Ximen Kankan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and glanced sideways at Mo Qian."Also. I will be going to the city for a few days on business. Keep the household in order while I am away. Do not cause trouble.""Father may go with peace of mind. The child will look after things properly."Ximen Yong gave a quiet sound of acknowledgment, reached into his sleeve, and produced a silver note. "This month's allowance. Spend it with some care."He set the note on the desk, turned, and walked out of Xueyan Residence.Ximen Kankan saw his father off, then turned back to look at Mo Qian. The expression on his face at that moment was one of pure reverence.Mo Qian felt genuinely pleased with himself. That had all been pure presence of mind.In the old days, Cao Zijian had composed a poem in seven steps. Today...Mo Qian glanced at the distance from the hall door to where he was standing.Not even twenty steps. Quite satisfactory.After Ximen Yong left, Ximen Kankan talked with Mo Qian for

Mo Qian released his seals, exited the sea of consciousness, put on his underwear, carried the now empty wooden basin out of the room, went to the large water tank in the courtyard, scooped a fresh basin of clear water, and brought it back inside.He poured more Dragon Flame Fat from the porcelain bottle, this time estimating three times the previous amount.Mo Qian looked at the wooden basin. The liquid was deeply, darkly red, almost tipping into purple-black. He frowned slightly. He removed his underwear, braced himself against the pain, and applied the liquid to his entire body.Mo Qian returned to the enclosed space, sat cross-legged on the cushion, and chanted the spell while forming the seals. He entered the sea of consciousness once more.The moment his spell and seals began, the pores of his whole body burst into a sudden, intense itch, and he could feel something pushing through them into his body, gathering at the back of his skull.The moment Mo Qian arrived in the sea of c

When he had achieved the first level of the Taizang Scripture, the milky white star had given him a sense of the sacred. He and the star had a faint spiritual connection, and through it he could feel the star's quiet and peace.But when the blood cocoon had first taken shape during the second level, Mo Qian had looked at it and felt a strange and unsettled restlessness rise within him.He understood, however, that the deeper mysteries of the Taizang Scripture were far beyond what he could fully comprehend at this stage. Speculating was pointless. The right approach was simply to follow the method.The Taizang Scripture was the supreme teaching of Tai Yi Sect and had been refined and verified by generations of practitioners before him. As long as he followed the method faithfully, it would not lead him wrong.From the moment Mo Qian entered the sea of consciousness, the thin mist drifting between earth and sky was shifting gradually from faint red to deep red, and soon the red demon mi

The formal assessment was usually presided over by chief instructor Xiao Zongting, with the escort leaders of the various teams participating to assist.If Ruan Fengshan had time, he would sometimes come to observe, but never stayed long.On such occasions, chief steward Luan Jingfu was never present. He had no interest in supporting his old rival's occasion.Four escort leaders were present: Sun Huang of the second escort team, Wang Zhuoyong of the fourth, Li Gu of the fifth, and Zhao Meng of the sixth. Both teams currently out on escort runs were absent, but all other escort leaders had come.The written test questions were composed by Xiao Zongting and the four escort leaders on the spot. Xiao Zongting wrote two questions and each escort leader wrote one, for a total of six. This approach effectively eliminated the risk of the questions being leaked in advance and ensured the written test carried real weight.Mo Qian, Zhao Mu, and the third candidate were already seated and waiting

Liang Wu was shaken. He turned and attacked again. Mo Qian moved with the same unhurried precision, reading each technique the moment it formed in Liang Wu's body, stepping into the gap between moves with small, exact movements, and each time Liang Wu turned, Mo Qian was already clear of him, as though Liang Wu were deliberately dodging out of the way for him.A ripple of laughter ran through the onlookers around the arena.From where the watching escorts stood, the picture was obvious: Liang Wu was clearly drunk and unsteady, and Mo Qian was just stepping half a pace at a time in whatever direction he drifted. Yet Liang Wu had not so much as grazed Mo Qian's clothing.Wang Zhuoyong's face had been growing increasingly unpleasant. He shot to his feet and bellowed at the arena, "Liang Wu, if you're too dizzy to function, get off my stage and stop embarrassing yourself up there!"Not just the watching escorts but also the escort leaders present had assumed the same thing: that Liang Wu