Yuan Lei gave a yelp of surprise and immediately stopped. The others all looked over. He wasn’t quite sure what to say to himself but finally cleared his throat and motioned at the ground. "It seems that there is an empty space below the ground."
Yang Wu Huang furrowed his brows and came over, followed by Ao Jing and Di Huan Bo who didn’t look happy at all at having been distracted. It really made one wonder what the three of them had discussed.
The two junior martial brothers also got up from where they had been squatting and rushed over, looking at the spot in front of Yuan Lei.
Yun Bei Fen and the three martial sisters exchanged glances before they got up and finally went over. In any case, it was still best to take a look. If they weren’t needed, they could still return to what they had been doing.
Yuan Lei didn’t quite know how to explain further and just waited for the others to take a look before recounting what had happened. "I was drilling a small hole to see if there was any difference below, and finally, I just hit air."
Yang Wu Huang slightly raised his brows, looking at the hole that Yuan Lei had drilled. He really wasn’t happy that the one to find something had been Yuan Lei of all people. But in any case, it was still good that a person that was currently in his group had done this. When he went to tell the Elders about this, it would still count somewhat as his achievement. "Well, it seems that it was the right decision not to return immediately. Now, we have already discovered a major lead. We should go and figure out what kind of empty space this is."
Yuan Lei furrowed his brows. "Senior martial brother Yang, I don’t want to repeat myself, but since we have discovered something else, wouldn’t it be best to return this place to how it was before and then go back to the camp? We don’t know what is beneath this. If we casually go ahead with investigating this while it gets darker, we might indeed be struck right here. Then what? If the demonic practitioners come back …" He shook his head, not even wanting to imagine that.
Yang Wu Huang furrowed his brows. "Junior martial brother Yuan, if I didn’t know any better, I might actually think that you have something against me. Why is it that no matter what I say, you will always be against it?"
Yuan Lei also furrowed his brows response. "It is not that I’m against you, senior martial brother Yang. I just doubt that this decision is the right one."
"Well, would you doubt it just as much if it was somebody else leading this group? Maybe you want me to pass my position on to somebody else instead? Then who do you suggest?"
Yuan Lei’s brows furrowed even further. Speaking of who should have the leadership position, the ones with the next highest cultivation level would be Ao Jing and him. If he said that he had nothing against Yang Wu Huang, then he also shouldn’t require him to resign from this position. Even if he did resign, it might still be troublesome because if it would be Ao Jing who took over he would still just do what Yang Wu Huang would do, or he would have to take up the mantle himself and who knew if these three wouldn’t try to pit him? He just couldn’t be sure that this would work out well.
Yuan Lei pressed his lips together, absolutely not happy about what was happening. Unfortunately, he also couldn’t see a way out of this. "Well, if you insist on doing it this way, then I can hardly stop you. Just keep in mind that we have some weaker disciples with us. If something happens to them, that would be the second group you’ve made the wrong decision for."
Yang Wu Huang narrowed his eyes, just as unhappy as Yuan Lei when he heard these words. "Don’t worry about it, junior martial brother Yuan. I’m definitely thinking on behalf of the weakest members of our group the whole time." In any case, the fact that Yun Bei Fen was here was also something that he was constantly keeping in mind. He still needed to impress him after all. So how could he not try and look for opportunities?
Yang Wu Huang turned to the others after dealing with Yuan Lei and smiled faintly. "You don’t worry about it either. Even if we don’t manage to get back to the camp today, it also won’t be a problem. Look at it this way: If we’re able to figure this out, we would also have done a good deed for the sect.
"Right now, we are at a critical juncture in the investigation of the border region. The Elders have even asked over some of the older disciples to help us out. How can we as the younger generation just slack off? Since we are already here, we should do our utmost to figure this out." He smiled and then motioned at the hole in the ground. "Well, looking at the fact that we only know that there’s something below this place but don’t know anything about our surroundings, I would suggest we widen this hole a little so we can take a look at what is down there. With all our efforts combined, it shouldn’t take that long."
The others nodded and Di Huan Bo couldn’t help but smirk at Yuan Lei. "Better work hard so we’ll be back before night falls." He chuckled, and the three of them turned to the hole that Yuan Lei had made, widening it with the spiritual energy. Soon enough, a hole had formed that was big enough that they could look into the empty space below. What they saw … it really wasn’t reassuring.
