Wait a minute, where is my master?

High above, a huge plum blossom sped through the wind.

Standing atop it were three men and a woman, none other than the Three Friends of Winter and Xia Yunzhao.

This plum blossom was Mr. Mei's flying treasure, and among the three, his treasure had the fastest flying speed; thus, they had asked him to steer the plum blossom towards Wild Wolf Ridge.

"Do you think we will find anything at Wild Wolf Ridge?" Mei Shouyi, always chatty even while busy steering the treasure, started a conversation out of the blue.

"Focus a little more," Mr. Song said as he shot a glance at Mr. Mei and also looked at Xia Yunzhao.

It meant that since the princess of the Great Xia Dynasty was present, he shouldn't speak carelessly and disgrace Qingmu Academy.

"Steering a flying treasure doesn't take much effort. By the way, Seventh Princess, why do you trust that little Taoist so much? If it's a trap, Gusu City of Great Xia might be in danger," Mr. Mei said, seemingly oblivious to the other's gaze, and continued to make conversation.

Xia Yunzhao internally criticized, having heard that among the Three Friends of Winter from Qingmu Academy, there was a chatterbox. She had thought it was a smear from fellow cultivators in the Cultivation World, but now it seemed the rumors might be believable.

How could she respond, that she believed in the little Taoist because he looked handsome?

Not picking up on his conversation, she looked down on her own, observing the scenery below, when suddenly something caught her eye.

Seeing that the Seventh Princess was ignoring him, Mei Shouyi started to pester Mr. Zhu.

"Elder Zhu, you've been speaking less and less lately, haven't you? Is something on your mind? Share it with me."

Mr. Zhu silently stepped back, clearly used to his constant babbling.

"Eh..." Mei Shouyi was about to continue talking to himself when Xia Yunzhao interrupted him.

"Senior Mei, if you are worried, you could personally go down and ask Jin Xu, the little Taoist, to understand the situation," the Seventh Princess, pointing her delicate finger toward a clearing in front of a cliff, suggested.

Upon hearing this, the three released their Spiritual Sense downwards and saw a young Taoist in a dark blue robe, who looked like a banished immortal, and a constable of average appearance standing there.

"Is this the messenger Taoist?"

"It is him," Xia Yunzhao confidently nodded.

Hearing this, Mr. Mei controlled the plum blossom, which slowly descended towards that clearing.

...

On the ground, Jin Xu stood far in front of the cliff, worrying about how to get Li Bantou down from above.

He couldn't fly, which was quite embarrassing.

Just as the little Taoist was about to try and see if he could jump up, a huge plum blossom landed in front of him. As four people stepped down from it, the blossom shrank into a small one and flew into the robe of one of the middle-aged scholars, hiding itself.

"Jin Xu, what brings you here?" Xia Yunzhao greeted warmly as she approached the little Taoist.

"It's nothing major, just passing by to save someone," Jin Xu said modestly.

Upon hearing this, the Seventh Princess and the Three Friends of Winter followed the little Taoist's gaze towards the cliff.

Hmm? Why is there an old Bantou hanging there?

Seeing this, Mr. Song slightly stirred his Spiritual Power, sending a pine branch flying from his palm.

The branch lightly brushed across the cliff, catching the rope holding Li Bantou, which immediately split. Then, the pine branch grew larger, catching Li Bantou, and flew back to his side.

"Young Taoist, were you intending to save this person?" Mr. Song asked politely, remembering the rule announced by the Dean, "Do not provoke young and handsome Taoists," and this young Taoist just happened to be both young and handsome.

Jin Xu, looking at the middle-aged scholar in front of him, his eyes lit up.

The display of skill he had just witnessed was indeed elegant and dashing; he was a bit envious.

Moreover, given the polite initial encounter, the little Taoist's impression of this man improved significantly.

Then, Xia Yunzhao informed him that these three guys were from Qingmu Academy, the renowned Three Friends of Winter in the Cultivation World.

Good impression gone...

Could these people have come for him?

Jin Xu wondered internally.

The young constable beside him, seeing his uncle being rescued, could no longer restrain his worried emotions and rushed to Old Ban's side to check on him.

After finding that the other was merely unconscious but still breathing, he quickly expressed his thanks to the group.

Mr. Mei casually cast a healing spell on Old Ban and paid no further attention to the two commoners.

He took the initiative to ask Jin Xu about Wild Wolf Ridge and the Transformation Fruit.

...

At this moment, the three Hall Masters hidden inside the Concealing Breath Array felt extremely uncomfortable.

They were all shouting silently in their hearts.

"Move a couple of steps! It's okay, just move a couple of steps!"

Initially, seeing the young constable leading the young Taoist over, they thought this matter was settled.

However, the young Taoist just stood one step away from the array, not entering, delaying.

Since he did not enter, the three of them naturally dared not activate the array and could only wait.

After waiting for the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea and just when they were about to lose their patience, the young Taoist finally took a step toward entering the range of the array.

Unexpectedly, four cultivators descended from the sky, landing right in front of the young Taoist!

The three secretly cursed in their hearts, but for the sake of the plan, they had to endure.

Hall Master Xia quickly recognized three of them as the Suihan Three Friends from Qingmu Academy, who had long been nemeses of their Demon Sect.

Of course, there wasn't one among the Four Great Immortal Sects who wasn't their old nemesis.

However, Hall Master Xia still had to thank these three because her predecessor in the position of hall master was slain by them, providing her the opportunity to rise to power.

And that woman in white, recognized by Master Huang, was precisely the mysterious person who had evaded his pursuit that night.

Seeing several more cultivators,...

the three estimated the strength of the array. Fortunately, this time the Demon Sect's Third Elder had brought out their best array flags, capable of trapping three in the Void Refinement Realm, one in the Nascent Soul Realm, and one suspected high-level in the Divinity Transformation Realm. It shouldn't be a big problem.

While the three were discussing whether to continue waiting for the young Taoist to enter the array on his own before activating the flags or to have Master Huang secretly attack and force the young Taoist into the array, they heard a startling piece of news.

The cultivator in the plum-colored scholar's robe who talked too much was saying something!

Wild Wolf Ridge, Transformation Fruit? How did these people find out?

Master Huang and Hall Master Xia turned their gaze to Hall Master Zou, who was in charge of the surveillance work and arrays around Wild Wolf Ridge, his face now ashen.

"Why are you looking at me? There's no way the leak came from me," Hall Master Zou said through voice transmission.

"Ever since the Zheng family's old residence was breached, I've had my suspicions about you!"

Master Huang, looking displeased, rebuked through voice transmission.

"Enough, stop fighting, just listen," Hall Master Xia chided with a glance at the two, urging them to focus.

Over there, Jin Xu honestly explained to the four how he knew there was an issue at Wild Wolf Ridge and how he used his Spiritual Sense to detect Black Qi there, verifying the situation.

The Suihan Three Friends and Xia Yunzhao looked bewildered, surprised that the young Taoist could actually see Qi, something that can typically be observed only by those born with special eyes or those who had cultivated top-tier techniques, such as "Heavenly Vision."

Xia Yunzhao was even more astonished. Jin Xu had just thanked her alone, saying that if it weren't for the "Dongxuan Spirit Skill" she had left behind, his Spiritual Power would not have advanced so quickly.

She had no idea her family's passed-down technique was so powerful, and she primarily left you that communication jade token, not this!

Regardless of Xia Yunzhao grinding her teeth,

Jin Xu walked forward, wanting to see how the awakened Li Ban was doing.

Suddenly, trouble arose!