“We will be the better people and leave for now, but don’t be too happy just yet. You won’t be so lucky the next time we meet!” Quan Hui grew slightly braver after seeing that Lu Zhiying had decided to back down.
“Wait!” Lu Zhiying quickly called out upon seeing that the other party was about to leave. “What about Brother Lin? He did nothing wrong, so you can’t just take him with you like that.”
“He did nothing wrong?” Quan Hui’s rage skyrocketed once more. “Do we need to seek your permission to bring back a deserter?”
“We already told you that Brother Lin is not a deserter. Is that too difficult for you to understand?” Lu Zhiying asked.
“Junior Martial Sister Lu!” Gu Qiansi hurriedly held her back.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself!” Quan Hui spoke through gritted teeth.
“Thank you for your concern, but don’t worry about me, Sister Lu,” Lin Xiao interjected at this moment. “I have nothing to hide, so nothing will happen to me even if I have to return to the sect.”
His voice was weak and his face was pale, a testament to how he had yet to fully recover from the exchange with Quan Hui earlier.
Fortunately, he had at least managed to recover enough to on his own by now.
“Since that is the case, then we bid our farewell,” Zhao Yunxiao clasped his fists towards Lin Xiao. “Take care, and may you be safe.”
“Farewell,” Gu Qiansi and Lu Zhiying followed suit.
“Farewell. Thank you for your help today, as well as your valuable insights from last night,” Lin Xiao returned the gesture.
“Still putting up an act? You sure seem to be on close terms for people who have only just met last night!” Quan Hui remarked sarcastically.
“Is it really that surprising that not everyone is as unfriendly as you?” Lu Zhiying asked.
Quan Hui: “...”
After the past few exchanges, she had come to learn that it was best to just ignore Lu Zhiying.
Otherwise, if she were to take each of Lu Zhiying’s words to heart, that would only mean falling into Lu Zhiying’s trap and making herself angry for no good reason!
“Let’s go!” Quan Hui ordered unhappily.
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“Decently done,” Wei Yuandi commented, catching Zhao Yunxiao by surprise with the sudden compliment.
However, Zhao Yunxiao could not bring himself to be happy.
“You are too kind, Senior Martial Brother Wei,” Zhao Yunxiao answered wryly. “Just looking at what happened today, it’s obvious that it still has a ways to go before it can be considered decent...”
The fact was that, despite their hard work, this extensive network of alerts and arrays still proved inadequate.
The moment the members of the Vermilion Bird Sect realised its existence, there would be nothing preventing them from completely ripping it apart.
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“Leave when you are done with your business here,” Wei Yuandi did not choose to console him. “Stop looking for trouble out in the wilds. You might not get lucky again next time.”
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“With all due respect, we were not looking for trouble, Senior Martial Brother Wei,” Lu Zhiying added. “We came first, and those people came after. If anything, shouldn’t you be telling them not to look for trouble instead?”
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In the end, he left as suddenly as he came.
Just like that, the three of them were the only ones left in the forest clearing once again.
“Senior Martial Brother Wei is right. Let’s leave soon,” Zhao Yunxiao said. “Who knows if that crazy woman from the Vermilion Bird Sect will change her mind and return?”
“Mm, let’s do that,” Gu Qiansi agreed. “On a side note, don’t you think Senior Martial Brother Wei was a little too aggressive there? Who knows how the Vermilion Bird Sect would respond to this in the future?”
“I think that he’s pretty cool, though!” Zhao Yunxiao replied. “He definitely showed that crazy woman who’s boss!”
“There is no need to be unreasonable just because the other party is being unreasonable. Stooping to their level is not the proper way to handle things,” Gu Qiansi remarked. “Don’t you agree, Junior Martial Sister Lu?”
“Hmm, I’m not sure if I understand,” Lu Zhiying rubbed her chin in contemplation. “In fact, I was still a little disappointed that he didn’t go a step further to beat them up. After all, they did rough us up quite a bit back there!”
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***
For safety reasons, the group did not dally further.
Zhao Yunxiao first applied some basic first aid to everyone, before they started to quickly dismantle the extensive network of alerts and arrays that they had set up in the area.
The encounter with the members of the Vermilion Bird Sect had been unexpected, but Zhao Yunxiao was still rather satisfied with the information that they had gathered from this trip to the Red Forest.
At the very least, he felt that they had gotten whatever information they could possibly gather here.
Next, it was up to him to think about the next set of experiments to investigate the Heaven’s Descent Bowl.
Since they were already done with their sect mission, there was no longer a need for them to return to Moonrise City.
Instead, they headed straight back to Purple Plum Mountain.
Thankfully, the appearance of Wei Yuandi had stopped the members of the Vermilion Bird Sect from dismantling their arrays earlier.
This meant that their horses had remained hidden and unharmed, all ready to make the journey back to the mountain.
The Red Forest might be in a secluded location away from all main routes, but it was still not too far away from Purple Plum Mountain.
Leaving early in the morning, the group managed to arrive at Black Tortoise Inn by evening the same day.
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Who knew that he would really take that suggestion and turn it into reality?
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</a> If the format had truly changed to accommodate all disciples, it might be high time for him to start reassessing his options!