Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 404: Karma

With Wei Danbai’s resignation, Zheng Shufeng became the new matriarch of the Wei Clan.

Upon appointment, Zheng Shufeng was faced with two major problems. The first was protecting the external stores, and the second was the Wei Clan’s severe lack of money.

To resolve this problem, Zheng Shufeng’s first order of business was to announce the matter of the special permit. Zheng Shufeng used the special permit to tell everyone that Tang Jie had returned, rallying the hearts of her people.

And then Zheng Shufeng started paying personal visits to various parties, with the first being the Jade Radiance Sect. After this conversation, when Zheng Shufeng left the mountain, Jade Radiance Sect Master Han Tianji personally sent her off.

Once these two matters became known, the Wei Clan’s problems began to dwindle in number. Zheng Shufeng then cleaned up the external stores, selling off the unprofitable ones to claw back a little capital.

Zheng Shufeng then went to the Gu Clan and proposed that one hundred thousand taels of silver be used to end the grudges between the two. She didn’t ask the Gu Clan to leave or sell their stores to her. She had never had any interest in blood-sucking businesses like casinos. The Gu Clan was overjoyed. While the loss of one hundred thousand taels of silver was a pity, at least they could remain in Canglong Prefecture without having to worry about someone nursing a grudge.

Finally, Zheng Shufeng got in touch with various clans, using the Violet Berry special selling permit to convince these clans to invest. With this additional injection of capital, the Wei Clan’s situation gradually stabilized. Zheng Shufeng received widespread praise for her ability to save the Wei Clan from this crisis, and her position as clan head also stabilized.

All of this took three months to settle.

The news arrived when Tang Jie was sitting alone in a small pavilion within Alljoin Garden. This was at the summit of Rising Star Peak, and from here, one could see more than half of Wanquan City.

Tang Jie was seriously pondering something in the pavilion.

He was not surprised by Zheng Shufeng’s actions. This woman was extremely skilled, but because she was a woman, she had lacked opportunity to show it. Under her leadership, the Wei Clan was sure to prosper. It was like the saying: disaster could be hidden in fortune, and fortune could be hidden in disaster.

What he was really thinking about was the role he had played in all this.

Even though Tang Jie had said that he was leaving everything to the will of the heavens, there were three things he had done that silently changed everything.

He had announced his withdrawal, drawing trouble to the Wei Clan; he had told Mu Yi of this matter; and he had given Zheng Shufeng’s mother that pill, making it so that Zheng Shufeng did not return home to help her husband. With her around, Wei Danbai would have never made such grave errors.

Although the things he had done had not done any harm to the Wei Clan in and of themselves, the indirect consequences had dealt severe damage.

Most importantly, even before that, he had already seen the result.

From that perspective, he had cheated.

He had said that he was leaving it to the heavens, but through his own methods, he had subtly twisted the will of the heavens and changed fate.

Could such a “will of the heavens” still be called the will of the heavens?

Tang Jie thought about it for a long time.

He couldn’t find an answer.

As he was thinking, an Immortal Crane flew out of the distance.

The crane let out a clear call as it broke through the clouds. When it spotted Tang Jie, it flew down and landed in front of him. Shaking its wings, it smiled and said, “So you were here! I spent ages looking for you.”

Tang Jie hastily stood up. “I pay my respects to Senior Bai Dan. Senior, for what reason have you sought out this lowly one?”

The crane replied, “Someone wants to see you. Come with me.”

“‘Someone wants to see me’? Who?”

“Let us not waste words. You will know simply by coming with me.” The crane flew into the clouds.

With no other choice, Tang Jie joined it. The human and crane flew to Westwatch Pavilion, and it wasn’t long before they arrived. Tang Jie saw Xie Fengtang pacing back and forth in front of the pavilion.

Tang Jie had always seen Xie Fengtang inside Westwatch Pavilion, not standing outside. He seemed to be waiting for Tang Jie, and he had quite the worried look.

Tang Jie was taken aback, and he seemed to have an idea of what was going on.

Sure enough, the moment Tang Jie landed, Xie Fengtang went up to him and said, “Why are you so late?”

Tang Jie looked at Westwatch Pavilion and whispered, “Headmaster Xie, has someone important come?”

Xie Fengtang smiled. “Clever as usual, but it’s good that you understand. Headmaster Feng has returned, and asked to see you.”

Feng Hongluan?

Tang Jie was stunned.

Feng Hongluan, one of the Basking Moon Sect’s 19 Celestial Chiefs and the peer of Ming Yekong, had finally returned?

Tang Jie gasped when he heard that Feng Hongluan wanted to see him. “Headmaster Feng wants to see me?”

Xie Fengtang patted Tang Jie’s hand. “Headmaster Feng normally lives on Red Cloud Peak and rarely visits. Make good use of this opportunity!”

He spoke with sincerity.

Tang Jie understood what he meant, his heart growing warm. “Headmaster Xie, be at ease. Tang Jie understands.”

Straightening his clothes, he walked into Westwatch Pavilion.

Going up to the door, he said to the door, “Student Tang Jie has come as ordered to pay respects to Headmaster Feng.”

In front of Feng Hongluan, he did not dare to call himself a disciple.

A pleasant voice spoke. “Enter.”

Pushing open the door, Tang Jie saw a person standing with their hands behind their back and their side to him, looking out the window at the scenery.

The barely visible profile was somewhat familiar, but Tang Jie couldn’t recall who it reminded him of. He gave a deep bow. “Tang Jie pays respects to Headmaster Feng!”

The person slowly turned to face him.

Tang Jie was stunned when he saw the face, blurting out, “So it was you!”

It was clearly a beautiful face that would make all women envious, yet it belonged to a man.

And Tang Jie knew this man. It was clearly that bewitching man whom Tang Jie had met long ago at Apricot Pavilion.

That man had been Feng Hongluan!

It was no wonder he had been able to come and go without being detected and had not even kowtowed to True Lord Wuwang.

Tang Jie immediately knew that this was improper, hastily saying, “This student did not know that the one from back then was the honored Headmaster Feng…”

The bewitching man replied, “There is no crime in ignorance. What I’m more interested in is: if you had known it was me, would you still have dared to steal True Lord Wuwang’s Wuwang Character?”

Tang Jie hadn’t expected this question. He looked at Feng Hongluan and said with resolve, “I would dare! There is no end to the path of the Dao, and one must work to seize every opportunity.”

Feng Hongluan nodded in approval. “Very good. The Immortal path is arduous, and each advance requires ambition and courage. Right, do you still have that Wuwang Character?”

Tang Jie shook his head. “This student has already used it up.”

Feng Hongluan softly said, “Can I presume that it is how you comprehended the Dao of Insight?”

Tang Jie paled.

While the Dao of Insight wasn’t some powerful ability, Tang Jie had always kept it a secret, never telling anyone else about it. But Feng Hongluan had seen through it with just one question.

How had he known?

Yes, when he was at Apricot Pavilion and dared to steal a Wuwang Character from True Lord Wuwang, he had shown something that ordinary students did not have. His daring, methods, and understanding of formations were far beyond those of an ordinary person.

It had to be understood that this occasion could not be compared to the Immortal Fortune Conference at all. His performance at the Immortal Fortune Conference could be explained by several years of cultivation at the academy, but that time in Apricot Pavilion had only been one year after his entry into the academy. This made his deep understanding of formations much less explicable.

And he had no idea that the other party was Feng Hongluan, so he had not tried to hide anything from him.

His heart went cold at the thought.

He suddenly understood the truth behind Feng Hongluan’s question about whether he would dare to steal the Wuwang Character if he knew who Feng Hongluan really was.

He wasn’t asking whether he had the courage to confront Celestial Chief Feng. After all, he even dared to steal in front of a True Lord, so why wouldn’t he dare to do so in front of a peak Celestial Heart True Person?

What he was asking was: “In front of someone from the Basking Moon Sect, do you still have the courage to expose your true strength for a Wuwang Character?”!

If Tang Jie could answer again, his answer would definitely be “No!”

Tang Jie took in a deep breath and finally said, “Headmaster Feng is truly perceptive. This was Tang Jie’s mistake!”

A smile appeared in Feng Hongluan’s eyes. “Young man, there is no problem with making a mistake. The true fear is pride. At times, when you think you have the world in your hand, it really just might be your parents taking pity on their children and letting you run a little wild rather than criticizing you.”

Tang Jie’s heart shivered.

He now completely understood what Feng Hongluan was saying. The incident at Apricot Pavilion had already allowed Feng Hongluan to guess who he really was.

Tang Jie didn’t understand why he hadn’t said anything. The reason Feng Hongluan gave was that he was concerned for his students. As the Headmaster of Basking Moon Academy, to call him a father to all the Basking Moon students wasn’t too far-fetched. Of course, Tang Jie would never believe that the reason would be this simple. But now that Feng Hongluan had revealed his hand, Tang Jie knew that it was no longer proper to keep playing dumb. He dropped to his knees and shouted, “Student Tang Jie has committed the grave crime of deceiving his superiors! There is no forgiveness for this deed!”

“Rise. There’s no need to be so nervous,” Feng Hongluan indifferently said. “You are not the Stone Gate Sect, and the hidden realm is not in Sageheart. To my Basking Moon Sect, this wasn’t something that belonged to us in the first place, so while getting it would be the best, there is no loss in not getting it. As for my personal view, advancing from my cultivation level is not something that can be accomplished by piling up resources, so such a thing means even less to me. Moreover, I also have some other ideas on this matter…”

“‘Some other ideas’?” Tang Jie was confused.

Feng Hongluan casually said, “In truth, it doesn’t matter if those resources were obtained by the Basking Moon Sect or obtained by a disciple of the Basking Moon Sect. What matters is whether this disciple is sincerely devoted to my sect. So long as this disciple belongs to my Basking Moon Sect, so long as his heart and soul belong to my Basking Moon Sect, then there is no difference between those resources being concentrated on one person or distributed across the sect. In any case, it will have been used on the people of my Basking Moon Sect. And in terms of strength, a single powerful True Person is far more valuable than even one thousand peak Mortal Shedding experts…”

As Tang Jie heard the opinion on the hidden realm from this member of the upper echelons of the Basking Moon Sect, he finally understood what Feng Hongluan was thinking.

It turned out that what Feng Hongluan cared about wasn’t who the hidden realm belonged to, but whether the owner of the hidden realm was loyal to the sect.

In his view, so long as Tang Jie was loyal to the Basking Moon Sect, then the hidden realm essentially belonged to the Basking Moon Sect.

And from a resource maximization standpoint, allocating all the resources to creating someone truly powerful would be a greater boon to the Basking Moon Sect’s strength than to let everyone get a share.

Besides that, Feng Hongluan didn’t think that Tang Jie would fall to coercion.

After all, there was already the matter with Gu Changqing. Gu Changqing’s cruel treatment of Tang Jie had already proved that he was not someone who could be forced into submission through torture. If even an Eagle Master from Godhead Palace couldn’t make Tang Jie confess, what guarantee did the Basking Moon Sect have?

When dealing with someone who wasn’t afraid of death, it sometimes didn’t matter how profound one’s cultivation was.

Force might not be able to achieve anything, but letting him go might get the sect a True Lord.

The choice was obvious.

This was precisely why he had been observing Tang Jie all this time. This was partially to confirm whether Tang Jie had obtained the hidden realm or not. What Feng Hongluan had seen at Apricot Pavilion gave him more reasons to suspect Tang Jie than others, but he still couldn’t be completely sure. The other reason he kept observing was to see if Tang Jie could be considered loyal.

Of course, it wasn’t like he was observing Tang Jie all the time. He primarily gathered information on Tang Jie and analyzed it.

Put bluntly, the events of Apricot Pavilion had made Feng Hongluan pay more attention to Tang Jie than others, which was why he had ultimately confirmed that Tang Jie was the owner of the hidden realm.

For various reasons, Feng Hongluan had kept Tang Jie under observation, until today. Today, they had finally met, and he had shown his hand.

“I met with you today to reveal my hand primarily for two reasons. One is to tell you that your loyalty to the Basking Moon Sect remains to be seen, though I find your attitude to the Wei Clan quite admirable.”

Feng Hongluan revealed the answer to the riddle and enlightened Tang Jie.

There was always a cause behind every effect. Regardless of what the common people thought, cultivators like Feng Hongluan at least had no objections to how Tang Jie had treated the Wei Clan.

Understanding this, Tang Jie loudly said to Feng Hongluan, “Tang Jie deceived the Basking Moon Sect while receiving its support, so I swear loyalty to the Basking Moon Sect for as long as I live, remaining forever faithful!”

Feng Hongluan was unmoved, simply asking, “Is that so? Then tell me: what is the Basking Moon Sect?”

What is the Basking Moon Sect?

This question took Tang Jie by surprise.

He didn’t know how to reply.

Feng Hongluan continued, “The Basking Moon Sect is nothing but a name. It is a collection of countless cultivators and represents the wills of countless people. Today, Celestial Sovereign Ling Xiao reigns over the Basking Moon Sect, and his will is the will of the Basking Moon Sect. If Martial Uncle Xiao were to be replaced tomorrow, the new Sect Master’s will would become the Basking Moon Sect’s will. But if these two wills contradict each other, then… how can you be loyal to the Basking Moon Sect?”

Tang Jie was left dumbfounded by this question.

But he finally understood what Feng Hongluan meant. Getting down on one knee, he declared, “Tang Jie shall follow the will of Headmaster Feng, not daring to defy it!”

“Me?” Feng Hongluan chuckled. “I just belong to the puny academy faction. If you follow me, you will just put yourself at a disadvantage, so there is no need. I won’t command you to obey anyone in particular. From your previous actions, I have already seen that someone like you isn’t someone who takes being ordered around. In order to be treated sincerely by you, one must first treat you sincerely, as the Wu couple did.”

Tang Jie lowered his head, not daring to speak.

Feng Hongluan continued, “For this reason, I will not place any constraints on you. You only need to remain in the sect to experience my sect’s favor and support. In the future, you will naturally consider the sect your home and put your heart and soul into protecting it. I said all that to you just now in the hopes that you will understand that there are many cultivators in the sect with many different wills. No matter who you listen to in the future, who you choose to serve, before you take action, you should always consider the future of the sect first.”

Tang Jie solemnly said, “Yes, this student understands!”

“Since that is the case, do you now understand the error you committed and why I wanted to see you?” Feng Hongluan said.

After thinking about it, Tang Jie understood. “Headmaster Feng said you showed your hand to me over two matters. Is the second matter related to the Seven Absolutions Sect?”

Feng Hongluan’s extremely beautiful face finally smiled. “So long as you understand. If not for that, I wouldn’t have been able to confirm that you were Tang Jiye. On that subject, it will still be your choice as to when you expose yourself. I am just someone who is more suspicious than most. But for you to sell good products only to the Seven Absolutions Sect is truly contemptible. Do you think that this lowly sect cannot pay a good price?”

Tang Jie bitterly smiled. “It was this student’s mistake. I just…”

“Just felt like we might not be willing to pay, even if we could, yes?” Feng Hongluan indifferently said. “I can understand your mindset, but as I said, you still lack loyalty to your sect. If you were sincerely thinking of the Basking Moon Sect, given your intelligence, you would have found a proper method, no? In the end, you have a habit of thinking things through thoroughly, but you do not have a habit of thinking for the sake of the Basking Moon Sect.”

Tang Jie was stunned by these words.

Yes.

He truly was worried that the Basking Moon Sect would use this chance to suppress the price, perhaps even use the opportunity to capture him, so he was not willing to sell these items to the Basking Moon Sect.

But Feng Hongluan was right. He could go against Godhead Palace and work with the Seven Absolutions Sect, so how could he not resolve a small problem like this?

He hadn’t been diligent enough!

This was why Feng Hongluan was unhappy with him.

If he hadn’t justly handled the Wei Clan, Feng Hongluan might have chosen to seize him and force him to hand what he had gained over.

Tang Jie started to sweat. “It was all because this student was too used to thinking of himself!”

Feng Hongluan coolly replied, “If you know your error, rectify it.”

“Yes! Since that is the case, what if I have Headmaster Feng purchase in place of the sect? This student is willing to sell to Headmaster Feng at sixty percent of the price given to the Seven Absolutions Sect.”

“But isn’t that exactly what you were worried about?” Feng Hongluan said. “Forget it. Let’s have it at 90%. This is still the sect that raised you and protected you, so there should at least be a 10% discount. In addition, are you plotting with the Seven Absolutions Sect to deal with Godhead Palace?”

“Yes!”

“Godhead Palace is the firm ally of the Beast Refining Gate, so cutting off its wings is a good thing for the Basking Moon Sect. When Godhead Palace finally reaches out its claws, if you cannot deal with it, inform me. I will make arrangements according to the situation and save you the time of making all those schemes. Of course, I will charge a fee for my services.”

Tang Jie was delighted. “Headmaster Feng, thank you!”

“That is all. You may go.” Feng Hongluan waved his hand, and Tang Jie bid farewell.

After leaving Westwatch Pavilion and exchanging a few words with Xie Fengtang, Tang Jie went back.

On the way back, Tang Jie’s mind was still restless.

Feng Hongluan’s words had opened a window for Tang Jie.

Before then, he had never imagined that the higher-ups of the Basking Moon Sect would have this kind of mindset.

Yes.

When had it ever been necessary to hold the hidden realm in their hands? So long as the person who owned the hidden realm was in their sect, they could use the hidden realm all the same.

In the end, it was his own limited vision and his fear of Godhead Palace that made him believe that everyone was plotting against him and wanted to steal from him.

Now that the clouds had been cleared away, Tang Jie felt refreshed, and he almost wanted to yell.

The will of the heavens!

This was what could be considered truly the will of the heavens!

When he had chosen to have the will of the heavens deal with Wei Danbai, Feng Hongluan had chosen to trust him.

Tang Jie suddenly understood a problem that had puzzled him all this time.

Who in this life did not hope to hold the dice of fate in one’s hand?

Logically, everything could be left to the impartial will of the heavens, but emotionally, one wanted the will of the heavens to go along with one’s desires.

Even if one could not control fate, one could mimic the butterfly.

Creating waves and dispersing clouds with a flap of the wings!

Thus, although one could influence the will of the heavens, who could say that an influenced will of the heavens was not the will of the heavens?

Tang Jie suddenly stopped.

He stood on Rising Star Peak and faced the heavens, his hands held behind his back.

He seemed to comprehend something.

Some students passed by and saw him blankly standing on the road. They wanted to come up and ask about what was going on, but a spiritual current would push them away.

A clear and pleasant voice rang out, “Tang Jie has comprehended something and is seeking the Dao. Do not disturb him.”

As this voice spoke, an invisible wall emerged around him, keeping out the students.

Tang Jie stood there for three days and three nights.

After three days, Tang Jie suddenly threw his head back and laughed.

“I understand now! This is Karma!”

The Dao of Karma!

It turns out that Tang Jie had inadvertently exposed himself ages ago! But hey, at least he comprehended a new Dao.