"You did well, Senior Martial Brother Nie," Zhao Yunxiao praised as they left the grand square. "It's not easy to stay composed in such a situation. Seems like you have truly sorted out your feelings."
"As I have already told you before," Nie Hanchang shrugged. "There will be no more distractions for me from now on, and I will be focusing solely on getting to the pinnacle of the bow and arrow. I will not be left behind."
"I am sure nobody will be able to leave you behind," Zhao Yunxiao grinned. "Let's go back and get changed. It's about time to go meet Junior Martial Sister Lu."
"I am not nearly as confident about that," Nie Hanchang said bitterly as he looked at Zhao Yunxiao. "In any case, you guys go ahead first. I have to make a quick trip to the Sect Market."
"Oh, sure," Zhao Yunxiao nodded. "See you at the Clear Thoughts Pavilion then."
"See you," Gu Qiansi added.
As they watched Nie Hanchang walk away, Zhao Yunxiao could not help but smile in admiration. "How mature of him. It's definitely not easy to forget about someone just because you are told to do so, especially someone whom you have liked for years."
"You can't honestly believe that he is already over Senior Martial Sister Mu, can you?" Gu Qiansi sighed.
"What do you mean?" Zhao Yunxiao raised an eyebrow. "But he alread-"
"You know, for all your planning and calculations, you can be surprisingly dense at times," Gu Qiansi shook her head in disapproval. "Let's hurry. Junior Martial Sister Lu is probably already waiting for us."
Zhao Yunxiao watched Gu Qiansi walk up ahead, and let out a helpless sigh.
Love could be a great source of power and motivation, but it could also manifest as such a difficult obstacle for cultivators at times...
***
"What are you doing, Junior Martial Sister Lu?" Gu Qiansi felt the corner of her lips twitch.
"How is it?" Lu Zhiying made a spin, cheerfully showing off the shabby clothes that she was dressed in. "Now, I won't draw too much unwanted attention either!"
"Good job, Junior Martial Sister Lu!" Zhao Yunxiao gave her a thumbs up, though he had to admit that the shabby clothes did little to diminish the amount of attention that her extraordinary looks demanded.
Gu Qiansi rubbed her temples in frustration.
One by one, they were being corrupted...
"How's that? Now you are the odd one out!" Zhao Yunxiao crossed his arms in triumph. Lu Zhiying instinctively took on the same pose beside him, and so did Nie Hanchang after.
Gu Qiansi: "..."
"Heh, speechless?" Zhao Yunxiao smirked.
"...I lose," Gu Qiansi let out a helpless sigh. "You guys do whatever you want."
"Yes, Young Mistress!" Zhao Yunxiao bowed respectfully.
"What 'Young Mistress'?"
"Don't you look just like that right now? The young mistress who brought her three servants out on a tour?" Zhao Yunxiao smirked.
"Do you want to die?" Gu Qiansi narrowed her eyes sharply.
"Ah, forgive this lowly one for my transgressions!" Zhao Yunxiao bowed again.
"Ah, forgive him for his transgressions!" Lu Zhiying copied immediately.
"F-Forgive him for his transgressions!" Nie Hanchang followed suit.
Gu Qiansi looked up at the blue summer sky.
Is it time to go make some new friends?
***
"So, this is why we have been going a different direction since earlier," Nie Hanchang exclaimed as he watched Gu Qiansi get dragged into the wooden house ahead by a little girl with a bobcut.
"Come on! Wait for me!" Lu Zhiying chased after them playfully.
"Gu Qiansi's family," Zhao Yunxiao explained while tying the horses.
"Yeah, I figured. Though I am surprised that they stay this close to the sect," Nie Hanchang replied while doing the same.
"Apparently, there are quite a few other families that are similarly scattered around the area," Zhao Yunxiao answered. "Of course, all of them have, or used to have, ties to disciples of the Black Tortoise Sect. Otherwise, few mortals would dare stay this close to Purple Plum Mountain."
Nie Hanchang fell silent, understanding the underlying meaning beneath his words.
Used to have ties... this statement was made in past tense because many cultivators ended up perishing as they walked the path of cultivation. Despite their supposed longer longevity, some cultivators never even managed to outlive their mortal family members.
As for how it was surprising for mortals to stay close to Purple Plum Mountain, it might seem paradoxical considering that the denser world origin energy was beneficial to health and longevity. However, the fact was that apart from those benefits, the denser world origin energy also attracted monsters and spirit beasts.
Even with protection from a cultivator, one would need a really good reason to choose to stay in such a dangerous area. For example, one such reason could be to not pass away without ever being able to see their children again.
After all, the concept of time differed quite a bit between ordinary mortals and cultivators.
For those with higher cultivation levels, a single meditation could last for months, years, or even decades.
Therefore, it was not uncommon for cultivators to sometimes find out to their horror that so much time had passed while they were busy that their families and friends had already passed on by the time they wanted to visit.
So, it was not entirely without reason for the Gu Family to have chosen to settle down near Purple Plum Mountain as well.
The question was... how had Gu Qiansi been helping to keep her family safe?
Nie Hanchang took a quick glance at Zhao Yunxiao, and how the latter was discreetly observing the surroundings while making his way towards the house.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
Of course.
Who else could it be?
Unlike the last time they came, the group did not stay long this time. After having a meal together and introducing Nie Hanchang to the family, the group left for Moonrise City. The Gu Family members were clearly disappointed by the short length of the visit, but there was no helping it.
They did not know exactly how much time this mission would take, so it was prudent not to spend too much time right from the start. That was especially the case since they had to make it back in time for Lu Zhiying to attend the annual assessment.
And if they had time left after completing the mission, they could always drop by again on the way back!
Even though the kidnappings from the mission occurred at the surrounding villages, the group chose Moonrise City as their first destination.
After all, these villages were all governed by Moonrise City.
Any reports made regarding the kidnappings would eventually make their way to the city. And as disciples of the Black Tortoise Sect, they had more than enough authority to request to see some case files.
This meant that by heading straight to Moonrise City, they should be able to find out everything about the different cases all at once!
Or so, they thought.
"Is that it?" Zhao Yunxiao frowned as he looked through the logs given to him by the city guards.
"I know what it looks like, but we can't be blamed for this," the city guard shrugged nonchalantly. "We can only record what we hear, and these villagers barely told us anything when they lodged the case."
"Young Mistress, here. Take a look," Zhao Yunxiao passed the book over after he was done going through it.
Gu Qiansi: "..."
Despite her irritation, Gu Qiansi still opened up the book to take a look... at just how bare the kidnapping reports were.
Most of the reports told of the same thing – the kidnappings always happened in the middle of the night, and there were never any witnesses.
However, while the reports were rather empty on their own, patterns could still be observed by piecing together the minimal information within each of the reports.
Firstly, the victims were always young girls between the ages of six and twenty.
Secondly, multiple girls from a village could go missing on the same night, though these kidnapping incidents never occurred more than once every two years at each single village.
Or, another way to see it would be that a kidnapping incident would occur at each village every two years.
It was almost as though, whoever the perpetrators were, they were cycling through the villages when planning their crimes. As for the reason why, it could be that they were trying not to overly antagonise any single village, or it could even be that they were allowing the villages time to re-populate.
If it was the latter, then it would almost be akin to brazenly treating these villages as human farms!
And considering how many years these kidnappings had already been going on for, they had been getting away with it unpunished too.
Gu Qiansi clenched her fists in anger as she glanced over at Zhao Yunxiao, who had a solemn expression on his face.
This was the plight of the weak.
In this world where the strong dictated the rules while the weak followed, such occurrences were not exactly rare. It could be the work of cultivators, martial artists, or any influential ordinary mortals.
In order to live in peace, one could only hope that they would not be targeted by those more powerful than themselves. Otherwise, only tragedy awaited.
Most ordinary mortals understood this as well, and had long come to accept this as the reality of the world.
In fact, this did not only apply to ordinary mortals. Even cultivators had to play by the same rules.
That was the reason why cultivators formed factions, and why factions formed alliances. It was all meant to lift themselves higher in the food chain, allowing them to become the targeters instead of the targeted.
Had Zhao Yunxiao encountered such matters under other circumstances, he might have chosen to turn a blind eye if the situation did not seem easy to deal with. After all, not only could careless interference result in unintended consequences such as future retaliation at the weak from any affiliated organisations, it could also put he and his comrades in danger.
However, that did not mean he approved of such atrocities, especially not when the same groups were being targeted repeatedly in such a brazen manner.
Not just that, but now that he was on a mission that directly required him to deal with the situation, there was no way that he would back away!
Whoever the perpetrators were, he was going to track them down and rescue any victims who were still alive!
Unfortunately, that was all the information they got from the city guards of Moonrise City.
With that, their next course of action became obvious.
It was time to visit the individual villages to understand the exact circumstances surrounding the kidnappings – to obtain information that had not been included in the lodged reports!
***
Windsource Village was a village around three days' journey away from Moonrise City on foot. The nearest water body might be a good distance away, but the village was at least located near the outskirts of a forest, providing the villagers with a much-needed source of food and supplies.
At this moment, a man was calmly driving a horse wagon into the village – a rare sight for the village that was not located on any major trade routes.
When the villagers spotted the approaching horse wagon, all of them lit up in surprise.
"It's Sir Fu!"
"Sir Fu is back!"
"Go inform the village chief!"
On the horse wagon, the man was cloaked in a long animal skin coat that basically covered him from head to toe. Noticing the commotion among the villagers, he gracefully lifted the heavy hood that shrouded his face, revealing the countenance of a handsome young man in his mid-twenties.
Flashing a dashing smile that instantly melted the hearts of the villager girls, he waved to everyone in a friendly manner.
"Hi everyone. It's nice to see you again."