Chapter 534 - 294: I Have to Avoid the Spearhead (2)

Chapter 534: Chapter 294: I Have to Avoid the Spearhead (2)

After a moment of thought, Bai Long spoke up. "If anyone else wants to make a move, they’ll have to get past the three from the Ji Family. The only way is to get them to leave."

"A mission?"

Bai Qiufeng nodded. "We have the Bai Family’s influence here, so we don’t have to do too much. Just assign a mission. And to avoid making the Ji Family too suspicious, the choice of mission can’t be too outrageous."

"But we can hide a few tricks within it."

"The plan should be capable of completely suppressing an Early Stage, or even a Mid-stage, cultivator."

"We should always overestimate our opponent."

"If he only had the strength he shows on the surface, why would they have sent us?"

"What about the poisoning? How do we make that succeed?" Bai Long asked.

Hearing this, Bai Qiufeng chuckled. "Poisoning doesn’t necessarily require an actual poison. That’s too obvious. Some things you think are good for you can actually take half your life."

Although Bai Long and the others didn’t fully grasp the details, they understood the concept.

They had encountered such things before.

They would be cultivating with an Array, yet somehow end up poisoned for no apparent reason.

No matter how they investigated, they could find nothing wrong.

The answer they received was that among Magic Skills, Alchemy Skills, Talismans, and Arrays, there are always some similarities.

And some people exploit these similarities.

That is how such poisons are born.

The victim wouldn’t even know what had happened.

"Let’s start choosing a mission location for him now," Bai Qiufeng said calmly. "As long as it doesn’t look too dangerous, the Ji Family members won’t refuse."

"That also frees us up to complete our own missions."

"We need to prepare for the competition three years from now."

"It would be best if we could secure a spot in one fell swoop."

"We’ll succeed, won’t we? Who in the Sect can compare to us?" Bai Long said confidently.

Bai Qiufeng shook his head. "Never mind the strength of the top cultivators in the Sect; our small courtyard alone only has three spots."

"The number of spots is too low. It would be better if there were five," Bai Long sighed.

Fighting for the top three was truly not going to be easy.

However, they could wait until next year’s written exam to see what kind of strength the others in the small courtyard possessed.

They could see what scores everyone got.

From that, they could try to guess their Cultivation levels.

The written exam was only one part; the rest depended on actual combat.

The rankings were based on Cultivation and Spiritual Qi, not on one’s Physical Body, Spirit, or Magic Skills.

So, for now, rankings were just rankings, and combat power was combat power.

After that, they began to search for a mission for Jiang Man, as well as for themselves.

They needed to test just how much potential Jiang Man had, and at the same time, find a way to disrupt his state of mind.

Some prodigies who rise from poverty all possess an invincible heart.

If their Heart Spirit and morale were damaged, their path forward would be obstructed.

Of course, if he truly possessed an air of invincibility, then they might just become his stepping stones.

But...

’Aren’t we all heaven’s chosen?’

’Who here hasn’t walked over the failures of countless others to get where they are?’

---

「Three days later.」

Elder Bai asked about Jiang Man.

"He hasn’t come looking for me yet?"

A man appeared behind Elder Bai, bowing his head respectfully. "No, he hasn’t. He must have some reservations."

"I think he’s just too confident. He probably thinks this poison has no effect on him, so he has no intention of walking into this trap." Elder Bai chuckled as he flipped through a book. "It seems I’ll have to make him understand that this poison isn’t so easy to cure."

After a pause, he asked, "Is he just cultivating normally for now?"

"I heard a mission was assigned to him. It’s an Inner Sect Disciple’s mission," the man said.

"So soon?" Elder Bai was a little surprised.

"Yes. Someone probably arranged it for him, wanting to do something to him, or perhaps test him," the man speculated.

Hearing this, Elder Bai fell silent for a moment before asking, "A mission for how many people?"

"Four," the man replied.

"Find someone to trigger our poison in him. Let him get a preliminary taste of its consequences," Elder Bai said.

"The four of them are supposed to act separately for this mission. Should we make arrangements in advance?" the man inquired.

"Go find that Fang Yong. It’s time his value was put to use. Have him find a way for Jiang Man to be found. I’m sure he can manage that." Elder Bai smiled. "He probably still dreams of achieving overnight fame and reaching a higher level. We don’t need to go out of our way to crush him, but we need to make them understand their place."

"Some things aren’t about whether he’s willing or not, but about who is telling him to do it."

"He wanted to earn Spiritual Source before. In the future, he won’t have a choice *but* to earn it."

The man indicated that he understood.

In other words, the current Fang Yong was in no position to refuse their demands.

They would provide the Spiritual Source.

But he couldn’t refuse it.

And he certainly couldn’t claim he’d turned over a new leaf and would no longer betray people.

He had no choice.

「That evening.」

Fang Yong left the Inner Sect.

He arrived at the flatbread shop in the Outer Sect.

Today, he had met that mysterious person, and he had also met Wei Ran.

He was now embroiled in an invisible storm.

Within this storm, he was just an ordinary person, so ordinary that he could be crushed at any moment.

But if he could just endure it, he would be able to go much further.

However, he found he couldn’t look anyone he met in the eye.

The feeling of powerlessness left him in a daze.

"Young Master Fang?" Song Qing said, a bit surprised. "Care for some flatbread? My treat."

At his words, Fang Yong came over to the seats in front of the shop and sat down. "You’re keeping busy."

"Business is actually slow," Song Qing said, bringing over two flatbreads and a bowl of soy milk.

"I thought you only sold flatbread?" Fang Yong asked curiously.

"A customer started coming by recently. He likes our flatbread but doesn’t like to eat it dry, so we added tea and soy milk. Grinding the beans takes a lot of time," Song Qing said with a smile.

Fang Yong looked around the shop. "Are you here by yourself?"

He remembered there being another person.

"Tang Feng?" Song Qing smiled. "He went back."

Fang Yong was quite surprised to hear that. "Is it because Jiang Man has provoked a lot of people?"

He was well aware of the trouble surrounding Jiang Man.

Staying here indeed meant risking one’s life at any moment.

It was understandable that he would go back.

"Yes. Young Master Jiang seems to be getting stronger and stronger, and his enemies are growing in number. Who knows, one of us here might just drop dead one day," Song Qing said with a chuckle. "So Tang Feng said he needed to take some time off to go back and arrange his own funeral."

Song Qing recalled the scene when he had told the other man to return.

’Tang Feng’s reply had been the same as the Yunqian Bureau’s: Just say the word. Who do we kill?’

Song Qing prepared a portion for himself as well and sat down. "What brings you out, Young Master Fang? Isn’t Miss Cheng with you?"

"I’m trapped by your boss. I just came out to clear my head," Fang Yong said.

He then tried the flatbread and soy milk and found they were indeed quite good.

"Aren’t you afraid?" Fang Yong suddenly asked.

"Another customer asked me the same thing," Song Qing said with a smile. "Of course I’m afraid."

Fang Yong didn’t ask any more questions. He finished his food and left.

Watching Fang Yong leave, Song Qing sighed to himself.

’I offered you two, but you ate four and didn’t even pay.’

He then went back to his work.

Young Master Fang was a prominent figure; he would never actually make him pay.

Besides, he was a Golden Core Ancestor.

Their small courtyard from back then had already produced two Golden Core Ancestors.

And it had produced three Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

But just as he was cleaning up, the white-robed youth appeared again.

"Flatbread, customer?" Song Qing asked immediately.

The man nodded. He glanced around and said, "Xiaosong, your fortune is quite good. Everyone you know is caught up in the vortex."

"This also means you’ll die quickly."

"You’d better pray the people they run into are the kind who won’t even see you as a person."

Song Qing smiled faintly. "The way you talk, one might think you don’t see me as a person either, customer."

The white-robed youth just smiled faintly and didn’t respond.

"You seem to have a lot of free time, customer. Don’t you have things to do?" Song Qing asked curiously.

The man came by often, so Song Qing felt comfortable enough to chat a little.

"I do. But for matters of life and death, there’s no need to rush. I can wait a bit longer." The white-robed man chuckled. "This place is quite interesting. There’s no harm in looking around for a few more days."

"By the way, there’s a Spirit Medicine shop on Red Water Peak. The one who runs it is a Little Fatty."

"Do you two know each other?"

"Young Master Gao?" Song Qing said immediately. "Yes, I know him. Young Master Gao has been very good to me."

He said this while preparing the flatbread for the man.

The white-robed man ate the flatbread and said, "His fortune is also quite good. He knows your boss, right?"

"Yes," Song Qing said with a smile. "They were in the same small courtyard before. One was last place and the other was second to last. They have a very good relationship."

"No wonder." The white-robed man continued, "There’s also one who delivers things via Sword Control. His fortune is also good, even better than yours. He looks endlessly busy every day. I’ve seen him come here before."

"Old Chang? He was in the top five of our small courtyard. He was a prominent figure back then," Song Qing said immediately.

"All of you have quite good fortunes. It’s a pity you’re all in great danger," the white-robed man said calmly as he drank his soy milk.