Shen Lei led them over to a small hill outside of the town and then stood there, looking at the ribbon in Mei Chao Bing’s hands, not quite sure how to continue.
Mei Chao Bing stopped next to him and raised his brows. "What exactly are we waiting for?"
Shen Lei furrowed his brows, not quite sure how to explain this. "The problem with Yan Hong Min is that you never really know what he is up to. He could’ve done pretty much anything with this thing. I’m just wondering how we are supposed to find out."
Mei Chao Bing also looked at the ribbon, his expression turning pensive. "Well, I’m pretty sure that in this case, it shouldn’t be anything too bad. Even if he loves pranking people, he also knows that we are in the border region. That is not the kind of place where he would do anything that would risk harming Yun Bei Fen or his spiritual beast to the point where they would be unable to defend themselves anymore. Rather than that, he might’ve done something that would actually benefit him. Did you tell him what kind of spiritual beast Fen’er has?"
Shen Lei shook his head. "No, just that he lost it and we wanted to prevent that from happening again."
Mei Chao Bing pondered but it was difficult to come to some kind of conclusion especially considering that he didn’t even know Yan Hong Min personally. Actually, this was a little bit like the situation in the border region right now: He knew the other side somewhat in that he had heard of things they did before and had a vague impression of them in the past but he didn’t know what they were up to right now and could only use the clues that he had to try and figure it out himself.
Thinking of it that way … "He knows Fen’er as somebody who isn’t very strong. He might have given this thing some protective features." Saying so, he put it down on the ground and then raised his hand, conjuring up some spiritual energy and firing a small attack at the ribbon.
As a result, the thing actually changed its appearance, suddenly seeming quite a lot more study.
The attack hit for sure but there wasn’t the slightest hint of damage. Instead, the attack was thrown back and traveled a little through the air, almost being reflected back to Mei Chao Bing. If not for the fact that he had used only a little spiritual energy, he probably would’ve been hit by this head-on.
The two cultivators exchanged a glance.
"Sneaky!" Shen Lei had known that Yan Hong Min was like this but he had to admit that in this case, it really was a good idea. Yun Bei Fen wasn’t very strong himself and if he was attacked, it would probably be easiest to use the other side’s strength against them. That might give him a small chance of maybe not winning but at least gaining some time.
The same could probably be said for his spiritual beast. Yan Hong Min had clearly judged quite accurately just what kind of spiritual beast his youngest junior martial brother would’ve gotten.
Thinking along this trajectory further, Mei Chao Bing narrowed his eyes. "Alright, so this can defend him in addition to being used to find Xiao Hui."
Shen Lei rubbed the back of his head. "That’s the intended purpose but don’t ask me how it works. He didn’t say."
Mei Chao Bing nodded. "Probably by imbuing some spiritual energy. We should let Fen’er do that himself or maybe it won’t work for him."
Shen Lei raised his brows at that and picked the thing up again. "Are you sure it’s good to let him do this? His spiritual energy isn’t that high. If it is outside of his perception, would he be able to find it?"
Mei Chao Bing didn’t really have an answer to that but he still felt that this was something that Yun Bei Fen should do. In any case, that was his spiritual beast. "But he’s the one who will carry Xiao Hui around."
"And you are probably going to be close by anyway. Even if you aren’t, sooner or later, the two of you will find each other again and then you can help him find the spiritual beast. Honestly, if I were you, I’d do it myself. But anyway, if you don’t want to, leave it for now. You can still talk it over with him later on."
Mei Chao Bing nodded, feeling that this was probably the best way to go about things. But since it couldn’t be solved right now, it should better be left for later. "Well, in that case, we probably don’t need to worry about this any longer."
Shen Lei didn’t agree immediately this time around. Instead, he looked at the ribbon pensively and then tilted his head. After thinking for a moment, he finally raised his hand and threw the thing at Mei Chao Bing’s face.
Mei Chao Bing immediately pulled back but the attack had come so suddenly that he wasn’t able to do it in time and just raised his arm, a shield of spiritual energy popping up subconsciously.
The ribbon collided with it and sparks flew, crackling in the air.
Shen Lei pursed his lips and nodded appreciatively before dusting off his hands. "I knew there had to be something more to it! You know, Yan Hong Min doesn’t do things halfheartedly. If he does want to protect him, he’ll do it as far as he can." He bent down to pick up the ribbon and then couldn’t help but glance at Mei Chao Bing.
He didn’t say anything and just handed the ribbon to him, turning around and going back to the town. Inwardly, he couldn’t help but muse though. The energy he had just felt … That wasn’t the kind of spiritual energy you would use at the core formation stage. That Mei Chao Bing seemed to be a bit deeper than he might’ve thought before. Well, in his situation, that also wasn’t strange.
