“We will be the better people and leave for now, but don’t be too happy just yet. You won’t be so lucky the next time we meet!” Quan Hui grew slightly braver after seeing that Lu Zhiying had decided to back down.
“Wait!” Lu Zhiying quickly called out upon seeing that the other party was about to leave. “What about Brother Lin? He did nothing wrong, so you can’t just take him with you like that.”
“He did nothing wrong?” Quan Hui’s rage skyrocketed once more. “Do we need to seek your permission to bring back a deserter?”
“We already told you that Brother Lin is not a deserter. Is that too difficult for you to understand?” Lu Zhiying asked.
“Junior Martial Sister Lu!” Gu Qiansi hurriedly held her back.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself!” Quan Hui spoke through gritted teeth.
“Thank you for your concern, but don’t worry about me, Sister Lu,” Lin Xiao interjected at this moment. “I have nothing to hide, so nothing will happen to me even if I have to return to the sect.”
His voice was weak and his face was pale, a testament to how he had yet to fully recover from the exchange with Quan Hui earlier.
Fortunately, he had at least managed to recover enough to on his own by now.
“Since that is the case, then we bid our farewell,” Zhao Yunxiao clasped his fists towards Lin Xiao. “Take care, and may you be safe.”
“Farewell,” Gu Qiansi and Lu Zhiying followed suit.
“Farewell. Thank you for your help today, as well as your valuable insights from last night,” Lin Xiao returned the gesture.
“Still putting up an act? You sure seem to be on close terms for people who have only just met last night!” Quan Hui remarked sarcastically.
“Is it really that surprising that not everyone is as unfriendly as you?” Lu Zhiying asked.
Quan Hui: “...”
After the past few exchanges, she had come to learn that it was best to just ignore Lu Zhiying.
Otherwise, if she were to take each of Lu Zhiying’s words to heart, that would only mean falling into Lu Zhiying’s trap and making herself angry for no good reason!
“Let’s go!” Quan Hui ordered unhappily.
With that, the members of the Vermilion Bird Sect promptly started to leave the scene.
Yet while they were leaving, many of them could not help stealing glances at Wei Yuandi and Lu Zhiying.
Their glances towards Wei Yuandi were naturally those of caution, afraid that the latter would suddenly make a move when their backs were turned. They could not help but have the feeling that someone as ruthless as Wei Yuandi would have no qualms about doing something like that.
As for those towards Lu Zhiying, they were a mix of admiration and anger. Even though they were angered that Lu Zhiying had spoken so frivolously towards their respected senior martial sister, they could not help but admire her for her extraordinary beauty as well.
They were not able to take a good look at her earlier. But now that the fight had ended, Lu Zhiying’s beauty truly shone through despite her dishevelled state.
In response to their gazes, Lu Zhiying even smiled back at them with a face that was dotted with droplets of blood, looking like an enchanting devil.
This caused some members of the Vermilion Bird Sect to slow down their steps while leaving, only to be quickly ushered along by those who had a stronger will.
If not for the latter, who knew how long it would have taken for all the members of the Vermilion Bird Sect to clear out of the area?
Nevertheless, Zhao Yunxiao could not help but let out a sigh of relief as he saw the group disappear one by one.
They had managed to pull through in the end, but things had looked extremely bad at one point.
Next time, he definitely had to be more careful with how he handled things!
“Are you the ones who set up the network of arrays and alerts in the area?” Wei Yuandi’s voice caused both Zhao Yunxiao and Gu Qiansi to stiffen a little.
“That’s right, Senior Martial Brother Wei,” Zhao Yunxiao tried to appear confident without sounding like he was sucking up to Wei Yuandi.
He knew enough about Wei Yuandi to know that the latter had never taken kindly to people who tried to suck up to him.
Should he try to do so, it would only end up yielding the opposite result.
“Decently done,” Wei Yuandi commented, catching Zhao Yunxiao by surprise with the sudden compliment.
However, Zhao Yunxiao could not bring himself to be happy.
“You are too kind, Senior Martial Brother Wei,” Zhao Yunxiao answered wryly. “Just looking at what happened today, it’s obvious that it still has a ways to go before it can be considered decent...”
Zhao Yunxiao was not just being humble, either.
The fact was that, despite their hard work, this extensive network of alerts and arrays still proved inadequate.
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The moment the members of the Vermilion Bird Sect realised its existence, there would be nothing preventing them from completely ripping it apart.
On top of that, the alerts did not even manage to capture Wei Yuandi coming into range.
That was the reason why everyone, including Zhao Yunxiao, had been caught by surprise by Wei Yuandi’s sudden appearance earlier.
Considering all that, how could Zhao Yunxiao still feel proud of his work?
“Leave when you are done with your business here,” Wei Yuandi did not choose to console him. “Stop looking for trouble out in the wilds. You might not get lucky again next time.”
“Understood. We will be leaving soon,” Zhao Yunxiao clasped his fists towards Wei Yuandi. “Thank you for the help today, Senior Martial Brother Wei.”
“With all due respect, we were not looking for trouble, Senior Martial Brother Wei,” Lu Zhiying added. “We came first, and those people came after. If anything, shouldn’t you be telling them not to look for trouble instead?”
“Junior Martial Sister Lu!” Gu Qiansi quickly held her back.
“Yes, yes...” Lu Zhiying shrugged.
Wei Yuandi swept his glance across the group, his gaze lingering for a second longer on Lu Zhiying.
Thankfully, he did not seem to have taken her frivolous attitude to heart. Instead, he wordlessly turned his horse around to leave.
In the end, he left as suddenly as he came.
Just like that, the three of them were the only ones left in the forest clearing once again.
“Senior Martial Brother Wei is right. Let’s leave soon,” Zhao Yunxiao said. “Who knows if that crazy woman from the Vermilion Bird Sect will change her mind and return?”
“Mm, let’s do that,” Gu Qiansi agreed. “On a side note, don’t you think Senior Martial Brother Wei was a little too aggressive there? Who knows how the Vermilion Bird Sect would respond to this in the future?”
“I think that he’s pretty cool, though!” Zhao Yunxiao replied. “He definitely showed that crazy woman who’s boss!”
“There is no need to be unreasonable just because the other party is being unreasonable. Stooping to their level is not the proper way to handle things,” Gu Qiansi remarked. “Don’t you agree, Junior Martial Sister Lu?”
“Hmm, I’m not sure if I understand,” Lu Zhiying rubbed her chin in contemplation. “In fact, I was still a little disappointed that he didn’t go a step further to beat them up. After all, they did rough us up quite a bit back there!”
“Yeah, he saved us from those bullies from the Vermilion Bird Sect,” Zhao Yunxiao added. “I definitely appreciate his firm stance.”
“...It’s not like I don’t appreciate his help,” Gu Qiansi explained. “However, the way he handled it was too fierce and condescending. It is no wonder why nobody likes him. I don’t think I can ever be friends with him in the future, either. I would be far too afraid of his reaction to even speak my mind.”
“Hahaha, you definitely don’t have to worry about that!” Zhao Yunxiao burst into laughter. “Even if you get on your knees to beg him, I doubt Senior Martial Brother Wei will deign to befriend you anyway!”
Gu Qiansi: “...”
She suddenly regretted discussing her inner thoughts with them.
***
For safety reasons, the group did not dally further.
Zhao Yunxiao first applied some basic first aid to everyone, before they started to quickly dismantle the extensive network of alerts and arrays that they had set up in the area.
The encounter with the members of the Vermilion Bird Sect had been unexpected, but Zhao Yunxiao was still rather satisfied with the information that they had gathered from this trip to the Red Forest.
At the very least, he felt that they had gotten whatever information they could possibly gather here.
Next, it was up to him to think about the next set of experiments to investigate the Heaven’s Descent Bowl.
Since they were already done with their sect mission, there was no longer a need for them to return to Moonrise City.
Instead, they headed straight back to Purple Plum Mountain.
Thankfully, the appearance of Wei Yuandi had stopped the members of the Vermilion Bird Sect from dismantling their arrays earlier.
This meant that their horses had remained hidden and unharmed, all ready to make the journey back to the mountain.
The Red Forest might be in a secluded location away from all main routes, but it was still not too far away from Purple Plum Mountain.
Leaving early in the morning, the group managed to arrive at Black Tortoise Inn by evening the same day.
Next came the administrative matters – returning their horses at the Black Tortoise Inn before heading up the mountain where they reported the completion of the sect mission.
With that, the corresponding sect points were distributed among the three.
“Sect points!” Lu Zhiying exclaimed in excitement.
Having just joined a month ago, Lu Zhiying had yet to receive any sect points for anything. Even her sect job at the Herb Gardens would only yield her sect points in the following month.
Therefore, these were her very first sect points!
At this moment, Lu Zhiying finally felt like a proper member of the Black Tortoise Sect!
“This is just the first step. There will be more to come,” Gu Qiansi smiled while patting her on the head.
“For sure,” Lu Zhiying nodded in determination. “Much, much more!”
“Thanks for the help, Senior Martial Brother Qi!” Zhao Yunxiao thanked Qi Jiesheng, the duty disciple who was responsible for handling his mission completion request.
“Just doing my job,” Qi Jiesheng brushed it off lightly. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll see you at the Monolith Square tomorrow.”
“Monolith Square?” Zhao Yunxiao raised an eyebrow. “Where is that? Is there something happening tomorrow?”
He had been part of the sect for more than ten years, but he had never heard of this Monolith Square!
“Oh, did you come here straight after returning to the sect?” Qi Jiesheng immediately understood. “If you had gone back to your residence first, you would have seen a notice about this. Just two days ago, the sect administrators announced that the monthly cultivation lectures would no longer be held in the sect library, but out in the open instead. This will ensure that all outer disciples will be able to attend in person. This open location is a newly furbished spot, which they had named the Monolith Square.”
Zhao Yunxiao and Gu Qiansi subconsciously turned to look at Lu Zhiying.
The sect suddenly changed the format of the monthly cultivation lecture to accommodate all disciples?
Was that not what Lu Zhiying had suggested to Elder Mo Tianfeng in the previous lecture?
Back then, he did say that he would take note of her feedback and pass it on to the planning team, but most had treated it as perfunctory words meant to appease a troublesome junior.
Who knew that he would really take that suggestion and turn it into reality?
In a way, it could even be said that Lu Zhiying was the main reason behind the new format of the monthly cultivation lecture.
This was an unimaginably huge impact for a new disciple who had only joined the sect for just over a month!
“May I know where this Monolith Square is, Senior Martial Brother Qi?” Zhao Yunxiao asked. “I’d like to go take a look, if possible.”
Indeed, it was not enough to just hear about it.
He wanted to confirm this with his own two eyes.
After all, one of the reasons behind his decision to work as a sect librarian was for preferential access to all monthly cultivation lectures.
If the format had truly changed to accommodate all disciples, it might be high time for him to start reassessing his options!