I Can Recognize Everything, But the Information is Wrong

Tribute Rong didn't dare to further irritate the brow of Alchemist Long, instead turning his gaze toward Tian Lin:

"The Great Elder plans to divide those of us in the Early-stage Foundation Establishment into three groups. Tian, do you intend to follow Mei Immortal or perhaps Young Master Thirteen?"

"Since we're heading out to sea, naturally one would follow Tong Shisan. After all, we are the Tribute of the Tong Family. As for that woman surnamed Mei, she's clearly an immortal disciple who intends to use us as cannon fodder."

Tribute Rong was outright slandering Mei Immortal due to a 'personal grudge' he had against her.

However, his words received agreement from several others present.

In the half-month they had observed Tong Shisan, his personality had been made clear to them.

Furthermore, with the status of being a Tribute of the Tong Family, even if Tong Shisan did not look after them, he wouldn't harm them.

"As to who we're going to sea with, we probably don't have the final say in the matter. Let's wait until nightfall and see how the Great Elder arranges it."

Tian Lin was the youngest, and he spoke in a gentle and soft voice, yet he was the one whose words carried the most weight among those present.

He said to Alchemist Long, "Alchemist Long, your skill in Alchemy is certainly unparalleled, but I'm afraid you don't have much experience in risking your life. It's better to go back and prepare now while it's still light."

Alchemist Long nodded, gave a cupped fist salute to Tian Lin, and after taking out a flying sword from his Storage Bag, he left Immortal Sinking Pond.

The Gao He couple also departed; besides bringing Xiang'er along, they planned to find some twelfth-tier Qi Refining cultivators to join them in the expedition.

How to collect more Residual Souls was no longer something the Gao He couple had to consider.

What they needed to be concerned about was how to survive on Immortal Sinking Pond.

If they could survive, Residual Souls would not be in short supply.

Soon it was evening, and the sisters Yu'er and Cui'er came looking for Tian Lin.

Though 'Tian Shuang' was gone, the two women still held the status of sword holders.

With their servitude still bound to the Tong Family, and with the Tong Family even sending Tribute to risk their lives in Immortal Sinking Pond, how could they let go of these two cannon fodders?

By the time Yu'er and Cui'er found Tian Lin, wanting to use 'Tian Shuang's sword holding status to accompany Tian Lin to sea, the Gao He couple had already appeared with Xiang'er and several unknown Sword Slaves.

At this time on Immortal Sinking Pond, only the original shops were still doing business, and not a single street vendor remained.

A bustling crowd of Qi Refining cultivators and Foundation Establishment Cultivators had gathered, and after a noisy commotion, the figure of the Great Elder finally appeared.

Together with the Great Elder, there were also more than a dozen Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

These Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators were all elders of the Tong Family.

Having been passed down for ten thousand years, the Tong Family had cultivated many Foundation Establishment Cultivators, hence they were able to deploy more than a dozen elders for this purpose.

"Immortal Sinking Pond has been invaded by an Evil Spirit. My Tong Family, together with all of you and the entirety of Pingyang City, are bound together in both glory and loss—

So as you all set out to sea, how could we old fellows sit back and ignore it?"

After he finished speaking, he turned to the more than a dozen people behind him and said, "You go first. How could my Tong Family ask others to risk their lives while shying away ourselves?"

The group of elders didn't waste time with words; they stepped onto their flying swords and in the blink of an eye penetrated the thick fog of Immortal Sinking Pond.

Watching the white fog engulf the night, all the Foundation Establishment Cultivators and Qi Refining Cultivators present fell silent.

In just one day, the mist over Immortal Sinking Pond had thickened, making it foreseeable that more roaming souls and Night Patrol Deities would appear tonight.

This expedition to sea, it's uncertain how many will perish.

"Now let's divide into three groups. Those of you on my left will follow Young Master Thirteen to the southern waters first."

After the Great Elder spoke, the crowd below stirred with commotion.

Many were willing to follow Tong Shisan, as he wasn't one to kill indiscriminately.

But as good as it was to follow Tong Shisan, going to the most dangerous southern waters—who would agree to that?

The people on the Great Elder's left all discussed fervently, making Gao He and the others in the center laugh happily.

Gao He said with a smile, "I was envious initially when I heard that the people on our right could follow Young Master Thirteen, but now I'm not envious at all."

Cai Shu leaned close to Tian Lin and said with a smile, "Fortunately, our second brother chose to stand in the middle. Otherwise, it would be us heading to the south."

Tian Lin felt an uncomfortable softness pressing on his shoulder.

But he couldn't speak up to remind her, especially as Gao He next to him didn't care about these things, and everyone's attention was focused on the Great Elder.

"Everyone! Tonight, those of you with Young Master Thirteen will guard the south, and tomorrow night, it will be the group in the middle's turn!

We will rotate the groups, so no one suffers a loss."

The words actually made sense, considering the dangers of Immortal Sinking Pond grew greater each day.

Those guarding the south tonight were in grave danger,

But those doing so tomorrow night would face even graver threats from the Night Patrol Deities and roaming souls.

In reality, those standing in the center were at a bigger disadvantage than those to Tian Lin's right.

Suddenly, Gao He's face fell, and although Cai Shu still clung to Tian Lin, she did not praise him with empty words anymore.

Instead, it was Tribute Rong who said with a smile, "Fortunately, we stood with Tian in the center. No matter how we are arranged, we are destined to go to the south tomorrow—

So good or bad, we are neither the most advantaged nor the most disadvantaged."

Hearing this, Gao He and his wife also chuckled.

Tian Lin was somewhat at a loss for words and said, "We still don't know whom we are following. Let's listen to what the Great Elder has to say first."

Everyone looked up at the Great Elder, only to hear him say, "The fellow Daoists in the middle will follow Mei Immortal tonight to guard the eastern side. And the Daoists to my right will follow Young Master Tan to guard the western side tonight."

The Great Elder knew that it was difficult to achieve absolute fairness in the world. Whatever decision he made would inevitably be questioned.

So as soon as he finished announcing the results, he immediately dispatched his flying sword and said, "Fellow Daoists, I will take my leave first."

Before the crowd could react, the Great Elder had already transformed into a streak of escaping light and disappeared above the sea's surface.

At this moment, Mei Immortal walked to the middle, giving the crowd a sweeping glance; with a bare hand, she pointed at Dragon Pill Master:

"Fatty, I heard you are diligent in Alchemy. This time at sea, you won't need to follow us."

As soon as these words were spoken, someone immediately stepped forward and said, "Mei Immortal, I am also an Alchemist."

Yet, Mei Immortal said, "This group has enough with this fatty. The rest will follow me to Immortal Sinking Pond."

After she finished speaking, she pointed at Tian Lin and the group of people beside him and said:

"Tonight, you will go out to sea with me. Tomorrow during the daytime, the remaining people will go out to sea with me."

Naturally, the remaining group was overjoyed, but those like Gao He with Tian Lin wanted to complain but did not dare.

They watched Mei Immortal walk towards Immortal Sinking Pond and could only dejectedly follow her.

At this time, Yu'er and Cui'er, who were standing on the outside, also found Tian Lin. Gao He and his wife, along with Tribute Rong and his sword holders and Sword Slaves, came over and said to Tian Lin:

"It's best for the few of us not to separate; staying together also means we can look out for each other."

Tian Lin was noncommittal; his wooden boat was not large, and adding Yu'er and Cui'er would make it relatively cramped.

But a smaller boat was easier to maneuver, and Tian Lin had no intention of switching to a larger one.

Tian Lin directly said to the two women: "You two are not my servant girls, so I won't let you busy yourselves for nothing on this sea journey."

However, Yu'er said: "Following Tian Daoist is much better than being used as cannon fodder to block swords for other Daoists."

"Actually, we are already very grateful that Tian Daoist is willing to let us follow him," Yu'er sincerely said. After all, they couldn't avoid their fate of being fodder at Immortal Sinking Pond.

Better to be with Tian Lin than with anyone else.

At least Tian Lin had considerable strength and a good reputation — while the Great Elder was speaking above just before, Tribute Rong's sword holder had shared Tian Lin's heroic deeds with the sisters.

"Alright, think what you will. One of you row for me, and the other help me collect residual souls. Unless absolutely necessary, I will not abandon any of you to escape alone."

Tian Lin spoke and took the lead, boarding his small wooden boat, while to his left and right were the large ships of Tribute Rong and Gao He's couple.

They knew that smaller boats were better for escaping, but the smaller boats could carry fewer people.

Apart from bringing along Xiang'er, Gao He's couple had also brought four or five sword holders.

Likewise, it was the same for Tribute Rong.

In a flash, hundreds of ships of various sizes hoisted wind lanterns and set sail towards the open sea at Immortal Sinking Pond.

Not to mention the group led by Tong Shisan who went southward, let's talk about Mei Immortal whom Tian Lin was now closely following.

Only to see Mei Immortal standing on a large boat with its hull intricately inscribed with delicate runes.

On the big boat, there were four pink-clad servant girls holding palace lanterns, who walked behind Mei Immortal.

The sea breeze lifted Mei Immortal's skirts fluttering as she walked to the bow of the boat and placed the potted plant on a table at the bow.

It was still close to shore, and evil spirits began to fly over through the dense fog.

These roaming souls didn't require Mei Immortal to act personally, the servant girls beside her had already taken out wooden swords to kill all those that pounced toward them.

Two of these servant girls were at the Early-stage Foundation Establishment level, no doubt they were Mei Immortal's sword holders.

After they had slain these souls, they did not use the soul-gathering orb to collect them.

Tian Lin, who was following behind the large boat, looked up to see that due to the True Eye Fruit and his stronger Spiritual Sense, he could see that after Mei Immortal placed incense in front of the potted plant and lit it, all the slain souls were absorbed by a branch within the potted plant.

The branch absorbed the residual souls and began to sprout slowly, growing at an extremely sluggish rate that was imperceptible to ordinary people.

But Tian Lin was sure that the branch in the potted plant was indeed growing.

Tian Lin felt a sudden realization in his heart. If the jade-faced scholar from the Shuiyun Sect came to Immortal Sinking Pond because of the sect's orders,

Then Jian Jue probably came to Immortal Sinking Pond for its Sword Qi.

These two had their own purposes, and so did Mei Immortal.

She seemed to be using these residual souls to cultivate her potted plant.

Tian Lin did not know what the branches and leaves in the plant were, but he was certain that they were extraordinary in origin.

"Mei Immortal is here for nurturing her tree at Immortal Sinking Pond. Then, what about Zhai Xingzi? What is Zhai Xingzi doing coming to Immortal Sinking Pond from the North Wilderness?"

Tian Lin was filled with questions, unfortunately, no one could answer.

Because so far, no one had seen Zhai Xingzi make an appearance.

The irony was that many had mistaken Tian Lin for Zhai Xingzi.

"Tian Daoist, Mei Immortal's boat is moving too fast, we won't be able to catch up."