The whole room seemed to be in an uproar as what just happened was pretty much not what anyone would have expected. Even I never expected to be forced out of my Possession and then faced up with someone I held a pretty damn deep grudge against.
"Oh…we're so fucking dead…" someone muttered as he saw what just happened.
"YOU BLASTED BASTARD!" another cultivator a purple robed cultivator spoke up.
I didn't know who this guy was but he seemed to be pretty enraged. Also slightly afraid.
But what he did next caused me to be on my toes, he rushed towards me with a clawed hand in an attempt to crush me to bits.
However, the man whose hand was still firmly stuck to his nose slowly grabbed my hand and looked at the incoming person causing him to freeze in place.
"Little twerp, you dare hit me?!" Master Rain said.
"Yes, because you're a thief, and an asshole, if it wasn't for you, my pla- everyone would still be alive," I said.
Master rain easily threw away my arm from his face as if it was the weight of a straw and said, "You think that puny barrier could have stopped them?" he said, "And what thief, that puppet was originally mine," Master Rain said.
I stood up face to face with the old man and then pulled something from my holding bag.
Everyone seemed to be fretting, I looked like a criminal about to pull up a gun. Everyone came to attention besides Master Rain.
Then I showed him an inscription, "I could have still reinforced it, I could have still made it far sturdier, but you just came in and wrecked everything, for what?"
As I showed the talisman to the old man, he snatched it from my hand and began studying it.
It took him a moment before his brows rose up and said, "It wouldn't have kept them off, you made a mistake here," he said as he pointed out an inscription.
"With Saint Qi, the power of the pla- formation would have not been enough to sustain a barrage of attacks, it'll exhaust the planet's power," he said.
"Saint Qi is forbidden in that place. So I didn't need to account for it," I said.
"That's where you're wrong, you think just because it's forbidden that it won't be used, ow many fanatics and lunatics you think to exist in the Vast Expanse, there are many who would take the wrath of the heavens to achieve a goal not even for them, but for someone else… it would have failed. I only accelerated the inevitable," he said.
And he was right, many cultivators could have sacrificed themselves to break through the planet's barrier.
"Even if. You denied me the chance to fight back, you denied me the chance to attempt something, you never could have expected what would have happened, nor if I could have managed to come up with something to counter their own measures, you came and destroyed all my work for what? For a puppet that you threw away fully discarding it somewhere in the world," my words hit a chord in Master Rain and he looked to be even more pissed.
I don't know what took over me because usually, I wouldn't be so stupid to cross someone this strong, or aggrieve him or even provoke him, but it seems that being in the body of Ling Cao for a long while had rubbed off on me in the wrong way.
Shit, now that I'm thinking about it, there are so many people here… this is gonna be awkward.
"You're right," Master Rain said and this came as a surprise for me, but for everyone else it was a shocking revelation.
Master Rain had actually admitted being wrong? Though I don't fully know how powerful this guy is, but he is a person who dared and imprison Zhang Tian the son of the Wind King without giving a flying fuck about his statue or reputation.
He admitted being wrong to a Soul Formation cultivator… which was something new.
"Also, pay up," I said as I had my hand forward.
Master Rain frowned.
"Pay up? What do you mean?" Master Rain said.
"You pulled me out of Possession, I was doing good in the Ancient Sect, and you just voided all my progress, pay up, one Top Grade Spirit Stone," I said.
"One?" Master Rain asked.
Everyone around the room looked completely devastated with an absurd look on their face.
"Brother if it's one Top Grade spirit stone I'll give you a thousand! Why the hell are you provoking Master Rain! You're gonna get us all killed!" someone sent me a divine sense message.
"It's not about the cost, I don't like wasting money, give me my Top Grade Spirit stone…" I said.
Now here, everyone, without exception would think I'm pretty stupid, mad and crazy even. But from Master Rain's antics, his habits, and his eccentric personality I know one thing.
This guy doesn't give a flying fuck about something called Face, and since I'm still alive so far, he needs something from me. And this is the best way I can think of to have a better understanding of him.
Master Rain kept his eyes locked on mine for thrilling several seconds.
I could even hear the deep breaths and awkward looks of the cultivators around us and outside the room. They were all unable to do something or speak and could only watch.
Then Master Rain touched his holding bag, pulled one Top Grade Spirit Stone, and placed it in my hand.
"Here…" he said.
Suddenly, a person that I didn't notice before right next to master rain, a man with slightly tall stature, slim figure and looked extremely handsome, his eyes looked like they were closed from how squinted they were, he just began bawling in laughter.
Uncontrollable laughter from what just happened.
"You! Hahahahaha!" "Master Rain, he really is an interesting fella."
"If he wasn't I wouldn't have bothered coming here. Good, kid," Master Rain said as he looked at me.
"I really don't like being called a kid, my name is Shen Bao," I said.
"Shen… interesting, but don't push your luck, also about your possession, you didn't die yet?" he asked as he looked at the corpse on the ground.
"No…"
"Then you can resume your progress when you come back here next time, come with me for now," Master Rain said as he walked out of the room.
Everyone immediately dispersed when Master Rain was walking out, not willing to be in his way.
I looked back at the room that was closing and saw the formation on it slowly clicking spiraling then rotating locking the room from everyone who isn't willing to pay.
Master Rain noticed me gazing upon the formation and said, "What do you think of that Lock?" he said.
"Oh, overly complicated for no reason. It could have been done better. With far less wasted inscriptions," I said.
"Do you know who made that formation?" he asked.
"Probably you, or at least a part of it, because it has your own style," I said.
"You do know I had a hand in that formation and you still dare say that it's overly complicated?" he said.
"Well if I'm being honest, it looks pretty nice, but it's at best a rushed work, maybe something you didn't even give half your attention to when making," I said.
"You speak as if you know me well enough to give this judgment," he said.
"I don't know you personally, but I know your style, you put in more effort in a strand of grass than you did in here…" I said and my words were aimed at a certain garden in the hidden Celestial Lesser world.
"Humph…" Master Rain said as he walked outside the Advent Tower and I followed after him and the attendant.
"You're a pretty interesting fella, keep being interesting but try not to cross any lines, it's good to be prideful but don't be conceited next to Master Rain," The attendant said to me in a divine sense message.
"Did you master the Ancient Step?" asked Master Rain. This question was clearly related to my travel to the Ancient Sect through the corpse possession.
"I wouldn't say mastered it, but I think I have the hang of it," I said.
"Good, then follow us," Master Rain said as he took a step forward. In that step Master Rain seemed to cross a vast distance and I was absurdly shocked to notice that even the attendant did the same with a single step.
It was almost the same as Old Man Gin's step, only the surge of Qi released from Master Rain's step was so fast, so incredibly fast and accurate that he was able to nearly teleport using that step but it was only a step.
The ancient Step could also be used like that? Damn, and I thought it was only a movement technique.
However, how am I to replicate something like this? I don't have the same Qi as Master Rain no Old man Gin, and clearly not comparable to even his attendant.
"Don't worry about what Master Rain had said you can just fly and follow us," the attendant said in a divine sense.
But for some reason, I wanted to attempt what Master Rain had done.
I took a step forward the same way he did, using the Ancient Step, and instead of the usual small burst of Qi, I shot down to the soles of my feet about a third of my whole Qi, in an instant surge, as I took the first step I felt the world distorting for a moment and managed to cross about a hundred meters of distance in a single step. It was far from what Master Rain and the attendant had managed, they crossed miles while I crossed a few hundred yards. It was not comparable.
However, the squinted eyes of the attendant seemed to squint further, and Master Rain's brows seemed to rise in perhaps a surprise or disappointment I wouldn't know.
With how much Qi I used, at most I can use this step twice then I'll fall on my face exhausted. However, I could attempt something.
I pulled several Poison Pills from my holding bag and made sure that no one was able to see what type of pills I had in my hands, since I didn't want the Heavenly Academy to know I'm a poison cultivator, or worse, one of the carriers of the Poison God's Book.
Once I chucked down the pills I took another step this time using less Qi but on several bursts sending them to my feet. So instead of one single big leap, I could use several smaller leaps in rapid successions.
It was like trying to draw a square and a circle with different hands, for any normal person it would have been difficult, but I enabled my Mind's Eye and was able to easily reproduce the same feat several times over.
By sending several surges of Qi I was able to move faster at rapid small paces and not fully exhaust my Qi reserves, at least not deplete them before I swallowed another pill to replenish my reserves.
Master Rain and the attendant who were up ahead of me seemed to turn away and continue moving, and I followed after them.
I didn't know where they were heading, and I was pretty sure that as a newcomer I'm not allowed to be in the higher island, at the real Heavenly Academy, but when it was Master Rain's own order to follow him, I had to.
Since he could probably kill me off whenever he wants, and since the academy, itself doesn't really want to cross him.
For now let's see what's going on, then plan on a way to get Y back. I missed my Puppet…