Chapter 385 - 379: Interlude in the Tiger Slaughter Sect

Chapter 385: Chapter 379: Interlude in the Tiger Slaughter Sect

At dawn, as the sky brightened, the entire world began to stir with life.

After Fang Can’s great cleansing, the world had entered a state of recovery, with a thousand things waiting to be done.

Although the high-level Martial Artists at or above the Heaven-Ascending Road were almost all dead, the ranks of the lower-level Transcendent Body Realm hadn’t suffered many losses.

However, about sixty percent of them had been hung in the sky for various transgressions. Of those, the thirty percent with lighter crimes were gradually let down during the first night.

Some Martial Artists glanced up at the sky, only to have their sanity shredded by the star-like constellations of humanoid figures and their crimes, forcing them to quickly lower their heads in fear.

"It’s truly unbelievable..."

Yang Lie lightly stroked his bristly beard, a hint of pride in his smile as he looked at the students before him.

Because Fang Can had utterly devastated the entire Great Derivation, all buildings had vanished, leaving only the people behind.

Now, at Yang Duan’s call, all the disciples of the Tiger Slaughter Sect had been gathered to begin rebuilding a new sect site.

Besides the Tiger Slaughter Sect, other factions were present, like the Form-Abnormality Sect, with whom they had not gotten along in the past.

Ordinarily, a fight would have broken out over the slightest disagreement.

But times had changed. From now on, murder was against the law.

Just last night, a group of people had tried to take advantage of the chaos to rape and pillage, only to have blood-red ropes from the sky tighten around their necks, stringing them up for a one-year sentence of hanging.

And just last night, Sect Leader Yang Duan had announced a shocking secret to everyone!

It turned out that the Sect Leader had never wanted to kill Fang Can. Instead, he had recognized Fang Can’s world-shaking wisdom long ago and had secretly arranged for his escape.

With this one statement, the Tiger Slaughter Sect, once despised by all, instantly had its image rehabilitated. They were, in fact, Fang Can’s secret Guardians.

And as Yang Duan announced the news, the strict ban on discussing Fang Can within the Tiger Slaughter Sect was immediately lifted.

"Hey, you know what?"

In front of the other sects, Ye Qin proudly pointed to his face and said, "This palm print on my face was left by the Fang Celestial Emperor."

"During our first fight, if the Fang Celestial Emperor hadn’t used a goading tactic to launch a sneak attack, he wouldn’t have even been able to beat me. I was the very first enemy he faced in the Martial Arts Hall’s tournament."

Hearing the successive gasps of astonishment from the surrounding Martial Artists, an immense sense of satisfaction welled up inside Ye Qin.

If he had felt anger and fear when he first saw Fang Can’s rise, the enemy’s repeated power-ups had since left him numb.

Now, it was simply an immense honor.

’After all, to have been Fang Can’s first enemy on his path of cultivation and to have survived! That’s like hitting the jackpot.’

It wasn’t just him; all the Martial Artists who had been defeated in the Martial Arts Hall back then now shared in the glory.

As Fang Can grew stronger step by step, their own "acting methods" had seen great progress.

After all, one’s worth is reflected by one’s opponents. Fang Can’s rise had provided them with immense emotional validation.

In the six months or so since Fang Can had left, every time they heard news of him, they felt their cultivation level increase significantly.

By now, four or five disciples had even reached the fifth level of the Profound Gate and given birth to a Heart Image. Their progress could be described as astonishingly fast.

But the one feeling the most accomplished was, of course, Instructor Yang Lie. He currently stood with the air of a grandmaster, watching as the newly-recruited disciples flocked around him.

"Instructor Yang Lie, I heard you were that great one’s teacher before. Is it true you were the one who guided him onto the path of martial arts?"

"Instructor, can you tell us how that great one cultivated?"

"Yeah, yeah! Were there any special tricks to that great one’s cultivation? Tell us, please."

...

The eyes of some new disciples shone with yearning; they clearly wanted to see if there were any shortcuts they could take.

Even the disciples from other nearby sects secretly pricked up their ears, unable to resist listening in.

Facing their adoration and basking in the immense emotional validation, Yang Lie did his best to suppress the smile tugging at his lips. He felt that his own Martial Dao had advanced another step.

’If this keeps up,’ he thought, ’I might even have a shot at the Heaven-Ascending Road, despite my age.’

"Alright, if you want to know, I’ll tell you a little something."

Yang Lie cleared his throat. "Although I was Fang Can’s teacher, and I deserve much of the credit for his immense improvement," he said.

"But don’t even think you can get stronger as easily as him. After all, everyone’s innate talent is completely different."

"Fang Can is an unprecedented genius. You shouldn’t try to emulate him. From the first moment I saw him, I knew that kid was special. What’s that saying? ’A golden dragon is not a creature of the pond’!"

"However, aside from his martial arts training, I did notice something special. When Fang Can was cultivating, he would secretly take a special kind of divine medicine."

"Divine medicine!!!"

Hearing this, the breathing of the surrounding crowd quickened, and their gazes fixed intently on Yang Lie.

"That’s right. It was a kind of crystal-clear... capsule, I think?" Yang Lie said hesitantly. ’At least, that’s how the Qidian Engine described it.’

"Anyway, every time I saw Fang Can before he cultivated, he would secretly take one of those pills. Afterward, he would be full of vigor. So it must be some kind of heavenly treasure!"

As he spoke, Yang Lie shook his head with a touch of regret. "So, a treasure like that is not something you can even dream of. Just focus on your training."

But as Yang Lie spoke, a young man’s breathing grew slightly heavier.

Six months ago, after Fang Can had left, this was the disciple who had moved into Fang Can’s old dormitory. He had actually found a crystal-clear object in the corner.

At the time, he didn’t know what it was, but seeing its extraordinary appearance, he had secretly hidden it away. As the legends of Fang Can grew, he became even more afraid to show it to anyone.

Now, hearing what Yang Lie said—that the medicine was related to how Fang Can became so strong!—greed instantly flooded his heart.

That night, after the day’s labor was over, the disciple snuck out to a deserted wilderness far from anyone. He took the pill from inside his robes and swallowed it in one gulp.

Feeling the pill slide down his throat, a determined glint flashed in his eyes. ’I will become an immortal too!’

Before the next day’s labor began, a small incident unexpectedly interrupted the Tiger Slaughter Sect disciples’ work.

A disciple had mysteriously disappeared from within the Tiger Slaughter Sect. When he was found, his corpse was lying in the wilderness, bleeding from all seven orifices, his face frozen in an expression of disbelief.

After an examination by the coroner, it was determined that he had died from ingesting a massive amount of arsenic. The possibility of suicide or accidental ingestion could not be ruled out.

After all, with Fang Can’s blood-red ropes constantly monitoring from the sky, murder was now rather difficult. Thus, they could only conclude that the disciple had taken his own life in a moment of despair.

But as for why he went so far from populated areas before he died, the reason remained unknown. It could only be filed away as an unsolved case.