Chapter 177: Apricot Pavilion
Three days later.
Yan Province, Pingyuan City.
A horse casually trotted into the city.
It went east along the road, and it was only when it reached the entrance of a certain inn that the rider raised his head, revealing Tang Jie’s energetic face.
Glancing at the inn’s name, he muttered, “Three Rivers Inn… This is the place.”
He dismounted and entered the inn, and was greeted by the sight of a bored Wei Tianchong and Shi Meng sitting in front of a table, waiting around for something.
When Tang Jie came over, the two of them jumped to their feet.
Wei Tianchong anxiously said, “Why did you only get here now? We’ve been waiting for two days.”
“I took a detour to get something,” Tang Jie replied as he sat down and poured himself some tea.
He had gone out this time firstly to help Wei Tianchong complete the mission, and secondly to get the Mustard Seed Bag he had hidden, so that he could sell off the goods and get money to pay back his debt. Thus, after leaving Fengyin, he had headed for the Cloud Marsh, but this had made the two of them wait for two days.
“How is that matter going?” Wei Tianchong nervously asked.
Tang Jie casually sipped his tea before saying, “Everything has been taken care of. Xu Xi’an is personally delivering the goods and is already on the road.”
Liu Hongyan and the others would have never thought that Tang Jie had no intention of bringing the head back to the academy himself. Instead, he had entrusted it to a shipping company.
No matter how bold the students were, they would never dare to steal the goods of Basking Moon Academy. All Tang Jie’s group needed to do was return to the academy, receive the package, and thus complete the mission.
It was as simple as could be!
“Wonderful!” Wei Tianchong punched the air, unable to contain his excitement.
Although he had not had any hope of becoming a True Inheritor before this, the mission was now almost complete and success was right before his eyes, so Wei Tianchong couldn’t help but start to fantasize.
Shi Meng excitedly said, “Then what are we waiting for? The sooner we get back to the academy, the sooner we can hand in the mission.”
“What’s the rush?” Tang Jie chuckled. “It’s not like we get out very often, so it’s fine if we play around for a few days, and we can also guard the convoy to ensure that any accidents don’t happen. It would be awful if some brain-dead bandit decided to cause trouble and ruin our plans…”
“Okay!” Wei Tianchong and Shi Meng nodded.
They were now completely obedient to Tang Jie’s orders.
That afternoon, the three of them went to play around in the city.
At the same time, Tang Jie disposed of some of the contents of his Mustard Seed Bag, trying his best to convert it all into spirit coins.
But Pingyuan City was a small city, and he would only get a good price for art relics in big cities. Fortunately, they would be going through numerous cities on their way back, so he was in no rush.
They began to see the sights as they leisurely made their way back to Basking Moon Academy.
Tang Jie had already gone on a little outing, but Shi Meng and Wei Tianchong rarely got a chance to go out. Thus, they specifically chose famous scenic spots and fully enjoyed the best sights the country had to offer.
Tang Jie didn’t try to stop them, joining them in the fun.
Intelligence came from experience. Wei Tianchong wasn’t born an idiot. It was just that his family situation meant that he lacked experience in how to handle affairs. Whether playing or fighting, they were all a kind of life that would allow him to more authentically see the world and gradually understand.
Anyone who only knew cultivation, no matter how profound their level, would still be a fool.
Tang Jie deliberately guided Wei Tianchong, and as they traveled the land, he described for him the history, products, terrain, and customs of the various places they visited, broadening Wei Tianchong’s mind.
On this day, the three of them arrived at Fangshan City.
Fangshan City was a large city of Sageheart, two-hundred-some kilometers from Wanquan City. This place was rather close to the academy.
There was a famous building in Fangshan City known as Apricot Pavilion. From its heights, one could see the entire city, and to the south was a gorgeous sea of apricot flowers.
Tang Jie had been through here with Gu Changqing, but alas, they had been in such a rush that there had been no time to enjoy the scenery. He aspired to freedom, and seeing the sights was one of the most fundamental parts of roaming without a care. Thus, he advised Wei Tianchong that the three of them should visit Apricot Pavilion as soon as they entered the city.
Apricot Pavilion was seven floors tall, one of the taller buildings in the city.
On this subject, it had to be said that the building style of the Rosecloud Domain was rather strange.
This was partially because the technology level meant that buildings were usually no taller than three floors. But there were also divine spell arts that were able to create magnificent sights.
Apricot Pavilion was a classic example.
This pavilion had seven floors, but only its central part was rooted into the earth. The rest floated high off the ground. It was built like a pagoda in that it spiralled upward, and eighteen winged pythons were carved onto its surface. From a distance, it appeared like a closed umbrella.
As soon as they entered the pavilion, Tang Jie felt spiritual energy pulses traveling through the pavilion in some special circuit.
It couldn’t be seen, but it could be felt.
“A formation…” Tang Jie muttered.
As expected, Apricot Pavilion was supported by a formation.
The fact that a spirit formation was supporting a building was indicative of many things. The simplest was that this pavilion’s master was an Immortal and that anyone with too much free time on their hands probably wouldn’t want to cause trouble here.
Looking around, Tang Jie took in the entire structure of the tower. “Heartbirth Wood in the Gen (northeast), which makes the focus peace and quiet. Clearroot Stone in the Li (south), favoring a clear heart and vision… This is a rather docile formation.”
Apricot Pavilion’s main door and reception were at the Life Gate, and it used Heartbirth Wood as its foundation. Staying here would be beneficial for one’s body. The center had Clearroot Stone used as the tower foundations, forming the View Gate.
The View Gate’s primary focus was concealment and disguise, but under the arrangements of the pavilion’s master, it had truly become a place for taking in the view. Once one ascended to the top of the tower and looked out, they would be able to see much more, thus making this a true View Gate.
As for the various painted pillars in the tower, Tang Jie could see that they were covered in formation carvings, each one with its own special purpose.
Tang Jie could tell by the direction the formation lines were going that the top floor of Apricot Pavilion was probably where the primary control, the Stop Gate, was.
As for the central node, the Open Gate, it was probably hidden somewhere, and the Death Gate was located underground.
This was not a formation meant for killing, so the Death, Alarm, and Injury Gates had all been hidden and set aside.
But Tang Jie suspected that if someone really dared to cause trouble, they would probably face the illusions of the Alarm Gate, the lethality of the Death Gate, and the attacks of the Injury Gate.
Regardless, this formation had been perfectly melded with the building’s structure, indicating that the master of Apricot Pavilion was a true master of formations.
The three of them began to make their way to the top floor.
Apricot Pavilion had a rule. The seventh floor wasn’t a floor that just anyone could go up to. One needed the proper status.
Fortunately, they were wearing the uniform of Basking Moon, so no one dared to stop them, and a page boy even came to show them the way.
Tang Jie continued to take in the structure of Apricot Pavilion as they moved up, and he was so taken by its exquisite structure that he began to draw it out.
The page boy guiding them was about sixteen years old. When he saw Tang Jie jabbing at the air, he chuckled. “So Young Master knows formations.”
“I’ve learned a little. I really didn’t think that I would run into such a marvelous formation here. The building and the formation are perfectly integrated as if they were naturally one. It’s truly amazing! Who could have designed such a formation?” Tang Jie said with sincere admiration. Let alone him, even Zhao Xiliang of the Basking Moon Sect had probably yet to reach this level.
The page simply smiled in reply.
The three of them soon arrived at Apricot Pavilion’s seventh floor.
It was extremely spacious, and in the center was a large inscription stele. Literati would sometimes pass through this area and leave behind their calligraphy.
There were some people already here, looking at the scenery and pointing into the distance.
Tang Jie saw that there were three groups of people..
One was a muscular man with a curly beard who was sitting upright and guzzling wine.
He had a large sword at his side which was even larger than Cai Junyang’s, like the plank of a door.
On the other end sat a young man.
This man’s skin had the luster of jade, and he was so handsome that he could be mistaken for a woman dressed as a man at first glance.
But the lump at his throat indicated that he truly was a man.
However, he appeared so enchanting that even a man might be tempted by his appearance.
There was a group of people next to the railing.
This was a group of richly-attired young masters. Their clothes were luxurious and the swords at their waists flashed with the spiritual light of spell weapons. These were probably also cultivators who had left their school in plain clothes to go and see the sights.
Tang Jie’s group of three found a place to sit and called for some tea. Shi Meng carried out his duty as a servant and served Wei Tianchong tea while Wei Tianchong looked out the window. As for Tang Jie, he stood in front of the inscription stele and studied the calligraphy, but in actuality, he was once more observing the structure of the tower.
This inscription stele was clearly a formation gate. Given that it was the central anchor, it was probably the formation core.
The person who laid down this formation had to be an incredible character to place the formation core in such an obvious location.
As he was admiring the formation, he heard someone say, “Wasn’t it said that you could see a sea of flowers from the top? So where is the sea of apricot flowers?”
One of that group of young masters had spoken.
“Brother Lin, you’re so focused on cultivation that you don’t know what’s going on in the outside world. Apricots bloom in early spring, but we’re now entering autumn. The season isn’t right, so how could you still see the apricot sea? To see it, you’ll have to come next year,” one of his companions said.
That Brother Lin raised an eyebrow. “Who has the time to come next year? Since we’re here, we can’t go back empty-handed. Let’s have this sea of flowers bloom for us again.”
The young man who had spoken before was taken aback. “Brother Lin, you mean…”
That Brother Lin didn’t reply. He simply pointed several times at the air, and spiritual energy shot out from his fingertips and into the distance.
This action caused everyone on the floor to raise their heads. The curly-bearded man suddenly put down his wine bowl and looked at the group.
The bewitchingly handsome young man also turned to look.
Even Tang Jie’s attention was drawn to that Brother Lin, his brow furrowing.
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