Reacting first upon seeing the young man that stood waiting a few dozen meters away, Qing Yi dashed over towards the young man dressed in the blue robe belonging to the River Sect.
"Are you perhaps the disciple from the River Sect that was sent over to guide us? You are in the Foundation Establishment Realm!?"
Asking this as she sized up the young man, Qing Yi could not help but exclaim a bit surprised after discovering that he was actually in the Foundation Establishment like them.
It was normal for a sect like the River Sect to send over one their disciples to guide them, they were after all from the Flying Sword Sect who had control over the entire northern region of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom…
But this did not mean that the person sent over as a guide would be strong by any means. Most of the time, it would? just be a disciple in the Qi Condensation Realm that was familiar with the territory.
That was why Qing Yi was surprised that it was someone in the Foundation Establishment showing up and he was only a little older than them! Even in the Flying Sword Sect, someone like that could be considered a genius… Let alone in the River Sect.
Why would the River Sect send over someone like that to guide them…?
"Yes, I'm the one sent over by the River Sect. My name is Huang Yongyu and I'm a Core Disciple of the River Sect."
Both Qing Yi and Chu Yan were curious about this, as the person in question did not seem to mind Qing Yi's reaction much as he introduced himself calmly.
"A Core Disciple? Why would the River Sect send over someone like that to act as a guide for us…?"
Thinking that the River Sect might have somehow found out that they were both personal disciples of Xuan Hao and were trying to establish some sort of connection with their master through them, Chu Yang put on a cautious expression on his face as he asked Huang Yongyu.
"Haha, you don't have to mind it too much. The reason for this is mostly because I wanted to get out of the sect myself, I also wanted to see the disciples from the Flying Sword Sect myself and maybe find out how the world outside our River Sect looks like… You should at least both have some idea about how isolated my sect is…"
Laughing with a smile on his face upon seeing the cautious expression on Chu Yang's face, Huang Yongyu quickly explained his reason for acting as a guide to the two of them.
"I see… That is understandable, I hope we will live up to your expectations… Even though the two of us haven't been much outside the sect either…" Still remaining a bit cautious towards Huang Yongyu, Chu Yang said this before turning towards Qing Yi who was still staring at Huang Yongyu with an excited look on her face.
"Do you have something to say, Qing Yi…?"
"Ah! I was just wondering if the River Sect has any alchemists or if they mostly get their pills and potions through trade with other sects…"
Letting out a surprised yelp after being found out, Qing Yi quickly asked the question she had wanted to ask ever since she first heard that they would be meeting up with someone from the River Sect.𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞
"Hm, If it's about alchemist of our sect… We don't really have any, I think we mostly just buy them from some of the nearby sects when needed…"
Thinking about it for a short moment, Huang Yongyu answered Qing Yi's question without hesitation.
The fact that they got most of their pills and potions from the outside was not really a secret in the first place, Huang Yongyu was just a bit surprised that a disciple from the Flying Sword Sect would ask him about something like this.
"Great!"
Not saying anything else, Qing Yi quickly retreated from Huang Yongyu. Smiling happily as she seemed to be in deep thought about something.
"Just ignore her, we should get going and deal with those bandits at the Red Flower Ridge as quickly as possible. Wait here for a moment, I will just be getting our mount."
Rolling his eyes upon seeing Qing Yi, Chu Yang informed the confused Huang Yongyu as he soon entered the forest in search of the tiger demon beast. Leaving Qing Yi and Huang Yongyu alone together at the entrance to the forest.
"…"
Huang Yongyu did not know what to say in response, as he watched Chu Yang slowly disappear into the forest and Qing Yi sitting down with a small notebook in hand before staring to write something down. Completely ignoring him in the process.
The disciples from the Flying Sword Sect… Were different from how he had first imagined them…
Time slowly passed and Chu Yang soon came back with the tiger demon beast.
Like this, Qing Yi, Chu Yang and the new member of the group, Huang Yongyu. All mounted up on the tiger demon beast before setting off in the direction of the Red Flower Ridge.
The tiger demon beast barely holding on under the weight of three people who could barely fit on his back.
…
The journey towards the Red Flower Ridge was peaceful without much happening. Most of the time was spent with Chu Yang and Qing Yi asking Huang Yong Yu about the River Sect and Huang Yongyu asking about how things were outside of the River Sect, to which Chu Yang took the lead in talking about some of the things he had seen when on the run from the Black Rose Sect.
During their conversations, Chu Yang and Qing Yi also learned about the Pure Heart Lake for their second mission.
Apparently, the Pure Heart Lake was located close to the centre of the River Sect's territory where their sect was built.
"…Though I do have to remind you that even if the Pure Heart Lake is inside my River Sect's territory, we do not control it alone and there are many other sects that have their disciples enter and gather Pure Heart Spirit Grass! In return, we get a lot of potions, pills and other essential materials for our disciples and elders!"
The talk was currently on the Pure Heart Lake and the powers present in it and Huang Yongyu's explanation had helped both Qing Yi and Chu Yang understand the current situation better.
"…"
Chu Yang and Qing Yi both looked at each other quietly after hearing Huang Yongyu finish his explanation, he very clearly looked upset when mentioning the fact that the Pure Heart Lake was not completely under his own sect's control.
Well, that was understandable… After all, who would want some other sect having their disciples loiter around just outside the entrance of their sect? How would their elders ever be able to leave without worrying that one of the sects who had sent people over just outside the sect launching an attack?
From the looks of things, the River Sect might not be so willing to be in isolation as Chu Yang and Qing Yi had first though, but were most likely forced into their current situation due to a large group of people from other sects having their own people hanging out just outside their sect…
The other sects very clearly wanted to somehow deal with the River Sect but feared their overwhelming number of Core Formation Experts.
Instead, they resorted to other means.
Forcing their experts to stay at home while they cut them off from the outside world. Slowly killing them off by limiting the resources going into the River Sect…
"Thank you for your explanation, I will keep it in mind."
"No need, I'm acting as a guide, so it's the least I can do!"
Thanking Huang Yongyu for his explanation, Chu Yang seemed to form an understanding of the general situation inside the River Sect's territory…
It looked like the bandit group that had appeared at the Red Flower Ridge was connected to the sects that were currently setting up shop beside the Pure Heart Lake… Things were way more troublesome than expected…
The River Sect had even requested for the Flying Sword Sect to take care of the bandits so the sects hanging out outside their sect wouldn't be able to do anything to them, like claiming that the bandit group had kidnapped some of their disciples and the River Sect had ended up killing them and therefore wanting some sort of compensation in return…
"Hah…"
Chu Yang could not help but let out an exhausted sigh when he thought about this. At the very least, he had the Flying Sword Sect behind him, so there was no way those sects would dare do anything unreasonable to him and Qing Yi…
Even then, Chu Yang could not help but feel a bit uncertain the closer they got to the Red Flower Ridge.
The sects should at least have predicted that the River Sect would end up asking the Flying Sword Sect for help dealing with the bandits… So how come they still planted those bandits there anyway…?