Chapter 1427 – Earth Realm (3): Duanmu Lin’s Hidden Ill-Intentions, Ji Mu’s Fortuitous Opportunity

After a few more gentle kisses and embraces, Tang Xiu took Cheng Yannan to Shanghai Airport.

Actually, Tang Xiu always knew that Cheng Yannan had special feelings for him. He also admired and liked her too. However, because of his desire to ascend to the Immortal World and take revenge, his mind was only on cultivation and did not bother pursuing relationships with girls, which meant that his meeting with her was a short one.

Now that he didn’t have the burden of revenge on his mind any longer and Cheng Yannan was the one who initiated it all, Tang Xiu was not going to reject her advances.

After seeing Tang Xiu’s responses, Cheng Yannan was overjoyed. She couldn’t wait to be beside Tang Xiu every day and at every moment. However, she knew what Tang Xiu meant and recognized it as the truth as well. It wasn’t going to be possible for them to be together all the time on Earth. After all, Tang Xiu wouldn’t be staying here for a long time either. She needed to deal with all the things in the Magnificent Tang Corporation and make sure that it was in capable hands when she left. It was only then that she would be able to leave with Tang Xiu without any worries.

After seeing Cheng Yannan’s plane take off, Tang Xiu turned and left.

He looked around for a discreet place with no one around. Then, he suddenly vanished into thin air.

In an instant, he appeared in the prison in Changxi.

In the damp and dark underground prison, there was a malnourished body curled up at a corner. From the way they were dressed, it could be made out that they were a man, and this man was drawing on the ground with the wooden stick in his hand. From the outlines of the beautiful sketches, they seemed to be of a woman and a child.

The man muttered silently as he drew on the ground.

“Ranran, don’t leave me.”

“Rou’er, your dad misses you.”

“Ranran, please… please don’t leave me.”

“Rou’er, your dad misses you so much.”

…

If it was anyone else, all of these words would mean nothing to them. However, for Tang Xiu, these words rang like thunder. Upon hearing these words, tears began to fall from his eyes.

This man was once the young master of Changxi’s Ji Family, Ji Mu himself.

Tang Xiu hadn’t interacted with Ji Mu a lot, but his impression of Ji Mu was a favorable one.

Flashes of his past interactions with Ji Mu appeared in Tang Xiu’s mind.

That year, he attended the underground car race in Changxi with Chi Nan. That was where he met Ji Mu.

That year, Ji Mu unintentionally betted on Tang Xiu killing a few powerful people from the Stygian Club, then gifted Tang Xiu abundantly and also asked Tang Xiu to teach him.

That year, Ji Mu decided to let go of his identity as the wealthy young master and devoted himself to Tang Xiu. He gave Tang Xiu his ancestors’ Growth Amelioration Wood and Tang Xiu gave him an opportunity in return.

That year, Ren Ranran proposed to Ji Mu in public. However, because he was afraid that this marriage would only hinder his training, he rejected the proposal. In the end, he accepted the proposal after Tang Xiu managed to convince him to.

From the start to finish, Tang Xiu did not spend too much time and effort on Ji Mu. He couldn’t even attend Ji Mu’s wedding because he was busy with setting up an intelligence system for the Tang Sect. He only met with Ji Mu once right before he was about to ascend to the Immortal World.

And the next time he heard about Ji Mu was from Miao Wentang and Shao Mingzhen who had ascended to the Immortal World. A person from the Special Abilities Bureau had harmed his daughter and also inflicted heavy injuries on Ji Mu. Afterward, Ren Ranran had created a few explosives and blew herself up along with the people who heavily injured him. Upon knowing this, Ji Mu became insane and disappeared. Long Zhengyu sent people out in all directions to find him. However, it was to no avail.

If it weren’t for the fact that Tang Xiu had fully grasped the heavenly laws of Earth and the karma links between him and Ji Mu together, Tang Xiu couldn’t even dream that Ji Mu was actually imprisoned on his own territory.

Upon seeing Ji Mu’s shattered Dantian, a hole right where his shoulder blade was, and the heavy chains that bound his feet, Tang Xiu’s body suddenly released a powerful killing intent.

Tang Xiu waved his arm and received Ji Mu into his own body. Then, he submerged Ji Mu inside a cauldron that had water from the Ying Yang Divinity Lake that had been diluted hundreds of times. He also, with a little pain in his heart, added a few droplets of the Heavenly Path Universe Tree’s essence into the water.

“Ji Mu, when I told you back then that I was going to change your life, I only gave you your Ji Family’s lost art. The fortune I bestowed upon you does not compare to the gift you gave me. Today, I will give you a greater fortune.” As Tang Xiu spoke, he placed a finger on Ji Mu’s forehead. He not only inserted his understanding of the Ji Family’s lost art into Ji Mu’s mind but even gave him a few lost arts from the Immortal World while supplying him with divine force.

Ji Mu, submerged in the Yin Yang Divinity Lake, cried out in excruciating pain. His skin began to break apart and peel and his flesh began to break away from his body. In the end, he was left with nearly just bones.

The Yin Yang Divinity Lake was an extremely powerful thing. Even Perfected Golden Immortals would not be able to handle the energy from it, let alone a mere human.

If it wasn’t for Tang Xiu holding Ji Mu’s spirit together with his divine force, Ji Mu would have already been reduced to a pile of dead bones under the attack of the energy from the Yin Yang Divinity Lake.

Under the effects of the water, Ji Mu was only left with his heart, skeleton, and a smidgen of his soul in his skull.

Very soon, a clear change was observable with the naked eye. From a dull red color, Ji Mu’s heart quickly became a bright red color and emitted a faint golden light. From a dull grey color, his skeletons quickly became white, then transparent, and in the end, it also emitted a golden light as well.

His soul also grew thousands of times stronger than before. His spirit was originally only as large as the eye of a needle, but it was now as large as an infant’s fist. It looked like it was in the fledgling stages of the Soul Formation Stage.

When the water became slightly more transparent than before, fresh blood and flesh began to grow on his skeleton that was emitting a faint golden aura before. However, the difference was that his flesh and the blood that flowed throughout his body brimmed with spiritual energy and vitality. This was mightily different from the blood and flesh that was washed away by the diluted lake water from before.

When Ji Mu finally woke up, it had already been three days since then.

“…” As Ji Mu opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Tang Xiu. His lips moved, but he didn’t know how to greet him.

Tang Xiu looked at Ji Mu, then said, “I already know what happened to you. I have changed you from the inside out, and you can digest that at your own pace. After digesting it, you can tell me your decision.”

As he was speaking, Tang Xiu’s body slowly vanished into thin air, leaving a lifeless Ji Mu behind.

Very soon after, Ji Mu did not have time to worry about anything else. This was because all the memories came alive within his mind like a flood of water.

“Ranran. Rou’er. I will definitely avenge you and revive both of you.” After half a month, when Ji Mu completely grasped the techniques that Tang Xiu bestowed him, his heart was filled with great ambition. At the same time, he cried out in sorrow that welled up from the depths of his heart.

After hearing what Ji Mu said, Tang Xiu’s body suddenly materialized from thin air. Then, he looked at Ji Mu with great satisfaction.

Ji Mu had completely digested all of the lost arts of the Ji Family as well as the lost arts of the Immortal World in half a month. His body and aura were now comparable to a cultivator in the Soul Formation Stage. Although Tang Xiu had invested a little bit too much into Ji Mu, his potential and cultivation did not disappoint him at all.

“Greetings, Master. Your student Ji Mu greets you. I thank you for saving and for giving me another chance at life.” After he saw Tang Xiu again, Ji Mu was overwhelmed by his emotions and fell onto his knees.

Tang Xiu frowned a little after seeing this. In the end, he still sighed, but he didn’t reject how Ji Mu addressed him.

“Ji Mu, since you are calling me master, then I will take your karma. Are you planning on destroying the whole Special Abilities Bureau? Or are you just planning to destroy a specific branch of the Special Abilities Bureau?” Tang Xiu recalled what had happened to Ji Mu and asked.

“Master, the whole Special Abilities Bureau is already corrupted and rotten to the core. They’re no longer an organization that works for the country. They’re now a group of thugs and scumbags, especially that Duanmu Lin. He left the Special Abilities Bureau on the surface and acted like he was ashamed that he failed you. Then, he successfully entered the pocket world that Long Zhengyu was in control of and cultivated there. However, in truth, he was actually the main person in control of the Special Abilities Bureau! Furthermore, he used us to gain a large pool of cultivation resources. It was also him who imprisoned me here.”

After hearing the three words “Special Abilities Bureau”, Tang Xiu was immediately filled with rage and his voice boomed.

“What did you say? Duanmu Lin is still the highest figure of authority in the Special Abilities Bureau?” After hearing Ji Mu’s words, Tang Xiu was stunned.

In this half a month, Tang Xiu was not always next to Ji Mu. After laying down heavily defensive arrays to protect Ji Mu, he left and secretly visited all of his old friends and family.

These included the prominent families in Beijing, the Ouyang family in Hong Kong, and the prominent families in Guangdong as well.

He saw that they were all living well and were happy, so Tang Xiu did not appear to disturb their lives. Instead, he left quietly.

As for the Great Tang Empire that was now led by Long Zhengyu, Tang Xiu monitored that quite heavily.

This was because before leaving Earth, Tang Xiu had given Long Zhengyu all his resources, besides the Magnificent Tang Corporation, and also asked Long Zhengyu to take care of all his friends and family. Therefore, the prosperity of the Long family also determined how Tang Xiu’s loved ones were going to live.

Tang Xiu was extremely satisfied with the Great Tang Empire that was led by Long Zhengyu. This was because not only did Long Zhengyu reach the summit of the Crossing Tribulation Stage, Li Laoshan also reached the Great Ascension Stage. Yue Kai, Hu Qingsong, and Zhao Liang had all reached the Soul Formation Stage as well. All of them stood at the pinnacle of the world and could take on the entire world if they acted together.

Tang Xiu was most surprised at Duanmu Lin’s growth. When Tang Xiu crossed the tribulation to ascend to the Immortal World, he remembered that Duanmu Lin’s cultivation was only at the Golden Core Stage. He didn’t think that after thirty years, Duanmu Lin was able to reach the Great Ascension Stage. This growth was comparable to the speed of a rocket and had stunned Long Zhengyu and the rest as well.

Because of Duanmu Lin’s identity, Long Zhengyu and the rest of them had their guard up when they first met him. They were extremely cautious around him, as they were afraid that he was a spy that had infiltrated the Great Tang Empire. However, after witnessing Duanmu Lin kill many people from the Special Abilities Bureau without any hesitation, they began to let down their guard.

“Why did Duanmu Lin imprison you?” Tang Xiu asked.

“It’s because I had a divine stone. When I was preparing to boost my cultivation by refining the divine stone, the people from the Special Abilities Bureau suddenly appeared. Duanmu Lin also appeared, but he instantly killed everyone from the Special Abilities Bureau. He also wanted to kill me, but he felt that besides the divine stone, I had other things as well, so he imprisoned me and interrogated me frequently through torture,” Ji Mu replied while gritting his teeth in rage.