To be honest, the two senior brothers were still completely baffled at this moment. Seeing that their junior martial brother, the sect leader, seemed to have things under control, in matters where danger might be encountered, they could only listen to whoever understood the situation.
Besides, by now it was basically already Yu Qing calling the shots. There was no other way. All the food and expenses along the way were paid by Yu Qing out of his own pocket. Sometimes, a small reality was still reality. Though regrettable, it had to be faced.
The two could only follow along and do the same. They also broke open the wooden poles, taking out the swords and incense hidden inside.
The incense was not only with Yu Qing. To bring more, each of the two senior brothers had also hidden a bundle.
Just like Yu Qing, swords tied at the waist, incense stuffed into sleeves. That would do.
Yu Qing waved his hand to signal they should leave.
However, Nan Zhu still felt something was wrong. He quickly stepped forward with one foot and reached out to grab him. “Are you sure it’s alright for us to go out wearing swords like this? There’s no way to explain this.”
Yu Qing: “With those labourers outside, what is there to explain to them?”
Nan Zhu sighed. “Are you sure there’s no problem for us to head straight for the ancient tomb like this? If something goes wrong, it will be a case of exterminating the entire sect.” He pointed at the three martial brothers.
“It won’t be exterminated. We still have Little Martial Uncle.” Yu Qing threw down these words, shook off the grabbing hand, and directly went to open the door that was rattling loudly.
A group of labourers blocked the doorway, their gazes skipping over them, straining to peer inside the room, as if wanting to see through what they had been doing in there.
“What were you secretly doing in the room behind our backs?” someone questioned.
Yu Qing scoffed. “A huge pile of silver fell from the sky. The few of us didn’t want to share it with you, so we secretly hid it away. Is that not allowed?” He simply made it clear that he was going to do things behind their backs.
“…” A group of labourers were speechless.
Nan Zhu and Mu Ao Tie also exchanged speechless glances.
“Move aside, move aside, all of you move aside.” Yu Qing pushed through the crowd and swaggered off. The two senior brothers could only hurry to catch up.
The group of labourers naturally noticed the abnormality about them. They all saw the swords at their waists and exchanged glances.
Immediately, someone followed, asking in surprise, “Where did you get swords from?”
Yu Qing did not take these people seriously at all, casually saying, “They were in the room, placed under the bed planks. Just wearing them for fun. If you want them, go look for them. You might still find some.”
Some among the labourers could not help but feel the urge to roll their eyes. What under the bed planks? They were clearly brought by you yourselves. They found that this fellow was practically treating them directly as fools.
What made them feel especially helpless was that they really had to pretend to be fools, unable to expose the truth.
Nan Zhu and Mu Ao Tie could not help but simultaneously look up at the sky, finding that today’s weather seemed quite nice.
Someone else followed and shouted, “Where are you going?”
Yu Qing, not stopping his feet, said with his back turned, “We told you, since we finally came here, we’re going for a stroll. If you don’t go, we will. Just walking around and looking around in the mountains.”
“Do you need to bring swords for a casual stroll?”
“I’m willing to. What’s it to you? In case I run into snakes or rats or something in the mountains, I’m timid. Can’t I bring something to protect myself?”
He was even afraid of snakes and rats now. The group of labourers immediately fell silent. He did not care about anything at all, completely unreasonable. What more could be said?
Mu Ao Tie’s expression grew increasingly tense. Nan Zhu admired him. This fellow could walk without looking at his feet.
Looking again at their little junior martial brother ahead, he could not help but let out a soft sigh, realising that youth was indeed good. He did not know the meaning of seriousness or caution when speaking or acting. He could mess around with matters, and he could also talk nonsense. Neither of his two junior martial brothers was one to give him peace of mind. This time coming out of the mountain, he feared he would have to worry himself to death.
However, upon second thought, the matter of being unable to explain going out with swords seemed to already be resolved. It seemed he had truly been overly worried.
The group left the courtyard together, walked through the open ground outside, then went down the stone steps, down to the main mountain path. After that, Yu Qing also sensed something was wrong. He turned back to look and found seven or eight labourers still following. He immediately stopped and turned around, questioning, “Why are you following us?”
Someone said, “We also want to go take a look.”
Yu Qing: “If you want to look, go look yourselves. Why follow us?”
That person said, “We also want to look around everywhere, but there are many demons here. We feel safer following you. You’re the team leaders. If we don’t follow you, who do we follow?”
“Whatever you want.” Yu Qing did not say much more, threw down these words, and turned to leave.
Nan Zhu and Mu Ao Tie both frowned. With such a group of people following, how could they get anything done?
Finding an opportunity, Nan Zhu pulled Yu Qing to walk a bit further ahead, and asked in a low voice about this concern.
Yu Qing: “I say, aren’t you worrying a bit too much? We have to cross mountains and ridges. If they can keep up, let them follow. Wouldn’t it be easy to shake them off if we wanted to? The truly troublesome ones are the demon cultivators in this area.”
In short, he once again ignored this group of labourers. Nan Zhu was stunned, but upon thinking about it, it was true.
The group headed straight for the distant ancient tomb direction, seemingly sightseeing and enjoying the scenery.
Along the way, they occasionally encountered demon cultivators who questioned them, only asking what they were doing. As for whether Yu Qing and the other two could wear swords, not a single extra word was asked.
Nan Zhu and Mu Ao Tie gradually relaxed, also realising that they had been a guilty conscience making them overthink. Outsiders had no idea what they were planning to do. They only treated them as guests who had come for the grand wedding day.
The two discovered that their courage was indeed not as great as Old Fifteen’s, indeed not as composed and calm as Old Fifteen.
The scenery within the deep mountains and old forests was truly extraordinary. At times, towering ancient trees blotted out the sky. At times, ancient trees formed forests. Clear mountain springs gurgled and rushed ceaselessly. Flowers and grass were fragrant. Vines, moss, cliff-like mountain walls, strangely shaped rocks adorned the landscape.
The group, looking around in all directions, continuously penetrated deeper into the mountains. Gradually, there was no proper road anymore. Fortunately, there were also small paths trampled out by demon cultivators who regularly patrolled the mountains.
Along the way, one labourer made an excuse that he did not want to walk anymore and returned.
He hurried back all the way to the residence where they were staying. He asked those who remained behind and learned that You Lingluo had already returned from her stroll. He quickly went to see her.
Seeing You Lingluo sitting in the pavilion in the courtyard, he immediately went over to inform her of the relevant situation.
You Lingluo immediately pressed, “Which direction did they go?”
That labourer looked around and pointed towards that mountain wearing a green hat still visible beyond the courtyard wall. “Although the path wound around, the general direction was towards there.”
You Lingluo frowned. “Could it be that the Si Nan Mansion’s destination really is still that ancient tomb?”
This question, others had no way of answering for him.
Meng Wei pondered for a while at the side, puzzled. “They’re not pretending to be labourers anymore, yet they still openly went carrying swords. Could they be entering the ancient tomb in broad daylight? That would be rather too brazen. Why does it feel like something is a bit off?”
You Lingluo knew what he was puzzled about. “That tomb is no fun place. With the cultivation of those three, would they dare to enter?”
They could not easily do something akin to seeking skin from a tiger here. After Yu Qing and his three companions succeeded in their application with the shipping line, while shopping in that small county town, their cultivation depths had been felt out by others. The focus was on Nan Zhu and Mu Ao Tie, because their backgrounds were unknown.
Meng Wei hesitated. “Could it be they have preparations to deal with it? Could it be that the unknown objects in the wooden poles can deal with the evil spirits in the ancient tomb?”
Just at this moment, another labourer quickly entered from outside and reported, “The people from Wu’s Gold Shop who were tailing Niu Youqing and his three companions have all shown themselves. They have all gone in the direction Niu Youqing went.”
Meng Wei murmured, “Could it be they really are in cahoots with Niu Youqing’s side? Are they the confidence behind Niu Youqing daring to go to the ancient tomb? If they really are in cahoots, why didn’t they come together, instead splitting into two groups?”
You Lingluo slowly took a deep breath. “Things are a bit puzzling. Then let’s not guess. Let’s go back to the fundamentals. It’s still the same original saying. Niu Youqing might have the answers we want to know on him. Don’t bother with other peripheral branches for now. Just keep a close eye on Niu Youqing. Meng Wei, you don’t need to worry about things here. Take a few more people and go personally.”
“Yes.” Meng Wei accepted the order and left.
…
On the mountain path, Qin Jue and Cui You had also begun sightseeing and enjoying the scenery.
The local host had no reason to shut guests in their rooms and not allow them out. Those who came were guests. The natural scenery of the mountains and waters naturally had to be appreciated by the guests.
But Cui You was still somewhat worried. “Great shopkeeper, are they really after the ancient tomb? Won’t they cause some trouble? In broad daylight, causing trouble before the host’s wedding day is a bit much. Once something happens, it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to get involved.”
Qin Jue: “I have a good idea. Let’s go see the situation first. If the situation is not right, we’ll just watch from the sidelines.”
Cui You: “What I’m worried about is that fellow ‘Yu Qing’. On the Hidden Cliff side, he used our shop’s name.”
When registering at the Hidden Cliff, Yu Qing had used his real name, not that famously known name.
Qin Jue: “At least for now, he is not acting under our shop’s name. Everyone knows he is a person from Blue Sea Shipping.”
What they were worried about was the rules of the Hidden Cliff. The Hidden Cliff would not care about merchants from Horn Corner Port killing and setting fires outside. The premise was that you had to cover it up. If you could not cover it up, then there was no way around it. The Hidden Cliff’s externally proclaimed stance had always been the word “neutral”.
…
Within the Jian Yuan Hall, Hong Teng, who had already changed into a grand red wedding robe, paced back and forth in the hall.
The figure of the white-clad great palm eye suddenly appeared, quickly entering. Following Hong Teng’s pacing steps, he reported, “Your Majesty, Blue Sea Shipping has also dispatched additional men rushing there.”
Hong Teng abruptly stopped, his brows tightly knitted. “Could it be that each and every one of them really is after the ancient tomb?”
The great palm eye murmured, “It seems there is indeed this possibility.”
“Surely they can’t all be this brazen?” Hong Teng was puzzled. He spread his arms and looked at the wedding robe on his body. “Didn’t they say they wanted to use the cover of my wedding? The bride hasn’t even arrived yet. The auspicious hour of this king’s grand celebration hasn’t even arrived. Are they going to start already? Could it be that nowadays people act this brazenly, not even needing the slightest disguise? Damn it, not giving this king face is one thing, but they should at least give the demon realm some face, right?”
The great palm eye also had a face full of puzzlement. He truly felt something was a bit abnormal.
The logic was simple. A group of people with schemes were not deliberately here to cause trouble. They had come to offer congratulations for the wedding. Then an accident occurred that swept everyone in. At least there was an excuse that could be explained. What was going on now?
Running to the demon realm in broad daylight to openly cause trouble. This was deliberately ruining someone’s wedding, treating the demon realm as easy to bully?
If you can do the first, I can do the fifteenth. Could it be they truly wanted a consequence similar to the Qixia Lady incident to be repeated?
If it really was like this, then why even come to offer congratulations? The Si Nan Mansion had no need to create some wedding either. They could just directly come and cause trouble.
Hong Teng suddenly said, “Something’s not right. The wedding procession hasn’t arrived yet. The people from the Si Nan Mansion haven’t even come. How has this already started? Weren’t they all watching for the Si Nan Mansion’s arrival?”