Returning from the Immortal World

Friendly wind blew amid the blue sea under the beautiful sun of the blue sky. A black helicopter equipped with state-of-the-art military equipment flew northeastward of the ninth deserted island like a goshawk overlooking the sea surface. Inside the cabin, Tang Xiu held binoculars to observe the sea underneath, looking for the liner that drifted alone in the nearby waters.

When the helicopter was about to run out of fuel a few hours later and he couldn’t find the traces of the liner, he had no choice but to return to the ninth deserted island.

Ah, forget it.

Although Tang Xiu was curious about this mysterious person who was proficient in music, he faintly had a hunch that the other party was friendly and not an enemy. That person wouldn’t have helped him otherwise back in Bangkok. After he put this issue to the back of his mind, he went back to deal with the current concern—the situation on the ninth deserted island. It was because he had issued an order to station two men on other islands in the surrounding to observe the nearby waters in secret and the others to leave the ninth deserted island. Hence, a liner then came from other places to transport his men.

“Cut some trees and build some houses. Make it look like a base as soon as possible.”

After issuing this order, Tang Xiu handed the command to Mo Awu, Jin Shi, Tang An, and Ji Chimei who had caught up. With the super powerful Ji Chimei at the helm, latent dangers could be said to not exist even if the enemy consisted of a large number of Nascent Soul Stage experts. Only then did Tang Xiu feel more relieved and assured.

Half a day later, Tang Xiu returned to Nine Dragons Island. Just as the helicopter landed, he saw Tang 28 and four other boys sitting cross-legged on the shore. Each of them seemed to be eight years of age. Aside from Tang 28, the other four looked dignified and strong. It was rather obvious that they were excellent seedlings.

“Grand Master.”

Upon seeing Tang Xiu’s arrival, Gu Xiaoxue came forward and asked, “What are your plans next, Grand Master? Are you leaving Nine Dragons Island, or commanding the battle on the ninth deserted island?”

Tang Xiu shook his head and said, “From the current situation analysis, the world’s major forces shouldn’t be coming here, so our men won’t have a clash with them in a short period of time. I’m going back to the mainland since it’s September and Shanghai University has begun schooling. I need to report to the campus. Also, there’s something I need to verify.”

Gu Xiaoxue nodded and said, “Ms. Zhang also wants to go back to China, Grand Master. Would you like to take her back together?”

“Yeah. She’ll go back with me.” Tang Xiu nodded and said, “She’s a modern person, after all, and she must keep living her current life. When she can understand our world and customs thoroughly, I’ll bring her back to Nine Dragons Island. Also, only tell Yan’er after she’s finished recuperating from injuries. I won’t tell her that I’m leaving now since she’s in seclusion.”

“I’ll pass your message to Master,” replied Gu Xiaoxue. “Also, what about Mo Awu and Jin Shi, Grand Master? You assigned them to stand guard on the ninth deserted island, so who will go back with you? Someone needs to follow you.”

“It’s fine now this time.” Tang Xiu shook his head and smilingly said, “I’m going back with Tang 28 and his four companions. They can take care of some trivial things for me.”

Gu Xiaoxue, however, hesitated and said, “I know their strength is good since they are at the Foundation Establishment Stage. But they are too young and there are a lot of things inconvenient for them to do. Do you want to bring one more man?”

“No need.” Tang Xiu shook his head.

Shortly after, Tang Xiu visited the training ground in the southeast area. 842 children who had broken through to the mid-stage of Qi Refining and 128 more at the late-stage of Qi Refining had been concentrated here, all sitting cross-legged on the big training ground and silently cultivating.

There were also two boys and girls, members of child soldiers, who had broken through to the early-stage of Foundation Establishment. They were sitting on four square stone platforms two meters in width and half a meter high.

“Cease cultivating. Everyone, stand up!”

Wearing a black uniform, the cold-looking Wolfhead immediately shouted upon seeing Tang Xiu’s arrival. His voice was like a mighty bell that spread over the entire training ground.

974 child soldiers who were grouped in this place opened their eyes in that instant, getting up and standing straight as their eyes trained at Tang Xiu.

“Boss!”

They had all seen Tang Xiu and each of them even had his photo, the Master whom they must pledge their loyalty for life to.

Tang Xiu glanced at them as he nodded with satisfaction and spoke aloud, “You all should have heard that the Tang Sect has been officially established. The sect’s rules will be more perfect. Those of you who have been brought to Nine Dragons Island yet haven’t had the opportunity to join the sect don’t need to worry. All the children here will become the official juniors of the Tang Sect!

“You’re all good children and you also have a good aptitude for cultivation. You’ll become the pillars of the Tang Sect in the future. But if you want to pass the test and succeed in becoming a member of the Tang Sect, then prove your worth. You can prove yourself by two means: first is performing your duty. The bigger your merit, the more likely you’ll join the Tang Sect in the future. Secondly, your cultivation must advance to the Golden Core Stage.

“Disciples needed by the Tang Sect are those powerful experts. We don’t need garbage. You can stand out from the tens of thousands of children soldiers, yet the weakest among you have broken through the mid-stage of Qi Refining. That means you’re all worthy to be fostered and trained. I’ll give you special training for the next three days and you can expect to face bitter, tiresome, and dangers in this training. Endure it and face it bravely for me!”

At this moment, Tang Xiu exposed his cold and ruthless side because he was perfectly clear that these children could go all out and devote themselves to cultivation if they were under pressure. It was the only way for them to have a better chance to survive when they must risk their lives in life and death battles in the future.

The first day.

Tang Xiu had the illusion array arranged in the training ground. He only arranged a very weak array due to the weak cultivation stage of these children. But as long as they didn’t take the illusion array lightly and were able to fully unleash their mid-stage Qi Refining power, they could survive inside the array.

Illusions, in and of itself, could make people lost, yet it could also temper their hearts and mentality.

The 979 children, including Tang 28, must face endless streams of enemies which were weaker than them yet many in number. Furthermore, Tang Xiu also set up this illusion to create enemies as children of their age in order to adapt them to fighting. However, their opponent would be getting older and they must eventually face big and burly men.

An hour passed was another round of fighting, and they could restore their strength by taking a pill.

For 12 hours, the 979 children all experienced 12 rounds of fighting with over 200 opponents for each round.

Tang Xiu told the children that they would fight alone, yet he still controlled the entire illusion array in the back. Whenever any of them faced death, he would secretly let them off. It was all to gradually enrich their combat experience.

The second day.

Tang Xiu took all of the children out of Nine Dragons Island and dived down to endure the pressure of the sea. Further, he also made a rigid rule for the children to dive very deep nearly at the limit they could manage.

The third day.

Alone facing 979 children, Tang Xiu let them employ various tactics to face him, be it besiegement, individual combat, or ganging up, all the while instructing combat skills. He even taught them how to use magic spells in battle. He crushed them all constantly to make them benefit from the fight and continued making rapid progress.

The fourth day.

Tang Xu taught them the method to train their spiritual sense and reviewed the training results of the last few days so they could learn from the experience. He went as far as answering every issue they couldn’t understand carefully while at the same time, generously taking out a massive amount of pills whenever resources for cultivation were insufficient. Ultimately, he told the children to write all the harvests they obtained for the last few days and share them with their peers.

Ultimately, all the children progressed rapidly after four days of special training, with 36 children advancing to the late-stage from the mid-stage of Qi Refining and five children breaking through to the early-stage of Foundation Establishment. Tang Xiu believed that these days of special training would make the children have continuous breakthroughs in a short time, with some of them very likely advancing one or two stages.

****

On September 10th, Tang Xiu brought Zhang Xinya, Tang 28 and his four team members back to China. Just as they exited Shanghai Airport, Zhang Xinya looked a bit excited and Tang Xiu could sense it despite the big sunglasses and the mask she wore.

“Well, we’re back. Let’s live our daily lives well, shall we?” said Tang Xiu with a smile while holding her hand.

Nodding in response, Zhang Xinya looked like she recalled something and glanced around like she was looking for something. Shortly after, her eyes were locked on a female who dressed up just like her with sunglasses, mask, and duckbill cap.

“Hey, over here!”

She waved her hand and loosened Tang Xiu’s hand, striding toward the girl as the latter approached. After hugging her, she smiled and said, “I told you not to pick me up, didn’t I? Haih, you didn’t even listen to me, girl.”

Seeing the scene of Tang Xiu holding hands with Zhang Xinya gave Zhang Xinyue a complicated feeling, though she still tried hard to hide it. Putting on a calm face, she smiled back and said, “You’re finally back from abroad, so of course I must fetch you up, Big Sis. Anyways, that brother-in-law of mine didn’t bully you all these days, right?”

“Uh, brother-in-law?”

Zhang Xinya’s smiling face receded a bit. She turned her head to look at Tang Xiu and suddenly whispered, “You’re not allowed to call Tang Xiu brother-in-law ever again, Xinyue.”

“Come again?” Zhang Xinya was stunned and looked a bit at a loss.

“I already know what happened between you two, so you don’t have to explain anything to me,” whispered Zhang Xinya again. “Tang Xiu has already told me everything about it. But let’s save the talk for after we get back, okay? If anything, it’s fine if you call him Tang Xiu directly.”

“I…”

Zhang Xinyue’s mouth opened but was at a loss to say anything. Inwardly, she felt a bit angry toward Tang Xiu as to why he must tell her big sister about the things that happened between them. It made her at a loss as she didn’t know how to face her older sister.

Zhang Xinya herself was aware of how Zhang Xinyue felt at this time. In fact, telling her sister about this matter in advance was because she wanted to find an opportunity to let her understand some issues. Likewise, she had long predicted that Zhang Xinyue would react like this.