Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Tang Jun looked at Lei Jie and asked casually, “How are you, big brother Lei?”
Two equally heroic and valiant youths were just standing there facing each other. Even though they were slowly growing up and puberty was watching its magic on them and they were no longer looked that alike as they did when they were younger, their features were still rather similar and anybody could tell with one look that the connection between the two of them ran deep.
Lei Jie glanced at Tang Jun before him and his gaze grew solemn. “Sixth brother Tang…”
Because of their age ranking, Tang Jun and Lei Lie were respectively addressed as “sixth brother Tang” and “big brother Lei.”
One could tell how differently they were treated simply by their difference in titles.
The different in reputation between the Celestial Sect of Wonders’ Tian Cang Master and the Lei Family’s Azure Thunder Master compared to their childhood lives had been completely turned around.
Tang Jun, the Tian Cang Master, was Xiao Yan’s First Disciple and Xiao Yan was also Lin Feng’s First Disciple. He was the most outstanding successor to the Inferno Precipice and was one of the most phenomenal individuals in the entire second generation of disciples from the Celestial Sect of Wonders.
He formed the Natural Supreme Spiritual Altar and formed the Natural Supreme Crucible, formed the heteromorphic purple pill as well. He shocked the world buy giving birth to his own Holy Light of Creation after reaching the nascent soul stage, shocking the entire world.
When he was in the aurous core advanced stage, he had replicated his own master’s glorious track record, similar to the others of the previous generation. He had killed a nascent soul advanced stage grandmaster in a one-on-one battle to the death.
His performance was equally exceptional during the War of the Two Worlds. Other nascent soul stage cultivators and even some immortal soul stage cultivators were thoroughly impressed.
He was typically firm and touch to the outside world and to his enemies, but he had always been rather friendly and kind to the other members of his sect. He was respected not only within the Inferno Precipice, but also amongst the entire younger generation of disciples of the Celestial Sect of Wonders. He was also professional in his dealings with other powers and other sects.
Even though the amount of time that had passed since the Celestial Sect of Wonders’ first days were limited, many people in the human world of cultivation were already starting to speculate.
After Xiao Yan and Zhu Yi, if leadership of the Celestial Sect of Wonders reached their second generation of disciples, then the two people most likely to take over as sect leader was the Inferno Precipice’s Tang Jun or the Heavenly Temple’s Yang Tie.
Dao Yuting and Lin Tong were higher in mastery while Zhou Yuncong and Han Yang shared Tang Jun’s otherworldly reputation and standards. However, Dao Yuting, Lin Tong, Zhou Yuncong were not ideal choices to become sect leader due to their unsuitable personalities as long as there weren’t any drastic unforeseen circumstances. This also applied to the others like Huang Zhenting and Ying Luozha.
Both Han Yang and Liu Xiafeng weren’t interested at all and withdrew from the nomination long ago.
The rest of them – Li Xingfei, Zhao Huan, Tan Yunqing – could all be considered phenomenal talents of their age and their reputations had already shaken the entire Divine Lands. They were leaders in their own right, but they were ultimately not as popular as Tang Jun or Yang Tie.
Tang Jun was firm and tough and never lost control. Yang Tie was steady and calm without losing his sharpness, and there was still a giant question mark over who would be the chosen one in the end.
Still, if there were no other dark horses or if the two of them managed to survive till the end, they were the two most likely to take over as sect leader from the Celestial Sect of Wonders’ second generation of disciples.
Lei Jie had taken the world by storm over the years as well. During the Spiritual Conference of Kunlun Mountains, he had severed Great Void Sect’s Chen Xingyu’s arm and that ended Chen Xingyu’s previous reputation of being an exceptional prodigy.
Lei Jie hadn’t slumped after the Kunlun Mountains. He worked hard on his cultivation, and his level of mastery had risen exponentially along with his prowess while his reputation skyrocketed again after a tiny period of decline to a level much greater than before.
The powerful youngsters in the Divine Lands of this generation, those that weren’t overshadowed by the extraordinary prodigies from the Celestial Sect of Wonders or the Great Void Sect, were few and far between while Lei Jie was the cream of the crop amongst this list.
However, Lei Jie appeared dull and colorless next to Tang Jun’s glory and splendor.
It wasn’t because he wasn’t outstanding enough – it was simply because Tang Jun was just too powerful.
Tang Jun was perceived as Lei Jie’s singular blemish in his perfect life and Tang Jun lived in a different world from himself. The fact that Tang Jun had overtaken him today was intense mockery for the arrogant and proud Lei Jie.
Tang Jun watched Lei Jie with a pair of placid eyes and he didn’t seem like he was trying to boast or flaunt his successes.
Tang Jun had the same incredible exhilaration and immense pride in his toils and sufferings over the years and his unstoppable rise to power. However, he didn’t wallow in his own successes and reminded himself time and time again not to let himself go and not to indulge, and that he had to continue on to accomplish greater things.
He didn’t reject sensations of elation or euphoria, and neither did he feel like he was overly proud and had already accomplished his dreams. He didn’t think these were negative emotions and following the passage of time and his rise in power, these feelings gradually grew dull and plain.
Therefore, he faced Lei Jie before him with a cool and composed mentality.
However, this didn’t mean that he had forgotten everything that happened before. Favors had to be returned and vengeances had to be settled, this was the way Tang Jun had always done things.
“Big brother Lei – you have always hated and despised me because of our father. The Lei Family also became angry with me as a result, and some people had also given me trouble and humiliated me, probably with your permission or even with your prodding.”
“If things turned out just a little differently, I would have died by your hands.”
“I haven’t forgotten about these things. All vengeances have a target and all debts have a creditor, so we shall settle the scores between us stroke by stroke.”
“Depth, patience and a big heart has never meant that toleration is to nurture an evildoer. Repaying grievances with acts of kindness – how then, do we repay these acts of kindness?” Tang Jun’s expression was calm as he said “However, even though the Lei Family have taken their anger out on me and they have despised me, at least everything was orderly and the reasons were clear.”
Tang Jun eyed Lei Jie and continued, “When I departed from our father’s old residence, the Lei Family been close in pursuit and I have even heard about the orders to bring me back dead or alive.”
“The Lei Family’s intentions to capture me must have something to do with our father, and it must have something to do with him changing my physique using the magic formation inside his old residence.”
“However, why have you ventured out to kill me in person? You, big brother Lei, who had always despised me and viewed me with contempt? Even though that wasn’t who you are, I knew that you were out of control during that period of time and all you wanted to do was to kill me on the spot before you could be satisfied.”
“I haven’t joined the Celestial Sect of Wonders during that time. Even though my physique has been changed by our father’s magic formation inside his old residence, I was only a foundation establishment stage cultivator – so why did you suddenly lose control?”
Lei Jie grew silent and began to contemplate as he heard Tang Jun’s question. It felt as if his insane wrath and hysteria all those began to surface again in his mind’s eye.
Those words that he had seen on that piece of paper appeared in his mind once again.
“Compared to the first failed product, the second has succeeded…”
“First… failed product… Second… has succeeded…”
Lei Jie’s mentality had gradually recovered after his episode of rage and he ventured out to take Tang Jun out himself. Even though he was there at the Kunlun Mountains and attended the Spiritual Conference inside the Celestial Sect of Wonders’ territory and he knew that Tang Jun was inside the Kunlun Mountains, Lei Jie managed to repress himself.
Over the years, Lei Jie had changed his lifelong goal into an effort to prove that he was stronger than Tang Jun. This was the reason why he had been working so hard to improve himself.
However, this was never meant to be as the forces of nature outdid the forces of man. Tang Jun grew exponentially and his rise to power was a lot faster and ferocious than Lei Jie’s was, and Tang Jun gradually caught up and eventually overtook him.
Even though the people around him had always tried to console him by telling him that Tang Jun’s rise to power was because of the Celestial Sect of Wonders, Lei Jie couldn’t convince himself with this reason.
Today, both of them just stood there facing each other and the intense fury that Lei Jie had felt when he discovered the truth all those years ago surfaced at the bottom of his heart once more.
He answered coldly, “What’s the point of saying all this now?”
Tang Jun’s expression was still as calm as ever. “You will tell me, won’t you?”
Lei Jie deliberated momentarily before he nodded his head and said slowly, “Yes, you are right. I will tell you. I will tell you how pathetic we are.”
He turned towards the Lei Family’s leader, Lei Lie, and said, “Grandfather.”
Lei Lie remained silent as he flicked a finger and a single lightning bolt drifted before Xiao Yan and Tang Jun. There were peculiar lights surging around inside the lightning bolt.
This lightning bolt was formed by Lei Lie’s mana, and it was used to preserve the flowing lights inside the lightning bolt. Xiao Yan reached forward and extracted the information contained inside the flowing lights from the lightning bolt.
He directed the information into Tang Jun’s consciousness first before even looking at it himself. He didn’t even seem interested in its contents and neither was he afraid that Tang Jun wouldn’t be able to handle it.
Tang Jun greeted Xiao Yan before he closed his eyes and connected his consciousness and power with the flowing lights to browse the information contained within.
These were the remnants of someone’s consciousness and had been restored using mana. However, the damage was too great and there was no way to bring back the original projected images. All that could be heard was a voice.
“I know it. I have succeeded. There is no question, and I won’t fail like I did with the first time…”
“Compared to the first failed product, the second one has succeeded, and I have used far less resources and energy to accomplish this…”
“However, I can’t stay with the Lei Family any longer. I might be discovered by them…”
The voice was that of a middle-aged man, and his plain tone carried a few traces of satisfaction and pleasure. Tang Jun didn’t recognize this voice, but he could imagine that this voice’s owner was his and Lei Jie’s father – Tang Wenhua.
Just a few sentences were enough to help everyone decipher what exactly happened all those years ago.
The “first failed product” naturally referred to Lei Jie, while the second successful one undoubtedly referred to Tang Jun.
However, Tang Jun couldn’t detect a single ounce of fatherly love from Tang Wenhua’s words and the unconditional parental love. The feelings of happiness and satisfaction didn’t come from his love for his children, but from the fact that he had “succeeded”.
This voice referred to Lei Jie and Tang Jun and referred to them not as his two sons but as two products – and one was a failure while the other was successful.
The faint pleasure carried some solemnity and coldness, sending chills up everyone’s spines.
“Might be discovered? Who is he referring to? Doesn’t seem like it’s the Lei Family…” Tang Jun’s eyebrows creased as he had a tiny revelation inside his mind. Tang Wenhua’s departure from the Lei Family with their treasure was probably to evade “them”. Taking the treasure along with him was simply a mask and was intended to make his departure from the Lei Family feel a lot more natural.
If that was the case, then “them” naturally didn’t refer to the Lei Family but some other people.
Tang Wenhua chose to escape with the Lei Family’s treasure instead of faking his own death. Perhaps he had other reservations and considerations, but all this wasn’t something that Tang Jun could figure out with the information available to him right now.
Tang Jun glanced towards Lei Lie and Lei Jie, and Lei Lie said gradually, “When you left Tang Wenhua’s old residence, I was personally there to check through the entire place thoroughly. The Great Zhou Empire even used the Imperial Palace to restore this remnant that was left behind.”
