When Xi Canhen woke up, he found that he was inside a silk canopy.
His body was covered by a beautiful brocade blanket from Jade Cassia Boutique, and the canopy around him was a jade bead canopy from Green Ring Garden. Inside the incense burner was imported Whalehead Incense, and even the tiles on the floor were patterned with floral designs.
The furnishings and decorations were all rare items, and there was so much opulence and luxury that it dazzled the eye.
Xi Canhen tried to stand up, but he found his body aching and weak.
Two maids were standing outside the canopy. Seeing him rise, they both shouted, “Young Sir Xi is awake.”
A maid quickly went to help him rise while the other went to call soone else.
“Is this the Wei Estate?” Xi Canhen sowhat understood what was going on when he saw how he was being treated.
“Yes. Young Sir, after you were injured, Young Master Shi ng had people send Young Sir here to recover. You were already unconscious when you arrived, and you slept for three days straight.”
“I was out for that long?” Xi Canhen muttered. “What about my little sister?”
The maid smiled. “Young Lady Xi was just here, keeping watch over you while crying. But she was truly too tired after keeping watch for several days, so we only just managed to persuade her to rest.”
“What about Young Master Tang?”
“Honored Master Tang is still in the mountains searching for his cherished beast and has yet to return.”
Xi Canhen’s heart ached when he heard that there was still no confirmation on the fate of the little tiger.
He was just about to say sothing when Shi ng walked in.
Upon seeing Shi ng, Xi Canhen struggled to rise, but Shi ng pressed him back down. “Your injuries aren’t healed yet, so there’s no need for the excess courtesy.”
Xi Canhen propped up his body and said, “Young Master Shi ng, my thanks for taking care of this lowly one.”
The maid brought over a chair, and Shi ng sat down next to the bed. “There’s no need to be polite. I took care of you partially because you are Tang Jie’s servant, so I cannot neglect you. And it is also because there are so confusing things that I wish to question you about.”
“‘Confusing things’?”
Xi Canhen was mystified. Shi ng firmly nodded. “Yes. When I was treating you, I noticed so oddities about your body.”
Shi ng began to explain.
It turned out that Shi ng had noticed sothing strange about Xi Canhen’s body when he had gone to pick him up from Tang Jie. Soone with Xi Canhen’s injuries would have long since died in those intervening days, but Xi Canhen had managed to hold on and even crawl down the mountain. How strong did one’s constitution have to be for one to do this?
Only after Shi ng had inspected Xi Canhen’s body did he find that his ridians were particularly broad and strong, and he had inexplicably opened a Spirit Eye. It was for this reason that he had been able to survive such injuries.
“Spiritual energy has the effect of strengthening the body, but for natural reasons, the effect is limited. But your body is different from others. Your ridians are particularly broad, and the spiritual energy that can flow through them is more plentiful than usual. Thus, the strengthening effect of the spiritual energy is stronger, which is why you were able to survive for so long. From what I know, you weren’t like this before you followed Tang Jie. Can you tell what happened to you while you were on your own?”
If Xi Canhen had really been this talented, Tang Jie would have seen it. Thus, sothing must have happened with Xi Canhen in this period of ti.
It was only after hearing Shi ng’s words that Xi Canhen understood why he had survived. He wasn’t an idiot and could roughly guess as to why this was, so he explained how he had forcibly cultivated the Heaven-Howling Dragon Tiger Mantra.
When Shi ng heard about how Xi Canhen had cultivated the Heaven-Howling Dragon Tiger Mantra and survived, he was speechless.
He had heard of the Heaven-Howling Dragon Tiger Mantra as a mantra that could achieve the Great Dao, but ca with much risk. While it provided swift success, it ca at the potential cost of one’s life. The Heaven-Howling Dragon Tiger Mantra was a fierce mantra that used a strong and forceful spiritual energy, and this shock might have widened Xi Canhen’s ridians. But widening in these circumstances normally led the ridians to fracture. To put it bluntly, widening ant rupture, so why was Xi Canhen still alive and fine?
Shi ng didn’t understand this.
He didn’t know that this was thanks to the little tiger’s blood, plus the dicinal power of the ten-thousand-year ox bezoar. Their combined effect, plus an imnse chance factor, had led to this success, so even if the sa conditions were given again, the sa outco might not occur.
As for Xi Canhen’s current body, to put it simply: ridians were like pipes. Other people cultivated to increase the capacity of their water tank, but Xi Canhen had decided to get bigger pipes before he had even finished his water tank.
“It’s no wonder you were able to break free of Xie Yu’s seal and stab your sword into his body. It’s because your Spirit Eye was already open and your ridians had been widened. With your expanded ridians, you can unleash the power of an average Spirit Disciple for an instant. Given that he was treating you as a mortal, he would naturally suffer a loss.”
Xi Canhen asked, “Young Master Shi ng, then do you an that I will have the strength comparable to a Spirit Disciple in the future?”
“Nonsense!” Shi ng curled his lip in scorn. “Your ridians are just broader and thicker, allowing them to transfer more spiritual energy and allowing for a more explosive burst of power.”
“So doesn’t that an that when I cast a spell, it will be more powerful than usual?” Xi Canhen cautiously asked.
Rather than insulting him, Shi ng actually nodded and said, “Yes. All of your ridians have been expanded, and are particularly good at transmitting spiritual energy, so for the sa spell art, it would use 30% more energy and be 30% more powerful.”
“Oh, that’s great!” Xi Canhen clenched his fist.
Shi ng replied, “Don’t celebrate too early. There are both upsides and downsides to this. The upside is naturally that your spell arts will be stronger, but the downside is that they cost you more. This is unfavorable for long battles and also ans that your daily cultivation ti will be reduced. For the sa amount of spiritual energy, I can train one hundred tis while you can only train seventy-six tis.”
Xi Canhen imdiately replied, “Then I’ll just learn fewer spell arts and only pick the strong ones! There are many spell arts, and when it cos to killing soone, only one or two are really needed.”
Shi ng was taken aback.
While this youth wasn’t that old, he had a very clear-minded way of seeing the world.
Shi ng couldn’t help but nod. “Besides that, not every spell art’s power is related to spiritual energy consumption. So spell arts are the sa no matter how much spiritual energy you use. This is particularly true after you enter Mortal Shedding and can harness the might of the world. In this aspect, the waste might be more than the improvent.”
“But sothing is out there that will suit , right?” Xi Canhen asked.
Shi ng nodded. “Yes. There are myriad spell arts in the world, so there will always be one that fits you. But this is the last and most troubleso problem. We’ve never seen anyone in your situation before, so nobody knows how to help you. I fear that not even Tang Jie would know how to assist you in your cultivation.”
“Is that so?” Xi Canhen dropped his head for a while. “Then I suppose I’ll think as I go. If it’s no good, I can just continue cultivating the Heaven-Howling Dragon Tiger Mantra. In any case, this life of mine should have already been lost. I’ll just see how far I can go.”
Shi ng couldn’t help but smile at how open-minded the youth was being. “For you to have this sort of mindset is for the best. You’re still healing, so continue resting.”
Xi Canhen remained in the Wei Estate to recuperate. His wounds healed very quickly—after two days, he could walk, and after another two days, he was completely healed. While this was partially due to Shi ng’s skill with the Returning Spring spell, it also had to do with his own strong body. Putting aside whatever disadvantages his widened ridians had, at least they were much better when it ca to having spiritual energy nourish his body.
Oh, maybe I can take the body refiner path, Xi Canhen couldn’t help but think.
But this idea quickly passed, for he rembered that Tang Jie was also a body refiner. He had sworn an oath to follow Tang Jie, but if he walked the sa path as his master, then there would be very few places where he could show his power. While young, he had constantly been rushing around to make a living, so he had long ago understood that a person who wanted to live a good life first had to find their position. They had to make themselves useful, to have abilities that other people did not. Of course, if he were asked to summarize this experience in words, he wouldn’t be able to do it. However, while working, Xi Canhen would inadvertently try to do everything he could to grasp what other people did not.
He had the aptitude to be a body refiner, but Tang Jie was also a body refiner, so how could he best use his advantage while not overlapping with Tang Jie?
The youth began to rack his mind for ideas.
Several days went by, during which he thought about this problem in the small pavilion in the Wei Estate, sotis even ignoring his own sister. Bystanders didn’t know what he was doing and thought he had been rendered an imbecile. Privately, they gossiped that Xi Canhen must be suffering residual effects after being saved, with his mind occasionally going blank.
Xi Canhen ignored them and continued to think.
One day, Xi Canhen was still sitting in the garden pavilion when a girl wearing a green dress rushed out of a bush, jumped up to Xi Canhen’s ear, and yelled. But Xi Canhen didn’t seem to feel anything, indifferently saying, “I saw you ages ago. You can’t scare anyone like that.”
The girl pursed her lips. “Big Brother, I can’t believe you. Even though I was so well-hidden, you still managed to spot .”
It was Xi Canhen’s little sister, Xi Shangyue.
Xi Canhen placed his hands on the back of his head and said, “Because you’re dumb. While the bush can hide your body, when you move around, you’ll hit the leaves and make a noise. While you can’t see soone, you can hear them. How could I not know that soone was sneaking up on ?”
“Big Brother, you’re aweso!” The girl clapped her hands and smiled.
“Of course. You forgot that your big brother ca out of the mines. In that place, anything can happen for the sake of so ore. Soone could co out of the shadows at any ti with a knife…” Xi Canhen made a slicing motion across his neck, intentionally speaking in a scary tone. “And then, while you’re lying in a pool of blood, you won’t imdiately die. You’ll be able to see your murderer steal everything you have and then go back to lurking in the darkness.”
The girl went deathly pale, backing away several steps. Gritting her teeth, she said, “Brother, you’re so bad, trying to trick Shangyue again! If it was really that dangerous, then why are you still okay?”
Xi Canhen put his hands on his waist and said, “That’s because I’m an expert in this field. If I want to hide, no one can find . Once I cultivate so spell arts, I’ll be able to hide my traces so well that even Immortal masters of the great sects might not be able to sense !”
Xi Canhen suddenly froze as if he had realized sothing. He suddenly stood up and began to think.
Xi Shangyue saw his behavior and muttered, “It’s over. He’s like that again.”
But she tactfully chose to not disturb him.
After so ti, Xi Canhen jumped, hugged his little sister, and shouted, “I know what I should do now!”
At that mont, he finally knew what sort of choice to make for his life!
Starting from this day, Xi Canhen began to seek instruction on various concealnt spell arts from Shi ng.
As it turned out, Shi ng was sowhat of an expert on such spell arts. In their team of three, he was the one who dabbled in a lot but wasn’t really good at anything, but this was exactly why he was more suited to be a teacher than Tang Jie in so fields. His thoughts were perhaps not as profound as Tang Jie’s, but he was superior when it ca to an all-around understanding of spell arts. After all, he had learned simply too many of them.
While Shi ng was surprised that Xi Canhen wanted to learn concealnt spell arts, he didn’t refuse him. After all, Basking Moon Academy mainly banned the transmission of primary cultivation mantras like the Lesser Sea Grotto tal Mantra. When it ca to spell arts, so long as it wasn’t a secret Divine Firmant art, there weren’t many restrictions.
Xi Canhen learned spell arts from Shi ng during the day and cultivated the Heaven-Howling Dragon Tiger Mantra at night. His Spirit Eye was already open, and though it hadn’t beco a Spirit Spring, he could still be considered an official Spirit Platform Disciple. Thus, it took him only a few days to grasp the lowest-level Aura Restraint spell.
Aura Restraint wasn’t true stealth, but a ans of restraining one’s aura so that it didn’t leak out. Although it was a very low-level spell art, it was very practical. In the future, if he got stronger, it could even be used to avoid the detection of another person’s Divine Will.
After learning Aura Restraint, Xi Canhen tried it out within the Wei Estate. As Aura Restraint did not conceal the body, it couldn’t fool people, but it could fool cats, dogs, mice, and other such creatures that were more sensitive to aura.
At tis, when a mouse was walking around, it would only notice Xi Canhen when he had co up right behind it, upon which it would scamper off.
Even more often, Xi Canhen would walk up to a small dog and make a loud noise, making the dog bark and run off, much to the amusent of the maids. These monts of chaos in the Wei Estate sowhat lightened the heavy mood hanging over it.
The heavy mood was because Wei Tianchong had gone to his father’s study upon his return and said sothing to him. From that day forward, Wei Danbai hadn’t had a very good look on his face—not that he usually did.
Sothing was brewing in the Wei Estate.
Xi Canhen had felt it.
But he didn’t know exactly what it was.
Tang Jie still hadn’t returned from Mount Eternal, and with each day that Tang Jie didn’t return, the mood grew heavier and heavier, and the master’s temper grew worse and worse. A few days ago, he had inexplicably beaten a servant, cursing him as an “ungrateful thing” and driving him from the estate.
Today, Xi Canhen went to seek out Shi ng’s advice on so cultivation problems, but as he got close, he spotted Shi ng speaking with soone. From the look of it, he was speaking with Wu Xing.
Xi Canhen imdiately wondered if he could try and listen in on their conversation without them noticing.
He didn’t have the ability to walk past Shi ng without him noticing, but if he found a hiding spot beforehand, he had a chance of escaping his perception.
He imdiately retreated into a flower bush, restraining his aura and slowly lding with the darkness.
Nearby, Wu Xing walked as he talked, saying, “In other words, Tang Jie is still not willing to forgive the clan head?”
Shi ng walked with his hands held behind his back, sighing, “I understand Tang Jie. He’s soone who values his relationships. The little tiger had been with him for many years, and he treated the little tiger like his own child. For the clan head to give up on the little tiger for the sake of mortal profits was truly unwise. It is hard to bla Tang Jie for being mad.”
“The problem is that we cultivators were able to get this far thanks to mortal silver,” Wu Xing replied. “Didn’t the clan head let us enter the academy so that we could attain Immortal arts and serve the clan? Was this all done instead so that the clan could serve the cultivator?”
“Yes, that’s where the problem is,” Shi ng sighed. “If it weren’t the little tiger, I’m sure that Tang Jie would have happily accepted this explanation. But he won’t accept it if it cos at the cost of the people at his side.”
“A tiger is not a person.”
“That’s only how mortals see it. A fiend tiger at Mind Opening is no different from a person. You should understand that.”
“But you can’t completely bla the Wei Estate for what happened. Even if the Wei Estate had gone, it might not have been able to resolve the problem.”
Shi ng shook his head. “Tang Jie already asked so people from the Stone Gate Sect, and he confird that the one who pursued Xi Canhen was called Xie Yu, at the second level of Nine Revolutions and of average strength. He would have been no match for the combined might of the Wei Clan’s several Spirit Masters. He began his pursuit shortly after Tang Jie had notified the Wei Clan, which ans that if everyone had done as Tang Jie had planned, nothing would have happened to the little tiger.”
Wu Xing’s face fell.
Shi ng sighed. “If the Wei Estate didn’t want to do it, they could have just refused from the outset instead of accepting the task and then slacking off. There was no problem with Tang Jie’s plan. The problem was with the people carrying out the plan, so how could he not be resentful? The Wei Estate has shown great kindness to Tang Jie, but has Tang Jie not generously repaid the Wei Estate? All that he has already done for the Wei Estate is sothing that so people could go their entire lives without achieving. Has he not already returned a hundred, a thousand tis more than what he took from the Wei Estate?”
Wu Xing’s face turned red. He knew that Shi ng had partially been talking about him in those words. He had also been supported by the Wei Estate to enter the academy, but Wu Xing’s contribution to the clan was pitiful compared to the investnt. But this was the case for the vast majority of students. Ultimately, after vast sums of money had been expended on them, they could beco core mbers of the clan so as to repay their debts.
As for Tang Jie, he was a pleasant surprise.
Alas, so people had taken his contributions as deserved repaynt, taking it for granted, and his status had naturally fallen with the rise of this attitude.
Of course, not everyone would look down on him. At least Zheng Shufeng would not. Unfortunately, Wei Danbai was the exact opposite.
He was too used to his status as “master”.
Even though they understood this, Wu Xing and Shi ng would not state it openly.
Wu Xing asked, “Then how do you feel like Tang Jie will handle this affair?”
Shi ng thought it over and shook his head. “I don’t know, but I don’t think Tang Jie will do anything too bad to the Wei Clan over this. He’s not that sort of person.”
“I don’t think he’s that sort of person either. Then will he leave the Wei Clan?” Wu Xing asked.
Shi ng shook his head. “He swore a great aspiration, so he will not.”
“That’s good,” Wu Xing sighed in relief. “I can go and report to the First Young Master now.”
Shi ng frowned. “All you care about is whether you can still use Tang Jie and if he will do you any harm. Have you never considered his personal feelings?”
Wu Xing went red in the face. “In the end, I’m a mber of the Wei Clan, so I have to think for the sake of the Wei Clan. Besides… the Wei Clan has treated my parents very well.”
Shi ng coldly shot back, “But not because of you!”
Wu Xing paled, but he ultimately turned and left.
As he watched Wu Xing leave, Shi ng muttered, “None of you get Tang Jie… You think that if Tang Jie doesn’t leave the Wei Clan or strike against the Wei Clan, h
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