Wei Yuan walked around and sealed off Big Senior Brother, Little Junior Brother, Jade-faced Immortal Sword and Third Junior Sister’s sea of consciousness. Then, he ordered Yun Feifei, “Lock them up. When you’re done, tell me about the geographical layout of your sect.”

Yun Feifei nodded.

Wei Yuan cast her a glance before adding, “You would do well to stop playing your little games in front of me! Let me make this clear: I’ve already gotten everything I wanted, so you’re nothing but a burden right now. Whether I take you back to the Palace depends entirely on my mood. Got it?”

Yun Feifei bowed her head and nodded twice, replying, “Don’t worry, Senior Brother. I’ll be a very good girl; as good as Sister Wan’er at least. I’ll do whatever you want; all I ask is that you take a little pity on me.”

Wei Yuan’s face darkened. “Is that so? You’ll be joining the first line of defense against the Shamans then. If you survive the battle, then I’ll take pity on you.”

Yun Feifei blanched a little. Her tactic had never failed her in the past before. Even if a man tried to put on a righteous front, his composure would crack, and his mind would wonder as soon as her wholesome, creamy thighs came into view. What was wrong with this guy? Had he practiced some kind of method that forbade carnal desires or worse?

Wei Yuan had no idea what she was thinking. He ordered, “Take a look around first. See if you can find anything that can be of use, and where we might be able to set up defenses. Also, it would be best if you can figure out where the Shamans will be attacking from. Come back to me after you’ve completed all the tasks!”

It was at this moment Yun Feifei sensed the changes in the air and exclaimed in surprise, “You brought a realm stone with you?”

Wei Yuan didn’t respond. He didn’t tell her that an ancient realm stone was buried under the main chamber, and that it had already come active. He didn’t tell her that the Shamans were definitely going to emerge in full force because of this incident, and that he wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if they decided to mobilize all nearby troops. He also didn’t tell her that reinforcements from the Palace of Absolute Beginning wouldn’t be arriving nearly as quickly as he claimed they would, or the fact that the Xu Clan could not be relied upon at all.

He reckoned that Yun Feifei would run away in secret if he told her the truth and made her realize just how risky this battle was going to be.

Since Yun Feifei was gone, he charged Xu Wan’er with the responsibility of watching the prisoners. Then, he sought out a room that was barely standing, shut the door, and produced the Immortal Lord’s jade pendant.

Wei Yuan sucked in a deep breath and took a moment to calm his frantically beating heart. A virtuous man does not stand next to a wall about to collapse, and under normal circumstances, he would have escaped to safety long ago. Unfortunately, Qingming had acknowledged a master and taken root in this land. It could no longer be moved anywhere. The Great Realm had also resonated with Qingming and become one with it. To remove realm stone by force was to damage his own Dao Foundation. Wei Yuan would rather fight to the death than do such a thing.

In fact, Wei Yuan understood exactly what Yun Feifei was implying. He had read a ton of novels at this point after all. If this was any other time, then maybe he would consider playing with her a little. But now, he simply wasn’t in the mood.

Wei Yuan’s impassioned speech before the bodyguards and Yun Feifei earlier was to keep them steady. Now that he had sent Yun Feifei away, he immediately got down to the most important business of the day: Calling for help!

First, Wei Yuan wrote down Qingming’s information and his current location in the jade pendant. He also explained the collusion between the Xu Clan and the Shamans, and the fact that the Shamans would be arriving in force very soon. This constituted the shared portion of the message; Wei Yuan had appended a separate note under the public message and sent it to different recipients.

To Immortal Lord Tinghai, he wrote: Qingming has suddenly chosen me as its master, and what is done is done. I beseech the Immortal Lord to render a decision.

To Zhang Sheng, he wrote: Shifu, help!

To Fenhai, he wrote: Grandmaster, help!

To True Lord Xuan Yue, he wrote: Founder, help!

To Ji Liuli, he wrote: A big battle’s happening here, Big Senior Sister!

To Xiao Yu, he wrote: I have forged several Immortal Swords in my Dao Foundation. Dare you witness them?

To Cui Yu, he wrote: There’s a fight! Bring backup!

To Bao Yun, he wrote: It has been a month since we parted, and I have missed you dearly. This westward journey turned out to be fraught with danger, and I have found myself in desperate situations time and again. The good news is that I managed to escape with my life so far. The bad news is that another great battle looms ahead, one that I truly do not know if I will make it through. If luck is not on my side, I fear I will be unable to repay the immortal silver I owe you. Should the worst come to pass, I shall have to wait until the next life to make amends.

The letters were completed in the blink of an eye. Wei Yuan then crushed the jade pendant and caused a beam of clear light to enter Qingming, disappearing. The messages would be transmitted all the way back to the Palace of Absolute Beginning before being delivered to their respective recipients.

Wei Yuan’s face burned up a little when he recalled his letters. However, he would rather live with embarrassment than die without, so that was that.

Besides that, Wei Yuan knew full well that there was zero chance he would be able to guard this place alone. It so happened that the Skyblue Hall had a lot of idle cultivators who hadn’t had a chance to expand the human border to this day. He might as well rope them into the western region to earn some merits. This was especially true considering how most members of the Skyblue Hall excelled at spending money, but were average at making it at best. They could save up for fifty years and still not afford an ordinary realm stone.

By the time he finished sending the distress letters, Yun Feifei had also completed her inspection of the sect. As a resident of the Swelling Water God Palace for many years, she was intimately familiar with the place as a matter of course. She only needed to fly around the sect grounds once to inspect everything. She was also aware that the situation was urgent and did not dilly-dally. In her haste, she had even ripped open a small portion of her skirt and lost a shoe, exposing her cute little foot[1].

Standing in front of Wei Yuan and panting heavily, she reported, “There is a hidden vault that the enemy failed to uncover. However, the items in the vault are of pretty poor quality, and they’re mostly materials.”

Wei Yuan was overjoyed to hear this nonetheless. “Take me there!”

Yun Feifei nodded and furrowed her dainty brows slightly. She took a step forward with her bare foot but quickly withdrew it.

Wei Yuan cast her creamy foot a glance before saying, “We’ll fly over.”

The answer caught Yun Feifei very much off guard and caused her to roll her eyes mentally. In the past, she simply needed to reveal a small portion of her voluminous, snow-white leg to dazzle any man she encountered. For instance, her Little Junior Brother had been insufferably arrogant and full of himself when he joined the sect. During a private sparring match, she had kicked him over and pinned him down with her bare, perfectly supple foot[2]. From that point onward, he became completely devoted to her. Day after day, she spent all his time competing with Big Senior Brother for her attention, going so far as to put his original undercover mission on the back burner. Despite all this, he never ended up with anything.

With all that said, what on earth was wrong with this guy? He didn’t so much as bat an eyelid even though she was putting on some serious moves. Could it be that the men of the Palace of Absolute Beginning were all lacking a certain body part?

Internally, Yun Feifei clenched her teeth. You’re the one who’s forcing me to use my ultimate move! Let’s see if you can still ignore me when we reach the hidden vault!

The duo were just about to depart when Xu Wan’er ran up to them, asking, “I’ve dealt with the prisoners. Say, have you seen Big Brother Wenwu?”

It was only now Wei Yuan recalled that there was such a person. When he was searching the hall earlier, he had seen the guy curled up in a corner and doing whatever it was he was doing. Afraid that Xu Wenwu would launch into a spiel again, he had gagged the man with Dao energy before stepping into the underground. After that, Xu Guanwen invaded the stone chamber, and Wei Yuan fought both the Avatar and the flesh hill Shaman consecutively. It was such a fierce battle that even the hall had collapsed. Knowing Xu Wenwu’s skill—the lack thereof to be exact—there was zero chance he could have escaped the hall in time. Even the wind created from the disintegration of Xu Guanwen’s Avatar was potent enough to evaporate his flesh and blood and leave him with nothing but bones.

Frustration welled within Wei Yuan’s heart, but he knew it was already too late. Although he was talkative, unreliable, lecherous, and had no self-control, Xu Wenwu had still followed him all the way here. Wei Yuan had an instinctive urge to look after all those around him, especially the vulnerable ones much like a mother hen would watch over her chicks. Now that Xu Wenwu had died because of his own momentary lapse in judgment, he couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of guilt.

“He’s in the main chamber. Let’s go retrieve his body.” Wei Yuan immediately turned around and strode toward the main chamber. Yun Feifei and Xu Wan’er were following right behind him.

Standing on the ruins, Wei Yuan enhanced his perception with Qingming’s power and scanned the rubble thoroughly. That was when he discovered that Xu Wenwu was, amazingly, still alive. Right now, he was hugging Qingming in the underground stone chamber and shaking like a leaf. At the same time, he chanted the names of eighteen different gods or Buddhas in a row—none of which were familiar to Wei Yuan—and begged for their blessings.

1. If you couldn’t tell, it was absolutely on purpose. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ☜

2. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LO_eVGGnuhI ☜