Chapter 25

【There was a typo at the end of the previous chapter. I meant to ask for recommendation votes, of course, recommendation votes... meow, please forgive a cat frozen silly...】

In the center of the white Xuan paper, there was only a palm-sized circle, perfectly round, so regular that even a compass might not draw such a perfect circle!

In the center of the circle were some vague, intricate patterns, but because the "Wenjian" on the palm could only outline the general shape of the star pattern, the patterns inside the circle, with their varying depths, were completely unclear.

Tang Zheng stared at it for a long time but couldn't guess what kind of creature his star pattern was.

"Little Bell," Tang Zheng smiled at Meng Fengling.

"Hmm?" Little Bell lifted her watery eyes, looking innocent.

"Can you do something for Big Brother?"

"What is it?" Little Bell was still quite alert.

"Go call your sister and Sister Xiaotang. Tell them I need to see them."

"My sister..." Little Bell looked at the bell around her neck, "is easy to find, but Sister Xiaotang... is a bit far away."

Tang Zheng saw Little Bell's eyes glancing at the large piece of Wen ink he hadn't used, and immediately cursed in his heart, "Damn, didn't you say you were born with one star, so you don't need it?" However, he didn't plan to argue with a seven or eight-year-old child. He grabbed the piece of Wen ink, put it back in the exquisite box, and handed it to Little Bell: "It's yours!"

Little Bell's face immediately lit up with a smile: "Thank you, Big Brother! I'll go call Sister and Sister Xiaotang for you!"

"Hey," Tang Zheng watched her run out happily and quickly added, "That's ink! It's for writing, not for eating..."

"..." Little Bell stumbled, looking back with an innocent face.

"Alright, go quickly, go quickly..." Tang Zheng rubbed his forehead, speechless.

However, Meng Fenghua, who was in the初级练武场 (初级 means '初级' and 练武场 means 'martial arts training ground'), was called by another instructor and came to Tang Zheng's side first.

Tang Xiaotang, who had just finished her morning class and was busy with a bunch of things at noon, had just picked up her chopsticks when Little Bell found her. She exclaimed in despair, "Damn! He must be sent by heaven to make me lose weight!"

Although she said that, she quickly put down her chopsticks and rushed to Tang Zheng's side.

...

The afternoon sun warmed the entire courtyard. Tang Zheng held the paper representing his star pattern and paced around the yard.

Meng Fenghua leaned against the willow tree, frowning in thought.

Tang Xiaotang followed behind Tang Zheng, looking, thinking, looking again, and thinking again.

"Five-spice tea eggs? No, tea eggs are oval, not perfectly round. Taiwanese hand-grab pancakes? I don't think anyone can make a hand-grab pancake so perfectly round..." Tang Zheng thought as he walked.

"A perfect circle, with intricate patterns inside... Sister Fenghua, could it be the star pattern of your Xuantian Yin Yue Sect — Xuantian Haoyue?" Tang Xiaotang thought for a long time and could only勉强 (勉强 means '勉强') come up with this conclusion.

"No, Xuantian Haoyue is a clan-level star pattern..." Meng Fenghua directly negated this conclusion.

Clan-level star patterns, powerful clan-level star patterns, and noble family-level star patterns are all naturally able to light up one star. Tang Zheng, let alone lighting up one star, his star power couldn't even support the manifestation of a star pattern.

Star patterns below the powerful clan level are generally weapons like knives, spears, swords, and halberds, or fierce birds and beasts, which should be easy to identify.

However, the result of Tang Zheng's Wenjian was really something that made people rack their brains to no avail.

"How is your star power cultivation going? How long do you think it will take to cultivate 300 strands of star power?" Meng Fenghua asked Tang Zheng.

"About a week, if nothing goes wrong," Tang Zheng replied.

"How long is a week?" Tang Xiaotang gave him a sidelong glance, "Speak in human terms."

"Seven days..." Tang Zheng quickly corrected himself.

"Then you'll have to wait another seven days," Tang Xiaotang smiled with a hint of schadenfreude, "With about 300 strands of star power, you can directly manifest your star pattern!"

"Will the directly manifested star pattern also be a mess?"

"Of course not!" Tang Xiaotang answered confidently, then asked, "By the way, have you fixed your identity plate?"

Tang Zheng went into the house to get the fake identity plate and gave it to her, letting her go to eat quickly.

Meng Fenghua sat on a stone bench, still carefully examining the result of the Wenjian.

Actually, Tang Zheng was already very satisfied by confirming through Wenjian that he really had a star pattern, and it definitely wasn't a bowl of instant noodles. As for what it specifically was, waiting a few more days wasn't a problem.

So, he took back the Xuan paper from Meng Fenghua: "It's just a matter of seven days. After seven days, whether it's an egg or a duck egg, we'll know."

"No," Meng Fenghua shook her head, "Your Wenjian..."

"Hmm? Is there a problem?"

"Did you use Yaomu?"

"..." Tang Zheng's breath caught, "You're looking at this?"

"Yes." Meng Fenghua's cold face showed a hint of confusion, "I'm wondering why you used Yaomu."

The only thing that came to Tang Zheng's mind was eight words — "Only buy the expensive, not the right!"

Money, that's how you can be so任性 (任性 means 'reckless' or 'willful')!

Meng Fenghua's clear, cold voice seemed to come from the ice surface of early spring: "Yaomu, because the star pattern on the paper appears light purple, is very beautiful, and has a fragrance, is generally used by noble family children during the 'Wenjian ceremony.'"

"Ceremony?"

"Yes, noble family children are mostly born with one star, so they don't need Wenjian in their childhood. Therefore, their Wenjian becomes a ceremony, usually performed around the age of fifteen, symbolizing their coming of age. However, in some noble family territories, Yaomu is more commonly used as a token of love..."

"Ah?" Tang Zheng was instantly scared, "A token of love?"

"I was just saying it offhand, what's wrong with you?" Meng Fenghua looked at Tang Zheng with even more confusion.

Without a word, Tang Zheng quickly darted out of the courtyard.

He had to find Little Bell as soon as possible!

No matter what, he had to get back that large piece of Yaomu!

Otherwise, if Meng Fenghua found out who he gave the Yaomu to, he would die, and die very miserably!

...

When the Tang Family Fortress was filled with the warm spring breeze and the atmosphere of "studying hard and making progress every day," the Yinlan Manor was shrouded in a heavy gloom.

Everyone in the Yinlan Manor knew that last night, on West Street, which was their territory, two family servants wearing the family's uniform were killed!

West Street, killing people from the Lan family, this was like a slap in the face, making several loud noises.

When Lan Shaoye heard about this, he was practicing his martial arts — the Lihou Sword Technique — in his courtyard.

On his "Moon Like a Hook" star pattern, two bright stars rose and fell with his sword movements.

However, no matter how bright the stars, no matter how bright the sunlight, they couldn't dispel the gloom in his heart.

Swish!

With the final move, he slashed at a nearby locust tree, and the decades-old tree was cut off at the root, collapsing with a loud thud.

"Speak." Lan Shaoye casually flicked his sword, took a cup of warm tea from a servant, and didn't even look at the trembling heart commander in front of him.

"Last... last night, the ones killed were... Old Ding and Little Gui. From the method of the killing, it bears some resemblance to one of the two people from Fengmen Village."

"Hmm." Lan Shaoye's eyelids only slightly moved, "Why are you trembling? This is good news!"

"Eh? Good news?"

"The person we're looking for hasn't left Wulong Town, right?" Lan Shaoye said.

"Ah, yes, yes..."

For Lan Shaoye's heart commanders, this was indeed "good news"; they still had to continue searching!

Moreover, they still couldn't search openly, and they couldn't let anyone in the Lan family know that the person they were looking for was not a two-star martial artist.

Lan Shaoye asked again, "Where did it happen?"

"It was at the second alley of Huizhong Lane on West Street. Among them, Little Gui... seemed to successfully draw a star and became a one-star martial artist before he died!"

Lan Shaoye finally lifted his eyes and glanced at the heart commander.

The commander immediately understood his meaning: "Little Gui... he... he didn't have a star burst."

"Another waste!" Lan Shaoye snorted, "A pit viper, a Little Gui, neither of them learned the 'Star Drawing Technique'? Neither of them can do a star burst? We raised them for nothing in the Yinlan Manor?!"

Lan Shaoye didn't care about the two lives lost; what he truly cared about was that Little Gui, having broken through at the last moment, had the opportunity to seriously injure or even kill the opponent, but he didn't do it.

The heart commander quickly lowered his head, not daring to breathe loudly.

"You may go," Lan Shaoye quickly controlled his emotions and waved his hand at the commander, "Since we've confirmed that the person is still in Wulong Town... go, call... invite Xu Qingyan over."

The commander was initially stunned, then immediately accepted the order and left.

Xu Qingyan was the only three-star martial artist by Lan Shaoye's side. His star pattern was a double-headed Tibetan mastiff, and in his three life palaces, he had the Tianji Star, the Jumen Star, and the Taiyin Star, giving him very strong tracking and combat abilities.

Lan Shaoye didn't even need Xu Qingyan to take real action.

He only needed Xu Qingyan to track down the location where Tang Zheng was hiding. He could send any two-star martial artist to crush Tang Zheng!

————————————

Thank you for the 1888起点币 (起点币 means 'Qidian coins') donated by Yuchen, the 588起点币 donated by Jia Xiaoqi, Xiaojianke, and Yiru Nian, the 300起点币 donated by Tuifei Xiaoyan123, the 200起点币 donated by Zhu Jujie, Ye Zuihan^Shang, and Xue Ye Xingchen, and the 100起点币 donated by Konglong Ling, Shouhu Zhe Pingfan de Yisheng, Xue Shang Chenxi, Cangming de Shouwangzhe, Musese Xingchen zhi Ta, Shenhua Yufeng, Jiecheng Youna shi Yuzhe, Nicholas Xue, Wumicro zhi Xia, Tian Di Youyou~Xin Yiru, and Mo Ran Aoxue.

Thank you for the 1 bowl of Laba porridge and 10 branches of plum blossoms donated by Bancheng Li de Yanhua, the 1 bowl of Laba porridge and 1 branch of plum blossoms donated by Zu Pai Sixiang, the 1 bowl of Laba porridge donated by Yiru Nian, the 25 branches of plum blossoms donated by Xuegao Wudi, the 3 branches of plum blossoms donated by Jia Xiaoqi, the 1 branch of plum blossoms donated by Ge Chang de Qixi, Dian Shi de Melody, Xie Yun, Azhihe., Mo Li Yan Shang, Shuyou 140316100910650, Shui He zhi Wu, and Xue Ye Xingchen.

...

Page flip AD starts

Page flip AD ends