Translator: Noodletown Translated  Editor: Noodletown Translated

“Mom!” Seeing her mom, Wu Luoxue smiled radiantly while she ran over.

Seeing that Zhao Yanzi had walked into the academic building, Hao Ren followed Wu Luoxue over.

Standing at the gate, Wu Luoxue's mom had a simple and elegant style, wearing a grey sweater and black jeans.

Wu Luoxue's dad was as old as Zhao Guang looked to be, but her mom looked younger than Zhao Hongyu.

Upon a closer look, she was a beautiful woman.

When Wu Luoxue ran out of the school gate, her mom caught her into her arms, giving her a slight mom's smile.

“Aunt!” Following Wu Luoxue out of the school, Zhen Congming called out, afraid Wu Luoxue's mom hadn't noticed him.

“Congming, good boy!” Wu Luoxue's mom reached out and touched Zhen Congming's head affectionately.

In the past, if anyone dared to touch his head, Zhen Congming would get angry. However, when Wu Luoxue's mom touched his head like a loving mom, he gave a silly smile.

Wu Luoxue's mom raised her head and saw Hao Ren, the Lu sisters and Xie Yujia walk out of the middle school gate.

“h.e.l.lo! Little Xue's mom… Auntie,” Hao Ren greeted after a moment of thinking.

Although he wasn't very close to Wu Luoxue, it was necessary to exchange greetings with her mom. Besides, Zhen Congming was his grandma's ‘adopted' grandson, and Wu Luoxue was Zhen Congming's ‘sweetheart,' so he was related to Wu Luoxue in some way.

“Well.” Wu Luoxue's mom nodded with a smile. “Are you Zhonghua's son?”

Seeing the surprise on Hao Ren's face, she smiled again. “Your parents are my friends. When your grandma was sick, she stayed in our hospital.”

“Oh…” Hao Ren looked at her while it dawned on him that Wu Luoxue's mom was a doctor.

“I studied in Russia for several months and came back yesterday. Thank you for taking care of Little Xue lately,” Xu Luoxue's mom said politely.

Obviously, she had known about Wu Luoxue's visits to Hao Ren's home and that Wu Luoxue had been depressed while she was away.

“You're welcome. Little Xue is adorable,” Hao Ren said.

“Well. Today I'll take these two kids to dinner, and I'll thank your parents later.” With a smile, she opened the door of a nearby white car and waved goodbye to Hao Ren and the others.

The car drove smoothly to the crossing and disappeared after a turn.

Standing where he was, Hao Ren was a bit surprised. When Wu Luoxue and Zhen Congming were together, he could feel some demonic aura different from that of the dragon cultivators. But when Wu Luoxue's mom stood there, this tiny trace of demonic aura vanished.

“Linlin, Lili, did you feel anything?” Hao Ren asked the Lu sisters.

“No. Everything was normal,” they said while blinking their eyes.

Hao Ren gave up. When Zhen Congming and Wu Luoxue were together, the demonic aura was sometimes strong and sometimes weak, but when Wu Luoxue went to buy drinks, and Zhen Congming was left alone by Hao Ren's side, Hao Ren had felt no demonic aura.

While Zhen Congming wasn't around, Hao Ren didn't feel any difference in Wu Luoxue as well.

“Gongzi… A new Thai restaurant opened in Hongji Square!” Seeing Hao Ren staring into s.p.a.ce, Lu Linlin and Lu Lili pulled at him.

While Hao Ren was pulled to Hongji Square by the Lu sisters, in the distant Taiyi Cave, a white-bearded old man wearing a grey Taoist robe was panting.

Bang!

His hand slammed onto a table made by thousand-year cold jade in the stone room, cutting off a corner of the hard table instantly.

He had been cultivating in the cave when he suddenly received the news of the death of w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong, his sixth disciple.

The metal-elemental dragons must reach Kun-level to leave their masters, which was why cultivators of Qian-level and Kun-level were quite common among the metal-elemental dragons.

However, w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong was a cultivator of peak Qian-level, a favorite disciple of Taiyi Cave Master.

Now that w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong was dead, Taiyi Cave lost an important force.

The Heaven-Reaching s.h.i.+eld was taken, w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong was killed, and Xu Ke had achieved no breakthrough in East Ocean City… Taiyi Cave Master could no longer keep calm.

“You may go now. From now on, you are a disciple of my Taiyi Cave,” Taiyi Cave Master said gloomily to the Xun-level cultivator in front of him.

With an ashen face, the cultivator backed out of the stone room with his head lowered. He was w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong's disciple. Since w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong was a painter in the mortal world, he had stayed behind in Zixuan Cave.

When w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong's life token dimmed suddenly, the Xun-level cultivator was frightened, and he immediately came to his master's master.

Taking w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong's life token in his hand, Taiyi Cave Master sensed it and found that w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong was indeed dead.

w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong had only told his disciple that he went to East Ocean City on business, and Xu Ke had asked w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong to help take back Taiyi Cave's Heaven-Reaching s.h.i.+eld. For the sake of his master, w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong must have agreed, which meant that his sudden death was related to the Heaven-Reaching s.h.i.+eld.

When that disciple backed out of the stone room, Taiyi Cave Master picked up the dimmed black jade life token and crushed it into dust with a cracking sound.

The feeling he had for w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong far surpa.s.sed the feeling he had for the current disciple Xu Ke. After w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong reached peak Qian-level and joined the Elders Council of metal-elemental dragon clan, he had stood firmly with Taiyi Cave on important issues, making Taiyi Cave Master who had taught w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong for 200 years very happy.

Before w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong, Taiyi Cave Master had five disciples. The first and the second had died, and their branches had grown distant from Taiyi Cave. The remaining three disciples were close to peak Qian-level and were flouris.h.i.+ng with disciples.

w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong's Zixuan Cave was less powerful than his three senior brothers, but it was a good force.

Sitting in the stone room, Taiyi Cave Master thought for an hour before shooting out several scrolls from his palms.

Three circles of lights appeared on the stone wall in front of him.

“Master!”

“Master!”

“Master!”

Three old men's figures appeared on the smooth stone wall while they stood in their respective caves.

“Your sixth junior brother was killed,” Taiyi Cave Master said calmly to the stone wall.

“What!”

The three cultivators all looked horrified.

w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong was their junior brother, but he had the highest realm among them. Besides, w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong was a member of the Elders Council of the metal-elemental dragon clan and thus had a standing almost as high as his master. Due to his focus on cultivation, w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong only had three official disciples who were only Kun-level cultivators.

“He was killed in East Ocean City, the territory of mortals,” Taiyi Cave Master continued.

The three cultivators remained silent, but they looked astonished. They had thought that their junior brother of peak Qian-level had been killed when he broke into forbidden areas such as the Demon Sea or the Kunlun Mountain.

“Despite his high realm, s.h.i.+tong's cultivation strength was not solid since he relied too much on elixir pills and techniques. Although he was killed due to the inferiority of his skills, he was a member of my Taiyi Cave, and I must avenge him,” Taiyi Cave Master said coldly as he glanced around.

The three Qian-level cultivators on the stone wall didn't speak.

Since w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong wasn't keen on taking in disciples, he had only three Kun-level disciples who had finished training.

According to traditions, when a cultivator such as w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong who had established himself in the world was killed, his disciples were supposed to revenge for him. However, since w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong's disciples were not powerful, Taiyi Cave Master had to avenge him from the perspective of a master.

“Your sixth junior brother was close to you, and his death makes his Zixuan Cave an ownerless cave. If any of you can revenge for your junior brother, Zixuan Cave will go to you as a thank-you gift from him.”

Since he had Taiyi Cave, one of the five top-tier caves, Taiyi Cave Master had no interest in w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong's Zixuan Cave.

However, the three cultivators changed their expressions after hearing that. Although they and w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong had the same master, they didn't have great relations.h.i.+ps with w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong due to their different training periods.

They knew clearly that anyone who could kill w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong was no ordinary rival.

However, w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong's Zixuan Cave was one of the 36 greats caves with abundant nature essence and countless natural treasures and materials.

They were tempted by the reward offered by Taiyi Cave Master.

The blessed lands were not all taken by metal-elemental dragons since the other four elemental dragon clans took some of them. w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong's Zixuan Cave could house more than ten cultivators and thus was a perfect place for cultivation.

These other three disciples of Taiyi Cave Master had many disciples, and they had wanted to move into a bigger cave. The empty Zixuan Cave was a perfect choice.

“Don't worry, Master! We'll find the killer and revenge for our junior brother!” They cupped their hands and said to Taiyi Cave Master in a loud voice.

“If you meet a man named Hao Ren, don't kill him. Bring him to me alive!” Taiyi Cave Master said immediately.

“Yes, Master!” The three cultivators answered as one. With a flash, their figures on the stone wall disappeared.

Taiyi Cave Master was silent for a few seconds, and one corner of his mouth twitched suddenly.

Among the metal-elemental dragons, there were altogether eight peak Qian-level cultivators. With one dead, there were only seven left.

In the past dozens of years, w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong had grown arrogant and became distant to Taiyi Cave. However, due to his small number of disciples, he generally had to rely on Taiyi Cave.

w.a.n.g s.h.i.+tong's sudden death probably wasn't a bad thing for Taiyi Cave Master. The remaining peak Qian-level metal-elemental dragons were now more precious.

“Humph! I told him not to be so arrogant, or he would receive blows sooner or later.”

Taiyi Cave Master waved his hand slightly, and the flames on a copper oil lamp on the stone table was cut off by his fingertips.

His goal was still the set of Mystic Water Sword Techniques.