Chapter 34

When the three of them returned to the guest courtyard, Chen Huan and the others were already waiting there. When they saw Pei Ling swagger back with his sister in his arms, Chen Huan could not help but be startled. Soon, he became boiling with rage!

This brat actually dared to take advantage of her. I got Chen Mei to feign civility so we can refine the Soul Summoning Banner smoothly. How dare he touch my sister in public!

However, he immediately calmed down when he saw Zhang Zhongqin giving him a look.

“It’s not early anymore.” Zhang Zhongqin coughed and said, “You two should go and rest first.”

Hearing this, Pei Ling agreed immediately. He continued placing his arms around Chen Mei and walked towards his residence.

Chen Huan’s face darkened, but he didn’t stop them. After they left, he asked immediately, “What happened?”

Zhang Zhongqin shook his head slightly and said, “This kid knows nothing!”

“He only went to walk around the market. When Chen Mei and I found him, he was still drinking his tea and did not intend to run away.

“And he was the one who suggested returning here.

“He is now captivated by your sister’s beauty, daydreaming about how a beauty would fall in love with him at first sight. It is rather beneficial to our plan!

“After all, the difference between using a corpse as a blood sacrifice to the Soul Summoning Banner and a lively cultivator who survived the entire process is like the difference between heaven and earth!”

Chen Huan understood what Zhang Zhongqin meant immediately.

Indeed, he was missing the final blood sacrifice material for the Soul Summoning Banner.

If this material consisted of a cultivator with complete essence, Qi, and spirit, the effects would naturally become maximized! By then, the quality of his Soul Summoning Banner after refinement would definitely be extraordinary!

However, if they killed Pei Ling now, the power of the Soul Summoning Banner refined with his dead body would definitely reduce greatly!

That was also why they had worked hard to obtain his trust during their time on the Corpse Cloud.

After all, if this kid knew their true goal, he would definitely resist desperately.

Not to mention killing Pei Ling, even if he only chopped off one of his limbs, it would be a loss to the Soul Summoning Banner!

Indeed, he had waited all these years. He could not allow it to fail at the last moment!

At the thought of this, Chen Huan nodded slightly as a form of tacit agreement. However, when he thought of how his sister had been handled by Pei Ling earlier and the way she did not dare to resist, anger boiled in his heart.

He vowed to let that kid suffer all kinds of torture and pain to vent his hatred during the blood sacrifice tomorrow!

Therefore, Chen Huan said in a deep voice, “I’ve bought everything required. We’ll bring him to the mountain tomorrow!”

Huang Xian snorted. “It’s all because of Xiao Tasha’s lack of preparation! As a result, we had no choice but to resupply in Spiraling Mountain City at the last minute. This matter probably won’t escape City Lord Duanmu’s notice.”

“That’s alright,” Chen Huan said lightly. “City Lord Duanmu is renowned for being a wheeler-dealer. Pei Ling is not related to him at all, and he won’t interfere in this.”

The few of them discussed for a while before dispersing.

…

At the same time, at Pei Ling’s residence.

“J-Junior Brother Pei, it’s getting late. I’m going to go back to my room to rest…” Chen Mei finally found an opportunity to break free of Pei Ling’s arm and escape out the door.

“Senior Sister Chen, don’t go.” Pei Ling pretended to urge her to stay.

Slam!

What answered him was the sound of the door closing.

Pei Ling smiled coldly. He was now certain that Chen Huan, Chen Mei, and the others had ill intentions towards him!

Otherwise, not to mention that the leader of this group, Chen Huan, was Chen Mei’s older brother, and the others were clearly closer to Chen Mei than to Pei Ling. These people’s cultivation levels were all higher than Pei Ling’s! Even Chen Mei herself was a cultivator with the same cultivation level as him.

How could she tolerate his rude behavior until now?

If not for their unfathomable motives, Pei Ling should have been taught a lesson by Chen Mei and Zhang Zhongqin when he placed his hand on Chen Mei’s shoulder on the way back. He might even get chased out of the team.

“I must think of a way to contact Wu Liu again tonight…” Pei Ling thought to himself. He then instructed the maidservant to serve dinner.

After a moment, a maidservant walked in. Pei Ling casually glanced at her, and he could not help but stare at her. He asked in a deep voice, “You don’t look like the one who served me this morning?”

The maid looked down and said carefully, “In reply to Immortal Master… my older sister was serving you in the morning.”

“Then why are you here?” Pei Ling asked. Seeing the maidservant wringing her clothes, he hurriedly comforted her, “I don’t mean to say that you’re not good. I only want to know why you replaced her.”

The maid forcefully held back a sob and knelt on the ground. “Immortal Master, my older sister… she didn’t mean to leak your whereabouts! Now, the steward has already dragged my older sister out for punishment. I beg you to show mercy to my family! I beg you to show mercy! I beg you to show mercy!”

As he watched the maid prostrating on the ground and desperately kowtowing, Pei Ling frowned and said in a deep voice, “What in the world is going on? I’ve never said that I’m blaming your sister?”

Seeing that the maid was afraid to speak, Pei Ling continued, “Make yourself clear. Perhaps I can speak to the steward to save your sister?”

“Immortal Master, it was Immortal Master Chen and Fairy Chen’s idea.” The maid hesitated for a moment before she said softly, “They said that since you told Sister not to leak your whereabouts, and she didn’t comply. She deserves to die, so the steward…”

Pei Ling’s expression was ashen. After a moment of silence, he asked, “Did Senior Brother Chen and Senior Sister Chen come to ask about my whereabouts after they returned?”

Seeing the maid nod, he continued to ask, “Your sister didn’t tell them at first, right?”

“Yes…” the maid replied with tears in her eyes.

Pei Ling sighed secretly. That maidservant did not get punished because of exposing his whereabouts!

On the contrary, it was likely because they became angry at her for not telling them his whereabouts in the first place.

When he instructed that maidservant previously, his main objective was to test Chen Huan and the others’ true motives. He did not expect that the maidservant would actually try to keep it a secret for him…

Thinking of this, Pei Ling said to this maidservant, “I understand. I will inform the steward about this tomorrow. It’s just that you also know that Senior Brother Chen and Senior Sister Chen are my fellow disciples. It’s their order to deal with your sister. If they find out that I turned around to plead on her behalf, it won’t look too good for me. So, pretend that I didn’t say anything. In the future, when your sister is released, you should also pretend that nothing happened.”

As the maid gratefully excused herself, Pei Ling sat quietly for around two hours. Then, he stood up and took out some unnecessary items from his storage bag and scattered them around the room, and messed up the bed. He even went to lie down on the bed for a while.

By then, it was already deep into the night. Pei Ling felt that it was about time, so he placed the tightly wrapped Life-Extinguishing Blade at the head of the bed. Then, he gently pushed open the back window and jumped out!

Outside the back window was a sizable flower bed, followed by a gravel path. Beyond that were a few tall trees.

Pei Ling walked out of the flower bed and saw that there was no one around. He immediately called out softly, “Miss Wuliu, Miss Wuliu…”

After waiting for a while, no one appeared. Pei Ling frowned slightly, then changed directions and continued to call out softly, “Miss Wuliu, I have something to tell Fairy Li. Please come out…”

Pei Ling did not dare to speak too loudly. However, after he called out from the back of the building where he lived to the two other buildings, he did not see Wu Liu appear. His heart could not help but sink. Wu Liu was no longer around?!

The escape technique Fairy Li gave him this time required him to learn it in seven days. If nothing went wrong, his mission outside the sect would last for more than seven days!

Under normal circumstances, Wu Liu should be staying in the dark and coming out to check his cultivation results after the seven days were up. Right?

Or did he really need to skin Chen Mei for Wu Liu to come out and see him?

“Junior Brother Pei, where are you going at night?” An icy voice suddenly sounded from behind Pei Ling.

Pei Ling turned around with a calm look. He saw that Huang Xian’s entire body floated down like a dead leaf as he jumped down from the top of a nearby tree.

He landed silently on the ground, his face shrouded in the shadows of the plants, exuding a sinister feeling.

“Senior Brother Huang?” Pei Ling revealed a surprised look, then said, “I dropped something very important to me. I must have dropped it somewhere along the road during the day, so I’m planning to find it.”

Huang Xian stared intently into Pei Ling’s eyes, though he could not see any flaws at the moment. After a while, he suddenly asked, “Where’s your saber? Why didn’t you bring it with you when you’re going out at night?”

“Why do I need to bring my saber when I’m only going out to look for something?” Pei Ling replied quickly.

Huang Xian nodded slightly, but he relaxed his guard a little. He then asked, “What did you drop? I’ll help you find it.”

“It’s a sachet. It’s pretty old and worn out, but it’s something left behind by my birth mother. So I’ve never left it by my side at all times.” Pei Ling replied casually.

Then, he roughly described the design of the sachet—the one he had stolen during the day.

Huang Xian nodded again. “I’ll tell you what. You and Junior Sister Chen have to deal with the flower demon tomorrow, so you better rest well at night. Since I already know what your sachet looks like, you should go back and sleep first. I’ll help you to find it..”