Chapter 233: Another Key

At the Mu Li Clan’s headquarters, Fat had already taken on the new body, looking completely renewed. Yet at this moment, concern was evident on his face.
In front of him, Lilith, Gunan, Kastedio, Bernard, and Xiao Yu all appeared uneasy.
“Uncle Fat, can you break through that formation and get our boss out? It’s already the 200th day… If he still hasn’t come out, something must have gone wrong!” Bernard said anxiously.
“It was supposed to be just a 100-day seclusion. If it exceeds 150 days, it’s already abnormal. Now that it’s 200 days, there’s a high chance something went wrong during the cultivation!” Kastedio also seemed worried.
“I know. You came to me about this fifty days ago,” Fat nodded. “I said that if he still hadn’t come out by day 200, it would be abnormal, and then I would force open the seclusion room.”
“But it’s already the 200th day,” Fat’s gaze flickered. “I still can’t open the seclusion room.”
“Why?” Lilith and the others asked in confusion.
“I lied to you before. When you came to me fifty days ago, I delayed it by another fifty days, hoping that Ye Feng would come out on his own.” Fat finally admitted that he had only been trying to buy time. “In fact, I don’t have any way to open the seclusion room. I built this room when I first arrived in the cultivation world. Back then, my cultivation level hadn’t declined as much as it is now. I built it on a grand scale—only superpowers at the Xuanxian level or above can enter once it’s activated. I created this place as a refuge.”
“What? It can’t be opened?” Everyone stared at Fat in shock. They never expected him to make such a mistake.
“Is there really no way?” Only Gunan remained somewhat calm. He put an arm around Lilith’s shoulders and asked sternly, “You must have a backup plan, right?”
“No. When I first built it, it was meant to be a defensive fortress to protect us from pursuers from the heavens. There’s an escape passage, but it can only be opened from inside. From the outside, there’s no way in except by using a key to open the door. The defensive formation outside this seclusion room is the highest-level combined defense formation I know—combining illusion arrays, killing arrays, and trapping arrays. Even Xuanxian-level strongmen might get trapped inside if they rush in recklessly.”

“What can we do now?” Gunan continued to ask.
“We can only wait for that idiot Dao Feng to come out! If he’s stuck inside, I’ll have to give up this fortress that took me so much effort to build,” Fat cursed impatiently. “It’s unbearable—just a few days of seclusion and such things happen!”
“If you had known the special nature of this seclusion room, would you have still invited him here to make a breakthrough?” Lilith accused mercilessly.
“I just wanted to show off my masterpiece…” Fat’s voice grew quieter.
“He should be fine!” Gunan suddenly spoke up. “Aren’t those two little creatures his contracted pets? If they’re unharmed, that means Dao Feng isn’t in life-threatening danger.”
Hearing Gunan’s words, everyone calmed down. They had completely forgotten this common sense: if the pets were unharmed, then their master surely wasn’t in danger either.
“I almost forgot about this whole thing!” Fat slapped his own head. “It’s okay, everyone, disperse!”
“This isn’t over!” Lilith glared fiercely at Fat. “Thinking you can just brush this off? I tell you, it’s not that easy! We’ll settle this account once the boss comes out safely. Don’t think you can act recklessly just because you have a new body now!”
“When have I been reckless?” Fat whispered in a low voice.
“You bully Brother Nan every day—how can that not be recklessness?!” Lilith spoke up in defense of Gunan.
“That’s not bullying!” Fat said frustratedly. “My cultivation level is now similar to his; at most, it’s just sparring!”
“Hmph! Using heavenly techniques beyond your level to fight—how dare you say it’s just simple sparring?” Lilith was filled with anger.
“Lili, I’m just helping Fat get used to his new body, and he’s helping me get used to fighting in the heavenly realm. The reason I get beaten up every time is because of my own weakness, not because he’s bullying me!” Gunan also defended Fat.
“Lately, there’s been no news about the treasure key, and we haven’t gotten many missions—most of them have been taken care of by you and Kas. With nothing much to do and feeling bored, it’s fine to spar with someone strong around to pass the time, right?” Fat added.
As soon as Fat finished speaking, a scout rushed over in a hurry. “Boss, we have news about the key!”
Fat and the others turned to the scout, waiting for him to give them definite news.

“We’re not even sure if that thing is indeed the key we need. It’s rectangular, about the same size as other keys, with engravings that resemble those on real keys. By the time we heard about this, the Flower Between Sect had already found the owner of that key.”
“Has the Flower Between Sect gotten the key?” Fat frowned slightly; he didn’t want to find out that someone else had already obtained it.
“Not yet!”
“Who is the owner of that key?” Fat pressed further.
“A child! Just twelve years old!”
“How did he get that key?” Fat was puzzled—how could a twelve-year-old kid come by such a key?
“He says he found it on the road!” The spy found it amusing as well. After all, they had gone through so much trouble to find out where the key was, yet someone else had simply picked it up by the roadside. It was practically a prank by fate.
“Found it? Is he telling the truth or lying?” Fat doubted it, and Kastdio and the others were equally skeptical.
“It’s true!” The spy nodded. “We’ve checked—it’s indeed something he found by the road three days ago.”
“What does that child want?” Fat asked further.
“He wants to join the sect and train!” The spy had already gathered all this information.
“If that’s the case, the Flower Between Sect can easily get their hands on it!” Fat’s expression darkened. “They’re the second-largest sect in the cultivation world and also the strongest faction competing for this key. All they need to do is accept the child and let him join the Flower Between Sect! The child will obediently hand over the key to them.”
“No, he doesn’t want to join the Flower Between Sect. Though it’s very famous, he thinks it’s a sect for women only.” The spy shook his head with a smile.
“He sounds like an interesting kid! Maybe I should meet him in person!” Although Fat didn’t think he had any advantage in this competition, he still decided to go and see the child.
Just as everyone was discussing fervently, the stone door of the seclusion room creaked open. Ye Feng stepped out of the basement with steady steps. Nearly 200 days had brought about a dramatic transformation in him.
When Ye Feng reappeared in the hall and looked at everyone, Fat and the others were truly shocked.

“You seem different!” Fat blurted out after examining Ye Feng from head to toe.
“Aren’t you the same?” Ye Feng wore a confident smile, one filled with the absolute confidence of a strong person.
Even Xiao Yu and Bernard noticed this change. Although Ye Feng used to be confident too, it was nothing like his current, rock-solid confidence. Now, he gave off an aura of being omnipotent.
“I’m talking about your demeanor!” Fat said with a laugh. “But you’re talking about my appearance!”
“No, I’m not referring to your appearance. It’s about your transformation. You, like me, have gone through a rebirth… Others may not notice, but I can see it!” Ye Feng said seriously.
“Uh… Am I still the same? What’s changed?” Fat laughed nervously.
Ye Feng’s lips curled slightly, but he said nothing more, leaving Fat even more uneasy.
“Boss…”
“BOSS…”
“Is everyone okay? It seems pretty lively today. Are you holding a meeting?” Ye Feng asked with a smile.
“We’re fine. We just gathered because we were worried you’d died!” Lilith couldn’t help but ask. “BOSS, you said this seclusion would last over a hundred days. It’s already the 200th day. What are you up to?”
“I must apologize for causing everyone concern!” Ye Feng said apologetically. “Actually, my seclusion should have ended over a hundred days ago. Since then, I’ve been practicing the new techniques I learned! I’ve only made modest progress until now.”
“You came at just the right time!” Fat laughed. “We’ve found a lead on the next key!”
“A lead on the next key?” Ye Feng grew slightly excited upon hearing this.
“That’s right. It’s in the hands of a twelve-year-old kid. To get that key, we need to build a good relationship with that kid first!”
“A twelve-year-old?” Ye Feng was even more surprised. “How did he get that key?”
“It’s a long story. I’ll explain it to you later when we have time! We need to hurry, or someone might steal the key!” With that, Fat disappeared first.
Only Ye Feng, with a puzzled expression, watched as everyone else vanished from his sight. After a while, when everyone had left, he followed them.