“I still don’t understand how you two are always able to find trouble so easily.” Wan Qing said somewhat annoyed.
“It’s like a curse.” Bing replied as he dug into his meal. “Me and Lei are probably one of the nicest cultivators in the world but everyone just wants to find trouble with us.” He complained.
“Since I can’t think of a reason of my own, sure. Let’s go with that.” She sighed.
“Most cultivators enjoy messing with people that look weak to them. They are easier to bully and push around, making them feel powerful. It is also accepted that this is the normal behavior for cultivators, to bully the weak.” Lei Zhi shared. This understanding came from his goal of reforming youths.
“And you two don’t look anything but weak.” Wan Qing shared without restraint.
“There’s strength in weakness, you know?” Bing spoke while in the middle of eating. “I’ve gotten away with more than a few victories because the person I was fighting was looking down on me.” He explained.
“I as well.” Lei agreed with his statement.
“No one I ever fought went easy on me. How lucky for you two.” Wan Qing wasn’t really jealous.
She wasn’t fine with those that chose to mock her for her decision in becoming a woman but being seen as weak in a world like this was not something the normal person could accept. Unless you were a mortal who had no reason to climb the stairs of immortality, weakness was something you sought to eliminate immediately. Strength was everything. No one would be able to judge you if you had the bigger fist. That was how Wan Qing prospered in the Golden Serpent Sect for so long. By defeating or killing those that refused to accept her way of life, more and more people had to accept her for who she was. At least to her face that was.
“Have you found out what our man did to be wanted by so many people?” Bing asked. “All we know is that he may have led the Emerald Grass Slaying Sect’s daughter astray somehow.”
“I got some bits and pieces.” Qing said.
“Did the Sect Leader not approve of their love?” Lei chuckled.
“All I could find out through my butterflies was that Xun caused some kind of disturbance for his daughter. They aren’t inside the city at all from what I'm seeing now. The soldiers believe that he slipped out into the forest and is hiding out there.” Qing shared.
“So, we got to go to the forest?” Bing asked.
“Yes. Unless there’s a part of this city that’s hidden underground where my butterflies can’t get to.”
“Then let’s get ready to go. It’ll be a lot easier to search inside the forest.” Lei left the coins for his tea and stood up.
“It’ll be less annoying for sure.” Qing agreed.
“And it’s still morning so, we got plenty of time to return before it gets dark.” Bing wasn’t looking forward to camping out in the middle of the woods.
“If we’re lucky, we can grab him and then fly back to the sect before night.” Lei optimistically smiled.
“With how simple you two keep trying to make this, it only makes me think that nothing is going to go right and we can forget about ever returning with the man.” Qing sighed.
“Ah, Qing. Don’t be mistaken. We aren’t underestimating the danger of this task, if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s just that we believe this task was made just for us. All we have to do is save one man. Something that should be easy with our skills.” Lei Zhi reassured her.
“I see...” Wan Qing was dubious of his claims but knew that Lei Zhi wasn’t the type to lie.
The three of them walked out of the shop after paying for their drinks and meals. Ni Xong and Quon were left inside Ying’s Void World. It turns out that the conditions inside is very beneficial to their growth. By the time they return, they should look completely different to Lei Zhi and Wan Qing. There wasn’t any special reason to why they were left behind. Jing didn’t specifically order only them to go on the task. They could’ve brought their pets if they wanted.
Heaven’s Angels had no problem leaving the city and entering the west side of the Immortal Forest. From what Wan Qing’s butterflies could gleam, the soldiers would soon begin searching the forest once they get the go ahead by the Emerald Grass Slaying Sect. She now used those hundreds of butterflies to fly through the forest in search for Xun. Lei Zhi helped out in the search by searching every single object within a 360-degree radius around him. Bing’s talents didn’t lie in searching so, he didn’t have much to do.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“I found them.” Qing suddenly stopped, nearly causing Bing to trip and fall onto her.
She pushed him back onto his feet and opened up her giant fan. With a toss into the air, it began hovering above the ground. Bing and Lei followed after her example and brought out their clouds. They followed after Qing flying on top of her fan into a deep giant ravine. It took them half an hour before they could reach the bottom but they finally saw what they came here for.
A boy, a girl, a white tiger cub, and a small child. Heaven’s Angels immediately swept into action as if they planned on doing this ever since the start. Lei’s fishing rod hooked the boy by the back of his shirt and dragged him towards his cloud. The boy was unable to resist the pull of the pink fishing rod and could only accept being dragged through the air. Once the boy was close enough, Lei stabbed his needle into the boy’s neck, instantly subduing him and putting him to sleep on his cloud. Wan Qing formed a smaller fan from out of her giant one and swung it in the direction of the other 3.
This wind blasted them backwards up to the forest but as they were about to leave, the small child looked at them leaving while holding on to the girl’s hand and screeched. An unbelievably number of spikes made out of qi shot towards them. Qing only gave a small smirk as she saw the sight. With a casual wave of her fan, an enormous gust of wind turned the spikes right around with even more speed than before. The white tiger cub suddenly grew into a full-sized adult tiger and pounced straight towards them with impressive speed, clawing straight through the powerful wind.
Bing stopped the beast from reaching Lei Zhi with his shield. It dug its claws around his shield to keep itself from falling down, forcing Bing to grow multiple arms to grab onto the beast while using his shield to stop it from biting into his neck. His arms grew multiple mouths with sharp knife-like teeth that stuck out with an even sharper tongue that pierced into the skin of the tiger, sucking its flesh. But then Bing suddenly stopped! This could be that guy’s pet! He’d feel kind of bad if he killed the guy’s pet when he hasn’t even done anything wrong to him. So, Bing just used his multiple arms to rip the tiger off his shield and gently restrain it with his hands.
As they reached the Immortal Forest again, the pair they believed they left down in the ravine suddenly appeared on the cliff as soon as they arrived! The demonic little child reached forward with their hand that transformed into a huge red-skinned claw that wanted to squeeze Lei Zhi into a blood puddle! Bing could only put on an embarrassed smile as the white tiger trapped by him was cutely meowing for help. They really did look like the bad guys here.
“You! I know you people! You’re allied with Hu Tao!” Meili shouted.
“Being known for our relationship with Hu Tao can’t be good...” Bing groaned.
“He is very problematic.” Lei could only helplessly smile as well while having his cloud fly straight down to dodge the claw.
“What of it?” Wan Qing arrogantly asked.
“Despicable villains like yourselves deserve to be killed! How could you call yourselves human by allying with that scum?! Don’t you feel any shame!?” She berated.
“Listen. We’re not going to hurt your little boyfriend. All we’re going to do is bring him back to the sect. So, there’s no need to try and insult us.” Wan Qing spoke back.
“Liars! Ming Ming, kill them all!” Meili ordered to the small child.
“Die!!!” They screamed as a particularly foul type of qi exploded from them.
Qing only rolled her eyes as she controlled the wind around them and blasted them off into the sky, leaving the duo by themselves. As they flew above the clouds, they suddenly met with a strange figure floating ahead of them. They couldn’t see if it was a man or woman from this distance but they could feel a terrifying aura from them. All three of the angels stopped dead in their tracks.
“Only Earthly Immortals can fly...” Bing muttered.
“This boy can’t possibly have an Earthly Immortal after his life, can he?” Lei Zhi questioned.
“Of course, it’s not an Earthly Immortal. It’s probably some cultivator with a spirit tool that lets him fly just like us.” Wan Qing scoffed. “But... on the slight chance that it is an Earthly Immortal, prepare to rip that talisman that Jing gave us.” She advised as they slowly started to fly backwards and in a completely different direction from the man.
“Ah. Don’t try and leave just yet children. I don’t look that scary, do I?” The figure in the distance suddenly arrived right in front of them.
Bing and Lei Zhi immediately ripped their talismans and as it burned into purple flames, Jing arrived in its place.
“For you to rip something as priceless as that, this must be quite the emergency...” She muttered as she instantly took in the situation. ‘An Earthly Immortal? Before the Treasured Plains, I could barely handle a 5th stage spirit beast at the Core Stage. Let’s see if my training has improved to the next level since then.’ She showed a small smile as she tossed talismans onto Bing, Wan, Lei, Xun, and the tiger. They disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Jing all alone with the big bad immortal.
[Mission available for host!]
[Survive!]
[Rewards: SCP-999, Infinite supply of a random brand of candy, 1 legendary ticket.]
[Failure Penalty: Soul extraction, Death, possibly removement of the Gacha System.]