Chapter 404: Fellow Daoist, You Are Very Suspicious
Li Qi took a deep breath, calmed himself, and steadied his nerves before looking at the Earth Chicken again. "Little Master, you wouldn’t deceive me, would you?"
The Earth Chicken’s eyes bulged. "What nonsense are you spouting? I am a descendant of the Ancient Phoenix, after all. Why would I deceive a junior like you?"
"Alright! I’ll go!" Li Qi gritted his teeth.
"Mm, go ahead!"
"What should I do?" Li Qi asked.
"You’ve seen the information on the list, haven’t you?" the Earth Chicken began. "This Sect is not strong, with only three Lords at most. You just need to use your Stealth Skill, conceal yourself, and then sneak in..."
"And then what?"
"Find a place to stay put. Mao Qiu will be responsible for the subsequent actions," the Earth Chicken said in a low, mysterious tone.
Li Qi was bewildered. It sounds very simple, but why is Mao Qiu the one in charge? He couldn’t understand it at all but didn’t ask any further questions. He hadn’t been present at any of the previous looting scenes, so he naturally wouldn’t know that Mao Qiu was, in fact, the key member in this grand plunder.
He raised his head and glanced at the sky. The waning moon hung high, its light dim. After confirming Mao Qiu was still on his shoulder, he began to stride forward.
One step, ten steps...
Li Qi quickly dropped prone, vigilantly scanning his surroundings.
The Earth Chicken blinked and chuckled. "Wait a moment!" She also sneaked after him because the Xuanhe Sect had Arrays in place, and Li Qi couldn’t infiltrate it on his own.
A short while later, the Earth Chicken returned.
Guang Xiaoyu couldn’t help asking, "Li Qi is only in the Supreme Mystery Realm; why let him go? Isn’t that too dangerous?"
"It’s not dangerous. I have to drag him into this, don’t I?" The Earth Chicken shook her body.
"Huh?"
"What I mean is, your Senior Brother might be here."
"Did he sneak in ahead of time?" Guang Xiaoyu suddenly became excited.
"No."
"Then why? How could my Senior Brother be here?"
It’s too complicated to explain now, the Earth Chicken thought. Looting Sects was originally her personal endeavor. She had finally managed to coax Guang Xiaoyu into joining, only to unexpectedly encounter Chen Pingping here. Of course, I’m not entirely sure he *is* here.
The Earth Chicken’s eyes darted around as she said, "This matter is quite complicated. In short, we can’t let your Senior Brother know our whereabouts for now."
Guang Xiaoyu was puzzled.
"Do you want to give him a surprise?"
"I do!"
"Then don’t let him know."
"But Li Qi has already gone in. Won’t Senior Brother find out?"
"We’re just testing the waters. Even if your Senior Brother is in the Xuanhe Sect, at worst, Li Qi will be the one to take the beating, and we’ll be fine. Then... we’ll proceed with our subsequent plan," the Earth Chicken said, blinking.
At first, that sounds reasonable, Guang Xiaoyu thought, but something feels off...
The Demon Emperor’s intelligence, honed over a hundred thousand years, seemed to falter at this moment. Her mind was solely focused on the surprise for Chen Pingping, causing her to overlook many details.
Yes, yes, yes! A surprise for Senior Brother!
Guang Xiaoyu daydreamed, filled with anticipation.
* * *
「Inside the Xuanhe Sect.」
Chen Pingping was still chatting idly with them, rambling on in an attempt to distract them.
But he quickly noticed something unusual.
Just a minute ago, he could still sense the fluctuations in Li Qi’s aura; a minute later, the man seemed to have vanished into thin air.
At this moment, the Scholar could no longer bear it and spoke up, "Fellow Daoist, are you trying to distract us?"
Chen Pingping gave a sidelong glance. "Not at all!"
"Then why are you talking so much?" the Scholar frowned.
"I’m just trying to catch the Fairy’s attention," Chen Pingping replied.
"Because... alright! I’ll be honest. I like her," Chen Pingping said, looking at the Fairy.
Everyone was stunned.
The Scholar was flabbergasted.
The sudden confession took even the Fairy by surprise.
Chen Pingping, full of heartfelt emotion, declared, "From the very first moment I laid eyes on you, I fell deeply in love, unable to extricate myself. I think of you every night. For you, I’ve lost my appetite and can’t sleep. Ah! Fairy, can you accept me?"
"Why do you call her Fairy?" a young man from the Xuanhe Sect asked.
"Because it sounds nice!" Chen Pingping glanced sideways at him.
"She has a name."
Chen Pingping was momentarily speechless.
"You don’t even know the Fairy’s name, do you?"
"So what? I like her for who she is. What can a mere name decide?" Chen Pingping said with a serious expression.
"I refuse," the Fairy stated coldly.
"Alright!" Chen Pingping smiled and immediately fell silent.
Witnessing this, everyone was taken aback, somewhat unsure how the situation would unfold.
One minute passed, then two...
When Li Qi’s aura fluctuated outside the Xuanhe Sect again, Chen Pingping knew they had succeeded. The Earth Chicken hadn’t come in, nor had Xiaoyu; only Li Qi was out there.
Chen Pingping watched in that direction, saying nothing.
Just then, a middle-aged Steward of the Xuanhe Sect hurried over, panting heavily. "This is terrible! Elder, our Spirit Pills, Spiritual Medicines, Cultivation Techniques, and Divine Weapons—they’re all gone!"
With a sudden stir, all eyes turned to him.
The Steward was so anxious he was on the verge of tears.
He was in charge of guarding the Treasure Pavilion and hadn’t even blinked. But then... a strange gust of wind had blown past. When he curiously checked the Treasure Pavilion, he found it completely empty, not a single thing left.
The group, aghast, rushed towards the Treasure Pavilion.
The Fairy, the Scholar, and Chen Pingping followed closely.
Upon opening the great door, it was indeed bare inside; nothing remained.
Indignant roars erupted!
The upper echelons of the Xuanhe Sect were losing their minds, their fury uncontrollable.
Chen Pingping looked at the Scholar and said nonchalantly, "Fellow Daoist, can you explain this?"
A supposed genius of Fairy Valley? A Lord of the Third Heaven, you say? Chen Pingping thought with amusement.
Staring at the empty Treasure Pavilion, the Scholar’s face became ghastly. Just a short while ago, he had confidently thumped his chest, guaranteeing that as long as he was present, anyone from the Wuji Sect who dared to intrude would meet a point of no return.
Yet, in the blink of an eye, the Xuanhe Sect’s accumulated resources had vanished.
The Scholar nearly coughed up blood.
The Fairy frowned deeply.
The three powerful Lords of the Xuanhe Sect stepped out from the shadows, their expressions terrifyingly grim.
They had been on alert the entire time, never letting their guard down. Yet now... the Treasure Pavilion was bare. This clearly indicated that people from the Wuji Sect had already been there.
Right under their very noses, the Treasure Pavilion had been plundered.
"These Wuji Sect people are truly uncanny," the Fairy said, then turned to the three Lords. "Did the three of you Seniors not perceive anything?"
"Nothing!" the Sect Master replied, his face stern.
"Indeed, very uncanny," the Scholar said, lifting his head and staring intently at Chen Pingping. "Just now, this Fellow Daoist was talking to us the entire time, attempting to distract us. I wonder if he is connected to this incident."
Chen Pingping, who had been in high spirits, heard this and cursed inwardly, Damn it!
He snorted. "Even if I intentionally distracted you, wasn’t there still a Senior guarding the entrance to the Treasure Pavilion? And the three Seniors were also vigilant in secret."
"Heh," the Scholar chuckled lightly. "Fellow Daoist, no need to be nervous. I was merely speculating."
Chen Pingping nodded. "I know. However... I find *you* rather suspicious now, Fellow Daoist."
Hmm?
The Scholar’s smile froze.
"Fellow Daoist, you are a genius of the First Court of Xian Valley, hailed as a once-in-a-million-years seed talent, comparable to a Young Emperor. Look at this strikingly handsome face, this tall and imposing figure, sword-like eyebrows and star-like eyes, exuding a formidable and incomparably heroic aura—clearly a dragon among men, destined for Tao Verification in the future..."
"It’s excusable if others couldn’t detect the Wuji Sect members, as they are not as remarkable as you, Fellow Daoist. But for you to also fail to detect them... isn’t that a problem?" Chen Pingping narrowed his eyes.
The Scholar was bewildered.
"Everyone, I’m not exaggerating. This young genius from Fairy Valley, standing at the Third Heaven of the Lord Realm, possesses true combat strength that can likely reach at least the Fifth or Sixth Heaven. Coupled with his own profound foundation, fighting someone at the Seventh Heaven wouldn’t be an exaggeration, would it? Furthermore, with the powerful Cultivation Technique he practices, facing someone at the Eighth or Ninth Heaven should be well within his capabilities," he continued.
"Seed talents all possess rich combat experience and techniques. Therefore, Fellow Daoist, your true combat strength should have, at the very least, broken through to the First Heaven of the Saint Realm. That’s not an overstatement, is it?
"For you, a powerful expert of the Saint Realm, to fail to notice Wuji Sect members intruding here... Therefore, I seriously suspect that you are in league with the Wuji Sect," Chen Pingping said with a straight face, his expression wary.
The Scholar was dumbfounded.