Du An, wearing a white priest's robe accented with bright white stripes, swept his gaze over the ragged group beside him and immediately spotted two priests among them.
It wasn't strange for a minor world to have its own native priests.
Especially since the Shattered Realm was constantly fluctuating, dropping all sorts of bizarre things down.
He scanned the crowd but couldn't find the spiritual fluctuation he had detected a day ago.
That familiar spiritual fluctuation had only appeared briefly when he entered the Trash Realm, vanishing soon after.
When Du An had tried to rush straight to the location where the soul had appeared, he was inexplicably attacked by Trash City's automated security.
It just went to show that while artificial intelligence could be convenient at times, it could also completely ruin things.
After wasting a bit of time dealing with the pesky security bots, Du An found that the fleeting spiritual fluctuation had never reappeared.
He wasted another half a day flying over regardless of the spiritual rhinoceros consumption, only to find absolutely nothing upon reaching the general area.
Du An turned and walked over to the bewildered crowd, ultimately picking out the young priest who appeared to be in slightly better physical condition.
"Were you all here a day ago?"
Li Ban opened his mouth. A flurry of thoughts raced through his mind, but they ultimately boiled down to a single word. "Yes."
"Was anyone else around here besides you?"
"We didn't see anyone else when we arrived, and we've been resting in that abandoned base out back ever since," Li Ban replied. He turned to Captain Luca, trying to look as natural as possible. "Did anyone else show up during that time?"
Li Ban looked a little nervous, but everyone present was tense, including Priest Zhong Ye, whose nervousness was mixed with excitement.
Luca had a remarkably large build, but in front of the tall—though not quite two-meter—Du An, his presence felt vastly diminished.
A priest who brazenly flew through the sky and dropped down right in front of them gave off a completely different level of oppressive pressure than a priest they had plucked from an Experimental Capsule.
Priest Ban gave them a much more peaceful feeling. If he hadn't actively revealed his spells, they wouldn't have even known he was a priest.
But the man before them gave off the distinct impression that even when standing on the ground, he was still looking down on them from on high.
"The soldiers on guard duty didn't spot any other lifeforms approaching." Luca spoke slowly, organizing the words in his head several times before finally articulating them clearly.
Du An looked mildly disappointed.
If it wasn't a living body, could Chen Dong's soul have appeared nearby in a free-roaming state?
A soul without a physical vessel to protect it wouldn't last long before naturally dissipating.
Then again, an untethered soul could move at speeds far beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Du An decided to use the abandoned base as a center point and sweep the entire surrounding area.
Just as Du An was about to take to the sky again to search for what might be Chen Dong's soul, Priest Zhong Ye suddenly spoke up.
"Fellow priest—the natives of this world are on the verge of being enslaved by artificial intelligence. As a fellow human, could you perhaps lend us a hand?"
Du An merely offered a flat response. "I lack the ability to do so."
With that, he soared straight up into the clouds. He hovered high in the air for a moment before picking a direction and flying off.
Ah She suddenly lowered her head, buried her face in her hands, and began to sob.
Li Ban withdrew his gaze, breathing a quiet sigh of relief in his heart. He turned to the dejected group. "Let's keep moving. Even without outside help, we still have to keep going, right?"
The gloomy atmosphere lightened slightly at his words.
Everyone turned their eyes to Li Ban. The initial sense of unfamiliarity they had with him was slowly fading away.
Priest Zhong Ye settled back into his wheelchair. He looked at Li Ban, a gratified smile in his eyes.
The group resumed their journey.
Li Ban sat back in his specially made recliner.
He was still playing the part of the frail, novice priest who required long periods of rest.
But as long as he remained in the group, everyone else felt a lot more secure.
Upon returning to the Wu World, Li Ban opened his eyes to find himself still lying in the carriage.
The carriage rocked back and forth as it trundled down a narrow forest path, swaying just enough to make someone sleepy but not quite enough to let them actually fall asleep.
"Have you rested enough?" Cat Girl was sitting off to the side, resting her chin in her hands and staring at him.
"Phew." Li Ban sat up, clutching his chest. "I had a nightmare."
Cat Girl tilted her head.
What kind of nightmare could scare a priest this badly?
Li Ban touched his own face.
Over in the Yin World, Du An hadn't recognized him at all.
But the moment Li Ban saw Du An, he had immediately flashed back to when the black-robed priest snatched his Wizard Embryo Fragment.
Those two shared a very similar aura.
Yet Du An hadn't shown any reaction upon seeing him.
Li Ban had already changed into the Yin World's local clothing by then, but his face was completely unhidden.
All the items on his person bearing the marks of his original world had been sold off by the Alliance members. He had safely stored the remaining two inside his Cubic Space.
The fact that Du An didn't realize he was from the Ring World meant he had definitely never seen that particular body of his.
So whose body was that in the Ring World? And why did it have Gu Yi's suicide note on it?
However, it would still be some time before they reached the Northern Base, which had more advanced readers. He could just use the travel time to make progress on the Wu World side.
Still, Du An's sudden appearance left Li Ban somewhat worried.
Though the others didn't know it, Li Ban had a strong feeling that whatever Du An was looking for was most likely related to him.
If Du An hadn't so naturally assumed he was just a local Yin World priest, Li Ban would have suspected he was the one who drew the man's attention.
If Li Ban had done anything out of the ordinary right then, it would have only aroused Du An's suspicion.
Because of that, he fought down the urge to flee straight back to the Wu World, merely watching as Du An scoured the area around the abandoned base.
Thinking carefully about what Du An had said, "a day ago" was the exact time Li Ban had been examining the suicide note in the base.
Could Du An have been searching for the suicide note?
But his very first question had been about a "person."
This left Li Ban slightly perplexed.
The Yin World lacked spiritual rhinoceros, so it was highly unlikely Du An would stay there for long. Li Ban decided he absolutely wouldn't take the note out again until they reached the Northern Base.
"Where are we now?" Li Ban pushed open the carriage window and looked outside.
"We're about to leave Langzhou. There are two large mountains blocking the path ahead, so we can't take the back roads anymore. We have to merge onto the official highway for now."
"It's been this long and we haven't seen any pursuers. They probably aren't coming after us."
There was plenty of lingering trouble back in Hundred Flowers City; even the local magistrate wouldn't dare turn a blind eye to it anymore.
The carriage rounded a bend, climbed an incline, and then began to roll downhill.
Deng Jun wasn't a professional driver, so he took the mountain roads with extreme caution, keeping the pace slow. At times, he even had to hop down and lead the horses on foot.
Looking out the open window, Li Ban could spot what looked like a convoy of carriages heading their way along the official highway in the distance.
From his high vantage point, he squinted and made out the insignia on the vehicles.
"That's Grand Prince Li Yuan's convoy."
Li Ban called for Deng Jun to stop, preventing him from going any further.
Even though Li Yuan was supposed to be under house arrest right now and was being escorted by priests, who knew if they were secretly giving the Grand Prince preferential treatment?
But while Li Ban wanted to hide, someone had already noticed him.
In the middle of the convoy were two eight-horse carriages, vastly different in style but both incredibly spacious.
The door of the white carriage in front suddenly swung open, and something seemed to drift out.
Yet not a single one of the surrounding soldiers reacted to it at all.
The sensation was all too familiar. The moment Li Ban's expression shifted, a face materialized right outside the window!
He immediately scrambled backward, only to see that Cat Girl was still leaning by the window, acting as if she couldn't see the face at all.
Truth be told, it wasn't an ugly face. It was a little aloof, but quite beautiful.
But she had appeared far too abruptly, exactly like the black-robed priest from before.
Once Li Ban got a clear look at her robes, however, he asked, "Are you a white-robed priest?"
"Hiss!"
The first one to respond was actually Cat Girl.
Only when Li Ban spoke did she finally notice the face hovering mere inches away. Every hair on her body instantly stood on end. She rocketed up to the carriage ceiling, hanging upside down as she glared fiercely at the sudden intruder.
The aloof, white-robed priest paid no mind to the bristling Cat Girl. Instead, she clearly answered Li Ban's question.
"I am. You appear to be a newly-born priest? Who performed the Rite of Heaven-Seizing Breath on you?"
Li Ban gave the answer he had prepared long ago. "Yes. The one who performed the Rite of Heaven-Seizing Breath on me was a grey-robe priest."
In the next second, the white-robed priest materialized inside the carriage, sitting directly across from Li Ban.
She sat with graceful poise, her aloof aura laced with a subtle sharpness.
"If it was a grey-robe priest, then I presume you don't have a Wizard Lord you follow?"
Unlike the black-robed priest, who had immediately tried to snatch his Wizard Embryo Fragment, this white-robed priest started interrogating him like a census taker.
Li Ban sat up a bit straighter and reached up to pull the hanging Cat Girl down from the ceiling.
Things didn't seem to be developing too badly.
The operating style of the white-robed priests was vastly different from the black-robed ones.
She was much more like Priest Zhong Ye.
Priests helping one another out, fostering a much friendlier relationship.
This was more like it!
"That's right. Honestly, I ended up with the fragment in a total blur. My understanding of priests is pretty limited right now."
The corners of the white-robed priest's mouth ticked up, revealing a faint smile.
"My name is Zhu Yao. I am a 7th Tier Dark Moon Priest of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda lineage. If you don't wish to remain a drifting grey-robe priest, I can act as your guide and sponsor your entry into the Myriad Ancient Pagoda."
It was exactly as Priest Zhong Ye had told him.
In the Wu World, there were white-robed priests who guided newcomers.
Moreover, the Zhu Yao sitting in front of him was actually a 7th Tier Priest.
A 7th Tier Priest might sound like it was on the same level as a Seventh Tier prince, but the reality was worlds apart.
Li Ban didn't hesitate, showing just the right amount of restrained joy.
"I would love to join!"
He paused for a moment, however, before adding, "It's just that I currently have a mission. I need to escort someone to the Myriad Ancient Pagoda at the Unreturning Place."
To his surprise, Zhu Yao immediately guessed, "Shi Ming?"
"Hey, what is it?" Shi Ming, who had been sitting outside the carriage, suddenly heard his name. He quickly opened the door and poked his head in.
Spotting the white-robed woman who had suddenly materialized inside the carriage, Shi Ming blinked in surprise. "Who are you?"
Zhu Yao looked at Shi Ming. She didn't show the same wary expression as the black-robed priest; she merely stated flatly, "I am the one who proposed sending you to the Unreturning Place."