CHAPTER 362: CHAPTER 316

After washing up, Lan Tian didn’t feel like sleeping yet. She pulled out a cushion to sit on the floor, preparing to take stock of her belongings. With a flip of her hand, bottles, jars, talisman arrays, talisman papers, peach branches, and more all spilled out.

There would be a fierce battle tomorrow night, and it was uncertain whether they would survive. Secrecy no longer mattered, so she wanted to see how many life-preserving items she had.

After bathing, Mo Junhua came out and saw the floor covered with a mess of materials. He paused for a second and then walked over.

"Do you need help?" Mo Junhua’s lips curled into a smile, his heart nearly soaring. The girl was laying her secrets in front of him without defenses, which meant she had accepted him, treating him like family!

Thinking that he was now seen as family made his heart flutter even more.

"No need, you wouldn’t understand these. You should go to sleep," Lan Tian said without lifting her head and waved her hand, collecting the peach branches on the ground. She sifted through the talisman arrays and handed him a peach block the size of a palm, "Hold onto this, it will be useful tomorrow night. Don’t lose it, or don’t blame me if you end up dead."

Mo Junhua took it and examined it. The peach block was engraved with strange patterns, and it seemed as if light flowed over it. He gave Lan Tian a meaningful glance as she pocketed it.

After looking for a while and still not understanding the chaotic and disorderly patterns, he gave up the idea of helping and decided not to cause more trouble. He turned towards the desk, spread out some paper, and wrote out the Cleansing Heart Technique.

Ever since he was struck by lightning last time, the Cleansing Heart Technique seemed to be etched in his mind, becoming clearer day by day. Each time he wrote it, it felt as if something was circulating in his body. He hadn’t told anyone about this, keeping it wrapped around Lan Tian. Whenever he had spare time, he practiced the Cleansing Heart Technique.

Lan Tian was busy with her belongings, thinking Mo Junhua had gone to sleep. Bottles, jars, talisman arrays, and talismans took two hours to sort out.

Healing medicines, blood tonics, life-sustaining pills, detoxifying universal pills, spiritual power enhancing pills, and more were all checked thoroughly. Missing items would require a restock from Wuhua Mountain, a matter of life and death she couldn’t afford to overlook. Now that she could travel by sword flight, it was convenient to go back and forth within half a day.

Talisman arrays also needed careful examination, whether they could kill the opponent depended on these arrays—illusion array, trapping array, Spirit Locking Array, Seven Kills God Destruction Array, and not missing any of the Ancient Ten Killing Arrays. Lan Tian could finally feel relieved. There were many other arrays, but having them was better than none.

Most of the talismans were for offense, primarily at the Late Stage Foundation Establishment, and fewer for the Golden Core Stage, only about twenty to thirty sheets, but the sheer number was an advantage, easily thousands on the floor.

Chaotic Fire was Lan Tian’s ultimate weapon, which she wouldn’t use until the very end.

After cleaning up the heaps on the floor till the late night, Lan Tian stretched lazily, preparing to go to sleep. Relaxing her mind was also important. Mo Junhua had written the Cleansing Heart Technique several times. Seeing that Lan Tian had finished tidying up, he finished the last few characters, washed his brush and inkstone and walked over.

"All cleaned up."

Lan Tian tilted her head back slightly, her clear eyes reflecting Mo Junhua’s figure, slightly surprised, "You haven’t slept?"

"I was waiting to sleep together with you," Mo Junhua answered naturally.

Lan Tian blinked, "Oh," then slowly got up, washed her hands in the bathroom, and then went to bed.

...

Ji Family

In the study, Ji Feng sat opposite Mr. Ji, with a chessboard and a half-played game on the tea table between them. Mr. Ji, holding a tea cup in one hand and a black piece in the other, focused his gaze on the chessboard, pondering where to place his next move.

Ji Feng sipped his tea and set it down. Just now, Old Mo called, and he took the call. It seemed odd that after dinner his grandfather had pulled him into the study to play chess, wondering since when his grandfather liked to play Go.

Tonight, there seemed to be an unusual number of calls. Before Old Mo’s call, several elders had already phoned, adding a bit of mystery to the evening—it was as if his grandfather knew someone was going to call.

"Grandpa, is there something special happening tonight?" Glancing sideways at his grandpa, he flicked a white chess piece down, instantly crumbling what seemed to be a winning game for the old man.

"There’s nothing much," the old man sipped his tea, "Just received an invitation."

"An invitation?" Ji Feng paused while collecting the chess pieces, those old men too had been through the baptism of war, having faced death numerous times and fought their way out of grave crises; an invitation that made these families personally call them.

"Which family’s?" He continued collecting the chess pieces impassively. It couldn’t be from the four major families. He would surely know if there was any movement from them.

"It’s about time you knew some things." Old Ji looked at his grandson with great satisfaction. He had raised this foolish lad from a baby to adulthood, and he felt he had done right by his late son and daughter-in-law.

Ji Feng looked at him, his deep eyes calm.

"Do you know what is more tempting in this world than power?"

"Immortality." A faint gleam flashed in Ji Feng’s eyes. The words "Lan Tian" came to his lips but turned into these four words.

It’s a common ailment among men; when one owns the world, they wish for immortality to continue their ambition for power.

"Heh heh..." Old Ji chuckled meaningfully, "All of Beijing knows that the Dragon Country is managed by our four families, but what they don’t know is that our four families are just the front, the real power is behind the scenes."

"Grandpa, are you saying... it’s the host of the invitation?" Ji Feng narrowed his eyes, this kind of secret his grandfather had never mentioned to him in his previous life, he dismissed, "One family is not strong alone."

The implication was that they, the four families united, need not fear him.

"Silly boy, there are some things in the world beyond your understanding, summoning wind and rain, moving mountains and seas, one person is enough."

"Cultivator!" Ji Feng’s pupils constricted. Wasn’t this a cultivator’s method? His grandpa actually knew a cultivator and as his grandson, he was oblivious to it. The secrecy was indeed strong.

Beijing has been lively these days, with cultivators popping up like bamboo shoots after a rain.

Wait a minute, a dark shimmer in Ji Feng’s eyes, Mei Lan is a cultivator, that Tian family girl is also a cultivator, this person is also a cultivator, could there be a connection between them, could the "He Xu Palace" that Xiao Lan found be...

"You know about cultivators." Old Ji heard Ji Feng’s muttering and was surprised; his grandson’s perceptiveness exceeded his expectations.

"I don’t really know; I just inferred it from what you said. It’s all written in the books outside." Ji Feng chuckled awkwardly, then asked, "Grandpa, where is the banquet held?"

Old Ji, whether he believed Ji Feng’s explanation or due to some other reason, glanced at Ji Feng and did not interrogate him further. Ji Feng sighed in relief, maintaining a calm face. The old man was a cunning fox not easily fooled.

"Suhe Road."

"Suhe Road?" Ji Feng was momentarily stunned before realizing the old man was answering his question, then he asked after a pause, "Does this place exist?"

"Of course it does."

.........

At the same time, the other three families of Hidden Dragon Mountain were also discussing this matter with their successors.