Leave

During this period, the Wu family's territory had already been scoured inside and out by various factions.

Although quite a few valuable cultivation trinkets had been found, no useful clues regarding the Calamity Stone Powder incident had been uncovered.

And now even those slightly valuable trinkets had been scraped clean, leaving nothing behind.

Even so, Tong Hua and his two companions from Wan Wan Tong were still carefully collecting all sorts of inconspicuous little objects.

"Boss is way too easygoing. When those higher-ups came over, he let them have everything, and even made us run errands for them."

Yu Guang grumbled via voice transmission to the other two while searching for what they needed.

Hearing this, Tong Hua tucked a small pile of sticky substance he had dug out of the black mud—different from the surrounding dirt—into his bag, and shook his head helplessly at him:

"Stop listening to Pang Kun and the others spouting nonsense. Use your own head. Do you think this is some good fortune? The Calamity Stone... go back and flip through the ancient records yourself. Boss would rather not have his hands touched by this at all. That's why he gave everything away. You don't actually think he's afraid of them, do you?"

Liang Zhonghuai ignored the both of them and focused solely on his search.

He just wanted to finish the current work as quickly as possible, then go back and apply for leave, staying clear of this troublesome matter.

After being scolded by Tong Hua, Yu Guang wasn't annoyed. He muttered a few more words, then looked at the ordinary mortal item in his hand and changed the subject:

"The Wu family's valuables and anything that could be clues have long been cleaned out. Why are we still being sent to look for these useless things..."

Tong Hua then said:

"Have you forgotten the ability of our First Spirit Venerable? This must mean he's about to make his move."

Though he didn't know exactly what the First Spirit Venerable's ability was, everyone in Wan Wan Tong knew that the First Spirit Venerable was the strongest among all the Spirit Venerables.

Wan Wan Tong's development to its current scale was largely thanks to him.

Hearing this, Yu Guang leaned closer and asked:

"Is that rumor true? Is the First Spirit Venerable really going to act?"

Tong Hua's tone was certain, but he didn't outright confirm it, only saying:

"Who can know for sure? After all, the First Spirit Venerable hasn't acted in so long. This is just a rumor anyway. I'm just saying it, and you just take it with a grain of salt."

But in his heart, he thought that if it truly reached a point where the First Spirit Venerable needed to intervene, then this matter was definitely extremely serious.

After the three of them finished searching the Wu family thoroughly, they returned to Wan Wan Tong with their findings.

When their boss received the items they handed over, he said to them:

"Have the three of you been wanting some time off recently? If so, do it quickly—after today, approvals might not be possible."

Hearing this, Liang Zhonghuai immediately said:

"Boss, I want leave. The longest one—the three-year seclusion leave."

Beside him, Yu Guang looked at him in shock and said:

"Zhonghuai, are you crazy? Three years? By the time you come back, everything will be gone."

All Wan Wan Tong employees had various types of leave, the longest being the three-year seclusion leave.

However, this particular leave was rarely requested unless one had very solid backing, because for people like them who relied heavily on merit and seniority for promotion, three years was really too long.

You might come back from your leave and find yourself demoted to the very bottom, starting all over again.

Among the three, Tong Hua raised an eyebrow slightly upon hearing the boss's question, and quickly followed suit with Liang Zhonghuai:

"Boss, I want leave too... let's make it three years as well."

Yu Guang turned his head in astonishment again.

"What's wrong with you two? One after another taking leave—what about me then?"

Tong Hua glanced at him and asked:

"Do you want to take leave with us?"

Yu Guang shook his head repeatedly:

"No way. I'm still a little short of getting a pay raise. If I take leave now, all my previous effort would be wasted."

So Liang Zhonghuai and Tong Hua both sighed, but didn't try to persuade him further.

After all, no one knew what the future held.

The reason they wanted to avoid it now was only based on their own guesses.

If they had urged Yu Guang to avoid it with them and nothing happened afterward, that wouldn't have been fair to him.

Yu Guang was different from them—he carried much more pressure, with two cultivator parents forcing him to earn spirit stones to support them.

As for Liang Zhonghuai and Tong Hua, they both had a bit of family wealth and were the type to fill their own stomachs and not worry about the rest.

Their boss felt the same way.

The boss looked at the three who had made different choices, sighed quietly in his heart, but nodded with an expressionless face and said:

"Alright, I'll handle the paperwork for you in a bit."

And so, the trio that had worked together for years began to disband from that day on.

Because even if Liang Zhonghuai and Tong Hua came back later, they could no longer be in the same team as Yu Guang.

After returning their tools to Wan Wan Tong and completing their leave procedures, Liang Zhonghuai and Tong Hua began their vacations.

As for Yu Guang, he was reassigned to another team at Wan Wan Tong's Yuanling City branch.

Once their leave started, the two naturally had to leave Yuanling City.

They weren't originally from Yuanling City anyway—they had simply followed the branch here to expand their territory.

Before they left, Yu Guang came to see them off.

Looking at his former companions, he said sorrowfully:

"Although you didn't tell me why you suddenly took leave, I've carefully thought about everything you said to me these past few days, and I can roughly guess the reason. But..."

Liang Zhonghuai cut him off:

"Don't say it, Yu Guang. Everyone's thoughts and choices are different. In the end, no one knows which choice is truly correct."

Tong Hua nodded in agreement as well:

"That's right, Yu Guang. Our choice is just to avoid uncertain trouble. We understand your situation—don't overthink it. Just stick to your own path and do well! If we come back and there's no place for us, we'll have to rely on you to give us a hand up."

And so, after bidding farewell, the three parted ways at the city gate of Yuanling City.

Tong Hua returned to the city where his family was, while Liang Zhonghuai went back to his small courtyard in Lixu City.

Lixu City was also a city in the Southern Spirit Domain. Although it was slightly more prosperous than Yuanling City, it still wasn't ranked highly—both were the kind of borderland cities.

Early one morning.

Liang Zhonghuai pushed open the door to his courtyard.

An elderly woman with graying temples, who was just pouring freshly fetched water into a vat, saw him and a look of delight appeared in her eyes:

"Zhonghuai, you're back."

Seeing this, Liang Zhonghuai quickly stepped forward to help:

"Aunt Yang, take a rest. I'll do it."