What kind of opportunity Heaven intended to grant, neither Nan Zhu nor Mu Aotie knew. Yu Qing had been vague and had not told them, nor could he tell them.
In the days that followed, while waiting for that opportunity, Yu Qing often studied the map, searching for a suitable route to Spirit Valley.
Their neighbour, Ke Ran, frequently came by to chat about matters under heaven. Unlike Yu Qing and the others who came out to entertain him, Nan Zhu was an excellent conversationalist. He could talk about anything, whether he understood it or not, and often managed to talk Ke Ran into leaving.
Yet Ke Ran seemed rather bored as well, still coming over two or three times a day to say hello, still coming daily to chat nonsense.
After seven or eight days of this, one evening Ke Ran went down the mountain and reached a bend in the mountain road, where a carriage awaited him.
Xiang Lanxuan sat quietly inside the carriage. As soon as Ke Ran entered, he immediately bowed in salutation. “Grand Walker.”
Xiang Lanxuan nodded slightly and asked, “How are those few people doing?”
Ke Ran hesitated. “This subordinate has watched them day and night and found no excessive abnormalities. After the trip to Spirit Valley, aside from meals, they rarely even step out the door and almost never associate with any outsiders.”
Xiang Lanxuan frowned, muttering to herself, “What are they playing at?”
Ke Ran tried to offer a reminder. “Could they have come simply to participate in the Dawn Assembly?”
Xiang Lanxuan snorted with laughter. “Absolutely impossible! You do not know this, but with that little bearded man’s reputation, he has no need whatsoever to participate in such an assembly to make a name for himself. He also dares not be ostentatious. It is highly likely he will withdraw from the competition at the last minute. They must have come for some other purpose.”
Ke Ran found it strange in his heart who exactly that little bearded man was, but since the other party did not say, he could not ask too much. He could only address the matter at hand. “They have been cowering without any movement. Without action there are no clues to follow, nowhere to strike. What should we do?”
After a brief silence, Xiang Lanxuan reminded him again, “That woman called Baili Xin, you can pay a bit more attention to her. Perhaps something might be discovered from her.”
Ke Ran said, “I beg the Grand Walker to clarify.”
Xiang Lanxuan pondered, “The identities of the other three are fake, all assumed under false pretences. Baili Xin’s identity is real. It has been checked. She is indeed a disciple of Dragon Light Sect, though she has been expelled from the sect. But the matter is not that simple, because Dragon Light Sect did not expose the identities of the three impostors. Expelling Baili Xin from the sect and then requesting Kun Spirit Mountain to throw the group out of the assembly together, this looks more like Dragon Light Sect is trying to distance themselves.”
Ke Ran was astonished. “So Dragon Light Sect might know the truth.”
Xiang Lanxuan said, “Do not count on Dragon Light Sect. They are not some small sect. Open investigation would alert the enemy. Secret investigation is not something that can be solved by sending a few people. By the time anything is found out, the Dawn Assembly would have long ended and those fellows would have already left Kun Spirit Mountain. The opportunity would be lost. This matter does not yet involve any interests, so there is no way to give an explanation to those above. It is not enough to make the Grand Enterprise Bureau mobilise troops. This is purely my personal desire to know what those fellows want to do. Understand?”
Speaking of this, she recalled the resounding slap she had received. She raised her hand and gently parted the curtain by a crack, looking at the gorgeous sunset glow in the distance. She saw mist beginning to rise among the mountains, the afterglow illuminating her charming eyes.
Yu Qing, dining at the foot of the mountain in the dining hall, sat by the window chewing his food. He too saw the mist rising outside the window, then looked at the clear and clean sky outside, a strange gleam flashing in his eyes.
At the entrance of the dining hall, Chan Shaoting and several others entered. They rarely came, only once every few days.
After entering, they swept their gaze across the hall and saw Yu Qing and the others seated there. Wu Ronggui reminded with a light smile, “The ‘Cannot Miss’ group is indeed here.”
“What?” Chan Shaoting was somewhat puzzled.
Xiao Changdao immediately explained in a low voice, “Those few who were expelled from their sect, they come to eat a considerable amount of spirit rice at every meal, never missing a single one. As long as you come at mealtime, you are sure to see them. So someone gave them the nickname ‘Cannot Miss.'”
This nickname had actually been given by Wu Ronggui, then spread by Xiao Changdao.
By now, they knew that those “four great archers” had been expelled from their sect, and Kun Spirit Mountain had guaranteed that the four would not use bows and arrows in the competition. This put their minds at ease.
“The face of Dragon Light Sect,” Chan Shaoting snorted with considerable disdain, then led his people to find a place to sit.
There were already about twenty people seated in the dining hall. As the assembly’s date drew nearer, more and more people were arriving to attend.
From time to time, people secretly pointed at Yu Qing’s group of four as they ate, continuing to introduce the “Cannot Miss” group to others.
The three senior brothers occasionally heard a sentence or two, but the three did not care. After the assembly ended, who would know whom?
They did not care, but Baili Xin had thinner skin and cared somewhat. Facing all those pointing fingers, she felt somewhat embarrassed. Yet no one had forced her to come. She had insisted on following them, so she could only try to eat a bit less.
She simply could not understand what these three were thinking. Although Nan Zhu had explained very clearly, the spirit rice cost nothing. If you did not eat it, you were wasting it. They had already spent tens of thousands of taels. What was wrong with eating a bit? He even urged her to eat more, as if trying to eat back their investment.
She could not understand why these three liked to take advantage of such small bargains!
After eating their fill, the four slowly strolled back up the mountain, the overstuffed ones occasionally letting out a burp.
Back inside the small building, Yu Qing gave a meaningful glance, drawing Nan Zhu, who had wanted to watch the sunset glow with Baili Xin, upstairs.
In the room, Yu Qing took out the hidden map and spread it open again. “Old Seventh, I plan to make a move tonight. You stay behind and keep watch. I will go with Old Ninth.”
Nan Zhu was stunned. Hearing this, he understood they were going to Spirit Valley. He quickly said, “If you are going, we all go. Why leave me behind?”
Yu Qing immediately turned to ask him, “Are you blaming us? The moment you go, you will blow our cover.”
Nan Zhu subconsciously looked at his own figure. “Do not bring up my weight again.”
Yu Qing showed contempt. “In the middle of the night, who cares whether you are fat or thin? Look at what you have been doing these past days. Which night can you resist not going to chat with her? This is not a short trip that you can just go and return from. Once you leave with us and stop going to chat with her, after a while she will surely become suspicious. Then when she looks and finds you gone, she will immediately come upstairs to check if we two are here. If she finds neither of us is here, who knows what consequences that might bring?”
“…” Nan Zhu was instantly speechless, unable to deny that this was the truth.
Mu Aotie also nodded with certainty. “You stay behind to stabilise her. This also suits your wishes.”
Nan Zhu twisted his body uncomfortably, but he did not object. He only muttered, “Are you sure you can sneak over there? I say, the world’s foremost spirit plant great sect, the foundation of a thousand-year great sect, I fear it will not be so easy to trespass upon.”
Yu Qing ignored him, already having excluded him from this operation. He pointed at the map to indicate to Mu Aotie, “I have carefully examined the map. Although we can grasp the terrain, we cannot know what is at each location, or rather how many people are there. So I have decided to take the water route.”
His finger traced the small river on the map. “Look, starting from this section of the river near us, we can circle all the way near Spirit Valley. From there, going ashore to Spirit Valley would probably be only four or five li. By taking the water route, I do not mean we have to swim through. We also have to guard against things in the water. We walk on the shore. Once we discover anything abnormal on the ground, we can promptly dive into the water for a stretch to avoid it. Kun Spirit Mountain cannot possibly place things everywhere in the water. Going to Spirit Valley this way might be somewhat smoother.”
Hearing this, both Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie nodded slightly. They could see that Old Fifteenth had spent time pondering this during this period.
Yu Qing continued, “Memorise the route. In case we encounter an accident and get separated, you will know how to meet up, or how to go back and forth.”
“Mm.” Mu Aotie acknowledged, pulling the map and spreading it on the floor, kneeling there to carefully identify the route and terrain they would take.
Yu Qing turned back to Nan Zhu and said, “Bring me that golden lump of yours. I will take it along just in case, to see if it might be useful.”
Regarding this, Nan Zhu had no hesitation. He immediately went out, went downstairs to fetch it, and not long after brought up that golden orchid fruit.
The currently known function of this thing was to transform nearby things into gold. What other uses it had, no one knew.
The reason for bringing it this time was, first, that it was an item from an immortal’s cave dwelling. Second, hearing from Lady Li that there were many orchids at the entrance here, it was purely a matter of making extra preparations regardless of whether it was useful or not.
Yu Qing took the golden orchid fruit, gave brief instructions, then chased Nan Zhu downstairs.
When the sky had completely darkened and a crescent moon hung in the sky, Nan Zhu, hearing the signal of movement upstairs, went to knock on Baili Xin’s door again.
Taking advantage of the noise of the door opening and Nan Zhu deliberately speaking loudly to cover up, Yu Qing and Mu Aotie slipped out the window downstairs, quietly descending the mountain from a pathless place, carefully avoiding and circling around other houses along the way.
Having completely descended the mountain and entered the nearby forest, the two senior brothers began their advance mode of moving and stopping, sometimes even taking detours.
Mu Aotie did not ask why. He knew Old Fifteenth would not harm him in such matters. There must be a reason for doing this. He only needed to keep quiet and follow.
After sneakily walking about three li, the two finally reached the river. As planned, they advanced stealthily along the riverbank.
Along the way, as Yu Qing had said, sometimes they indeed had to temporarily dive into the water to avoid detection. After surfacing, they continued advancing stealthily along the riverbank. The journey was filled with alarms but no dangers.
Upstream on the river was a lake. The lake water was tranquil, reflecting the stars and moon in the night sky, as well as scattered lights from a mountaintop.
The lights came from a palace-like building on the mountain. On the open ground outside the palace was a stone platform altar. A plain-clothed old man with dishevelled hair sat cross-legged on the altar in the starlight, quietly existing as one with heaven and earth.
Lying on its side below the altar was a beast resembling a calf but without horns, its ears larger than those of an ox.
The seemingly sleeping beast suddenly propped itself up, stood, and walked to the edge of the mountain, looking downstream toward the lake mouth. It spoke in human tongue, “On the riverbank below the lake mouth, it seems two uninvited guests have arrived. Their movements are furtive, not like disciples of this sect.”
The plain-clothed old man on the altar suddenly opened his eyes.
On a soft bed hanging under the eaves of the palace, a woman in green clothes stretched lazily in the moonlight. Her graceful figure turned over, then she suddenly flew up and leaped into the night sky. Above the palace, she transformed into a large bird with long tail feathers of green plumage. Then she dove down, gliding smoothly down along the mountain slope like a ghost, silently passing through the forest.