Southmost Region.
"RAAAARRRR!" the monsters screeched after Fei Lin hacked them down while Lei Ling and Jing Kang threw Fire Talismans to its body for them to be burned.
"Bind!" Li Tian uttered, his index finger and middle finger raised and the monster's body froze as if an invisible net surrounded it. Feng Mo and Xi Ling immediately sliced the monster to pieces.
"Ah Lin, watch out!" Jing Hei cried and pulled Qian Lin towards him. The monster's sharp and long nails barely scratched Qian Lin's back. If not for Jing Hei pulling Qian Lin, a deep wound would have appeared on Qian Lin's neck after his flesh was gouged out.
You Rou lashed her whip at the monsters while Lei Qing beheaded them. Meanwhile, Jing Bai and Zheng Yi killed the monsters that pounced on their backs. Jing Cheng and Jing Rui worked together, one rounding up the monsters and the other one finishes them off.
Xie Lan had just hacked a monster that Fan Wen kicked towards him. He turned to look at Yu Sheng and Zuo Zhe, precisely Zuo Zhe who was frowning while he sat on a chair and is holding a brush, his eyes glaring at the piece of paper in front of him. Meanwhile, Yu Sheng was sitting beside him, his sword flying and killing the monsters that tries to attack them.
"So leisurely…" Xie Lan can't help but mutter.
"Huh?" Fan Wen asked and gasped when a monster jumped at him. He frowned and made a circle in the air, then landed on the floor of the ship.
THUD. THUD. THUD! The sound of the falling pieces of the limbs of the monster was heard behind him. Xie Lan whistled before he kicked the monster behind him off the ship. THUNK! The monster hit the wall of the canyon and fell to the abyss.
"Is that all?" Zheng Yi asked as he looked around.
"That's it, I guess." Jing Bai said and watched Jing Kang, Lei Ling and Li Tian burned the corpses of the monsters on the ship.
"Ling." Fei Lin called when he saw Xi Ling was silent. "Are you worried about the sect?" he asked.
Xi Ling turned and nodded. "En." He answered.
Fei Lin smiled and patted Xi Ling's shoulder. "There are elder Ho, the other elders, as well as the Xi family." He said. "Worse comes to worst, the Sun family will come out. They won't let the sect, which gave them a tranquil sanctuary, would be ruined." He told him.
"Mn." Xi Ling nodded.
"Worse come to worst – " Xie Lan spoke. " – everyone just seek shelter in our sect." he said.
Fan Wen hit him. "Don't speak of bad things! You've got a crow's mouth!" he told him.
Xie Lan immediately zipped his lips close.
"Uncle." Jing Cheng called when he saw that Jing Rui also looked worried. "Please rest easy. The Zhongyang still has elder Zheng and elder Pai, and the Righteous Alliance's and Zunjingde Sect's disciples, so nothing bad will happen – " he said, wanting to comfort him.
"Huh?" Jing Rui said as he turned to him.
"… eh?" Jing Cheng was confused at Jing Rui's bland reaction.
"Oh." Jing Rui muttered when he finally processed Jing Cheng's words. However, instead of his expression turning warm, he frowned instead. "I'm not worried about them." He said.
"Huh? Then, what are you worried about, uncle?" Jing Cheng asked.
Jing Rui didn't answer and instead just looked at the darkness ahead of them. Xie Lan, Fan Wen, Fei Lin and Xi Ling also turned to look in front. They said that the darkest hour is before the dawn breaks. It is true. Just looking at the pitch-black darkness surrounding them makes one's hairs stand on the end. However, they are all brave cultivators. If they aren't, would they have all come all the way here and battle against the monsters that attacked them on the way, and go onwards to the Southmost Region where one of the Ni Lai Gates is located?
"Ah – " speaking of – "The Ni Lai Gates left are in the Southmost Region, right? Have we already passed by one?" they asked as they looked at each other. Because of anxiety and being busy dealing with the monsters, they have forgotten the Ni Lai Gates.
With this, they all turned to Yu Sheng who is cleaning his sword, looking relaxed, and Zuo Zhe, in contrast of Yu Sheng, looked haggard as he collapsed on his desk. Fortunately, the ink on the paper has already dried as the paper stuck on his face. Yu Sheng slowly plucked the paper off of Zuo Zhe's face, then pinched Zuo Zhe's face with a wide grin on his face.
Everyone. "…" too blinding! Their PDA is too blinding!
Then, Yu Sheng turned to them. "Since Zhe and I have already dealt with the West Region's Ni Lai Gates, the ones left are in the North, East, and Central Region's Ni Lai Gates. Zhe and I have also dealt with the South Region's Ni Lai Gates on our way here, before you found us." He said. "So, the remaining ones are of the Southmost Region's. And since Heilong, the place where the demonic qi is coming from, and the base of the demonic cultivators, where Wu Ran came from, is in the Southmost Region, naturally, the Ni Lai Gates here are more than the number of the ones in the West, North, East, Central and South Regions. Added to the fact that the Southmost Region was never explored, or even rarely explored because of the City of Rocks blocking it, thus only a little information we know of the Southmost Region." He explained.
They all nodded in understanding. "Yu-ge, is young master Zuo alright?" Feng Mo asked when he saw Zuo Zhe's exhausted face.
Yu Sheng glanced at Zuo Zhe who's pretending to be dead. "He'll be alright." He said.
"What's that paper you are holding?" Jing Bai asked as he looked at the lines and dots on the paper.
"This is the map Zhe made, showing the locations of the Ni Lai Gate in the Southmost Region." Yu Sheng answered as he raised the paper.
They were surprised. "Does he have a clairvoyance ability?" Xi Ling asked as he looked at Zuo Zhe whose right arm is dangling on the side of the table. "… is he really alright?" he asked, worry in his face.
Yu Sheng looked at Zuo Zhe in the corner of his eyes.
Zuo Zhe heard them chattering in low voices and he can't rest properly. So, he slowly opened his eyes and saw them all looking at him. "…" why are they staring at me? He coldly sweated when he suddenly had a stage fright. He looked up at Yu Sheng, seeking for help.
Yu Sheng smiled. "They're asking if you are alright." He told him.
"Oh." Zuo Zhe muttered and grinned, feeling embarrassed. "I'm alright." He answered and scratched his head. "Thank you for the concern – " he told them.
"No. What they meant, is if you're dying." Yu Sheng cut him off. "If you are, do it somewhere else so we won't feel burdened." He told him.
Zuo Zhe. "…" fck you!
Everyone. "…" no… that's not what we meant! We're really concerned of him. Why twist our good intention?
Yu Sheng laughed when he saw Zuo Zhe glaring at him. "Yep. His ability is clairvoyance." He answered Xi Ling's question. "That's how we found the Ni Lai Gates." He explained.
"Oh." They all looked at Zuo Zhe, their gaze is filled with admiration.
Zuo Zhe blushed while Yu Sheng rolled his eyes.
"Why does young master Zuo look so exhausted earlier?" Lei Ling asked. "Is it because he exhausted his power?" his voice is filled with worry as he looked at Zuo Zhe with his gaze filled with concern.
"Oh, not. That's not it." Zuo Zhe answered and raised his right arm with his left arm. "I'm just not used in using ink brush, so my arm is aching from writing." He explained.
Everyone. "…" seriously? He's more exhausted using an ink brush than using his ability?! It would've been better if we hadn't asked… they have been disillusioned.
Yu Sheng's shoulder shook holding back his laughter when he saw their faces turned green. "Reproduce this." he told Zuo Zhe.
"EH…?!" Zuo Zhe's eyes widened and his voice sounds complaining. "I can't anymore! Writing that already surpassed my limit!" he told Yu Sheng.
"But, there's only one copy of this. How should we distribute this to them?" Yu Sheng asked.
Zuo Zhe fell silent. "… you have a point." He said as he narrowed his eyes in contemplation. "Too bad, there are no photocopiers here…" he muttered before his voice suddenly trailed off. His narrowed eyes widened and he looked at Yu Sheng in shock. He saw him widely grinning. "Damn you!" he cursed as he kicked Yu Sheng. "Cultivators can memorize something printed, much less high-level cultivators like them! If not, they also have jade drives!" he said. "You can't fool me!"
Everyone. "…" he realized that just now? Yu Sheng's been tricking him since earlier!