The sky was full of thin clouds while the moon shone bright.
Dozens of large flying boats were parked in a vacant space in the desert. The lights on the side of the boats were clearly visible even from dozens of miles away.
On the deck of the flying ship in front of the group, dozens of disciples of the Sword Sect lined up neatly. Watching nearly a thousand cultivators flying toward them on their flying swords, they were all tensed up and hurriedly ordered their men to mount the heavy crossbows at the two ends of the airboat and aim at those cultivators.
"Enemy attack, enemy attack!! Quickly set up the formation to fight the enemy!"
Woo---!
The sound of the horn spread for miles.
Fortunately, Yun Xi was already prepared. Sitting in the wheelchair, she condensed her spiritual energy into her throat and bellowed, ---"Do not attack, damn it! They are allies!!"
The Sword Sect disciples on the flying boat all breathed a sigh of relief and dispersed their people.
Although it was just a small mistake, Ye Ao, who was following Pei Lianxue, could see from this detail that the people stationed here to rest had reached their limits both physically and mentally.
Refugees tended to cause chaos, not to mention that there were pursuers behind them.
"Little Pei, don't you have a Nascent Soul cultivator to accompany you? Can you control these tens of thousands of people with just you and a few dozens of Foundation Building cultivators of the Sword Sect?"
Pei Lianxue nodded, and recalling Ye Anping's words before she set off, she said, "Well, Brother said that as long as no one dies, things won't get out of hand. If we encounter demonic cultivators, I and the Sword Sect disciples will deal with them. We won't let the Qi Refining disciples of the Justice Division and the rogue cultivators step forward and deal with the enemies."
"Eh? So... not a single one of you died after traveling thousands of miles from the Great Wall?"
"Yeah!" Pei Lianxue nodded. "Brother had the Justice Division people prepare a lot in advance. Every thirty people had an old disciple of the Division specially arranged to calm them down. He said that as long as there was hope, they would not panic. Brother also said that he would use some means to calm our morale on the way."
When Liang Zhu heard this, he let out a deep sigh. However, seeing Ye Anping's schemes in the past, he got used to them. He was just a little impressed.
Ye Ao, on the other hand, was a little dumbfounded. He had expected his son to be powerful, but he had not expected him to think and strategize so much in advance.
After coming to his senses, he asked, "...So, Anping asking Brother Liang and me to bring the Hundred Lotus Sect to meet you here is his way to appease the people?"
"Well, there are others..."
"Then, let's talk about it later." Ye Ao nodded, then looked sideways at Liang Zhu. "Brother Liang, arrange for our people to replace the Sword Sect disciples first. Let the Sword Sect disciples rest for a while. We'll talk about the rest later."
"Understood."
Liang Zhu nodded and flew toward the Hundred Lotus Sect disciples waiting at the back to arrange for patrol and reconnaissance missions.
Ye Ao and his companions landed on the deck of the leading flying boat. Zhang Yihe pushed Yun Xi's wheelchair around to give instructions to the disciples of the Sword Sect on various matters and then led Ye Ao and his people into the cabin.
The people sat in front of a slightly larger round table in the cabin, and Yun Xi instructed Zhang Yihe to pour Ye Ao and Liang Zhu a cup of good tea. Then, she took a deep breath and put on her demeanor as the Third Miss of the Sword Sect.
"Thank you, Patriarch Ye, for bringing the Hundred Lotus Sect disciples to help. Nice to meet you. I'm Yun Xi, the Third Young Miss of the Moon Shadow Sword Sect."
Ye Ao carefully sized Yun Xi up. Although the wheelchair and the bandages around her neck were a little of an eyesore, she had blonde hair and was quite pretty. With a pleased smile, he replied politely, "Third Miss Yun, you don't have to be so polite. I came here just because of my son's request. If you want to thank someone, thank my boy."
Being the first time Yun Xi and Ye Ao had met, they couldn't skip these polite greetings.
However, although it was just small talk, Yun Xi vaguely felt that Ye Ao and Ye Anping had nothing in common.
Ye Ao gave her the impression of a rather amiable person while Ye Anping had a bit of a shady side, so she thought that Ye Ao must have been a strict father who was not easy to talk to.
However, the next moment, Ye Ao said something that stunned everyone present as if they had been struck by lightning. "Besides, didn't Third Miss Yun send a letter of engagement before, wanting to marry my boy? This can be regarded as me, the father-in-law, coming to save my daughter-in-law, haha..."
"Huh?"
Yun Xi's face froze instantly. Her eyes slowly widened, thinking that she must have heard wrong.
What the heck?
In the next moment, she suddenly felt the cold killing intent emanating from Pei Lianxue. She took a deep breath and stood up from the wheelchair. "Patriarch Ye? Don't spout nonsense, I didn't..."
Ye Ao was also stunned, not knowing what was going on. "Huh? No?"
Pei Lianxue narrowed her eyes. "Sister Yun..."
Liang Zhu, who was standing to the side, looked at the scene as if he saw his sixth brother about to be trapped in purgatory due to his infidelity. In a good mood, he took the teacup and used it to cover his smirk.
Zhang Yihe reacted quickly and interrupted them. "Master Ye must have remembered it wrong. It was the Eldest Lady of the Sword Sect, not the Third Lady, who sent the engagement letter."
"Oh~" Ye Ao was stunned for a moment, and he waved his hand quickly. "Hey, look at my memory, sorry, sorry, my wife has been a little anxious recently..."
On behalf of Yun Xi, Zhang Yihe said it was okay, waved his hand, and added casually, "Furthermore, even if Third Young Miss is interested, Young Master Ye would not dare to agree. One who dares to marry Third Young Miss, how strong must his luck be?"
Pei Lianxue was stunned for a moment and felt that it made sense. Yun Xi was safe, so she nodded in agreement. "Hmm... that's true."
"???"
Yun Xi opened her lips slightly, but she could not utter a word. She slowly sat back in the wheelchair, expressionless as if resigned to her fate...
Liang Zhu was a bit disappointed that he didn't see a catfight and changed the topic. He took a map from his storage bag and laid it on the table.
"According to Master Ye's previous instructions, after I, Patriarch Ye, and the disciples of the Hundred Lotus Sect meet up with Third Miss Yun and Miss Pei, we will take over and continue to escort the ten thousand people on this road to Sword Gate Pass . From there, we will pass through the Sword Sect territory and then cross the northwest frontier of the Southern Region to return to the Western Region . Third Miss Yun, do you see a problem?"
Yun Xi shook her head. "Uh... no problem. Young Master Ye told us before that the Hundred Lotus Sect will meet us on the way."
"Then, it's settled. Miss Yun and Miss Pei, you can go and get some rest. Leave the rest to me and Patriarch Ye..."
"Alright."
The others didn't have any objections and nodded in agreement.
At this time...
Roar---!!!
A distant dragon roar broke everyone's calm mood. The people in the room, except Yun Xi, hurried to the window on one side and opened it to look up at the sky.
About a hundred miles away, a cluster of black rain clouds rapidly drifted toward them as if they were peeing while flying. It moistened all the yellow sand along the way and hit the ceiling of their airboat with cracking sounds.
Liang Zhu, Ye Ao, and the others held their breath, worried that the peeing dark cloud would stop above their heads, but fortunately, it seemed to just pass by as it flew over their heads, heading northwest.
Ye Ao frowned, thinking of what he had read in a book before. "I heard that in ancient times, Yinglong controlled the wind and rain. The dragon roar and the dark clouds just now..."
Halfway through his words, everyone was surprised to discover that the wooden walls of the room on the flying boat were sprouting vines and buds.
They immediately understood that the rain indeed came from Yinglong, but they were all surprised that this rain, which contained the spiritual energy of spring, simply gave new life to the spiritual wood on the flying boat.
Liang Zhu frowned, walked back to the table, and looked at the map. He slid his finger back along the path of the dark cloud before landing on three words: " Seven Dragon Valley ".
He narrowed his eyes. "In some ancient books in the Imperial Sect's secret vault, it's said that there's a Yinglong underground in the Seven Dragon Valley . The Seven Dragon Valley is on Sixth Brother's route. I don't think it's a coincidence."
"Brother Liang, are you saying that this dragon is related to Anping?"
Because he couldn't figure out the causal relationship between Ye Anping and Yinglong, Liang Zhu was not too sure, but he felt that there was a high probability that it was something caused by his sixth brother.
"At least it can't be completely unrelated to him."
"..."
Ye Ao seemed to be a step behind. Every time he followed Liang Zhu out, his son's actions really shocked the heart of this ordinary little cultivator again and again.
What did he do in his previous life to give birth to such a son...
Pei Lianxue heard their conversation and felt inexplicably happy.
"Brother is so awesome, hehe..."
Knock knock---
At this moment, two heavy knocks on the door attracted everyone's attention again.
Yun Xi came back to her senses and hurriedly called out. "Come in!"
A Foundation Building disciple wearing the Sword Sect uniform walked into the room with a jade slip in his hand. "Good news from the Eldest Lady. She said they had killed the Young Master of the Ghost Spirit Sect, Gui Qinghe, and the fifty cultivators in the Core Formation stage that were chasing them. Among the more than three thousand Sword Sect and Justice Division disciples, there were only slightly injured and no one died! Third Miss should tell everyone this news to boost morale."
Good news really came one after another. Yun Xi lost control of her emotions for a moment. She ignored the fracture in her right foot again as she stood up from the wheelchair and asked in surprise, "Is it true?!"
The Sword Sect disciple who brought the news nodded. "Absolutely true."
"Then, spread the word about this as Elder Sister instructed."
"Yes, Ma'am!"
The Sword Sect Disciple cupped his hands in response. However, he did not seem to have finished his report. Instead of leaving, he showed some concern and, after a moment of silence, said, "There's one more thing..."
Seeing his 'bad news' expression, Yun Xi paused and sat down again, nodding. "Go ahead."
"It's been six days since Second Miss sent us a jade slip. Moreover, the messenger eagle and spirit beast we sent over have not returned."
Zhang Yihe frowned and glanced at the map on the table."Have all the jade slips been intercepted by the demonic cultivators? Or have the Second Young Lady and the others already..."
Yun Xi reacted fast. She stood up and directly closed Zhang Yihe's mouth with an uppercut, then shouted at him, glaring. "Damn it, Zhang Yihe!! No one will think you are dumb if you don't speak!!!"
"..."
Yun Xi yelled at Zhang Yihe, then turned to look at the Sword Sect disciple who came to report. "If we haven't had contact in six days, why are you only reporting this now?!"
The Sword Sect disciple was speechless and lowered his head. "Uh... because..."
Seeing him like this, Yun Xi clenched her fists as she rushed to him, limping.
"Damn you!!!"
Liang Zhu glanced at the Sword Sect disciple, stepped forward to stop Yun Xi, and advised her. "Miss Yun, if you want to punish this man, do it later."
Because Ye Anping's plan did not mention what to do in this situation, he thought for a moment, then looked at Pei Lianxue and asked, "Miss Pei, did Young Master Ye give you instructions on what to do in this situation?"
"...No."
"Well then..."
Liang Zhu looked at the meandering route the Second Miss took and pondered for a moment. The Second Miss and Feng Yu Die were leading the group of Core Formation cultivators from the Justice Division .
Among the Hundred Lotus Sect disciples he and Ye Ao brought, there were only a few Core Formation cultivators.
Since Second Miss Yun had encountered a situation, even if they rushed over now, they probably wouldn't be able to change anything.
After a moment of silence, he said, "Given the sixth brother's personality, he must have prepared a way to handle this. Since he didn't say anything to you, we'll follow the original plan and lead this group to the Sword Gate Pass first..."
Suddenly, he was interrupted by Pei Lianxue's soft voice. "I'll go take a look..."
"Hmm?"
"Second... Feng Yu Die should also have my brother's treasure bags, and she listens to me and my brother. If something like this happened, it means that she encountered something that Brother didn't expect, or they made a mistake..."
Liang Zhu looked at Pei Lianxue's extremely serious expression and retorted. "But Miss Pei, even if you bring the Hundred Lotus Sect disciples over, it's likely that you won't be able to change the outcome anyway..."
"I will go alone. Even if I encounter danger, I can still escape." Pei Lianxue interrupted again. "When we were in the Northern Region , Miss Li said that if there was something that Brother did not expect, we should help him make up for it. This is what cultivation partners do. Brother used to take care of us alone..."
Suddenly, Ye Ao, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up. "Okay! Hehe... Brother Liang, Anping originally didn't tell me to come with you, so you take these Qi Refining cultivators to Sword Gate Pass as planned. I'll go over there with Miss Pei to take a look. Feng Yu Die is over there, right? She's also my boy's cultivation partner..."
Pah---
Pei Lianxue suddenly slapped the table. "She is not!!"
"Ah? Not?"
Pei Lianxue shook her head earnestly. "No!"
"Uh..." Ye Ao blinked, and looking at Pei Lianxue's puffed-up and fierce face, he immediately smiled awkwardly and waved his hand. "Okay, okay, if it's not, it's not. Little Pei, I'll accompany you."
Seeing that Ye Ao had spoken, Liang Zhu didn't say anything else and cupped his hands. "Then, please be careful. Young Master Ye said earlier that he would try to get the Demon King's help. However, the Demon King is not on the side of immortal cultivators. If you encounter him, please be cautious."
"Ah? Who?!"
"The King of all demonic beasts, Hu Mu."
"Hiss-- How did the Demon King get involved with Anping... No, could it be that it has a daughter who was mesmerized by our Ping?"
"I don't know about that, but the plan that Sixth Brother asked Elder Tong to give me mentioned that the Demon King would take action."
"Okay."
Ye Ao nodded, then walked to Pei Lianxue and patted her shoulder. "Little Pei, why don't you ride on my crane? You haven't ridden a crane before, have you? Legend has it that red-crowned cranes are auspicious for children. Maybe if you sit on my crane, I can hug my grandchildren soon."
Pei Lianxue pursed her lips, and with a blank look, whispered, "Master Ye, Brother said before that only children would believe that red-crowned cranes can deliver babies. Red-crowned cranes can't deliver babies, they can only poop..."
Ye Ao was stunned. He raised his hand and slightly slapped the back of her head.
"Ouch..."
"Hiss-- you silly girl! Isn't this a hint? I am urging you to hurry up!"
"Oh..."
After all, once she had a granddaughter or grandson, Kong Yulan probably wouldn't think about giving Ye Anping a brother or sister, right?
Thinking about that, Ye Ao looked at Pei Lianxue's simple and unpromising appearance, sighed softly, and walked out of the room with his hands behind his back, shaking his head. "Alas... the old horse is no longer ambitious~"