Immortal Ascension Society

There was no telling whether this was Rat-Head Gou Mu's handiwork.

The map had been drawn with extraordinary subtlety.

Even with Wang Ba's astonishingly keen senses, he would never have noticed it without examining it bit by bit.

A tremendous amount of thought must have gone into it. Anyone else who picked it up would probably have been drawn only to the illustrated scenes unfolding across the book, paying no attention whatsoever to the details within them.

Studying this patch of red armor closely, Wang Ba matched the map against the layout of the sect's outskirts in his mind and soon discovered that it extended southward from South Lake Village.

And the entrance was actually inside South Lake Village.

On reflection, though, he could not help silently admiring Gou Mu's boldness and meticulous care.

After all, South Lake Village was a jumble of people with wretched surroundings, and cultivators generally did not want to go there.

Digging an entrance here truly exemplified the greatest concealment: hiding amid the bustling world.

No one would have imagined that a secret underground passage connecting the inside and outside of the sect lay hidden here.

What surprised Wang Ba even more was that the map included three-dimensional layers. Reaching the tunnel from the entrance required descending nearly a hundred feet.

Beyond that lay a tangled network of passages like a maze. Only by following the map could one avoid taking a wrong turn.

After poring over it for half the day, even Wang Ba could not help admiring Rat-Head Gou Mu.

Sure enough, a name might be wrong, but a nickname never was.

To have constructed such an intricate and astonishing tunnel network underground single-handedly while avoiding the sect disciples' patrols-he certainly lived up to the name Rat-Head.

But I only have one chance.

To ensure nothing goes wrong, I have to travel light!

He did not intend to take anything from the villa.

Even Jia One through Jia Six, which he had so painstakingly raised, and the three recently hatched third-generation Spirit Chickens would have to be painfully abandoned.

Even with Spirit Stones, he only dared take a few to cover his expenses after leaving the sect.

After all, cultivators' senses were far too keen, and they were also extremely sensitive to Spiritual Qi.

If he carried too many Spirit Stones, he might be discovered even through a hundred feet of earth.

Although he could use Yin Spirit Power to deceive them, he had no confidence whatsoever that it could conceal the Spiritual Qi fluctuations of the Spirit Stones.

After all, the number of times he had used Yin Spirit Power in front of cultivators could be counted on his fingers. He really had no solid examples to put his mind at ease.

I can bring some Tendon-Cutting Nematodes, though. They'll serve as a means of self-defense.

I'll leave the sect in fifteen days. Supposedly, that's when the disciples patrolling the sect's outskirts change shifts, so it'll be a little safer.

After a night of deliberation, Wang Ba finally settled on a plan for leaving the sect.

In short: fifteen days from now, he would use Rat-Head Gou Mu's tunnels to leave the Eastern Saint Sect, traveling light!

After that, life and death would rest with fate, and longevity with Heaven!

Thinking of the uncertain road ahead, Wang Ba felt somewhat dazed for a time.

But he soon composed himself and went to the market's book pavilion, where he spent several Spirit Stones on accounts of miscellaneous happenings, travelogues, and books recording information about nearby sects and cultivators.

Previously, earning Spirit Stones had been difficult, and since he had only recently joined the sect, learning about the cultivation world had not felt urgent. Thus, although he knew there was a book pavilion here, he had hardly browsed it.

Now that his departure was imminent, he naturally had to gather every scrap of information he could about the cultivation world, so he would at least have some common knowledge when traveling outside.

Most importantly, of course, he still could not be certain whether the Body-Strengthening Scripture could actually allow him to form a Spiritual Root. And even if it could, he would still need to run about seeking cultivation methods and resources for his subsequent cultivation.

Choosing another sect was therefore only natural.

The information in the market's book pavilion could help Wang Ba choose a more suitable sect after he left.

To his regret, however, the market's book pavilion contained no cultivation methods or spells for cultivators.

Apparently, such things could only be found in markets exclusively for cultivators.

And within the sect, there was only one such market.

It was called Fengyang Market.

However, this market was quite close to the sect's central area. Unless they served sect disciples, servant disciples from the outskirts could scarcely go there.

Wang Ba did want to see it for himself, but he ultimately put the thought aside.

With his departure imminent, he wanted no unexpected complications.

But unexpected complications were often just like that: the less one wanted them, the more they came one after another.

Early one morning.

Wang Ba stared at the human-shaped hole someone had once again smashed through the roof he had worked so hard to repair, and fell silent.

"Cough, cough... Uncle, I really didn't do it on purpose this time..."

Dressed in purple robes but covered in dust and dirt, Ye Lingyu emerged from the house, coughing.

Her fair face was smeared with dust, yet it lent her otherwise ordinary features a distinctive charm.

But perhaps because he had spent too long with roosters that had no interest in females, Wang Ba felt not a ripple within.

Nor did he really dare feel one.

The girl before him seemed a little dim, but those purple robes proclaimed quite unmistakably that she... was an inner sect disciple!

Shopkeeper Lu mentioned that when the sect last recruited disciples, they apparently took in a female cultivator with a high grade Spiritual Root. Could it be her?

While forcing a smile and saying, "It's all right, it's all right. How are you? Did the fall hurt?" Wang Ba quietly pondered this.

Previously, he had been too busy raising Spirit Chickens and Tendon-Cutting Nematodes to give it much thought.

Now that he considered it, both Ye Lingyu's age and her status matched. She really might be that favored daughter of Heaven with a high grade Spiritual Root.

But even knowing this, Wang Ba wanted no involvement with her.

It came back to the same thing: his departure was imminent, and he could allow no unexpected complications.

Besides, if she really was that prodigy with a high grade Spiritual Root, judging by how she had been admitted to the inner sect immediately upon joining, someone was most likely watching her in secret.

He had too many secrets. Getting entangled with someone like her would cause trouble sooner or later.

Thus, although his manner was respectful, he merely went through the motions.

Ye Lingyu had improved considerably since last time and noticed the perfunctoriness beneath Wang Ba's respectful manner.

Rather than becoming annoyed, she felt all the more ashamed.

After all, she had already damaged his roof twice. She really had no face to stay any longer.

Blushing with shame, she headed down from the villa, but after only a couple of steps, she turned back just as she had last time, pressed something into Wang Ba's hand, then turned and ran.

As she went, she silently cursed the Law Sword in her hand.

It's all your fault, you lousy sword! I told you to take me to find a suitable Spirit Beast to refine. Why do you keep flying onto his roof?!

When we get back, I'll have Master reforge you!

As though possessing awareness, the Law Sword trembled with a soft hum.

Now you feel wronged?! Hmph, don't fly onto his roof again next time!

With that, she activated the Law Sword and flew unsteadily away.

Wang Ba naturally knew nothing of this. He merely stared at the object in his hand, astonishment in his eyes.

It's actually a middle grade Spirit Stone!

It was square, a deep, clear blue.

In the morning sunlight, it refracted dreamlike colors.

He looked at the damaged roof, then at the Spirit Stone in his hand.

For some inexplicable reason, Wang Ba felt that having his roof smashed through did not seem quite so hard to accept.

After all, one middle grade Spirit Stone was worth a hundred lower-grade Spirit Stones.

Never mind servant disciples-even ordinary outer sect disciples would struggle to casually produce one.

Yet this somewhat foolish female cultivator had casually offered one as compensation.

One could imagine just how extravagant the treatment of inner sect disciples was.

But this left him in a difficult position.

A middle grade Spirit Stone was not a hundred taels of silver.

It was by no means a small sum.

If Ye Lingyu's master or anyone else connected to her happened to be petty-minded and learned that Wang Ba had accepted this Spirit Stone, his good days would probably be over.

Although Wang Ba was about to leave the sect and was not particularly afraid, what if they made trouble before he left?

The best course was therefore to return the Spirit Stone.

But as a servant disciple, returning it would not be easy either.

After turning it over in his mind, he could only look for a chance to hand it to Steward Li and ask him to pass it on.

Of course, that had to happen with other people present as witnesses.

Otherwise, given Steward Li's greed, there was no guarantee he would not pocket it.

But instead of Steward Li, someone else arrived.

"Old Hou, this is...?"

Wang Ba looked at Old Hou on the donkey cart and the unfamiliar middle-aged man standing nearby, letting a trace of puzzlement appear on his face at the appropriate moment.

As though he had become a different person, Old Hou respectfully climbed down from the donkey cart and carefully raised a hand to introduce the man:

"This is a manager of the Immortal Ascension Society."