Chapter 128: Exposed

When Xu Ziyan finished speaking, everyone was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter. Even Xu Tianlang, who had a red face, relaxed his expression and laughed at himself. He began taking food and water from his Storage Pouch and started eating.

After only about two quarter-hours, Xu Ziyan stood up from the dried leaves, clapped her hands, and said:

“Alright, everyone, stand up. Let’s keep moving!”

Hearing Xu Ziyan’s call, although everyone was still tired, they all stood up and wobbled over toward Xu Ziyan.

Xu Qi saw how unsteady everyone looked and softly said to Xu Ziyan, “Ziyan, why don’t we rest a little longer? Once we’ve finished Meditative Rest and recovered our Magical Power, we can use Sword Flight, and then we’ll be able to travel much faster. Walking on foot through the Forest is just too tiring.”

Xu Ziyan respected Xu Qi a great deal in her heart. Xu Qi was a generous person; you could tell from how he willingly gave up the position of Team Leader to Xu Ziyan. And because his father was the Clan Leader, Xu Qi had been helping his father handle some clan matters as best he could from a young age, so he had a very good sense of judgment. Therefore, when he suggested resting longer, it definitely wasn’t for himself; rather, he thought that after recovering their Magical Power, they could travel dozens of times faster in the same amount of time.

But Xu Ziyan still slightly shook her head, turned to look back along the path they came, and said:

“Let’s persevere a bit more. When it’s daylight, we can find a hidden spot to rest. At that point, we’ll properly recover our Magical Power. Most importantly, while we don’t know the Endless Forest well, we can’t recklessly use Sword Flight. If we accidentally trespass into a high-level Monster Beast’s territory, the result could be very dangerous.”

“This… alright!” Xu Qi did not insist on his opinion; he understood Xu Ziyan’s concerns. By this time, the Hai Family in Xichui Town had probably already reacted and was heading this way. And Xu Ziyan was right—without scouting the path first, rashly using Sword Flight in the Endless Forest was indeed an extremely dangerous thing.

The ten members of Xu Ziyan’s group trudged wearily through the pitch-black Endless Forest. Meanwhile, in Xichui Town, inside the Hai Family’s Council Hall, the Family Head Hai Mei was sitting in the main seat with a gloomy expression.

The Hai Family was a force in the Northern Region second only to the Four Great Families, especially in this generation, where they were showing signs of closing in on the Four Great Families. This was because of the current Family Head, Hai Mei. Not only was Hai Mei powerful, having reached the Foundation Building Stage Third Layer, but more remarkably, she possessed intelligence surpassing that of any previous Hai Family head.

In her generation, using her own wisdom, she defeated invading Monster Beasts from the Endless Forest several times. In conflicts with various families in the Northern Region, she repeatedly turned the tide, keeping the Hai Family standing firm in Xichui. Moreover, she personally trained a force, a pioneering act in the Cultivation World. She named this force the Endless Immortal Army, taking the name from the Endless Forest.

Furthermore, this Immortal Army had been trained by Hai Mei into a virtually unbreakable and undefeatable unit. Their training took place in the Endless Forest, where they battled Monster Beasts. They grew through brutal combat; it could be said that this Endless Immortal Army had no match among opponents of the same level. Their combat strength was absolutely not something an ordinary Cultivator who only knew Cultivation could compare with. More importantly, if there was any group on this continent familiar with the Endless Forest, it was this Endless Immortal Army that had fought its way through the Forest.

“You mean to say the people our Hai Family sent out were all killed by those few youngsters?” Hai Mei’s voice slowly sounded from above, cold and chilling.

“Yes! And… not a single one… had a whole body left!” In the middle of the Main Hall stood a middle-aged woman, sweating profusely.

“And you mean to say, those youngsters are the Xu Clan disciples currently being hunted in the Northern Region?” Hai Mei’s gaze coldly fixed on the middle-aged woman in front of her.

“Yes! According to the clan disciples’ description, their appearances closely match the images in the wanted notices. However, the clan disciples reported that there are only nine of them, not ten. Perhaps they lost one person along the way during their escape.”

“Hmph!” Hai Mei let out a cold snort. “Such an important matter, and you didn’t notice until the other side had already run off without a trace. Is this how I usually teach you to handle affairs?”

The Main Hall fell into silence; no one dared to speak, and even breathing became very faint. Hai Mei thought for a moment, then turned to the clan’s first Elder, Hai Lian, on her left, and said:

“Elder, what do you think our Hai Family should do about this matter?”

“Clan Leader, do you think… should we notify the various forces in the Northern Region?”

“No!” Hai Mei quickly shook her head and said softly, “Those ten Xu Clan disciples—the one with the highest Cultivation Level is supposedly called Xu Lin. He is Xu Haoran’s second son, at the peak late stage of the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining Stage. The rest are only at the Second Layer of Qi Refining Stage. Even that so-called top genius of Zhongdu City, Xu Tianlang, is only at the peak late stage of the Second Layer of Qi Refining Stage. And yet, such a bunch of novices are carrying their clan’s treasure map! This is practically a gift from heaven. Why should we let others share in this gain?

The Xu Clan is one of the Four Great Families in the Northern Region. The treasure they left behind must be extremely rich and vast! We cannot pass up such an opportunity.”

Having said that, Hai Mei narrowed her eyes slightly and sternly commanded, “Order the clan to immediately block the news. Under no circumstances should word of the Xu Clan disciples entering the Endless Forest get out. Elder, you personally lead half of the Endless Immortal Army into the Endless Forest. Make sure to capture the Xu Clan members for me. The Xu Clan’s treasure absolutely must not fall into others’ hands—it belongs to our Hai Family.”

Watching Hai Lian accept the order and leave, a trace of mockery appeared on Hai Mei’s face as she whispered softly:

“Heh, these kids from the Xu Clan sure have guts, actually daring to hide in the Endless Forest! This has caught all the forces hunting them by surprise. But… you shouldn’t have, you really shouldn’t have killed our Hai Family members in Xichui Town and exposed your identities!”

※※※

In the Endless Forest, Xu Lin walked breathlessly beside Xu Ziyan. Xu Ziyan wasn’t much better off, also gasping for air.

“Ziyan, are we going to hide in the Endless Forest forever?” Xu Lin’s face was full of unwillingness.

“How could that be?” Xu Ziyan turned to look at Xu Lin, wiped the sweat from her forehead with her hand, and said between gasps:

“Once our Cultivation Level improves, we’ll go out and take revenge!”

“But… Cultivation Level isn’t that easy to improve! Are we going to hide here for ten years? Twenty years?” Xu Qi, also panting heavily, spoke from the side, his tone filled with endless disappointment.

“No!” Xu Ziyan firmly shook her head and said, “One year! As long as we avoid being discovered by the enemy for a full year, they’ll think we’re dead. Even if they don’t think that, they’ll relax their search for us. They can’t expend their clan’s strength to keep searching indefinitely. After one year, we’ll return to the clan and see if anything has actually happened to it!”

“But by then, the Grand Competition in Zhongdu City will be over! We won’t be able to participate!” Xu Tianlang said with a frown.

“Yeah, I really want to join the Grand Competition! It’s always the liveliest time in Zhongdu City!” others chimed in as well.

“Ziyan?” Xu Lin suddenly interrupted the others and said, “Do you think the clan might be fine? If that’s the case, wouldn’t we miss the clan’s Grand Competition by not going back?”

Xu Ziyan fell silent as well. She also wanted to see what the Zhongdu City Grand Competition was like. Moreover, she remembered back in Zhongdu City when they had a conflict with Li Wanpeng’s son Li Nu; she vaguely sensed that many of them had the aura of Breath-Concealing Talismans. If they really had some conspiracy, even if the Xu Clan was safe this time, something might still happen on the day of the Grand Competition.

She shook her head as if trying to shake off these troubling thoughts and said softly, “Let’s just get through the immediate danger first!”

※※※

In the Xu Clan’s Council Hall, Xu Haoran sat silently. Finally, he lifted his head from his seat and said wearily:

“You’re saying that Ninth Brother’s opinion is that Qier and the others likely went to the Endless Forest?”

“Yes!” A clan disciple knelt on the ground and replied respectfully.

“Ninth Brother went to the Endless Forest?”

“Yes!” The disciple didn’t dare say another word. The room was filled with high-ranking members of the clan, and their subtle Aura Pressure made him sweat nervously.

“Ridiculous!” Xu Haoran angrily slapped the armrest of his chair. “He’s the only Foundation Building Stage cultivator in the team, and yet he left the group. If Fifth Brother finds Qier and the others, how will he be able to bring them back?”

“But… Ninth Brother considered that Qier and the others might have gone to the Endless Forest…” Xu Haobo said hesitantly.

“Do you think Qier would make such a decision? Would he lead a bunch of Qi Refining Stage novices to the Endless Forest to die?” Xu Haoran said indignantly.

“But… given the current situation, if Qier and the others didn’t go to the Endless Forest, where could they hide? Why have their traces completely disappeared now?”

Xu Haoran lowered his head silently. After a long while, he looked up and said, “I know my own son; he couldn’t possibly make such a bold decision!”

“But… don’t forget, there’s also Yan’er in that team!”

“You mean…” Xu Haoran’s expression froze, “Yan’er made that decision?”

Xu Haobo nodded slightly and said, “I think the reason Qier and the others have completely vanished without being caught by the Northern Region forces is probably because the team has been led by Yan’er all along.”

Xu Haoran said in a stunned voice, “You mean Yan’er has actually become the Team Leader of that group?”