“Really?” Fei Weng narrowed his eyes at Deacon Que. “You are saying that one of them found an old comrade’s remains encased in black ice in the Blacksnow Tundra, so they are seeking to bring it back to honour their old comrade? Not just that, but they got attacked by strange skeletons while trying to do so, and are refusing to give up since they prioritise their companions over personal achievements within the mystic realm?”

As the words slowly escaped his mouth, Fei Weng could not help but scoff in his heart.

Deacon Que had pulled him aside to speak in private, so he had thought that the former would be mentioning some important secrets.

Who knew that he would just end up spouting a load of crap?

Did this Deacon Que really think that this would be a believable story?

“Shh! Not so loud!” Deacon Que hushed him quickly. “Those kids don’t want the old comrade’s cultivation partner to hear of it before they can confirm their success!”

Fei Weng rolled his eyes in response.

As if that was the real reason.

“I am not going to spend my budget on something like this,” Fei Weng was straightforward about it. “If you really want to help them, you would need to fund the necessary expenses, and this includes a service charge as well since we would essentially be doing extra work for you. Oh, and you would have to pay upfront. I don’t want to risk dealing with debtors.”

Regardless of the truth, if the deacon truly wanted to help these participants, Fei Weng did not mind getting the observer team to translate that intent into action as long as it was not too much trouble.

However, Fei Weng was definitely not intending to use the spirit stones that had been allocated to him for such private requests, especially when he was not even being told the full story!

“This isn’t my first time, so I understand that at least,” Deacon Que nodded. “But can’t you try to claim this expenditure under necessary expenses? After all, the kids are trying to do this for a good cause!”

“Not a chance. Rules are rules,” Fei Weng shut him down immediately.

“But still, it is all for the sake of their comrade. Doesn’t the sect teach us abou-”

“I am busy right now. If you want to continue wasting my tim-”

“Fine, I will fund it!” Deacon Que finally said through gritted teeth.

He might not know what exactly Nuo Qianling’s party had found, but he decided that it was worth gambling on it for once.

If it turned out to be something valuable enough, this could even have a significant impact on his position within the Wei Faction!

“Then that’s fine. Tell me what you want to let them know, and I will get my team to pass on the message,” Fei Weng said.

“This...” Deacon Que let out an awkward smile. “I was hoping that Brother Fei would be able to advise on the next steps instead.”

“By ‘Brother Fei’, are you referring to me?” Fei Weng felt the corner of his lips twitch. “Are you being serious right now?”

Not only did Deacon Que decide to hide the real story from him, but he also wanted him to come up with a solution for this imaginary situation?

“As the deacon who has been in charge of the observers for years, I’m sure Brother Fei would have some decent ideas on how to handle the current situation!” Deacon Que said shamelessly.

Huu-!

Fei Weng let out a deep breath to calm himself down.

Indeed, he had some impression of participants coming across black ice or skeletal enemies in previous years. But as the deacon in charge of the entire observer team, his focus had always been on whether the participants were able to handle the situation.

If they could, then all’s good.

If they could not, then he would step in to give them a caution or two, including asking them to directly pull out of the Four Symbols Mystic Realm.

How would he have the time to study ways of helping the participants defeat their opponents or uncover greater treasures?

But at this moment, he suddenly recalled how Zhao Yunxiao had handled the Mo Group’s situation earlier.

While doing so, Zhao Yunxiao seemed to have a good grasp on the participants’ means and abilities, using this knowledge to help them escape their enemies and avoid detection within the Trident Lake.

This was not something that could be done without in-depth research on both the participants and the Four Symbols Mystic Realm!

If it was about how to handle the Wei Group’s current predicament in Blacksnow Tundra, perhaps Zhao Yunxiao would have an idea?

“It looks like Brother Fei has thought of something?” Deacon Que asked.

He could see that the latter had been contemplating the matter, and seemed to have arrived at some sort of answer.

“It’s not like I don’t have any ideas, but how would it be fair if I were to give tailored advice to Nuo Qianling’s party while ignoring the others? If word got out about this, then my reputation would surely be affected!” Fei Weng shook his head.

“This...” Deacon Que asked while carefully observing Fei Weng’s expression. “Could there be another way to do this then?”

“It is not that there are no other ways,” Fei Weng replied. “If you are willing to take the risk, I can get my observer to provide some small tips to the group. He has been a member of the observer team for a few years now, so he has a rather good understanding of the mystic realm. But as I said, you will be the one bearing all the risk if you choose to do this. In no way would I, or my observer, be liable for any consequences that arise as a result!”

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Deal!” Deacon Que agreed immediately.

At this stage, any form of help would still be better than none!

After confirming the payment amount and solidifying the agreement with a handshake, Fei Weng parted ways with Deacon Que and walked over to Zhao Yunxiao.

“Listen, Little Zhao. I have a business offer for you...” Fei Weng casually stood beside Zhao Yunxiao while telling him the story through voice transmission.

As Zhao Yunxiao listened on, he could not help but feel mixed emotions.

Due to the sheer importance of this event, it was not surprising that every inner sect faction would try their best to secure the best benefits for their representatives. Therefore, there would always be private requests to look out for certain participants.

However, these requests were both a boon and a bane.

These requests would usually only be entertained after the more pressing matters had been dealt with, so as to ensure that they did not directly affect their official duties. Therefore, they could be considered just another source of benefits for observers.

But at the same time, entertaining such requests would naturally come with a risk of offending others, especially when the participants whom they tried to help still ended up not doing well. Of course, most people would understand that it was not the fault of the observers, but there would occasionally be some unreasonable ones as well.

To minimise such incidents, Fei Weng would always act as the first line of vetting and filter out any unreasonable requests. However, what Fei Weng believed was feasible might not always align with the observers’ thoughts.

Therefore, Fei Weng would still seek the observers’ opinion on whether they were confident of following through, especially when the request did not sound too straightforward.

The current request from Deacon Que was one such example.

Blacksnow Tundra...

Indestructible black ice encasement...

Relentless grey skeletons with a red light in their eyes...

Zhao Yunxiao quickly went through the information in his mind, trying to recall anything relevant.

“We both know that the story is complete bullshit, but I’m sure you also understand that our focus isn’t on that. More importantly, are you confident of providing some assistance? If not, I will go turn it down,” Fei Weng continued.

Zhao Yunxiao took a quick glance at the jade tablets under his watch.

Apart from Nuo Qianling’s party, the rest of the participants appeared to be in a stable state at the moment, which meant that he had some extra capacity for now.

“I can try to provide some information, but nothing concrete. Would that be all right?” Zhao Yunxiao asked.

“That’s all you need to do,” Fei Weng nodded before taking on a solemn expression. “Temporary control granted with regards to Nuo Qianling’s party, considering the precarious situation that they are in at the moment.”

As long as Zhao Yunxiao could provide any form of value-add whatsoever, that would be more than enough for him to prevent Deacon Que from asking for a refund!

“Understood,” Zhao Yunxiao replied in a tone that was just as serious. “Taking temporary control.”

Not far away, Deacon Que’s eyes shone with a determined light.

He could only hope that this decision would turn out to be worth the trouble!

***

Knee-deep in black snow, Nuo Qianling’s party continued to face off against the dozens of grey skeletons.

The howling of the heavy snowstorm might have drowned out the sounds of battle, but it did little to stop the conflict.

“What the hell, they just keep coming!”

“What should we do? At this rate, we would all be forced to exit as well!”

“Damn it!” Nuo Qianling cursed under her breath.

As much as she hated to admit it, her party members were right.

These strange skeletons might not be exceptionally strong, but they were incredibly tenacious. As the battle dragged on, the party members’ energy reserves had slowly begun to deplete, causing them to struggle against these lesser opponents.

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before the rest of them followed in Shu Yifei’s footsteps and were forced to exit one after another!

Did they really have no choice but to give up on the wooden sword?

Three long months of shamelessly begging and pleasing others just to get the information that they needed – all that hardwork was what finally allowed them to make this exciting discovery.

No, that’s not exactly it either. Even considering how they had been armed with that knowledge, this was still an extremely fortunate result.

Therefore, she was truly unwilling to give up just like that!

As for retreating first and coming back for the sword later, that did not seem like a viable option either.

They had already tried backing off a little, but these skeletons continued to chase after them in a relentless manner.

After retreating a good distance, they finally came to the conclusion that these skeletons would not be giving up anytime soon, or at least not until they left the borders of Blacksnow Tundra.

And even if they truly retreated all the way out of Blacksnow Tundra, whether these skeletons would really stop their pursuit then was still uncertain.

That said, they could not afford to retreat that far either.

Not only would the disorientating environment make it difficult for them to return to the exact spot where the wooden sword was located, but battling across long distances could also draw the attention of other participants in the vicinity.

The worst-case scenario would be for other participants to dive in and take away the wooden sword while they were busy luring the skeletons away.

Simply thinking about this possibility made her blood boil in indignation!

Still, considering the current situation that they were in, perhaps she had no other choice.

Just as Nuo Qianling was starting to resign herself to her fate, she suddenly heard a message come through from the sect administrators.

[Zhuang Chan, execute the Spiralhorn War Tune. Everyone else, quickly set up a defensive perimeter and protect Zhuang Chan at all costs.]

Nuo Qianling’s eyes lit up in an instant.

“Junior Martial Sister Zhuang, Spiralhorn War Tune!” Nuo Qianling shouted. “Everyone else, defensive formations on her!”

She did not know if everyone else heard the message from the sect administrators, but that did not matter.

Every second mattered in combat.

Rather than wasting precious time on asking them one by one, she might as well just make sure that everyone understood the plan by immediately repeating it aloud!