CHAPTER 385: CHAPTER 385 CAO REN’S OPPORTUNITY_1

Unbeknownst to her, the shock Shen Mo delivered to Jiang Lingfeng was no less than a monstrous tsunami crashing through her heart!

How long had it been since Junior Brother Shen advanced to the Spirit Sea Realm, yet he already possessed such terrifying strength? His vitality was as ferocious as a demon’s. His expertise in the Sword Path was as refined as a sword immortal’s. His other magic abilities and Skills were also extraordinary and unparalleled. Could such extraordinary people really be born in this mundane world? Could he be an exiled immortal from the heavens, reincarnated in the human world to cultivate anew?

Jiang Lingfeng’s gaze towards Shen Mo rippled with a strange light, full of curiosity and inquiry.

After Shen Mo and Jiang Lingfeng soared to the clouds and paid their respects to the Supreme Elder, the numerous Spirit Sea Realm cultivators present transformed into streaks of multi-colored light and flew back to the Riverside Sect.

A large number of Qi Gathering Realm cultivators, hovering in mid-air or on the mountains, also activated their magic artifacts to depart. As for the outer disciples with lower cultivation, most chose to run back to the sect on foot. Some rode Spirit Pets or used Lightness magic and talismans, making them clearly faster than the others.

Before long, the lively and noisy mountains and ridges once again fell silent.

Shen Mo’s ascension to the third seat among the core disciples naturally called for a celebratory banquet.

This time, Peak Master Zhou Shili spared no expense, setting up three banquet venues: the Star Hall, Shen Mo’s Inner Door cave mansion, and the plaza outside the Outer Disciple Deacon Hall.

All the high-ranking sect members and Qi Gathering Realm disciples who could be invited were summoned. Even the most numerous outer disciples could partake in the continuous feast and share in the joyous atmosphere.

A great deal of Spirit Stones were spent. The Dining Room, responsible for the banquet, earned a fortune. The Elders and disciples who had a share in the profits were grinning from ear to ear, absolutely delighted!

In the Star Hall, the guests included the Peak Master, the Hall Masters of various halls, many Elders, the cultivators in charge of various institutions, as well as their apprentices and close descendants.

All the core disciples defeated by Shen Mo attended, with the exception of the First Seat Yang Xuan and Tian Zhiyu.

At the banquet, the wine was mellow and the fruits fragrant; enchanting dances and music filled the air, truly a scene of immortal paradise!

Zhao Lingyin, as a Grade IV Alchemist and a direct disciple of Wu Gong, was naturally among those invited, along with her Master. Her well-known relationship with Shen Mo on Stars Peak naturally drew considerable attention. Even Jiang Lingfeng, who wasn’t very adept at socializing, took Zhao Lingyin’s hand and whispered many things to her privately.

When the banquet guests had mostly dispersed, Shen Mo finally escorted Zhao Lingyin back to his Inner Door cave mansion to host a gathering for old friends from his humbler days.

As for Ming Yu, the Clam Girl, she found the stares of the crowd unbearable. After paying her respects to Zhou Shili and other high-ranking sect members, she had long since activated her "The Smallest and The Largest" Skill, set an Anchor Point on Shen Mo, and hidden herself away in her small dimension.

Back at the Inner Door cave mansion.

Seeing Chen Mengze’s graceful figure, Shen Mo suddenly recalled that she had made a special trip from Wolf Howling Ridge to attend his celebration banquet. He wasn’t sure if Zhao Lingyin had met Chen Mengze before. But on such a formal occasion, with him present, this was likely their first actual meeting.

Just as Shen Mo was wondering how to introduce them—

Unexpectedly, the moment Zhao Lingyin saw this childhood friend who had grown up with Shen Mo, she discerned Chen Mengze’s identity without him needing to say a word.

"My dear Shen, you go and entertain the other friends. I’ll have a little chat with Sister Mengze..." Zhao Lingyin said with a gentle smile, then pulled Chen Mengze aside.

"..."

Chen An, who was drinking at the feast, glanced at Shen Mo and the others, then shook his head, resolving not to meddle in the affairs of the younger generation.

Besides Chen An, many of Shen Mo’s old acquaintances among the inner disciples and Deacons were seated at the banquet tables arranged outside the cave mansion. Shen Mo went around greeting each of them, accepting their congratulations and words of praise.

A moment later, he approached Cao Shanyue and his son, Cao Ren, poured himself a full cup of wine, and began to drink with the Cao father and son.

"Who could have predicted that the young man who once guarded the mountain gate alongside my boy would, step by step, grow into such a prominent figure in our sect, someone we all look up to!"

"From now on... my Cao family will have a strong pillar of support in the Riverside Sect."

"Come, I toast my virtuous nephew!"

Cao Shanyue was both wistful and full of admiration as he urged Shen Mo to drink a considerable amount of spiritual wine.

Shen Mo had always been magnanimous towards old acquaintances and did not refuse any toasts, drinking heartily with everyone.

However, Shen Mo’s gaze fell upon Cao Ren. Due to his busy schedule of cultivation and sect duties, he hadn’t seen this old friend for a long time. Now, observing him closely, he discovered that Cao Ren’s cultivation had reached Layer V of the Qi Gathering Realm.

Moreover, ever since Shen Mo’s rise to prominence, although Cao Ren hadn’t shown it overtly, Shen Mo could sense that his old friend felt somewhat ill at ease around him, occasionally betraying a hint of self-consciousness and deference. Yet today, before him, Cao Ren was full of vigor, talking and laughing with ease!

"Some time ago, you informed me via a transmission talisman that you had a great fortuitous encounter. Was it with the help of this encounter that you broke through successive Minor Realms and entered the middle-stage of the Qi Gathering Realm?" As the cups clinked, Shen Mo couldn’t help but ask.

Cultivators guard their fortuitous encounters and secrets closely, generally not revealing them easily even to intimate relations such as their fathers, Masters, disciples, or Dao companions. Just as Zhao Lingyin never pried into Shen Mo’s secrets, Shen Mo had no intention of prying into Cao Ren’s fortuitous encounter.

However, given Cao Ren’s cultivation Talent, breaking through each Minor Realm in the Qi Gathering Realm was exceptionally difficult for him. For him to break through to Layer V of the Qi Gathering Realm in such a short period was exceedingly strange!

This rapid improvement was only possible if, like the Spirit Storage Rat, he had received the inheritance of a Senior cultivator; the residual origin power left by the predecessor would have been necessary to help his cultivation improve so rapidly. If it were a legitimate inheritance, Shen Mo would naturally be happy for him.

However, as Shen Mo’s strength and status increased, he had also learned more secrets of the cultivation world. He was aware that in this world, aside from Human Cultivators, evil cultivators, demonic beasts, Soul Ghosts, Human Ghosts, and other such living beings, there also existed many aberrations and Evil Spirits. For instance, the invasion of the Foreign Realm Demons—a terrifying catastrophe that plagued both the mortal and cultivation spheres of the Red Flame Country—was, when considered as a whole, the greatest and most immediate evil at present. As for other evils, they had also been proliferating, showing an increasing trend year by year alongside the Demon Disaster. This was information Shen Mo had gleaned from conversations with Peak Master Zhou Shili, core disciple Jiang Lingfeng, and other powerful figures in the sect. Lesser evils included incidents like evil cultivators performing Blood Sacrifices. More significant ones involved phenomena such as a mountain peak transforming into a Spiritual Monster, constantly shifting and drawing nearer to human cities... Although the scale of these various evils could not compare to the calamity of the Foreign Realm Demons, they were still enough to cause the sect’s leadership immense headaches.

Shen Mo wanted to ascertain that the great fortuitous encounter Cao Ren had obtained was legitimate. As long as it wasn’t the legacy of some evil cultivator or malevolent entity, he would not probe further, lest he needlessly incur resentment.

However, just as he voiced this question, Shen Mo’s five senses and spiritual sense sharply detected a flicker of disharmonious aura fluctuation from Cao Ren.