Chapter 253: Chapter 81: Messed With 57 Times!!

Li Shifan hesitated, then said, "You misunderstand, sir. I’m just an Outer Disciple."

At his words, Zhou Tong paused his search on the Light Screen. He looked Li Shifan up and down for a moment before speaking. "An ordinary Outer Disciple?

Your Cultivation is this stable and refined... You must have made your breakthrough some time ago, right?

Since when did Outer Disciples in our Sect have a Cultivation at your level?"

"Ahem..." Just then, Dang Qian let out a sudden cough.

Zhou Tong glanced at Dang Qian and didn’t pursue the matter.

Instead, he tapped the Light Screen a few more times, and Li Shifan’s profile appeared before them.

Moreover, this was clearly not the version of his profile visible to the Outer Sect.

The file was incredibly detailed, covering everything from the date he joined the Sect and the timing of his breakthroughs to which areas he had spent his time in over the years.

It even listed the minor details, like which Magic he had redeemed, how he made a living, and what impression his peers had of him. It had everything.

As they read through the file, they were all momentarily stunned.

"He’s a Sword Cultivator?" Zhou Tong said, surprised.

"He embarked on the Basic Sword Dao as an Intermediate Apprentice. That should be impossible without a special Physique, right? Looks like we have a little genius who slipped through the cracks," Yang Sinan remarked in his rich, mellow voice.

"Oh? Who said he slipped through?

He’s still under review by our Dharma Transmission Hall. See? The young ones in the lower ranks aren’t slacking off completely. They still manage to find talent," the refined-looking Dang Qian said with a sudden smile.

They all turned to look at Dang Qian. Fang Qing, who had been silent until now, spoke up. "Trying to claim him already? Aren’t you afraid you’ll be bringing a heap of trouble back with you?"

Dang Qian smiled. "I wouldn’t want Junior Brother Fang to trouble himself over it. Our department has its own internal assessment process." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

After they finished their exchange via voice transmission, they had also finished skimming the file. From what they could see, at least, he was a model Sect Disciple with a clean record.

With that, they turned their attention to Zhang Deming. "And what about him?"

Li Shifan immediately replied, "To answer you, sirs, this is Senior Brother Zhang Deming, an Outer Disciple from Little Hui Peak."

Dang Qian frowned slightly and murmured, "Why does that name sound a bit familiar?"

The others glanced at him. Yang Sinan said, "What, are you going to claim you know this one, too?"

Dang Qian didn’t answer. Zhou Tong glanced at him, then turned back to Li Shifan and asked, "He’s also an Outer Disciple?"

Li Shifan nodded. "Yes. Unlike an idler such as myself, Senior Brother Zhang holds a position. He’s currently posted at Qingyou Pool."

Qingyou Pool?

All four of them frowned. Dang Qian said, "What’s wrong? Not going to accuse me of trying to claim a connection now? The name sounds familiar to you all too, doesn’t it?"

Fang Qing nodded. "It does, a little. I can’t quite place it at the moment."

Yang Sinan said, "Bah, why waste brainpower on it? Just pull up his file and we’ll know."

Hearing this, Zhou Tong quickly tapped the Light Screen a few times.

A moment later, all four of them froze. The Light Screen displayed a message: viewing this profile requires authorization.

They were currently accessing the Sect’s core database. For a file to require authorization meant this person’s status was far from simple. Even with their level of clearance, only certain files were restricted.

The other three looked at Zhou Tong. After a moment’s hesitation, he flipped his hand over and produced an Identity Card.

A flash of Spiritual Light followed, and the file was unlocked.

Then, a large amount of Zhang Deming’s information within the Sect began to appear before them.

But they only took a single glance, without even scrolling down, before their expressions all changed in unison, turning utterly bizarre.

Yang Sinan said hesitantly, "This couldn’t be *that*... uh..."

Before he could finish, Dang Qian was the first to exclaim, "Oh dear, what’s wrong with my eyes?

Why can’t I see a thing?

Hold on, I need to go clear my eyes."

With that, he flashed to the side.

Fang Qing looked at Zhou Tong with a bewildered expression. "Senior Brother Zhou, is your Array Card malfunctioning? Why have we been waiting all this time without a single piece of information showing up?

Hurry up and pull it up, would you?

Forget it, I can’t be bothered with this. You can report it to the Master yourself when he arrives."

With that, he calmly joined Dang Qian, putting a little distance between them and the others.

Zhou Tong: "..."

Yang Sinan: "..."

Zhou Tong and Yang Sinan stared at each other in dismay. Yang Sinan began, "Listen, Zhou..."

Zhou Tong’s gaze was dark. "Junior Brother Yang, what was that you just said? That... ’uh’... what exactly were you referring to?"

Yang Sinan’s expression froze. Then, deciding to just go all in, he gave a defiant smirk. "Heh, what’s this? Are you trying to pass the buck to me, Senior Brother Zhou?

Sorry to disappoint, but the file was opened with *your* authorization. That’s on the record."

Zhou Tong’s face stiffened. Both of them turned in unison to look at the other two standing off to the side.

Seeing them turn, the pair simultaneously looked up at the sky, feigning interest in the mirage-like Secret Realm.

Dang Qian frowned. "This Secret Realm... it looks like the situation is quite serious."

Fang Qing nodded with a solemn expression. "Indeed. We must observe it carefully so we can provide more information to the Master later. We can’t afford to be distracted."

The corners of Zhou Tong’s and Yang Sinan’s mouths twitched. ’Damn it all, you can see a cluster of pavilions and disciples zipping around in the sky. How in the world is that ’serious’?’

’Just how serious could it be?’

They knew full well the other two were playing dumb, but since one of them had reacted half a beat too slow and the other had fallen into the trap from the start, they could only resign themselves to their fate.

The two of them looked at the unconscious Zhang Deming. Yang Sinan said, "He’s already reached the Tai Chi realm? And he’s only nineteen, right?

He’s hardly the good-for-nothing Master Yuee made him out to be.

With this level of Cultivation at his age... if he works hard, becoming a Great Direct Disciple within a century might be a stretch, but becoming one of the Top Core Disciples should be no problem, right?"

Zhou Tong was also frowning. He scrolled through the file a bit more, then suddenly stopped, his eyes fixed on one particular entry.