The inn.
When they returned to the inn, the sky was still bright. After all, they had set out in the morning.
Even including enrollment and the tour, only a few hours had passed.
It was nowhere near dark yet.
The first thing Tang Ya did upon entering the room was draw the curtains. She did not like brightness; she preferred the night.
Because the night allowed her to hide from many things.
"Speak, Xiao Mu. What is it?"
Tang Ya clasped her hands behind her back and asked Jiang Mu.
"Well, I want you, Xiao Ya, to join the force I build in the future and work for me."
Jiang Mu spoke calmly.
Tang Ya's expression visibly trembled the moment she heard that. She instinctively opened her mouth to refuse Jiang Mu, but then raised a hand to stop herself.
"Tang San's growth relied entirely on the complete Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record. And his Martial Soul was not some so-called Blue Silver Grass, but the Blue Silver Emperor."
"With the mindset he had when using hidden weapons, there was no way he was some selfless person. Why would he completely pass down the cultivation method he relied on to become a god? It must have been altered."
Tang Ya's expression stiffened even further. She had thought it would be some heartfelt confession, but apparently she had overthought things.
Tang Ya had indeed taken in everything Jiang Mu said, but after processing it, her mind felt even more muddled.
"Blue Silver Emperor?"
Only after a long while did she sort through the information and offer a rebuttal.
"I know about the Blue Silver Emperor. But the Tang Sect records say that Sea God Tang San used his supreme methods to evolve ordinary Blue Silver Grass into the Blue Silver Emperor."
Jiang Mu spread his hands at that.
"Tang San's mother was the Blue Silver Emperor. He already had Blue Silver Emperor blood in his body, and all he needed afterward was a little guidance. What supreme method could there have been?"
After saying that, Jiang Mu saw that Tang Ya still showed some doubt on her face. He immediately realized that the brainwashing had not gone deep enough. These were stories ingrained in her memory, stories she had heard since childhood, so she clearly did not believe him easily.
He decided to put it another way.
"Xiao Ya, I trust you. I'm going to tell you something else, and I hope you can keep it secret."
Tang Ya nodded.
Jiang Mu said, "Actually, I've had a special ability since I was young. The reason I appeared on the outskirts of the Star Dou Forest at that time was to save you."
"Save me?"
Tang Ya was clearly a little dazed by the abrupt shift in topic and tilted her head blankly.
Jiang Mu answered with great seriousness.
"That's right. I know that, in the future, because you aren't strong enough, you'll be blinded by hatred. You'll try to develop your talent, go to the old Tang Sect site to hunt members of the Ironblood Sect, and then be captured by the Holy Spirit Cult. After that, you'll become a machine that only knows slaughter."
When she heard that it concerned her talent, Tang Ya's gaze flickered. This was something she had never told anyone, not even Bei Bei.
"Y-You... how do you know?"
How could Jiang Mu possibly know?
Did he really have some special ability?
Seeing Tang Ya grow hesitant, Jiang Mu knew he had to strike while the iron was hot and continued.
"Of course I know. I told you I have this ability because I came to save you. I don't want to see you become a tool in the future. That's why I'm trying so hard to persuade you."
"But what does this have to do with the Tang Sect?"
She had finally asked the key question. Jiang Mu did not hesitate and answered directly.
"I know that Tang San began cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Skill when he was young. The Mysterious Heaven Skill can even raise Innate Soul Power. Tang San's Innate Full Soul Power was raised that way. Otherwise, ordinary Blue Silver Grass without an awakened bloodline would have been enough to drag down the Clear Sky Hammer, lowering the quality of his Martial Souls and turning him into a pair of utterly useless twin Martial Souls."
"Can the Mysterious Heaven Skill you cultivate be practiced from childhood to raise Innate Soul Power?"
Tang Ya shook her head. She had never heard of such a thing. "Innate Soul Power can be raised?"
"Of course."
"I only began cultivating my Mysterious Heaven Skill after awakening my Martial Soul."
"So it was incomplete from the start."
Jiang Mu knew she still found it hard to believe. Exposing something she had been taught since childhood made him seem like a villain, and it was not something she could easily comprehend. That was why he had chosen this way of explaining it.
"The Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record records the Mysterious Heaven Skill, Mysterious Jade Hand, Purple Demon Eyes..."
Jiang Mu quickly and simply explained the cultivation methods inherited by the Tang Sect.
Tang Ya grew more shocked the more she listened. She had never passed these things on to outsiders, so how could he possibly know all of them?
"Xiao Mu, do you really have a special ability?"
"Aren't you curious? So many hidden weapons can only reach their greatest value when used with poison, yet the inherited Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record does not explain poisons at all."
Tang Ya stared fixedly at the hidden weapons in Jiang Mu's hand. Ever since she was young, she had always regarded them as the strongest weapons.
Yet now she was being told that hidden weapons had never reached their greatest value because Tang San had concealed their most important function.
Her thoughts raced as she frantically sorted through the information Jiang Mu had given her, and her way of thinking began to change.
Jiang Mu was about to continue, but he discovered that a tear had actually slipped from the corner of Tang Ya's eye.
"I... I don't know what to do anymore."
Seeing this, Jiang Mu knew clearly that Tang Ya had already believed his words.
This was somewhat different from what he had imagined,
But as long as she could change her way of thinking, that was good enough.
"I'm telling you all this only because I want you to understand that no one is truly generous. Even Tang San, the Sea God Tang San you admire, was the same. Don't put him on such a pedestal. He never cared about you, the Tang Sect's sect master, and he kept things for himself. Why should you still revere him as your sect's founder?"
"You've already done enough. Or rather, your entire family has already done enough."
Jiang Mu stepped forward and raised a hand to wipe the tears from Tang Ya's cheeks.
"If you want revenge, join my force. I can turn your Martial Soul into the Blue Silver Emperor and awaken your true talent. Then you'll be able to take revenge with your own strength."
"Really?"
Tang Ya's body gradually went limp. She threw herself into Jiang Mu's arms as she spoke.
"You can really evolve my Martial Soul into the Blue Silver Emperor?"
"Of course. I won't lie to you."
Jiang Mu nodded. He had refined blood essence containing the Blue Silver Emperor bloodline. Even if it could not evolve her Martial Soul, it could still improve its quality, turning it into something like the Blue Silver King.
At worst, he could refine more of it. From king to emperor—if it truly could not evolve, he could later wipe out the Blue Silver Emperor he had stored away and still raise Tang Ya up.
This was the promise he made to Tang Ya.
"Alright, Xiao Mu. As long as you can evolve my Blue Silver Grass, I'll join your sect as you say."
Tang Ya tightened her arms around Jiang Mu slightly. Her grip grew stronger, and the two were pressed tightly together, able to feel each other's warmth and scent.
Tang Ya had thought it through. Why should she serve someone who even guarded against the descendants and sect masters of the force he had founded?
It would be better, as Jiang Mu said, to build a new force together, one filled with their shared memories.
Whoever helped her take revenge was the one she would help.
Her parents had already died for the Tang Sect. They no longer owed the Tang Sect anything.
Before you continue