"Senior Brother Xiong, what are these people doing?"
Fei Hua, peeking through a crack in the rocks, looked down and asked Xiong Zhuangzhuang, who was beside him.
Xiong Zhuangzhuang cast a sharp glance at Fei Hua, signaling him to shut up, and then refocused his attention on the crowd in the valley below.
Fei Hua pouted aggrievedly, daring not to make another sound, his eyes full of eagerness.
Following the information in the jade slip regarding the Saintess Sect, they had come to Rongzhou and investigated for seven days, finally discovering traces of the Saintess Sect followers.
They followed the follower to the valley. To avoid alerting the enemy, they took a detour up the mountain and chose to ambush from above. They hadn't expected to stumble upon a gathering of Saintess Sect followers.
Fei Hua excitedly thought, could they complete their mission soon and return to the sect?
This seemed much simpler than he had imagined.
But his senior brothers and sisters were far less optimistic than he was.
As the number of cultivators gathered below increased, Xiong Zhuangzhuang's brow furrowed tighter.
Rongzhou was a remote region, and the number of cultivators could not be compared to other major prefectures.
It was rare to see over a hundred cultivators gathered in a desolate wilderness.
The Saintess Sect's influence was extraordinary and could not be underestimated.
Moreover, the fact that they had developed to this point over the past thirty years without anyone noticing clearly indicated their significant ambitions.
Xiong Zhuangzhuang now only hoped that they were not colluding with demons, but merely ambitious individuals determined to establish their own sect.
Below, new cultivators continued to appear and join the ranks. Upon arrival, they did not converse with each other but maintained their distance, falling into an eerie silence.
Xiong Zhuangzhuang and the others waited on the mountain for nearly six hours until it was completely dark. The hazy moonlight was obscured by thick clouds, rendering the entire valley pitch black.
Fortunately, cultivators possessed sharp senses and could easily perceive their surroundings within a few miles without any light source.
When a figure in a purple robe appeared at the front of the formation, Xiong Zhuangzhuang and the others immediately noticed their arrival and became alert.
There was a moment of commotion in the crowd below, but it soon subsided.
"Greetings, Saint Emissary!"
A synchronized chorus of greetings echoed across the valley.
It turned out that the purple-robed figure, whose appearance was obscured, was one of the Saintess Sect's Saint Emissaries.
The jade slip sent by the Xuanji Sect stated that although the Saintess Sect had many followers, very few had seen the Saintess in person. The vast majority of disciples received the Saintess's commands through the four Saint Emissaries who served by her side.
This meant that the four Saint Emissaries were the Saintess's confidantes, and capturing them would allow them to trace the Saintess's whereabouts.
Xiong Zhuangzhuang's arm suddenly tensed, then slowly relaxed.
They couldn't be too hasty.
The purple robe worn by the Saint Emissary was likely significant. Xiong Zhuangzhuang's divine sense could not penetrate the Saint Emissary's cultivation level or appearance, which made him hesitant to act rashly.
Furthermore, in addition to the Saint Emissary, there were so many followers gathered here.
Although the cultivation levels of these followers varied, and only a few could pose a threat to him, the enemy had the advantage in numbers.
Besides Yin Li and Zuo You, he also had Fei Hua, whose cultivation was only at the Nascent Soul stage. He needed to be more cautious.
Xiong Zhuangzhuang used a secret communication method to tell his junior disciples to hold their positions and wait to ascertain the reason for the Saintess Sect's gathering before making any plans.
However, Xiong Zhuangzhuang soon realized that his plan was a bit too simple.
The purple-robed figure seemed to have anticipated someone eavesdropping. With a wave of his sleeve, a thin barrier of light instantly enveloped the valley.
Then, Xiong Zhuangzhuang found that although he could see their movements, he could no longer hear anything.
Xiong Zhuangzhuang's eyebrows knitted together. What should they do?
As he was worrying, he felt a slight touch on his arm. He turned his head to see Fei Hua looking at him with a proud expression.
Fei Hua grinned, "Senior Brother Xiong, I have a way."
"You?" Xiong Zhuangzhuang subconsciously retorted, then thought of something and gave him a look of approval, "Then it's up to you."
"No problem."
Fei Hua smiled smugly, reached for a delicate and ornate cloth bag at his waist, and said, "Xiao Bao, time to get to work."
A very subtle fluctuation of spiritual energy flashed and disappeared.
A fluffy, snow-white little mouse appeared in Fei Hua's palm.
This was his contracted spirit beast, the Treasure-Seeking Rat, Xiao Bao.
Xiao Bao was asleep and impatiently rolled over upon hearing his voice, covering its small paws over its ears, looking as if it refused to listen.
"Ahem, Xiao Bao, sleep a little later. Can you help me out now?"
Fei Hua's small face blushed as he saw his senior brothers and sisters looking at him with interest. He quickly coaxed Xiao Bao with many pleasant words before finally waking it from its slumber.
"Xiao Bao, sneak down there quietly and listen to what they're saying for us."
"Squeak."
Xiao Bao's ears twitched. With a leap, it quickly disappeared through the gaps in the rocks.
Fei Hua raised his eyebrows proudly and said to the group, "My Xiao Bao can freely enter and exit barriers and definitely won't be discovered."
Although Xiong Zhuangzhuang and the other two did not voice their agreement, their expressions relaxed considerably.
As Fei Hua's senior siblings, they were quite familiar with his contracted spirit beast.
It was known that when Fei Hua was choosing a contracted spirit beast, everyone from their Master, True Man Changshou, to them had been worried sick.
This was because Fei Hua's temperament was unstable at the time, one moment he wanted to go to the Land of Giants to contract a human-faced spider, the next he wanted to go to the South Sea to contract a tiger shark whale. He always had astonishing ideas.
True Man Changshou and Xiong Zhuangzhuang had searched for countless spirit beasts, but Fei Hua was not pleased with any of them.
In the end, True Man Changshou simply stopped intervening and even planned to have Xiong Zhuangzhuang escort Fei Hua to the Land of Giants. However, unexpectedly, Fei Hua returned on his own with a Treasure-Seeking Rat and signed a contract with it.
True Man Changshou almost spat out blood when he saw the Treasure-Seeking Rat, which was no bigger than his fist.
As the name suggests, Treasure-Seeking Rats possess an extraordinary ability to find spiritual items, no matter how deeply buried or secretly hidden, they can be located by scent.
Many rogue cultivators liked to keep a Treasure-Seeking Rat as a spirit pet.
While Treasure-Seeking Rats were adequate as spirit pets, they were not suitable as contracted spirit beasts because they could not provide much assistance to cultivators. Besides enhancing a cultivator's sensory perception, they had almost no other utility.
However, the contract had already been signed, and no matter how angry True Man Changshou was, it was of no avail. He could only comfort himself that Fei Hua, as a young disciple, did not need to inherit his legacy and was not under great pressure, so as long as he was happy, it was fine.
Furthermore, True Man Changshou later discovered that the Treasure-Seeking Rat contracted by Fei Hua was no ordinary Treasure-Seeking Rat; it could easily penetrate barriers without triggering them, enter forbidden areas as if it were an empty realm.
Only then did True Man Changshou feel completely at ease, realizing that with this ability, he would not be easily caught and at least had a means of self-preservation.
Normally, Fei Hua's Treasure-Seeking Rat spent most of its time eating or sleeping. Xiong Zhuangzhuang hadn't thought of it until now, but the Treasure-Seeking Rat finally had a chance to prove its worth.