Chapter 82: Chapter 82: Li Hengsheng Grows Suspicious

Evening.

The sect’s rewards have indeed arrived.

And it was personally delivered by Xu Muhai, which Li Hengsheng did not expect.

“Greetings, Master.”

“Greetings, Master.”

Li Hengsheng and Lord Zhou both stepped forward to pay their respects.

Looking at Li Hengsheng in front of him, Xu Muhai couldn’t help but like him more and more. Unbeknownst to him, quite a few friends had come to the Muhai Peak today to congratulate him.

This brought Xu Muhai a lot of face.

“Good, good.” Xu Muhai couldn’t help but praise.

Then, he glanced at Lord Zhou beside him, whose face was swollen like a pig’s head. Xu Muhai was taken aback: “Who are you? Are you also a disciple of the Muhai Peak?”

Lord Zhou was about to cry: “Master, I am Lord Zhou.”

“Ah?” Xu Muhai looked incredulous: “You are Lord Zhou? Tsk tsk, it seems Sweet has bullied you again, how could she beat you so handsomely.”

Lord Zhou was practically on the verge of tears. Are you my master or not? He was beaten up like this and still gets teased.

“Hengsheng, for your achievements today, the sect has given you a reward.” Xu Muhai took out a treasure box and then took out a golden armor from it.

“This is Golden Silkworm Armor, it’s the reward from the sect for you.” Saying this, he handed the armor over to Li Hengsheng.

“Golden Silkworm Armor!”

Lord Zhou’s eyes were wide open.

The Golden Silkworm Armor is truly a treasure; its preciousness needs no elaboration. It is said that there are only nine pieces of it in the entire Mountain Ancient Land.

It is woven from a very rare golden silkworm silk, impervious to blade, gun, water, and fire. The golden silk itself also has a resonance feature that can reduce force by thirty percent.

Wearing the Golden Silkworm Armor is equivalent to having an extra life!

Lord Zhou was practically drooling over it!

He never thought that the Mountain Ancient Land would reward this treasure to Li Hengsheng.

Lord Zhou’s saliva was about to drip.

“Envious, huh?”

Xu Muhai looked at Lord Zhou.

“Mm-hmm.” Lord Zhou stared intently at the Golden Silkworm Armor.

“Then work hard. If you can challenge the Fifth Layer of the Nine-Layered Battle Pavilion, I’ll ask the sect to apply for one for you.” Xu Muhai said casually.

“Mm-hmm.” Lord Zhou seemed not to have heard what Xu Muhai said, just nodding away.

But as he came to his senses, Lord Zhou’s face turned bitter.

“Master, please don’t joke with me.” Lord Zhou said bitterly, “I can’t even pass the Fourth Layer right now, and you want me to challenge the Fifth Layer? Isn’t that pulling my leg?”

Li Hengsheng caressed the Golden Silkworm Armor in his hand. It looked golden and bright, but it was extremely light, almost like regular fabric.

It felt cool to the touch, very comfortable.

It was clear that this was truly a peerless treasure.

“Thank you, Master.” Li Hengsheng was very fond of the armor. Wearing it was not only comfortable but also provided protection. How wonderful.

Even Xu Muhai was a little envious. He did not even have a Golden Silkworm Armor, and among all Thirty-six Peak Masters in the Mountain Ancient Land, only one had it.

If it weren’t for Li Hengsheng defeating the Iron-faced Man today with his Seventh Layer of the Transcendent Realm cultivation and Nine Breaths speed, the sect wouldn’t have rewarded such an impressive treasure.

Although the headmaster is not present, Xu Muhai didn’t expect that this incident with Li Hengsheng would even stir the Elder Council of Mountain Ancient Land.

This was a joint order from the entire Elder Council.

It seems that Li Hengsheng has truly caught the attention of everyone in Mountain Ancient Land.

“And these things are also yours.” Xu Muhai pointed to a large box: “Inside are various cultivation pills and healing medication, enough for your cultivation needs.”

These pills had only been received by Xu Muhai in the afternoon, delivered by people from Cangyuan Escort Agency, from Medical King Valley to Mountain Ancient Land.

Upon reading Mu Qingge’s letter, Xu Muhai understood what happened.

However, saying these were gifts from the Medical King Valley to Li Hengsheng would certainly leave him wondering why they sent pills, potentially causing unnecessary trouble. Xu Muhai could only say these pills were his own reward for Li Hengsheng’s achievements today.

Seeing that box of pills, Lord Zhou was even more convinced of his previous thought.

Li Hengsheng must be Xu Muhai’s illegitimate son!

Absolutely!

With these things, Li Hengsheng was ready to make a firm push to reach the Peak of Nine Layers in the Transcendent Realm!

So many resources.

It’s truly something that he couldn’t even dare to imagine before.

Li Hengsheng couldn’t hold back the urge to write a letter to Li Changqing, letting him know that his son has really made something of himself.

After dinner, Li Hengsheng wrote a letter talking about recent events and prepared to send it the next day.

Li Hengsheng spent the whole night in cultivation.

Among the many pills sent from the Medical King Valley, the majority were for cultivation, and many were so precious that Li Hengsheng couldn’t even name them.

Not only could they enhance the body’s vitality, but some could also stabilize the Divine Soul, making them very valuable.

Li Hengsheng felt that in less than three days, he should be able to step into the Eighth Layer of the Transcendent Realm.

Morning.

Li Hengsheng was just about to hand the letter to Xu Kui and ask him to send it out, but before Li Hengsheng could speak, Xu Kui delivered a letter to him.

“Young Master, here’s a letter from your family.”

“Another letter?”

Li Hengsheng received it with surprise.

“Father’s letters have become so frequent recently.” Li Hengsheng decided to first see what Li Changqing had written.

Li Hengsheng hadn’t had the chance to reply to Li Changqing’s last letter before yet another one arrived, which made Li Hengsheng feel somewhat uneasy.

Upon opening the envelope, three hundred thousand silver notes fell out.

Seeing these three hundred thousand silver notes, Li Hengsheng’s heart gave a sharp jolt—another three hundred thousand!

Could these silver notes have been drawn by Li Changqing himself?

Otherwise, how could he have so much money?

Even though Li Changqing had mentioned before that he was serving the Yan family and that the Evergreen Painting Workshop’s business had picked up, no matter how good it was, sending several hundred thousand silver each month still seemed implausible, right?

The Yan family, though wealthy, is still a small family in Changting Town, without even one Innate, earning just enough each month to support hundreds or thousands of family members. How could they possibly have so much money to give to Li Changqing?

Li Hengsheng couldn’t help but gaze at the three hundred thousand silver notes, lost in thought.

It was unreasonable.

Highly unreasonable.

Looking again at the letter in the envelope, it mentioned that Li Changqing recently met a major patron who bought one of his paintings and offered this much money.

He also wrote about some recent happenings in the Yan family, mentioning the Yan family’s cloth shop and restaurants.

Although these were ordinary matters, the more Li Hengsheng read, the more he felt something was amiss.

Especially when Li Hengsheng mentioned that the Yan family’s Shiyan Studio recently released some new delicious items, and he insisted that when he returned, he must let him try them.

Such as glutinous rice dumplings, shrimp egg rice rolls, barbecued pork, and more.

Line after line of descriptions, concluding with a reminder to Li Hengsheng not to work too hard on cultivation, and if ever he felt weary, thought of giving up, or felt wronged, he should come home.

“Your father can support you.”

The last sentence made Li Hengsheng’s heart tremble slightly, but at this moment, his eyes fixed on the mentioned dishes.

Shrimp egg rice rolls.

Although he didn’t know what they were, at least he knew they contained eggs and shrimp as ingredients.

Li Hengsheng clearly remembered that when he was young, eating shrimp had caused him severe discomfort and agonizing pain, nearly leading to his death.

The physician had said he had a special constitution that prohibited eating shrimp and crabs.

Since then, Li Changqing had never given him shrimp or crab to eat, and even fish was rarely consumed.

Yet now, Li Changqing wanted him to try shrimp rice rolls.

Had he forgotten?

Or did he never know at all?

Was this person truly his father?

Li Hengsheng pondered for a moment and began packing, preparing to take a trip back to Changting Town.

He wanted to see with his own eyes whether the person who had written to him was truly his father.

Before leaving, Li Hengsheng went to Muhai Peak to request leave from Xu Muhai.

“You want to go home?” Xu Muhai, hearing that Li Hengsheng suddenly wanted to return home, asked in surprise, “Why the sudden urge to go home?”

Li Hengsheng hesitated for a moment, but chose not to hide from Xu Muhai, instead voicing his suspicions.

“You suspect your father has been possessed?” Xu Muhai’s eyes widened.

This imagination, why not write a novel?

“Yes, because my father has been acting very strangely recently.” Li Hengsheng disclosed some of his uncertainties.

Xu Muhai smiled bitterly in his heart; your father is quite powerful!

Pulling in fifty percent of the Yan family’s shares, isn’t amassing some money rather normal?

Not only that, your father is laying roads for you everywhere, even managing to ally with Mu Qingge, the Immortal from Medical King Valley, yet you suspect your father has been possessed?

“Stop letting your imagination run wild.” Xu Muhai said bluntly, “The act of possession isn’t as simple as you think. Even among the Ghost Race, it requires a rare and potent expert, at least of the Innate Great Perfection level.”

“Moreover, those who perform possession have targets: either martial artists with formidable bodies or painters with potent Divine Souls. Which do you think your father aligns with?”

This question from Xu Muhai left Li Hengsheng momentarily stunned; indeed, neither aligned.

Though Xu Muhai knew Li Changqing had a strong Divine Soul, fitting the criteria for possession, yet who would possess one as strong as Li Changqing?

The Ghost Race may be ruthless, but they are not irrational.

However, Xu Muhai still needed to persuasively fabricate a story for Li Hengsheng to dismiss this far-fetched notion.

“A ghost from the Innate Great Perfection exhausting all their strength to possess your dad? It doesn’t sound plausible at all.” Xu Muhai continued to advise.

Li Changqing had instructed him to maintain his hidden identity, and Xu Muhai was also worried that if Li Hengsheng returned suddenly, he might discover something, so he emphatically dissuaded him.

Later, he’d inform Li Changqing of the matter through a letter, letting him be cautious on his own.

Seeing Li Hengsheng silent, Xu Muhai stepped forward, solemnly saying, “Alright, don’t overthink it. Everyone changes or awakens at times, and your father is treating you much better now, sending you money and caring for you. How can you doubt him? He’s putting forth effort because of you, trying with all his might.”

“Your father was devoted to art before, and with you being away for so long, forgetting some things is quite normal.”

“Moreover, leaving Mountain Ancient Land recklessly now is perilous.” Xu Muhai added, “You’ve reached the First Layer of the Nine-Layered Battle Pavilion with Transcendent Realm cultivation. This news is sure to spread, and perhaps some in the Ghost Race dread your potential and might attempt to eliminate you.”

Hearing this, Li Hengsheng’s heart also trembled.

This indeed seemed like a possibility.

“Focus on your cultivation. Only when you believe you can protect yourself should you descend the mountain and return home,” Xu Muhai advised.

“Yes.”

Li Hengsheng also came to a realization.

Yet, the matter concerning Li Changqing still lingered unsettled in his mind.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep