Chapter 76

Chapter 76: Teaming Up and Following

Wei Yun Xi moved the instant Sheng Yu Hong’s gaze swept over. With a quick shift of her body, she hid behind a tall fellow disciple and avoided Sheng Yu Hong’s scrutiny.

She even put on an act and whispered to a fellow Qi Refining disciple beside her, “Martial Uncle Sheng really is handsome and impressive. Seeing him in person beats hearing about him a hundred times!”

The disciple next to her nodded. “Of course. Martial Uncle Sheng is a cultivation genius our Hao Ran Sect only produces once in a hundred years. Before he even turned fifty, he already broke through to late Foundation Establishment. Forming a core within a hundred years will be effortless for him.

“With Martial Uncle Sheng’s talent, even charging at the Nascent Soul stage is doable, and he could even try for Spirit Transformation. With Martial Uncle Sheng leading, our Hao Ran Sect will definitely become the number one sect in the western region of the Vast Cosmos Realm.”

Watching this fellow disciple speak with spittle flying, Wei Yun Xi quietly wiped her face. This one was clearly Sheng Yu Hong’s diehard fan and had an odd kind of confidence in him.

She immediately cupped her hands. “Senior Brother, how should I address you?”

“My name is Long Dao Yu. And you?”

“My name is Wei Yun Xi.”

“So you’re Junior Sister Wei. What did you come to the Bao Hua Mountain Range for?

“Oh! You don’t have to say it. Let me guess. Martial Uncle Sheng accepted the task here, so you came too, right?” Long Dao Yu asked with a wink.

The corner of Yun Xi’s eye twitched, but she followed his lead and lowered her voice. “Senior Brother Long, I’ve been cultivating in the Outer Sect all this time, so I never had a chance to meet Martial Uncle Sheng. I only heard his name without ever seeing him, and it made my heart itch.

“This time, I finally had a chance to see Martial Uncle Sheng’s true face. Of course I had to come. To be honest with you, I even asked someone to help me take a task to search for someone, but the difficulty increased, and I’m not qualified to travel with Martial Uncle Sheng.”

As she spoke, Yun Xi acted very regretful, like she was beating her chest over it.

Long Dao Yu looked like he understood and chuckled. “You also accepted that task to search for missing fellow disciples?”

Yun Xi immediately pressed, “Yes. Senior Brother Long, you accepted that task too?”

“Yeah!”

“Sigh. Now we don’t have a chance either. We can only watch.”

Yun Xi spread her hands helplessly.

Long Dao Yu’s eyes shifted, and he winked at Yun Xi. “Junior Sister Wei, I’ll come find you later. I have something to discuss with you.”

Yun Xi nodded. “Alright. I’m in Room B-5.”

While they were whispering, Sheng Yu Hong had already withdrawn his gaze. He clearly enjoyed the praise from his fellow disciples. Surrounded by the crowd, he entered the back courtyard’s meeting hall.

Some disciples who loved excitement wanted to go in too, but they were stopped outside. The reason given was that they were discussing entering the mountains to search for missing fellow disciples.

Long Dao Yu and Wei Yun Xi were both among those blocked. Yun Xi didn’t care, but Long Dao Yu sighed and then turned to coax Yun Xi. “Junior Sister Wei, do you want Martial Uncle Sheng to look at you differently?”

Yun Xi’s eyes nearly rolled into the sky, but she kept up appearances and asked with interest, “Senior Brother Long, what do you mean? How would Martial Uncle Sheng look at me differently? I’m only at late Qi Refining. I’m too far from Martial Uncle Sheng. Even if I want to, I don’t have the strength.”

By the end, she looked a little discouraged.

Long Dao Yu immediately whispered, “Don’t belittle yourself. This time is a perfect chance.”

“What chance?”

“Martial Uncle Sheng is taking people into the outer area of the Bao Hua Mountain Range to search. We can follow behind them. Maybe there’ll be a moment for us to step in. When that happens, Martial Uncle Sheng will definitely look at us differently.”

Wei Yun Xi’s eyes flickered. Then she rubbed her hands and voiced her doubts. “Senior Brother Long, will your idea really work? Martial Uncle Sheng is taking Foundation Establishment disciples. Would they need help from Qi Refining disciples like us?

“And Martial Uncle Sheng’s cultivation is so high. If we follow behind them, we’ll definitely be noticed. What if Martial Uncle Sheng won’t let us follow?”

Hearing Yun Xi’s doubts, Long Dao Yu stroked his chin. “The missing Hao Ran Sect disciples disappeared on the very outer edge of the Bao Hua Mountain Range. Even if Martial Uncle Sheng searches, he’ll definitely be searching on the outer edge. And people training in the outer area are usually Qi Refining disciples and early Foundation Establishment disciples, so it’s normal for us to show up there.

“As for being discovered by Martial Uncle Sheng, we can say we want to borrow our Martial Uncle’s presence for a bit of protection. As long as we don’t follow too closely, with Martial Uncle Sheng’s generosity, he won’t bother with us.”

Yun Xi understood. This diehard fan wanted to follow his idol, but he was afraid of being chased away and also afraid of going alone, so he wanted to drag a like-minded person along.

“Junior Sister Wei, what do you think?” Long Dao Yu asked.

“I’m fine with it. I’m going into the mountains to train anyway. But with our cultivation, can we even keep up with Martial Uncle Sheng and his group?”

“Don’t worry. There’s someone from my clan in Martial Uncle Sheng’s group. I can guarantee we won’t lose them.”

“Alright. Then I’ll go into the mountains to ‘train’ with Senior Brother Long.”

Yun Xi agreed readily.

She had to enter the mountains anyway. Following a larger group was better than fighting alone. If she ran into a powerful enemy, she’d at least have someone to call for help. And judging from Sheng Yu Hong’s righteous, upright look, he definitely wouldn’t abandon fellow disciples in danger. Since that was the case, she had even less reason to refuse.

“Good. Then it’s settled, Junior Sister Wei,” Long Dao Yu said, smiling broadly.

“Of course.”

After that, they exchanged communication talismans. Then they went together to the stationed Martial Uncle to take two tasks—one to search for spirit plants and one to hunt first-rank demon beasts—so they had an excuse to enter the mountains.

“Junior Sister Wei, be ready anytime. Once Martial Uncle Sheng sets out, I’ll come find you.”

“Alright. I’ll wait for your notice, Senior Brother Long.”

After making their plans, they split up.

Yun Xi returned to her room and organized her storage bag. She put talismans, pills, and her spirit sword where she could grab them quickest, then closed her eyes and began meditating.

Early the next morning, Sheng Yu Hong led his team and left the Hao Ran Sect outpost. Long Dao Yu also came to find Yun Xi.

“Junior Sister Wei, we should set off too.”

“I’m coming.”

After checking everything one last time, Yun Xi left Bao Hua City with Long Dao Yu and followed the flow of people toward the Bao Hua Mountain Range.

Along the road, cultivators rushed by everywhere, all headed for the Bao Hua Mountain Range.

While traveling, Yun Xi chatted with Long Dao Yu and used the chance to pry for information.

“Senior Brother Long, do you know where Martial Uncle Sheng plans to go first after entering the mountains?”

“Someone from my clan sent me a message. Their first stop is the place where our sect disciples went missing, the location where they sent the distress talisman.”

Yun Xi asked cautiously, “Is it far? Is there a shortcut we can take to get there first?”

Long Dao Yu shook his head. “I don’t know. This is only my second time at the Bao Hua Mountain Range. It’s huge. I want a shortcut too, but I don’t know where one is.”

Yun Xi continued, “I heard the missing fellow disciples went to pick fire dragon grass. In the outer area, places with large patches of fire dragon grass are where snake-type demon beasts gather. Martial Uncle Sheng should be heading in that direction.”

“Yeah. When I accepted the task, I got the same information you did. I marked the places on the outer edge where fire dragon grass shows up, but I honestly don’t know which exact spot they went to. I only know it’s to the southwest.”