Chapter 56 - Shameless Stealing

"Huh, where am I?" Tian Longmeng was awakened by an intense throbbing in his head. He felt the dirt and wild grass around him to confirm that he was still in the garden, albeit with hours passed. Thus, he quickly got on his feet and began scanning the area once more.

The first thing that made him bewildered was that he was about 3 or so miles away from where he originally was. The second thing that had him slightly shivering was that when he tried recalling the memories of what happened earlier, he realized that he felt no sibilance of disgust or unease. It was as if it was another day for him.

He instantly tried to enter the Ark space only to be denied entry. He bellowed out for Elder Canglong who eventually responded.

"I am also getting to the bottom of this." That was the only thing Tian Longmeng heard thus he had no choice but to wait on another response. With that, he turned towards the north.

With whatever happened, it seemed like he awoke in an opportunistic spot since he could sense a low-level spirit medicine nearby. He only had to go about a quarter mile more.

On the site, Tian Longmeng saw a meter-long ginseng root slowly digesting the surrounding essence. It seemed to be preparing energy so that it could burrow underground.

"The spirit medicines are aware that people were plundering so they are hiding themselves." Tian Longmeng figured.

It does make sense; after all, they were not sure about the hunters' strengths so they could only hide to be safe. Only the truly powerful spirit medicine would brazenly stay above ground.

Unfortunately for this ginseng root, Tian Longmeng was not about to let it escape.

Just as the ginseng root was about to burrow itself, it sensed a faint killing intent and leapt in the air. A foot landed where it was with terrifying speed.

However, Tian Longmeng knew that it might have done that. All he was afraid of was the ginseng burrowing into the ground. If that happened then he would have to give up on it.

Suddenly, the foot that landed into the ground clenched and launched itself in the air, dragging the rest of his body with it. Tian Longmeng wrung his waist to a near revolution before whipping out a deadly kick filled with essence.

Overbearing Sweep.

The ginseng root was caught unprepared and faced the brunt of that attack. It thought that it could just jump and needle drill itself into another patch of soil, but it thought too late.

Tian Longmeng forced himself to the ground by spinning. Like a leopard, he dashed once more into the air after his four limbs made the slightest contact with the floor.

This time with a fist, he gathered an insane amount of essence to deliver the final blow to the ginseng root.

Bam.

That would have been it instantly for the ginseng root; that is,if it connected. Five wooden knives unexpectedly pinned the ginseng root to a nearby tree before the Overbearing Fist could connect.

Tian Longmeng spun his head to the direction where the knives came from. He saw a blonde haired, fair skinned beauty with a scarlet robe adorned with golden trinkets. She chuckled as she approached Tian Longmeng who just landed.

Seeing her closer, Tian Longmeng could not help but gasp. She may not have been more beautiful than his mother but she did have some charm to her, especially her fair features that made her look like a porcelain doll.

However, he quickly regained himself and blankly pointed to the pinned ginseng root. "That is mine."

The girl simply smiled, withdrawing her knives from the ginseng root. Tian Longmeng noticed this and instinctively took a step backwards.

"Essence Manifestation." Tian Longmeng whispered to himself. This was the ability to manipulate one's internal essence tangibly. People who were able to do this were either Mortal Generals and above, unless they were extremely talented and were able to do it from the Mortal Enforcer Realm.

Nevertheless, anybody who was capable of this should clearly be in the ranks of a core disciple.

He thought back on what the receptionist at the Medicine Facility said and said to himself, "what lies." Then again, he did recall that she seemed to pause after that point, refusing to say anything more. Was that related to this?

Nevertheless, he stared at the girl with a new sense of vigilance. This was now added to the fact that the badge on her said one word: "Profound" - the trademark badge of the strongest faction in Tang Fei Martial Academy.

In his studies, Tian Longmeng noticed something bizarre. Although the other factions had up to 50 members and more, the Profound Faction had only 33 members. They also recruited far less people than the other factions.

The fact that they still remained as the strongest faction screamed to Tian Longmeng that this faction should be taken with serious caution. Now that he was seeing a member of that very faction, his thoughts were confirmed. Until he reached the Astral Marrow Flowing Stage or Late Mortal Enforcer, he should not provoke any of them without proper reason.

She giggled at the boy who was sizing her up. She also noticed his peculiarities from when she met him at the starting ground, but she could finally confirm her thoughts up close.

"As I thought, there is a body cultivator in this lower world." She hummed to herself. Although where she is from, finding people who practiced body strengthening was somewhat uncommon; to find one in this Stardust Heaven Continent should be impossible. However, here is one.

She finally addressed him. "I do acknowledge that it is yours, but what are you going to do about my part of the work?"

Probably for the first time in his life, Tian Longmeng was completely bewildered. Just because she stuck some knives into the ginseng root that was already going to die meant that he should give her a piece. This is probably the highest level of shamelessness he has ever since in his life.

However, for some reason he did not find her despicable like the other nobles. She had a certain playful charm to her, not to mention her strength and skill was on another level.

Tian Longmeng wryly replied. "So because you interfered with my prey, I should give you some. Then I guess I should follow your unreasonableness then."

"No. Do not follow me. I feel like you might become some shameless beast. I fear for the lives of my fellow disciples." She appeared as if she was concerned.

This prompted an eye twitch and standing vein in Tian Longmeng's head. He has never seen someone so preposterous in his life. He had to admit that he was not ready to have a verbal dispute with her.

Suddenly, she proposed a compromise. "You do not have to worry though. We can just spar a bit to determine who can keep it. Or we could just split it between us. I would prefer the latter though, I don't like conflict."

Tian Longmeng's twitching just could not end around her. He could not tell if anything about her character is upright anymore. She actually suggested that they should fight for the ginseng root even though she is clearly the stronger one. Isn't this just blatant stealing?

However, his fighting spirit was blazing on the thought of testing his everything on a person for the first time in his life.

She giggled at Tian Longmeng's ridiculously wide grin and inquired. "So I can take that as a yes?"