Even though Elder Baili didn’t like the thought, this was still a possibility that he couldn’t just ignore. The problem was that he could hardly talk this through right now, could he?

The only people who knew about this matter with Mei Chao Bing and the fate of the sect were him, Sect Master Zhang, and their own sect’s black warrior. Even Elder Xing probably hadn’t been told about it. And he didn’t think that Mei Chao Bing was aware of it either. He also didn’t think that he should share this news with Mei Chao Bing, especially at a time like this.

Yes, maybe if he did, Mei Chao Bing would be even more on their side, wanting to prove that he definitely wouldn’t do what people had feared he might all the time. But at the same time, he might also despair because there was a real chance now that he might do something that damned the sect. After all, nobody said that this was a conscious decision, right?

Actually, he had never thought about it like this. From the way that Sect Master Zhang had made it sound, he had always assumed that Mei Chao Bing could decide either for or against their sect. And then, having made that decision, it would play out as it had been intended.

But now that Mei Chao Bing mentioned the possibility that his Master had plans for him, maybe that wasn’t the case. Maybe the decision would be made for him or maybe it would be something he did unconsciously, something which might doom the Teng Yong Sect but where it wasn’t obvious at first glance that it would.

Baili Chao felt uncomfortable when he thought of that possibility. If it was a conscious decision, then he didn’t think that there was any reason to worry. Clearly, Mei Chao Bing was on their side. Even though he hadn’t been treated well, there were still people he cared about in the Teng Yong Sect. There might not be many but there were a few at least.

But if it wasn’t actually in his hands, then that didn’t matter. In fact, nothing might matter. Things might just play out without anybody realizing. That thought was quite scary. He really wished that there had been a chance to talk about it but that definitely was out of the options.

In the end, he just furrowed his brows and nodded slowly. "To be honest, even though it might sound odd, I do agree that there is a possibility that this is true. You are probably the person who knows your Master best among the four of us but from what I know of Feng Bai Xiao, what you say about him is true. He never struck me as somebody who was overly emotional. So yes, he probably really has some kind of plan for you. The question is still what that would be."

Mei Chao Bing nodded, unable to figure that part out as well. So far, they didn’t really know much about the plans of the demonic sects. In fact, it might not be wrong to say that they didn’t know anything. They had some guesses but those weren’t worth much. In that case, it was really difficult to figure out just what his role in all of this might be.

Meanwhile, Zhi Guan stared at the jade slip that was lying on the table, his brows furrowing tightly as well. Personally, he was very much in favor of just picking up a sword and handling this the old-fashioned way.

Unfortunately, he also knew that this wasn’t the best way to deal with things. They didn’t know how strong the other side was or what kind of traps they might have prepared.

In fact, maybe even the jade slip was a fake one, one that could be told apart from those that the actual disciples used. Maybe the same had even been true for the one that Elder Feng had given his disciple back then. Or maybe this thing had other uses like tracking them.

Speaking of tracking, he suddenly realized that they still hadn’t asked Luo Lin about how he had managed to find Shen Lei. And suddenly, he felt like that was a rather important question.

He got up without another word and left the room, making Mei Chao Bing and the Elders look at him strangely. He didn’t care though and just went over to the other room, knocking on the door before he walked in.

At that point in time, Luo Lin had stripped his lover completely and was wiping down the rest of his body, cleaning it from all the dried blood.

Zhi Guan merely blinked his eyes before he spoke up. "How did you find Shen Lei? Did second junior martial brother give you something for that?"

Luo Lin looked up and then took out the small box, handing it to his senior martial brother before he turned back around, washing out the rag he had been using, and continuing with this task.

Zhi Guan fiddled with the box for a moment, managing to make two bright spots appear right in the middle and then a few on the other side as well, and furrowed his brows. "Did he say how it was made?"

Luo Lin glanced over his shoulder and shook his head. "Something about the disciples using the same cultivation technique and something left in the body from that. It works with spiritual energy. I don’t know more than that though."

Zhi Guan nodded and then raised the box. "I’ll go and show it to Master."

Luo Lin nodded and then got back to the task at hand, letting Zhi Guan go back to the study.

When he walked in, his Master raised his brows, and he did so even higher when Zhi Guan suddenly put down the small black box in front of them. Even though he didn’t know what exactly his disciple was up to now, it at least seemed that there had been a reason for his sudden disappearance.