Chapter 290 - The Scum Is Reclusive

Cheng Sheng suddenly stopped and uneasily looked back. He stared at the inn. "What's wrong?" he heard Fei Yin asked. 

Cheng Sheng turned to him. "I don't know… I suddenly felt uneasy." He answered. 

"Are you worried about them?" Fei Yin asked, referring to Nan Pingan and Nan Lang. "Each one of us has his own problem to solve. They have ours, and so we do have ours, too. Rest your heart and mind." He told him and patted Cheng Sheng's head. 

Cheng Sheng didn't answer and shifted his feet. "Should we go back?" he asked. 

Fei Yin felt helpless, so he can only turn to Wu Yuan who is the oldest among them. Wu Yuan proved he is reliable. "Our time is short. We don't have time to get worried with others' welfare. We should worry with ours." He said. 

Cheng Sheng bit his lower lip, still feeling unresolved. "Sheng." Fei Yin called as he held his hand. "I know you are kind, but there is always a limitation towards everything, okay?" he said. "If you let someone be always reliant to you, you'll turn them useless." He told him. 

Cheng Sheng froze, before he finally sighed. "Mn. I heard you." He said and took a deep breath. He glanced at the inn one last time before he finally turned his back. Fei Yin and Wu Yuan also followed. 

The wind blew, making the curtains flutter, revealing the blood-stained walls, furniture and floor of the room. The wind passed by, carrying a faint smell of blood with it, before dissipating, killing the hope for Cheng Sheng, Fei Yin and Wu Yuan discovering the murder that happened when they left the Nanli Town. 

Three days later. 

"Shashan Pass… Shashan Pass…" Fei Yin muttered as they looked at the map of Huilong Continent. "'sand mountain'… Shashan Pass…" he ran his finger along the drawing of the hills made out of sand in the Southernmost Region of the continent. "Which one is it?" he asked as he looked at Cheng Sheng and Wu Yuan. 

Cheng Sheng handed a tube of water to Wu Yuan. It is one of the things he had stored in his qiankun pouch. Because they left in a hurry, Wu Yuan hasn't prepared for anything. Fei Yin's about to get jealous when Cheng Sheng handed him his own tube. Fei Yin's heart was immediately soothed and he drank the water, with his tongue licking the rim of the tube and his gaze that's burning is on Cheng Sheng. 

Cheng Sheng rolled his eyes at him, but, there's a smile on his lips. Wu Yuan felt he has been fed dog food in the middle of the hot desert, and the water that quenched his thirst suddenly tastes bitter. "Find the nearest community, then ask." He said as he hanged the bamboo tube of water by his waist then resumed walking. The sand particles are being thrown off of his shoes every time he lifted his foot from being buried in the sand. 

Cheng Sheng and Fei Yin looked at each other before they followed behind Wu Yuan. They can't use their sword to fly for fear of being seen by the demonic cultivators and surrounded by them. Even though they are strong, but being outnumbered is always not a good thing. Winning from being outnumbered is sometimes can be due to luck. 

Second, they are afraid they might overlook someplace if they flew by their sword. There are more details to be seen if you walk on land. And third, they will exhaust their qi if they flew by their sword. Thus, walking is the safest method to travel, and their speed is already fast. 

Xinfaxian Sect, Xinfaxian, East. 

"Xi Peng finally kicked the bucket." Fei Lin said. 

"Even if he still has an ambition to be the sect leader, not to mention he's dying, but no one will follow him after his crimes were exposed." Xi Ling said. 

The crimes Xi Peng committed is killing Xi Ling's father, who has a high potential to be the next sect leader. However, he and Fei Lin's father wanted to kill Xi Ling's father to snatch the sect leader position. Xi Peng deemed Xi Ling's father is soft-hearted, so he is unfit to be a sect leader. Thus, he supported Fei Xin, instead, which earned him the praise of Fei Xin's father. 

Xi Ling looked at Xie Lan. "Brother, I'm glad you left that time. Or else you would've been force further by him…" he said. 

Xie Lan smiled and patted Xi Ling's head. "The bad guys are now gone. You can now do whatever your heart desires." He told him. 

Xi Ling smiled and hugged Xie Lan tight. Fan Wen and Fei Lin looked at each other before they looked at the pair of brothers and smiled, feeling warm in their heart. "So, who will be the next sect leader?" Fan Wen asked Fei Lin. 

"I already submitted a letter that I will travel the world with Ling Ling." Fei Lin said. He meant, he had already expressed his decision. "Also, the sect elders are now wavering of electing someone from the Feis to be the sect leader because of the matter with uncle. So, the pressure on me lessened." He said. 

"I guess your uncle doesn't want you to be the sect leader, since he doesn't want you to be restricted by your sect." Fan Wen said. 

"Indeed, I feel that way." Fei Lin said before he poured Fan Wen's cup some tea. 

"So, who will be the next sect leader?" Fan Wen asked again. 

"Definitely not Ling Ling, since he will be travelling with me after Wu Ran's matter pass." Fei Lin said. "For now, the sect is still undecided." He said. 

Fan Wen nodded and drink his tea. "Since Xi Peng's matter was exposed, too, then the Xi family is also out of the candidate list." He said. "That leaves…" he looked at Fei Lin. 

Fei Lin smiled. "The Sun family." He said. "The sect elders are now unearthing the reclusive family, using the excuse to contribute to the sect. It is yet to be seen how will the Sun family will response." He explained. 

"That's true." Xie Lan said as he and Xi Ling returned and joined them on the table. "The Sun family may be reclusive, but that doesn't mean they are pushovers." He said. "However, the sect also naturally can't let go of the Sun family. Although they are withdrawn, but the Sun family, undeniably, also produce excellent seedlings comparable to the Fei family and the Xi family." He said and looked at Sun Yi afar sitting beside Li Tian while they watched the sun setting in the horizon. 

Fan Wen, Xie Lan and Xi Ling turned as silence fell upon them. Sun Yi is waiting for Wu Yuan. Li Tian is waiting for Chen Han. Fei Lin is waiting for Fei Yin. Meanwhile, everyone is waiting for Cheng Sheng. They wonder how are the people they have in their heart is faring right now. Did they fall ill? Do they feel cold? Did they have enough sleep? Do they eat on time? Did they get injured? 

Many things are making them worry, yet they don't have any choice but to wait for their return to receive the answer of their questions. 

Southmost Region, desert. 

"Achoo!" Cheng Sheng sneezed and rubbed his nose. 

"Sheng! Are you alright?" Fei Yin asked as he came out of their tent after he arranged everything inside. No matter how things change around them, but their habits like Fei Yin slaving for him never changed. "Why don't you go inside and rest?" he asked as he walked towards him sitting by the fire. 

Cheng Sheng clutched the blanket wrapped around him. "No. I'm fine." He said as he looked at the sky in which the stars at night replaced the clouds of the daytime. Then, he looked around them in which you could see only flat sand and hills made out of sand. However, for him, this is better to be stranded on the land than in the sea. 

Fei Yin felt helpless towards this headstrong attitude of his lover. However, this is also one of the reasons why he loves Cheng Sheng. Thus, he can only sit beside Cheng Sheng and stoke the fire to make their dinner cook faster. 

After a little while and the dish was cooked. They immediately started digging in. 

Wu Yuan who had eaten his first serving spoke. "Eating a delicious meal at this hour of the dark times is such a luxury." He said as he served himself again. 

"Indeed." Cheng Sheng agreed. 

Wu Yuan faintly smiled and resumed eating. They ate in silence, and after that returned to their tents. Wu Yuan didn't bring anything with him when he left, and so Fei Yin gave him his own tent, which he made an excuse to sleep with Cheng Sheng in Cheng Sheng's tent. Fei Yin just laughed when he received a cute and elegant eyeroll from his lover.