With how close Tianhun Academy and the Soothing Heart were to each other, it was inevitable that Wu Dijian and Dan Teng meet one another eventually.
And so a friendship was formed.
It all started with Wu Dijian and his innate curiosity for Dan Teng. As a carefree man who enjoyed poking his nose in things he was interested in, Wu Dijian was always asking Dan Teng about the mysterious tea he offered. There was one time where Wu Dijian tailed Dan Teng when the latter was out âscavengingâ. That attempt turned out to be useless once Dan Teng realized he was being tailed and shook him off.
But today, Wu Dijian succeeded.
It was because of his worry for the Yao clan that Dan Teng let down his guard. He also didnât hear about Wu Dijian returning a little earlier than expected from a battle a few provinces away. The two actually met up while Dan Teng was on the way to the Qimang Mountains and Wu Dijian managed to keep up with him until the very endâŠÂ
By that point, Dan Teng didnât even care about Wu Dijian anymore. He was far more concerned about the allied schools after he found traces of their being in the area. If anything, having Wu Dijian here with him meant having one additional âhelperâ.Â
Wu Dijianâs assistance proved to be extremely crucial, as things turned out. Dan Teng never couldâve imagined that such a battle was breaking out in his absence.
As for Wu Dijian, the man was having a very hard time believing that he had stumbled across the remnants of the legendary Alchemy SchoolâŠÂ
Soon, all of the Soul Kings were gathered and situated at the great halls.
Yao Wuchen didnât bother to enter the halls when they touched down. He simply stood there with a gaze off towards the west as if waiting for something.
A few minutes later, several figures came running into the wide open space where Yao Wuchen waited. It was a group of Soul Sprites.
Three young men in their twenties ran as fast as they possibly could before saluting and greeting Yao Wuchen and everyone there. âClanâŠclan elder!â One gasped, breathless from how fast they had been running. âBad news! The enemies invaded the western repositories andâŠ.destroyed it!â
âWhat?!â Gasped several of the elders.
âWhat happened? Were any of our clansmen killed?!â
Now that the battle was over, Yao Wuchen could dedicate his time in investigating the source of that blip in aura earlier. Nothing seemed to have happened since its first occurrence, so Yao Wuchen didnât think it was something of critical importance.
Hearing that a repository was destroyed, however, was something of great concern.
âNo! No one from our clan was killed! Only a trainee was situated there. HeâsâŠheâs in a heavily injured state right now. The young master is treating his wounds as we speakâŠâ
âA trainee? Feiyun is there?! Where are the intruders? Did they escape?â
âN-noâŠâ Gulped the male. âThe intruders wereâŠall killed by the traineeâŠâ
âExcuse me?â Yao Wuchen blinked. Were the intruders flies? How did a trainee of all people kill them? He couldâve sworn he felt the aura of a Soul King!
âHow many intruders were there? How strong were they?â
âThere was fivâfour in totalâŠthree were Late-stage Soul Exalts, and oneâŠone was an Early-stage Soul KingâŠâ
This time, Yao Wuchen wasnât the only one to look visibly shocked. Everyone else with him stared at the man in disbelief.
âIâll go take a look.â Yao Tianji spoke.
âPlease. Iâll go inside and coordinate our future efforts then.â
Now was the time to heal. Plenty of their clansmen and familiars were heavily wounded by the war, and time would be needed for them to heal. Most of them were already back in their places of residence to wait. With the clan distributing the pills, it wouldnât take long for anyone to recover from their wounds.
Everyone but Wu Tianji headed inside the halls and sat down on their chairs with a sigh. As short as the battle was, the amount of effort they expended was disproportionately large. Some of the Soul Kings were feeling very fatigued in fact.
âSeventh uncle, this person isâŠâ Yao Wuchen motioned towards Wu Dijian.
âHe is the assistant headmaster of Tianhun Academy, Wu Dijian.â
Wu Dijian bowed to everyone there. âHello everyone. This one is named Wu Dijian. I am very pleased to be acquainted with the legendary Alchemy School.â
âWe thank you for your assistance in our affairs today, sire.â Yao Wuchen confessed.
âIt was nothing much. Dan Teng is a friend of mine. A friend in need is a friend indeed.â
Dan Teng took a moment to introduce Wu Dijian to everyone there before asking Yao Wuchen about the crux of the matter. âWhat is going on within the clan? When did the Soul Refining School arrive?â
âThey arrived at the Qimang Mountains over a month ago, but it took only now for them to find this city. This was their first attempt to besiege usâŠâ
Dan Teng grew silent to ponder about what he was told. âTheyâre prepared, those three schools. I shudder to think of what would happen had we not all those familiars tamed. But even if theyâre gone now, theyâll be back soon. Things do not look very optimisticâŠâ
Yao Wuchen nodded. âOur enemies know we are here now. Even if they have no way to invade our city, they wonât let up the assault. Should they receive any reinforcementsâŠâ
âThe way I see things, thereâs no point in âhidingâ away from the world anymore. Thereâs nowhere left to hide. We might as well ask for reinforcements of our own, such as the Tianhun School, Crafting School, the Fire and Water SchoolsâŠTheyâre all powerful in their own rights. Perhaps theyâll be enough to drive off the enemy schools.â
âThatâsâŠâ
Certainly, this was a very enticing idea to think about. Many of the elders were already very keen about this option; it might be their only saving grace, after all.
âIâm afraid time is of the essence. We have no time to spare to wait for reinforcements to comeâŠâ
âThenâŠwe might as well fight our way out! Rather than wait for them to come, we should strike and kill them all first!â
âAbsolutely not!â An elder shot to his feet. âThat is not something we can easily do! Let us say we follow this plan and fight our way out. What happens to those without power in our clans? And the civilians within the city. What would happen to them?â
ââŠâŠ.âÂ
Wu Dijian had no answer for that. To have the clan abandon the lives of everyone within the city just so they could make it out was very distasteful.
Things grew silent in the hall as people sat there. No one knew what the proper thing was in this case.
Someone entering the hall caught everyoneâs attention. Standing there at the entrance were two figures who had just teleported into the area.
One was Yao Tianji. And at his side was a dazed elder Cheng.
Yao Wuchen looked almost surprised at the stern look on his fatherâs face. The dazed look on elder Chengâs face didnât help either.
âFather, whatâsâŠâ
It worried him that elder Cheng was still completely catatonic. âElder Cheng? Whatâs wrong?â
âSoul Puppetry!!â
Yao Tianji didnât answer his son. It was Wu Dijian that gave the answer.
âYou know what this is?â Yao Tianji rounded on Wu Dijian, âWhat is this Soul Puppetry?â
The two words seemed to worry Dan Teng. âBrother WuâŠare you saying elder Cheng was afflicted with Soul Puppetry?!â
âThat is exactly what Iâm saying. A very elementary form of it.â
âSoul Puppetry is a nefarious technique from the Soul Refining School.â Dan Teng began to explain to the rest of the clan upon seeing their confusion. âTo put it simply, a personâs soul becomes controlled, effectively turning them into an existence like a puppet!â
âWhat?! How could there be such a technique like that!?â
An aghast expression appeared on Yao Wuchenâs face. âAre you saying elder Cheng is being controlled? Then wouldnât that meanâŠâ
âYes,â Yao Tianji nodded, âthe reports mention elder Cheng being the one to bring those intruders inâŠ.â
âThatâsâŠâ Yao Wuchen was shocked. He never imagined that the intruders wouldâve used one of their own to enter the city.
âHow is elder Cheng then, right now?â He looked to Wu Dijian. He was perhaps the only person that knew the answer to that here.
âThe usage of Soul Puppetry means destroying the consciousness of a person. Any person afflicted by it is effectively dead. There is no saving himâŠâ
Everyone grew silent again. This was a terrible piece of information to hear.
âThere was one other important matter I found in addition to elder Cheng!â Yao Tianji spoke after a momentâs silence.
âWhat matter is it?â His son was confused, what other matter could there be as important as this?
âThe one who killed the intruders, the guard of that repository, is the outsider Feiyun brought back with him. ThereâŠis something wrong with him!!â