While Elder Baili was sitting in his study, agonizing over some kind of plan on how to get his little disciple back and save the others at the side, there was finally a knock on the door. He looked up, a bit angry that he was disturbed at this point in time but the level of the people outside was clearly rather high. He put down the brush in his hand and sighed, calling for them to step inside.

When the door opened and Shen Lei and Mei Chao Bing appeared together, Baili Chao’s brows shot up. "Did something happen?" The group that had been sent to the cave had been sending information back regularly so it wasn’t like he didn’t know that they were making progress. To suddenly have two of the highest-level disciples from there come back here personally was quite strange.

Shen Lei smiled and motioned for Mei Chao Bing to close the door while he went over and sat down opposite Baili Chao. "Elder Baili, you’ll have to praise me in a bit. I brought back your little disciple."

Baili Chao immediately sat up straighter. "You brought Fen’er back?"

Shen Lei nodded and motioned for Mei Chao Bing to come over as well, even pushing back the chair with his foot so he could sit down. "Yes, it’s quite the interesting story. You’ll be interested to hear the details."

Baili Chao motioned for him to go ahead, not having the patience to listen to him ramble on.

Since the Elder had already given him the go-ahead, Shen Lei didn’t bother to keep anything back. He told him exactly how they had met Yun Bei Fen and his group, as well as everything that Nian Tao had told them about how the group had gotten to that point in the first place.

Baili Chao’s expression turned darker with every word that he heard. "I told them not to split up under any circumstances and then he goes ahead and splits the group?" Needless to say, he was pissed off. He had already been when Yun Bei Fen didn’t return in time but it got even worse when he heard what Yang Wu Huang had really done. "Maybe we should send that guy back to the sect. This is really the last straw!"

Shen Lei couldn’t help but faintly raise his brows. "That does sound as if he did some things before that already." To be honest, he had already thought so. The way he had reacted to seeing Mei Chao Bing had been quite telling. He didn’t believe for a single moment that there wasn’t some kind of backstory.

Baili Chao’s expression turned even uglier. "You don’t know the least of it. This Yang Wu Huang …" He shook his head. "Elder Xing and I have been worried about him for quite some time. Don’t mention this conflict with Mei Chao Bing, he has endangered the lives of his fellow disciples more than once already. In fact, we think that there were some things he manipulated. But it isn’t like we can prove it. Otherwise, he would have been sent back already."

Shen Lei narrowed his eyes. "A spy from the other side?"

Elder Baili hesitated but finally shook his head. "I don’t think it is that grave but he is somebody who wants success. And he is willing to walk over the dead bodies of his fellow disciples to get there it seems. Not the kind of person I really want to have around."

"But you still put him in charge of your little disciple’s group?" He really was surprised at that. It was a pretty well-known fact that the relationship between Elder Baili and his disciples was pretty much as close as the relationship between the other Elders and their most favored disciple.

Among those four, there wasn’t a single one that Baili Chao wouldn’t fight tooth and nail for. But the one that was probably protected the most — and not only by the Elder but also by his martial brothers — was definitely Yun Bei Fen. To think that anybody would dare to put him in this situation … Shen Lei really couldn’t imagine it.

Elder Baili rubbed his forehead. "Believe me, I definitely didn’t want to do it. But the situation wasn’t one where I could really do something. Since there was no proof before that Yang Wu Huang did something, my hands were tied.

"Now though, with what happened and how the members of his group testified against him going against our orders directly, as well as what you found out and saw happening, it shouldn’t be a problem to send him back. Honestly, he probably did us a favor there. Although I wish he wouldn’t have put Fen’er and the others in such a situation for that. Thankfully, you guys came by."

Shen Lei nodded and then looked at Mei Chao Bing. "Well, I guess part of that is thanks to junior martial brother Mei’s quick reaction when he spotted the little bunny. I think seeing him set that Yang Wu Huang off pretty quickly. Well, I’ll take it that Elder Baili will be able to deal with this. If you need us to write it down or something, just say so."

Elder Baili thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, that might be a good idea. You should both write separate accounts. I wouldn’t want some of the Elders to be prejudiced." He glanced at Mei Chao Bing who only gave a wry smile in response. Elder Baili didn’t dwell on it though. In any case, Mei Chao Bing was already used to it. "What about Fen’er? How is he doing right now?"

Shen Lei glanced at Mei Chao Bing as well and cupped his cheek. "Well … he seemed a bit miffed that his senior martial brother Mei was leaving him alone again. I guess he will be sulking in his room."

Mei Chao Bing could only continue to smile wryly. This Shen Lei … Despite his buff looks, he was surprisingly a tease.