Baili Xin estimated for a moment and replied, “Nearly three hours.”
Nearly three hours and they still had not returned? Yu Qing’s face instantly became very ugly, and he asked again, “Which direction did they go?”
Baili Xin pointed in the direction that Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie had gone to lure the enemy.
Yu Qing could not hold it in anymore. He leapt up, ran to the mountaintop, and gazed into the distance in that direction.
His emotions sank into anxiety and worry. As for who the woman in last night’s dream was, he instantly had no more thoughts about it and had already cast it to the back of his mind. Compared to the life and death of his two senior brothers, which woman he had slept with was no longer important.
The key point was that he had no feelings for any of the three women here. It was merely a moment of pleasure. Yet Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie were people who would risk their lives to break into the divine tree to seek an antidote for him.
Which side was more important? Did that even need to be said?
He waited left and right but saw no figures. Just as he was preparing to go search in that direction, a shout suddenly came from the foot of the mountain, “Old Fifteen, why are you climbing so high?”
The voice was very familiar. Yu Qing turned his head to look down the mountain and saw Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie returning from the opposite direction, directly meeting Baili Xin and greeting her.
Yu Qing immediately flew down and landed beside them, looking them up and down.
Nan and Mu were also looking him up and down. Especially Nan Zhu, who could not help but laugh, “You can jump around randomly now. It looks like you are really fine.”
Seeing that they could still joke, Yu Qing relaxed somewhat, but still asked, “Are you two alright?”
“What could be wrong?” Nan Zhu patted his chest again in front of Baili Xin, “Want to catch me? Not that easy.”
Yu Qing ignored his big talk and asked, “Why did it take so long to come back?”
Speaking of this, Nan Zhu sighed again, “Would we dare come back directly? First we fled in alarm and danger for a while, then we took a big detour to come back. You don’t know, Old Nine and I truly ran about the whole night. We are exhausted.”
Yu Qing swept his gaze around. “Tired is tired, but we have stayed here too long. You lured people away here, and that might also arouse suspicion. This place is not suitable to stay long. We must move immediately.” The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. It was no longer a tone of discussion, but had become a decisive commanding tone. “Go, leave immediately!”
Xiang Lanxuan, who was sitting quietly nearby, could not help but look at him a few more times upon hearing this.
Thus the group immediately set off. Xiang Lanxuan and Qin Fujun were also urged to leave. Who knew that Xiang Lanxuan would stand up and point at Yu Qing, saying, “You continue carrying me on your back.”
Yu Qing was secretly sizing up Baili Xin. He kept feeling that something was off with Baili Xin. Her gaze was evasive, looking like she did not dare meet his eyes. The more he looked, the more suspicious it became, and the more he muttered in his heart. Could the woman in last night’s dream really be her?
Then he was called back to his senses by Xiang Lanxuan’s shout. Considering that Old Seven and Old Nine had truly been running about the whole night and were very tired, he had no choice but to suffer the consequences of his own actions and become Xiang Lanxuan’s mount again, carrying her on his back as he walked.
Baili Xin also considered the hardship of her two accomplices and voluntarily carried Qin Fujun on her back.
There was no other way. These two burdens could not be discarded for the time being.
As the group went down the mountain, Mu Aotie, who was alert to the surroundings, asked, “Where to?”
Yu Qing answered a different question. “You broke into the divine tree last night. From the time you entered until you escaped, no one chased you?”
Mu Aotie said, “No one chased us. The multicoloured bees seem to fear the dark. They did not chase us once we reached outside the tree.”
Nan Zhu guessed something. He asked with alarm and uncertainty, “Old Fifteen, you don’t want to break in again, do you?”
Yu Qing said, “They couldn’t have failed to discover you, right? Even with all the commotion you made, no one moved against you. Shouldn’t we suspect that the pollen took effect?”
Speaking of the pollen’s effect, he himself felt awkward. He did not know whether it had taken effect on the queen bee, but it had certainly taken effect on his own body. At least after this experience, the effect of the pollen was confirmed, once again proving that the vine demon had not lied to them.
Speaking of this, he remembered another matter and could not help asking his two senior brothers, “Did boiling water have no effect?”
This made him very strange. Logically speaking, it should not be possible. These two fellows could detoxify by drinking water boiled by Datou. There was no reason he could not. If there was water to drink, why would he desperately risk his life to get honey? This did not make sense.
Others did not understand what boiling water meant, but Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie naturally understood it the moment they heard it. However, both of their expressions were somewhat unnatural.
Yu Qing naturally noticed and immediately pressed, “What do you mean by being so coy and hesitant?”
Nan Zhu sighed and pointed around. “Think about it yourself. After entering this immortal mansion, have you seen any water?”
At this question, not to mention Yu Qing, the others could not help but think along. Truly, after entering and running about, they had indeed not seen water in this huge immortal mansion. Not even a small stream or a little puddle.
Yu Qing said in surprise, “You mean there is no water in the immortal mansion?”
Nan Zhu sighed, “If we could find water, would we still need to take that risk?” His gaze glanced at Mu Aotie and found this big fellow was again pretending to be profound. He immediately spoke to drag him into it together. “Old Nine, isn’t that right?”
Mu Aotie did not speak. He was expressionless and nonchalantly gave an “Mmm.”
Yu Qing still felt strange. “If there is no water, how could these flowers and plants grow here?”
Nan Zhu said, “Ghost knows what’s going on. We even dug a deep pit but still could not dig out water. We were in a hurry to save you and did not dare waste time recklessly, so we had no choice but to take the risk.”
Yu Qing temporarily loosened one of Xiang Lanxuan’s legs, casually grabbed a handful of flowers and plants, and directly squeezed out juice. He asked, “Can’t this serve as emergency water?”
Nan Zhu laughed, “Only you are smart? Of course we tried it. Old Nine even made a stone bowl to hold it. But the one who boils water was not happy. It probably could not stand the taste and even smashed the bowl, then fled far away. We haven’t seen a trace of it until now. If you don’t believe me, ask Old Nine. Old Nine, isn’t that right?”
The one who boils water? Baili Xin, Qin Fujun, and Xiang Lanxuan all stared at him.
Mu Aotie again gave an expressionless “Mmm.”
Yu Qing was slightly startled. “Datou is missing?”
That thing, now that it seemed, as long as its value was made public, would be very valuable. The loss of it going missing was hard to bear.
“Sigh.” Nan Zhu sighed, “Ghost knows where that heartless one ran off to enjoy itself. It’s all because you are usually too indulgent. What is raised free-range is wild.”
In any case, the two of them absolutely did not mention pressing Datou into urine.
They absolutely would not voluntarily confess that they were the ones who messed things up.
Xiang Lanxuan, who had remained almost completely silent, could not help but ask, “Are you talking about that bug that was brought into Little Cloud Space?”
She had seen Datou before. When these fellows encountered danger in Little Cloud Space, the scene of Datou delivering the message left a deep impression on her.
Combined with the group’s conversation, what she now suspected with alarm was, could that bug actually detoxify as well?
When she said this, Baili Xin’s gaze also flickered. She had also seen Datou, had seen that bug these fellows kept by their side. That was all. She had no understanding of its true function, nor did she know that the so-called boiling water was Datou’s bath water.
Qin Fujun was completely like listening to heavenly scriptures, knowing nothing, unable to make any connections.
Regarding this question, Yu Qing did not respond, not wanting to explain too clearly and let people know too much.
Thus Xiang Lanxuan did not ask any further.
It was precisely because of this that Yu Qing began to suspect her again. He felt this woman had become abnormal. Compared to yesterday, that flavour of teasing and laughing at him was gone. Yesterday she had kept grabbing his ponytail to play, but today she was much more silent and seemed somewhat cold. Basically she did not even speak anymore.
Could the woman in last night’s dream be her?
He turned back to sweep his gaze over Baili Xin and Qin Fujun, and again could not help suspecting Qin Fujun. He found that Qin Fujun was also not normal today. Yesterday when she was sober she would still curse a few times and threaten a few times, but today she was completely silent, to the point where she did not even make eye contact.
Could she be the woman in last night’s dream?
He pondered back and forth. This matter truly had him tangled up. The key was that he could not easily open his mouth to ask. Was he supposed to ask people whether they had slept with him last night?
She was a dignified Grand Walker of the Grand Affairs Office. How could he open his mouth to ask such a question?
And there was Baili Xin, the woman Old Seven constantly thought about. How could he open his mouth? If it really was Baili Xin, he did not even know how he would explain it to Old Seven.
In any case, he was also driven to silence. Almost everyone was silent. Only Nan Zhu was still talking, occasionally praising the scenery that was like an immortal realm, or praising Baili Xin a few sentences.
What they did not know was that not long after they left, Huan Yushan brought one person and rushed to the area where they had previously hidden.
Under the guidance of the disciple beside him, Huan Yushan grabbed the person and landed, letting the accompanying disciple go search.
After arriving here, Huan Yushan looked around and realised that merely searching for people, coming here personally with his own cultivation level held no particular advantage. There were too few people participating in the search.
He could not just do nothing and wait idly either. He floated in the air watching, letting the only disciple who had come along be responsible for searching.
Fortunately, Elder Qu did not make him wait long, bringing several disciples with higher cultivation levels who arrived first and joined the search of this area.
The reason they kept staring at this place was that Elder Qu had reason to believe that if last night’s fighting noise was truly meant to lure search personnel away, then it meant someone could not conveniently leave here, or they had discovered treasure or something similar here. Otherwise there was no need to make a commotion. They could just quietly run away.
After carefully questioning the relevant disciples about the search directions before last night’s incident, Elder Qu quickly locked down the search direction.
In this aspect, Elder Qu seemed more capable than Great Elder Huan.
Results came quickly. They found the cave where Yu Qing and the others had hidden last night. In the cave they found traces of where they had stayed last night. That piece of honeycomb fell into his hands at the first moment.
“Woo…”
A long, drawn-out howl suddenly came from the distant air.
The people in the cave quickly flashed out. Elder Qu raised his eyes to look at where the sound came from and shouted loudly, “The Great Elder has discovered the target. Leave two people to wait for other fellow disciples. The rest, follow me quickly!”
He was the first to fly down the mountain. Several disciples urgently followed and flew, speeding through the air.
Huan Yushan, who was searching everywhere high in the air, had indeed discovered the target.
Just before he let out that warning howl, Xiang Lanxuan, who was on Yu Qing’s back slowly observing the surroundings, had already suddenly narrowed her eyes. She turned her head to stare at the air behind them and said in a deep voice, “Trouble has come. Huan Yushan has discovered us.”
Hearing these words, the few of them turned to look back one after another, but saw nothing. Even looking carefully in the direction she was looking, not even Baili Xin’s eyesight saw anything.
Nan Zhu could not help asking, “Where?”
The words had just fallen when that drawn-out howl faintly transmitted from the distant air, making everyone’s expressions change slightly.
Yu Qing shouted loudly, “Quickly go!”
The few of them immediately followed him, fleeing at high speed.
Xiang Lanxuan, being jolted about, shook her head and said, “Too late. Not one can escape.”
After the howl stopped, they who turned their heads from time to time finally saw a dot of a human figure shooting through the air, gradually enlarging in their field of vision.
Finally, with a swish, the shock wave made the flowers and plants on the ground bend down and bow their heads. A human figure suddenly hovered in mid-air, steadily stopping above the path of their escape.
As the group urgently braked to a stop, Yu Qing threw Xiang Lanxuan off his back. At the same time, he shouted angrily, “What are you waiting for?”
Mu Aotie flashed forward, pulling Qin Fujun from Baili Xin’s body into his hands in one grab. The sword in his hand was directly placed across Qin Fujun’s neck.
Nan Zhu drew his sword and guarded to the side. That expression and reaction truly was like facing a great enemy.
Yu Qing also drew his sword in hand, highly vigilant.
Baili Xin waved her hand to draw an arrow and string her bow. She actually flashed to block in front of Yu Qing at the first moment. The intention to protect Yu Qing was very obvious. The arrow tip was aimed at the hovering person.
Yu Qing looked at her somewhat unexpectedly. That thought flashed through his mind again. Could it really be her?
Huan Yushan, hovering at a position two zhang above the ground, frowned. Staring at the hostage Qin Fujun, he was somewhat surprised.
He naturally recognised Qin Fujun. She was the most valued closed-door disciple of Kunling Mountain’s enforcement elder. How could he not recognise her?
He had previously thought she had perished. He had not expected that she had been captured by this group to be used as a hostage.
Xiang Lanxuan, temporarily free, clasped her hands together in front of her abdomen. She slowly and unhurriedly strolled two steps, looking like she was hiding behind the group. She turned her head sideways to watch, calmly and coldly staring at Huan Yushan.
After the howl stopped, they who turned their heads from time to time finally saw a dot of a human figure shooting through the air, gradually enlarging in their field of vision.
Finally, with a swish, the shock wave made the flowers and plants on the ground bend down and bow their heads. A human figure suddenly hovered in mid-air, steadily stopping above the path of their escape.
As the group urgently braked to a stop, Yu Qing threw Xiang Lanxuan off his back. At the same time, he shouted angrily, “What are you waiting for?”
Mu Aotie flashed forward, pulling Qin Fujun from Baili Xin’s body into his hands in one grab. The sword in his hand was directly placed across Qin Fujun’s neck.
Nan Zhu drew his sword and guarded to the side. That expression and reaction truly was like facing a great enemy.
Yu Qing also drew his sword in hand, highly vigilant.
Baili Xin waved her hand to draw an arrow and string her bow. She actually flashed to block in front of Yu Qing at the first moment. The intention to protect Yu Qing was very obvious. The arrow tip was aimed at the hovering person.
Yu Qing looked at her somewhat unexpectedly. That thought flashed through his mind again. Could it really be her?
Huan Yushan, hovering at a position two zhang above the ground, frowned. Staring at the hostage Qin Fujun, he was somewhat surprised.
He naturally recognised Qin Fujun. She was the most valued closed-door disciple of Kunling Mountain’s enforcement elder. How could he not recognise her?
He had previously thought she had perished. He had not expected that she had been captured by this group to be used as a hostage.
Xiang Lanxuan, temporarily free, clasped her hands together in front of her abdomen. She slowly and unhurriedly strolled two steps, looking like she was hiding behind the group. She turned her head sideways to watch, calmly and coldly staring at Huan Yushan.