Nanzhu and Mu Aotie both stared fixedly at him. Even though they were fellow disciples, they felt this excuse made their teeth ache. It was a bit too absurd.
Xiang Lanxuan stared blankly at Sect Master Yu, lost for words. Originally, even if the restriction was not removed, she would not have exposed anything. After all, her life was in their hands. But this excuse really made it hard for her to keep a straight face. She could not help but give a scornful laugh. “Could it be that someone here can actually impersonate me?”
Yu Qing replied calmly, “Outside, perhaps not. But in this immortal abode, that is not necessarily so. We have already experienced that technique in Xiao Yunjian. It truly changes in a thousand and ten thousand ways, becoming whoever it wishes to become. It is hard for us not to be cautious. Please understand our difficulty, Grand Envoy.”
Hearing this, Nanzhu immediately nodded repeatedly like a chicken pecking at rice. “Yes, yes.”
Mu Aotie’s attitude also changed. He nodded and gave a low grunt of agreement.
Xiang Lanxuan raised her eyebrows. This excuse was so flimsy that it left her speechless. Yet even though she knew there were flaws, she could not expose them. If she pushed too hard and left the other side with no way out, everyone would lose face. The situation was stronger than the person. The one who suffered could only be her.
For the sake of safety, she could only give a cold snort and did not say much more.
After that, Yu Qing pulled out another piece of cloth and gestured with it. “Grand Envoy, please cover your mouth and nose first.”
Xiang Lanxuan instantly became wary and showed a resistant attitude.
“What are you doing?”
Nanzhu pointed at everyone’s faces.
“The air inside this sinkhole is poisonous. If you breathe it for too long, you will die. Look at us.” Yu Qing nodded in agreement. “That is right.”
Hearing this reason, Xiang Lanxuan did not dare to be careless. She quickly grabbed the cloth and imitated them by covering her face, thoroughly shielding her mouth and nose.
“Good. We will move again at night. For now, continue working,” Yu Qing turned and called out.
The three fellow disciples immediately went to one side to work. Xiang Lanxuan looked puzzled, not knowing what kind of work they intended to do here. She saw Mu Aotie pick up from somewhere a small cloth bag that had apparently been modified and treated using someone else’s clothes. He followed behind Yu Qing and Nanzhu. The latter two each bent down a golden flower. One hand steadied the flower while the other opened its fingers and cast a spell toward the flower’s center. Their qi stirred and drew out a small amount of pale yellow pollen, which they then flicked into the cloth bag that Mu Aotie held open. The three of them went from one flower to the next in this manner, without doing anything else.
Xiang Lanxuan watched with growing suspicion. She did not know what these three were up to. But one thing she could imagine: since they had come all the way into the immortal abode, they certainly would not be doing something meaningless. This action must have some deeper purpose.
She could not help walking over to a flower. She reached out and bent the branch, trying to probe the secret inside the flower’s center, hoping to discover something.
No matter how she looked, she could not make sense of it. The only strange point was that, like the other plants inside and outside the sinkhole, its meridians were suffused with evil qi. She had seen enough of that in Xiao Yunjian, so it was nothing surprising.
Seeing her movement, Yu Qing immediately warned, “This flower is extremely poisonous. If something happens, do not say we did not warn you.”
Nanzhu seemed to think of something and gave a low, mischievous chuckle.
Poisonous? Xiang Lanxuan slowly released the flower branch. Though still doubtful, she did not dare to act rashly again.
While the three fellow disciples were busy working, the hunt for Xiang Lanxuan outside had not stopped either. The remaining forces of Kunling Mountain had already gathered and were spreading out across the mountain range, searching and advancing step by step.
“So the First Elder’s cultivation has already broken through to the High Mysterious realm.”
“Yes. He was hiding his strength all along. Even Xiang Lanxuan is no match for the First Elder.”
Among the searching disciples, people occasionally looked up at the sky and murmured a few words to those beside them.
From time to time, fist-sized colorful bee insects flew through the mountains, sometimes circling around them, but they had not attacked so far.
Rather, it was the disciples themselves who, unable to restrain themselves from time to time, would catch one and examine it closely. Some even killed one just to inspect it.
The deeper they searched, the more numerous these colorful bee insects seemed to become. Whether their nest was nearby or they had flown in from far away, no one knew. In any case, they had not found any hive.
High in the air, Huanyu Shan hovered like a hawk, looking down and observing the movements below with great care. Occasionally, he also noticed colorful bee insects passing beside him. He had caught one and examined it as well. He found it rather strange that these bee insects could fly so high, and the force of their collision and struggle was not small either.
Outside the sinkhole, colorful five-hued bees occasionally flew past too. Yet these five-hued bees seemed to have some misgivings about this sinkhole. They only dared fly around outside the pit, but none were willing to enter it. Yu Qing and the others did not know this.
But they had long been on guard against these five-hued bees. They could tell that from Baili Xin outside the sinkhole.
Baili Xin had stitched several pieces of corpse-hair grass together into a blanket and covered herself with it. She lay hidden in a foul-smelling pile. Even with her mouth and nose covered, the stench was extremely unpleasant. Yet Baili Xin endured it with tremendous willpower. The smell also kept the five-hued bees away.
Originally, Nanzhu, being tender toward women, had wanted to take over the task for her. But Baili Xin thought Yu Qing was right. As a great archer, her eyesight was indeed far stronger than everyone else’s, making her more suitable for observation. Since she insisted,
Nanzhu had no choice but to agree.
As evening approached, on the divine tree, two bare-chested men were present. One took out a map and spread it on the ground, while the other took out a handful of grass seeds and pinched them so they fell onto the map.
Xiang Zhen, watching from the side, did not understand and asked,
“What does this mean?”
The flower-clad man, pacing barefoot nearby, explained, “Each grass seed represents one person. Right now, they represent the positions of each of those intruders.”
After one of the bare-chested men stopped scattering the seeds, he said, “Great King, this is all the number we currently know of.”
The flower-clad man stared at the map and nodded. “Having a rough number for comparison is enough. It will help avoid too many omissions.”
Xiang Zhen’s expression became grave. He knew that they were determining the number of people in preparation for tomorrow’s hunt. Although he had no interest in these disputes, his heart still felt somewhat heavy…
As the sun set,
Huanyu Shan, still floating high in the air, could see that he had summoned all the Kunling Mountain disciples and was asking them about the search.
The disciples had not found any trace of Xiang Lanxuan. They had only caught a few personnel from the Great Career Office. These were precisely survivors among those who had escaped during Huanyu Shan’s earlier sudden attack.
With a single order from Huanyu Shan, interrogation began on the spot. The one in charge of the interrogation was Qin Fujun.
Huanyu Shan himself did not take part. Instead, he looked worriedly toward the last trace of light at the edge of the night sky. Instead of concentrating their strength on searching for that Ashi Heng, they were only intent on hunting down Xiang Lanxuan. He did not know whether this decision of his was right.
The problem was that heaven and earth were vast. Searching for Ashi Heng without any clues was even more hopeless than searching for Xiang Lanxuan.
Yet from what could be seen so far, becoming the Grand Envoy of the Great Career Office was no simple matter. They had not even found a shadow of those people.
After a little over half an hour, Qin Fujun brought the results of the interrogation. Among those captured, a few who knew something had spoken. They confirmed that Yu Qing and the others had indeed escaped from the Great Career Office. The process of their escape was described clearly as well. They had thrown Xiang Zhen out as a hostage and deceived the people of the Great Career Office, slipping away right under their very noses.
After hearing this, Elder Qu could not help shaking his head. “This Tanhua gentleman really is slippery.”
Qin Fujun asked, “Two Elders, what should we do with these people from the Great Career Office?”
Huanyu Shan glanced at her. “Keeping them alive would only be a burden.” Qin Fujun understood. After a moment of silence, she cupped her hands and withdrew.
When there was no one nearby, Huanyu Shan said, “Junior Brother Qu, if before dawn tomorrow we cannot find that Tanhua gentleman, and if we cannot obtain from him a way to resolve this crisis, and if that demon king truly has the power to slaughter us, then everyone must immediately submit to this realm’s demon king. Even if it means opposing me, that does not matter. Preserve useful lives as much as possible and wait for an opportunity to act. Pass my meaning on to everyone.”
Elder Qu first sighed with emotion and nodded slightly, understanding his intent. But then he froze and asked, “Oppose you? Are you not going to bow to the demon king?”
Huanyu Shan said, “With so many people here, it is impossible for all of us to be frightened by just a few words from him. Someone has to test the demon king’s depth.”
Elder Qu’s throat moved, and he said with difficulty,
“Senior Brother…”
Huanyu Shan raised his hand to stop him. “Do not nag now. We still have one night. Send all our forces out, spread them in a net-like formation, and wait like someone guarding a tree stump for a rabbit. Perhaps we will have a chance encounter with that Tanhua gentleman.”
Elder Qu sighed.
“If the other side deliberately keeps a low profile and moves quietly, with such a large area and only a hundred or so people spread out, the gaps will be too wide. Running into them will probably be very unlikely.”
Huanyu Shan said, “We still have to try.” Elder Qu nodded and went to carry it out.
Afterwards, Huanyu Shan summoned his disciple Yan Yao and ordered him to take two disciples to hide and keep watch near the exit of the immortal abode, waiting for a chance that the cave entrance might open.
At the same time that the Kunling Mountain forces spread out, Yu Qing and the others also decided to set off under cover of night. Their plan had not changed. They intended to go and administer poison to the bee king.
Since the end had not yet come, Yu Qing did not kill Xiang Lanxuan either and decided to take her along as they left.
Of course, it was impossible to release the restriction on Xiang Lanxuan. But relying on her own legs to walk would slow everyone down, so the only option was to carry her on someone’s back.
Since there was a distinction between men and women, this responsibility naturally fell to Baili Xin. They were both women, after all, so carrying her would be more convenient. What was more, Yu Qing and Mu Aotie secretly harbored the intention of wearing Baili Xin down.
But as soon as Xiang Lanxuan came close to Baili Xin, she almost could not endure it. Baili Xin smelled far too terrible. After spending a whole day wrapped in corpse-hair grass, that stench was not something that could fade away in a short time.
Xiang Lanxuan had originally tried to force herself to endure it. But in the end she really could not bear it. Even with her mouth and nose covered, it was unbearable. She had no choice but to flare up. “No, I cannot stand the smell on her body. Have someone else carry me.”
Yu Qing sighed.
“I say, Grand Envoy, this is hardly the time to be fussy. Look, she is also a woman, and she spent the entire day in that foul stench.”
Xiang Lanxuan truly could not bear that smell. If there was a choice, why should she suffer? She waved her hand, signaling Baili Xin to step aside. “Making a woman do this kind of physical work, are you even men? Change to a man. I do not care about those vulgar proprieties. Have a man carry me.”
Seeing that she insisted, Yu Qing could not turn hostile toward her. He waved his hand at Mu Aotie to signal him. “Old Nine, you will have to work hard for a bit.”
Mu Aotie gave a low grunt, immediately walked over to Xiang Lanxuan, and turned his back to her, prepared to serve like an ox or a horse.
Unexpectedly, Xiang Lanxuan pushed him aside again.
“I do not want you.” She raised her index finger and pointed directly at Yu Qing. “You. Do not order someone else around. I find you more agreeable to the eye. You carry me.”
Yu Qing glared. “Grand Envoy, stop making trouble, would you? It is already good enough that someone is willing to carry you. Being this picky is really not interesting.”
For a short distance, it might have been a pleasant task, but carrying a person over a long journey was a miserable job. He had no desire to suffer such hardship. Besides, physical labour had always been Mu Aotie’s job.
Xiang Lanxuan raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean it is not interesting? I simply want to experience what it feels like to be carried by the most talented man under heaven. Is that not allowed? Will you carry me or not?”
At that final sentence, her tone suddenly became fierce.
Baili Xin quietly observed the two who were bickering. Nanzhu chuckled again and again. This was truly a miserable job.
Mu Aotie walked away expressionlessly. He had been rejected. Even if they now relented and let him carry her, he would not do it anymore.
Yu Qing was simply speechless. But when he saw Mu Aotie’s prideful attitude, and also saw Nanzhu waving his hand at him, signaling not to look for him, he gave a scornful sound. He had no choice but to walk over to Xiang Lanxuan and turn his back to her.
Xiang Lanxuan patted his shoulder.
“Why are you just standing there? Lower. Lower. Even lower.”
She kept making Yu Qing squat all the way down before she finally climbed onto his back.