She wanted to attend the auction with Long Di, and they were to tell her that he couldn’t make it!? Not even if you tortured them, would they agree to it!

Long Di might not know who she was, but they did! They survived for this long because they were smart and kept their ears to the ground. These waters were too deep for the likes of them.

They would drown with the first step! Only Uncle Tian Lu could meet with such an existence!

Long Di was confused. He tried to convince them to go, but they didn’t budge on the matter. Instead, they convinced Long Di to go himself.

At first, Long Di explained why he couldn’t go. After all, the reason why Long Di was leaving the village was because the fallout from Paohui’s family would eventually reach here.

They weren’t entirely sure of being able to protect their disciples and themselves in the face of all this. So they wanted Long Di to take the disciples far from here as a means to keep them safe.

However, they were perfectly comfortable with letting Long Di and, by extension, the rest of the disciples meet up with Yaomu Shou.

They reassured Long Di that no one would be able to touch him if he was with Yaomu Shou. Since she got along with him, and even needed his help, he can count on his safety.

If it was him alone going, Long Di would be sceptical of their claim. However, he knew that they loved their disciples, so he decided to trust them this time.

Plus, the city also had things he would need, like a map, to know where they were going. Several changes of clothes, because those were the first things to go for some weird reason. Along with other amenities that they would need for their journey.

In addition, though the auction may not have what he wanted, this didn’t have to be the same for the disciples. Also, he could use the experience of going to an auction. He may have read novels that described the proceedings of an auction, but experiencing it for himself was a different matter.

So after some consideration, he chose to go. They had to cover up the Nymph though; she was being heavily pursued, so it was best to be safe.

Long Di eventually came out of the house and looked to the disciples. “Looks like I’ll be stuck with you guys for a while. I’m really wondering if my luck is good like that goddess says it is?”

“Are you insulting us again!?” Feng Yu raised her fist in protest.

“No,” Long Di lied.

“Y-You’re lying!” Feng Yu hounded him.

“You are correct, sadly there is no prize for winning,” Long Di said offhandedly.

“You…!”

“Big brother Long, don’t tease Senior sister Feng Yu,” Shen Ling intervened with a smile.

Feng Yu was nonplussed when she heard this. She wasn’t surprised that Shen Ling would stand up for her, as it wasn’t the first time the latter did this. What made it surprising was that Shen Ling sounded really composed as she did so. There was no stuttering or breaking of eye contact like there used to be, and did she become prettier recently? Was that even possible!?

Long Di shrugged his shoulders. This didn’t really hold that much interest for him. He then turned his attention towards the Nymph, “What’s your name?”

“Huh?” The Nymph was caught off-guard by the question.

“Your name? You do have one of those, right?” Long Di asked.

“Xiannu, Xiannu Liang,” she said timidly. She still wasn’t used to everyone here, and as a result, she couldn’t help but act reserved when all their attention was focused on her.

Long Di nodded, “Alright Xiannu, do you know where you live?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “I live in the Emerald Forest.”

“I don’t suppose any of you have ever heard of the Emerald Forest?” Long Di asked the disciples, the latter of whom all shook their heads to express that they didn’t.

“What about you guys?” He turned to the elders who just exited the house.

“We don’t. This is why it’s good to get a map. That way you can at least be sure you’re going in the right direction.”

“You don’t remember the way?” Long Di turned back to Xiannu Liang.

“No,” she shook her head.

“If you’ve been on the run all this time, how come you don’t remember the way?”

“I was captured by that Nitu Demon in the beginning when I was out. When he let his guard down, I managed to escape. But upon escaping, I was too far from where I was, and I just ran without a clear goal until I made it to the forest you were in. I was injured by him before and when the shock wave came, well… you know the rest,” she explained.

“That demon I fought was a three star core Martial Master. Your spiritual fluctuations are much weaker than mine, meaning you’re weaker than me. You shouldn’t have been able to escape, even if his guard was down,” Long Di didn’t think this added up.

Xiannu Liang closed her eyes as a gentle green glow enveloped her.

Shu…

Suddenly, greenery sprouted underfoot without warning. The ground became lush with grass before small plants budded without end. Before long, this magical scene extended out for quite some time and only stopped once the green glow around her body faded.

“I can cause and accelerate the rate of growth for plant life. In addition, I can also control plant life to an extent, I was able to use my innate abilities to cause confusion during his moment of inattentiveness, and that’s how I was able to escape.”

Long Di held a finger to his chin as if ruminating what she said. After a while, he reacted, “That’s good enough for now. I know there’s more to this, but something tells me we’ll be together for a while. So there’ll be enough time for us to catch up eventually.”

He then turned to the elders, “Elders.”

“Yes,” the first elder responded. “Keep them safe.”

“I will try my best-ish,” Long Di turned on his heel and walked away… just like that.

The disciples hurriedly bowed in the direction of their masters once more and then took off to catch up to Long Di.

By the time they were out of the village, Long Di took a cloak from his storage ring and handed it to Xiannu Liang.

“Wear this and keep the hood over your face. You’re what society dictates as un-ugly, and based on what I’ve read, this will cause heads to turn and we need to keep a low profile,” explained Long Di.

Un-ugly? Was this his roundabout way of saying pretty? What a strange child.

She put the cloak on without argument, but still said, “Wait, if I’m gonna cause heads to turn, then what about that other gi… wait, where is she?”

“Are you talking about this young maiden?” asked Feng Yu as she stepped forward with her modest chest puffed out.

“Oh, uhm” Xiannu Liang was a bit flustered when she saw this. She didn’t know how to say that she didn’t mean Feng Yu without hurting the latter’s feelings.

“Due to a certain person’s request, I won’t say you’re un-ugly, but she doesn’t mean you. Chances are that she’s referring to Shen Ling; and if you’re wondering where she is, she’s right beside you.”

Xiannu Ling quickly looked to both sides, and there she was, walking on her left as she’d always been.

A shimmering veil covered her face. It somehow enshrouded Shen Ling‘s body in a mist-like phenomenon, hiding her features even more. Yet this somehow didn’t take away from her fairy-like temperament. The effects of the veil had slightly changed since her cultivation of the Abyss Scripture.

“But I-”

“The veil helps to keep her presence hidden and also augments a certain ability that is troublesome to tell you about at the moment,” said Long Di.

“Hey Long Di, this isn’t the path to Blackstone City,” said Feng Yu, when she realised that the path was deviating a bit.

“I know,” said Long Di, still continuing his way. “Whilst on the way, we’ll be doing some battles with a few magical beasts to sharpen your battle senses. I’m taking this path to get out of the range of influence much faster”

“Range of influence?” Tie Lang said, scratching his head with a confused expression. “Influence of what?”

“Influence of who is the right question,” advised Long Di.

“What do you mean?” Feng Yu asked this time, her curiosity getting the better of her.

“Why do you guys think that no magical beasts ever got close to the village? Or why no villager ever died despite leaving the village to fetch water or hunt normal animals?” Long Di asked.

The four disciples, Shen Ling included, all looked to each other and shook their heads to indicate they didn’t know.

Long Di didn’t expect them to know. As a matter of fact, he only vaguely felt a presence enveloping the village himself, but couldn’t pinpoint where it came from. It only became stronger when he made his breakthrough recently and his spiritual force experienced an increase in power. Though it was still vague, when he saw the point of focus, he immediately knew what, or who, it was.

Long Di felt like using a question to answer a question. “Why do you guys think that Uncle Tian Lu never left the village?”

“Uncle Tian Lu?” Feng Yu’s expression changed. “Why mention that old drunk?”

“Because it’s his strength that’s keeping the magical beasts at bay,” explained Long Di, shocking the disciples!

He continued, “Mortals won’t sense anything, and neither will normal animals. Not even low-level cultivators will sense anything. The only reason the weaker magical beasts even sense anything is because magical beasts have a very keen sense of danger, and their instincts are probably screaming at them to not go anywhere near the village.”

Long Di was doubtful of this at first when he thought about it. When he thought back to the boar-like magical beast that he and Uncle Tian Lu observed, the boar was not only undeterred; it came charging towards them! Uncle Tian Lu even ended up running away in the end.

After a while, Long Di determined that Uncle Tian Lu refused to show his strength and chose to run away instead, for reasons that were beyond him of course.

“Y-You’re joking right?” Feng Yu asked with a shocked expression. How could that old drunk have the strength to deter magical beasts!? Magical beasts were very vicious and very rarely away.

It was only in the face of overwhelming might that something like that could happen. Did Uncle Tian Lu look like an overwhelming master?

“Why did you think I took him on as my Master?” Asked Long Di again.

“I thought you were being weird and eccentric! We all were!” Jia Yan, Tie Lang and even Feng Yu were nodding to confirm this as the truth. It was the only thing that made sense. The only one who remained indifferent in the face of all this was Xiannu Liang.

“You’re not exactly walking the straight and narrow path as far as we’ve seen y’kno,” Feng gave her reason.

“He’s the reason,” said Long Di as he parted the brushes that obstructed him as he made his way through the foliage and dense shrubbery of the woods.

“I can’t believe it,” Feng Yu felt like her worldview had turned upside down.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Well, you better get to believing because we’ve got a guest,” as he said this, Long Di disappeared from his original spot and grabbed Shen Ling by the waist and slung Xiannu Liang over his shoulder.

Why the different treatment!? Is it because he knew Shen Ling longer? This was blatant discrimination! Either that or nepotism!

Bang!

A huge magical beast as large as a rhino came bursting out from the dense trees and bushes that obstructed their vision!

It looked like a hyena of some kind, that is, if you disregarded its size! Its figure was a bit gaunt as the skin stuck to its bone, making it look as if it hadn’t eaten in ages.

Its fur was completely red and bone spurs jutted from its back all the way to its tail, which ended in an amalgamation of spikes that acted like any other mace.

This was a rank two beast right off the bat!

Long Di turned around and said to the remaining three disciples, “Fight it, don’t die, I have faith in you.”

After that, he appeared in a tree some distance away, perfectly safe with two beauties by his side.

‘I wonder if I can make popcorn with the ingredients present here?’ was the only thought in his mind when a furious yell made its way to his ears.

“Long Di, I hate you and I hope you die!”

“Hm, I wonder if she knows my uncle? She sure does sound like him.”