Besides, although the things he did were hidden, it wasn’t impossible for Samuel to discover them. That old fellow had been busy training George Carter all these years, so he didn’t have much time. Now that George had left and he was more relaxed, those little tricks of his really couldn’t be kept from him. Thinking back, when he followed George flying into the Three Stars Cave today, it seemed that the Elder had glanced at him with a hint of suspicion—could it be that he had noticed something amiss?

With this thought, he made up his mind: leave, better leave quickly, don’t wait for George. After all, everything George learned, he had learned too. It was best to quit while ahead!

Chapter Four: The Spirit Bird of Fangcun Mountain Steals the Teachings (Part Four)

Standing by the hollow of that withered tree, even with Elder Wright’s profound cultivation—one of the few sage-level patriarchs in the world—he couldn’t help but show a trace of helpless, bitter smile on his face. In all these years, he had never suffered such a loss.

A slender thread, spun from kapok fiber twisted together with silk from an old silkworm, though very thin, was exceptionally strong. It stretched from the tree hollow, straight to the jade lotus platform beside the Yao Terrace of the Slanting Moon Three Stars Cave, while another end led beneath the jade dish in his own meditation room.

Through the tree hollow, voices from the Yao Terrace could be heard clearly, as if they were right beside his ear.

All of this was because of this seemingly ordinary cotton thread.

No wonder that crow demon’s cultivation progressed so quickly. No wonder when he saw him yesterday, he seemed to have already completed his transformation. So that’s how it was.

He still had some impression of this little crow demon, because it had entered the Three Stars Cave almost at the same time as George. At first, he only sensed a faint trace of demonic aura on the crow, so he didn’t pay much attention, merely regarding it as a newly awakened spirit creature. In the past, it wasn’t unheard of for such newly awakened spirits to be drawn by the cave’s spiritual energy, entering the cave in a half-instinctive, half-dazed state to listen to the teachings.

It was just that this crow’s intelligence seemed a bit higher than usual. So, sometimes when he lectured, he would mention some demon cultivation methods for the crow’s sake. In any case, it could be considered a small act of merit.

Because to someone of his level, the crow demon was truly insignificant. So, apart from occasionally revealing some demon cultivation methods during his lectures, he didn’t pay much attention to him, nor did he bother to calculate the cause and effect of the matter.

As the years passed, the crow demon’s demonic aura seemed to surge, and he could no longer enter the Three Stars Cave. Elder assumed he had already left Lingtai Fangcun Mountain and didn’t think more of it. Until yesterday, when he saw George again, he suddenly noticed the crow as well. What was most surprising was that the demon had already completed its transformation. Counting the days, from the beginning until now, it had only been just over twenty years—how could it be so fast? At that time, he was puzzled, but since he had to answer his disciples’ questions and teach George the Cloud Somersault, he didn’t have time to investigate. Only after teaching George all the Cloud Somersault techniques did he have a moment to spare and began to divine the secrets of heaven, wanting to see why that crow’s cultivation speed was so astonishing.

Unexpectedly, the result of his divination shocked Elder.

Why?

Because the result was: no such person could be found!

In other words, this little crow demon was not within the Heavenly Dao, nor did it exist in this world. This frightened Samuel into a cold sweat. Although he hadn’t divined the secrets of heaven for over a thousand years, he shouldn’t have made a mistake. So he carefully divined again. This time, to his shock, he found that the changes in fate, which had always been crystal clear to these ancestral sages, were now gradually becoming obscure, as if returning to the state of the primordial era. And that little crow still was not within the evolution of fate.

The secrets of heaven have changed!