"What are these symbols?" Bai Lingxi asked with a frown. She couldn't make sense of it. The scroll was covered in unfamiliar symbols she had never seen before, unlike the other parchments which were written in a proper language they could all understand.

Even Wang Ming, who was trying to decipher it, found himself clueless, his brows furrowing in frustration.

[System Message: Host, use your Soul Eyes technique on it.]

Wang Ming was startled by the sudden message from the system, surprised it had taken the initiative without him requesting assistance. Not dwelling on it, he immediately activated his pupil technique.

"Soul Eyes," Wang Ming muttered as he reactivated his technique. A few lines of text appeared in his retina once again:

[Shadow Veil]

[Rank: ???]

[Description: ???]

Wang Ming frowned when he saw that, aside from the name, there was no useful information available.

'System?' Wang Ming called out directly.

[System Message: Host, look carefully. This is only a small part of the complete scroll. You need to find the other pieces of the parchment.]

Following the system's message, Wang Ming examined the parchment more closely and realized that it was indeed a torn fragment of a larger scroll.

'Where do I even look for the other part?' Wang Ming frowned, thinking it over, but then stopped himself from overthinking.

'Looks like I'll need to ask the Sect Master again. I should take this to him—he'll definitely know something.' Wang Ming concluded that he would bring the parchment to Jiang Hong immediately after leaving the place.

"Hey, let me see," Feng Tian Wu said, frowning as she noticed Wang Ming staring at the parchment in a daze.

"Here, take a look," Wang Ming replied, handing her the parchment. He was curious to see if others could decipher it without using the Soul Eyes technique. Maybe the symbols were part of a language native to the cultivation world—something he wasn't familiar with. After all, he wasn't originally from this world. Moreover, Feng Tian Wu had been in the sect far longer than Bai Lingxi and likely had access to more resources and knowledge, and maybe could recognzine it.

He watched as Feng Tian Wu studied the parchment intently.

"So, do you understand anything?" Bai Lingxi asked, arms crossed over her chest, raising an eyebrow at Feng Tian Wu's unusually solemn expression.

"Hey, is this really something that serious?" Shi Yu asked in a low voice, sensing the tension in Feng Tian Wu's face.

"Indeed it is," Feng Tian Wu replied in a serious tone, putting the others on edge.

"Can you tell us what it is?" Wang Ming asked. Even with his Soul Eyes, he couldn't make out much detail, but judging by Feng Tian Wu's reaction, it looked like she knew something important.

"Nope," Feng Tian Wu replied casually.

"I see, it must be very important if you're not telling us," Luo Li nodded in understanding.

"No, the reason is... I don't understand a single thing it means," Feng Tian Wu said in a serious tone—causing everyone to nearly stumble to the ground.

"What the fuck?! Then why did you act like it was something serious?" Bai Lingxi shouted, pointing a finger at Feng Tian Wu.

"Isn't it though? A mysterious compartment just appeared, hidden between bookshelves," Feng Tian Wu said with a shrug, spreading her hands. Everyone went silent—they couldn't really argue with that logic.

"Tsk, you haven't changed. You're still as annoying as ever," Bai Lingxi muttered as Feng Tian Wu smirked.

"It's better if I just take it to the Sect Master," Wang Ming muttered.

"Why not just call him now?" Shi Yu suggested. "I want to visit the peak too. If it's important, he'll come here himself. Otherwise, he'll call us later and we can just go then."

Wang Ming nodded and decided to contact the Sect Master.

---

Currently, all the Peak Masters had returned to their respective peaks, and only three people remained in the meeting room—Jiang Hong, Lei Ping, and, surprisingly, Feng Chang, who was known for disappearing for months to who knows where.

"So, which Peak did my daughter's partner join?" Feng Chang asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Disciple Wang Ming joined the Jade Peak," Jiang Hong replied with a strange expression, clearly thinking about something.

"Eh? Really? How the hell did my idiot disciple trick him?" Feng Chang's eyes widened comically. In her opinion, Zhou Huixin, her disciple, was an airhead. After all, how else could she have tricked someone into becoming the Jade Peak Master—her former position? Feng Chang still remembered how happy she had been to pass it on, only for that happiness to turn into depression due to endless paperwork. Nowadays, whenever she sensed Zhou Huixin approaching, she bolted—not out of fear, but to avoid hearing her nag about resuming the role.

Jiang Hong and Lei Ping's lips twitched when they saw the genuine look of surprise on Feng Chang's face. It was obvious she was looking down on Zhou Huixin—and she wasn't hiding it at all.

"Ancestor, she didn't trick him. He joined of his own free will," Lei Ping replied with a stiff smile. Hеlp us соntinuе by rеаding аt thе sоurсе:

"Hah! That makes more sense. There's no way she's smart enough to trick anyone. If she had brains, she wouldn't have been tricked by me into becoming the Peak Master so I could be lazy," Feng Chang nodded in agreement with herself.

'You also tricked me into becoming the Sect Master,' Jiang Hong thought bitterly but didn't dare say it out loud.

Ring Ring...

'Hmm? Why is he calling me? He just left. I have a bad feeling he's done something again,' Jiang Hong thought as he picked up Wang Ming's call and watched his communication token light up.

"What mess did you stir up this time, Disciple Wang Ming? Don't tell me you accidentally destroyed all the techniques," Jiang Hong joked.

But when no response came for a few seconds, his expression turned pale.

"Hey, hey—you didn't really do it, did you?" Jiang Hong asked, now sweating profusely.

"No," Wang Ming replied flatly, and Jiang Hong let out a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

'What kind of trouble did he cause this time while I was away?' Feng Chang thought, amused by Jiang Hong's reaction.