Chapter 304: Speculation and Conversation
Tang Yin placed his hand on Xu Yun’s hair. He wasn’t trying to comfort her, instead... ’Soul Plunder.’
Tang Yin felt a faint resistance from Xu Yun’s soul, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Soul Plunder. Her memories flooded into his head like a storm, and he also obtained some of her lifespan.
’Qian Zhong must have inserted some sort of seal on Xu Yun’s soul to prevent it from being soul searched. Too bad, it isn’t enough to block Soul Plunder.’ Tang Yin marvelled at the Soul Plunder’s strength.
A few minutes later, Tang Yin was done going through Xu Yun’s memories. Coincidentally, Xu Yun also stopped crying at the same time. Realising what had just happened, her face turned beet red. She hurriedly distanced herself from Tang Yin and hid her face.
Tang Yin turned a blind eye to this, "Let’s go."
He turned around and flew into the air. Xu Yun easily caught up to him as Tang Yin had restricted his speed to the standard of a Spirit Ascension Realm cultivator.
Xu Yun kept a few metres of distance from Tang Yin, her face was still flushed red from extreme embarrassment.
After an hour of travelling, Xu Yun finally mustered up some of her courage to speak, "Thank you." She said faintly.
"It’s my job." Tang Yin responded neutrally.
Xu Yun’s expression turned slightly sour, but this change was extremely minute. If it weren’t for his powerful divine sense, Tang Yin wouldn’t have noticed this. Tang Yin came up with crazy speculations, but he remained silent.
Since they were travelling at the speed of Spirit Ascension Realm cultivators, the swiftness of the journey slowed down significantly. But this didn’t stop them from encountering danger.
After a few more hours, the trio encountered a Low-tier Rank 7 Demonic Beast.
"Stay here, I won’t be long." Tang Yin spoke without turning his head.
Xu Yun obediently nodded, her grip over Elder Liang’s unconscious body tightened and her eyes turned cautious.
Tang Yin then sped off into the distance at his normal speed. A few moments later, earth-shattering rumbles echoed across the surrounding few kilometres before fading. Likewise, Tang Yin returned to Xu Yun’s location.
"The danger has been taken care of. Let’s go." Tang Yin stated. Xu Yun nodded and followed Tang Yin.
Tang Yin noticed that Xu Yun was flying closer to him than before. His earlier speculation shot back into his mind, but he did not think much of it.
A couple more hours later, the trio entered the next Region. They had only encountered a few miscellaneous dangers. Now, they only needed to cross 3 more Regions before reaching the Thousand Blossom Pavilion.
Elder Liang showed no signs of awakening. It seemed that the Lunar Burial had drained and injured him too much. But it was a technique capable of killing a Late-stage Principle Manipulation Realm cultivator, the backlash was bound to be harsh.
"Senior, how long till we reach the next Region?" Xu Yun asked softly.
"With our current speed of the Spirit Ascension Realm, it should take us 4 days." Tang Yin calculated.
Despite Xu Yun beginning to address him as ’Senior’, he chose to ignore it, and instead, found himself pleased with her behaviour. There was no sign of arrogance in her demeanour anymore.
Xu Yun lowered her head and continued to follow Tang Yin, she occasionally glanced at him in a daze, which did not escape Tang Yin’s notice.
’Am I right really right about this?’ Tang Yin was almost sure that his speculation was correct. But he still decided to ignore it. After all, her grandfather was Qian Zhong, and he was still wary of the old man.
A few more hours passed.
"Senior, what is the outside world like?" Suddenly, Xu Yun attempted to strike up a conversation with Tang Yin.
Tang Yin raised an eyebrow. He was surprised by Xu Yun’s sudden desire to converse with him. But after careful thought, he understood why she did this.
It was due to boredom. They had literally been flying in straight lines and zigzags for the past couple of hours in silence. Obviously, things were boring, grey and monotone.
"As the high and mighty young miss of the Moonlit River Sect, shouldn’t you know about the outside world?" Tang Yin asked her back. He was also finding things boring. It was not a bad idea to chat with her as long as it was not about something sensitive.
"Of course, I’ve heard many stories and descriptions from my peers and friends about the outside world, but I haven’t truly experienced it myself. I heard it’s really dangerous and cruel, is that true?" Xu Yun asked curiously.
"What do you think?" Tang Yin asked meaningfully.
Xu Yun thought for a moment before realising the stupidity of her question. Hadn’t she been brought to the brink of death by the Nimble Hummingbird? Hadn’t she encountered numerous dangers in the last few hours?
By being under Tang Yin’s constant protection, she had almost forgotten about all of these things. Her face turned beat red in embarrassment again, she lowered her head and decided not to speak.
Tang Yin chuckled. "Also, about your friends, are they really your friends?" he suddenly asked.
Xu Yun was confused, where did this random question come from? "Of course, I have lots of friends!" But she still answered anyway.
"Really? So, you’re telling me that your friends genuinely care about you and aren’t friends with you because of your status or for any benefits that you can provide to them?" Tang Yin scoffed. He had seen her memories. All of her friends were fake. Either they wanted something from Xu Yun, or they were trying to bootlick her due to her lofty status.
Xu Yun was so stunned that she stopped flying. She stood in the air without moving, in a deep daze. Her earlier embarrassment was completely gone.
A few moments later, she snapped out of her daze with an enlightened expression on her face.
"Thank you for enlightening me, Senior." She sincerely bowed to Tang Yin.
Due to her arrogance, she had completely overlooked the minute details. Now that she was no longer arrogant, well at least for now, she was able to see the wider picture.
Once she surfed through her memories, she realised that all of her ’friends’ mostly complimented and flattered her. Other than that, they didn’t really do anything else for her. On the other hand, she gave them many benefits, gifts and even complied with all of their requests. Only now did she realise how blinded and foolish she had been in the past. ’Was it because of my arrogance and complacency?’
But she became confused once again, "Senior, how did you know?"
"This is the cultivation world. There is no kindness, genuine sincerity, compassion, sympathy or concern in this world. Everyone has to rely on their own abilities. Even you, who has the shelter of a Law Domain Realm cultivator cannot escape this cruel reality." Tang Yin spoke meaningfully. He even saw himself as an old man lecturing a younger one. But Xu Yun was actually older than him.
"Senior, I-" Just as Xu Yun was about to speak again, Tang Yin stopped her.
"A High-tier Rank 7 Demonic Beast has noticed us, and it’s coming right towards us." Tang Yin informed her. Xu Yun’s expression changed slightly, but she had faith in Tang Yin. So, she wasn’t too concerned.
Tang Yin decided to escape rather than fight. His goal was to escort Xu Yun to the Thousand Blossom Pavilion, not to engage with all the dangers they encountered.
Tang Yin grabbed Xu Yun and Elder Liang’s unconscious body. Then he shrouded them in his divine sense and Abyss Qi before turning into afterimages and shooting into the distance.
He utilized the Phantom Steps and Starlight Veil. He created numerous mirages of himself that shot into different directions at an insane speed.
The High-tier Rank 7 Demonic Beast was confused. It looked at all the different Tang Yin’s escaping in all directions. With a deafening roar, it randomly chose one and followed it.
’What shitty luck, it chose correctly.’ Tang Yin grumbled. The High-tier Rank 7 Demonic Beast had miraculously chosen Tang Yin’s real body instead of the mirages.
Tang Yin was not flustered, he repeated the exact same move as before. Numerous mirages separated from his body before shooting in multiple directions.
The High-tier Rank 7 Demonic Beast became frustrated. It mainly relied on its physical strength rather than elemental or soul-related abilities. Therefore, it had no way to accurately determine which one was the correct Tang Yin.
As Tang Yin’s mirages were about to vanish from its sight, the High-tier Rank 7 Demonic Beast was forced to randomly choose one.
’It must’ve used up all of its luck in the previous choice.’ Tang Yin gloated. Nevertheless, he continued to escape towards a place that was far away from the High-tier Rank 7 Demonic Beast.
Even for him, bringing along 2 people with his divine sense, Abyss Qi and Martial Skills at the same time was exhausting. He had to replicate their bodies and movements with the Starlight Veil and speed up their bodies with the Phantom Steps. It was not an easy task if he had to do this for an extended period of time.
Otherwise, he would have used this method to quickly travel to the Thousand Blossom Pavilion rather than diminishing his speed to Xu Yun’s pace.
