Chapter 5064 — The Rendezvous Point

Leng Leng knew nothing of all this. Her mind was fixed on a single thing now. Wei Zhao had left her a great pile of top-grade pills—Foundation Establishment pills, Golden Core pills, and the like. Never mind that her talent was already outstanding; with so many precious resources heaped together, even the dullest disciple could have been pushed to at least the great perfection of Foundation Establishment.

Stepping out the door, Leng Leng turned for one last look. Scene after scene of her acquaintance with Wei Zhao flashed through her mind, and amid the gratitude in her heart there rose, unbidden, a certain sorrow.

Wei Zhao's fate was now unknown. Even she herself could not say whether the words they had exchanged counted as a private pledge of lifelong devotion. But she knew his heart, and at the very least she could never accept another man. If Wei Zhao truly could not pull through this time, she would rather spend the rest of her life alone.

Those scant two weeks of memory were filled with warmth and sweetness. At last Leng Leng let out a long, heavy breath and murmured softly to herself: "I only hope he's as formidable as he claims. 'A match for any martial artist'—you'd better not have been boasting this time, or I'll have cause to resent you for the rest of my life."

In the Shennongjia forest, Fei Yangsheng limped through the dense woods, dragging two corpses behind him. Had an ordinary man done such a thing, he would long since have been wanted a hundred times over by the secular world. Fortunately he was, after all, an expert of the mid-Foundation Establishment stage; wounded as he was, he still had his strength, and along the way he had deliberately taken some pains to cover his tracks. Only thus had he avoided stirring up a great uproar.

"Damn it all! I should have just stolen a plane and flown!" Fei Yangsheng killed a mountain leopard that had been drawn by the smell of blood, casually, then flung the two corpses to the ground, cursing, and dropped himself down beside them, gasping for breath in great gulps.

Though an expert of the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, his injuries were, after all, not light—and he had been dragging two corpses on foot through the deep mountains and dense forests of Shennongjia. Eating in the wind and sleeping in the dew had left him utterly worn out.

The earlier stretch of the journey had been manageable enough. Before entering Shennongjia, he had commandeered an off-road vehicle on the road and driven it hell-for-leather all the way from Xima City to the borders of Huxi Province. Driving was a thing ordinary people needed time to learn properly, but to a powerful cultivator like him it was nothing worth mentioning. So long as one had a quick mind, a few glances were enough to master it.

So the journey had gone well enough—so long as he took a little care to avoid the traffic police and the like, there was no great problem. But no off-road vehicle, however fine, could be driven into Shennongjia. Unless one truly flew a helicopter in, Fei Yangsheng's only choice was to go on foot. Had he never known the convenience of a car, that would have been one thing; but now, to be made to do this again was simply killing him.

Still, on second thought, commandeering an off-road vehicle was no great matter—the owner, knocked unconscious and dumped in a ravine, would not be getting out for a while. But if he really went and stole a helicopter, never mind whether there was any private helicopter to be stolen, and never mind whether he could fly it once he had; even if none of that were a problem, it would absolutely have been a sensational incident. The authorities would have been hunting him across the whole world—how could he possibly have been left to fly it into Shennongjia at his leisure?

So this was a thing Fei Yangsheng merely toyed with in his mind; there was basically no feasibility to it at all. The only thing he could do now was hurry the two corpses back to the rendezvous point and report truthfully what had happened.

The dead this time, Sun Baimei and Senior Brother Yin, were no ordinary disciples—one at the late Foundation Establishment stage, the other at its peak. These were elite disciples who were highly valued. To them, the secular world was supposed to be nothing more than a relaxed and pleasant training outing, not even a proper trial. And now two elite disciples had died at once—how could such a thing be tolerated?

Fei Yangsheng did not even need to guess. Once the higher-ups learned the full story, they would fly into a towering rage. This time the secular world would have to learn for itself just what the wrath of an ancient sect looked like!

"Heh heh, that Origin Spirit was so arrogant and vile. Next time we'll see how he dies!" Fei Yangsheng gave a cold laugh, then rose and, with much grunting and heaving, dragged the two corpses onward.

With his own strength, he would never dare seek trouble with Wei Zhao again. Revenge was even more a fool's delusion. But that did not matter. His own strength might be lacking, but the ancient sects were full of experts. Once the matter was reported upward, could they not deal with a mere Origin Spirit?

When that time came, he would not even need to charge in and fight—he need only watch from a distance.

A day later, Fei Yangsheng at last returned to the rendezvous point on legs gone weak. It was the same towering mountain gate from which they had all set out together. Basically, the senior brothers or sect elders leading each sect were stationed here; after all, cultivators in the secular world were few and their strength poor, so even if these leaders went out there would be no training value in it for them. They were here only to coordinate and supervise.

The moment the corpses of Sun Baimei and Senior Brother Yin were flung to the ground, the whole mountain gate was in an uproar. Within mere moments, the contingents of every sect stationed here had all gathered. They had no choice but to come—this was an unprecedented event!

"Aren't these Yin Zhiping and Sun Baimei of the Bi Xie Sect? How are they both dead?" The people of the other sects discussed it animatedly.

"Those two weren't weak—I recall they were at the peak of the late Foundation Establishment stage. How could something happen to them in a place like the secular world? It wasn't one of our ancient sects that did it, was it?" someone wondered.

"The Bi Xie Sect has always been eccentric and devious in its ways—they even often go after the spiritual creatures kept by sects like ours for no reason at all. It's only natural they'd have made enemies. Besides, in the secular world not even a single Foundation Establishment expert could exist—who could possibly have dealt with the two of them?" someone beside him said with a certain schadenfreude.

"That's true enough. But where are the Bi Xie Sect's people? Surely they didn't send only these two—wouldn't that mean they died for nothing?" The crowd exchanged glances. If the Bi Xie Sect had a high-ranking figure present, today's matter would certainly be investigated to the very bottom; but with no sufficiently weighty elder on hand, it would most likely be allowed to fizzle out.

Everyone present was a leading figure of their respective sect, and their first consideration was inevitably the interests of that sect. If it were discovered that these two had died at the hands of their own disciples, would that not be inviting trouble for themselves?

"What's going on here?" At that moment a young, domineering voice suddenly sounded from behind the crowd. Though all present were the leading figures of their own sects, hearing this voice they still parted instinctively to make way. Strength decided status—who could help it if this man's power was higher than all of theirs?