Jianhu and his cronies scurried around the Citadel and found a few things; however, there was no substantial lead. Nevertheless, the young master of the heavenly blood-spirit tiger did not give up. Instead, he became even sure that the suspicion of the old man was correct. There was someone who was playing shady and covering his tracks. Thinking about this, he decided to take his sweet time luring out the dark hand.
…
Shi Lang talked to Shi Tao and asked the girl a few questions. All these questions were about why the girl was in a bad mood. However, when the two discussed the issues, the little one gradually returned to her cheery self. She even wanted to fight with the person from the Crescent Pelican clan.
However, Shi Lang shook his head and said, “You need to rest and consolidate your gains from this defeat. Do not think you can only learn when you win. The truth is that failure is your biggest teacher. It teaches what you do not need to do. Understood?”
Shi Tao nodded, and Shi Lang said, “From tomorrow onward, you will be training inside the gravitational array. Okay? Do not miss any window to improve yourself. We can all avenge our pride later. Right?”
Shi Tao nodded with a faint smile, and Shi Lang brushed her forehead gently and said, “Good girl, Tao.”
The young general spent the night with his daughter, teaching her a few things about the skills she was practicing. He did not interfere with her comprehension of the art but only passed it down. Shi Tao was brilliant and blessed with a unique physique. She understood the skills way quicker than the others did. However, she was not at the age where she remembered them all.
So, Shi Lang would test her and correct her mistakes every few months. As a result, Shi Tao was improving, and she was making fewer and fewer mistakes. This made the young man happier. Finally, after the sun rose in the sky, Shi Lang said, “Baby, I will go back to work. Okay?”
The little girl tilted her head and said, “You promise you will visit me on weekends?”
Shi Lang smiled and pecker her forehead, and said, “Yes.”
The little girl smiled and dropped him to the accommodation door, where Crystal stood with her head down. Shi Lang sighed and said, “Crystal, if you wish to take any responsibility, then make sure this does not happen again.”
The girl nodded her head, but she still did not cast a gaze back at Shi Lang. The young terran patted her head and left the place. The heavenly snow fox was surprised. Nobody has ever patted her head. She shook her head and said, “Boss, I will not let you down.”
Shi Lang waved his hand without turning back and walked away from the place. Cultivators were not allowed to fly over Citadel until and unless they were from the high council or had any emergency.
After reaching back to the Library, the young man greeted Unity and began to organize the material again. He was about to finish organizing and then start researching the world’s laws in this place.
Just as he was working, suddenly, Unity asked, “I wonder what he thought when he put them all here? Did he not have any insight about the world’s laws in this place?”
The ‘he’ in her mouth was her master, Tian Long. Shi Lang smiled at her question and said, “He obviously knew what was going on here, but he still did so that the spirit beast community could have a reason to find the humans and reunite.
Tian Long was not only a master of martial arts, but he was a scary tactician.”
Unity raised her brows and said, “It does not feel like you see him as a rival. How can you ever surpass him?”
She was pissed by this guy acting so cocky in front of her. Shi Lang waved his hand and said, “Everyone used to envy him for his superior birth and always chase after him. So, when I saved his life and praised him for his cultivation achievements. You know how he replied?”
Unity shook her head and gazed at the young terran very keenly. Shi Lang replied with a reminiscing tone, “He said, ‘I will give you all these achievements if you can take these old bastards off my ass. Then there is the problem of these various geniuses always hindering me. Can they not let me listen to music and read some books peacefully? Every day, something makes me run around with a sword in my hand.”
Unity was surprised and said, “Did he say that?”
Shi Lang nodded while placing a journal on a shelf carefully. Unity fell silent for a bit, and then she said, “To think that man wanted to give it all up to you and enjoy a simple life. Yet he ran with his blade and dealt with troublesome situations.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “This is the truth of those who are peerless. They have everything but the time to enjoy everything. Tian Long might have been the best expert the human race had seen under the heavens. However, he also yearned for a day of rest.”
Unity nodded and said, “You humans are all so complicated.”
Shi Lang smiled and did not answer. He just kept arranging the manuals. When he picked up a jade slip, he was about to put it on the shelf and move ahead. He noticed something peculiar about the shelf surface. Leaning forward, he found a very unnoticeable crack on the surface of the wood. He blew away some dust on it.
His eyes opened widely, and he said, “Damn you, Tian Long.”
Unity reacted quickly and came next to him, intending to grab his neck and ask why he cussed the master when she saw the slit on the surface and a small inscription carved on the surface. But, instead, she gasped and was shocked. The inscription was made in the ancient text, and it was so shallow that if not for the contrast between the dust and the wood, Shi Lang would have never found it.
He looked at Unity, who was staring back at him. And asked, “Do you know what all this is about?”
Unity shook her head and said, “I have a few lags in my memory. But, I think it is sealed memories.”
Shi Lang held his forehead and said, “This guy sure knows how to give shocks.”
The inscription said, “Shi Lang.”
Unity scratched the back of her head and asked, “How is this possible?”
Shi Lang thought briefly, saying, “That bastard must have used the heaven-seeking method.”
Unity mumbled, and Shi Lang said, “This method allows the practitioner to look into the profound secrets of heaven. Like calculating the future of a person.”
Unity did not understand what was happening here, so she asked, “What could he have gained from looking into your future?”
Shi Lang shrugged and said, “This will come to light when we open this secret compartment. To think I just organized this shelf.”
Unity waved her hand, and all the journals and manuals flew off the shelf and landed on the ground. The young man glared at her. Then he thought about how to open the inscription. After a few minutes, he gently placed his hand over the inscription and tapped it with his fingers.
A square tile of wood, neatly cut, fell inside a shelf cavity. Shi Lang landed forward, and using spirit energy, he controlled the tile and took it out of the cavity. Below the cavity, he found a piece of paper folded neatly. The paper seemed to be untouched by time. Shi Lang wanted to pick it up when Unity said, “The paper has a trap formation on it.”
Shi Lang looked carefully and found a few golden threads flickering over the paper. He clicked his tongue and said, ‘Your master was a real piece of work, was he not?”
Unity nodded, and Shi Lang used his spiritual energy to carefully untangle the golden threads around the paper. Finally, after two hours, he succeeded but did not hurry to pick up the document and said, “Lady Unity, please do the honors. I am afraid that guy must have also instilled a wisp of his sword intent in the paper.”
Unity nodded and said, “Right on, I can sense his intent all over this thing.”
The sword spirit held the paper and said, “Indeed, it was left here with the intent to kill anyone who touches it.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “The hidden condition to open this means that I have to be on at least friendly terms with you.”
Unity nodded and then asked, “Will you open it? I am very anxious.”
Shi Lang sighed and said, “Humans are more anxious than the spirits, Miss.”
Unity furrowed her brows and said, “I was not asking you.”