Chapter 1658: Investigating the Trail

Sima Yin Long sat inside his room with a gla.s.s of liquor in his hand. His eyes were looking at the ceiling, motionless, obviously thinking about something.

Jin Zhengyin stood beside Sima Yin Long. Although it seems like he has something to say, he didn’t dare disturb Sima Yin Long. He can only calmly stand by.

After some time, Sima Yin Long turned to Jin Zhengyin and said, “What did you think Zhang Feng was planning, promoting Zhao Hai into the sect early? Did he find something special about Zhao Hai and wanted to focus on him?”

When Jin Zhengyin heard Sima Yin Long, he immediately said, “Replying to Senior Brother, I think that’s possible. Zhang Feng has been training his strength to resist you. Now he even went as far as to admit Zhao Hai early into the Outer Sect, there should be a reason. If Senior Brother agrees, I can go check it out.”

Sima Yin Long nodded and said, “Go. I want to know what’s going on.” Jin Zhengyin nodded, then he bowed and retreated.

Looking at Jin Zhengyin’s back, Sima Yin Long’s eyes couldn’t help but flash a light of contempt. Although he personally poached Jin Zhengyin from Zhang Feng’s side, he didn’t look too highly upon him. This was because Jin Zhengyin has shown his ungratefulness.

In the Great World of Cultivation, people would do all kinds of things in order to achieve their goal. However, there was a bottom line. Deceiving one’s master and destroying their legacy was looked down upon.

On the other hand, people rarely betray their benefactors. Otherwise, they would be despised by other people.

Jin Zhengyin’s promotion to the Inner Sect was due to Zhang Feng, Sima Yin Long was well aware of this. Zhang Feng fished Jin Zhengyin out of the Outer Sect and trained him. 

Zhang Feng’s efforts attracted Sima Yin Long’s attention. He went to contact Jin Zhengyin just to test his att.i.tude. And much to his surprise, before Sima Yin Long could express his intentions, Jin Zhengyin was already dying to follow him. He was prepared to sell Zhang Feng clean.

This was the main reason why Sima Yin Long looked down on Jin Zhengyin. Whatever Jin Zhengyin had to the present day was provided by Zhang Feng, but he abandoned Zhang Feng at the first opportunity. Such a person couldn’t be trusted. Jin Zhengyin abandoned Zhang Feng who was very kind to him. If one day Sima Yin Long didn’t treat Jin Zhengyin right, who knows who Jin Zhengyin will sell him to. 

However, Sima Yin Long truly had a grudge with Zhang Feng. In order to break Zhang Feng’s arm, Sima Yin Long was willing to pay a thousand gold and provide Jin Zhengyin with a horse. Therefore, Sima Yin Long treated Jin Zhengyin well. But deep inside, he looked down upon this treacherous individual.

Jin Zhengyin left Sima Yin Long with a glimmer of light in his eyes. He was an ambitious person. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been taken by Zhang Feng and then later on becoming an errand boy for Sima Yin Long. Although Sima Yin Long was kind to him, all of these were empty to Jin Zhengyin. After all, Zhang Feng was also kind to him, and Jin Zhengyin still betrayed him.

For Jin Zhengyin, things like friends.h.i.+p, kins.h.i.+p, and a sense of grat.i.tude didn’t exist. He only wanted to be on the top. He wants to be like Sima Yin Long, and then maybe someone even more powerful. This was what he hoped to achieve the most.

This time, there was an opportunity. Because of Zhang Feng, Jin Zhengyin didn’t dare leave the side of Sima Yin Long. Now that Zhang Feng was managing the Battle Slaves and wouldn’t return to the sect for a while, Jin Zhengyin was given time to move to do errands for Sima Yin Long, increasing his value in Sima Yin Long’s eyes.

As long as Sima Yin Long treats him seriously, he would have an opportunity to crawl upwards. It would be best if he would become a core disciple.

The tiger s.h.i.+p was still quite a distance from the Black Tiger Gang. But in some big cities in the Great World of Cultivation, there would be giant transmission formations that allowed the travel of large artifacts.

There weren’t a lot of cities in the Great World of Cultivation. And almost all of the city’s land was used as markets. A big city was just a huge market while a smaller city was a smaller market. Regardless of status, anyone can trade in these cities. You may be a rogue cultivator or a core disciple of a major sect. As long as you want to trade in these cities, you can. The method and location of the trade was also left to the parties involved.

For example, rogue cultivators who didn’t have a lot of spiritual crystals would rent a shabby stall on a small alley. If you were a disciple of a major sect, you can send your items to an auction house and leave it to them to sell.

Some Major Cities were under the control of huge sects while the majority were under the control of an alliance of strong cultivators. Such cities would be autonomous.

Huge cities not controlled by sects were built up by rogue cultivators who formed a group. In the process of building up, they recruited soldiers and sold goods before forming a city. They would also build their legacy in these cities so that they can rule from generation to generation.

Because of this, huge cities would have a lot of powerful experts. Moreover, the managers of these cities would pose as merchants with dispositions that attracted wealth. They would be polite to everyone and wouldn’t just casually offend people. These trading cities were very important to all cultivators. Because of this, sects were able to agree to their existence.

If big sects wanted to control these cities, the first to oppose them wouldn’t be the people outside, but their own disciples. This was because Outer and Inner Disciples of these sects would come to these cities in order to exchange for cultivation materials. Although these materials were also available in their sects, those sold in the cities were much cheaper. Naturally, these cultivators would know where to buy.

These huge cities have plenty of transmission formations. Although they spent a lot of money to maintain and operate these formations, these cities didn’t collect any fees upon arrival. They would only charge people who leave the cities. The larger the transmission formation, the higher the charge.

For Sima Yin Long to return to the Black Tiger Gang as soon as possible, he would naturally need to use a large transmission formation.

Before long, Sima Yin Long’s tiger s.h.i.+p pa.s.sed through the transmission formation and arrived at the Black Tiger Sect. When the tiger s.h.i.+p appeared, the people guarding the transmission formation immediately made a salute, their expressions were of the utmost respect.

But Sima Yin Long’s s.h.i.+p didn’t stop. Instead, it flew deep into the Black Tiger Mountain. On the way, Jin Zhengyin departed from the s.h.i.+p and went to the Outer Sect’s Handyman Hall.

The Handyman Hall doesn’t only a.s.sign people to their duties. They also kept records about the locations of all Outer Disciples. If one wanted to find someone, they would go to the Handyman Hall.

Jin Zhengyin flew while paying attention to his surroundings. He was currently in the Outer Sect. Upon seeing Jin Zhengyin, these Outer Disciples would immediately give him a bow and a salute after getting out of the way.

Jin Zhengyin swept these disciples with his eyes as though he didn’t care about them. But in fact, Jin Zhengyin liked this feeling of being respected.

Before long, Jin Zhengyin arrived at the Handyman Hall. Elder Hu also received word about Jin Zhengyin’s arrival. When he saw Jin Zhengyin, Elder Hu immediately bowed and said, “I have seen Brother Jin. May I ask the reason why Brother Jin came to this humble one’s place?”

Jin Zhengyin looked at Elder Hu and said, “Elder Hu, I’m here on behalf of Senior Brother Sima to ask about someone.”

Elder Hu respectfully replied, “May I ask who Senior Brother Sima was looking for?”

Jin Zhengyin answered, “Recently, there’s a disciple called Zhao Hai who entered the Outer Sect. This person was a Battle Slave and was personally promoted by Zhang Feng.”

When Elder Hu heard Jin Zhengyin mention Zhang Feng’s name without any honorifics, he couldn’t help but despise him more. He pretended to be embarra.s.sed as he replied, “Yes, there’s indeed someone named Zhao Hai who has entered the Outer Sect. He’s a Battle Slave that was personally promoted by First Senior Brother Zhang Feng.”

Jin Zhengyin nodded and said, “Call him over, I want to see him.”

Elder Hu’s face was awkward as he said, “This, I’m afraid it would be difficult because of the place Zhao Hai was sent to.”

Hearing Elder Hu, Jin Zhengyin’s eyes lit up. He wanted to know what good place Zhang Feng had arranged for Zhao Hai. Moreover, it seems like he wanted to hide Zhao Hai from other people, otherwise Elder Hu wouldn’t have said those words. His voice couldn’t help but turn cold as he said, “What? Can I not see him? I’m not the one who’s asking, this is Senior Brother Sima’s order.”

Sweat could be seen dripping on Elder Hu’s face. Even if had huge guts, he still wouldn’t dare offend Sima Yin Long. If he really offended Sima Yin Long, not only him, but his entire lineage would be killed. After wiping off his sweat, Elder Hu looked at Jin Zhengyin and said, “Brother Jin, its not like I don’t want you to see Zhao Hai. But the place Zhao Hai was sent to is somewhat special. n.o.body would go there and he also can’t come out. The rules stipulated that someone needs to be in that place all the time. So I can’t call him over to meet you.”

Jin Zhengyin looked at Elder Hu and couldn’t help but ask, “Does the sect have that kind of place? Why didn’t I know of it? Tell me where he is. I can go find him.”

Elder Hu looked at Jin Zhengyin, then he lowered his head as he replied, “Zhao Hai is responsible for guarding the Ignored Valley!”

“Ignored Valley? Why does that place sound familiar? Wait, Ignored Valley? Did you say Ignored Valley? That Ignored Valley?” Jin Zhengyin doubted it first, then he couldn’t help but express his astonishment.

Elder Hu nodded and said, “There’s only one Ignored Valley in the Black Tiger Gang. Brother should know that n.o.body wants to go to the valley. Moreover, due to the sect rules, unless someone comes to replace him, Zhao Hai cannot leave.”

Jin Zhengyin’s face couldn’t help but change as he looked at Elder Hu. Then he muttered, “How could it be like this? Why did Zhao Hai go to the Ignored Valley? Didn’t Zhang Feng promote him personally? But the Ignored Valley? Are you lying to me?”

Elder Hu looked at Jin Zhengyin and then forced a smile as he said, “Brother Jin, I wouldn’t dare deceive you. Zhao Hai is really in the Ignored Valley. Moreover, First Senior Brother Zhang personally a.s.signed him there. He promoted Zhao Hai but he said that Zhao Hai is boastful and he needs to be disciplined in the Ignored Valley. Brother Jin, you should know that I’m just a small person. I wouldn’t dare neglect First Senior Brother Zhang’s instructions.”

Jin Zhengyin looked at Elder Hu’s face and then revealed a strange smile as he said, “Did Zhang Feng mention that he appreciates Zhao Hai so he sent him to the Ignored Valley?”

Elder Hu nodded. The expression on Jin Zhengyin’s face turned more strange. He obviously didn’t believe Elder Hu’s words. After some time, he said, “Where is the transmission formation to the Ignored Valley? I’ll go there to take a look at Zhao Hai.”

Elder Hu awkwardly replied, “This. Brother Jin, normally trash is piled on top of the Ignored Valley’s transmission formation. You would suffer if you use it.”

Jin Zhengyin waved his hand and said, “Go arrange it. I need to go there to take a look.” Elder Hu nodded and said, “Brother Jin, come with me.” After he said that, he led Jin Zhengyin outside of the hall. Before long, they reached a corner of the transmission formation square. Several baskets were piled on top of a transmission formation completely filled with trash. These were refining waste and pill waste. The pile even gave out an intermittent revolting stink.

Jin Zhengyin covered his nose. Then a white light flashed as the baskets were sent over. Jin Zhengyin knit his brows as he looked at the transmission formation. Just as he was about to walk over, Elder Hu blocked him and said, “Brother Jin, please wait a while. The trash needs to be taken care of on the other side before the transmission formation can be used.”

Jin Zhengyin stared, he knitted his brows and said, “How long will I have to wait? If he didn’t take those things away, then wouldn’t I be able to go?”

Elder Hu smiled and said, “Brother Jin doesn’t need to worry. The sect has rules saying that if the waste wasn’t taken care of in two minutes, then penalties would be given. In a while, the baskets will be sent through the transmission formation. When the time comes you can use it.” 

Jin Zhengyin looked at the transmission formation. The strange smile on his face became deeper.