Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Sunwatch Peak.
In front of the Shen Star Palace, two people were rapidly moving about.
One of them was none other than Wei Tianchong, his chubby form weathered by the winds and tanned by the sun into a bulky and stalwart figure. But his large body was surprisingly nimble, flying through the winds and rain, his Sunbreak Sword unleashing wave after wave of energy as he fiercely battled a man dressed in black.
The man in black was only holding a short blade, which he swiped left and right, yet every move of his threatened a weak point of Wei Tianchong and forced him to go on the defensive. Seeing that he couldn't hold, Wei Tianchong suddenly retreated a step and pointed with his left hand. There was a gust of wind, and within that wind was a cold and creepy face, a Shadow Soldier that Wei Tianchong had summoned. But rather than the lowest level of Shadow Soldier that Wei Tianchong could summon before, this was a Shadow General.
The Shadow General opened its mouth and bit at the man in black.
The man in black suddenly moved, sweeping past the Shadow General like a beam of light, his short blade stabbing at Wei Tianchong's shoulder and piercing through it. He grunted, "This is what happens when you rely too much on others!"
But as his blade stabbed into Wei Tianchong, the man in black froze. Looking down, he saw that two large hands had risen out of the earth and grabbed him, holding him fast.
At the same time, Wei Tianchong's Sunbreak Sword unleashed multiple bursts of sword energy, which came back together into a mighty sword intent—the Wavebreak Slash of the Nine Coronal Transformations.
At this moment, the man in black exploded into a cloud of smoke and reformed on the other side of the area.
The sharp sword light simply flew through the empty space before landing on a distant rock and blasting it to bits.
The man in black turned to Wei Tianchong, who waved his hand and said, "Alright, it's over; you won. Fourth Senior Brother truly is formidable. I still can't beat you."
The man in black looked at his foot and muttered, "Brat, you've got some skill. This one counts as your win."
Being grabbed by the puppet meant being controlled. Although he hadn't been injured, he knew that this was because Wei Tianchong had gone easy on him. Otherwise, there was no way he could have turned out completely unharmed. In those circumstances, it would have been very difficult to avoid the Wavebreak Slash, and he probably would have had to take it with his body.
This Fourth Senior Brother walked the path of agility, so he wasn't too confident in his ability to withstand the Wavebreak Slash. This was why he had conceded.
While Wei Tianchong's victory had relied on some tricks, and the circumstances of their match meant that they were fighting in a limited area and such methods would be no good out in the wild, and he had also suppressed his cultivation, a loss was still a loss. This Fourth Senior Brother didn't try to argue otherwise.
That Wei Tianchong could think of this move meant that he had not just gotten stronger in these years. His mindset had also greatly matured.
His wounded arm swinging beside him, Wei Tianchong walked over and said, "It was all thanks to deception. In the end, I'm no match for Senior Brother."
His spell arts slowly healed that stab wound. In the past, he would have been hollering in pain from this wound, but now, it seemed like nothing at all.
"Kid, that you were able to do this much is great. What, are you actually hoping to be stronger than Old Fourth?" A yellow-robed man standing on the sidelines laughed.
These people were all Yan Changfeng's disciples, and one could say that they were all elites of the Basking Moon Sect. It would be hard to not become strong if one had to exchange blows with these people every day.
As they were chatting and laughing, a small boy came out of the hall and said, "The mountain master wishes to see Wei Tianchong."
He then went off on his own business.
"Master wants to see me, so I'll take my leave."
"Go, go," his senior brothers said, waving their hands.
Wei Tianchong gestured with his hand, and five combat puppets emerged from the muck, each one corresponding to one of the Five Elements. Each of them was an intimidating and powerful Grade 5 puppet, much stronger than that Grade 3 combat puppet he once owned, and they all followed Wei Tianchong.
A man wearing light yellow robes was startled. "So many? No wonder Old Fourth fell into the trap. But where did this kid get so much money? From the Wei Clan?"
"Third Brother, you rarely come back from your trips, so you don't know that our junior brother has been working very hard in the last two years. You remember when Waterhead Manor was exterminated two years ago? It was our junior brother who chased after the culprit for seven days and nights and brought them back alive, getting himself quite the sum of contribution points," someone replied.
"There was also the Blackhill Tortoise. Junior Brother worked together with several juniors of the Freedom Society to take it down. He immediately sold off the Blackhill Pearl he got. With all that money he's bringing in, what's making a few puppets? And he's also very cunning. He doesn't have the puppets enter the fray now, instead using them for traps. He says that it's so that he doesn't waste them, because people can recover on their own while puppets take money to repair."
The senior brothers all laughed. "I didn't think he was a miser."
In the past, Wei Tianchong would let the puppet fight while he took the rear, but now, it was the opposite. This was huge progress no matter how one saw it.
The Third Senior Brother raised an eyebrow. "'The Freedom Society'? That society with Qi Shaoming and Cai Junyang?"
"So Third Brother also knows about it."
"Of course. For the past few years, the Freedom Society has been rather famous in my Basking Moon Sect, producing quite a few experts. Cai Junyang is called the Nine Deaths Gentleman, or the Unkillable Cockroach. Whatever sort of strange art he learned, it seems like he only gets stronger the closer he gets to death. As for Qi Shaoming, he lives up to his reputation as a genius. He created the Passing Shadow Phantom Clone Slash, which is said to have been added to the Divine Firmament Sword Classic. The money he makes every year from selling this technique could make one's hands go soft. And Liu Hongyan is the disciple of True Person Yuliu. They call her the Jade Judge, and she's no weakling either. And even Peng Yaolong and Ye Tianshang joined it later on, so how can I not know about it?"
"You forgot one."
"Who?"
"Bei Canghan."
"Oh? So he also joined the Freedom Society? No wonder the Freedom Society's reputation has been rising among the juniors lately." The Third Senior Brother stroked his beard and laughed.
Standing nearby was Nan Baicheng, who couldn't help but sigh at all these comments. Once, he had taken this disciple on his master's behalf, and he had considered it his greatest failure. Who could have expected this result? Wei Tianchong had long ago grown stronger than him, and his master liked him more, even passing on to him the Nine Coronal Transformations and the Mind Parting Heart Anchor Art. As the saying went, the world was everchanging and beyond anyone's ability to predict.
Upon entering the Shen Star Palace, Wei Tianchong saw Yan Changfeng seated in meditation.
Raising the hem of his robe, Wei Tianchong prostrated and said, "Disciple Wei Tianchong pays respects to Master!"
"Rise," Yan Changfeng said.
Wei Tianchong stood up and asked, "For what reason has Master requested to see me?"
"Take a look at this government report," Yan Changfeng said, flicking a ray of light into Wei Tianchong's mind.
Wei Tianchong immediately felt information appearing in his head. A few moments later, he bellowed in anger, "This damn Horizon Ocean Pavilion, daring to bully around Tang Jie's wife while he's gone!"
"You can't just look at the surface!" Yan Changfeng said. "What they want isn't Xu Miaoran, but the vast business Xu Miaoran controls. Fortunately, this girl isn't dumb, using the resources she had to take down her opponent. But this is also why she wants to use this opportunity to rise up and gain the right to speak within Horizon Ocean Pavilion."
"Doesn't she have her father?"
"She doesn't want inherited authority, but one that she has gained all by herself."
Wei Tianchong was momentarily taken aback, and then he grinned. "Ambitious! As expected of the woman Tang Jie loves."
"But she has her own troubles. She feels that she doesn't have the strength, and it's hard to build a faction with wealth alone, so she has decided to seek help from the outside, hoping that the Basking Moon Sect can send some people to help her."
Wei Tianchong finally understood. "I see. Master wants me to go help Xu Miaoran?"
Yan Changfeng nodded. "Not only you, but also some others from the Freedom Society. Everyone knows of your close relationship to Tang Jie, and because of this relationship, you can help Xu Miaoran as a private matter without a problem. But when you're over there, you must remember to keep personal and public matters separate. Not only do you have to help Xu Miaoran gain power, you also must ensure that my Basking Moon Sect's welfare is not affected. You must make sure to balance these two things—understand?"
"Yes," Wei Tianchong replied, but then he grimaced. "Xu Miaoran lacks strong people, not weaklings. I've only just entered Cognitive Creation, which is far from the level of people that she needs. I want to go and help her, but I'm afraid I won't meet her standard."
In the end, Wei Tianchong was not Tang Jie. Just getting to Cognitive Creation in these last few years was extremely fast for him.
Although he wasn't considered weak among his fellow juniors, compared to the mission at hand, his level was quite low.
Yan Changfeng replied, "You don't need to worry about this problem. On this matter, the Sect Master and True Lords have already come to an agreement to open up the Water Moon Paradise to all of you so that you may enter and cultivate."
"'The Water Moon Paradise'?" Wei Tianchong exclaimed.
Wei Tianchong was well aware of the significance of the Water Moon Paradise. It was far more valuable than Sunwatch Peak's small blessed land.
"Indeed," Yan Changfeng said. "All the people on the mission are permitted to enter the Water Moon Paradise to cultivate, passing through the Three Witherings and making the charge at Celestial Heart. But there will be no contribution points for this mission."
"Great, great!" Wei Tianchong was delighted. Helping Tang Jie and getting stronger while doing it—what could be better?
But then he frowned. "Pushing through the Three Witherings is easy, just a slow and grinding affair that the Water Moon Paradise can make shorter. But Celestial Heart is a threshold, and that isn't so easy to overcome."
He had heard from Tang Jie of his experience in the Water Moon Paradise, so he knew that while the Three Withering Tribulations were said to require thirty years of cultivation, one could make the process faster if one had enough resources. Meanwhile, the charge at Celestial Heart seemed like it could take only a day, but it required several years, or even decades, of preparation.
Yan Changfeng replied, "Since you're going to help the richest woman in the Rosecloud Domain, how could you not be rewarded? The sect will provide each of you a Five Energies Sovereign Essence Pill. As for the bill, Xu Miaoran already paid it."
—————————
Whoosh!
A translucent figure flitted past, and then a ghost general swayed and collapsed to the ground.
Hiss! Little Three proudly hissed as it felt itself grow stronger.
The bodies of numerous ghosts were strewn around it.
Although Little Three had also been rather badly injured in this battle, its innately cruel and combative temperament meant that it felt excited and fearless.
At some point, Little Three had come to realize that more and more powerful ghosts were appearing in its path. They encircled it and chased it, attacking it as if they had gone crazy.
But the nature of a Hunter Ghost meant that it felt no fear.
After hunting down these ghosts, Little Three looked back and then flitted away.
Around five kilometers away, a ghost king with cold, green eyes raised its sword of white bone and pointed forward.
Behind it, countless ghosts screeched, their multitudes extending far off into the horizon…
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