Now that I think about it, it seems like someone has been following us for quite a while…
Feeling a unique presence seemingly hesitantly approaching them from time to time before backing off again. Only to resume the hesitant approach a few seconds later, Xuan Hao could not help but chuckle to himself.
While the person might be able to escape the senses of someone in the Nascent Soul Realm, it was impossible for him to escape the senses of a Domain Lord like Xuan Hao!
The only reason why he did not care about this presence, was that he could not feel any killing intent or other malicious intent from it. However, in the end, he was still quite curious about who it was…
So, with this in mind, Xuan Hao used his divine sense to inspect the person following behind them.
"This is… Fang Shi?!"
Realizing that the person following behind was none other than the old Artisan Alchemist who had wanted to snatch his disciple away less than a day ago, Xuan Hao could not help smiling wryly.
Was the reason why he was following them because he knew about Li Yao's situation and wanted to secretly ensure her safety on her journey back home, or maybe the old man wanted to fulfil his part of the bet they had yesterday…
"Hehe~"
Thinking about this, Xuan Hao could not help but chuckle a bit to himself without anyone noticing.
From what he saw, it looked like the chances of the old alchemist secretly showing up was to make sure his new disciple made it back safely. Not to come and give away his first disciple!
The reason why he was hesitating to get any closer, was likely because he had seen him and remembered their bet yesterday!
The bet itself was nothing more than a joke in his eyes. After all, there was no way Fang Shi's disciple would just agree to a stranger that she had no idea who was, taking her away from her current master.
At that point, it would just be him kidnapping some random girl…
However, from the looks of it, Fang Shi did not see things the same way he did, as he seemed to seriously think that he wanted to take away his first disciple now that he had lost the bet to him. For this reason, he did not dare to approach Li Yao's group while he was still nearby.
The current situation was quite funny to Xuan Hao. Especially given the fact that the old Artisan Alchemist had yet to discover the fact that the person he was hiding from had already discovered him.
"Looks like we will be parting ways here, it was nice meeting you and I hope we can meet again sometime in the future, as it seems the young mistress is getting along quite well with your disciple…"
Before Xuan Hao could hatch any plan to get a little revenge on the old alchemist who had tried to steal away his disciple yesterday, the old man from Li Yao's side whom he had been talking to during the duration of their journey to the gate leading out of the capital came to a stop as he said this.
The other elders from Li Yao's side were the same, as some of them even directly took out their weapons just in case they were attacked on their short journey to their flying ship floating a few dozen meters off the ground a short distance from the city gate.
"Indeed, looks like we will be parting ways already… I will make sure to come by and visit with Qing Yi in the future, if an opportunity presents itself."
Saying this as he signalled for Qing Yi to come over to his side, Xuan Hao watched as Li Yao and her group gathered together before slowly and cautiously making their way towards the place where the flying ship was located.
Looking at them moving forward so cautiously was quite a comical thing, as many of the miners and guards passing by them looked towards the group with a slightly weird expression on their faces. Not really understanding what they were up to.
"Master… Are they going to be fine…?"
Having somewhat understood that Li Yao was potentially being targeted by someone over the course of their short journey to the gate, Qing Yi could not help asking her master in a slightly worried tone.
After all, Qing Yi already considered Li Yao to be her friend and she did not want for her to get hurt. Especially so when she was there and could help out in case something really did happen!
"No worries, they should be fine, we should also get going."
Feeling the old alchemist having already sneaked past him and left the capital to follow behind the group, Xuan Hao knew that the group should be more than safe.
The main reason for this was that, even though Fang Shi was an alchemist, he was by no means weak. Having already reached the Peak of the Nascent Soul Realm with a pseudo domain, being just a single step away from forming a true domain to become a Domain Lord.
Given the many different potions and pills at his disposable along with the fact that he would surely have gotten his hands on many different powerful artifacts over the years as an Artisan Alchemist, Xuan Hao didn't doubt that the old man should be more than capable of fighting with a Domain Lord Realm Expert for some time!
Even if he could not beat the other party, holding off long enough until Yi Min showed up should be more than enough… Not that he really expected for the other party to send any Domain Lords given what he had learned about Li Yao's enemies from the old man.
In the end, if things really did end up getting dangerous for Li Yao, Xuan Hao could always step in himself to resolve the issue. However, it was after all Fang Shi's new disciple so he should… give…
Wait… Why do I need to give that old thief the chance to show off in front of his new disciple!?