Fish That Slipped Through the Net

He Yiliang inside the Small Mirror remained silent.

The more he acted this way, the more suspicious Lin Chen became.

"Hmph!" Lin Chen continued to conceal his aura and followed Hao Youcai from afar.

The fellow twisted and turned ahead, changing locations more than a dozen times in succession, making it impossible to tell where he was headed.

He was simply sly to the extreme.

On that point alone, Lin Chen dared to conclude that this fellow was definitely up to something.

Hao Youcai was even more cautious than Lin Chen had imagined. He wandered around the outer sect for a full two hours before stopping and looking all around.

"I see you. You've followed me for so long—what do you want?"

Hao Youcai shouted in Lin Chen's direction.

If it had been anyone else, they might have thought they had been discovered.

But Lin Chen was as steady as an old dog. He concealed his aura and did not move an inch.

"Fellow cultivator, why hide and cover yourself up? Come out and make things clear."

Hao Youcai was still trying to bluff him.

Another quarter-hour passed before the fellow finally lowered his guard and sped away toward the southeast.

Lin Chen frowned slightly. The southeast was precisely where Heavy Mountain Path lay.

"Could this guy be a fish that slipped through the net?"

Lin Chen followed close behind, his Spiritual Sense firmly locked onto the other man's figure.

"Could the previous plan have failed? Could Master and the others have failed to hook the big fish behind it all?"

His stomach was full of doubts.

That was no good thing for him.

On the surface, the previous plan had been meant to help the sect cut out its poisonous tumor and internal scourge.

But at its root, this matter was connected to Lin Chen.

If trouble were truly left behind, it would become an enormous threat.

Lin Chen understood the danger well. He followed closely behind and did not dare relax in the slightest.

A moment later, Hao Youcai reached an uninhabited area and directly used Sword Flight.

Lin Chen did not dare fly high in the sky. He could only weave through the forest and follow from afar.

Half an hour later, Hao Youcai arrived above Heavy Mountain Path and plunged straight down.

By the time Lin Chen caught up, Hao Youcai had already vanished without a trace.

"What a crafty bastard!"

Lin Chen searched around the area for quite some time, yet still found nothing.

He guessed there had to be a Formation Barrier here. He could only leave a marker and return the way he had come.

When he returned to the outer sect and found Hao Youcai's cave mansion, he easily entered the underground passage.

That layer of Barrier was only for concealment and offered no obstruction whatsoever.

Lin Chen quickly entered the Treasure Vault.

He did not inspect anything closely. He swept it all away in one go.

Then he returned by the original route and emerged from underground.

"Little Junior Brother!"

The moment he poked his head out from below, he heard Qi Ruming calling out.

He hurriedly turned around, surprise flashing through his eyes. "Third Senior Brother, why are you here?"

He knew Qi Ruming's habits very well. If nothing was happening, he never came down the mountain.

"To find you, of course!" Qi Ruming wore a resentful expression. "Master and the others are back. They want you to return!"

Lin Chen blinked. He did not understand why Third Senior Brother and the others had not sent him a voice transmission and had instead come looking for him in person.

As if seeing through his thoughts, Qi Ruming sighed. "I got scolded again, so I ran out to clear my head."

Lin Chen did not know how to comfort him either.

"Little Junior Brother, you don't know this—there's a huge crowd of disciples at the foot of our mountain. Over such a trivial matter, Master gave me a scolding. It wasn't like I invited them here, so why scold me?" Qi Ruming rambled on.

Lin Chen raised an eyebrow.

Could those people be here for him?

Otherwise, why would Master be looking for him?

Could something have gone wrong with the storybook business?

Lin Chen had not yet found another way to make money. The Storybooks absolutely could not run into trouble.

Without Storybooks, there would be no Spirit Stones.

Without Spirit Stones, he could not quickly raise his cultivation. That would be troublesome.

At that thought, he grew anxious as well. "Third Senior Brother, since Master has summoned me, let's hurry back!"

"Fine." Qi Ruming nodded.

On the way, he suddenly said, "Little Junior Brother, I want to eat fish."

"I'll arrange it when we get back. Third Senior Brother will definitely eat to his heart's content."

"Hahaha..."

At the mention of food, Qi Ruming's mood immediately improved.

The two quickly returned to Sect Leader Peak. The disciples who had gathered around had already dispersed.

Lin Chen made his way to the sect leader's main hall and saw that Zhao Qingshan and the others were all there.

Besides their master and disciples, there were actually more than a dozen elders present.

Every one of them wore a solemn expression, and no one knew what they were discussing.

"Could someone have reported my storybook business, and now the sect wants to punish me?"

Lin Chen's heart quivered uneasily.

One foot was already inside the hall, so he could only bite the bullet and step forward.

"Master!"

Upon reaching the front of the hall, he cupped his fists in salute.

"Fourth, you came back at just the right time. Come to my side." As though declaring his ownership, Zhao Qingshan called Lin Chen over.

The gathered elders below all looked at Lin Chen, their expressions varied.

"This encirclement operation succeeded because its greatest contributor was Lin Chen. He was the first to discover the Crimson Flame Demon Lord, and he was also the one who proposed the encirclement plan."

Zhao Qingshan took Lin Chen's hand and slowly rose to his feet. "Although the mission ultimately had a minor flaw, it does not affect Lin Chen's merits. Tell me, what reward should he receive?"

Upon hearing this, the elders looked at one another. The Grand Elder of the Scripture Depository was the first to speak.

"Sect Leader, Lin Chen's contribution is too great. Ordinary rewards simply do not match it. My Scripture Depository is willing to offer an elite disciple slot, a set of high-grade Spirit Rank cultivation techniques and Dao arts, one chance to enter the Mystic Rank Secret Realm, and one hundred thousand Spirit Stones."

Once he said that, the other elders came to their senses.

This was not giving a reward at all—it was plainly an attempt to recruit him.

At once, they began scrambling to speak first.

"My Alchemy Hall is also willing to offer a disciple slot, one hundred thousand Spirit Stones, one hundred high-grade Qi Condensation Pills, and three Return Origin Pills."

When they heard the Alchemy Hall's offer, the other elders all sucked in a breath of cold air.

This reward was far too lavish!

Everyone could offer Spirit Stones and disciple status, but they truly could not produce those pills!

"My Artifact Refining Hall is also willing to offer a disciple slot, along with two hundred thousand Spirit Stones and a set of Supreme-grade Spirit Artifacts..."

The Artifact Refining Hall's terms were even more shocking.

Those were Supreme-grade Spirit Artifacts, far beyond what Magic Artifacts could compare to.

A Top Grade Magic Tool was worth anywhere from several thousand Spirit Stones.

A low-grade Spirit Artifact was worth more than one hundred thousand Spirit Stones.

A Supreme-grade Spirit Artifact was worth at least around five hundred thousand Spirit Stones, let alone a whole set.

After the three elders finished speaking, the others all fell silent.

They truly could not offer better terms than those.

For a new disciple, among suitable rewards, what these three had offered was already at the pinnacle.

Lin Chen stood there and swallowed. He felt that Green Mountain Sect had quite a bit of potential after all.

Beside him, Zhao Qingshan's eyelids twitched wildly. These shameless old bastards wanted to exploit his opening again.

Absolutely hateful!

Seeing that the sect leader was about to flare up, Lin Chen hurriedly said, "Master, I just discovered that Outer Sect Elder Hao Youcai..."

He directly recounted what he had discovered.

Naturally, he did not mention a single word about clearing out the underground Treasure Vault.

After hearing his account, everyone's attention was indeed diverted.

"Come, take us there quickly." The sect leader had already grabbed Lin Chen and flown out first.

These people were far faster than Lin Chen.

They quickly reached the area Lin Chen had marked.

After searching for only a short while, they found traces of the Formation Barrier.

"Sect Leader, this is precisely the enemy stronghold we were searching for earlier. I never expected Lin Chen to discover it."

"This discovery came in time. The fish that slipped through the net should all be here. We can catch them all in one net."

"Sect Leader, give the order. Eradicating this stronghold will mean pulling out the nail left behind by the Raksha Sect. This is a great deed that benefits both the sect and the people."

Zhao Qingshan gave Lin Chen an approving look. "Bufan, protect your Little Junior Brother. Everyone else, follow me inside and kill the enemy scum."

With a thunderous boom, the enemy stronghold's defenses exploded on the spot.

Ming Bufan shielded Lin Chen behind him. Lin Chen saw that there were actually dozens of people inside the stronghold.

Hao Youcai was among them.

Knowing they could not escape, they all charged out with weapons in hand.

"Kill!"

A fierce battle erupted between the two sides.

In an instant, heavenly lightning, earthfire, frost, Flying Swords... detonated through the air.