“Then have someone catch her… Tsk, the people of Wanhuagu are also experts at changing faces. I’m afraid she won’t be found now.” The Tiandao Sect Venerable couldn’t help but tsk.
“Even if those under suspicion are all Demonic Cultivators, the Demonic Path’s movement this time is the smallest it’s been in recent years…”
“That’s natural. That old fogey from Tianmomen is trying to break through to the Saint rank. The entire Tianmomen can’t spare the effort to meddle here. Aren’t our Saint Sect Leaders also thinking of ways to interfere with that old guy’s breakthrough?” the Tiandao Sect Venerable continued to grumble.
It was foreseeable that the Demonic Path would remain like this for the next few years. They would certainly think about causing trouble, but it wouldn’t be anything too major.
After losing the help of a major power, the Demonic Path Alliance was already a loose pile of sand, each with their own calculations.
With one party suddenly pulling out, the other demonic factions would naturally hold back some strength and avoid getting serious with the Saint Sect.
The Saints of the Saint Sect were also doing everything they could to stop the breakthrough of Tianmomen’s Dragon Venerable.
But because they didn’t know his exact breakthrough location, they could only use various indirect means to interfere, and the actual results were unknown.
It was rumored that while the Ascension Gathering was attracting everyone’s attention, the Saints of the Saint Sect were exerting great effort to calculate the Dragon Venerable’s location.
No one knew if it was true or not.
“Then if a Demonic Sect Saint comes to the Ascension Gathering to cause trouble, won’t we be caught off guard?” the Lingcaifeng Master suddenly asked.
Fenghua Venerable finally caught an opportunity and let out two laughs.
“Don’t worry, my Shijie is nearby. Even if a Demonic Path Saint comes, they won’t be able to break through her defense.”
For a child as important as Hua Jian, the Jade Pool naturally had to pay close attention. Thus, the Yaochi Sect Leader had personally arrived to prevent any shameless Demonic Path Saints from bullying the young.
Of course, the main reason was that Fenghua Venerable had immediately gone to her elder to complain after being bullied by the Wanhuagu Saint.
Knowing that Wanhuagu had indeed set its sights on Hua Jian, the Yaochi Sect Leader naturally came to safeguard the Ascension Gathering.
Even if Hua Jian wanted to go to the Wanling Sect, it didn’t matter. In any case, she couldn’t be allowed to go to Wanhuagu.
“Oh? With that Saint present, it seems we can rest easy.” It was still the Tiandao Sect Venerable, but his words carried a hint of sarcasm.
……
In the Outer City of Ascension City, inside a seemingly ordinary teahouse, a woman in a blue dress sat opposite an elderly woman with a weathered face.
“Are you that wary of me?”
“The Valley Master has changed her appearance and infiltrated Ascension City. Naturally, I must be a bit wary.”
The woman picked up the teacup in front of her, but her eyes were looking toward the Inner City.
She didn’t drink the tea. Instead, she splashed the water from the cup in front of her.
As the mist dispersed, the scenes within the Secret Realm appeared before the two of them.
“Your attention on Hua Jian is unusual. According to my understanding of you, she may have never left your control.”
On the screen, a black-haired girl was arguing about something with a white-haired girl. Watching this scene, the woman’s lips couldn’t help but curl slightly.
‘This relationship is quite good. Linglong appears a bit slow and silly, but she has inherited a few of her mother’s traits.’
“This level of importance is unprecedented. Even that Huaxinhu, whom you called a once-in-a-thousand-years talent, can’t compare. What secret is hidden within her?”
“You want to know? Then I’ll tell you. The Ancestor of your Jade Pool appeared in my dream and told me this child has the potential of an Immortal. Do you believe me?”
“Hmph.”
Whenever the Jade Pool faced off against Wanhuagu, they were always left speechless by this tactic.
There was no helping it; after all, the great figure from the Jade Pool’s ancestry was actually the founding Ancestor of Wanhuagu.
Whenever Wanhuagu said those words, it meant they were going to start playing dirty.
“Phew, then I’d like to see if you can snatch that child from my hands,” the Sect Leader said with a cold snort.
The Old Woman showed no change in expression, as if everything was within her plan.
Even being watched by a Jade Pool Saint like this, did she still have the confidence to steal Hua Jian away?
“Then we shall see, hoho…”
……
“Why did you steal someone else’s things again? You even wiped out his soul imprint?”
“Listen to my explanation! I didn’t wipe his soul imprint. I just wanted to try it, and it just opened on its own. I’m innocent!”
In the Flower Sea Forbidden Zone, Hua Jian and Linglong were outside the busy crowd, arguing face-to-face over a Storage Pouch.
The matter wasn’t complicated. Since Hua Jian had taken Zhao Ming’s Storage Pouch, she wanted to see what the situation was with it when she returned.
Reasonably speaking, this Storage Pouch should have a soul imprint acting as a seal. If the soul characteristics didn’t match, the pouch couldn’t be opened.
This Storage Pouch contained the Spirit Tools that allowed Zhao Ming to defeat so many geniuses, so its value must be extraordinary, right?
Then the soul imprint on it should be at the level of a Ling Emperor or at least a peak Lingwang.
However, Hua Jian had just given it a small try, using the same method she used to open her own Storage Pouch, and Zhao Ming’s Storage Pouch had opened its heart to her.
“Try it if you don’t believe me; the soul imprint is still on there.” Hua Jian handed the Storage Pouch to Linglong, letting Linglong test the quality of the pouch herself.
Linglong took the pouch, turned it over several times, and attempted to open it just as Hua Jian had.
The result was that the Storage Pouch, which Hua Jian had opened easily, felt as if it were glued shut in her hands. She couldn’t open it at all.
When she sensed the soul imprint on the Storage Pouch, it was indeed at a strength she couldn’t possibly break through.
Then things were strange. Why could Hua Jian open this Storage Pouch while Linglong couldn’t?
Could it be that Hua Jian was born with the ability to open others’ Storage Pouches?
Of course not. If Hua Jian really had that ability, why would she have recycled the stolen pouches before? Wouldn’t it have been better to just take out the items inside?
Therefore, the problem certainly wasn’t with Hua Jian.
“Miss Hua Jian, Miss Linglong, what are you chatting about?” While Hua Jian was feeling conflicted, Xia Hui, who had awakened from her coma, was being supported by Shi Ran as she walked over.
Regarding this little contributor, Hua Jian already considered her one of their own and naturally wouldn’t hide the problem she had encountered.
After listening to Hua Jian’s explanation about the Storage Pouch, Xia Hui reached out and asked for the pouch, wanting to take a closer look.
“Perhaps it’s a characteristic of the Storage Pouch itself…” Xia Hui muttered as she took the pouch from Hua Jian’s hand.
She first tried to open the pouch, but the result was the same as Linglong’s; it wouldn’t open at all.
Shi Chai also curiously tried it, with the same result.
In other words, this Storage Pouch currently only recognized Hua Jian.
“Is it possible that it’s actually a master-recognizing type of Spirit Tool? As long as you defeat its original owner and seize it, it will recognize the victor as its master?”
Sliding her finger across the mouth of the pouch, Xia Hui proposed her idea.
“Isn’t that something that only appears in storybooks? Does it actually exist in reality?” Hua Jian felt that Xia Hui was joking. Since when were Spirit Tools so intelligent?
Even if such a Spirit Tool existed, it would have to be an incredibly powerful one with a spirit of its own.
This Storage Pouch clearly didn’t match that description.
Linglong also felt that Xia Hui was just guessing. She had seen a lot, but she had never seen such a Spirit Tool.
But they had no choice but to believe it, as they couldn’t think of any other reasonable explanation at the moment.
“Regardless, Miss Hua Jian is now the owner of this Storage Pouch!” Xia Hui handed the pouch back to Hua Jian with both hands, saying with a face full of admiration, “As expected of Miss Hua Jian.
A casual move was enough to make a villain’s Spirit Tool turn over a new leaf!”
‘Young lady, you’re taking this flattery too far.’ Hua Jian’s mouth twitched, feeling that Xia Hui perfectly illustrated the saying that one obsessive fan is worth ten haters.
‘Turning over a new leaf’? To put it bluntly, it was just robbery.
It was impressive that Xia Hui could come up with such a term to describe it.
“Turn over a new leaf…” Linglong was also somewhat speechless. After pressing her brow twice with her fingers, she chose not to dwell too much on this issue.
Hua Jian had already stolen the items, and the Storage Pouch was open to her. Could Linglong actually hold Hua Jian’s hand and prevent her from using it?
It was better to selectively ignore the existence of this Storage Pouch.
“We don’t have enough manpower to set up the Great Arrays in all three Forbidden Lands. How do you plan to solve this?”
“Borrow people from the other two sides. Their numbers are greater than ours, so they naturally have more places to set up Arrays than we do.” Hua Jian indicated that this matter was simple; just have the places with more people send help.
Ji Caiyue and the Sword Hero could each send a group of people to the other two Forbidden Lands, and that would be that.
As for whether the other side would agree… Hua Jian didn’t think they would refuse.
“I hope they can be reasonable. Otherwise, I’ll have to give them a lesson in reason.”
Hua Jian squeezed her small fist, her face darkening with a fierce expression.
In many cases, gentle persuasion was useless. Some people only bullied the weak and feared the strong.
You had to humiliate them thoroughly before they would bow their heads.
“But those Forbidden Lands don’t have Ling King cultivators guarding them. If the Demonic Path launches a sneak attack on those places, it will be hard for us to respond, won’t it?”
“I can have A Meng go watch one of the Forbidden Lands,” Hua Jian whispered while propping up her chin.
Manpower was still insufficient. She had originally intended to let A Meng go out and slaughter everyone, but upon careful thought, she realized that plan wouldn’t work.
If A Meng went out on a rampage, what would happen if the enemy avoided A Meng and launched sneak attacks instead?
A Meng wasn’t a god; she couldn’t just come out and immediately lock onto the positions of all the Demonic Cultivators to pick them off one by one.
Her strength was better used for guarding a point.
As for the last Forbidden Land, there was an alternative plan.
“The Array requires utilizing the unique environment created by the Spiritual Pillars. In other words, you can go back to the Forbidden Land where you originally stayed and continue to use the power of the Thunder there,” Hua Jian said, sharing her thoughts.
Although they were out of Ling Kings, it was possible to let Linglong—the original boss—return to her own Territory to guard it as a pseudo-Ling King.
If the Demonic Path did launch a sneak attack, Linglong’s strength would be enough to hold out until reinforcements arrived from elsewhere.