Chapter 178: Return to the camp
After an unknown amount of time had passed, the last disciple of the Falcon sect was finally found in a rather small chamber where she was battling a group of spiders all by herself.
Luckily, she managed to hold on long enough for them to find her.
Bai Quing immediately gave command for the rest of the disciples to go assist her in killing the spiders, they were swift about it and finished the spiders in less than a minute since they greatly outnumbered them this time.
The disciple, who had been fighting all by herself dropped to the ground and began panting with large beads of sweat dripping down her face. She was exhausted and injured; good thing that they were light injuries and were not life-threatening.
"That's everyone, let's head back." Bai Quing announced, not giving the disciples who they had just rescued, enough time to rest.
"Yes, sect mistress!" The disciples and elders echoed in response.
Under the lead of Quin Xuxu who was holding the map of the place, they started their return journey.
Leon, who was walking behind Quin Xuxu and the Senior members of the sect while the hundreds of disciples formed long lines behind him, turned his neck to look at the disciples who were walking with solemn faces.
Some of them were currently carrying the lifeless bodies of their fellow disciples back to the surface where they would be buried properly.
Leon retracted his gaze while sighing, the underground tunnel was a cruel place.
Even with the navigation abilities of Fengxu and Quin Xuxu combined, they had not been able to locate all the disciples on time. They only found the corpses of some, those disciples had been killed probably by beasts that lived in the underground tunnel or members of the midnight plain; the least that they could do was bring back their bodies.
After more than an hour of walking, the ground finally arrived at a stairway that was made of rocks; the stairway was in a spiral pattern and stretched into the air where a large opening could be seen and where the light of day poured in through.
"There's light!"
A disciple exclaimed at the sight of the opening, excitement in her voice; it was their way out after all.
They had spent more than two hours in the underground tunnel and the only source of light had been the glowing stones on the walls. While it did well in letting them see, it couldn't compare to sunlight, which gave them a feeling of safety and comfort.
Quin Xuxu kept the map back in her storage ring before turning to look at the disciples.
"Disciples can go up first, wait close to the opening once you get out and watch out for any beast or enemies," she said to them.
Bai Quing and the elders moved to the side to make way for the disciples to pass, Leon was pulled aside by Fengxu; he was to stay behind with them instead of following the disciples.
Leon "..."
' Seriously? Do you all think I'll get another wife just by following them? Come on, have more faith in me!'
Leon shouted in his heart but quietly stood beside Fengxu and Lin Shuran.
The disciples didn't stand on ceremony after hearing Quin Xuxu's words and they immediately rushed toward the stairway. Some of them had been carrying corpses, after all, and needed to get back as soon as possible so that they could rest.
Several minutes later and the last disciple had claimed up the stairway, only Quin Xuxu, Fengxu, Bai Quing, Leon, Lin Shuran, and around thirty elders remained.
"Let's go," Quin Xuxu voiced out before stepping on the first rock, the others followed behind her.
The pressure that forced them to go when the ground collapsed previously was still bearing down so they couldn't just fly out and really needed to use the stairs.
After coming out, they looked around themselves to see where they were.
But all around them was yellow sand and dust. The sun was as hot as ever, but they didn't feel it was bad this time; it was better to be under the harsh sun than to remain in the underground tunnel where an unknown beast of unknown level of strength could appear out of nowhere.
"Where are we?" Leon mumbled while rubbing his chin.
"According to the mad, we just used the back exit, which is further away from the main area of their base; it should be closer to the camp. I'll take a look from the sky." Quin Xuxu said before releasing Shi from her body.
Boom!
The Shi caused a small explosive sound as they gushed out of her body and sent sand and dust flying into the air
Quin Xuxu's body was now completely covered in her intimidating Shi, her hair fluttering slowly behind her like live tentacles.
"Wait here," she said before bending her knees and launching herself into the air like an arrow.
She rose so high into the air that the disciples were having difficulties seeing her figure, she was like a small black dot in the sky.
Thirty seconds later…
Bang!
Quin Xuxu dropped from the sky and landed on the ground like a boulder. The ground three meters around her sank slightly, and sand flew everywhere; everyone had to cover their faces with their hands to prevent sand from getting on their faces.
"What did you find out, Master?" Bai Quing looked at Quin Xuxu after the dust settled, everyone also turned to her as well, waiting for her response.
Quin Xuxu didn't keep them hanging and told them that the camp was a few tens of kilometres away from them; she pointed in that direction and said that they were currently on top of a hill and could see the camp once they reached the edge.
Everyone was stunned after listening to her, they looked around themselves in disbelief. This place was the top of a hill? Since when was there such a huge hill in Gulu Plain? It might as well be called a sand mountain.
"Don't be too surprised; the changes of terrain in Gulu plain are unpredictable; this hill might not be here the next time you come here. Let's go." Quin Xuxu added before leading the way, everyone followed her.
The group arrived at the edge of the hill that Quin Xuxu had talked about; they could finally see the camp in the distance, although it was currently just a small black line to them because of how far it was and the dust in the air.
With the camp finally in sight, the disciples became more energetic and started moving faster; though they didn't notice this themselves.
The walk back to the camp took more than an hour; crossing the hot desert proved some difficulties, especially since they were carrying over twenty corpses.
After an hour and thirty minutes of walking, the group finally returned to the camp; they headed straight for the Falcon sect living quarters.
The sight of the Falcon sect returning with corpses was definitely an eye-catching scene and attracted lots of attention from the soldiers and martial artists in the camp; some people tried to interact with them but were met with cold silence.
The disciples who were left behind in the quarter welcomed the group, Bai Quing gave orders for the bodies to be immediately buried properly and for the disciples to rest before she went to report to Zhu Ming what they had discovered; Quin Xuxu went with her.
Leon was left with Fengxu after Bai Quing and Quin Xuxu left, the fox princess grabbed Leon's arm and invited him to bathe together.
"Not so fast,"
Bai Quing's voice sounded from behind the two just before they could go to Fengxu's tent. Both of them turned around and saw Bai Quing and Quin Xuxu gazing at them, their gazes didn't seem happy.
"You're coming with us as well." Bai Quing declared.
Fengxu's eyes twitched when she heard this, she hugged Leon's arm before protesting.
"Why do I need to come when you're going to make a report? Go by yourselves!"
Bai Quing was unmoved and snorted.
"If I say you're coming, then you're coming."
"Why?"
"No reason,"
"Then I'm not coming!"
"You are,"
"No!"
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Leon just stood there like a statue, not daring to interfere. After bickering back and forth with each other, Fengxu was finally dragged off by Bai Quing and her Master.
Leon could hear the sobbing of the fox even after they already left the quarter.
"Sigh, she's even more jealous than I expected." Leon sighed to himself. He obviously knew why Bai Quing didn't want to leave him alone with Fengxu, she knew that they would do adult stuff and didn't want to let Fengxu have all the fun.
It was either they all enjoyed it, or no one got a taste of it.
"Such a strong commitment," Leon chuckled while walking to his own tent.
Except for the lower disciples who shared tents, prime disciples and elders all had private tents so it was only right for him to have his own tent. Besides, as the only male disciple, there was no way his Master and Senior sister would allow him to share a tent with other disciples.
After returning to his room and cleaning himself up with a quick back, Leon could be seen lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling.
Actually, he was looking at his system profile.
"Hmm, it's been a while since I farmed exp." Leon thought to himself when he saw his remaining exp points, he decided to farm some exp.
He wasn't short on exp but the farming process was enjoyable.