After imagining the fall of his greatest rival, Yang Wu Huang was in an especially good mood when they finally reached the area that they were supposed to search. He landed, and turned around to the others with a smile, even nodding at the two junior martial brothers and praising them for doing a good job with taking care of Yun Bei Fen and Kui Min.
"Now, we finally reached the region that we’re supposed to search. I’m sure that whether you were in my group or the other one, you’ve already found your own task to do. So I don’t want to waste too many words now. Let’s just start searching bit by bit and hope that we will soon be able to find something.
"If you discover something, immediately alert everyone so we can take a closer look. If you have any questions, you can always speak up as well. That is especially so for junior martial brother Yun and the junior martial sister Kui and junior martial sister Yi. I know the three of you are a little younger and don’t have much experience. Don’t worry about it. We are acting as a group so we can make up for each other’s shortcomings. So if there’s something you don’t know, it is not a shame to speak up. This is also a learning experience for you."
Yi Ju looked at him with an insipid expression. It was very nice to say such things but it wasn’t like he was really doing anything to help them. Not like Mei Chao Bing who had discussed with them what their strengths were and then giving them other options when they realized that they didn’t really have any. Now, Yang Wu Huang was just profiting off what Mei Chao Bing had done before. That really was vexing.
To be honest, Yang Wu Huang’s current actions weren’t that bad but after everything the others had gone through with both him and Mei Chao Bing, everything he did would just look worse. He really was in a bad situation in that regard.
Ao Jing, Di Huan Bo, and the two junior martial brothers immediately nodded though and acknowledged his words as if they were truly wise and something they had never heard before. Clearly, while the others were partial toward Mei Chao Bing, they were partial to Yang Wu Huang. With this group, it really was difficult to work together.
After having made this rousing speech, Yang Wu Huang turned around and then used his spiritual sense to probe the place around them. This time, he wasn’t trying to pull any stunts. No, this time, he was out to dazzle Yun Bei Fen with his knowledge and experience.
In any case, didn’t this little junior believe that Mei Chao Bing was especially strong? Well, he’d showed him that he wasn’t lacking behind in the least! They were both at the same level. Maybe Mei Chao Bing had reached it a few years before him, but that didn’t mean that he was that much ahead of him. In any case, the core formation stage was still the core formation stage. Before either of them reached the nascent soul stage, there really was no way to say who was better than the other. Only by then would there be a real qualitative difference between what they were doing. Now, the difference wasn’t that big.
In any case, somebody who promoted early would likely just do so because they had an unstable foundation. Who knew what kind of means Mei Chao Bing had used to raise his level? Maybe that had just been his way of making up for what his Master had done and trying to keep himself important in the sect. But, that wouldn’t get him anywhere. It would just mean that he was stuck in the core formation stage for a long time because he needed to make up for his previous impatience. On the other hand, he who had taken his time to reach the core formation and not used any dishonorable means would be able to advance much more smoothly. Yes, soon enough, he would leave Mei Chao Bing far behind. By that time, the difference between them would be much too obvious.
Yun Bei Fen actually did the same thing as Yang Wu Huang and used his spiritual sense in the way that Mei Chao Bing had taught him to try and find out something about the place where they were at. Unfortunately, there really wasn’t anything to notice. Compared to the place that they had searched before, there wasn’t the slightest fluctuation of spiritual energy. This whole place seemed to be completely dead.
Even Xiao Hui didn’t move the slightest bit when he put him down on the ground. Most likely, there weren’t any herbs either. Well, it wasn’t a wonder. If there was no spiritual energy, then how could a spiritual plant grow? On the route that they had used to travel to the other sects, there had still been at least a little bit since it had been the outermost corner of the border region. Now, they were much further inside. Here, there really wasn’t much energy left over. It definitely wasn’t enough to support the growth of a spiritual plant.
Yun Bei Fen pursed his lips and picked Xiao Hui back up. Even though Mei Chao Bing had told him to let the spiritual beast run around a little on its own, he didn’t feel like it was a good idea to do so in the border region while they were investigating something. If anything happened, who could say for sure that he would be able to pick up Xiao Hui in time and flee with it? And that was what he was supposed to do, right? He should just flee. That was what Mei Chao Bing had always stressed to him because he didn’t know how to defend himself or attack anyone. So there really wasn’t much that he could do. He just needed to be fast.
Nodding to himself, Yun Bei Fen held Xiao Hui with one hand and his sword with the other, making sure that in the case of an emergency, he would be able to hop onto it right away and fly off. Thinking about it, he even went to Kui Min and Yu Ju, telling the two of them that they should do the same thing.
The two girls exchanged a glance, then looked at Yang Wu Huang’s back, and decided that Yun Bei Fen’s reminder was quite worthwhile. With somebody leading them that they couldn’t trust, it was definitely much better to be prepared for the worst case. That way, they might at least be able to save their own hide and not get into as much trouble as the last time when Yang Wu Huang’s group was attacked.
