11: Chapter 11 Don't flatter me, I'm easily swayed by it.

Half a year was neither long nor short.

Xie Feng nourished the five newly opened Meridians to a normal state, successfully climbing from the First Realm First Heaven to the First Realm Seventh Heaven; with the foundation of six Meridians right there, it was above average—not stunning, but not bad either.

Gu Jian and Tie Rong both achieved a Breakthrough to the Second Realm, Mo Tang was at the First Realm Ninth Heaven, and that squinty-eyed Wen Yushu had directly surged to the Second Realm Third Heaven, securely sitting at the top spot among this batch of Disciples.

Tu Ziguan was at the Second Realm First Heaven. Every morning when he came to find Xie Feng for breakfast, he would deliberately "drop" a mention of his cultivation base in an extremely forced manner, and then wait for Xie Feng to praise him.

Xie Feng never praised him, but Tu Ziguan was not discouraged and continued the next day.

At noon that day, Tu Ziguan uncharacteristically didn't show up at mealtime.

Xie Feng was sitting cross-legged on the bed, circulating the "Qingyun Qi-Guiding Technique", with all six Meridians flowing simultaneously, the flow rate of his spiritual Qi countless times faster than half a year ago.

When he Cultivated to the fifth cycle, the door was pushed open.

Tu Ziguan stood at the doorway, with someone following behind him.

Mo Tang wasn't tinkering with mechanical parts today; empty-handed, she stood behind Tu Ziguan, and seeing Xie Feng sitting cross-legged on the bed, she grinned.

"Xie Feng, long time no see."

Xie Feng opened his eyes, looked at Tu Ziguan, and then looked at Mo Tang.

It was normal for Tu Ziguan to come find him alone, and it wasn't unprecedented for Mo Tang to do so either. This girl always held a vibrant curiosity about the secret of him "defeating the anomaly," and every few days she would bring newly made mechanisms to find him for "testing."

Xie Feng had tried hard to refuse three times, but in the end he couldn't win against her and cooperated once, only to be blown flying. Afterwards, he learned his lesson and would walk around her whenever he saw her.

This was the first time the two of them came together.

"What is it?" Xie Feng asked.

Tu Ziguan walked in, sat down by the window, and fished a folded piece of paper out of his sleeve, unfolding it to spread across the table. It was a mission scroll—a mission scroll from the Qingyun Sect, stamped with the red seal of the outer Sect's Affairs Hall, written in neat handwriting with the mission location, mission content, recommended number of people, and rewards.

"I took on a mission," Tu Ziguan said.

Xie Feng lowered his head to look at that mission scroll.

Location: Forty miles north of Cangyun City, Kumu Village. Mission Content: Clear out residual anomaly derivatives. Recommended Number of People: Three to four people.

"The anomaly in Kumu Village was cracked by the Sect half a year ago," Tu Ziguan said, "The rules were exposed and the main body destroyed, but that place still has some residual derivatives left. They don't pose much threat, just a large quantity that one person can't clear alone.

The Affairs Hall posted this as a mission, and the contribution points given are quite a lot. I calculated it; split among three people, each person can get two hundred points, which is enough to exchange for a Yellow Rank Medium Grade Cultivation Technique."

"Three people." Xie Feng raised his head, "You, Mo Tang, and who else?"

Tu Ziguan looked at him and didn't speak.

Xie Feng understood.

"Not going," he said.

"Brother Feng~"

"Not going."

"Hear me out first~"

"Not listening."

Tu Ziguan took a deep breath and turned to look at Mo Tang.

Mo Tang was currently squatting in the corner studying the structure of the lazy sofa in Xie Feng's room. This thing was stuffed with fabric and the inner layer skin of a certain beast. Sensing Tu Ziguan's gaze, Mo Tang raised her head, remembering what she had come here to do.

"Xie Feng," Mo Tang stood up, patting the dust off her hands, "that anomaly's rules are very interesting."

Xie Feng's eyebrow twitched: "What do you mean?"

Mo Tang pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of her sleeve, densely covered in writing.

Xie Feng took it and lowered his head to read.

That anomaly's rules had already been cracked and recorded on file. The anomaly would disguise itself as a certain member of the team, almost perfectly replicating them from appearance and voice to memories.

The method to crack this anomaly was that there must be two people in the team who shared a certain "secret known only to each other."

By mutually verifying each other, the imposter could be found out.

"So Tu Ziguan found you and me," Mo Tang said, with a tech geek's excitement in her tone, "Tu Wu said the two of you are fellow townsmen, and you share a huge pile of secrets. Just ask about any of them, and the anomaly will give itself away. As for me, I'll curl up inside a Puppet and not participate directly. If the anomaly disguises itself as me, it won't know how to operate the mechanical Puppet, and it'll give itself away the moment it's seen."

Xie Feng looked at that piece of paper and remained silent for a long time.

He had to admit that Tu Ziguan was indeed a clever person.

This mission had been analyzed by him crystal clear: the rules were known, the loopholes were known, and the cracking method was known.

There was almost no risk.

Yet Xie Feng still didn't want to go.

"This flag feels like it's been erected so high!"

"Aiya, don't say that, this is the safest one."

"What Fulai Pavilion?" Mo Tang couldn't understand what nonsense the two of them were talking about at all.

"Brother Feng." Tu Ziguan's voice suddenly turned serious.

Xie Feng raised his head.

Tu Ziguan looked at him, his face lacking that habitual, just-right smile; his expression was very earnest.

He leaned close to Xie Feng's ear.

"I know you have secrets on you. You don't say, and I won't ask. But for this mission, I need you—not because of your secrets, but because you are the only person in this world I can talk to." He paused, "I can't trust anyone else."

Xie Feng's fingers tightened slightly.

He looked into Tu Ziguan's earnest eyes, and then looked at Mo Tang, who was gazing at him eagerly.

"I'll think about it some more," Xie Feng finally said.

Tu Ziguan nodded and didn't rush him. He folded the mission scroll, put it back into his sleeve, stood up, and paused for a step when he reached the doorway.

"We set off early tomorrow morning. If you come, wait for me at the mountain gate at the Hour of Chen. If you don't come..."

"I'll still acknowledge you as a friend."

What a slick bastard! Xie Feng cursed inwardly—he had backed him into a corner! And the damn thing was, he actually fell for this exact trick.

Mo Tang followed behind him and walked out. When she reached the door, she looked back at Xie Feng, opening her mouth as if she wanted to say something—probably wanting to make off with her lazy sofa—but after looking at Xie Feng's expression, she swallowed it back and gently closed the door.

Xie Feng sat on the bed, looking at the closed door, and remained silent for a long time.

That same night, Xie Feng went to the back mountain.

He couldn't stay in his room and wanted to find a place where there was no one.

The stone path on the back mountain branched off midway up the mountain, leading to an abandoned training ground. Xie Feng had accidentally discovered it once and had never been back since. Today, he suddenly felt like going to that place to sit for a while.

Moonlight leaked through the gaps in the clouds, shining onto the stone path and casting a faint silvery hue. Xie Feng walked upward along the stone path, his footsteps echoing between the stone walls on both sides, one beat after another.

When he reached the fork in the path, Xie Feng stopped.