Chapter 5141 — The Advantages of the Primordial Spirit

"No," Jing Taiyang and the others all shook their heads in unison. Spirit jade was simply too rare a thing in the ancient minor jianghu. Even a prodigy like Leng Leng, who was so prized by her sect, owned only a single piece. As for ordinary disciples like themselves, they could never get their hands on any in the normal course of things, and those who carried a piece on their person were fewer still.

"Uh..." Brother Dafeng was struck speechless for a moment. Wei Zhao had never mentioned this to him. Without spirit jade, the teleportation array could not be activated—did that mean they had come all this way for nothing?

But just then, Dr. Glasses walked straight over. With a flick of his black robe, he actually produced an entire small pouch of spirit jade.

Brother Dafeng merely gaped, but Jing Taiyang and the rest swallowed hard in unison. Never in their lives had they seen so much spirit jade. This Black-Clad Mystery Man truly was rolling in wealth!

Little did they know, supplies could be teleported back and forth between the Central Headquarters and Cloud Terrace Island, and spirit jade was available there in whatever quantity one wished. Moreover, Dr. Glasses had made preparations well before this operation ever began.

"What are you standing there gaping for? Let's go," Dr. Glasses said, glancing at them in urging.

Brother Dafeng and Jing Taiyang's group hurried into the teleportation array. With a flash of white light, they were instantly transported to the relay point. Since every ancient sect had its own designated islet, the islet where the array was located stood utterly deserted at this moment, with not a single soul in sight.

"Black-Clad Mystery Man, what do we do next? We're not going to march right up and openly challenge those ancient alliance experts, are we?" Brother Dafeng could not help asking. True, he was Wei Zhao's inside man, but those ancient alliance experts did not know that. If a fight broke out and he lost his life, what then? The handful of people the Center had brought would not even fill the gaps between the enemy's teeth...

"Of course not. Are you stupid?" Dr. Glasses snorted, then said in a low voice, "This place isn't big, but since it's an archipelago, we can surely find somewhere a bit more secluded to hide ourselves, investigate the situation, and wait for the right moment to act."

"With so many of us?" Brother Dafeng grimaced. One or two would be easy enough—you could just duck into any little grove on any little islet. But right now there were seventeen of them in all, and ancient alliance experts were everywhere around them. How easy could it be to hide completely from their eyes and ears?

"Who said they need to hide too? The only ones who need to hide are you and me. Have you forgotten that Jing Taiyang and the others were ancient alliance people to begin with? What would they need to hide for?" Dr. Glasses chuckled.

"But there's still a flaw, isn't there? For instance, since they had no spirit jade, how could they have teleported in on their own?" These days Brother Dafeng had grown quite adept at playing the mole at the Central Headquarters. He was clearly far more meticulous and thorough in his thinking now; in the past he would never have been this careful.

"That is indeed a flaw, but it doesn't matter. So long as we act cautiously, a little fudging will get us through. At worst, we can claim they had hidden away a bit of spirit jade all along. Even if someone with a suspicious mind notices, the most they'll do is find it strange—there won't be any real problem." Dr. Glasses paused, then instructed them all, "But you must remember this: once you're back, keep contact with your former fellow disciples to a minimum. Listen more, speak less. Once you've investigated the affairs of your respective sects, come report to us. Understand?"

"Understood!" Jing Taiyang and the others answered in unison.

After agreeing on a meeting place, the group dispersed at once, while Brother Dafeng and Dr. Glasses found a little islet on the periphery and concealed themselves there, quietly awaiting word from Jing Taiyang and the others.

Brother Dafeng, using the excuse of scouting the surroundings, deliberately steered clear of Dr. Glasses, hoping to seize the chance to secretly contact Wei Zhao. But the moment he took out his phone, he was dumbfounded—there was no signal at all.

That being so, there was simply no way for him to reach Wei Zhao. He could not help fretting inwardly. Little did he know that it was precisely because his phone had no signal that Wei Zhao, upon discovering he had gone silent, quickly deduced that he might already have entered the relay point—and at once hurried back with all possible speed.

Teleporting back to the relay point, Wei Zhao's first instinct was to return to North Island and see how things stood, but he quickly dismissed the idea. Though he could not reach Brother Dafeng, even a fool could guess that the Center's people would never be so foolish as to strike directly at the ancient alliance. They would surely be hiding in the shadows, quietly pulling strings. That was in keeping with the Center's habitual style.

After thinking for a moment, Wei Zhao suddenly had an inspiration. His primordial spirit body dissolved at a rate visible to the naked eye—but this was not because he meant to return to Cloud Terrace Island. Rather, he intended to scout from the sky in his primordial spirit state.

Over the past month, the cultivation realm of Wei Zhao's primordial spirit body had remained at the great perfection of Foundation Establishment, yet it had not been without gain. His control over the primordial spirit was now exceedingly refined, and he could switch between primordial spirit and primordial spirit body form within a short time. In a sense, this ability was even more gratifying than restoring his cultivation realm to the Golden Core stage!

At least in terms of practicality, transforming into a primordial spirit was undoubtedly a divine skill of exceedingly broad application. Of course, there was no small risk in doing so. Ordinary physical attacks were ineffective against a primordial spirit, but once one encountered means such as elixir fire, the primordial spirit form had not the slightest power of resistance. After all, even an existence like Ghost Thing had been helpless against it—to say nothing of a half-baked amateur like Wei Zhao.

Moreover, the primordial spirit form was far less substantial than the primordial spirit body. Not only were there many things it simply could not do, but the drain on the primordial spirit was also far greater than with the spirit body. Fortunately, Wei Zhao had the piece of star-ink charcoal Leng Leng had given him to replenish his spiritual-consciousness energy, so this was one thing he need not worry about overmuch.

He transformed into a primordial spirit and rose into the air. In this state, his capacity for independent movement was in fact not strong. If he truly had to drift along slowly on his own, who knew how many years it would take just to circle the archipelago once. But through the past month's cultivation and exploration, Wei Zhao had grasped a fair number of insights and tricks. It was rather like a sailboat navigating the sea—one had to know how to borrow the wind, and only then could one achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Rising to a height of some ten meters in midair, his field of view broadened considerably. A little higher still, and he could have taken in the whole panorama of the surrounding archipelago at a glance. Combined with his outstanding perceptive abilities, sensing out anything here would have been simplicity itself—yet Wei Zhao did not do so. After all, the sea breeze was already brisk, and the higher one went, the fiercer the wind. The primordial spirit was exceedingly fragile, and the risk would have been too great.