A team working together was needed to capture a Jilingshou.

This kind of auspicious beast had extremely high defence due to the armour growing on its body. It also had a savage, vicious personality and its own killer moves.

It charged forward, enveloped in a typhoon of spiritual energy, like a horizontal tornado. If the people fighting it wielded swords, they would either lose their grip on their artefact or have their wrist turned, nullifying their technique.

Zong Sichen had a single element wood spiritual root, so his attack power wasn’t strong. However, he could multiply Xi Huai and Song Weiyue’s attack power by acting as support.

Zong Sichen's spiritual artefact was a brush. Ink spread everywhere this brush touched.

Song Weiyue's spiritual artefact was a hammer. Sparks flew every time he brutally brought it down. The fire bombs it launched were a type of strong AOEArea of Effect. attack. It could be amplified to a terrifying degree with Zong Sichen’s assistance, with flames reaching up to the sky.

The three of them weren’t interested in the Jilingshou, because they were not lacking in fortuitous encounters.

There were legendary treasures in the Qing Ze Sect. What other cultivators needed to obtain by hard work, they could get by simply reaching out.

After Song Weiyue and Zong Sichen were thrown into the Jilingshou pile, the two of them struggled a while before slaughtering their way out. Without bothering to deal with the corpses, they returned to the top of the rock.

Zong Sichen shook out his enchanted vestments, afraid they had been stained by blood or dust. Luckily, they were of a high enough quality that things like dust simply slid off. A few moments later, he appeared once more a refreshing and elegant gentleman.

On the other side, Song Weiyue shook his hands out after putting away his spiritual artefact. "Those Jilingshou's strength is no joke. My hands are still trembling after hammering them a few times.”

Xi Huai tilted his head slightly. “They’re very difficult to deal with?"

"Yes." The other two replied in unison.

Xi Huai thought about going down himself, but Song Weiyue put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re not really going down to help, are you? Excursions in the cultivation world are just another name for live combat experience. They need to hunt Jilingshou using their own power and then exchange stuff based on the points they accumulate. If you go down there and start going on a killing spree, not only will they not thank you, they’ll admonish you for humiliating them. What’s the word again…? Oh, ‘contempt’.”

Xi Huai didn't mind. "I’ve already provoked them by luring all these spirit beasts over. Do you think I care about offending them again?”

As long as his A-Jiu didn’t get hurt, why would he care about others?

So Zong Sichen took Xi Huai over to the side and swiped his palm across a blank space. Very quickly, something that resembled a translucent piece of paper appeared in midair before them.

He swept his spiritual artefact over the surface of the paper, which then revealed the names of the disciples participating in this excursion. Who knew how he obtained this information?

He said, "Remove the women, those with dual or single spiritual roots, and the people who have been excluded before, and we’re left with just these people.”

With that, he dotted the air with the brush, making marks like ink dots appear above the heads of several people on the battlefield.

He continued, "These are the remaining people of interest you haven’t ruled out yet.”

Nearby, Chi Muyao and Yi Qianxi used a bait spiritual artefact from the Yu Chong School to lure a lone Jilingshou over to an open area. Then they trapped and killed it using their Sect’s techniques.

The Yu Chong School might not be the best at direct combat, but they could definitely hold their own against spirit beasts. Many of their spiritual artefacts were specialised for this purpose as well.

Yi Qianxi’s soul-bound spirit beast was a red fox. It often helped out during the capture by drawing the attention of the Jilingshou, so that Chi Muyao and Yi Qianxi could attack.

Then, at that very moment, a mark that looked like an ink dot appeared on top of Chi Muyao's head.

He glanced at it, thinking it strange. Yi Qianxi tried to punch it away, but the mark stubbornly remained where it was.

Chi Muyao turned to look at the chaotic battlefield. Some of the disciples there also had ink dots atop their heads, just like him.

However, some people’s marks quickly disappeared. His, however, remained.

"The ink dot’s harmless for now. Let’s deal with this Jilingshou first." Chi Muyao said to Yi Qianxi before resuming his attack.

Xi Huai frowned slightly as he looked down at those who still had ink dots on their heads. He still couldn’t confirm if one of them was A-Jiu.

Song Weiyue pointed to Xi Zihe, who was diligently fighting in the middle. “We saw that kid at the last grand selection, right? He’s good-looking, thin, and no one can confirm his whereabouts these past three years. Maybe it’s him.”

Xi Huai stared at Xi Zihe for a while. He seemed uncertain.

Song Zichen was still flipping through other volumes at lightning speed. “Several other people can also be eliminated. I checked the attendance lists of the previous Grand Array excursions from each sect. I’ve removed the mark from those who attended other ones in the past three years.”

With that, several more people's ink dots disappeared.

Xi Huai scanned the battlefield. He suddenly noticed a pair hunting spirit beast off in the corner. He turned to the list and searched for their names before asking, “This is the first time we’ve seen this Chi Muyao from the Yu Chong School, right?”

Zong Sichen glanced at the list and replied, "That's right. He wasn’t on any of the joint activities lists over the last three years. There’s been no trace of him, in fact."

Xi Huai glanced in that direction again.

Song Weiyue had his doubts. “Any He Huan Sect disciple with the slightest shred of ambition would work hard to get into a renowned righteous sect so they can find quality disciples to dual cultivate with. Who would go to the Yu Chong School? They’re a bunch of trash that can’t do anything…”

The word ‘ambition’ reminded Xi Huai of something that made him shoot to his feet and walk towards those two from the Yu Chong School.

Has A-Jiu ever showed ambition towards dual cultivation?

It didn’t seem like it.

Chi Muyao and Yi Qianxi high fived after finally taking down the Jilingshou.

But before he could finish preparing the carcass, Chi Muyao noticed someone walking towards them.

The familiar sight of this newcomer’s tight, black brocade robes and dark red outer layer was enough to make his movements still. Then he grabbed Yi Qianxi’s sleeve and retreated step by step with her.

Yi Qianxi was eagerly preparing the Jilingshou carcass when Chi Muyao suddenly started pulling her away. She was confused until she looked up and saw Xi Huai’s group approaching.

Chi Muyao’s implied message was very clear. This Jilingshou is yours, we don’t want it anymore.

Then he quickly left with Yi Qianxi in tow.

Xi Huai’s gaze shifted momentarily to the hand Chi Muyao was using to tug on Yi Qianxi’s sleeve. Then his figure blurred until he reappeared before Chi Muyao. With a single finger a foot away from Chi Muyao’s forehead, he input spiritual energy as a probe.

A water, earth and wood three element spiritual root.

Completely different from what A-Jiu had told him before.

There were also no traces of Hui Dragon Flames in Chi Muyao's body.

"Your name is Chi Muyao?" Xi Huai asked as he looked down on him.

Chi Muyao’s astonishing beauty was all the more apparent this close. From his eyebrows to his hair, his lips to his neck, every part contained just the right amount of beauty.

Xi Huai had some residual doubts. This person didn’t look like how he imagined A-Jiu would appear.

The A-Jiu of his imagination had a scholarly and soft appearance. Not this kind of vivid beauty.

Chi Muyao wanted to shrink back. He didn’t want to meet Xi Huai’s eyes, but he still felt a sense of pressure.

This was the first time he realised he was short enough that people needed to look down on him. Wasn’t he 180cm with shoes on? Being looked down on like a child was really hurting his self-esteem.

"En." Chi Muyao responded.

"When did you join the Yu Chong School?" Xi Huai asked again.

Yi Qianxi suddenly shielded Chi Muyao behind her. She raised her chin slightly as she said, “I grew up with Shidi.”

Chi Muyao had said before that his life was very miserable. He was implicated because of his family and there were potentially people after him. He only joined the Yu Chong School because he needed to hide, and because he really liked small animals.

Yi Qianxi immediately suspected that this person might be here to take revenge, which was why she replied for Chi Muyao.

Chi Muyao was a little touched that Yi Qianxi would shield him under these circumstances. It seemed like his loudmouth little shijie was quite protective when it mattered.

He suddenly felt like joining the Yu Chong School wasn’t such a waste after all.

“Shidi?” Xi Huai latched on to the key word.

"Yes!" Yi Qianxi replied firmly.

"How old is he?"

"Seventeen this year, why?"

Xi Huai straightened again, his gaze sweeping across Chi Muyao’s body once more.

Zong Sichen came over to Xi Huai’s side. His gaze was ambiguous as he transmitted his voice to Xi Huai using his divine sense, “Isn’t he beautiful? I saw his backside when we just arrived. Never imagined that his front is so pleasing to the eye too.”

Song Weiyue joined them as well. His voice was also transmitted over, “Yo! This little beauty isn’t bad.”

Xi Huai didn't answer. He took a step back to avoid the sword flying over.

A moment later, Yu Yanshu used the Light Body Technique to leap over. He said after retrieving his personal sword, “What does this daoist friend wish to share? You can speak to me if anything is the matter.”

"Do all of you at Nuan Yan Pavilion use swords as a first greeting?" Xi Huai's tone was threatening as he shot Yu Yanshu a dark look.

"On the contrary, I’d like to know if all of you demonic faction disciples toy with others this way.” Yu Yanshu’s tone was perfectly even, despite implying that Xi Huai was the mastermind behind the chaotic battle.

Xi Huai toyed with a bead in his hand before throwing it back into his Myriad Treasure Bell. With that, the spiritual energy of the spiritual artefact controlling the Jilingshou disappeared.

The remaining Jilingshou on the battlefield immediately snapped out of their frenzy. Some that were injured or not interested in fighting anymore began to scatter and flee.

Some of the disciples chased after the Jilingshou they had almost taken down. Others rested where they were, looking over towards where Xi Huai was.

Some seemed to be itching to pick a fight and beat the living daylights out of him, but their compatriots held them back.

None of the other Foundation Building stage disciples present were Xi Huai’s match.

This held true even for Yu Yanshu. He could put up a fair fight if they were using combat techniques alone, but there was nothing he could do after the Hui was summoned.

But Xi Huai didn't have any intention to fight them right now. He simply turned around and left on the flying spiritual artefact with Song Weiyue and Zong Sichen, but not after seriously glancing at Chi Muyao a few more times.

He had his suspicions, but he couldn’t be sure yet.

When Yu Yanshu waved at the ink mark above Chi Muyao’s head, it instantly dissipated.

It seemed like the reason Yi Qianxi failed to remove it before was because her cultivation wasn’t high enough.

At this time, another Golden Core stage disciple approached Yu Yanshu. "Yan-shidi, I have no doubt that those demonic faction disciples have many more tricks up their sleeves. I’m afraid this expedition will be a dangerous one. Why don’t we combine our teams so we can look after each other if something were to happen?”

Yu Yanshu nodded. "Sure, okay."

With that, the number of team members doubled to thirty-two people.

Originally, the two Golden Core stage disciples were to lead teams of fifteen people. The two extra are, you guessed it, Chi Muyao and Yi Qianxi, who Yu Yanshu insisted on bringing along.

After the merger, Chi Muyao immediately had a feeling that this team was very strong.

The male lead Xi Zihe, the female lead Han Qingyuan, the second male lead Yu Yanshu and the second female lead Ming Shaoluo were all gathered here.

If the villain Xi Huai joins in, then God help anyone unlucky enough to be their enemy...