Chapter 542: Zhu Lian in Danger?
Arriving in front of Zu Fei's pavilion where Feng Chen was temporarily staying as his own had still not been rebuilt yet, Xuan Hao instantly spotted Zu Fei standing at the entrance to the pavilion. Busy talking with a young disciple.
Spotting Xuan Hao almost the same moment he appeared in front of her pavilion; Zu Fei quickly signalled for the young disciple to leave before making her way over to meet him.
"Elder Xuan, What brings you here? Are you perhaps here for the Sect Master?"
"Indeed, I have something to ask him about."
"I understand, he should be cultivating at the eastern flower garden inside my pavilion⦠if he is not there, you can try the other flower gardens, he normally cultivates inside one of them!"
"Thanks, I will be going then."
Not really needing her directions to find Feng Chen as he had already locked on to him with his divine sense, Xuan Hao still thanked Zu Fei before entering her pavilion and making his way towards the location of Feng Chen.
â¦
Entering Zu Fei's pavilion, Xuan Hao could not help feeling shocked at the inside of the pavilion. No calling it a pavilion would not be appropriate, as Zhu Fei's pavilion was just a large garden with walls around it and several walkways made from the wood of spiritual trees going through this large garden. Every now and then, a few small residences could be seen where some of Zu Fei's disciples resided.
Walking along one of these walkways, Xuan Hao soon reached what Zhu Fei had referred to as the eastern flower garden, a beautiful part of the giant garden that was Zu Fei's pavilion filled with all sorts of flowers, both spiritual and mortal in nature.
"Elder Xuan? Did you perhaps come here because of the Mystic Realm entrance you found? Sorry to disappoint you, but we have not been able to find anything about the entrance to a Mystic Realm in the historical records of the sect so farâ¦" Spotting Xuan Hao the moment he entered the eastern flower garden, Feng Chen stood up before calling out to him in a slightly surprised tone. Having already drawn his own conclusion as to why Xuan Hao had come to visit him.
"No⦠I'm not here because of the Mystic Realm, but it is indeed rather disappointing to not have any information about itâ¦" Shaking his head in response, Xuan Hao quickly denied this. After all, his reason for coming was not to ask about the entrance to the Mystic Realm located just next to his pavilion, but about the person most likely to be the eighth Nascent Soul Realm Expert of the Flying Sword Sect, Zhu Lian.
"I see⦠I wonder what reason you have come for then?" Not expecting for his guess to be wrong, Feng Chen could not help feeling a bit curious about why Xuan Hao had come to him this time around.
Did another Mystic Realm perhaps appear? Was someone powerful about to attack the sect⦠Or maybe he was finally going to set up the Qi Gathering Formation so they could begin moving the sect to the Shattered Star Peaks?
No matter what it was, Feng Chen understood that Xuan Hao would normally not come to him if it was not something important!
"Actually⦠It's about the Nascent Soul Realm Expert I mentioned some time ago, Zhu Lian, I was wondering if you knew anything about where she is."
"Zhu Lianâ¦? Now that you mention it, you did mention that you had helped one of Chi Hu's old friends break through to the Nascent Soul Realm and managed to get them to join the sect, butâ¦"
"Is something wrong?"
Sensing something was wrong the moment he saw a frown appear on Feng Chen's face; Xuan Hao understood that something might have happened to Zhu Lian since he had last seen her.
"But I never saw her after you mentioned her, I only got a letter sent through the servant quarters from her a few weeks ago. Mentioning that she had apparently run into some sort of trouble when visiting her home and not being able to make it to the sect for the time being. The letter is right here..."
"Hah⦠Looks like that is really the caseâ¦" Hearing what Feng Chen said along with reading the content of the letter in his hand, Xuan Hao quickly understood that Zhu Lian had indeed run into some sort of trouble.
[Sect Quest: Save Zhu Lian]
[Description: Save the Eighth Nascent Soul Realm Expert of the Flying Sword Sect before she dies. Rough location of Zhu Lian's location have been given to host.]
[Time Limit: 3 days]
[Reward: Zhu Lian lives, location of undiscovered spirit stone mine inside the territory of the Flying Sword Sect.]
The system also did not even wait for him to think it over before it issued a brand-new sect quest related to Zhu Lian. Not even giving him any time to react before the information about Zhu Lian's location appeared in his head. From what the system said, it seemed like she had already been recognized as part of the Flying Sword Sect after she had been invited by him and had agreed to join.
Not knowing what to say at the sudden enthusiasm from the system, Xuan Hao could only shake his head before checking out the information he had been given about Zhu Lian's location.
"The Frozen Wasteland!?"
"Is something wrong?"
"No, it's nothing, I was just thinking about something after hearing what you mentioned regarding Zhu Lian."
Feeling a bit embarrassed that he had exclaimed a bit loudly after finding out about Zhu Lian's current location from the information he had been given by the system, Xuan Hao could only try his best to brush it off as nothingâ¦
"Sure⦠If you say soâ¦" This of course did not work at all, as Feng Chen clearly did not believe him. At least he still understood that it was not something Xuan Hao wanted to talk about, as he decided not to ask any further.
"Well⦠I have to get going, I might be gone from the sect for a week." Feeling how awkward it had suddenly gotten, Xuan Hao quickly excused himself before dashing out of the eastern flower garden.
"Hehe~" Chuckling a bit to himself when he saw this, Feng Chen just shook his head before sitting back down and resuming his cultivation like nothing had happened.
In the first place, he was only a bit interested in what had caused Xuan Hao to suddenly act so shocked over something when they had been talking about Zhu Lian.
"Feng Chen~ What were you and Elder Xuan talking about? Something about a woman called Zhu Lian⦠How do you know about this Zhu Lian�"
However, this interest did not last for long, as he suddenly heard a familiar voice call out to him shortly after Xuan Hao had left.
"Zu Fei⦠Did she instal some kind of listening formation�" Muttering this to himself as he watched Zu Fei suddenly appear beside him with an ominous smile on her face, Feng Chen suddenly felt a chill go down his spine.
â¦
During the short time he had visited Feng Chen and asked about Zhu Lian, the sky had already become dark, as the moon illuminated the ground below.
"The Frozen Wasteland⦠I didn't expect that I would be going there so soonâ¦" Landing back at the entrance to his own pavilion after having left Zu Fei's garden like pavilion, Xuan Hao could not help saying this to himself as he gazed up at the moon.
From the looks of it, he would have to visit the Frozen Wasteland and save Zhu Lian before she ended up dying to the trouble she had mentioned encountering in her letter.
Not only that, but he would also get a chance to look for the location of the Frost Devil Sect that he had promised Yi Min in exchange for the information about the Transcendent Spiritual Herb he needed for the Qi Gathering Formation.
Maybe he would even go and look for the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb after having made sure that Zhu Lian was safe. This way, he would be able to begin setting up the Qi Gathering Formation way earlier than expected and at the same time would not have to return to the Frozen Wasteland again in the future to get the Transcendent Grade Spiritual herb.
"Isn't this like getting three birds with one stone? I can rescue Zhu Lian from the life-threatening situation she finds herself in, find the location of the Frost Devil Sect and find the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb needed for the Qi Gathering Formation. All at the same time!"
As he said this out loud, Xuan Hao suddenly realized that it might not be such a bad idea to do this.
"Zhi Ruo!"
Seeing that Zhi Ruo was still up at this time leisurely reading a romance novella, Xuan Hao quickly called out to her before quickly informing her that he would be leaving for a short period of time.
Whoosh~
Not waiting around after having informed her, Xuan Hao directly left the Flying Sword Sect in the direction of the Azure Sky Kingdom where the closest border leading into the Frozen Wasteland was located.