Wu Yuan paused before he nodded. "I understand." He said. He finally decided to drop the plan to go to the Plum Blossom City. After all, it is filled with dangers and uncertainties.
Fei Yin secretly sighed in relief. Initially, he really wanted to steal the antidote from Meng Gui as soon as possible. But, fortunately, his rationality returned. "I'm sorry." He apologized to Wu Yuan. He admits, he really got his emotions take over him. He lowered his head, feeling ashamed. He knows Wu Yuan won't haggle with him over it, but he still feel guilty.
If Wu Yuan had really went to the Plum Blossom City… Fei Yin doesn't want to think about it. If Wu Yuan died, or something happened to Wu Yuan, he doesn't know how to explain it to Cheng Sheng. Although he is Cheng Sheng's lover, but Cheng Sheng also values his friends. And Wu Yuan is Cheng Sheng's friend.
Fei Yin isn't a bad person. He isn't selfish to make Cheng Sheng choose between his lover and a friend, and also to think maliciously and accuse Cheng Sheng and Wu Yuan if such a thing really happened. Although he has the right to, and he is a jealous person, but he values Cheng Sheng more than himself. Thus, he wouldn't make Cheng Sheng choose between himself and his friends. Furthermore, Cheng Sheng's friends are also his friends. And he also has a good impression of Wu Yuan. So, he wouldn't want to wrong Wu Yuan. One, that is something Cheng Sheng also wouldn't want to wrong Wu Yuan. And two, Fei Yin also sees Wu Yuan as a comrade.
No one would ever wrong a friend, much less put him in danger. Thus, he withdrew that very dangerous plan of his that leaves no way out.
Wu Yuan nodded in understanding. Even though he wanted to return to Sun Yi alive, but if there's someone in need, he would want to reach out to them, help them. But, now that Fei Yin withdrew the plan since they don't need to do it, naturally he felt relieved and happy.
He turned outside. "It's dawn." He said when they saw the sky outside brightened and turned red.
A new day has arrived in Heilong Realm.
Huilong Continent, Southmost Region, Stop By Town.
"It's really filled with demonic cultivators." Lei Ling exclaimed when they saw the black-clothed people carrying a sword on their waist freely walking around the streets beneath them.
The Millennium Ship is flying above the Stop By Town in stealth, thus, aside from high-level cultivators, no one could see them.
"Shall we kill them?" Jing Cheng asked.
"There's no need." Xie Lan answered.
Jing Rui nodded. "They aren't hostile." He said as they watched the demonic cultivators buying from the street vendors in peace.
"Yes." Fei Lin nodded. "We also have to conserve our strength for our fight against Wu Ran." He said.
"If we attack them now, there will just be bloodshed." Qian Tian spoke.
They all fell silent.
Fan Wen, seeing the change in the atmosphere, coughed and decided to change the topic. "Yu Sheng is so fast, isn't he? We didn't even catch his shadow." He said.
As expected, the tense atmosphere lightened.
"Yes. He must have reached the Shashan Pass now?" Xi Ling asked.
"Then, shall we speed up?" Li Tian asked.
"No need." Zuo Zhe spoke.
They all turned to him and saw him come out of the cabin. "Young master Zuo…" they greeted.
"Yu Sheng will be fine." Zuo Zhe looked at them. "Wu Ran's can't even touch a single strand of his hair." He told them.
They all looked at each other, then nodded in agreement. That's true. They thought. With Yu Sheng's strength, Wu Ran would definitely not even notice Yu Sheng coming up behind him. But, this isn't Yu Sheng's goal. His goal is to find the Heilong emperor and make a deal with him.
Furthermore, based from Yu Sheng's tone yesterday when he spoke… he seemed like he knows the Heilong emperor? Thinking this, they all looked at Zuo Zhe.
"What?" Zuo Zhe asked when he noticed them staring at him.
You Rou pacified his morning temper by serving him his breakfast.
"Young master Zuo… does Yu Sheng know the Heilong emperor?" it was Jing Rui who asked.
"Yes." Zuo Zhe honestly answered.
"How does he know the Heilong emperor?" Qian Lin asked.
"He is his acquaintance." Zuo Zhe started eating.
"Who is the Heilong emperor?" Jing Kang asked.
Hearing the question, Zuo Zhe's hands stopped and he raised his head to look at them. "Right." He muttered when he remembered something. "I remember… he's also your acquaintance." He said.
"Huh?" they were slow to react. "WHAT?!" they exclaimed.
"Our acquaintance… who?!" Jing Hei asked, shocked.
Suddenly, they saw Zuo Zhe turned and his gaze fell on Fei Lin and Xi Ling.
"Huh?" Xi Ling was startled. His eyes widened when everyone's gazes fell on him and Fei Lin. "It-it's not us!" he said as he raised his hands. "We don't know who is the Heilong emperor!" he told them.
Jing Rui's eyes narrowed while Qian Tian's eyes are blank. Everyone suddenly became suspicious of the Shanliangde Sect.
But, Fei Lin is calm and the wheels in his mind turned very fast. "Could it be…" he said and met Zuo Zhe's gaze. "Uncle…" he muttered.
Hearing the word 'uncle', everyone's eyes widened in shock. "What – " they were about to react when Fei Lin, whose doing a staring contest with Zuo Zhe, continued what he is saying.
"… Mu Jun." Fei Lin spoke.
Everyone froze, stunned. "What…?!" they muttered under their breath. Suddenly, it's as if something lit up in their mind and the fog that obscured their thoughts slowly dissipated. They now remembered something very important.
"Mu Jun… he is a demonic cultivator…" Jing Bai spoke.
"He is also very strong." Feng Mo said.
"And he kidnapped sect leader Fei – " Lei Qing added and she looked at Fei Lin who frowned.
Everyone looked at Fei Lin. Disregarding the sect leader position, but Fei Huang is Fei Lin's uncle. "Elder Fei…" they called.
"Lin…" Xi Ling called as he patted his lover's shoulder to comfort Fei Lin. No matter how good one's temper is, but emotions, after all, can't be controlled.
They all saw Fei Lin's usually gentle expression cracked. For the first time, they saw him frowned. His expression turned ugly.
"How long have you known that Mu Jun is the Heilong emperor?" Fei Lin immediately calmed his emotions. But, his gentle expression now turned frosty, just like his younger brother's, Fei Yin.
Thinking this, the Xinfaxian Sect disciples' expression changed and they suddenly missed their da shixiong. And when they missed their da shixiong, they would also miss their fourth disciple – Cheng Sheng.
"Shouldn't we be asking you this?" Zuo Zhe calmly asked back to Fei Lin.
"Our conscience is clear." Fei Lin spoke. "We only know that Mu Jun is a demonic cultivator. But, his intentions aren't impure… except towards my uncle." He muttered the last sentence, but everyone clearly heard it.
They all awkwardly coughed and looked away.
"We don't know he is the Heilong emperor." Fei Lin finished.
Zuo Zhe, whose bad temper subsided after eating breakfast, didn't make it hard for Fei Lin. "Yu Sheng was the first to find out." He said. "That was when we were 'fishing' that day." He told them.
They all fell silent.
"I only found out when we reached the Nanli Town." Zuo Zhe continued. "But, we didn't tell you this for two reasons." He looked at them. "One: we don't want to sow discord." He said and looked at all of them.
As expected, their gazes shifted. If Zuo Zhe really has malicious intentions, he really could've sowed discord among them. But, he didn't. Zuo Zhe is an ally, and Zuo Zhe also sees them as his allies. Thus, he didn't continue interrogating Fei Lin to not prolong the tension in the air.
"Two – " Zuo Zhe continued. " – it is useless." He said.
"Huh?" they asked.
"Why is it useless?" Zheng Yi asked.
Zuo Zhe turned to him. "Now, you know that the Heilong emperor is Mu Jun. What will you do?" he asked. "What can you do?" he added.
A long silence fell. Zuo Zhe is right. Even if they know that the Heilong emperor is Mu Jun, but they can't do anything. First, Mu Jun isn't here. Second, Mu Jun is in the Heilong Realm and they can't go to Heilong Realm since they have an upcoming battle against Wu Ran. And third –
"Mu Jun doesn't intend to kill us." Zuo Zhe spoke.
They all looked at him.
Zuo Zhe smiled at them. "He has hidden himself for a long, long time. He didn't even intend to expose his real identity to us." He said. "As for those demonic cultivators that are a tribe… did they kill us?" he asked.
"No." they answered.
"So, Mu Jun sent them to us because he knows that we can deal with them." Zuo Zhe said. "Mu Jun, the Heilong emperor, isn't our enemy here. That's why Yu Sheng went to him." He looked at them. "There's only one enemy before all of us – Wu Ran."