A Close Call

Fang Chen glanced at the Enforcement Hall disciples flying towards the mountaintop. He was worried they might discover something and drag him off to the Enforcement Hall for another fine.

This stone contained a legacy left by True Monarch Liuyun, its value immeasurable. He was still heavily in debt from previous fines, and another one would be unbearable.

He turned to Li Yanshan and Elder Yun. "Uncle Li, Elder Yun, what should we do?"

Li Yanshan stared at Fang Chen. "If they question you, just insist that the stone fell on its own. It's no big deal!"

"Mm!"

Fang Chen nodded slightly.

After the Enforcement Hall squad reached the mountaintop, they searched for a while but found no suspicious signs.

One of the lackeys asked the squad leader, "Captain, why would this stone suddenly crack open when it was perfectly fine?"

The squad leader's face was grim. "You ask me? Who am I supposed to ask?"

The lackey frowned slightly. "Should we take them all back for questioning?"

The Enforcement Hall wielded significant power and often abused it for personal gain. During their duties, they would seize opportunities to arrest people and bring them back to the hall, then find ways to extort benefits from them.

Both Outer Sect Disciples and Inner Disciples deeply resented the Enforcement Hall members. Yet, every year when the Enforcement Hall openly recruited, people scrambled to join because they knew how lucrative it was.

The other three lackeys looked up at their captain. "Captain, should we arrest them or not?"

"Arrest them for what? Don't you think we have enough on our hands? This Dog Head Ridge is a desolate place. One blind man, one cripple – what kind of profit do you expect to squeeze from them?"

The Enforcement Hall captain berated the lackey fiercely. It wasn't out of kindness, but because he looked down on Li Yanshan and Elder Yun. Dog Head Ridge was the poorest area on Azure Cloud Peak, a place even rats wouldn't stay. He didn't want to waste his energy on Li Yanshan and his ilk.

The lackey who was scolded frowned and asked cautiously, "Then what should we do?"

The squad leader's expression turned somber. "What else can we do? It was just a waste stone. Report it as is. Say the stone on Dog Head Ridge mountaintop, inscribed with the True Monarch's sword technique legacy, cracked and fell from the peak, causing no losses. How they deal with it upstairs is none of our business!"

This squad leader knew that the higher-ups had long stopped caring about Dog Head Ridge. If they had, it wouldn't have degenerated to its current state.

"Yes!"

The lackey responded, and they all flew their swords down the mountain.

The squad leader lightly brushed his belt, and a piece of rough paper appeared in his hand. The belt was a storage belt, but it wasn't his personal property. It was equipment provided by the Enforcement Hall for him as the captain of a patrol squad. Once he left the Enforcement Hall or resigned his position, the storage belt would be reclaimed.

He quickly wrote the results of the investigation on the paper. After Elder Yun, Li Yanshan, and Fang Chen checked it and confirmed it was accurate, they all signed and made their marks.

The Enforcement Hall squad collected the paper and flew away. They truly couldn't stand staying a moment longer in a godforsaken place like Dog Head Ridge.

Seeing the Enforcement Hall members leave, Fang Chen breathed a sigh of relief. He had genuinely feared being arrested. Fortunately, it seemed there was no harm done.

Li Yanshan looked at Fang Chen and asked, "Fang Chen, tell me, how did you manage to cultivate the Flowing Cloud Sword Technique?"

Elder Yun stared at Fang Chen, awaiting his answer. No one had learned the Flowing Cloud Sword Technique in over a thousand years, yet Fang Chen, after only two days at Dog Head Ridge, had mastered it. Elder Yun was very curious about Fang Chen's cultivation method.

Fang Chen naturally wouldn't reveal the secret of the Floating Immortal Sword. He said, "When I was cultivating on the mountaintop just now, the stone suddenly lit up, and many tadpoles appeared on it. The tadpoles crawled around the stone, then dispersed, separating the text on the stone. I followed the order the tadpoles separated the characters and cultivated, and then I succeeded!"

"Tadpoles?"

Li Yanshan and Elder Yun were both stunned. They had studied the stone many times without success, and they had never seen the tadpoles Fang Chen mentioned. However, they fully believed Fang Chen's words, as the cultivation method on the stone was left by a True Monarch.

In the Glazed Sword Sect, many stone tablets and even stones were inscribed with cultivation methods. Some people gained legacies from these stones and tablets, while others gained nothing. This was a matter of fate and opportunity. Cultivators placed great importance on such things.

"Yes!"

Fang Chen nodded.

Elder Yun said to Fang Chen, "Can you write down the sword manual you cultivated for us to see?"

"Of course!"

Fang Chen nodded vigorously and then wrote the sword manual on the ground, breaking down the verses according to where the tadpoles had stopped.

However, when Li Yanshan and Elder Yun tried to cultivate using the manual, they couldn't succeed.

Elder Yun shook his head slightly. "It seems we are not fated to this sword technique!"

"Indeed!"

Li Yanshan also nodded slightly. They knew that legacies left by powerful cultivators were often peculiar, and fate was crucial.

Li Yanshan looked at Fang Chen and said, "Pick up the fish on the ground. We're having fish for lunch today!"

"Okay!"

Fang Chen nodded and began picking up the fish.

At noon, Li Yanshan cooked a large pot of fish. Fang Chen, Li Yanshan, and Elder Yun gathered around the pot, ready to eat.

Not only were Fang Chen and the others full, but Little Six was also stuffed. Its belly was round, and it lay on the ground with its eyes closed, looking content.

Fang Chen looked at the black dog in front of him and asked Li Yanshan, "Uncle Li, Little Six is so black, why isn't its name Little Black? Why is it called Little Six?"

Li Yanshan glanced at Little Six and replied, "Because it used to be ranked sixth at Dog Head Ridge. Elder Yun is the first, I'm the third, and it's the sixth. The second and fifth are dead!"

"I see!"

Fang Chen nodded slightly and then asked Li Yanshan, "Uncle Li, what rank am I now?"

Uncle Li looked at Fang Chen, a slight smile playing on his lips. "You don't rank anything now. Since they left, we don't keep track of ranks anymore. You can be the boss, or the youngest, whatever you want!"

"Buzz buzz buzz..."

Fang Chen felt his identity token vibrate slightly.

He immediately took out his identity token and saw that the inscriptions on it were emitting a faint white light.

"What's going on?"

Fang Chen immediately frowned, not understanding why his identity token was behaving this way.

Li Yanshan looked at Fang Chen's identity token and said calmly, "Just scan it with your Spiritual Sense, and you'll know!"

"Okay!"

Fang Chen nodded and immediately scanned it with his Spiritual Sense.

The next moment, a piece of unfamiliar information appeared in his mind. The content of this information was from the Supervision Hall.

Fang Chen immediately took out his identity token, looked up at Li Yanshan and Elder Yun, and asked, "Uncle Li, Elder Yun, what's happening?"

Li Yanshan frowned slightly and said, "It's a message from the sect. Just scan it with your Spiritual Sense, and you'll know!"

After speaking, he immediately scanned it with his Spiritual Sense.

Fang Chen also immediately scanned his own identity token with his Spiritual Sense, and a piece of unfamiliar information surged into his mind.