South Mountain House.
Nan Baicheng lay on the rattan chair, gazing up at the sky. The man in black martial attire stood silently behind him, his hands at his side.
It was a while before Nan Baicheng finally said, “Speak.”
The man in black bowed and answered, “Tang Jie went to Spirit Platform Pavilion, and Madam Shui collected his debt, but the Wei Clan gave him some additional money. With this money, he bought the Violet Lightning Boots, the Blazeraven Ring, and four spell talismans. In addition, he took back the Cosmic Breeze Pearl.”
“It seems he’s gambling it all on this one throw and won’t rest until he gets all three missions,” Nan Baicheng muttered. “Such a superb child. You clearly know what I want, yet you still dare to try. This daring alone deserves praise. If he were willing to be my junior brother, I, Nan Baicheng, would gladly welcome it, yet he insists on giving it up for Wei Tianchong… the wretch!”
“Actually…” The man in black hesitated.
Nan Baicheng asked, “What do you want to say?”
The man in black said, “For the last thousand years, the True Inheritor selections in the sect have mostly been done through missions rather than looking at a student’s talents and achievements. This is because the process is mostly meant to test the comprehensive ability of the students, exemplifying the principle of putting into practice what one learns. And comprehensive ability includes talent, family background, personality, intelligence, and even luck.”
“Mm, continue,” Nan Baicheng said, closing his eyes. The man in black was right. The heavens could bestow one with peerless cultivation aptitude, and it could also bestow one with endless cultivation resources. For what reason did it have to be the case that only a nine-cycle Jade Gate was considered to be talent, while being born to a powerful clan was considered to be outside help?
In the eyes of cultivators, what was important was the result, not the process.
In the cultivation world, there was only success and failure.
This was precisely why, in the eyes of the Basking Moon Sect, a nine-cycle Jade Gate and a good family background were all simply a part of a student’s talent.
Arguing was pointless. Whoever was more valuable, whoever was more useful, would have to show it themselves.
The struggle over True Inheritor tested this multifaceted ability, looking only to the result to see who the real hero was. Otherwise, why go through all the trouble?
The man in black continued, “While Wei Tianchong has relied on his servant student Tang Jie, a servant student is also one of his resources. Since my Basking Moon Sect can regard family as talent, why not…”
“So what you’re saying is that since Tang Jie is Wei Tianchong’s servant student, we might as well consider Tang Jie as a component of Wei Tianchong’s strength, a manifestation of his comprehensive ability, just like his puppet. If the puppet is strong, the master is naturally strong, so why refuse him?”
“That is this subordinate’s foolish opinion.”
Nan Baicheng snorted. “It is truly a foolish opinion. You think yourself to be smart, but it’s all a fantasy!”
“Sir, please instruct me!”
Nan Baicheng casually said, “In truth, your argument is not entirely without reason. As Wei Tianchong’s servant student, Tang Jie loyally serves his master, so he can be considered a part of Wei Tianchong’s strength. The cultivation world is one of cruel reality, and so long as you have the ability, then it doesn’t matter if your strength manifests through your subordinates or through yourself. The problem is that not everything in this world is done based on reason. You must understand that I’m not here to work for the public, but for my master. What my master likes is the most important!”
The man in black was instantly enlightened.
True Person Changfeng wasn’t a simple person. As the Hall Master of the Service Hall, he was one of the nineteen Celestial Chiefs of the Basking Moon Sect, a peak existence among True Persons, his status comparable to that of an unaffiliated True Lord. A normal True Person would move to the side upon seeing him, and his words carried great weight.
Nan Baicheng was an old hand in the Dao of attending upon others, and he knew that comprehending the will of his superiors would always be more meaningful than exploring the truth.
Yan Changfeng had been born in poverty and had been of average talent, but he had been a resolved spirit who had been through countless bloody battles in his pursuit of the Great Dao, and one could understand a lot about him from his nickname: “Bloodbath Changfeng”.
A man’s path to success was often his ability to pick talent.
In his eyes, the brave and tenacious who were not willing to retreat were potential True Persons. When it came to a personality like this, other things like talent and resources would have to stand to the side.
When Nan Baicheng had refused to stand down in front of Shi Wunian’s pressure, he had showed exactly the personality Yan Changfeng preferred, so Yan Changfeng had taken him as his disciple.
What of Wei Tianchong?
A timid coward who feared death and was overly cautious. It could be said that he had an extremely weak personality. It would be far stranger if Yan Changfeng liked this sort of disciple. The man in black’s argument that Tang Jie was a component of Wei Tianchong’s strength would be of no use on him.
Understanding this, the man in black hastily said, “Your subordinate was ignorant. Since that is the case, we cannot let Wei Tianchong succeed in the final mission!”
“It’s fine as long as you know. So, then, what solutions do you have?”
The man in black thought it over and said, “Wei Tianchong has been able to succeed twice entirely because of Tang Jie. And Tang Jie is able to play a role because of the missions that we gave out. These two missions both had the condition that whoever handed over the mission item would be the victor. This meant that whoever ultimately completed the mission was not necessarily the one who contributed the most, which gave Tang Jie room to maneuver. The original goal of this method was to measure a student’s overall strength, to see if they could use their family, resources, mind, and other factors to the maximum, and because of Tang Jie, Wei Tianchong benefited. In my view, to make Wei Tianchong fail, we might completely cut off Tang Jie from being a part of his strength. In truth, we actually did this somewhat in the Valley of No Return mission, but we didn’t go far enough.”
“You mean…”
“In the next mission, there can be no transfers. The student must rely on their own strength to complete it.”
Nan Baicheng nodded. “Correct. That’s all we can do now. But a mission like that is hard to find.”
He deeply sighed.
The human head and the Red Lotus had served as specific items that led to victory. Besides their greatest advantage, which was that they tested the overall ability of the students, there was one other important advantage they had: they were simple.
As many students were participating, a complicated mission would greatly increase the difficulty of administering the test and blur the standard of judgment, which could even lead to accusations of unfairness.
If, as the man in black had said, the third mission had to be completed by only one person, things got complicated.
Firstly, the target of the mission could not be a specific item, or else in the struggle, it would be very difficult to determine who was the winner.
To take the struggle over the Red Lotus as an example, An Rumeng had been the first to touch the Red Lotus, followed by Tang Jie and then Qi Shaoming. In this process, none of them had truly possessed it, so it was impossible to decide a victor from there. And if one determined the victor by who had touched it most, then it was too much like a game. Thus, the victor was determined by who possessed it at the very end.
Secondly, victory could not be won through killing.
It was the same reasoning. If the Valley of No Return mission had been decided based on who killed the Frost Fairy, then in the battle against the Frost Fairy, the students would have united to kill the Frost Fairy rather than fighting each other. And when all of their weapons lashed out together, and spells were thrown out pell-mell, how could it be decided who ultimately killed her?
The basic standards of the test were as follows: the judgment conditions had to be clear and precise and the solution had to be unique. Only this way could it earn the people’s trust.
The third condition was that the mission had to be something that already existed.
The Basking Moon Sect wouldn’t set up a stage solely for a True Inheritor selection, as the costs were too great. He could only select from the available missions, and the mission would have to meet all his requirements.
The fourth condition was that this mission would be able to test all the one thousand students, and they all had to have the same goal. Different targets would inevitably lead to unfair circumstances and thus unfair assessments.
Finally, the mission had to have some sort of competitive factor to it. The True Inheritor position was to be fought over, and the students needed to compete against each other for it. And competition necessitated interaction, which was precisely why Nan Baicheng couldn’t completely separate Tang Jie from Wei Tianchong, only do his utmost to keep them apart.
These various conditions made it difficult to come up with a True Inheritor mission. It was just like how students stressed over their examinations, forgetting that the examiners were racking their brains to write questions before the examinations could be held.
The man in black smiled. “If it’s within Sageheart territory, then it’s truly difficult to find.”
“Oh?” Nan Baicheng was taken aback. “You’re saying…”
“Wind Devil Island.”
“Wind Devil Island?” Nan Baicheng’s eyes brightened, but then they dimmed. “Wind Devil Island does meet all the conditions, but it’s in the territory of Horizon Ocean Pavilion.”
“Then we just rent it. Azulwind Jades are excellent materials when one cultivates Wind-type spell arts, and the sect happens to be facing a shortage of them as of late and was planning to buy some from Horizon Ocean Pavilion. It’s not easy to get Azulwind Jades, so we can have the students gather them and pay them according to the market price. Horizon Ocean Pavilion will save on manpower, which is exactly what it wants, and if the talks go well, we can even rent at a cheaper price. In this way, we test the students, save resources for the sect, and improve relations with Horizon Ocean Pavilion. It’s three birds with one stone.”
“But the victory condition cannot be the Azulwind Jades!”
“Naturally. The Heart Ring of the Nine Palaces will be the victory condition. The first to reach the Nine Palaces, enter the Celestial Heart Ring, and touch the Ocean Heart will be the victor. As for the Azulwind Jades, they will have their own ranking, with the number of jades deciding one’s place. The one who contributes the most will receive an additional reward. Wei Tianchong isn’t strong enough to be the first to enter the Heart Ring of the Nine Palaces. If Tang Jie is smart, he will use this chance to gather more Azulwind Jades rather than wasting time on this pointless venture, reaping a solid profit. This is a chance for him and also a chance for us.”
“Impede with difficulty and bribe with benefits… It’s a pretty good idea.” Nan Baicheng carefully thought it over and finally nodded in approval. “But Tang Jie is a persistent person who won’t be so easily swayed by small profits. If he refuses to take the bait, he will still be a problem.”
“Then we will have to ask for help from the people of Horizon Ocean Pavilion so that they mess with the Nine Palace Illusion Formation a little.”
“A good idea!” Nan Baicheng nodded. “If my memory is correct, Wind Devil Island is currently under the management of Horizon Ocean Pavilion’s Ji Wujiu. I’ve never met this person before, but I recall that they have worked together with our sect’s Lin Shangyun a few times, and Lin Shangyun is on good terms with my third senior brother. It seems like I’ll have to ask Third Senior Brother for help… haa, this damn Tang Jie. Just because of him, I have to ask so many people for help!”
Nan Baicheng spoke with deep anger and frustration.
He both admired Tang Jie and hated him.
He still thought that this wasn’t enough. “There are too many relationships involved here, so it’s not too reliable. But there can be no mistake allowed in this last mission. Let’s do this. Qinan, you will go to Wind Devil Island as well.”
“Me, too?” The man in black was startled. “Sir, I am not a student, and if I take action, and someone notices, it will affect your reputation as an impartial judge!”
Nan Baicheng sternly said, “I will take care of your identity. You will be going as a supervisor, and Ji Wujiu will send you in. As for reputation…”
Nan Baicheng exhaled. “So long as I don’t disappoint my master, what does my reputation matter? I’ll take the consequences, whatever they are. Moreover… why don’t you just make sure they don’t fucking find out?”
Nan Baicheng almost roared these last words.
The man in black’s heart trembled, and he knew that Nan Baicheng was going for broke this time. He hastily bowed. “Yes, this subordinate will strive to complete this task to his dying breath!”
“I don’t want you to die. I just need you to stop Wei Tianchong from being the first to enter the Heart Ring!”