2320 Out of Seclusion



Tang Peng's words made Fang Qingyun delighted.

The Sect Master of the Academy was incomparably intelligent and could see through Heaven and Earth, knowing everything. Almost every disciple of the academy admired the Sect Master.

At the very least, the fact that Tang Peng compared him to the Sect Master meant that he was definitely qualified to be a personal disciple of the Sect Master!

Of course, on the surface, Fang Qingyun pretended to be calm and said humbly, "I'm far inferior to the magnificence of the Sect Master."

Yan Bingying had a strange expression and hesitated.

"What do you want to say, junior sister?"

Given Fang Qingyun's sharpness, he noticed Yan Bingying's abnormality from the corner of his eye and asked with a smile.

Yan Bingying hesitated for a moment before saying, "I feel that it's not appropriate for outsiders to kill our fellow sect mates."

Ever since she witnessed Su Zimo pass the Dao Heart Stairs trial and condense the tenth stone step a thousand years ago, her impression of him had changed significantly.

Yan Bingying continued, "Furthermore, we don't have any deep feud with Senior Brother Su. Senior Brother Yue Hua merely asked us to deal with Yang Ruoxu. There's no need…"

"Fufu…"

Suddenly, Fang Qingyun chuckled. "Senior Brother Su, huh? Are you very close to him, junior sister?"

"No."

Yan Bingying's expression changed slightly as she shook her head hurriedly.

Tang Peng frowned. "Senior Sister Yan, why are you speaking up for that lowlife? Don't forget, he was the one who killed Senior Brother Pang!"

"We haven't confirmed who did Senior Brother Pang's death yet. The greatest possibility is still Yang Ruoxu," Yan Bingying said.

Tang Peng harrumphed coldly. "It has something to do with Su Zimo as well!"

"Stop arguing."

Fang Qingyun was a little impatient and hollered softly, "Su Zimo has offended too many people. It has nothing to do with us if he dies outside."

"Senior brother, I didn't make it last time. I can't miss it this time round."

Tang Peng grit his teeth. "I'm going to Avici too. I want to see Su Zimo's demise with my own eyes. That's the only way I'll feel good! Su Zimo was the one who embarrassed me in the previous Dao Heart Stairs trial!"

Pausing for a moment, he seemed worried again. "Senior brother, Avici is way too dangerous. Isn't it too risky to set up an ambush inside?"

Fang Qingyun smiled. "Why are you so dumb? Our goal is merely to lure Su Zimo away from Divine Firmament Mainland. Why would we have to wait till he's in Avici to attack?"

"I got it!"

Tang Peng was delighted.

"Senior brothers, if there's nothing else, I'll make a move first."

Feeling a little frustrated, Yan Bingying cupped her fists and bid farewell to Fang Qingyun.

Fang Qingyun nodded and did not ask her to stay.

After Yan Bingying left, Tang Peng's expression darkened as he asked softly, "Senior brother, will Senior Sister Yan report this matter to the seniors of the sect?"

Fang Qingyun said indifferently, "Evidence is everything. If she doesn't have any evidence, what can she report?"

"That's good."

Tang Peng nodded. "Senior Sister Yan seems to have changed a lot over the years. She's not so close to us anymore."

"Fufu…"

Fang Qingyun smiled mockingly. "Everything depends on what she chooses. If she chooses to stand on Su Zimo's side, it only means that she's a stupid woman."

"Senior brother, will anything go wrong this time round?"

Tang Peng was worried again. "There's something sinister about that Su Zimo."

Previously, he was filled with confidence regarding the Dao Heart Stairs but in the end, he suffered a huge loss.

A legacy disciple was crippled just like that and even the Nine Great Elders and Sect Master of the Academy were alarmed!

Now that he thought about it, he felt a sense of trepidation.

"This time round, the Pang Clan, Great Jin Immortal Kingdom, Yan Yang Immortal Kingdom and Flying Immortal Sect joined forces."

Fang Qingyun said in a deep voice, "Pang Yi, Prince Yuan Zuo, Xie Tianhong and Heaven Immortal Gui Yuan alone are four Grade 9 Heaven Immortals. Any one of them can kill Su Zimo as easily as stepping on an ant."

"Furthermore, these people will bring many trusted aides with them. What can go wrong?"

Pausing for a moment, Fang Qingyun continued, "Don't worry, these people have a deep feud with Su Zimo and want him dead even more than us! I won't be surprised even if they invite a Perfected Immortal to hold down the situation."

"Senior brother, are you not going this time round?"

Tang Peng asked.

"A group of Grade 9 Heaven Immortals grouping up against a Grade 1 Heaven Immortal. What's there to see? I'm not interested." Fang Qingyun shrugged and pouted.

"Heh! I'll join the crowd when the time comes!"

Tang Peng grinned with anticipation in his eyes.

…

In a cave abode, Su Zimo let out a long breath and opened his eyes.

After entering the Heaven Essence realm, his cultivation speed slowed down significantly.

For example, Princess Scarlet Rainbow and Liu Ping joined the inner sect at the same time as him. In fact, there were even some disciples who joined the inner sect hundreds or thousands of years earlier but could not cultivate to Level 2 of the Heaven Essence realm.

As for Su Zimo, he had already cultivated to the peak of Grade 2 Heaven Immortal with his Green Lotus True Body, Divine Dragon Pill, Essence Spirit Liquid and other supreme-grade cultivation resources!

Although the Grade 11 Green Lotus True Body absorbed Heaven and Earth Essence Qi quickly, the consumption of cultivation resources was unimaginable.

If not for the fact that he had a large amount of cultivation resources, it would not even be enough for the Green Lotus True Body to cultivate for a thousand years.

Cultivating in the Heaven Essence realm had clearly become much more difficult.

If he merely stayed in seclusion all year round, it would be difficult for him to break through multiple realms in succession like before.

Now that Su Zimo had cultivated to the peak of a Grade 2 Heaven Immortal, he had encountered a bottleneck and lingered for many years without breaking through.

It was not his fault. Even for a heaven-grade sect like Heaven and Earth Academy, most inner sect disciples would never be able to advance to the Perfected Immortal realm for the rest of their lives.

Cultivators who could become Perfected Immortals were all filled with talent, opportunities, fortune, perseverance and various other karma. None of those factors could be done without and no one had a smooth journey.

In the past few days, Liu Ping and Princess Scarlet Rainbow came to his cave abode many times—something seemed to have happened.

Today, Liu Ping was loitering outside once again.

When Su Zimo saw that he could not break through the bottleneck for the time being, he did not continue cultivating and was prepared to head out to take a look.

"Junior Brother Liu, is there anything?"

Su Zimo pushed the door open and asked softly.

Because Liu Ping inherited the body of the willow tree, even after a thousand years, he still looked like a child with a few jade green pigtails on his head.

Liu Ping hesitated for a moment before saying, "Senior Brother Su, something happened to Senior Brother Yang!"

"Yang Ruoxu?"

Su Zimo's expression changed slightly.

In Heaven and Earth Academy, the only cultivator with the surname Yang that he knew was Yang Ruoxu.

"Yes."

Liu Ping said, "I heard that Senior Brother Yang was traveling outside and was indignant about something. In the end, he got into a conflict and was surrounded."

"Given Senior Brother Yang's capabilities, who can hurt him?"

Su Zimo frowned and asked as he walked towards Yang Ruoxu's cave abode.

"I heard that there were experts from Flying Immortal Sect and the Yan Yang Immortal Kingdom."

Liu Ping said, "However, they're all Grade 9 Heaven Immortals. Although they joined forces to attack, it was not considered bullying as their cultivation realms are similar. It's not easy for the academy to step in for this matter either."

"How are his injuries?"

Su Zimo asked again.

"He's severely injured! His Essence Spirit is severely injured and even the Sect Master can't treat it. He's most likely going to be crippled in the future, sigh." Liu Ping sighed.

Su Zimo's expression darkened and he remained silent.

Back at the Immortal Sect Selection, if Yang Ruoxu had not withstood the pressure and even fought against Zither Immortal Meng Yao, he would have died a long time ago!

Yang Ruoxu was also the one who stepped in for the conflict in the outer sect and endured a lot of pressure and hostility.

He was indebted to Yang Ruoxu. Now that Yang Ruoxu was in trouble, Su Zimo would definitely not sit by idly!