A few breaths later, Long Haotian took a deep breath, forcefully suppressed the unease in his heart, and continued to urge the Holy Golden Feather forward.
Chen Tao let out a low roar of unwillingness, "What's the use of us rushing over now! Senior Sister Xu, she, she..."
Chen Tao choked, unable to say the rest.
"We'll go see who killed Xu Yi."
Long Haotian's tone was calm, but Wang Yi'an and Chen Tao both heard a strong killing intent in his words.
"Right!" Chen Tao stood up, saying resentfully, "We will avenge Senior Sister Xu in the future!"
The three of them could not defeat the murderer of Xu Yi now, but they would continue to cultivate until the day they made that person pay the price.
With extremely heavy hearts, the three of them pressed forward.
Half a cup of tea later, a wobbly small boat appeared in their perception.
"It's that murderer!" Fierce light flashed in Chen Tao's eyes, and his teeth gnashed.
Long Haotian squinted his eyes, as if trying to see the appearance of the person on the boat and then engrave it in his heart.
Only Wang Yi'an blinked in disbelief, "Isn't the person at the very front Senior Sister Xu?"
"How is that possible!" Chen Tao retorted instinctively.
The attack just now was enough to kill a Nascent Soul cultivator. The possibility of Xu Yi surviving was extremely slim.
"Let me see the true face of the murderer..." Chen Tao summoned his courage, looked intently, and then his eyes widened as he stammered, "Xu, Xu, Xu..."
Long Haotian also saw the appearance of the two people on the boat. His mind was shaken, and the Holy Golden Feather swayed violently.
This wobble, however, made the three of them completely sober.
"Senior Sister Xu is not dead!"
The Holy Light Feather's speed surged, and a boat and a feather soon met in the air.
Xu Yi reached out and waved at the three of them, "Three, what a coincidence, we meet again."
Seeing Xu Yi smiling and greeting them, none of the three spoke for a moment.
They suddenly felt how embarrassing their previous anxious and tearful concern for Xu Yi was.
Xu Yi was still the same as before, with no change at all. She greeted them with a wicked smile, as if they had parted ways yesterday.
Just as the three were awkwardly unsure of what to say, they saw Xu Yi close her eyes and fall backward, and the flying magical artifact she controlled also plummeted.
Long Haotian quickly urged the Holy Light Feather to enlarge, catching the boat with a sigh of relief.
Then they discovered that there was another young girl behind Xu Yi, and she was now being held in her arms by this young girl.
"Quick, take a look at how Senior is. She was seriously injured fighting a Nascent Soul cultivator earlier!"
Chen Tao and Wang Yi'an quickly went to check on Xu Yi's injuries, while Long Haotian steered the Holy Golden Feather back towards the sect.
...
Mengcheng, Array Heaven Alliance.
"What! Elder Xiao and Hong Xingye are both dead! What happened in Bagua City!"
Qiu Tianying stood up from his seat in shock upon hearing the news from his subordinate, his expression changing unpredictably.
"Your subordinate does not know the specific situation. He only knows that Deputy Alliance Leader Hong led people to Sword City to capture a woman and never returned. Alliance Leader Xiao also perished in Sword City."
The subordinate in black robes lowered his head, his expression unable to hide his alarm.
This was because he and Qiu Tianying both knew who Hong Xingye had intended to capture.
Su Mei'er!
Qiu Tianying uttered Su Mei'er's name through gritted teeth, but his heart was entwined with threads of fear.
If Hong Xingye's death only stirred him slightly, Elder Xiao's death was like a slap in the face, making him flush with shame and feel powerless.
Elder Xiao was a Nascent Soul cultivator with a Level Six Array Cultivator inscription plate, a figure who held a position in the Array Heaven Alliance. Yet he had also died while trying to capture Su Mei'er.
Could it be that Su Mei'er was not a Nascent Soul cultivator, but an old monster hiding her cultivation?
No, impossible. If Su Mei'er were truly an old monster, she would not have let him go back then.
Then there was only one possibility!
Near Sword City, there was the Xuanqing Sect.
Su Mei'er must be a disciple of the Xuanqing Sect. Elder Xiao and Hong Xingye both died at the hands of the Xuanqing Sect!
This was troublesome. Su Mei'er must know that he had sent people to deal with her. Would she have the Xuanqing Sect members kill him?
The more Qiu Tianying thought about it, the more panicked he became. After a moment of thought, he said to the subordinate in front of him, "Call my men, escort me back to the Array Heaven Alliance! I need to report this to my father!"
Qiu Tianying finally felt fear.
If he had known that Su Mei'er was such a tough nut to crack, he wouldn't have gone in the first place.
Thinking of Gongyang Hao, who had forced him to return to his father's side to seek refuge, his eyes flashed, and he said coldly, "Before we leave, get rid of that guy named Gongyang Hao."
"Yes."
The subordinate bowed and withdrew.
Qiu Tianying paced in the room for a few laps, his heart uneasy, and finally put on all his defensive magical artifacts before sitting down with a grim expression.
Once he returned to the Array Heaven Alliance, he would no longer have to live in constant fear.
The subordinate returned very quickly, "Young Master, the men are all here. However, that Gongyang Hao has been gone for many days, and his whereabouts are unknown."
"Don't worry about him, let's leave immediately."
Although there was some regret, Qiu Tianying's own safety was more important than anything else at this moment.
He led his men and quickly left Mengcheng, rushing back to the Array Heaven Alliance headquarters.
...
Xuanji Gate.
Elder Qingfeng and five elders sat in the main hall, staring at each other, no one speaking.
After an unknown amount of time, Elder Qingfeng was the first to lose patience.
"I'll say it first, this Kyushu Continent Sect Grand Competition, whoever wants to go can go. I'm not going anyway!"
The sect grand competition, held once every hundred years, was about to begin. This time, the venue was the Ten Thousand Buddhist Sect in Shizhou.
As soon as he thought about having to deal with those superstitious bald donkeys, Elder Qingfeng felt a headache.
So, no matter what, he refused to be the leading elder for this sect grand competition.
"Elder Qingfeng, what you said is not quite right. When the Sect Master was in seclusion, he instructed you to preside over the sect's affairs. How can you desert your post?" Elder Liu said with his eyes narrowed and speaking in a low voice.
The other elders immediately chimed in.
It was a joke. Who would want to deal with the Ten Thousand Buddhist Sect, which took seven or eight turns to say a single word? They certainly wouldn't.
"The Sect Master asked me to preside, not to personally lead the team," Elder Qingfeng said with a sly grin, his eyes darting. "Elder Fang, the Buddhist cultivators of the Ten Thousand Buddhist Sect are compassionate and benevolent towards the world, which aligns perfectly with your medical philosophy. I believe you should have more in common with them."
The remaining elders, seeing the wind shift, immediately changed their tune.
"Elder Qingfeng has a point."
"Elder Fang, why don't you take this trip for us?"
"I heard Elder Fang is currently in need of a spiritual medicine. Perhaps going out will yield some results."
When Elder Fang heard this, the fire was directed at him. He immediately pulled the other elders into the fray, and soon the hall became a scene of bickering.
Elder Qingfeng, taking advantage of no one paying attention to him in the hall, quietly shrunk into a corner, arms crossed, watching the show, and occasionally let out a "tsk tsk" sound of exclamation.
It wasn't until a clear, cold, and indifferent voice sounded in his ear that his old face immediately fell.
He took a deep breath and roared, "Stop arguing, I'll go this time!"