Chapter 243 - Aftermath
After Di Tian calmed himself down, he slowly walked out of Fan Li's Residence while thinking to himself.
'Although this [Yin Soul Scripture] can truly bring the dead back to life from the Cycle of Samsara, it is no help to me to revive Ning'er. Meaning, I still have to continue with my original plan.
'However, this scripture can help me greatly increase my [Nine Samsara Fist], thus increase my strength and ensure that my plans go smoothly'
After walking out of the residence, no one actually discovered him, so he walked in the direction of a hidden corner. There, someone with a hood was waiting for him.
As soon as the hooded figure saw Di Tian, he knelt on the floor before saying: "Sleeper code name [White Wolf] has seen the Lord; it is an honor to be able to serve you again in this reincarnation."
"White Wolf?" said Di Tian. "I remember you and your son have served as Sleepers for many years. He was very talented, so how is he doing?"
"My Lord, unfortunately, he reached his limit in the last reincarnation, so his soul was annihilated. However, he was glad to serve you for so long."
Di Tian sighed, then he said after a brief moment of pause: "I am afraid only a few of the original members still exist to this day. Well, I can't blame them; even I am starting to reach my limit."
"My Lord, there is no need to say such ill-fated words. I believe that you will succeed in this generation. We all believe in you."
"Okay, this is not the time to be sentimental," replied Di Tian. "There will be no problem on the Emperor Enlightening Academy' side, right?"
"No worry, my Lord. I have garnered the trust of headmaster Bai Han and belong to the faction that absolutely supports him. Additionally, I have made sure that all clues lead to another teacher, so there will be no problem."
"That's good. Now, you can return to your position in the Academy."
The next day, a maid came to Fan Li's residence to give him his resources. Although he was recently very paranoid, Fan Li did not completely cut out access to the outside world. As an outer member of the Academy and one as talented as him, he will receive a certain amount of resources to aid in his cultivation every week.
After the maid arrived in front of his residence, she waited for him to open the formation and send the resources inside like usual, but nothing happened. After waiting for the entire day with no response, the maid left and reported the situation to the higher-ups of the Academy.
However, given the recent pressure on Fan Li due to so many people eying his inheritance, the Academy figured that he might be hiding for a while, so they visited him personally to reassure him, and used the precious resources to lure him on their side.
Nevertheless, there was no response.
Thinking that Fan Li did not accept their solicitation, the Academy did not say anything but kept sending one teacher to try to contact him daily. However, three weeks passed by and Fan Li never came out of his residence.
It was then that the teacher in charge of the situation finally felt that something was wrong; it was one thing for Fan Li to reject their solicitation, but to just himself inside the room just like this without interacting with others, something must be wrong.
If it was any other time, the teacher might have thought that he was deep in mediation and was cultivating, but the Tournament was a few days away, but there was no news from him.
So, on a whim, the teacher went to check Fan Li's Soul Lamp as he had one like many of the Outer Members of the Academy; this was a symbolic act to show that the outer members were truly part of the Academy--despite the wanton discrimination they faced daily.
After checking the Soul Lamp, the teacher discovered to his surprise and horror that Fan Li was dead. So, he immediately went to report to Bai Han, who gave a secret order to forcefully open the formations in the residence.
Unfortunately for him, Fan Li was secretly being watched by so many Spy Agency that the Academy's actions were instantly discovered. As such, news of Fan Li's death soon traveled throughout the entire Myriad Emperor World.
Cultivators from different factions started to wonder how he died? Who killed him? And more importantly, who had the [Yin Soul Scripture] in their hands now?
Then, all eyes were on the Emperor Enlightening Academy. Since Fan Li died inside one of their residences, under their protection, the greatest suspicions fell on them.
After all, they are the only people capable of entering Fan Li's residence without anyone noticing. After coming to this conclusion, many other factions accused the Academy of playing foul by secretly killing Fan Li for his inheritance.
In their statement, they argued that it was alright if Fan Li chose to join the Academy on his own accord, but secretly killing him to take the inheritance is a vile move condemned by all the other factions. As such, the Academy should give a proper explanation to the world.
Dao Opening Sect's Residence in the Academy:
Wang Wei--who had left his cultivation retreat to watch the final round of the Tournament--was sitting inside a room with Li Jun, Yan Liling, and Wang Ju.
After reading the information handed to him regarding Fan Li's fate, he said; "So, someone got there before us?"
"I am afraid that is correct, young master," replied Wang Ju.
Wang Wei then frowned as he thought about the situation. According to his original plan, he was going to use the Array Virus to secretly enter Fan Li's residence and acquire the [Yin Soul Scripture]. He was very interested in this kind of powerful technique--especially with the ability to bring the dead back to life.
Although Wang Wei did not have a person who he needed to bring back to death, it would be better to prepare just in case something bad happened in the future. Not to mention the fact that even if he did not have any use for the scripture, his family might need it--especially his grandfather, Wang Chang.
Although his grandfather never mentioned his grandmother, Wang Wei could tell that he sometimes missed her greatly. Maybe he would want to revive her.
Unfortunately for Wang Wei, the Array Virus was still in the early stage of development, so it still had many defects and limitations. For one, it could not work on Heaven Grade Formations--which was exactly the grade of the formations in Fan Li's residence.
Knowing the situation, Wang Wei planned to use the Array Virus to temporarily stop the formation for a brief moment, then taking the opportunity to enter. Unfortunately, before the Virus was developed to the point of executing his plan, someone got inside before him.
"Big brother, do you think that the Emperor Enlightening Academy is the one that killed him, just like the rumors said?" asked Li Jun.
"Not likely," replied Yan Liling instead. "Given the current situation of the Academy, and with the whole world watching, they should know that doing something to Fan Li would cause them a great deal of trouble, even further ruin their reputation."
"Not necessarily. If they manage to acquire his inheritance, the Academy would have Nine Emperor Scriptures--tying with our Dao Opening Sect. This is incentive enough for them to take the risk," replied Li Jun.
Both of them had excellent points, but Wang Wei was leaning more on Yan Liling's side. For some reason, after hearing this news, the picture of the white-haired young man who left a lasting impression on him appeared inside his mind. He had a feeling that he was the one responsible for this--despite not having any evidence.
The question now is why did he take the scripture? Could it be just like him, he wanted to have it just in case, or did he have someone precious to him that he wanted to revive?
Wang Wei was a little frustrated as he did not have much information to go with. So, after taking a deep breath to calm his mind, he looked at all of them before saying: "It does not matter whether the Academy did it or not as we can use this situation to our advantage.
"Wang Ju, tell my father to increase the rumors that the Academy killed Fan Li for his inheritance; this should be very beneficial to our plans."
"No problem, young master."
After that, Wang Wei looked at Li Jun, "Are you ready for the final round?"
"You do need to worry, big brother. I guarantee you a spot on the Top 30 with no problem."
"It's good that you are confident, but be careful."
"Why?"
"Well, I doubt that the Academy would let you easily enter the top 30 knowing that I want the token to enter the Secret Realm of the Dao Tablets."
"Are you saying that the Academy would cheat?" asked Li Jun with an incredible look on his face. Despite how terrible the Academy's reputation is currently, he knew that it was just his big brother who smeared their names.
Although the Academy is not full of Saints and has done many terrible things, compared to many other factions, they are relatively fair--especially when it comes to the Heaven Chosen Selection Trial.
The Academy would never cheat; at least, there has never been a discovered case of cheating for millions of years.
"I do not know," replied Wang Wei. "All I'm saying is that you should be more careful--just in case."
Li Jun nodded as he took these words to heart; he will be vigilant during all his matches.
After seeing his little brother's change in attitude, Wang Wei secretly nodded in satisfaction. "Well, if there is nothing to be further discussed, you call all leave. I have a date with the most beautiful woman in the world waiting for me."
"Big brother, do you have a date with Xi Shi?" yelled Li Jun in surprise. "You cannot do that Wu Hong's sister-in-law!"
Wang Wei looked at him with a speechless look, then smacked him in his head. "What Xi Shi! I'm talking about Wu Hong!"
"Oh," said Li Jun while scratching his head, and an embarrassment on his face. As he looked through the corner of his eyes, he saw Yan Liling gave him a look.
Instantly, he could understand what that look meant: You, of all people, should not be talking about being faithful.
So, he smiled wryly without looking at her.