Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“The two of you recognize this object?” Lonemoon asked.

“Of course we do,” Ling Wen Xuan answered. He looked up at the group, overwhelmed with guilt. “This is the golden dagger of the academy’s law enforcement teacher. He uses it to summon people who have broken the law for a hearing.”

The moment he finished speaking, a similar looking white light shot into the room. This time, it stopped right in front of Ling Hong. It did not make any move to attack him, like the previous one did to Lonemoon. The previous one probably tried to attack Lonemoon because of the sword Qi surrounding his body.

“You mean to say that the Immortal Academy is sending for me?” He stared blankly at them. He wasn’t even a disciple of the Immortal Academy. What was he sending him for?

“It looks like we’ve gotten our fellow Daoist in trouble,” Ling Wen Xuan said in a guilty manner. “If I’m not wrong, the academy is now sending for you and Ling Hong because of what happened in the first round of the competition.”

“The first round?” Lonemoon hesitated.

Ling Hong also reacted immediately, “Isn’t the first round already over?”

“But what you did in that mystic realm…” He looked over at Lonemoon and the others and said gingerly, “The competition was too… surprising. It caused the academics to suspect something was amiss, especially because you and Ling Fei were in the third group, yet you managed to obtain over 60 array flags. Of course the academy would look into it.”

“Didn’t we come to a conclusion on that already?” Nobody in the mystic realm on that day would have told the truth behind what happened, right?

“Most of the disciples who were in the mystic realm that day obviously didn’t tell the academy,” Ling Wen Xuan said as he frowned. “But someone definitely would!”

Ling Hong started, as if suddenly realising something. His eyes widened. “Ren Qing!” His expression darkened as he cursed under his breath, “This bastard again!”

“Fellow Daoist Lonemoon…” He turned to Lonemoon, wrecked with worry. “The few of you got into trouble this time because you came to help my brother. That Ren Qing and I have an ongoing feud. That’s why he told on you on purpose. If the academy decides to pursue this matter… Please just tell them that we are the masterminds behind this entire thing.”

“That’s right,” Ling Wen Xuan added. “It’s us Ren Qing wants to go up against. This has nothing to do with you all.”

“You’re taking this too seriously!” Lonemoon smiled. There was not even a hint of worry on his face. “We conducted the sale in the mystic realm with our own interests at heart. How can we say it had nothing to do with us? What’s more… Is there a rule that states we are not allowed to conduct sales during the competition?”

“…” The two brothers stared blankly back at him. Indeed, there was not.

“So don’t worry,” Lonemoon said. “The teacher of your academy wants to see me, so I’ll go and see him.”

“But…” Ling Hong hesitated to say something else.

However, Lonemoon had already turned around to address his two other companions. “Chef, bring Shen Ying back to the inn. Make sure she doesn’t get lost! Also… No wandering outside!” With that, he turned back to Ling Hong and Ling Wen Xuan. “We’ve bothered you today. We’ll take our leave now! Fellow Daoist Ling Hong, let’s go.” They had had no opportunities to investigate the matter regarding the spirit seed thus far. Now that the opportunity had arisen, of course Lonemoon could not let it go to waste.

Thus, the group of them walked up and left Ling Wen Xuan behind, still wrecked with worry.

—————

On the way back to the academy, Lonemoon clarified what happened between this Ren Qing and the siblings from the Ling family. It was all born from jealousy and striking a man when he was down. It was much like how the disciples from the sects back home were always split between those from the inner yard and those from the outer yard. Since the Immortal Academy was so huge, it was only natural that they would be split into different cliques. Those of better quality were in the Heaven group – that was Ren Qing. The Ling siblings’ bodies were not of such good quality. Even Ling Wen Xuan’s body was considered just average. That was why they were all put into the third group in the beginning. But Ren Qing could not stop the siblings from working hard anyway.

Ling Wen Xuan was a prime example of how hard work pays off. He studied all the different cultivations very closely. Since he was also naturally intelligent, after he entered the Immortal Academy, he grew rapidly. He even surpassed people from the Heaven group. The first one to be displaced by Ling Wen Xuan was Ren Qing.

Of course, he was indignant. But in all of the rounds where they competed, he could not defeat Ling Wen Xuan. Instead, he was always defeated terribly. Later, Ling Wen Xuan even made it into the Heaven group. In the Immortal Academy, the groups all had fixed numbers. This was to facilitate logistical and administrative tasks. Adding Ling Wen Xuan into the Heaven group naturally meant that someone had to be pushed down. And unfortunately, that one person was Ren Qing.

This was why Ren Qing hated the Ling siblings. The two of them had not gotten along since then.

A month ago, when the Immortal Academy went out on a mission and met with a deviant beast, Ling Wen Xuan broke all the meridians in his two legs so that he could not walk ever again. Since there was no hope for a cure, the academy had no choice but to transfer him back down to the third group. Ren Qing naturally was promoted to the Heaven group once again. Since then, Ren Qing had become even meaner toward the Ling siblings. He consistently tried to get in their way of finding a cure for Ling Wen Xuan. This caused conflicts between the two of them to escalate.

After Lonemoon heard all of this, he pursed his lips. He began to imagine the classic scenario of the main lead, the underdog, defeating his bully in the end. He just could not figure out what Ren Qing’s motive was. Why did he refuse to let the Ling family off?

Both Ling Hong and Lonemoon chatted all the way back as Ling Hong led Lonemoon to a building. Inside sat a middle-aged man dressed in blue robes. He stared at the two incoming people with a somber expression on his face. Indeed, next to him sat Ren Qing, looking especially pleased with himself.

“Your disciple greets Teacher Yan.” Ling Hong bowed respectfully, but Lonemoon remained standing upright. Lonemoon cupped his fists to greet the teacher. He was not a disciple of the Immortal Academy. Of course there was no need for him to bow.

Yan Luo, seeing that Lonemoon had come alone without a teacher, frowned. He recalled what Ren Qing had told him earlier and heaved a sigh before saying in a low voice, “Do the two of you know your mistake?”

Ling Hong’s expression changed. He was just about to speak up, but Lonemoon beat him to it. “Teacher, may I ask what exactly our mistake was?”

“You still want to talk your wait out of it!” Yan Luo’s expression darkened. He pointed to the man next to him and said, “Ren Qing has already told me all that happened during the first round of the competition. The two of you worked together to disrupt the competition. You even held a sale for the array flags within the mystic realm. You’ve severely undermined the fairness of this competition.”

“Teacher Yan, we don’t understand this.” Lonemoon smiled even wider. “Since when did we do something like this? How come I don’t even know about it?”

“You’re not admitting it now?” Ren Qing interrupted. “I saw it all. You sold each array flag for 1,000,000 void currencies to all of the teams.”

“Hey, so it’s you!” Lonemoon finally turned to Ren Qing and seemed to recognize him for the first time. Grinning, he said, “That’s right. I forgot to ask – you didn’t manage to steal Ling Hong’s flags in the mystic realm. Did you manage to snatch anyone else’s?”

“Since when did I snatch his flags?” Ren Qing stared blankly at Lonemoon.

“Did you not do that right at the beginning?” Lonemoon continued. “Didn’t you chase Ling Hong and the others right from the beginning, I thought fighting within the sect was characteristic of the Immortal Academy? Otherwise, Ling Hong would not have joined forces with me either.”