White-Robed Chief

“Senior Brother Ji has been intercepted by the monks of the Tempest Temple?” Li Ruolan lifted her gaze from the dossier and looked to Sun Mingyue. “How did Senior Brother Ji get into trouble with the Tempest Temple in the first place?”

“It’s because he has gone to Crouching Bull Mountain to collect some secret manuals!” Sun Mingyue shook her head gently with a gleam in her eyes. “Crouching Bull Mountain has produced a genius at cultivation, Zhuge Tian, who is the young lord of Crouching Bull Mountain. Because of his exquisite swordsmanship, Liu Yunxin nearly died at his hands and hasn’t dared to go back there ever since. Then, seeing as Zhuge Tian has entered into isolated cultivation and hasn’t appeared for quite some time now, I decided to let Ji Xin go and take a look. I didn’t expect that there would be any Tempest Temple monks at Crouching Bull Mountain!”

“Crouching Bull Mountain and the Tempest Temple supposedly do not have any connections, right?” Li Ruolan asked.

The patrols had quite a good grasp of the overall situation at the Ji Dynasty’s martial arts world since they had frequently been going there to gather information in preparation for their invasion into the Ji Dynasty.

“There shouldn’t be any connection between them.” Sun Mingyue shook her head. “Nevertheless, Crouching Bull Mountain has probably predicted our move and reached out to the Tempest Temple to request their assistance. The Tempest Temple has been trying to restrain our power, after all, so they’ve sent over a few martial arts masters.”

“Senior Brother Ji must’ve have been too careless!” Li Ruolan sighed.

Sun Mingyue replied, “Indeed, he has underestimated his enemies and held no regard for the martial arts world of the Ji Dynasty. He has forgotten that although the Ji Dynasty’s national power is weak, their four major sects are very powerful and cannot be dealt with easily.”

Had Ji Xin been more cautious, he would have noticed the presence of those Tempest Temple monks in advance and could have avoided being detected by them. However, he had been careless enough to assume that Crouching Bull Mountain would pose no threat to him. He had entered their place without much consideration as though he was walking on plain grounds. In the end, he was caught up in their ambush.

“My Saint, does Crouching Bull Mountain have any martial art that is worth collecting?” Li Ruolan asked in confusion, “They’re just a small and lowly sect. Was it really worth the risk?”

“The Crouching Bull Power has its unique aspects,” Sun Mingyue replied, “if one can persevere and perfect their cultivation in it, they can even become an Enlightened Master.”

“Ah…” Li Ruolan sighed quietly and returned the dossier to Sun Mingyue with both hands. “I’m just worried that Senior Brother Ji won’t be able to survive!”

Before this, she was still holding on to the possibility that it was because the enemy had overwhelmed him in numbers that Ji Xin had not managed to get away from the martial arts world of the Ji Dynasty. However, upon seeing that the enemy was the Tempest Temple, she had begun to lose all hope.

The monks of the Tempest Temple were not inferior to the disciples from the Holy Church of Light. In fact, there were many people with unusual capabilities who had become martial arts masters at the Tempest Temple. It was very likely for a seemingly nameless monk of theirs to turn out to be a top-notch master. Such was the case with the Holy Church of Light too. They could easily send out anyone from the Ninth Peak, and the person would be able to move around the world unhindered despite their lack of fame. Unfortunately, the seniors at the Ninth Peak very rarely left the mountain seeing as they had no interest in worldly matters now. Unless it was a matter of survival for the sect, they would never come forward to provide assistance.

“Indeed, the chances of him surviving are very slim.” Sun Mingyue nodded. “Just go ahead and take a look. Be careful not to let yourself get dragged into the situation too. Perhaps he hasn’t fallen into the hands of the Tempest Temple. Ji Xin is pretty quick-witted after all.”

“Okay.” Li Ruolan nodded with a grave expression on her face.

If she went there without an assistant and had to rely on her own capabilities, it would be impossible for her to rescue Senior Brother Ji.

“My Saint, I’d like to ask Zhao Dahe to help me,” Li Ruolan said.

Sun Mingyue replied, “Zhao Dahe may not be able to help you, considering his current condition!”

“Although Zhao Dahe hasn’t managed to restore his cultivation level yet, with his Light Blade, he’s still far more capable than me!” Li Ruolan insisted.

Sun Mingyue searched through the dossiers on the desk and tossed one of the scrolls to Li Ruolan.

Li Ruolan took the scroll and quickly read through it. A frustrated and angry expression appeared on her beautiful face. “This Qin Huaichuan!”

“Don’t blame Qin Huaichuan for being cunning and vicious. You should blame Zhao Dahe for being too arrogant.” Sun Mingyue smiled faintly. “He’s a clever guy. How could he not tell that this was Qin Huaichuan’s scheme? He has still decided to do it although he knows that it’s a trap. Who else can he blame but himself?”

“Can’t the Earth Matrix and Reincarnation Scripture restore a person’s cultivation level?” Li Ruolan asked with a frown.

Sun Mingyue replied, “As far as I know, it doesn’t have such a magical effect.”

“Qin Huaichuan is impressive indeed!” Li Ruolan gritted her teeth and scoffed. “How crafty of him!”

“He has set this trap for Zhao Dahe in advance… Neither of them is easy to deal with,” Sun Mingyue muttered impassively, “Both of them have been plotting against each other. They are trying to set traps for the each other just to see who would fall in first. Right now, it seems like the two of them have each won a few rounds, so they haven’t managed to decide the outcome of their rivalry yet.”

“As if he’s capable of going up against Zhao Dahe!” Li Ruolan pursed her lips and huffed. “He’s just good at playing petty tricks!”

“Hmm, that’s true,” Sun Mingyue replied, “Qin Huaichuan’s perspective is too narrow. He’s been limited by the environment of his upbringing after all. If we can send him out into the world to gain more experience and widen his knowledge, he may end up becoming quite useful to the sect as well.”

“He’s such a malicious person. My Saint, are you going to allow him to stay in the Holy Church of Light?” Li Ruolan asked with a discontented tone.

“We should embrace different types of people and give them the chance to contribute to the sect. People are neither purely good nor evil. As long as he doesn’t violate the sect rules and do anything harmful to the Holy Church of Light, I will tolerate him,” Sun Mingyue replied.

Li Ruolan let out a sigh. “I still wish to ask Zhao Dahe to lend me a hand.”

“I doubt he has any spare energy to help you right now,” Sun Mingyue muttered, “you seem to have some kind of blind faith in him. You feel like there’s nothing he can’t do, don’t you?”

“Well, he’s been able to accomplish things no one else could,” Li Ruolan replied seriously.

“He might not be willing to go,” Sun Mingyue said, “haven’t you realized that he has feelings for you? That makes Ji Xin his rival. He’ll probably be overjoyed to find out that Ji Xin has fallen into a dangerous situation. Do you think he’ll risk his life to go and rescue his rival?”

“He’s not like Qin Huaichuan. He’s kind at heart,” Li Ruolan replied confidently, “I’m sure he’ll agree to help.”

“You…” Sun Mingyue shook her head. “You’ve already become a patrol and yet you’re still so naive. When it comes to romance, many people are willing to fight to the death for the person they like. If not, there would not be incidents of beautiful women causing the downfall of empires.”

“I’ll convince him to help me,” Li Ruolan replied firmly.

“Well then, go ahead and give it a try,” Sun Mingyue said, “I believe Ji Xin has escaped to Fairy’s Capital in the Ji Dynasty. The Tempest Temple’s movements will be restricted once he enters Fairy’s Capital. They won’t dare to go all out to deal with him there, so he would have some hope of surviving.”

“… Understood,” Li Ruolan replied. “I’ll leave soon.”

“If you really can’t rescue him, don’t force yourself to go beyond what you can,” Sun Mingyue muttered, “I don’t want to lose two patrols in one go!”

“Understood.” Li Ruolan gave a fist salute and turned around to leave.

She was still full of confidence while she was on her way down to the foot of the peak, but when she arrived at the ravine, Li Ruolan became somewhat hesitant and started having second thoughts.

Given Zhao Dahe’s quick-witted mind, he could probably tell that she had been distancing herself from him on purpose. Was it possible for him to not resent her for this at all?

She had not been coming over to visit him and had been giving him the cold shoulder instead. Now that she had finally come to see him, it was only because of Senior Brother Ji. How would he feel if she really asked him to risk his life to go and rescue Senior Brother Ji?

If anyone else were to be the judge of this situation, they would probably also think that she was demanding too much from him.

Her footsteps became hesitant. Her charming face was filled with uncertainty as she stood outside the ravine in a dilemma.

As the sun began to set in the west, the evening glow filled the sky and dyed everything around her red. She, too, was tainted red by its glow.

“Senior Sister Li?” Xu Jingya’s voice came from behind her.

She had been so caught up with her thoughts that she did not even notice there were people approaching her. She quickly turned around and looked behind her.

Xu Jingya and Zhao Dahe were standing not too far away, both of them staring at her.

“Have you two had your meal?” Li Ruolan asked with a smile.

Xu Jingya gave a fist salute. “We’ve just eaten. Senior Sister Li has come to see Junior Brother Zhao, right?”

“Yes.” Li Ruolan nodded and looked at Chu Li.

Chu Li calmly held up a fist salute. “Senior Sister Li, we can just talk here.”

Xu Jingya said, “Well then, I’ll take my leave first.”

She gave Li Ruolan another fist salute before walking into the ravine in a graceful manner and disappearing from their field of vision.

Chu Li kept his eyes on Xu Jingya as she went in. He continued to watch her until her graceful retreating figure disappeared from view, never shifting his gaze from her.