Chapter 781 - 784: The White Crane Enters the Dream

"Ancestor, Great General Ling Tian is here to request an audience."

Bo Gu and Meng Tian returned to the main hall of the quadrangle and reported to Wu Tian, "If it’s him, should we disregard your earlier order? Shall we invite him in now?"

"I knew it was him all along. That’s why I’m making him wait," Wu Tian said coolly.

As a general, Ling Tian treating his soldiers like brothers is not a problem. However, he spoils them far too much. If this continues, soldiers like that, despite their love for their general, might start to entertain inappropriate ideas. For example, ’Our general is so formidable, why can’t he be the one sitting on the throne?’ Or, ’Our general treats me so well, I must repay his kindness. I need to help him climb even higher.’ In the future, his soldiers might develop such thoughts. When that day comes, even if Ling Tian doesn’t want the throne, his soldiers will force the yellow robe upon him.

That is the first concern.

Secondly, those mansion guards intended to strike me today. Even though they didn’t get the chance, the thought was already in their minds. How could they not be severely punished?

Thirdly, the great and mighty Great General Ling Tian, standing in front of a quadrangle... it won’t be long before the entire royal capital, and even all three Realms, knows that this quadrangle houses the Blood Refiners Guild and the person who created the true Art of Blood Refinement—the Ancestor of Blood Refinement. It’s free advertising. It would be a waste not to use it.

Suddenly, Wu Tian sensed something. "You all stay in the main hall and think about our future plans," he said. "I’m going for a walk." After speaking, Wu Tian left the main hall. At that moment, Bo Gu and Meng Tian could only look at each other and do as he said.

A quadrangle should have four walls, but this one only had three. Its backyard didn’t need a wall, as it opened directly onto the sea.

Wu Tian now stood before the ocean, his long boots stepping onto the sandy shore.

"Since you’re back, come out and see me," Wu Tian said to the ocean, his tone indifferent. "Tell me, if you didn’t go to Ling Tian’s princely mansion, where did you go?"

On the calm surface of the sea, ripples suddenly appeared. A venomous jellyfish emerged from the water.

It seemed somewhat shy. "I... I got lost," it said. "I didn’t know the way."

Wu Tian nodded, but judging by the jellyfish’s behavior, it wasn’t that simple. It’s clearly in heat. The thought left him speechless.

Wu Tian considered for a moment. Since he had the time now, he might as well help the venomous jellyfish with its Reversion.

"Are you willing to undergo Reversion?" Wu Tian asked.

Reversion? Hearing such a grand-sounding term, the venomous jellyfish immediately nodded. Who would ever refuse the chance to become stronger?

"Endure it," Wu Tian said. He acted at once, channeling the Art of Blood Refinement from his fingertips into the venomous jellyfish’s body. The venomous jellyfish felt the very substance of its body changing, a process accompanied by excruciating pain.

Seeing the jellyfish’s willpower waver as if it were about to faint, Wu Tian immediately resorted to goading it. If it passed out, all his effort would be for naught. "A tiny little bird was able to endure this and transformed into a Vermilion Bird. Are you telling me... you’re weaker than that little bird?"

"I... I am the king of the Jellyfish Clan! How could I... lose to a tiny bird?"

The venomous jellyfish fell for the taunt and stubbornly held on.

An hour later, the venomous jellyfish had transformed. Its Reversion was complete. On the surface, its body still looked like a jellyfish; there was no outward change. However, the very essence of its body had been altered.

In Wu Tian’s eyes, the creature was now, to be precise, a rubber jellyfish. This new nature granted it an ability: its entire body could stretch and rebound within a certain range, making ordinary strikes far more powerful. Conventional attacks, arrows, and especially lightning, were now completely useless against its rubbery body.

Wu Tian himself was stunned. I never expected that after its Reversion, it would gain a rubber body.

"Go and get familiar with your new body," Wu Tian said before turning and heading back toward the main hall.

Along the way, a light, misty rain began to fall.

Arriving back in the hall, Bo Gu and Meng Tian came forward, their expressions worried. "Ancestor, it’s raining now. It’s not right to leave a Great General standing out there in the rain."

"Let him get rained on for a while," Wu Tian said nonchalantly.

Hearing this, Bo Gu and Meng Tian were astonished. How could he treat the reigning Great General like this? He’ll surely leave! There’s no way he’ll just stand at the gate in the pouring rain, waiting for an audience!

However, they knew that in their position, they could only obey. Fortunately, Wu Tian had only said to let Ling Tian get wet for a while, not to leave him out there to be completely soaked. Still, they really wanted to peek at the gate and see if Great General Ling Tian had run off after being treated so poorly.

「...」

The rain drizzled steadily, and a hint of mist hung in the air. On the streets, people either huddled under eaves for shelter or ran home through the downpour. The wealthy, however, bought umbrellas and strolled leisurely down the street, becoming the object of envy for all those without one.

Among those flaunting their umbrellas was a man named Lu Bai Cha.

Lu Bai Cha was a member of the Bai Clan. Within the Xiuyuan Realm, there existed a branch of the Bai Clan known as the Lu family. He was the sole young master of the Lu family, which had long since fallen into decline, and the main Bai Clan no longer paid any mind to this offshoot. The Lu family wanted to rise again, and they would have to rely on themselves.

According to rumor, when Lu Bai Cha’s mother was about to give birth, a strange fragrance filled the room while celestial music drifted through the air. A white crane was said to have descended from the heavens, flown into his mother’s tent, and vanished. As foretold by the omens, Lu Bai Cha was born with an extraordinary air. He was exceptionally intelligent from a young age. It was said he could write ten thousand words a day, memorize anything after a single glance, and produce literary masterpieces effortlessly. His entire family placed all their hopes on him.

But Lu Bai Cha had no love for the Martial Path. He preferred a career in officialdom. While the Heavenly King Country still stood, he had taken the imperial examinations twenty times. After the establishment of the Xiuyuan Country, he recently took the examination once more, but he failed yet again.

His scholarship could fill five carts, and his talent was immeasurable, so why did he fail time and time again? Lu Bai Cha could never figure it out. He didn’t dare return home, afraid to see the disappointment on his family’s faces.

Holding his umbrella, he walked through the rain, repeatedly reciting lines of a poem that often came to him in his dreams: "Born to a Confucian family in a time of peace, the official’s sash is a heavy burden, the commoner’s cloth is light. Who in this world can truly contend for fame and wealth? I would rather serve the Jade Emperor and return to the Supreme Purity."

"Hm? Isn’t that Great General Ling Tian? What’s he doing over there?" Suddenly, Lu Bai Cha stopped, having spotted a familiar figure ahead.

Of course, Lu Bai Cha recognized the general, but Great General Ling Tian would not have recognized a minor figure like him. Still, as Lu Bai Cha looked at the general, he felt a strange sense of familiarity.

Lu Bai Cha was already in low spirits, and the scene only confused him further. Why are Great General Ling Tian and his soldiers standing in the rain before this house? Whose house is this, anyway?

Depressed from his failure, Lu Bai Cha often came to this area to drink, so he knew it well. This quadrangle is supposed to be abandoned. What on earth is Great General Ling Tian doing here?

He wasn’t the only one wondering. Other commoners, hiding under nearby eaves or their own umbrellas, were also staring curiously at Great General Ling Tian and his men.