Wei Tianchong muttered a few words before he finally lost control and gave Tang Jie a big hug, heartily laughing.
But to his surprise, when he touched Tang Jie, he ended up knocking Tang Jie to the ground.
“Tang Jie, Tang Jie, what’s wrong?” Wei Tianchong said in fright.
“I’m fine… just a little tired… rest… I’ll be fine with some rest,” Tang Jie said with a smile.
He finally revealed his long-exhausted self.
Su Xinyue was startled by this.
Had this damned bastard really been out of strength?
He had been bluffing this whole time!
If she had moved a little earlier, Yiyi and the little tiger really might not have been able to stop her.
Su Xinyue felt rage and frustration at this thought.
Alas, Wei Tianchong had already appeared, and her last chance was gone.
But she was in a rather strange mood. Tang Jie had clearly tricked her, but she didn’t resent him. On the contrary, she admired his tenacity, and as she looked at him, her eyes shone with praise.
Meanwhile, Wei Tianchong lifted Tang Jie up and said, “Relax. I’ll take you the rest of the way.”
He began to run toward the Nine Palace Heart Ring.
At this moment, someone shouted, “Don’t move!”
Another figure appeared on the Devil Crushing Path, lunging at Wei Tianchong.
Wei Tianchong instinctively looked back and saw a sword light flying at him. Behind it was the face of a cold and proud youth.
“Li Yunfan?” Wei Tianchong blurted out.
This was a student in their class, eight-cycle-Jade-Gate Li Yunfan.
Wei Tianchong didn’t have time to dodge this strike, but at this moment, Tang Jie’s eyes erupted with light, and he thrust out his hands and brought his palms together in a cross, catching the sword between them.
He put all his strength into his move, and Li Yunfan couldn’t keep thrusting. He roared, “Seeking death!”
A bolt of lightning burst out of the tip of the sword, erupting in Tang Jie’s hands and penetrating into his body.
“Tang Jie!” Wei Tianchong shouted.
“Go!” Tang Jie called out. As he spoke, he spat out a mist of blood to obstruct Li Yunfan’s vision.
Wei Tianchong carried Tang Jie and kept running.
Li Yunfan moved around the blood mist and kept chasing. “The True Inheritance is mine!”
At this moment, with two howls, Yiyi and the little tiger rushed out.
“Out of my way!” Li Yunfan lashed out with his sword twice, pushing them back as he continued the chase. He was faster than Wei Tianchong, and Wei Tianchong was even carrying someone, so he needed only a few steps to catch up.
Just when he was about to swing his sword, wound Wei Tianchong, and charge into the Nine Palace Heart Ring, he heard a rush of wind. Aghast, he instinctively jumped up and saw a harsh light brush past the soles of his feet.
He turned his head and saw Su Xinyue standing in the distance. She was clearly the one who had made the attack just now.
This caused Li Yunfan to lose any chance he had of stopping Wei Tianchong. Wei Tianchong waved his hand, and his puppet lunged at Li Yunfan, joining Yiyi and the little tiger in holding him down.
As Wei Tianchong sprinted toward the end, Li Yunfan couldn’t help but furiously roar, “Su Xinyue, what do you mean by this?”
This was the closest he had ever gotten to the True Inheritor spot, but Su Xinyue had ruined his chance, so his anger was understandable.
“It’s nothing. I just felt that it would be much better if he became True Inheritor rather than you!” Su Xinyue casually replied as she watched Wei Tianchong carrying Tang Jie and running into the Heart Ring.
As the two of them disappeared, Su Xinyue smiled.
In the Heart Anchor Hall, Ji Wujiu sighed as he watched that figure disappear. “In the end, he still got first place. I let Brother Nan down.”
The matter was now settled, so they could speak more openly now.
Xu Miaoran lightly snorted and said nothing. But she viciously glared at Su Xinyue on the screen, something on her mind.
As for Nan Baicheng, he was unperturbed, not exploding into the expected tantrum.
He indifferently said, “Brother Ji did your best, so how could Baicheng blame you? Perhaps this is just the will of the heavens.”
“But your master…”
“I will explain things to my master. This Nan will take on all the consequences, whatever they are.”
He strode out of the Heart Anchor Hall.
Ji Wujiu sighed as he watched Nan Baicheng leave, and then he flicked his finger, sending a bolt of air at a jade bell hanging from the ceiling.
The bell’s ring could be heard throughout the island, signaling that the fight for the True Inheritance was over!
Sunwatch Peak.
One of the 19 Star Mountains of the Zephyr Mountains.
This mountain was located on the eastern side of the Zephyr Mountains and stood more than three thousand meters high. Its slopes were steep, and access was difficult outside of the stone stairs leading to the summit.
But upon this summit stood a great hall as majestic as an emperor’s palace, the Shen Star Palace.
This was Yan Changfeng’s residence.
According to the rules of the Basking Moon Sect, anyone could challenge the lords of the 19 Star Mountains, and the victor would inherit the seat. But ever since Yan Changfeng became the lord of Sunwatch Peak three hundred years ago, the seat had not changed.
In Shen Star Palace, Yan Changfeng stood in front of the statue of the founder in the hall, looking up at it.
This was a very young-looking True Person, wearing flowing white robes and a sword on his back. If one looked only at his face, one would take him to be in his twenties. He was handsome and cool, and compared to the kneeling Nan Baicheng behind him, he seemed more like the disciple than the teacher.
Yan Changfeng slightly frowned as if he was thinking.
After some time, his brow uncreased, and it was as if the sky had cleared up, the hall becoming much brighter.
Yan Changfeng casually said, “In other words, I no longer have the right to choose, correct?”
It was a gentle tone, devoid of anger.
“Your disciple was incompetent and unable to find Master a good disciple,” Nan Baicheng replied in a trembling tone, his body almost pressed up against the floor.
“It is for you to say whether or not he is a good disciple,” Yan Changfeng breezily replied. “It is not acceptable to discuss people based on their talent. Everyone in my Basking Moon Sect knows this, which is precisely why the academy was established, so as to gather talents and give everyone a chance. This being the case, even discussing people based on their personality is also not entirely acceptable. Let alone you, even I do not have the right to judge whether or not Wei Tianchong will be a good disciple.”
As Yan Changfeng spoke, he turned around to face Nan Baicheng.
Nan Baicheng was startled. “Master, do you mean that this Wei Tianchong still has some acceptable traits to him?”
“I do not know if that is the case, but I know that you have made a mess of this affair,” Yan Changfeng sighed.
Nan Baicheng felt his soul leave his body in fright, and he hastily dropped to the ground and did not dare to rise.
He didn’t understand why Yan Changfeng denied that Wei Tianchong was an unsuitable choice yet said that he had made a mess of this affair, but he knew that his master had a reason behind whatever he said.
Sure enough, Yan Changfeng said, “You erred in that since you hoped that Wei Tianchong would not succeed, you should have done everything in your power to stop him. If you had intervened personally, then even if Tang Jie possessed heavenly abilities, he would still not be able to do anything to you. You had clearly already interfered, but you still restrained yourself, with nothing going smoothly. This is your mistake. It wasn’t that you tried to stop him, but that you failed.”
Yan Changfeng sighed. “I once said that my disciples can be incompetent, but they cannot be cowardly. You felt that Wei Tianchong did not have the right personality and lacked courage, but did you not fear the rules of the Basking Moon Sect, fear that Xu Miaoran’s power? If you had truly acted without fear, who would have been able to stop you? Or did you think that if you made a large ruckus, you would bring me trouble?”
Nan Baicheng loudly said, “Your disciple knows his mistake!”
“Since you understand your mistakes, go back and give yourself one hundred lashes,” Yan Changfeng said with a wave of his hand.
“Yes!” Rather than panicking, Nan Baicheng was elated by these words. He knew that a punishment meant that Yan Changfeng had not completely lost hope in him.
After passing judgment, Yan Changfeng said nothing more. He lowered his head and continued to think.
If he said nothing, Nan Baicheng did not dare to talk, so he just prostrated on the floor and waited.
After some time, Yan Changfeng said, “That Tang Jie… What do you think about him?”
Nan Baicheng focused his mind before replying, “Tang Jie is both bold and cunning, and he has the strength to back it up. He once pretended to be Tang Jiye, garnering a large amount of resources from the school and using this capital to soar in strength, establishing himself as a formidable character. Alas, he did not seek the position for himself, instead insisting on giving the opportunity to his young master. Otherwise, this disciple would dare to say that if he became Master’s disciple, he would be comparable to First Senior Brother.”
His mission had gone poorly mostly because of Tang Jie. He was praising him so much precisely to imply that the failure wasn’t because he was too incapable, but because his foe was too cunning.
This was why he praised Tang Jie without reservation.
But Tang Jie’s performance really did deserve praise.
“Pretending to be Tang Jiye… That might not be the case…” Yan Changfeng muttered. He suddenly smiled. “To be able to take first place three times in a row and even help out his lacking young master, he truly is a talent. And he is also loyal and true, making him a talent worthy of raising. Since he is a true talent… Baicheng, when you go back, ask Tang Jie if he is willing to become my disciple.”
“Huh?” Nan Baicheng was stunned.
Yan Changfeng casually said, “If I take one, why not take two? If we just treat this as taking Tang Jie as a disciple with that Wei Tianchong as an extra, isn’t that also very good?”
His thinking was simple: buy one, get one free.
Nan Baicheng thought it over and replied, “But, Master, since Tang Jie gave up on the True Inheritance back then, I fear that… what if…”
He did not dare to say it, but his meaning was clear.
Since Tang Jie hadn’t fought over the True Inheritance, the True Inheritance probably didn’t have much of a draw to him. If he refused, Yan Changfeng would be humiliated.
It was one thing to not fight over the True Inheritance, but to refuse it when it was handed over was another thing entirely.
Yan Changfeng would become a laughingstock because of this.
Yan Changfeng laughed. “It would be best if he were not foolish. Don’t forget that he handed me his young master.”
Only then did Nan Baicheng understand. With Wei Tianchong in hand, Tang Jie would not dare to offend Yan Changfeng.
But for Yan Changfeng to resort to threats to take Tang Jie as his disciple? Nan Baicheng felt like something was wrong.
He had only heard of people begging a master to be a disciple, not of a teacher begging someone to be their disciple.
Tang Jie might really be a talent, but the Basking Moon Sect had thrived for a thousand years, and were all of the people it had taken as sect members not talents as well?