Chapter 197: 190 Night Wandering

Tang Zhao woke up from his dream, feeling dizzy.

Anyone who spent three months in a dream, cooped up in a tiny space, reading and researching day and night, would also feel dizzy and bleary-eyed. It was fortunate that it was in a dream, which had a hazy, filter-like quality; otherwise, if he had stayed like that in reality, he would have gone mad.

Yes, he had spent a full three months in the dream. It was several times longer than the ten days or half a month Qi Yuheng had mentioned. How should he put it? He could only say that his Mental Power was still quite abundant.

With three months of ample time, the support of massive amounts of data, and the help of the Glasses—which were still somewhat useful in the dream—his magnificent article was born, just like a baby after ten months of pregnancy. Amidst his exhaustion, he also felt a little smug.

Now that he had woken up from the dream, he only wanted to rest and have a good, dreamless sleep.

He looked at the Artifact Clock; it was surprisingly only the Hour of the Rooster. He had only slept for a little over four hours, yet in the dream, it had been several months. The saying about the "Yellow Millet Dream" truly did not deceive me.

Although Tang Zhao was exhausted, he still had to transcribe the finished draft to avoid forgetting it after waking up. He wrote for another hour in one go, but before he could finish, Jiang Shenyi arrived.

"The conference is postponed by one day?"

Tang Zhao was stunned and asked, "Is that what Long Yuan said?"

"Exactly, the official announcement is already out. I was afraid that since you were focused on writing your article, you might not have received the new developments in time, so I came specifically to tell you. You can relax a bit now; there's no rush to finish it tonight. Isn't it better to have gained an extra day?"

Tang Zhao held his forehead and said, "It's too late... If only you had come earlier."

Jiang Shenyi was stunned and said, "No way, you've already finished? Your speed is divine. If you work this hard, they will definitely have to give you a big merit award."

Tang Zhao asked, "I'd rather give them a big slap in the face. Do you know why? They were urging me for the draft this afternoon, and tonight they say it's postponed by a day? Do you know why?"

Jiang Shenyi shook his head. This notice had come very abruptly, and no one knew what was going on. But since it came from Long Yuan, everyone could only accept it. Since they were already here, could they just walk away because the meeting was postponed by a day?

Tang Zhao pondered, "That's fine too. I'll just say I haven't finished yet. Wouldn't I then have another night to browse their library to my heart's content? I was so focused on checking data before that I really missed out on a lot of fun."

Jiang Shenyi shook his head and said, "You're really something. You finally came out of the books, and you're going back in? Isn't there anything more important to do? Shall we go out for a walk?"

Tang Zhao said, "Go out? Go out to play tomorrow? That could work..."

Jiang Shenyi waved his hand and said, "It's not convenient to go out to play tomorrow. They have planned it out; tomorrow they will first arrange for everyone to pick out souvenirs."

"Picking out souvenirs on the first day?"

"It is said that it's because of the Sword Province Road. The Sword Province Road is too long and too arduous; in the end, merely using seating as a reward is simply not enough to compensate for everyone's losses. Moreover, there are those who were eliminated in the final stage and instead fell to the bottom of the Human District, losing both fame and fortune. In fact, there is quite a bit of resentment. Although Long Yuan could pretend not to see it, they are unwilling to lose the hearts of many people. So this time, they are distributing a wave of souvenirs first. It is said that they are divided into tiers based on performance on the Sword Province Road. Even those who ended up with zero points can still have decent gains based on good results along the way."

Tang Zhao nodded. So that was it; it made sense.

However, the postponement of this Talisman Conference was indeed particularly abrupt. A last-minute notice in the middle of the night—how does this souvenir distribution seem like they had a last-minute issue and couldn't hold the meeting, so they are giving everyone a wave of compensation?

Could something have really happened to Long Yuan?

He still remembered the moment in Jiu Yuan when the mountains and seas were overturned.

Tang Zhao asked, "Then why did you ask me to meet, Brother?"

Jiang Shenyi said, "Actually, I just remembered it too. It seems we both forgot an important matter. Sixth Brother and Seventh Brother."

Tang Zhao let out an "ah."

Indeed, this was one of the purposes for their coming to the Talisman Conference.

Back then, they had two main purposes for coming to the Talisman Conference: one was to make a name for Zhuoyu Villa, and the other was to vent the anger of Brother Qin and Brother Deng. As for getting souvenirs, that was secondary.

One of the goals had undoubtedly been completed. Was being the number one in the Heaven District, suppressing the Seven Great Factions, not glorious enough? I'm afraid everyone attending knew the names of Tang Zhao and Zhuoyu Villa. Since Tang Zhao returned from Zhuangyuan Tower, he didn't know how many people had given him respectful gazes along the way, and the sounds of praise and exclamation had never stopped.

After all, Tang Zhao was not only the leader among the Talisman Conference masters, but he also came from a small, obscure sect, yet he was able to suppress the prestigious Seven Great Factions. He was a "commoner hero" beyond reproach, which naturally increased his topicality and legendary status, and made it easier to gain the love and worship of disciples from small factions.

Although Jiang Shenyi was not as famous, he was also from the Heaven District and likewise came from a small faction. Chatting and laughing with the younger generation of the Seven Great Factions at Zhuangyuan Tower, plus coming from the same sect as the top scholar, naturally gave people the impression that Zhuoyu Villa was full of talent.

It was only the first day now, and this reputation was still in its explosive phase. Although it would slowly settle down in a few days and not be so eye-catching, as the Talisman Conference ended, the name of Zhuoyu Villa would spread to various factions along with the returning disciples. Although it might not be possible to gain such direct admiration, from now on, more large and small factions would know the sect "Zhuoyu Villa."

Even if Tang Zhao and the others didn't make any "big news" in the remaining days, this goal of making a name for themselves had already been achieved.

But the task of venting the anger for his brothers had not yet been completed.

Although suppressing the heroes at the Talisman Conference could be considered venting anger for his brothers, his brothers had suffered direct insults and bullying, so they should be repaid in a more direct way.

Tang Zhao realized and said, "Fortunately, you remembered, Brother. Otherwise, if we missed it, wouldn't it be a regret? I remember the first enemy was Iron Furnace Castle. And there is another one..."

Jiang Shenyi said, "Bixi Villa."

Come to think of it, the cause of this conflict was quite childish; Bixi Villa had started it first. Bixi is also a type of gemstone, while Zhuoyu Villa carves jade. If both sides were forced to pull a connection, perhaps there was some kind of unrelated restraining relationship?

Anyway, the cause of the conflict at the last Talisman Conference was just this bit of bickering. Both sides were young and vigorous; somehow the dispute turned into an argument, and later it turned into a fight.

But later, when they fought, Bixi Villa invited Iron Furnace Castle to help, bullying the few with the many and teaching Qin Haizhou and the others a harsh lesson. At this point, Bixi Villa was quite satisfied and left. It was the later Iron Furnace Castle that likely realized the two were soft persimmons that were easy to bully, so they kept finding fault and bullying them at the subsequent Talisman Conference. After the conference, they even intercepted all their souvenirs. If it hadn't been for Deng Chong finally losing his patience and finding someone from Mogan Peak to block a hand, there might even have been a threat to their lives.

So the one they hated most was naturally Iron Furnace Castle.

Jiang Shenyi said, "There's nothing to do at night. I think we might as well go and scout them out tonight to see who they brought and what their strength is. Then we can decide on a strategy and see how to vent our anger."

Tang Zhao nodded and said, "Okay. It's a pity that I was only focused on rushing on the road along the way and didn't pay attention to these two factions. I don't even know if they brought anyone?"

Jiang Shenyi shook his head, not knowing. Tang Zhao remembered that he could go to the ranking board to take a look. The Heaven, Earth, and Human lists had all the factions ranked and recorded completely, and the rankings roughly corresponded to the guest house arrangements. Once they found the names, they would find where they were staying.

The two took advantage of the night to come to the board.

They had thought that since it was dark, there would be no one at the board, but who knew that Zhuangyuan Tower would be brightly lit. All around were young people carrying lamps, wandering in the night in twos and threes. It turned out that everyone knew there was nothing to do tomorrow, so they couldn't help but feel relaxed. Coupled with the cool night air and the sea breeze, the scenery on the island was beautiful, and they were all carrying their own Artifice Lamps to wander around. At this time, Zhuangyuan Tower was open, and some people were even bringing wine upstairs to drink at night. For a time, there were dots of light and shadows of people.

Tang Zhao carefully checked the board and sure enough, he found Iron Furnace Castle and Bixi Villa. Both factions were in the Human District. The two from Iron Furnace Castle were ranked relatively high, similar to the one hundred and one hundredth, at the forefront of the Human District. Bixi Villa was further back, in the middle to late section of the Human District.

This was not surprising; Bixi Villa was originally competing back and forth with Zhuoyu Villa, otherwise they wouldn't have hired outside help. If it were still Qin Haizhou and the others coming, Zhuoyu Villa would probably be ranked in this position.

As for Iron Furnace Castle, as Bixi Villa's outside help, they were certainly stronger than Bixi Villa, but not by much. Dragons do not live with snakes, and Bixi Villa could not reach factions that were too high.

The two confirmed the location and were about to leave when they heard someone call out, "Ah, the number one in the Heaven District, I saw the number one!"

Immediately, the surrounding lights gathered over. In the dark night, they couldn't see the faces of those many people, only hearing voices one after another. There were surprises and exclamations, some wanting to shake hands with Tang Zhao, and others inviting him to visit their dormitory. Tang Zhao was overwhelmed and could only decline with a few words, then hurriedly ran away with Jiang Shenyi.

Running to a place where there was no one, Tang Zhao sighed and said, "It seems the order is wrong."

Jiang Shenyi nodded, understanding what he meant.

Revenge is something that should be done when you are not famous. At that time, Zhuoyu Villa was at the bottom of the rankings, and taking the initiative to challenge Iron Furnace Castle at the forefront of the Human District would naturally be courageous. If they could succeed, it could be called a legendary counterattack that everyone loved to see. But now that Tang Zhao had become the eye-catching number one of the Heaven District, seeking revenge on a small faction in the Human District, no matter the reason, looked very much like bullying. And if Tang Zhao and Jiang Shenyi had martial arts far superior to many and knocked the other side down in three or two moves, it would look even more so.

You say you are so powerful, but your brother was bullied miserably by two nobodies four years ago—who would believe that?

Jiang Shenyi said, "Azhao, you have many devious ideas. Think about what way we can teach them a harsh lesson while also making them lose all their reputation?"

Tang Zhao thought for a while and said, "How about we break in in the middle of the night, put sacks over their heads, and beat them up?"

Jiang Shenyi was silent, then said, "What about losing all their reputation?"

Tang Zhao added, "We can strip off their clothes and make them run naked..."

……

In the end, the two discussed it and decided to take advantage of the night to first go find Wusun Tong and the others. The ranking of the One Hundred and Eight Springs was close to that of the people from Iron Furnace Castle, and they didn't live far away, so they might know some intelligence about the enemy. They would test the waters first before deciding.

The two set out under the cover of night, dodging and hiding as they slipped into the Human District and snuck into Wusun Tong's guest quarters.

Wusun Tong was pleasantly surprised and hurriedly called Che Sha over from next door, reuniting the four fellow travelers once again.

Che Sha and Wusun Tong first congratulated Tang Zhao and Jiang Shenyi. The four shared some of their experiences on the road to Jianzhou, and Tang Zhao stated his intention, asking what the people from Iron Furnace Castle next door were like, what their character was, and if they had any unusual habits.

Wusun Tong clearly had no impression and shook his head for a moment. Che Sha said, "Are you talking about those two sneaky fellows?"

Jiang Shenyi said, "Is that so? Those two were indeed acting shifty? I knew it; the people from Iron Furnace Castle are no good."

Che Sha shook her head and said, "That's not it. Before today they were fine, just two ordinary people. After returning from the ranking announcement, the two suddenly became fearful, as if they had done something shameful. I heard them talking about looking for a boat, and I thought they intended to flee the island overnight."

Tang Zhao and Jiang Shenyi exchanged a glance and suddenly said in unison:

"Oh no!"

This was still trouble caused by fame.

Tang Zhao's great name had become known to everyone within a day; how could those two not know it? The people of Iron Furnace Castle knew what they had done back then in their hearts, so how could they not be afraid? Although the Heaven District represented strong accomplishments in Rune Formula rather than superb martial arts, when the gap was this large, one shouldn't harbor any delusions of luck—fleeing for one's life was the real priority.

The two followed Che Sha to the outside of the Iron Furnace Castle members' room, and sure enough, the lights were completely dark, showing no signs of anyone living there.

Of course, it was also possible they had gone out for a night stroll.

"Let's go to the pier first," Tang Zhao reminded.

This small island was surrounded by the sea on all sides; if one wanted to run, one would always have to take a boat.

The group ran to the Human District pier, only to see the vast, surging sea in the night, with a small boat faintly drifting in the distance.

Jiang Shenyi was just about to spread his wings to pursue and intercept when he heard someone on the sea say, "Who is there? There is a curfew on the sea; do not trespass, go back quickly!"

Immediately following, a Great Ship lit up and approached, and someone on the ship said, "This is a Patrol Ship of Longyuan. The people on the boat opposite must not move; report your names quickly!"

The boat opposite did not respond.

The Great Ship drew near, and a person stood at the bow, looking toward the small boat, when suddenly they let out a cry of alarm:

"Ah? This is... light the lamps quickly! Someone is dead!"