Chapter 64: The Gathering Storm

On the cave walls, a ghastly white light emanated, as if entering the body of some giant skeletal beast.

Passing through a long tunnel, one saw that the interior was a world of its own.

In the central cavern, a scarlet carpet was spread out, with masked Bone Messengers and the alluringly dressed Miao Yu standing on either side.

Behind them, several black-robed figures clustered, vaguely divided into two groups.

The scarlet carpet stretched to its end.

At the end, bones formed steps, and flesh formed a platform. Upon the high platform, a throne with jagged bone spurs was forged.

Upon the throne sat a skeleton. Frail, withered, as if a gust of wind would scatter it.

But a voice echoed from the skeleton's empty mouth: "Who can tell this seat, where has the Nether Candle gone?"

An elderly man in black robes fell to his knees with a thud: "Your subordinate is incompetent!"

The voice remained hollow, seemingly devoid of emotion: "Then who can tell me, who is responsible for this disastrous operation?"

The black-robed elder glanced at the Bone Messenger, but saw that the man stood motionless, with no intention of speaking on his behalf. He had no choice but to slam his head heavily against the ground: "Your subordinate... deserves to die."

Before the words were finished, he suddenly looked up, horrified: "Grand Elder! I beg..."

A gust of Yin wind seemed to blow past.

A black robe fell limply to the ground, and beneath it, only a pile of bone powder remained.

He had simply died like that.

"Indeed, deserves to die." The skeleton continued: "The Way of Bones has been passed down with difficulty to this day, and its techniques are largely incomplete. The Nether Candle is a treasure of our sect, its secrets passed down, capable of aiding me in completing the lost techniques. Yet you were so incompetent, missing the opportunity for nothing!"

At this moment, the Bone Messenger spoke: "I recall, the Holy Maiden had laid down a contingency plan."

Miao Yu smiled charmingly: "Only with the Messenger's initial move, can there be my contingency plan. However, several days have already passed. My people have also heard nothing, I wonder if they were killed by Wei Quji, or eaten by some wild cats or dogs."

The Bone Messenger laughed: "What initial move, how am I unaware?"

"Enough." From the bone throne, the skeleton said: "Since Wei Quji is using the Nether Candle as bait, it means he already knows that it was our Way of Bones that slapped his face. But he is not clear on what the Nether Candle means to us. He has killed enough people, and will no longer care so much about the Nether Candle, I want you to dig three feet into the ground and find out who the Nether Candle fell into the hands of."

"Yes." Everyone lowered their heads.

"Also, recently I will have major movements in the Cloud Kingdom, all of you act with more discretion." After the Grand Elder finished speaking, the skeleton instantly fell apart, the bones scattering upon the bone throne.

Miao Yu waved her hand, and the people in the cave dispersed, leaving only the Bone Messenger and herself.

The Bone Messenger snorted first: "The Third Elder used his body as a guide, condensing the phantom of the Gate of the Underworld. Was it for him to go to the Cloud Kingdom to show off his power?"

"Who says it isn't?" Miao Yu frowned slightly: "The Grand Elder now, seems not to care so much about finding the Dao Child."

"Hahahaha." The Bone Messenger left with his hands behind his back: "Without the Dao Child, he acts as the Holy Lord. When the Dao Child appears, he will truly just be the Grand Elder. What do you think he will choose?"

……

Every time Jiang Wang came to the Art Academy, he was somewhat absent-minded.

For no other reason than that he had not yet laid his foundation. No matter how wonderfully the instructors lectured, he could only practice in his mind, unable to quench his thirst, and unable to have a deep understanding.

Compared to other students, Jiang Wang was more willing to attend scripture classes, listening to the old gentlemen explain the principles of the Great Dao and the classics of the sages, which he found enjoyable.

But he did not dare to skip these classes at the Art Academy, especially since this class was taught by Xiao Tiemian.

Xiao Tiemian's real name was no longer remembered. Although he was only a seventh-grade Tongtian Realm cultivator, his control over various basic Dao techniques was truly profound, skilled, and seasoned.

The class had not yet started, and Jiang Wang sat on the prayer cushion, somewhat dazed.

He was still recalling last night's Blessed Land challenge, but he could not analyze any more details.

Because as soon as the battle began, he did not even have time to draw his sword, and his movements were terminated by an arrow.

He had fallen from the Qingyu Altar to the twenty-fifth-ranked Guangtian Altar, and his monthly merit production had decreased again by one hundred, leaving him with only 1650 points. Adding the 190 points left over from deducing the Four Spirits Body Refinement Technique, he had a total of 1840 points of merit.

Outside the Illusory Realm of Taixu, he had four hundred points of Dao merit left on the Dao Merit List. This was all of Jiang Wang's assets related to cultivation.

Although Zhao Rucheng would not use the Dao Academy's Meridian Opening Pill to open his meridians, he had still exchanged for one, probably to hide something. He was unwilling to elaborate, and Jiang Wang did not ask.

According to this kid's bragging, he would use a super invincible and perfect Meridian Opening Pill to open his meridians, but unfortunately he only had one, and there was no way to share it with Jiang An'an.

Jiang Wang then asked him how many Dao merits would be needed to exchange for this "super invincible and perfect" Meridian Opening Pill.

Zhao Rucheng did not say the specific amount, but patted him on the shoulder and told him to work hard.

In short, raising his sister in luxury was a heavy responsibility and a long road.

In a daze, Xiao Tiemian had already walked onto the podium.

Jiang Wang quickly gathered his spirit and put on a diligent appearance of listening attentively.

"Some people, don't think that they have achieved a little success and their tails are wagging in the sky. The road of cultivation is very long, young people, you must have a long-term vision." Xiao Tiemian coughed, "Okay, next we will talk about the specific application of the Stone Skin Technique in battle..."

Jiang Wang's heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't understand why he was being targeted again. But he didn't dare to show it on his face, but instead became more serious.

After the class, as soon as Xiao Tiemian left, Huang A'zhan came over from the corner.

"Aaaaah this dead face! He's targeting you so much, can you stand it? Come with me to smash his windows tonight, what do you say, are you in?"

Seeing Huang A'zhan, Jiang Wang immediately understood why he was being targeted. This was probably like the fire at the city gate affecting the fish in the pond.

Usually being close to Huang A'zhan, he was remembered by Xiao Tiemian along with him.

"Go if you want to go yourself." Jiang Wang certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to accompany him.

"I'm telling you, this time I have a meticulous plan..."

"Stop!" Jiang Wang stopped his long speech and changed the subject: "We have an appointment with Senior Brother Li Jianqiu for dinner, do you want to go with us?"

"Hmph, you just don't believe me. I'm telling you, last time I was drunk, otherwise with his Xiao..." Seeing Jiang Wang turn around and leave, Huang A'zhan quickly caught up: "I'll go!"

Zhao Rucheng threw out a nonchalant sentence: "Everyone splits the bill for the meal."

Huang A'zhan pretended not to hear, put his arm around Ling He's shoulder, and started talking about his counterattack plan again.

Ling He was generous, although he certainly wouldn't collude with him, he wouldn't deliberately despise him either.

Young Master Zhao really had no way to deal with this senior brother from the previous class, his skin was so thick, he couldn't be pierced.

The organizer of this dinner was Li Jianqiu, he invited Jiang Wang and told him that he could bring some friends.

The location was at Su Huai Zhai. This store was more elegant than Wangyue Tower, but it mainly served vegetarian food. Jiang Wang and the others, who ate large chunks of meat and drank large bowls of wine, had naturally not been there much.

Entering the private room, only Li Jianqiu was sitting alone.

Everyone was already familiar with each other, so there wasn't too much formality, and they directly started enjoying the delicacies.

Du Yehu was the one who disliked vegetarian food the most, especially those so-called amazing skills of using vegetarian dishes to make roast chicken flavor and beef flavor, he sneered at them. His reason was, why bother spending so much effort, why not just go eat roast chicken and beef? Zhao Rucheng summed it up with the word "style," but it was useless to argue with him.

Fortunately, Du Yehu was not present now, and the others didn't have his problem.

During the meal, Huang A'zhan told an anecdote.

It was said that after Lin Zhengren returned to Wangjiang City, he was full of pride, and publicly declared at the cleansing banquet that he was invincible at the Three Cities Debate, and that there was no one in Sanshan City and Fenglin City. Zhu Weiwo had just returned to the Dao Academy not long ago. After hearing about this, he grabbed his spear and left, going straight down the Green Willow River in a lone boat, and went to Wangjiang City along the Qingjiang River.

They should have already started fighting.

Jiang Wang doubted: "Judging from Lin Zhengren's performance at the Three Cities Debate, he is not this kind of person, he shouldn't have said those words, right?"

Li Jianqiu laughed: "Senior Brother Zhu is just finding an excuse to beat him up, whether he said those words or not! Since it has been spread, then let's just say he said it."

He had more contact with Zhu Weiwo, so he naturally understood him better.

Although Jiang Wang had only met him once, he also felt that what Li Jianqiu said was very much in Zhu Weiwo's style.

"Overbearing!"

"Awesome!"

"Senior Brother is mighty!"

"Okay, people aren't here, you can pat his butt all you want, he won't hear it." Li Jianqiu waved his hand and directly cut to the chase: "Sanshan City has been plagued by beast disasters recently. Yesterday, their city lord launched a reward, inviting experts to help them clear out the fierce beasts. This is the largest-scale operation in Sanshan City in recent years, and I plan to form a team to go there, how about it, are you willing to go with me?"