Chapter 631 629: Dark Soul Insect

Luo Tian, Ye Shuiyun, and eleven students left the Wuji Saint Institute and headed for the Celestial Cloud Restaurant.

The last time they were at the Celestial Cloud Restaurant, Liu Lu had colluded with Steward Tie, leading to an unpleasant incident.

This time, Steward Tie was gone.

The group entered a large private room. Once the food and wine were served, they began to eat and drink heartily.

Luo Tian was treating everyone, and the bill came to 450,000 Spiritual Essence Coins. Compared to the rewards he received from the Chuyang Grand Competition, it was a trivial amount.

At the celebration banquet, all the students were incredibly excited, scrambling to toast Luo Tian.

Only they knew how much credit their mentor deserved for the incredible achievements in this Chuyang Grand Competition.

Ye Shuiyun tried several times to probe him about his teaching methods, hoping to uncover his secrets.

But she failed every time.

By the time the banquet ended, Ye Shuiyun hadn't managed to find out a thing.

"Goodbye, Mentor!"

The students said their goodbyes one by one.

"You're certainly tight-lipped."

Ye Shuiyun sighed.

Since Luo Tian was unwilling to talk, she wouldn't press the issue.

"Thank you for the compliment," Luo Tian said with a smiling nod.

"Shuiyun? What are you doing here?"

A golden streak of light shot through the air from nearby.

Yan Feixiao slowly descended, his eyes dark and profound. He gave Luo Tian a passing glance.

"Did you two go out to eat together?"

As Yan Feixiao got closer, he smelled the food and wine on Luo Tian and Ye Shuiyun!

His brow twitched almost imperceptibly.

'So that's why I couldn't find Ye Shuiyun earlier. She snuck off on a date with Luo Tian!'

Yan Feixiao's gaze fell on Luo Tian once more.

At first, he hadn't taken Luo Tian seriously at all.

Afterward, Luo Tian had repeatedly entered his view, attracting Ye Shuiyun's attention.

And now, he was even out on a dinner date with Ye Shuiyun.

'It seems he has little regard for me.'

Yan Feixiao felt he needed to re-evaluate Luo Tian.

"Yes, Master Luo's results in the Chuyang Grand Competition were excellent, so we went out to celebrate."

Ye Shuiyun said with a nod.

Yan Feixiao's expression remained unchanged.

"It's getting late, Shuiyun. I'll walk you back."

He spoke flatly, his tone carrying an invisible pressure that made it difficult to refuse.

"Goodbye, Master Luo."

Ye Shuiyun bade farewell to Luo Tian, then left with Yan Feixiao.

Luo Tian felt something was off, but he didn't dwell on it and returned to his residence alone.

As he was about to enter, Luo Tian suddenly froze, spun around, his finger glowing with a sharp golden light!

SHINK! TING!

Luo Tian jabbed a finger forward, slicing through the dark night. It seemed to strike something metallic, letting out a faint, crisp sound as a spark flew out!

Luo Tian's gaze focused, and he saw a black gold insect the size of a mung bean, with eight legs and nine purple eyes.

The tiny Black Gold Insect screeched, dodged as fast as lightning, and vanished into the night.

Luo Tian's five senses and his Spiritual Sense faintly detected the Black Gold Insect attacking again from another direction with incredible speed.

TING! SHINK!

With a flick of his finger, Luo Tian struck it accurately once more, sending the Black Gold Insect flying.

'It's still not dead?'

Luo Tian was a little surprised.

He had already cultivated the Seventh-Layer of the > to Perfection. A casual strike from his finger was something even a typical Celestial Pool Realm Fourth Layer expert would find hard to block head-on.

This insect had taken two hits and still hadn't died.

With no time to ask the Celestial Book, Luo Tian released the Crow and asked, "What is this insect?"

"CAW CAW CAW, a Dark Soul Insect."

The Crow cawed loudly, lunged forward, and ate the Black Gold Insect in one gulp.

"..."

Luo Tian froze.

He remembered that last time in the Thief King's Treasure Land, Lü Hongyi's Heart-Breaking Gu had no effect on the Crow; in fact, the Crow seemed to love eating it.

It seemed the Crow didn't just like to eat the Heart-Breaking Gu, but probably ate similar insects as well.

"Celestial Book, what is a Dark Soul Insect?"

Luo Tian's consciousness entered the Celestial Book World, and he immediately received detailed information about the Dark Soul Insect.

Dark Soul Insect: excels at concealment, has strong defense, and can interfere with one's spiritual consciousness.

If it successfully latches onto a host, it can turn the host into an idiot after a period of time.

'Who's trying to harm me?'

Luo Tian didn't believe for a second that this Dark Soul Insect was wild and that he had just been unlucky enough to encounter it.

However, he had quite a few enemies, making it difficult to be sure.

...

「The next day.」

Luo Tian went to the Spirit Treasure Hall.

Here, students and mentors could exchange for all kinds of Divine Weapon and Tools and Rare Treasures.

As his final reward from the Chuyang Grand Competition, Luo Tian could choose any one Middle Grade Profound Artifact from here.

"Master Luo, please follow me to the third floor."

A steward led the way for Luo Tian.

The third floor of the Spirit Treasure Hall was dedicated to storing Middle Grade Profound Artifacts and Rare Treasures of equivalent value.

Low Grade Profound Artifacts have between twelve and twenty-four Inscriptions.

Middle Grade Profound Artifacts have between twenty-four and thirty-six Inscriptions.

To a certain extent, the more Inscriptions a Profound Artifact had, the higher its value.

Luo Tian looked around for a while and found that most of the Middle Grade Profound Artifacts here had between twenty-four and thirty Inscriptions.

Very few had more than thirty Inscriptions.

Luo Tian quickly made his choice. He walked to a black wooden box and picked up a pale blue sword.

SHWING!

Luo Tian drew the sword. Its pale blue blade seemed to possess a spiritual quality, waving gently in the air.

"The Spirit Wind Sword. Not bad. I'll take this Profound Artifact."

Luo Tian sheathed the sword.

The [Spirit Wind Sword] had thirty Inscriptions, making it quite valuable and a good fit for Luo Tian.

After collecting the Profound Artifact, Luo Tian headed to Chuyang Tower.

As he expected, a crowd of students had gathered outside his classroom, hailing from various institutes.

"Master Luo, my name is Chen Ming. Can I become your student?"

"Mentor, please accept me as your student."

Upon seeing Luo Tian, the numerous students swarmed toward him.

"Quiet!"

Luo Tian shouted.

All the students immediately fell silent.

"I do not accept students lightly. I will not take anyone who isn't a piece of uncarved jade."

Luo Tian said calmly.

When he first joined the Saint Institute, he would accept any student as long as they weren't too poor.

But now, Luo Tian had no shortage of students, so his standards were naturally higher. Anyone who wanted to become his student needed to have at least above-average talent and potential.

After a busy day, Luo Tian accepted five more outstanding students. The rest all left in disappointment.

"Master Luo, are you busy?"

Outside the classroom, the director of the Celestial Blade Institute's junior tutors arrived.

This director was the head of all the junior tutors in the Celestial Blade Institute, and it was rare for him to be so polite to a junior tutor.

"What can I do for you, Director?"

"With your current status, you can move to a better classroom."

The director said with a smile.

Now, Luo Tian had become the face of the Celestial Blade Institute.

After the Chuyang Grand Competition, countless students had transferred to the Celestial Blade Institute because of Luo Tian.

Luo Tian had rejected many students, but some of the other mentors took the opportunity to accept the ones Luo Tian didn't want.

Under the director's guidance, Luo Tian was moved to the top floor of Chuyang Tower, to an extremely luxurious classroom that was five times the size of his previous one and had much better facilities!

"Master Luo, I have high hopes for you. Keep up the good work. Try to become a Middle Level Tutor within five years."

The director patted Luo Tian's shoulder and left.

After busying himself for a while, Luo Tian returned to his residence and began to cultivate in seclusion.

During this time, he had accumulated a great deal of wealth at the Wuji Saint Institute, allowing him to easily purchase Cultivation Resources.

With his immense talent and abundant resources, Luo Tian's cultivation progressed at an extremely fast pace.

He consumed a Celestial Spirit Pill to aid his cultivation, took out several other Spiritual Materials, and began to practice the >.

「In just one month.」

Luo Tian successfully broke through his bottleneck, and his cultivation reached the Celestial Pool Realm Third Layer.

'My strength has taken another step forward.'

Luo Tian finished his cultivation and opened his eyes.

It had only been two years since he left the Broken Ring, and he had advanced from the Celestial Pool Realm First Layer to the Third Layer.

Compared to his time in the Broken Ring, such a cultivation speed was astonishingly fast.

'It's still far from enough. I must become a Middle Level Tutor as soon as possible to get a better environment and even more Cultivation Resources...'

Luo Tian was not satisfied; he still had a lot of room for improvement.

Besides that, Luo Tian also began to make plans to search for the whereabouts of Ning Xueyao and his father, Luo Xiao.

"Master Luo!"

A familiar shout came from outside the pavilion.

Luo Tian got up, walked out, and saw the director.

"Director, what brings you here in person?"

'This director has been looking for me quite frequently lately.'

"Master Luo, have you offended someone recently?"

The director asked in a low voice.

"I've offended too many people."

Luo Tian didn't know why the director was suddenly asking this.

"The higher-ups have an assignment for you..."

The director explained the details.

Every two years, the Wuji Saint Institute would send several mentors to other academies under its influence on temporary teaching assignments.

On one hand, it was to guide the teaching at other academies. On the other, it was to promote the Wuji Saint Institute and expand its influence.

"This assignment is usually very lucrative, and mentors fight over it every time."

"Then isn't that a good thing?"

Luo Tian was confused.

"That depends on where you're sent to teach..." the director sighed.

Most of the assignment locations are quite good.

But there are a few special academies that aren't so lucrative. Not only are they time-consuming and exhausting, but you also have no time to teach your own students, making it a very poor deal.

Usually, no mentors are willing to go to these places, so in the end, the Saint Institute just randomly picks a few of the lowest-ranking mentors to go.

But Luo Tian's assignment location had been fixed, and it happened to be the worst one.

With the director's extensive experience, he was certain that someone in the higher echelons was pulling the strings behind this.

'I know who it is...'

Luo Tian's eyes darkened.

...

「Advanced Tutor's Residence.」

Yan Feixiao stood before his pavilion, his calm, profound gaze fixed on the distance.

"Luo Tian, oh, Luo Tian. I originally just wanted the Dark Soul Insect to teach you a small lesson, but you actually killed it..."

Yan Feixiao's gaze suddenly turned cold and sinister.

That Dark Soul Insect could affect a typical Celestial Pool Realm Fourth Layer expert and had cost Yan Feixiao a great deal of effort to cultivate.

For the Dark Soul Insect to die at the hands of a mere ant, Yan Feixiao naturally felt the sting of loss and was displeased!

"After this assignment, you'd better learn your place..."

Yan Feixiao said flatly, his expression returning to normal.

A few breaths later, a maidservant approached and said softly, "Master, the people from the Ning Family have arrived..."