Chapter 421

Chapter 421: Strangers In A Strange Land
“Hiss…” Quan Ye sucked in a sharp breath, turned his head to the side, and growled in a low voice: “Can’t you be a little gentler?”

Su Ming tossed the medicine bottle onto the table in annoyance, pulled a stool over, and sat down: “If my hands are too heavy for you, then put it on yourself.”

“You…” Quan Ye glared, wanting to say more, but he tugged at his wound and bared his teeth in pain.

Fang Cheng Lang picked up the medicine bottle. As he continued to apply the medicine to Quan Ye, he said in a deep voice: “What are you arguing for? Is the situation not messy enough already?”

Su Ming and Quan Ye both fell silent.

After a long moment, Su Ming deliberately changed the subject and asked: “Where’s Fourth Brother? Why isn’t he here yet?”

Fang Cheng Lang paused.

Seeing his troubled expression, Su Ming slammed a fist against the table in anger: “Did that unreasonable woman cling to him again?”

Fang Cheng Lang let out a soft sigh.

The room fell quiet at once.

This was the third month since they had come to the Bei Ming Realm.

That day, they had been knocked out by poison smoke in the training field. When they woke up, they were already in the Bei Ming Realm, and had become outer disciples of Bei Ming Palace.

They were called outer disciples, but in truth they did not even have a proper status.

On the very day they woke up, before they even understood what was going on, they were assigned a huge pile of chores.

Quan Ye was straightforward and stubborn. Not only did he refuse to follow orders, he even tried to fight the outer sect disciples.

They pressed him to the ground and beat him so badly he almost lost his life.

Only because Fang Cheng Lang and the other two begged bitterly, and because the outer disciples were somewhat cautious in their hearts, did Quan Ye barely manage to keep his life.

After that, the four of them behaved themselves for a while as outer disciples, and finally managed to figure out the general situation.

When they learned that Dao Lord Tai Wei had brought them to the Bei Ming Realm of the Upper Thousand World, their first thought was to find a way to see Yu Zhao, to ask if this had been her idea.

But after much effort, when they finally befriended an inner disciple and asked him about Yu Zhao, he said there was no such person at all.

He even thought Fang Cheng Lang and the others were teasing him and gave them a beating.

Even as they lay there beaten, the four of them could not care about the pain. They were scared out of their wits.

If Yu Zhao was not here, why had Dao Lord Tai Wei brought only them to the Bei Ming Realm?

Where had Yu Zhao gone?

But after coming to the Bei Ming Realm, they were strangers in a strange land. They could not even catch a glimpse of Dao Lord Tai Wei, let alone ask around for news.

They had no choice but to keep working step by step as outer disciples in Bei Ming Palace and plan slowly.

Fang Cheng Lang had a steady nature and a gentle temper. He did everything carefully and earnestly, and he was already somewhat well known among the outer disciples.

Their third senior brother, Su Ming, had always been lucky.

A month after he became an outer disciple, he unexpectedly caught the eye of an elder of Bei Ming Palace and became the elder’s registered disciple, gaining the chance to enter Bei Ming Palace.

Although he could only move around the outer areas, it was still a huge step forward.

Compared to him, Quan Ye was quite unlucky.

After being beaten badly on the first day, he was back to jumping around alive just a few days later. His freakish recovery ability caught the attention of several battle-loving outer disciples.

So Quan Ye became their fixed sparring partner. Every few days he would be dragged off and used as a sandbag, and he was almost always covered in injuries.

However, Cui Jue’s situation was even more difficult than his.

Among the senior brothers, Cui Jue had the most outstanding looks. Because he had done alchemy for many years, there was always a faint scent of medicine around him. Like snow on a mountaintop, he carried a cold, detached air.

It was exactly this unique temperament that brought him trouble.

Tuo Ba Jing, an inner disciple of Bei Ming Palace, took a liking to him at first sight. Ignoring his low status and weak cultivation level, she launched a fierce pursuit.

Cui Jue had no interest in romance between men and women. He refused her again and again, but in Tuo Ba Jing’s eyes, his refusals looked more like playful shyness. She did not take them seriously and continued to do as she pleased.

The hot-tempered and beautiful Tuo Ba Jing had many suitors in Bei Ming Palace.

Seeing that she had taken an interest in Cui Jue, they did not dare trouble Tuo Ba Jing herself, so they could only cause trouble for Cui Jue.

These days, if Cui Jue was not being harassed by Tuo Ba Jing, he was being harassed by her suitors. He was miserable.

Today was the day the senior brothers had agreed to meet. The time they set had already passed, and Cui Jue still had not shown up. It seemed he had been blocked again.

“Su Ming, aren’t you Elder Sui Yuan’s disciple? Help Fourth Senior Brother and ask him to speak up, tell that woman to stop bothering him.”

After the medicine started to ease his pain, Quan Ye’s mouth began to run again.

Su Ming rolled his eyes: “What kind of disciple am I? I don’t even have an official title. Besides, Tuo Ba Jing is not an ordinary person. She’s a Void Refining cultivator under a hundred years old, a genius among geniuses! Do you really think Elder Sui Yuan would offend her for the sake of a registered disciple like me? Ha.”

Su Ming’s last laugh was full of mockery and bitterness.

Back in the Cultivation World, everyone had said they were gifted and were the rising stars of the Cultivation World.

Su Ming had heard it so often that he believed it.

Later, Yu Zhao rose up with overwhelming force and crushed them completely.

Su Ming had comforted himself, telling himself that a monstrous talent like Yu Zhao only appeared once in a few hundred years. He was still a genius.

But after coming to the Bei Ming Realm, he realized that with his aptitude, he could not even pass the first round of Bei Ming Palace’s selection.

If he had not been brought back by Dao Lord Tai Wei, he would not even qualify to be an outer disciple.

Once he understood how useless he really was, Su Ming could not help thinking of Yu Zhao again.

Yu Zhao’s talent was so great that Dao Lord Tai Wei, a ruler of a whole world, had praised her many times. One could easily imagine how powerful her talent was.

She was a true genius.

A genius who had been dragged down.

Fang Cheng Lang and Quan Ye also fell silent.

The feeling of falling from the clouds into the mud was not a pleasant one.

These past days, they had tasted all sorts of bitterness and missed the Cultivation World every moment.

Especially Quan Ye. After serving as a punching bag for two months, every time he collapsed from serious injuries, Yu Zhao’s wronged and patient face would flash before his eyes.

He finally understood Yu Zhao’s suffering.

[It really hurts.]

Creak.

The closed door was suddenly pushed open.

The three of them looked over warily. When they saw Cui Jue walk in with an expressionless face, they all let out a sigh of relief.

“A’Jue, are you… all right?”

Fang Cheng Lang’s voice carried concern.

Cui Jue gave a slight nod.

He did not say anything.

But that only made Fang Cheng Lang feel worse.

Cui Jue liked to keep everything inside. Even if he was wronged, he would not speak of it.

Before, Little Six had been there to help ease his mood. Now he could only bury all his feelings in his heart and digest them alone.

And as his First Senior Brother, Fang Cheng Lang could do nothing.

“A’Jue…”

Fang Cheng Lang was about to comfort Cui Jue when Cui Jue suddenly spoke and cut him off: “Today I heard some news from Tuo Ba Jing. Little Zhao is not in the Bei Ming Realm.”

The three of them were shocked.

Fang Cheng Lang could not wait to ask: “How does Tuo Ba Jing know? Did she meet Dao Lord Tai Wei?”

Tuo Ba Jing’s master was the oldest elder in Bei Ming Palace and, apart from Dao Lord Tai Wei, the most respected person in the palace. She was greatly valued by Dao Lord Tai Wei.

With her master backing her, it would not be hard for Tuo Ba Jing to see Dao Lord Tai Wei.

“No. She heard it from her master. Dao Lord Tai Wei once complained that he had missed out on a good disciple, and it happened in the last few months. The person Dao Lord Tai Wei spoke of must be Little Zhao.”

There were not many people who could catch Dao Lord Tai Wei’s eye. How could there be two at the same time?

So Cui Jue dared to be certain that the disciple he had missed, besides Yu Zhao, could not be anyone else.

“Then where would Little Six have gone? Did she go back to the Cultivation World?”