slamming it into the cliff face. Boom! A giant footprint appeared in the tough rock as Tang Jie used the force to make a flying leap, thrusting his left foot out behind him at the same time.
That person who had pushed him hadn’t had time to move away yet, and this kick’s immense force immediately shattered all his ribs, and Tang Jie used the force of the kick to soar upward.
This time, he wasn’t using the Violet Lightning Lunge to fly. He was relying entirely on his body’s leaping strength.
The cliff was several dozen meters from the ship, and it was impossible to cross that distance with his own strength. In this dire moment, Tang Jie once more used the Violet Lightning Lunge to pull himself up right before he was about to start falling again.
There was a loud shout!
It was like a clap of thunder in Tang Jie’s ears, and it made his heart tremble and his spiritual energy freeze. The Violet Lightning Lunge that he had just managed to cast once more dissipated, and he once more fell from the cliff, cries of alarm ringing in his ears.
At this moment, Tang Jie threw out his hand, a golden light flying out from it and deeply burying itself in the railing of the junk. Tang Jie vigorously pulled on the golden line, which sent him flying into the air, whereupon he executed a somersault and landed on the deck.
All of this had happened very abruptly and quickly, but it had been filled with so many twists and turns that everyone was utterly gobsmacked.
When Tang Jie landed on the deck, he looked back and saw a student collapsed on the ground, vomiting blood. This was the person who had pushed him, but Tang Jie didn’t recognize him.
As for that person whose shout had interrupted his spell, he couldn’t find them.
“Someone’s plotting against you!” Shi Meng yelled.
“Of course,” Tang Jie said, his face grim.
It wasn’t like he had never expected someone to try to deal with him.
But he hadn’t expected them to strike so quickly and viciously.
Glancing into the distance, he saw Nan Baicheng with a calm look on his face, as if none of this had anything to do with him.
Wei Tianchong jumped and pointed at the injured student. “That guy pushed Tang Jie! He pushed him! I saw it! He…”
He wanted to shout for the monitors to seize that student, but Tang Jie grabbed him and shook his head. “Forget it.”
“What?” Wei Tianchong was flabbergasted.
Tang Jie whispered, “There are a lot of people near the cliff, and in such packed conditions, it’s natural to instinctively push. It’s not necessarily intentional.”
Wei Tianchong frantically said, “How could it not be intentional? You really think that wasn’t intentional? Someone was clearly trying to kill you.”
“This isn’t important. What’s important is a convincing explanation,” Tang Jie indifferently said.
A monitor student had already taken that student away, but Tang Jie didn’t even need to look to know that the student would come out fine.
Just as Tang Jie said, there were a lot of people by the cliff, so bumping into someone was to be expected. There just needed to be a mediator to step forward and that student wouldn’t suffer any punishment.
“Are we really just letting the matter go?” Shi Meng raged.
Tang Jie chuckled. “It’s bound to be called an accident, so even if we don’t let the matter go, what can we do? But…”
His tone changed, his face turning ruthless.
He suddenly shouted, “I’ve remembered his face!”
He spoke so loudly that most of the people on the ship could hear him, and their hearts quivered.
I’ve remembered his face!
This was Tang Jie’s response.
Everyone understood what that meant.
Hearing this, Shi Meng and Wei Tianchong both laughed. “True. I’ve also remembered it.”
Wei Tianchong viciously added, “Once I become a True Inheritor, I’ll have him flayed.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Tang Jie softly chuckled. “We don’t need to do anything. He’ll be dead in a few days.”
“Hm?” The two of them were taken aback. “Why?”
“Because I remember his face,” Tang Jie giggled. “If the one behind him isn’t too stupid, they should understand how to silence witnesses… unless he doubts my resolve to take revenge.”
The two of them were enlightened.
Tang Jie’s words just now had been no different from a death sentence for that student.
Tang Jie didn’t even need to do the deed himself.
“But if we don’t know who that schemer is, they’ll cause trouble again,” Shi Meng worriedly said.
“There’s no need to know. They just don’t want us to succeed,” Tang Jie lightly replied. “Thus, who is behind it is no longer important. Anyone who blocks my Immortal path must die, and that person naturally won’t escape!”
He spoke with such intense murderous intent that Shi Meng and Wei Tianchong shivered.
Most of the students had boarded the ship by this point. Once it was confirmed that no one else was going to try and board, the ship slowly departed the peak, flying upward and onward into the clouds.
