Chapter 177: The Real Purpose

Upon hearing what he said, a slight wrinkle emerged on Mo Tiange’s brows. Sure enough, there was indeed something Jiang Shanghang hadn’t told her yet!

Jiang Shanghang took a quick glance at her then said to Ren Yufeng, “I still haven’t told her in detail.”

Ren Yufeng said, “Then it’s time for you to tell her.”

Mo Tiange shifted her eyes at Jiang Shanghang, awaiting his explanation. Although she had long expected the matter to not be so simple, she still felt unhappy now that the matter was laid in front of her.

Confronted with her gaze, Jiang Shanghang cleared his throat then said rather uneasily, “Junior Martial… Sister Ye, don’t get mad yet. I didn’t tell you before because this matter is very important. However, everything I promised you before is still in effect. The only reason I didn’t tell you was because it wasn’t convenient for me to do so before.”

Mo Tiange simply smirked but said nothing. She had long guessed it, so she wasn’t really angry, but if she let this pass too easily, people would think she was a doormat.

Seeing Jiang Shanghang’s conflicted expression, Ren Yufeng interrupted: “Let me speak.”

Jiang Shanghang looked at him. He hesitated for a moment but in the end, he complied and stepped back.

Mo Tiange watched them coldly. Judging by how arrogant Ren Yufeng’s behavior was before, how could Jiang Shanghang possibly dare to object in front of him? Apparently, what Jiang Shanghang said to her before was true. He was only an ordinary disciple, so in front of his fellow disciples, he was in a vulnerable position.

While facing Mo Tiange, Ren Yufeng withdrew his previous arrogance and said sternly, “Junior Martial Sister Ye, in short, I can let you leave if you disagree with what we’re doing. However, you have to pledge an oath on your Inner Demon that you’ll never tell this to anyone else!”

Mo Tiange wrinkled her brows slightly. What was such a big deal?

She said indifferently, “Senior Martial Brother Ren just needs to say it outright. Would it matter whether I agreed or not? Your fellow disciples are all here; if you wanted to deal with me, that would be very easy for you.”

Her words choked Ren Yufeng up, and even Jiang Shanghang looked away. They were indeed thinking the same thing. In any case, she was by herself; if she disagreed, they wouldn’t have any problems in coercing her by force. However, having that laid bare by Mo Tiange still made their faces heat up. After all, bullying a single woman wasn’t something to be proud of.

Nevertheless, that Ren Yufeng’s skin was thick enough, so he soon regained his composure and said, “Junior Martial Sister Ye, do you think the elders in our sect would permit us to tell others about the Land of Hiding Dragon, a place where we often find treasures?”

When Mo Tiange heard that, she cast a glance at Jiang Shanghang. “So that means… everything Senior Martial Brother Jiang told me before was a lie?”

“Of course not,” Jiang Shanghang hastily refuted. “The Land of Hiding Dragon is indeed a place where we can often find treasures. Aside from it being our sect’s secret, everything else I said was true.”

“Oh?” Mo Tiange turned towards Ren Yufeng. “Then what does Senior Martial Brother Ren mean?”

“We’ll start from the last time we entered the Land of Hiding Dragon.” Ren Yufeng stared sharply at Mo Tiange as if he was watching to see whether or not she had an unfavorable expression. He continued on slowly, “Three months ago, Junior Martial Brother Xiang, Junior Martial Brother Tang, Junior Martial Brother Jiang and I went into the Land of Hiding Dragon together and found a secret place inside. Unfortunately, the four of us didn’t have enough strength, so we had no choice but to come back empty-handed. Several months after that, we tried to get people we could trust to come here and look for treasures with us.”

“… So how is this related to me?” Mo Tiange was baffled. “Your fellow disciples ought to be more trustworthy than an outsider like me—if you’re looking for comrades, you should be looking from among your fellow disciples!”

“We have to first talk about what’s going on with the secret place,” Ren Yufeng said, “Last time, we accidentally entered the secret place and as a result, we immediately ran into a fifth rank demonic beast. That wasn’t really the problem—although a fifth rank demonic beast is equivalent to a Core Formation cultivator, it wasn’t like the four of us weren’t strong enough to fight it—the problem was that the demonic beast possessed an extremely strong resistance against water and ice element magic! Presumably, Junior Martial Sister Ye’s not aware of this, but ever since Zhengfa Sect was established in this northernmost glacial zone, all our disciples practice water or ice element cultivation techniques; even our magic tools are ice or water element magic tools. Therefore, we were inevitably defeated and had to escape.”

“So you wanted to find a cultivator who was a disciple of another sect to fight that demonic beast?”

“Correct.” After seeing that there were no visible changes in her expression, Ren Yufeng finally felt a slight sense of relief. He said frankly, “Unfortunately, our Zhengfa Sect’s situated in the northernmost region, so outsiders rarely come here. Even if foreign cultivators come here, their cultivation levels usually aren’t high enough or they’re unreliable, so we certainly don’t want them. Prior to this, I even thought of going to Kunwu to find suitable candidates.”

Mo Tiange remained silent. If what they said was true, it also wasn’t impossible for her to take on this matter.

“When Junior Martial Sister Ye arrived in our northernmost region, Junior Martial Brother Jiang thought of inviting you, so he sent for me, asking whether it was feasible. Because he guaranteed that you were a trustworthy person, I agreed.”

So that meant… Jiang Shanghang had planned this from the beginning! Once this conclusion emerged in her mind, Mo Tiange once again expressionlessly glanced at him. Even though this matter wasn’t really grave, she still felt displeased. She didn’t mind him doing things for his own benefit, but pulling her into something without her permission was a whole ‘nother matter.

Jiang Shanghang was a bit embarrassed. He looked as if he wanted to explain, but in the end, he dropped the matter.

“Fine. Senior Martial Brother Ren better tell me what I should watch out for first. Also, what should I do and what will I gain in the end?”

“Sure.” A smile finally appeared on Ren Yufeng’s face now that Mo Tiange agreed to participate. “The first thing I wanted to talk to Junior Martial Sister Ye about was the level of danger there—it isn’t any different from the first layer of this Land of Hiding Dragon except that there’s a fifth rank demonic beast guarding the door there. Although a fifth rank demonic beast is equivalent to a Core Formation cultivator, it’s not a Core Formation cultivator in the end; its intelligence is inferior to a human’s. I’ve long thought of a solution of dealing with that demonic beast. What Junior Martial Sister Ye needs to do is attack it according to my instructions. Furthermore, since Junior Martial Sister Ye is our companion now, you’ll naturally get your share of treasures. As for how much you get, it depends how much you contribute to this trip.”

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Mo Tiange nodded. She could accept these conditions, but—

“Senior Martial Brother Ren, it’s not that I don’t trust you guys, but I’m alone in this trip after all, so I’m indeed…” She paused and swept her eyes at everyone.

Ren Yufeng understood her meaning so he asked, “Junior Martial Sister Ye, if you have any requests, you only need to say it. If it’s within the realm of possibility, I’ll definitely agree.”

“Alright,” Mo Tiange accepted bluntly. “I want Senior Martial Brother Ren to vow that this trip won’t hurt me and that you’ll definitely let me leave safely after this trip’s over.”

“…” Ren Yufeng was silent. He naturally understood what Mo Tiange meant by asking him to swear. He just asked Mo Tiange to make a Heart Demon’s Oath if she didn’t want to participate, so Mo Tiange was just asking him to do the same thing now.

He clenched his teeth then said heavily, “Alright!”

Upon hearing him agreeing to Mo Tiange’s request, the Zhengfa Sect female disciple beside him, Ai Xian, called out, “Senior Martial Brother Ren, how could this be?”

Ren Yufeng glanced at her and said indifferently, “Junior Martial Sister Ye’s request isn’t unreasonable. Besides, if I don’t plan on going back on my word, the outcome would be the same whether I pledge an oath or not.”

Mo Tiange smiled. “Senior Martial Brother Ren’s really heroic, you’ve really made me feel ashamed.” Despite saying this, she didn’t take back her request. The other party had nine people while she was on her own; who knew whether or not they’d give her some share of the profits later or try to rob her of the treasures she had? Although Jiang Shanghang and her were rather familiar with each other and he most likely wouldn’t hurt her, he didn’t have a high status, so everything would still depend on what Ren Yufeng thought. Ren Yufeng, whose status was the highest in the group, was only the inner disciple of a Core Formation cultivator. Presumably, he didn’t have a magic weapon or the like or even if he did, it certainly wouldn’t be a high grade one—it wasn’t impossible that he’d have greedy thoughts later.

“I, Ren Yufeng, promise on my Inner Demon that Junior Martial Sister Ye, Ye Xiaotian, won’t be hurt on this trip. I will control my fellow disciples and allow Junior Martial Sister Ye to leave safely after the trip is over.” Once he finished, he opened his eyes and looked at Mo Tiange. “Is that enough?”

Now that Ren Yufeng had indeed made a Heart Demon’s Oath, Mo Tiange immediately said with a smile, “That being the case, Senior Martial Brother Ren may continue; I have no other questions.”

Everyone finally sighed with relief when they heard what Mo Tiange said.

Ren Yufeng said, “Alright, since Junior Martial Sister Ye doesn’t have any objections, we can start making preparations now. Presumably, everyone already knows what to prepare—you may start moving!”

Right after he finished, everyone immediately busied themselves with their respective tasks.

Mo Tiange didn’t know what they wanted to do, but she saw Jiang Shanghang coming towards her. He said, “Junior Martial Sister Ye, this is Zhengfa Sect’s Cold Ice Protective Talisman. Of the five elements, that fifth rank demonic beast is affiliated with the water element, so you’ll be a bit safer having this on your body.”

Mo Tiange accepted it then said faintly, “Thank you for the consideration, Senior Martial Brother Jiang.”

She was neither cold nor warm. There was no anger in her voice, but there also wasn’t the slightest intention of forgiveness. Jiang Shanghang had a belly full of words he wanted to say, but he had no other choice and could only turn back and proceed with completing his own task.

Aside from Mo Tiange, all Zhengfa Sect cultivators were acting under Ren Yufeng’s command. Each of them chose a position then laid out spirit stones around their bodies. They were apparently preparing a kind of formation.

With Mo Tiange’s proficiency in formations, she guessed that they wanted to lay a Defense-Strengthening Formation with a single glance. However, she didn’t understand why they’d lay a formation here.

Before long, the Defense-Strengthening Formation was laid. Ren Yufeng called out, “Junior Martial Sister Ye, please come here.”

At that moment, everyone aside from Ren Yufeng and Xiang Zhiyang walked towards the center of the formation, so Mo Tiange followed after them.

After seeing that everyone had entered the formation, Ren Yufeng said, “Senior Martial Brothers, Senior Martial Sisters, you’ll stay inside the formation. Later, Junior Martial Brother Xiang and I will draw the fifth rank Water Carp Beast here and at that time, you can activate the formation. You must hold on! Junior Martial Sister Ye, you don’t need to worry about anything because we’ll definitely protect you; you only need to focus on attacking it with powerful magic tools and spells.”

The Zhengfa Sect disciples nodded, and Mo Tiange also conveyed her agreement. She hoped Ren Yufang would abide by his word. If he did, she would indeed have the easiest time among them all.

Right now, the other seven people aside from Mo Tiange went to stand in their respective positions. Their positions formed the Big Dipper constellation with Lu Rongsheng, whose cultivation level was the highest among them, occupying the frontmost position, presiding over the formation. As for Mo Tiange, she stood at the centermost position, falling precisely under the protection of the formation.

Ren Yufeng and Xiang Zhiyang went to God knew where, but according to Mo Tiange’s estimates, the eight of them were left there because this was a way of dealing with that fifth rank beast, but it was probably also because they needed a particular technique to open up access to the secret place and those two didn’t want the eight of them to see the technique.

After a while, Lu Rongsheng shouted, “It’s coming!”

The seven people immediately took out their magic tools and started gathering spiritual aura. By the time their magic tools were full of spiritual aura, Lu Rongsheng shouted, “Activate the formation!”

The seven people simultaneously lifted their magic tools, shooting seven beams of spiritual aura to seven Eyes of Formation at the same time. Beams of spiritual aura soared to the sky, but all of them were blue—all Zhengfa Sect cultivators practiced water element cultivation techniques, so the color of their spiritual aura was naturally blue.

Seven beams of spiritual aura converged into one above the formation and formed a protective barrier, firmly protecting the eight people inside the formation.

Mo Tiange also took out several magic weapons and magic tools and made proper preparations. Her divine sense was stronger than Lu Rongsheng’s; although she wasn’t as good as Zhengfa Sect cultivators underwater, who were just like fish in the water, she’d long sensed Ren Yufeng and Xiang Zhiyang returning. Now the formation had been set in motion, and the breath of that fifth rank beast had spread and hit them right in their faces.