Ren Woxing: I'll pass the Star-Sucking Great Skill to Lin Lang, whether he wants it or not

The man in the iron cage opened his eyes. Though he looked bedraggled, his eyes shone with a piercing light.

Ren Woxing thought the Four Friends of Plum Manor had brought someone else to trick him out of his Star-Sucking Great Skill, but when he saw Xiang Wentian, he finally could not help rising to his feet.

Others might betray him, but Xiang Wentian never would.

Xiang Wentian held out his hand to Hei Baizi. "Hand over the keys."

He walked over and personally unlocked the iron cage and chains.

"Your subordinate came late to your rescue, Cult Leader. You have suffered."

Hei Baizi, the other two, and Lan Fenghuang all dropped to one knee. "Your subordinates pay their respects, Cult Leader."

Ren Woxing roared with laughter. "Xiang Wentian, I knew that as long as you were alive, you would come rescue me."

His years of endurance had not been in vain. At last, his chance to leave this place alive had come.

"Father!"

Ren Yingying threw herself into Ren Woxing's arms, tears pouring from her eyes like rain.

"You're... Yingying? You've grown so much! Come, let me look at you."

Seeing his only family, Ren Woxing was especially moved. His daughter had been only six when he was imprisoned.

"All right, I'm filthy. Let's talk outside." Ren Woxing patted Ren Yingying's back. "How did you find me?"

Ren Yingying hurried to answer. "It was all thanks to Brother Lin. He searched for years before confirming that you were imprisoned in Plum Manor. He was also the one who devised a way to rescue you."

Brother Lin? Ren Woxing abruptly turned toward Lin Lang.

Lin Lang cupped his hands toward Ren Woxing. "Junior Lin Lang pays his respects to Cult Leader Ren. Cult Leader Ren, shall we leave this place first so you can bathe and change?"

Ren Woxing did not want to remain in such a bedraggled state either, so he followed them out of the dungeon.

Xiang Wentian took Ren Woxing to bathe and change, while Lan Fenghuang led the others to prepare food and wine. Lin Lang and Ren Yingying sat in the reception hall, drinking tea.

"Brother Lin, thank you for saving my father." Only now did Ren Yingying relax. She finally had family again.

Lin Lang smiled. "Yingying, there's no need to thank me. My father received a great kindness from Cult Leader Ren back then. It's only right that I repay it for him."

"There's no need to offer me a position as an elder of the Holy Cult, either. My father wanted to make a name for himself in the Jinyiwei, but sadly, he never managed it before he died. As his son, I must accomplish it for him."

"I truly seek no reward for rescuing Cult Leader Ren."

Ren Yingying gazed at Lin Lang. Wasn't he the great hero she had always dreamed of?

Handsome, highly skilled in martial arts, upright, and possessed of a righteousness that reached the clouds-what woman of the martial world would not want to marry such a man?

He had also saved her father, so her father certainly would not object.

She sighed inwardly. Why did Lin Lang have to practice the Golden Body Child Skill?

Seated in a wooden tub, Ren Woxing suddenly asked, "Did you bring this Lin Lang here?"

Xiang Wentian shook his head. "Cult Leader, according to Yingying, Lin Lang approached her. He said you once saved his father's life, so he had been searching for your whereabouts all this time to repay that kindness."

Xiang Wentian recounted the story Lin Lang had fabricated. Ren Woxing thought for a moment. "I don't remember. Perhaps it was merely a passing act back then."

He had experienced far too many such things, and so many years had passed. How could he remember them all?

"Cult Leader, for the time being, you should recuperate here in Plum Manor and recover your strength. I'll impersonate Huang Zhonggong. Everyone else has taken either the Three Corpse Brain Spirit Pill or another poison from the Five Immortals Sect. No one knows you've been freed."

"Yingying and I are contacting some of our old brothers. Once you've recovered your strength, we'll kill Dongfang Bubai and reclaim your throne as cult leader."

Ren Woxing clenched the towel in his hands. "You've arranged things well. Once I recover my strength, I will kill that traitor Dongfang Bubai!"

Xiang Wentian said, "Cult Leader, I wasn't actually the one who devised this plan, either. It was Lin Lang."

Ren Woxing froze for a moment. Lin Lang had discovered that he was in Plum Manor. Lin Lang had devised the plan to rescue him. And Lin Lang had made it possible for him to recover his strength in peace at Plum Manor, slowly gather his old followers, and reclaim his throne as cult leader.

If Lin Lang had rescued him to repay a kindness, then he had to reward him for everything he had done afterward.

"Cult Leader, Lin Lang is also quite strong. He once fought Qu Yang without falling behind. With his help, we'll have a better chance of killing Dongfang Bubai."

Ren Woxing was surprised. "At his age, he's already at the peak of the Master realm?"

Someone of that age with such cultivation would be considered a genius in any major orthodox sect, perhaps even the successor to its leader!

If such a genius joined the Sun Moon Holy Cult, Ren Woxing would be like a tiger given wings.

"Young Brother Lin Lang, let me offer you a toast." Ren Woxing raised his bowl of wine.

Lin Lang raised his own bowl and drained it. "Senior, just call me by my name."

If he bumped me up a generation, how would I make a move on Ren Yingying?

Would we each use our own terms of address?

I'd call Ren Woxing Father-in-law, while he called me Little Brother? Ren Yingying would call me Uncle, while I called her darling?

"Very well, I'll call you by your name. Lin Lang, without you, there's no telling how much longer I would have been tormented. What do you want? Martial arts manuals, power and status, gold and jewels-anything at all."

He had changed into clean clothes and combed his hair up, looking much more spirited, though his body was still rather thin and frail. He had suffered greatly during his years in the dungeon.

Had his cultivation not been so profound, and had he not been able to endure, he would probably have died long ago.

Now that he had regained his freedom, some of his former bearing had returned as well.

Even if he had yet to reclaim his throne as leader of the Sun Moon Holy Cult, he could still reward Lin Lang handsomely.

He refused to believe that Lin Lang would remain unmoved after such an offer.

As long as he knew what Lin Lang liked, he could keep giving it to him and gradually turn Lin Lang into his subordinate.

Lin Lang set down his wine bowl. "Cult Leader Ren, this junior truly wants nothing."

"Though I'm not fabulously wealthy, I don't lack money. Besides, I'm a Deputy Thousand-household in the Jinyiwei, with some men under my command. If you ever need my help, Cult Leader Ren, just say the word. As long as it's within my power, I won't refuse. But there's no need for me to join the Holy Cult."

"As for martial arts, though I'm far inferior to you, Cult Leader Ren, I'm still reasonably capable. With my body-tempering skill and swordsmanship, I have more than enough ability to protect myself. My true qi may be weak, but I fear no Martial Arts Master."

Did you catch that? My true qi is weak.

Of course Lin Lang wanted the Star-Sucking Great Skill. It was the supreme art of the Sun Moon Holy Cult. But he would not ask for it. He wanted Ren Woxing to offer it himself.

Ren Woxing was taken aback. Lin Lang truly wanted nothing.

Lin Lang could refuse a reward, but he could not refuse to give one!

Otherwise, if word spread through the martial world that he had given his savior nothing in return, wouldn't everyone laugh at him?

Suddenly, he noticed the way his daughter looked at Lin Lang, and an idea stirred in his mind.

This lad practices the Golden Body Child Skill?

A man who isn't going to become a monk-why practice a skill that requires remaining a virgin?

Besides, can the Golden Body Child Skill compare to my Star-Sucking Great Skill?

The Star-Sucking Great Skill could remedy Lin Lang's weak true qi perfectly. With powerful true qi, even third-rate martial arts could unleash tremendous might.

Once Lin Lang learned his Star-Sucking Great Skill and received his guidance, he could help him break through to Martial Arts Grandmaster within half a year. Then they would have an even better chance of killing Dongfang Bubai.

Even mastered to perfection, the Golden Body Child Skill could not withstand a Martial Arts Grandmaster. If it was broken, so be it.

Body-tempering skills were difficult to cultivate and easy to break. Sooner or later, he would have to abandon it.

He made his decision. He would pass the Star-Sucking Great Skill to Lin Lang, whether he wanted it or not.

Then everyone would know that Lin Lang was his successor, and in the future, he would have no choice but to join the Sun Moon Holy Cult.

"Lin Lang, Yingying, go down to the dungeon again in a little while. I left something on that cage. Erase it after you've read it."

"All right, I'm tired. Anything else can wait until tomorrow."