Chapter 3522 — Rumors of Cloud Terrace Island

"Tang Zhi? Your girlfriend?" Tian Chan asked.

"Aren't you my girlfriend?" Wei Zhao said with a smile.

"I'll kick you!" Tian Chan shot Wei Zhao a glare. "You think I don't know? All those inheritors are your girlfriends."

"...I never said they weren't," Wei Zhao said. "What I meant was, aren't you one too?"

"Don't talk nonsense." Tian Chan gave a little huff. "Here, I'm Tian Chan. Once we go back, I'll be the Silkworm Transformation... There's no way for us..."

At that, Tian Chan suddenly sighed, low and mournful. "Actually, some things lose all their meaning once you say them out loud. It's enough that we both understand..."

"You're not going to Cloud Terrace Island?" Wei Zhao asked abruptly.

"Hm?" Tian Chan was briefly taken aback. "Maybe I will... but what difference would going make? It's not as if I won't come back."

Wei Zhao wanted to suggest that if she went to Cloud Terrace Island, they could fool around together, but on second thought he kept quiet. Tian Chan was plainly weighed down by misgivings; she had her own station and her own life, and even if she went to Cloud Terrace Island, it was not as though she would never return.

But of those who went to Cloud Terrace Island, how many had ever come back? So far as he could recall, everyone who had gone to Cloud Terrace Island had vanished without a trace, hadn't they?

Still, Wei Zhao said nothing. Some things could only be left to fate.

The two of them emerged from the teleportation array one after the other, drawing hardly any attention at all—because Patriarch Xuan Chen was, at that very moment, utterly dumbstruck!

After hearing Kang Jingming's account, he had nearly keeled over on the spot!

"Father-in-law! Master! You must hold on!" Kang Jingming was startled out of his wits when he saw Patriarch Xuan Chen about to faint. The patriarch had been keeping watch near the teleportation array the whole time, so naturally he had no idea that Little Eleven's soul jade token had already shattered.

"Waaaaaah! Wei Zhao! I will never share this world with him!" Patriarch Xuan Chen let out a howl of grief and fury. Nearly all his disciples had died at Wei Zhao's hands—a hatred beyond any reconciliation! Thank goodness Kang Jingming had survived; otherwise he truly would have gone mad. "Thank goodness you're all right. If anything had happened to you too, I would have gone all-out against Wei Zhao. But as things stand, those inheritors are all tied to him—even if I wanted to kill him, I couldn't openly tear off all pretense!"

Patriarch Xuan Chen was, after all, an old warlord of his generation, and he quickly regained his composure. As the sect master of the Five Luminaries Sect, he still clung to the old ways of thinking. A daughter was merely a woman—if she died, she died. But Kang Jingming was his last disciple, and on top of that the man was delightfully vicious, which suited his palate perfectly. He had already been preparing for Kang Jingming to carry on his legacy—to inherit the leadership of the Five Luminaries Sect, or, after going to Cloud Terrace Island, to make the sect flourish.

That preference for sons over daughters, that fixation on a successor, made Patriarch Xuan Chen value Kang Jingming, his "only" direct disciple, all the more.

Thus, so long as Kang Jingming lived, the balance between him and Wei Zhao would not be upset—and Wei Zhao had seen exactly that, which was why he had left Kang Jingming alive.

"I understand. It can't be done now, and there's no helping that. But rest assured, Master—even on Cloud Terrace Island, I'll find a way to do him in!" Kang Jingming said with a savage grin.

"Good. I know what you're capable of!" Patriarch Xuan Chen nodded. "Little Eleven is gone, so you needn't have any scruples. Once you're on Cloud Terrace Island, if the chance arises, find yourself a patron—and if you can marry into a good family, so much the better! So long as you can make the Five Luminaries Sect of my Xuan Chen line flourish, anything you do is fine by me!"

"Father-in-law, aren't you coming to Cloud Terrace Island? Even if I go, you'd be my backing!" Kang Jingming said.

"Cloud Terrace Island... you and I may not end up together. And what are we going there for, anyway? Is it not to seek the Heavenly Dao and cultivate to become true immortals? Our strength is already at the peak of the Heaven rank, far short of the Heavenly Dao. Any one of the people over there could well be stronger than the two of us!" Patriarch Xuan Chen seemed to know something.

"Eh? Father-in-law, you seem to have suddenly learned a great deal about Cloud Terrace Island?" Kang Jingming looked up, puzzled. Previously, Patriarch Xuan Chen had known only bits and pieces about Cloud Terrace Island and had not told Kang Jingming much. But from what he said today, it seemed he had come by some new information!

"Indeed. I've learned a few things, but it's not yet time to tell you!" Patriarch Xuan Chen said. "When the Heaven Rank Assembly comes, I will make it public to everyone."

"Very well." Kang Jingming nodded and asked no more.

"By the way, those trial-takers who went with you all successfully advanced to the peak, didn't they?" Patriarch Xuan Chen asked.

"All of them advanced! The pressure of the Five-Shas aura there is really something else—terrifyingly powerful!" Kang Jingming nodded. In truth, the one he admired most was Zhong Yongliang, who had actually managed to break through while resting and recovering! Then again, it made sense—after draining his physical strength and true qi to the dregs, enduring the pressure of the Five-Shas aura, it would have been harder not to break through. "Only Zhang Naipao is finished. He can cultivate his way back, of course, but I'm afraid it won't happen anytime soon."

"Didn't you say that Wang Xinyan could take his place? We'll talk it over with Wei Zhao—it should be about settled!" Patriarch Xuan Chen said. "That's another reason I don't want to fall out with Wei Zhao."

"Yes, Wang Xinyan can take his place." Kang Jingming nodded. "By the way, among the inheritors, Tang Zhi failed to advance... She's still not at the peak!"

"Failed, did she!" Patriarch Xuan Chen's brows knitted at once, and he looked rather put out. "It's always the Snow Valley's mental cultivation methods that cause trouble. Every other sect is perfectly normal, but they had to go and cook up some Heartless Art—what a goddamn mess!"

"Right. So how about we give her a Qi-Gathering Pill to push her up?" Kang Jingming suggested. He had been hooked on refining Qi-Gathering Pills lately, and practice made perfect, so his success rate was very high.

"No. The Snow Valley's mental cultivation methods are flawed. Qi-Gathering Pills only work up to the peak of the late Heaven rank, and beyond that they're useless—she'll have to cultivate on her own!" Patriarch Xuan Chen shook his head. "Leave it. I'll apply some pressure and make them come up with a solution as soon as possible!"

"All right!" Kang Jingming nodded.

"By the way, in this trial, none of the other trial-takers were especially close to Wei Zhao, were they?" Patriarch Xuan Chen asked.

"No. There's that Xiao Che—he seems a bit hot-blooded, but he has nothing to do with Wei Zhao either!" Kang Jingming said.

"Good. What I fear most is Wei Zhao forming factions and gathering allies! At the Heaven Rank Assembly, I'll strike him the most crushing blow—so long as not too many people speak up for him, that is." Patriarch Xuan Chen gave a cold laugh.

With that, Patriarch Xuan Chen glanced into the distance and saw that the trial-takers and inheritors had all emerged and were waiting for him near the teleportation array, one after another... RS