Chapter 173: Crisis Fermentation

“Li Tan!”

A man kicked open the door and strode in with a loud shout.

The junior apprentices, who had been slightly angered by his rude behavior just a second ago, quickly showed expressions of fear, lowered their heads, and scattered to the sides, clearing a path for the man’s approach.

Judging from his attire, the newcomer was clearly an inner sect disciple.

Li Tan packed away all his belongings, stood up, turned around, and upon recognizing the man’s face, showed an expression of surprise.

This man turned out to be Liu Yong. Coming to find him in such an angry manner at this moment definitely meant nothing good. Could it be that the backer behind Su Zhengyi is this guy?

He didn’t seem to have had any contact with him at all. What was going on?

Liu Yong stood in front of Li Tan and asked coldly, “You’re the one who injured Su Zhengyi, right?”

Su Zhengyi—what a righteous name! Li Tan was completely convinced that Elder Su’s patron was Liu Yong and nodded slightly.

“What?

Going to protect him?”

“That good-for-nothing deserved what he got and dying was his fate, but there’s one thing you must explain.”

Liu Yong said.

Li Tan asked, “What matter?”

Though asking, Li Tan had already mostly guessed what Liu Yong was going to ask. Liu Yong’s next words confirmed his suspicion.

“You, a born cultivator, sneaked into our sect as a junior disciple. What are your motives?”

Liu Yong’s words were like a huge stone thrown into a calm lake, instantly creating a storm in the cramped room.

The word “innate” struck like a hammer, unexpectedly and heavily hitting their foreheads, leaving everyone momentarily stunned.

“Pre-Heavenly? Did I hear right?”

“No wonder he dared to make that bet with Elder Su before!”

“Can’t be serious, right? Our elders here are only at the peak of Post-Heavenly. Wow, good thing I didn’t offend him earlier!”

The room was filled with shock, but soon everyone exchanged curious glances, secretly observing Li Tan and Liu Yong.

So what did the inner sect’s big shot come for Li Tan?

The answer was soon revealed. Li Tan, with a calm expression, answered Liu Yong’s question: “Miss Zhang was very insistent, so I joined the Tianlang Sect. Is there anything hard to understand about that?”

“Joining the Tianlang Sect is fine, but first, your identity is unclear; second, your behavior is suspicious. You even voluntarily requested to be a junior apprentice. After joining, you kept causing trouble. How can I be sure you don’t have ulterior motives?”

Liu Yong questioned.

“Choosing to be a junior apprentice was because I prefer to keep a low profile. As for my identity, that seems to be none of your business, right? Moreover, matters like this should be handled by Sect Leader Zhang. Since when did it become your business to interfere?”

Li Tan retorted.

A flicker of coldness flashed in Liu Yong’s eyes, and his hand gripped the hilt of his sword, but after hesitating several times, he chose not to attack.

“You seem to have misunderstood something. It’s not me who wants to interfere, but the Judicial Department!”

“If the Judicial Department has issues with me, then why are you here?”

Looking at Li Tan, Liu Yong’s face showed a trace of anger. Now he understood why Zhang Chenghuan favored Li Tan, but he couldn’t accept it at all. A seed of jealousy had already taken root in his heart.

But suddenly, he seemed to recall something, scrutinizing Li Tan with a puzzled expression.

After several seconds of silence, he snorted coldly: “I’m just here to inform you. These days, you’d better stay put and wait for the Judicial Department’s summons. If you dare to run away, you’ll meet your doom!”

With those words, Liu Yong turned his sleeve and left.

Suspecting my identity? That’s not a big deal. With Zhang Zhi and others helping, nothing serious will happen.

Ignoring the fearful glances around him, Li Tan left the gambling house directly, returned to his bamboo cottage, calmed his restless mind, and began cultivating.

However, his cultivation was forcibly interrupted after just a few minutes.

Seeing the anxious expressions of Qiu Jue and Xue Ying, Li Tan thought inwardly: After the minor competition ends, I’ll ask Zhang Zhi to arrange for me to enter the inner sect. This place is definitely not suitable for cultivation.

There were too many messy things. These days, Li Tan had lost count of how many times his cultivation had been interrupted halfway. If someone with a worse temper were in his place, they would probably have already exploded in anger.

Qiu Jue and Xue Ying came because of the incident at the gambling house just now. The content of Li Tan’s conversation with Liu Yong had spread like wildfire.

Qiu Jue and Xue Ying asked many questions, mostly repetitive ones such as “Why would a Pre-Heavenly cultivator become a junior apprentice?” and “Why did Liu Yong come looking for you?”

Li Tan gave brief answers, and the two expressed their gratitude before leaving.

Actually, after so many incidents, the original intention of keeping a low profile had already been compromised. The main reason Li Tan remained here was because he was worried about these two.

“Once these two kids are properly arranged, I should quickly enter the inner sect. My action plan might need to speed up.”

Thinking about the black-robed figure he had killed a few days ago, Li Tan muttered a few words, helplessly closed his eyes, and re-entered his cultivation state.

After that incident, although the black-robed organization might not necessarily discover his trail, the Tianlang Sect’s actions would definitely become more cautious. Li Tan couldn’t afford to be careless.

Liu Yong quickly returned along the mountain path to the inner sect area, where the buildings were worlds apart from those of the junior apprentices.

Even the worst house here was hundreds of times better than the best one in the junior apprentices’ area.

Liu Yong’s residence belonged to the best part of the housing, but he didn’t go back. Instead, he carefully took a detour into another two-story building.

Standing at the entrance of the hall, Liu Yong knocked softly on the door and whispered, “It’s me.”

“Come in.”

A deep male voice came from inside the hall.

Liu Yong pushed the door open and entered. A strong middle-aged man was sitting with his eyes closed beside the tea table. Although he remained motionless, an invisible oppressive force surrounded him.

Liu Yong swallowed hard, stood in the center of the hall, and respectfully said to the man, “The matter is done.”

The man nodded slightly. Liu Yong then hesitantly began recounting everything related to Li Tan—his appearance, cultivation level, personality, etc.—without omitting anything, but made no mention of Li Tan’s actions.

After finishing his report, Liu Yong didn’t say anything extra and left directly. After being alone for a while, the man, who had maintained a gloomy expression as if his mother had died, unexpectedly showed a puzzled expression. He left through the back door, made sure no one was around, and quickly headed deep into the forest.

He darted through the forest for more than half an hour before suddenly stopping. He changed his gloomy expression completely, adopting the same respectful demeanor Liu Yong had shown toward him, and said: “The matter is done. As for that Li Tan…” He then repeated exactly what Liu Yong had told him.

“Understood. Return and wait for further instructions.”

After the black-robed figure finished speaking, he vanished like a ghost. The man then let out a big sigh of relief and returned the way he came.

The next day, many things happened among the junior apprentices. Their monthly one-day holiday was extended by two days, and while the junior apprentices had no intention of training, they also lost the mood for playing around. Instead, they all gathered together gossiping.

Naturally, the topic was about Li Tan. The “pretty boy” in their sect had suddenly become a Pre-Heavenly cultivator. This hot topic would likely remain a hot discussion for years.

However, Li Tan didn’t pay attention to these matters. In the morning, he taught Qiu Jue and Xue Ying cultivation techniques, and in the afternoon, he went into secluded forests with no one around.

After a night of cultivation the previous day, Li Tan vaguely sensed an opportunity for a breakthrough, but something was still missing, preventing him from seizing it.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t be in a hurry. He could calmly retreat for a month, and his cultivation would naturally progress to the next level. However, now due to the entanglements with the black-robed figures and the ancient tomb matters, he felt slightly impatient. He planned to use medicinal power to forcefully break through his cultivation level. The higher his cultivation, the better his chances against the black-robed figures. Li Tan treated any matter related to the black-robed figures with his full effort, never daring to take them lightly.

After all, even before his rebirth, he had been unable to make any progress against this organization for two years. One could imagine the immense power behind it.

With just a slight carelessness, he was fully aware that he might fall into an irreversible abyss, and all his efforts since his rebirth would be in vain.