The three of them went over and Mei Chao Bing and Song Mu stood back while Xi Ju Hai explained to Zhi Guan on the other disciples what they had found.
When she showed them the map that she had drawn of the path they had taken and then the one she had made of what she suspected the other path to look like, the disciple of the Zhen Yan Sect took out the map he himself had made and raised his brows. "It’s the same. Putting your path and ours together, it really fits in the bigger shape of the array. I’m afraid she’s right." He turned to glance at Zhi Guan and then the other disciples from his sect.
The one in charge of them nodded. "Yes, I think so too. The other things you found make sense as well. Martial brother Zhi, what is your opinion?"
Zhi Guan slightly furrowed his brows. From what he had been presented with … "It looks like it is true. And this should also be the kind of thing the demonic practitioners would do. There are many advantages and hardly any disadvantages."
One of the other disciples couldn’t help but step forward, leaning closer to Zhi Guan. "Considering that it would have been younger disciples and not those like us with more experience, this probably wouldn’t even have been discovered. Never mind that most wouldn’t have been able to restore the original array, most likely, they wouldn’t have been able to figure this out even if they managed to come here. Which would leave us with a false sense of security."
Mei Chao Bing glanced at him, pondering for a moment. This guy seemed pretty familiar. It had been a few years since he saw him but if he wasn’t wrong, this should be Shen Lei. He was the direct disciple of one of the Teng Yong Sect’s Elders and — if he remembered correctly — he was also the lover of Yun Bei Fen’s third senior martial brother.
Was it a coincidence that these two were working together right now? He didn’t know too much about Elder Baili’s other disciples but from what his little bunny had said, they were quite close. It could very well be that their partners would also become part of this rather tightly-knit group.
Shen Lei noticed a gaze on him and turned around, slightly furrowing his brows at Mei Chao Bing. Usually, when men stared at him like this, there was only one reason: they were interested in his lover. Naturally, he wouldn’t let anyone steal him away. Right now wasn’t the moment to care about something like that though. Thus, he just shelved the thought for later, and turned back to Zhi Guan, waiting for what he had to say.
Yun Bei Fen’s first senior martial brother slowly nodded at Shen Lei’s previous words. "Yes, what you say makes sense. I guess what would be left would be to find from where exactly they are pouring the spiritual energy into the array. That place should probably be somewhere in these caves."
The leading disciple of the Zhen Yan Sect raised her brows. "Should we go and search for it together?" She felt that this other group was quite good. Even though they were just three people, they had actually managed to figure something like this out. Clearly, they would be a helpful addition to their group. And with three more disciples, their safety would also be guaranteed a little more even if they stumbled upon something that the demonic practitioners wanted to keep secret at all costs.
Zhi Guan was of a similar opinion. "Yes, we should do so. We should still send somebody back to inform the Elders. This is something that they need to be informed of as fast as possible. This information might even need to be sent back to the sects." He looked at her questioningly, wondering if both of them should send somebody.
The disciple looked between the other four members of her team, a little unsure. Five people weren’t much. And they had only one person that was knowledgeable about formations. Another one was a refiner that was skilled with herbs and knew a few healing spells so they couldn’t send her either. That only left two people.
Zhi Guan had a similar problem. He had only taken three disciples from the Teng Yong Sect and even adding in the other three that would now join them, he had a hard time deciding. The three that had originally found out about this matter probably shouldn’t be sent back. Even though they would be able to explain best, they had proven to be especially resourceful here. He didn’t want to risk losing out on that. At the same time, he didn’t really want to send back Shen Lei since they had worked together before and definitely had the best cooperation. Then Liu Bao Ru had been taken along by Elder Xing before so he felt like it wouldn’t be right to send her back. In the end, he could only turn to the last disciple and ask him to take over this task.
Xi Ju Hai made a copy of the map she had drawn and handed it over to the disciple. The disciples of the Zhen Yan Sect finally decided as well and copied their map as well. Finally, the two disciples left together.
Zhi Guan turned to the others and looked at the map in his hands. "Alright. Then, we should start to check for that place. Do you have any guess where it might be?"
Xi Ju Hai slightly furrowed her brows and the disciple of the Zhen Yan Sect did the same.
"It should be at a place that makes it easy to distribute the energy throughout the array at the fastest speed possible."
The disciple of the Zhen Yan Sect nodded. "A point in the middle would probably work best for that. Alternatively, maybe something at the outer edge since the shape is simple there and it could be split up as soon as it reaches the next knot."
"You’re right. I think the middle would still be the better place. So we should probably check there first." Xi Ju Hai turned to Zhi Guan, waiting for his evaluation.
Naturally, he wouldn’t say no. If the two disciples that were familiar with this were both saying that it would be best to check that place first, then they would do that. "Let’s go then." He motioned forward, letting the two of them take the lead.
