“Twist!” Wei Tianchong waved his arms as he fell onto his back.
The puppet pulled on the elephant’s trunk, its body erupting with light as all of its formations operated at the same time. With its immense strength, it managed to raise up the elephant fiend and slam it to the ground on its back, just like Wei Tianchong.
This fiend was heavy, and with this fall, it squealed in pain.
Wei Tianchong rolled to his feet and charged, swinging the axe at its head.
The elephant howled in pain and flung its head to the side, trying to gore Wei Tianchong in the chest with its sharp tusks.
But to its surprise, Wei Tianchong didn’t try to dodge. A fireball flew out of his left hand and into the elephant’s mouth. “Die!”
With a boom, the elephant’s head was blown to pieces. At the same time, a tusk stabbed at Wei Tianchong, there was a pop like a balloon breaking, and Wei Tianchong’s body briefly flashed. A moment later, the tusk stabbed into his body, but it was only able to enter three inches before stopping.
With the elephant dead, Wei Tianchong plopped to the ground, pushing through the pain to pull out the tusk while painfully muttering, “Middle grade… Windshroud can only take three attacks… I’ll remember it next time…”
Windshroud had not been entirely able to block the elephant tusk just now. If the elephant fiend hadn’t died just moments ago, weakening the attack, Wei Tianchong probably would have had a hole through his body right now.
Without Tang Jie at his side, Wei Tianchong could only summarize his experiences and note down the key points himself. The silly fat kid had finally begun to mature now that no one was around to support him.
When someone was completely focused on battle and summarizing one’s experiences, one would sometimes forget the result of the battle… He had not realized that he had just killed a middle-grade elephant fiend.
All on his own!
In the past, Wei Tianchong would have been ecstatic about such a performance.
But now that he was actually here, Wei Tianchong understood that the result wasn’t important.
The people who truly worked hard never cared about the result, for they knew that the result was a natural manifestation of the process of working hard. If the process were carried out properly, the result would naturally be good.
Wei Tianchong hadn’t understood this principle at first. He had always dreamed about swiftly breaking through and then defeating all of the world, about gazing upon the world and finding the mountains too small. He had fantasized about standing atop of a pile of dead great fiends and madly laughing at the heavens while countless beautiful girls gazed at him in admiration.
But when he actually got to doing it, he realized that none of this was important.
What was important was surviving. What was important was to not disappoint the expectations placed upon him. What was important… was to get out of this damned cage.
Lying on the ground, he panted for breath and looked at the countless doors of light above him.
There were still so many of these damned doors of light.
The number of doors of light in the Prison of Mortal Coil had halved for some reason, which had filled Wei Tianchong with hope and fighting intent.
But in truth, his luck was poor, and after opening so many doors, he still hadn’t found the correct path. All he encountered was battle after battle.
The passage of time had worn away at both his strength and his will.
Wei Tianchong could no longer stop that devilish thought from rising up in his mind: Give up… Even if I get out, it’ll be too late… There’s no way Tang Jie can last this long…
The little fox stared at him, saying nothing.
It knew that it wouldn’t be long before he pulled himself together.
This was his habit.
Despair was like a lingering ghost. It would be driven back, only to return and be driven back again.
After defeating a monster, Wei Tianchong would despair and then pull himself together, and then despair again…
His emotional state would constantly cycle between these two states.
He couldn’t be blamed for this. Tang Jie was in a tough battle, yes, but wasn’t Wei Tianchong as well? The grinding of time and the fear of the unknown wore away at the spirit. Not even Tang Jie could have imagined that he would last this long.
If Tang Jie knew how Wei Tianchong was doing, then even if he failed the mission, he would consider it all worth it.
Amusingly, however, neither side knew what was going on. They only knew that the other party was waiting on them, so they kept holding on.
Tang Jie only needed to last out with his strength.
But Wei Tianchong needed to last out with his will.
After lying down this time, however, Wei Tianchong was seemingly unable to rise.
His eyes were unfocused, and he seemed to be in a daze.
The fox bit him, but he didn’t move, simply waving his arm and saying, “It’s no good… it’s really no good this time…”
The fox continued to bite him, but Wei Tianchong shook his head.
He looked at the little fox and bitterly smiled. “You don’t want me to give up? Unfortunately, I really can’t do it. Too much time has passed… perhaps, on that side…”
“Whether Tang Jie can hold out is his business. The problem is you… Are you really going to give up like this?” a voice suddenly asked.
“So what if I give up?” Wei Tianchong helplessly replied. “I…” Suddenly, his eyes flew open, and he sat up and looked around. “Who? Who spoke to me?”
“At least you have the strength to sit up,” the mysterious voice continued.
Wei Tianchong shivered and continued to look, but there was nothing else here except doors of light.
“Silly fool, I’m right in front of you. Where are you looking? I really don’t understand why Divine God Luo had me follow a good-for-nothing like you.” The voice seemed rather angry. If one listened closely, there was a tenderness to it, like it was coming from a child.
Wei Tianchong was startled at first, but then he understood and looked at the little fox.
The little fox looked at him, its green eyes glinting with a ghostly flame.
“You…” Wei Tianchong pointed at the fox. “You can talk? You’re already humanized? Have you reached Mind Opening? Ah! Is it you, Divine God Luo? Did you not die, instead possessing this fox to be reborn?”
Wei Tianchong was so agitated by these last words that he jumped to his feet.
“Idiot…” The little fox finally showed an expression of human scorn. It shook his head and said, “If Divine God Luo could possess me, why wouldn’t he just possess you instead? And possession is so dangerous that even a Violet Palace True Lord would be treading on thin ice, and would not dare to take such a decision lightly. He had his Violet Palace utterly destroyed, so how could he be capable of such a thing? He’s probably already entered the cycle of reincarnation and been reborn by now.”
“Then you… you… Who are you?” Wei Tianchong asked in shock.
“I am naturally me,” the little fox angrily replied. “Who else could I be?”
Wei Tianchong realized that he had asked a stupid question, but he was used to that, so he ignored it and asked in a trembling voice, “But you… you still haven’t reach Mind Opening, right?”
“Hmph, I haven’t reached Mind Opening, so I can’t talk? Idiot! Mind Opening is simply an inevitable result of a fiend beast getting strong enough, but that doesn’t mean that one can’t talk until one reaches Mind Opening. Divine God Luo once believed that he would not have any successors, so he placed all his hope on me, using the last of his powers to use the Nirvana Baptism Great Art to open my mind beforehand, so do you still think it’s strange that I can talk?”
“You’re saying… Divine God Luo initially placed his expectations… on you? He hoped for a fiend beast to revive the Five Gods Faith?” Wei Tianchong was wide-eyed and slack-jawed.
“Hmph,” the little fox snorted. “It was probably because he also thought that this idea was a little too absurd that he later found you.”
“Why didn’t you say anything earlier?”
“What’s the point in saying anything to a piece of trash like you?” the little fox said, raising its head. “If Divine God Luo had given me to Tang Jie, I would have long ago passed the texts of the Five Gods Faith to him rather than hiding it. A person attending on a person like you will suffer greater burdens the more ability they show. If you were in my place and had to serve as your servant student, do you think you would die to fulfill your duties?”
It was no wonder it had been unwilling to speak. It had long ago seen through Wei Tianchong’s nature and knew that if Wei Tianchong knew what the fox was capable of, he would order it around to do all sorts of things.
But Wei Tianchong didn’t mind this comment. He was more focused on something else the fox had said. “You… You’re saying that Divine God Luo left you the texts of the Five Gods Faith?”
“Of course! I’m the first disciple here! You’re the second!” the fox said in disdain.
Wei Tianchong was delighted. “Then you can pass it to me in place of the master! If I had known about this, I would have never tried to become a True Inheritor!”
The fox was furious. “Incompetent trash! I really don’t understand why Tang Jie treats you so well. A True Inheritance is a True Inheritance while techniques are techniques. How can they even be compared? And those of great ambition want both. You, on the other hand, just think about slacking off every day. If I hadn’t been impressed by your performance just now, I wouldn’t have even bothered to talk with you. But after just a few words, you’ve fallen back to your old ways! You can keep dreaming about getting your hands on the texts of the Five Gods Faith!”
Wei Tianchong hastily smiled. “You misunderstand. I just want to get out faster to help Tang Jie. If you teach me the techniques, I can break out of here.”
The little fox wasn’t so easily fooled. Snorting, it looked up and said, “This Nine Palace Illusion Formation is a one of the rare great formations, and there is an overseer at the site of the main formation. The sudden appearance of the Prison of Mortal Coil is clearly targeting you, which is why I did not dare to speak before. But for some reason, half of the prisons suddenly disappeared, and I also discovered that the overseer’s senses have disappeared, allowing me to speak with you. But the overseer can come back at any time. I’m sure you know what will happen if you keep flailing around like this and end up exposing me.”
Aghast, Wei Tianchong quickly sat down and began to rest and meditate.
The little fox grunted, “In truth, it’s actually not important whether you learn the texts of the Five Gods Faith or not.”
“How can it not be important…” Wei Tianchong fidgeted, but a glare from the fox had him sitting back down.
The fox continued, “The Basking Moon Sect is the orthodox sect, and it has as many spell arts as there are stars in the sky. You can’t even learn all those, so why learn the spells of an outside sect? This is just your greed acting up. The path of cultivation is achieved through hard work. If you lack the will, then even the most profound art will be useless to you. Look at the Five Gods Faith. Doesn’t it still have successors? But how many have actually made a name for themselves? As you can see, a person ultimately has to depend on themself.”
Wei Tianchong shamelessly replied, “While that’s true, each sect also has their own ultimate techniques and unique spells. I can learn proper cultivation methods from Basking Moon, but there are some things that can only be learned from the Five Gods Faith that I might need.”
He thought that he would be rebuked by the fox again, but to his surprise, the little fox nodded. “That is also true. The Five Gods Faith does have some secret spell arts unique to it, with effects comparable to those of the Basking Moon Sect. If the two of them could be merged, they would be of great benefit to Tang Jie.”
“Why is it Tang Jie? You mean me! Me!”
The little fox didn’t even look at him. “Tang Jie seems to have already comprehended a little of the Dao of Insight, allowing him to extract the essence of the arts of the two sects and merge them. As for you, it would be good enough if you were able to cultivate them to a usable level. Of course, some of the spell arts of the Five Gods Faith are pretty good. I originally wasn’t planning to teach you, but seeing that you didn’t do too badly while trying to push through this prison, I plan to give you a chance. Remember: if you can’t get the True Inheritance, don’t even think about learning anything from me. The scriptures of the Five Gods Faith can be passed down, but not to trash!”
“Relax! I’m going to do everything I can to break out of this Prison of Mortal Coil!” Wei Tianchong was once more brimming with hope and resolve.