Chapter 14: Helplessness Became My Downfall

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Li Ang had no idea that Wugensheng and Li Muxuan had been spying on him all afternoon. He went through his evening lesson absentmindedly.

“How exactly am I supposed to deal with them...?”

The more he thought about it, the more irritable he became.

Smack!

A crisp sound rang out. Li Ang instinctively covered his head and looked toward Zuo Ruotong, who had somehow appeared beside him.

He gave an awkward, guilty smile. “M-Master...”

“When attending the evening lesson, you must guard against restlessness. Pay closer attention.”

Without even looking at Li Ang, Zuo Ruotong left him with those words and walked over to another disciple who was spacing out.

Seeing this, Li Ang obediently lowered his head and continued reciting the evening lesson.

Yet as he continued, for some reason his thoughts drifted to Journey to the West.

“Master tapped me on the head. Could he be telling me to come find him during the first watch of the night?”

“But the first watch is from seven to nine. By the time the evening lesson ends, it’ll already be over.”

“Or does he mean I should go to him as soon as it’s finished?”

Amid his wild speculations, the evening lesson soon came to an end.

Watching his senior brothers file out of the hall one after another, Li Ang gritted his teeth and approached Zuo Ruotong, who was standing by the entrance.

“Master...”

“Come with me.”

Before Li Ang could explain why he had come, Zuo Ruotong raised a hand to stop him and led him to a side hall.

Looking at his disciple, Zuo Ruotong gestured for him to sit before asking, “Are you having trouble with your cultivation of the Threefold Rebirth?”

Li Ang had not come to seek his master because of that.

He opened his mouth as though to say something, then closed it again, looking deeply hesitant.

Seeing this, Zuo Ruotong did not urge him. He merely waited in silence.

After a while, Li Ang hardened his heart and said, “Master, the two newcomers who came up the mountain today, Yunsheng and Yunze... I feel that something is wrong with them.”

He had chosen to blow the whistle.

But Li Ang had reached this decision only after careful consideration. After all, the worst that could happen if he exposed Wugensheng and Li Muxuan’s identities was that he would be treated as their accomplice and imprisoned by the Three-One Sect for secretly learning the Threefold Rebirth.

Besides, when all was said and done, he had not actually done anything wrong.

And to him, that hardly counted as a problem. Once this matter was over, he would be leaving this world anyway.

Even if he were imprisoned, it would not prevent him from grinding experience.

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The possibility of losing his life was practically nonexistent. That was the conclusion Li Ang had drawn from Zuo Ruotong’s character as portrayed in the original story, as well as from their interactions over the past few days.

Otherwise, he would never have dared to do this.

Hearing Li Ang’s words, Zuo Ruotong’s gaze immediately grew deep and unreadable. In a calm voice, he asked, “Why do you think that?”

Faced with his master’s question, Li Ang chose not to answer directly. He merely shook his head and said, “There’s something strange about the way those two make me feel. They don’t act like people their age should.”

“They’re more like...”

“The villains of the Omni-Sex sect I encountered before.”

Had someone else overheard Li Ang, they would most likely have assumed he was falsely accusing fellow disciples. After all, the reason he had given was exceedingly flimsy.

But when Li Ang had first met Zuo Ruotong, he had already told him that the Omni-Sex sect seemed to be plotting something detrimental to the Three-One Sect.

Moreover, only a few days earlier, the disturbance caused by the Three-One Sect’s “traitor,” Li Muxuan, had reached Zuo Ruotong’s very doorstep—and had ultimately cost someone his life.

Thus, the Great Surging Immortal knew something about the Omni-Sex sect targeting the Three-One Sect.

Or perhaps it was not the Omni-Sex sect at all, but Li Muxuan himself who was targeting the Three-One Sect.

The moment Li Ang finished speaking, the hall fell into complete silence.

Only after a long while did Zuo Ruotong finally speak in a voice devoid of discernible emotion.

“I understand. You may return for now.”

Li Ang said nothing more. He simply bowed and withdrew.

Outside the hall, he looked up at the night sky glittering with stars and could not help sighing.

“I wonder what Master is thinking...”

“My hint should have been obvious enough, shouldn’t it?”

The Three-One Sect had been searching for traces of Li Muxuan all along. Li Ang had practically stopped short of saying outright that one of the two brothers, Yunsheng and Yunze, was Li Muxuan in disguise.

With the cool night breeze brushing against him, he walked back toward the disciples’ dormitory.

...

The following morning.

After completing his morning lesson, Li Ang, as usual, followed Lu Jin in his daily cultivation. However, the simple practice of standing still no longer served any purpose for him.

After reminding Wugensheng and Li Muxuan that they could rest if they could not hold on, Lu Jin walked over to him.

“Junior Brother Li, you don’t need to stand.”

“Just circulate your energy directly.”

Li Ang readily accepted the white-haired young man’s suggestion.

If he had merely been an ordinary person, standing practice might still have helped strengthen his physique.

But Li Ang’s physical attributes had already reached 1.9. There was no way such a simple exercise could raise them any further.

...It was not as though he were some bald demon king.

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Just as Li Ang was about to begin circulating his energy, a white-haired figure in a broad Taoist robe approached the assembled disciples.

It was Zuo Ruotong.

Seeing their master arrive, everyone present straightened at once.

“Master...”

Zuo Ruotong gave a slight nod in acknowledgment, then walked over to the disguised Yunsheng brothers. He placed his right hand on Wugensheng’s head.

Beside Wugensheng, Li Muxuan watched the scene unfold. A trace of envy and anticipation flickered through his eyes.

Only Li Ang knew that his master was most likely probing the other man’s depths.

“Is Master about to make his move...?”

Although this differed somewhat from Li Ang’s expectation that Wugensheng and Li Muxuan would be dealt with quietly and without anyone noticing, it was still far better than taking action before the eyes of everyone present during the Transmission Ritual.

A moment later, Zuo Ruotong withdrew his right hand and casually said, “Continue.”

With that, he turned and left.

Li Ang could not help staring in bewilderment. The situation had developed differently from what he had expected.

“Master isn’t going to act?”

But soon, the events of the original story flashed through his mind.

In the original story, Zuo Ruotong had actually seen through Wugensheng and Li Muxuan’s identities as well. However, there were certain words he wished to convey to Li Muxuan through the Transmission Ritual, so he had chosen not to expose them.

Of course, Li Muxuan’s subsequent breakthrough into the Third Rebirth Realm with Wugensheng’s help had been entirely beyond the Great Surging Immortal’s expectations.

Thinking of this, Li Ang could not help feeling a deep sense of powerlessness.

He was still far too weak. Even with the assistance of his career panel, even though he had replaced sleep with circulating energy every night, there was simply not enough time.

He had not yet had the chance to develop.

Otherwise, Li Ang would have dealt with the two of them himself.

“Forget it. Since Master has already made his decision, I can only think about what to do during the Transmission Ritual.”

With that thought, he closed his eyes.

[Circulating energy through cultivation. Career experience +3]

[Manipulating the energy within your body. Skill experience +1] ...

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