Chapter 150 has been found.
"Who goes there!"
The main gate of Xuantian Sect is right next to the Heavenly Ladder. This was not Rong Xie's first time here, but it was the first time he had seen so many guards gathered in front of the main gate.
It seems they weren't being negligent in their precautions, but rather focusing their energy on other things.
Upon seeing someone suddenly appear in the night, the guards immediately brandished their magical artifacts, aimed them at Rong Xie, and scrutinized him from head to toe with great vigilance.
Rong Xie put away the Cloud Dream Boat and bowed to the guards: "I am Rong Xie from the Spirit Mirror Sect. I am a good friend of Lu Yingqi, the Xuan Tian Yi Jian of your sect. I once assisted the Mirror Palace in investigating the case of the former leader of the Hehuan Sect... I have come here today because I have urgent business with Lu Yingqi. Please inform him, senior brothers."
"A disciple of the Spirit Mirror Sect?" The guard still scrutinized Rong Xie with wary eyes. "No matter who you are, if you haven't received an invitation from the sect, you can't enter!"
Rong Xie sensed something was wrong. Something must have happened at Xuantian Sect to be so wary of outsiders. His first thought was that the Lu family case had occurred, Lu Yingqi was being questioned, and he, as the person seeking an audience, was being refused entry as well.
But then I thought, the guards seem to be refusing entry to anyone who comes, so it shouldn't be just targeting Lu Yingqi's visitors.
What exactly happened at the Xuantian Sect? Why is the sect's Heavenly Eye no longer in use, and why are so many guards gathered here...?
Knowing he couldn't force his way in, Rong Xie stepped back and walked a distance before taking out a long, sleeve-like bag and hanging it by his ear. The bag grew longer in the wind, stretching dozens of meters like a serpent towards the main gate.
This treasure is called "Follow-the-Wind Ears". Only the user can see its true form. Others, no matter how powerful they are, can only see air.
This treasure allows one to eavesdrop silently on others' conversations even with a low level of cultivation. When Rong Xie was inventorying the warehouse, it was the first practical magical artifact that came to mind.
Now, his "all-hearing ears" proved useful, as the guards' chatter reached Rong Xie's ears clearly.
"Are they really not letting anyone in? That Lingjing Sect disciple from earlier looked familiar; he'd announced his arrival here before. Are they not letting us in this time?"
"What do you know? What time is it now? The protective array has a hole in it. How did it break? What fell in? We still have no clue..."
"Then guarding the main gate is useless; we should be guarding the cave instead."
"You think no one's guarding it? That cave... people from Zhilanling have already been sent to search the mountain."
Upon hearing "Zhilan Ridge," Rong Xie's heart skipped a beat, and a strong premonition surged into his mind.
What could have punched a hole in the Xuantian Sect's protective array and fallen near Zhilan Ridge? Could it be...?
"I heard it was a huge fireball, and just like that—it fell down with a bang, and half the forest caught fire!"
The guards continued their discussion.
Rong Xie couldn't help but straighten up, his back tense. Many times, the scene of Shen Bing Si rushing back to Huanxue Manor overlapped in his mind, like a huge fireball streaking across the sky and crashing in front of Huanxue Manor. The impact shook the ground and sometimes left a large crater. The raging flames receded, and Shen Bing Si walked out of the fire. The flames washed away the dust on his body, and the flames licked his figure affectionately. He walked out with a bright and cheerful expression and walked up to Rong Xie, saying something impatiently.
You search high and low without finding it, only to have it come to you effortlessly.
Rong Xie wasted no more time, mounted his cloud-dream boat, and flew along the outer edge of the mountain-protecting array towards Zhilan Ridge.
The night wind was biting. Rong Xie took out his compass and tried to recall the location of Zhilan Ridge. He then piloted his Yunmeng flatboat toward that place. Halfway there, a sudden downpour came rushing towards him.
Flying at night and caught in a sudden downpour should have been terrible travel conditions, but Rong Xie was overjoyed. It was as if the heavens were on his side; the heavy rain provided cover, making his movements much easier.
As expected, when they approached Zhilan Ridge, Rong Xie vaguely saw a Xuantian Sect cultivator patrolling ahead. After considering it for a moment, he cast several invisibility talismans on himself and Yunmeng Bianzhou, and cautiously advanced while using the Wind-Following Ear.
Rong Xie successfully bypassed several aerial guards and arrived at the hole. However, it was not so easy to continue to hide his presence. The hole was surrounded by a large number of Xuan Tian Sect cultivators, making it impossible for him to secretly pass through.
After thinking for a moment, Rong Xie suddenly came up with an idea.
"This is unbelievable, why is the rain so heavy today?"
"This weather is unusual. Could it be related to the meteorite?"
"Stop chatting, everyone. Keep guarding the mountain. We can't rest until we find something that can break the protective formation!"
"well--"
The Xuantian Sect cultivators were all dejected, wearing rain-avoidance talismans and standing on their flying magical artifacts, showing signs of exhaustion.
"Excuse me, could you please move aside?"
Someone squeezed up from behind. The Xuantian Sect cultivators instinctively thought it was one of their own and made way for him. But when they saw that the person was wearing a blue robe, which was completely different from their Xuantian Sect's Taoist robes, and was standing on a small, glowing boat, they immediately came up to stop him.
The young man bowed to them calmly and explained his purpose: "Fellow senior brothers and sisters of the Xuantian Sect, I am a disciple of the Lingjing Sect. Sect Master Xue just issued an order, instructing us Lingjing Sect disciples who are out and about to search for the whereabouts of our fellow disciple Shen Bingsi. I followed the fire spirit left behind by Shen Bingsi and came here. I wonder if any of you senior brothers and sisters have seen him?"
The Xuantian Sect cultivators instinctively wanted to kick this young man out of nowhere, but when they heard him say "Sect Master's Order" and saw the Lingjing Sect disciple's robes on his body, they found it harder to say the words.
"What Shen Bingsi? Are you talking about the former Ruthless Judge?"
"What is he doing here? We didn't see him."
The young man wearing the Lingjing Sect disciple's robes was Rong Xie. To show his identity, he specially took out his old disciple's robes from the bottom of his trunk and brought them with him. He didn't expect them to come in handy so soon.
Rong Xie pointed to the large hole smashed in the protective mountain formation: "Did you see a fireball fall down, and then the protective mountain formation was smashed with a big hole?"
"Yes! We're looking for that fireball!"
Rong Xie nodded: "That's right. The fire spirit left behind by the fireball is Shen Bingsi's. I am his fellow disciple and am very familiar with his spiritual power. Let me go down and look for it. You can report back, and I can report back too."
The Xuan Tian Sect cultivators looked at each other. The rain was so heavy, and the sky was so dark. They had been searching for most of the day but hadn't found anything to break the mountain-protecting formation. If this continued, they didn't know when they could rest. Flying in the air was constantly consuming their spiritual energy...
However, apart from wearing the Lingjing Sect disciple's robes, this young man had nothing else to prove his identity. They couldn't just let him in rashly; if he ran away, they would be in big trouble.
Seeing their hesitation, Rong Xie said, "I know Lu Yingqi from your Ruthless Dao Palace. If you don't believe me, you can invite him over, and we'll see for yourselves."
Rong Xie thought that after saying these words, these Xuan Tian Sect cultivators would have no more worries.
Unexpectedly, they hesitated again.
"Fine, it's just asking Lu Yingqi to come and identify someone, there shouldn't be a problem, right?" a cultivator couldn't help but say, "He hasn't committed any heinous crimes."
“I’ll go find someone!” another cultivator chimed in.
The other cultivators tacitly agreed to the plan to summon Lu Yingqi, and that cultivator then flew off like the wind.
Rong Xie was secretly surprised. He hadn't expected that in less than half a month, Lu Yingqi's status in the Xuantian Sect would have fallen to such a state. He figured this was all because Shang Gan had made public the details of the Lu family case. If Shen Bingsi hadn't messed up, Shang Gan wouldn't have intercepted the case halfway, the details of the case wouldn't have become known to the world, and Lu Yingqi wouldn't have been ostracized to this point.
Rong Xie's emotions were in turmoil. He had initially uncovered the Lu family's furnace case only to protect Xiao Zhi and thus eliminate the potential threat of Lu Yingqi's premature death. He never expected things to develop so unpredictably, and he had no idea what the consequences of this change would be. Now Xiao Zhi was safe, but Shen Bing Si and Lu Yingqi...
A flash of golden light appeared, and someone arrived riding a sword.
Rong Xie's gaze sharpened. For a moment, the golden sword light excited him, but he quickly realized that it was not the light of the Shengxie Sword, but the effect of the metal-type protective spiritual power being activated to its maximum.
The Xuan Tian Sect cultivator who had just gone to fetch someone led over a male cultivator with an unfamiliar face. This male cultivator looked to be in his thirties, with a radiant face and his hands behind his back. His aura was even more arrogant than that of the sect elders. For some reason, Rong Xie immediately recognized this person as the legendary Shang Gan.
The moment this person appeared, the surrounding Xuan Tian Sect cultivators fell silent.
"Senior Brother Shang, this is the disciple of the Spirit Mirror Sect," the cultivator who went to fetch him introduced.
Shang Gan looked Rong Xie up and down and laughed, "This junior brother looks kind, why are you stopping him? Let him pass, let him pass!"
As soon as Shang Gan spoke, the Xuan Tian Sect cultivators dispersed.
Rong Xie was surprised that he entered so easily. He bowed to Shang Gan in thanks and then went into the cave.
Shang Gan followed closely behind Rong Xie and asked with a smile, "I heard your sect issued a sect leader's order to find Sword Saint Shen? What happened to Sword Saint Shen? How did he end up in our Xuan Tian Sect? Are you sure you sensed his fire spirit? Are you very familiar with him?"
Rong Xie glanced at Shang Gan. The smile on Shang Gan's face was very unsettling. No wonder he let him in so easily; he was waiting to see Shen Bing Si make a fool of herself.
Rong Xie hadn't seen such a ruthless cultivator who wore his emotions on his sleeve in a long time. He adopted a perfunctory approach: "Reporting to Senior Brother Shang, I'm not very familiar with him. I only came to look for him because I received the sect leader's order. Senior Brother Shang's cultivation is so high, yet you didn't find anything. I'm just trying my luck."
Shang Gan seemed somewhat disappointed. He asked Rong Xie a couple more questions but got nothing. He then impatiently sent a telepathic message to others to follow Rong Xie in his place before leaving in a hurry.
Rong Xie was eager for Shang Gan to leave.
Rong Xie landed on the newly formed crater on Zhilan Ridge, watched Shang Gan leave, took out the communication jade pendant engraved with the character "ice", and while pouring spiritual power into it, he kept an eye on the movements on the mountain ridge.
Two Xuantian Sect cultivators, who were keeping watch, followed Rong Xie at a distance that was neither too close nor too far. They had been searching for a long time and had no intention of going back into the dark jungle.
Rong Xie quickened his pace and soon shook off the two of them.
To hear the vibrations of the other sound-transmitting jade pendant more clearly, Rong Xie did not use a rain-avoidance talisman. Rainwater occasionally poured down from the leaves, splashing onto Rong Xie's head. He walked through the muddy, slippery grass, and his clothes were quickly soaked.
Where is Shen Bingsi?
Why did he disappear so quickly after falling down? The Xuan Tian Sect cultivators have been searching for so long but haven't been able to find him.
Rong Xie had a feeling that once he figured out this problem, he would be able to find Shen Bingsi.
Calm down, calm your mind.
Shen Bingsi definitely didn't fall down normally. If he could control his spiritual power, he wouldn't have smashed a hole in the Xuantian Sect's protective array.
This means... when he arrived at Zhilan Ridge, his Dao heart was already severely shaken. He couldn't control himself and crashed through the protective mountain array, creating a large crater in the ground... his condition must have been very bad.
Even though he was in terrible condition, Shen Bingsi left the crash site immediately. Why did he do that? What drove him to avoid everyone after reaching his destination and hide in a place where no one could find him?
Almost instantly, Rong Xie understood the reason behind it.
He parted the bushes, recalling the terrain he had seen when he landed from the sky, and walked towards the remote mountain gully.
On one side is the road to the Wuqing Dao Palace, and on the other side is a mountain ravine far from the crowds.
Shen Bingsi's Dao heart wavered, his flight went out of control, and after falling, he did not hesitate to choose the direction where few people went.
Because... that's just the kind of person he is. He doesn't want to show any weakness in front of his mortal enemies, and he always wants to make a grand entrance.
He would rather suffer internal injuries than not hide in the ravine until he recovered before going to see Lu Yingqi and Elder Bai.
Half an hour later, Rong Xie finally heard the buzzing sound coming from another sound transmission jade pendant in a dark ravine.
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