Figuring that Yan Hong Min would likely need some more time, Shen Lei just stayed with his lover for the rest of the day. In any case, it hadn’t been early anymore and he’d rather travel back the next morning. Elder Baili also wouldn’t be able to say something about it. And he hadn’t seen Luo Lin in so long that he really couldn’t bring himself to just leave immediately.
The next morning, he did get up early however, bidding farewell with a lot of kisses before he finally went to Yan Hong Min’s house and knocked on his door again.
Yun Bei Fen’s second senior martial brother finally opened the door, exposing a face that looked incredibly tired as if he had been working through the whole night.
Shen Lei raised his brows, not quite sure what to say to that. "Junior martial brother Yan, are you alright? Do you need a break or something?"
Yan Hong Min gave a grunt and then slapped something against Shen Lei’s chest before pulling in his head like a tortoise and shutting the door in his face.
Shen Lei raised his brows further and grabbed the thing to take a closer look. This was … Well, it just looked like some kind of ribbon, although it was a little firmer and decorated with some stones.
He scratched his head but then just put it in his bag before leaving the sect again. Since he was now on his way, he didn’t delay any further and rushed back to the border region as fast as possible. When he arrived, he went to Elder Baili’s house, delivering the Sect Master’s decision first.
Baili Chao gave him a long look, his gaze saying that he knew exactly just why Shen Lei was back this late.
Shen Lei just gave a noncommittal smile and motioned at the letter from Sect Master Zhang. "I hope that Elder Baili is happy with this result. Sect Master Zhang was very receptive to the complaints and took them seriously. If he really wrote down what he told me, then I’m sure that the Elders will be ecstatic."
Baili Chao looked at the letter again and nodded, deciding not to pursue the matter of Shen Lei using the opportunity to get a short vacation with his lover. "It’s indeed better than I hoped for. Sect Master Zhang accurately grasped how vital this situation is and actually managed to find a dignified excuse to send Ao Jing back as well. We can count ourselves lucky. Now, I’ll go and tell Elder Xing. We will decide how exactly to go about this matter and then see about you, Mei Chao Bing, and the other two. We can hardly just let you hang around here without anything to do."
Shen Lei shrugged, not minding either way. Naturally, it was more exciting to be out there and explore the caverns or whatever they found out there in the border region than staying in the camp. But making sure that the younger disciples were safe was just as important as a task. And he wasn’t the type of person that would look down on having to do that. So if the Elders felt that this was something that would benefit them overall, he wouldn’t say no and wouldn’t even complain.
Elder Baili didn’t say anything else and indeed just got up. "You just go and do your own thing for the time being. I’ll tell you when we have come to a decision." With that, he already left.
Shen Lei gave a hum and then went back to the courtyard where Mei Chao Bing and Yun Bei Fen were staying. When he arrived, the two of them were actually outside again, with Yun Bei Fen training his attacks and Mei Chao Bing sitting to the side, silently cultivating.
Shen Lei chuckled to himself and then went over to the bench, sitting down next to Mei Chao Bing. He didn’t disturb him in his cultivation and instead watched Yun Bei Fen, trying to see if this little junior of his lover had made any progress in the day that he hadn’t been here.
To his surprise, he actually felt like there was some small improvement. It wasn’t much but apparently, Yun Bei Fen had finally figured out how to control the trajectory of his attacks. Now, it wasn’t wavering from side to side anymore and traveled in a more or less straight line. There was still a hiccup here or there where the attack would suddenly swerve more to the side than the little bunny probably wanted but that was it.
Shen Lei nodded faintly and then looked at Mei Chao Bing who had also opened his eyes and turned to him. "That matter you asked me about, I took care of it." He opened his bag and took out the thing that Yan Hong Min had given him, carefully handing it over. "I asked the little bunny’s second senior martial brother so better be careful with that. Who knows what junior martial brother Yan did with that."
Mei Chao Bing turned it in his hand and nodded faintly. He also wasn’t quite sure if this could be trusted. From what he knew, Yun Bei Fen’s second senior martial brother was rather playful and just loved pranking people. He could very well imagine that he would have done something to this. "Maybe we should give this a try before we give it to Fen’er."
Shen Lei glanced at the little bunny and then at the thin ribbon in Mei Chao Bing’s hands and finally nodded. "Yes, that might be a good idea. Let’s not do it here though." Saying so, he got up and left the courtyard.
Mei Chao Bing hesitated for a moment but then also followed him over. In any case, he was afraid that Yun Bei Fen would get hurt if there really was something strange going on with this. At his level and with his experience, they couldn’t just leave that up to fate.
