Tang Jie silently smiled.

Xu Miaoran stood up. “I don’t want to meet the people from your Basking Moon Academy, as I might get angry. So we might as well part ways here.”

She sounded rather sad when she said “part ways”.

Tang Jie indifferently said, “Since we met, we must have some connection with each other, so I’m sure we will meet again in the future.”

“Is that so…?” Xu Miaoran looked around, and then she suddenly placed an item in Tang Jie’s hand.

Tang Jie looked down and saw that it was a paper crane, and with it was a small jade pendant. The pendant still carried a sliver of warmth from Xu Miaoran’s hand.

“This is…?” Tang Jie looked at Xu Miaoran.

“The paper crane is the long-distance message talisman my mother gave to me. It can only be used once, and you can write your message on it. The jade pendant can receive messages. Sageheart and Endsea don’t have communication lines with each other, so we’ll have to use this as a substitute. One day, if you get to Endsea, you just need to burn the paper crane for me to get the message. And while you’re here, you can get any information that I send to you. Of course, you can only receive and not send.”

Xu Miaoran began to back away. Waving her hand at Tang Jie, she said, “I hope that it’s as you say and that we meet again someday.”

With a flap of her sleeves, she floated into the distance, leaving in a graceful and elegant fashion.

Tang Jie watched as her figure disappeared, and for a moment, he felt rather disappointed and frustrated.

After a long while, he saw that the rainbow cloud had landed on Fairy Peak, and he began to make his way back.

A dark-faced, middle-aged man stood in White Rose Cloud Monastery. Xin Yue had come, and with him were two cultivators from the local Basking Moon branch. Tang Jie did not recognize them.

Upon seeing Xin Yue, Tang Jie cupped a fist in his hand and said, “Paying respects to the esteemed teacher. Esteemed Teacher Xin, why did you come to Fairy Peak?”

“The Nankou Branch received news early this morning from Fairy Peak, and when they learned that you were here, they immediately reported it to the sect. The sect sent the news to the academy, and the headmaster ordered me to bring you back,” Xin Yue coldly answered.

As he looked at Tang Jie, there was a flash of surprise in his eyes. “It seems that not only did Gu Changqing not do anything to you, you even experienced a breakthrough. Have you already broken into Spirit Lake?”

“Esteemed Teacher, this student truly has entered Spirit Lake.”

Xin Yue was momentarily speechless.

A student who had been kidnapped by Godhead Palace had not only managed to escape safe and whole from his captors, he was even seeing the sights and had broken into the Spirit Lake Tier. This was truly…

Xin Yue stared at Tang Jie and finally said, “I see. Pack your things and come back with me. You can save anything you have to say for once we get back to the academy.”

“Yes, Esteemed Teacher,” Tang Jie respectfully replied.

Finally, he was returning to Basking Moon Academy!

Basking Moon Academy.

Westwatch Pavilion.

This was where the office of the headmaster was located.

Xie Fengtang didn’t like his office at Westwatch Pavilion. Those who cultivated Immortality valued freedom, and a fixed office always felt like a restriction to him. Thus, Westwatch Pavilion was empty most of the time.

But today, in a rare sight, Xie Fengtang was sitting on that chair of his in Westwatch Pavilion.

Across from him stood Tang Jie, his arms hanging by his sides.

As he looked at Tang Jie, Xie Fengtang suddenly smiled.

At the very start, he had felt furious over Tang Jie’s actions, but as time passed, his anger had diminished, to be replaced by admiration for Tang Jie’s daring and willingness to go all-out to succeed.

“Tell me: how did you manage to kill Gu Changqing? Why did you not immediately return after killing Gu Changqing, instead choosing to wander about?” Xie Fengtang leisurely asked.

Tang Jie knew that the Heavenly Extinction Sect had probably reported everything to the Basking Moon Sect. Thankfully, he was ready. He gave a basic summary of all that he had encountered while with Gu Changqing, emphasizing Gu Changqing’s serious injuries in his battles with the Pine Tree Gate and the Hawk Hall disciples, and also about he had stayed around Gu Changqing for a long while before finally seizing the chance to turn the tables and kill him.

In any case, since the Heavenly Extinction Sect had seen none of this, he could say whatever he wanted.

Xie Fengtang looked suspiciously at Tang Jie. “Even if Gu Changqing was heavily injured, he should have sealed your spiritual energy, yes? Given his superhuman abilities, so long as he still drew breath, you shouldn’t have been able to kill him.”

“Then I probably owe it to a sprite that this student discovered while hiding out in the Cloud Marsh.”

“A sprite?”

“Yes.” Tang Jie went with the flow and brought up Yiyi. He essentially said that he had luckily encountered a sprite in the Cloud Marsh, and Yiyi had assisted him by providing him with spiritual energy. Gu Changqing was heavily injured and hadn’t expected Tang Jie’s sudden explosion of strength, allowing the sneak attack to succeed. After this, Tang Jie discovered that he was about to break through, so he immediately began to cultivate and entered Spirit Lake. He then took Yiyi and began to make his way back to the academy, and while he was passing by Fairy Peak, he took care of a remnant of the Ghost Dao.

It was a recount that mixed both truth and fiction. It made sense, and there were no living witnesses to say otherwise, so not even Xie Fengtang suspected there to be anything wrong.

In truth, he was more concerned about something else.

He took out the letters from the box Tang Jie had sent off, and he threw them in front of Tang Jie. “So how do you explain these letters?”

Tang Jie paled, and he immediately dropped to his knees. “This student is guilty. I should not have deceived the academy!”

“Bastard! Now you understand your crimes? Did you know? Because of your actions, Godhead Palace and the Basking Moon Sect have almost broken out into open hostilities!” Xie Fengtang bellowed.

No matter how much he admired Tang Jie, at least when he spoke these words, Xie Fengtang’s anger was real.

“If this student had known this, he would have never done such a thing.”

“What’s the point in saying that now? What I don’t understand is who gave you the guts to do this!”

“It was this student himself! This student knew that his aptitude was mediocre, of humble talent and shallow learning. To become an Immortal, I needed to seize every opportunity I had!”

“Did you never think of the consequences?” Xie Fengtang sinisterly said.

“I would die at worst… In the cultivation world, is it only Tang Jie who dares to take risks in order to advance?” Tang Jie pronounced.

Xie Fengtang’s heart trembled. As he looked at Tang Jie, he felt like he was seeing his younger self.

There was a time when he also had once been willing to give up everything to sprint forward on the path of cultivation and become an Immortal!

At that time…

Xie Fengtang sighed.

“‘You would die at worst’… Death is easily talked about, but only when it’s there do you realize how frightening it is. You’ve fallen into the hands of the Hawk Hall, and I’m sure that you tasted a little of death. You must realize that to say that ‘dying at worst’ isn’t as easy to say anymore.”

“Yes, in that time, this student truly did feel remorse, but remorse is useless. The mistake has been made, so all this student can do is calmly bear it.”

“Calmly bear it? I’m afraid that you might not be able to take the consequences!” Xie Fengtang’s voice turned harsh and cold. “Since you dared to deceive the academy, I trust that you have prepared to receive the punishment.”

“Why isn’t he out yet?” Wei Tianchong rubbed his hands and anxiously paced back and forth outside of Westwatch Pavilion. Next to him was Shi Meng.

Besides them, Cai Junyang, Shu Mingyang, Liu Hongyan, and Ping Jingyue were also present. Besides them, even those who had rather shallow relationships and those who had no relationship with him at all were here. In fact, the courtyard in front of Westwatch Pavilion was packed with people. The news of Tang Jie’s return had already spread throughout the academy.

From the day he had been kidnapped by the Hawk Hall, Tang Jie’s name had resounded throughout Basking Moon Academy, and even the most secluded cultivation maniac had learned his name.

A string of incidents had followed. The Basking Moon Sect had mobilized with thunderous momentum, the Hawk Hall had fled and counterattacked like madmen, and the Basking Moon Sect had put the entire country on watch for them, further stimulating everyone’s nerves and making Tang Jie’s name impossible to forget.

Not long after that, Godhead Palace received word that claimed that the Basking Moon Sect had fabricated a Tang Jiye to entrap Godhead Palace. The Basking Moon Sect naturally couldn’t accept this charge and believed that Godhead Palace was making up false charges. The two of them had engaged in a verbal war, and Godhead Palace had even sent emissaries to the Basking Moon Sect to demand an explanation. The two sides had their daggers drawn at each other, and the Beast Refining Gate was stirring the pot in the shadows, and so a war had almost started. In the end, though, they didn’t actually fight. Both sects expelled the opposing side’s students, and they were still on their way back. Meanwhile, the relationship between Godhead Palace and the Basking Moon Sect was rapidly worsening.

It had only been forty-some days, but the political situation in the Rosecloud Domain had abruptly become tense, and the trigger behind all of this was Tang Jie.

One could say that this one minor character had affected the course of the Rosecloud Domain’s entire history. Future history books were certain to emphasize his name.

For this reason, some people even envied Tang Jie, saying, “If I cultivated Immortality like Tang Jie, even if I couldn’t reach the apex of the Immortal path, I would at least be known throughout the world.”

But after causing all this trouble, Tang Jie had come back completely fine!

How could the students of the academy not care about this?

They had gathered in front of Westwatch Pavilion to await the decision.

Wei Tianchong and the others were anxious over Tang Jie’s fate, but there were also people who were there to delight in his misery.

You Shaofeng smugly laughed. “Pretending to be Tang Jiye and deceiving the school! Such audacity means that even if he was able to escape Godhead Palace’s Hawk Hall, the Basking Moon Sect won’t let him go! In my view, this sort of person will probably have their cultivation crippled and then be expelled from the academy!”

“The hell are you saying?” Wei Tianchong turned furious and tried to beat up You Shaofeng. But Shi Meng held him tight and shouted at his young master to calm down.

On the side, Hua Yang sneered, “Wei Tianchong, you can’t escape punishment either. Tang Jie is your servant student, and it’s only because of your slack discipline that this sort of thing happened. The entire Rosecloud Domain almost fell into war because of you two, and you still have the face to criticize me? In my opinion, Tang Jie deserves to get his cultivation crippled, and you should be expelled from the academy too!”

“Fuck you!” Wei Tianchong cursed, but before he could say more, Cai Junyang stopped him.

He coldly glanced at Hua Yang and said, “Hua Yang, you’re still a member of the Freedom Society, so why is it that you speak up for them rather than supporting members of your own club? How has Tang Jie offended you, that you would treat him like this? Yue’er has no interest in you, and that won’t change no matter how much you slander Tang Jie.”

Hua Yang became so angry that his face turned red. He glanced at Ping Jingyue, who angrily told him, “Hua Yang, you’ve gone too far!”

“Good, good! So you’re all blaming me,” Hua Yang angrily laughed. “I’d like to see what good standing up for Tang Jie does for all of you. Tang Jie, don’t think that I don’t know your plans. This Tang Jie isn’t Tang Jiye, so you can put away that affection of yours now! As for the Freedom Society, I’m leaving the club!”