Chapter 11

The only conclusion he could make was that Ming Yongnian's child was not completely human. Unless his elder brother had some hidden bloodline in his family from another race. Like a Demon or Beasts. Potentially ghosts.

***

"Thank you for not being of help."

"Hey—" Before Jiang Xiaotong could say anything else, Lan Jianhong cut off the communication line.

He shook his head and put away his communication token. Approached Feng Delun who had opened a map, the drawings on the map were moving. "Brother Delun, have you found anything?"

The man shook his head. "Not yet." Feng Delun looked at Jie Qiqiang. "Did you give away your compass?"

Jie Qiqiang scratched his head sheepishly. "Yes, that compass wasn't something I made on my own. I can't take it with me."

Jiang Xiaotong flopped down on the ground ungracefully.

They had each cut off their relationship with their sect. Knowing how wretched righteous hearts could be, they gave back everything and more that they had earned while in their sect. This way their former sect would, hopefully, refrain from pointing their fingers at them and cause trouble for them in the future. They may be one of the world's strongest, but they hated having someone haggle them constantly in the future.

There was another potential of sowing discord with other people indirectly. Their former sect could spread ill rumours of them, just because of their hate towards them for bringing all of the treasures they had given to them. Inciting the people's irritation and resentment. Like a wildfire the entire world could resent them. Because of "someone says" so on and on.

They said "don't think about what others think of you" but in truth when one stopped caring, they would suffer in the long run.

Having a neighbour hate you is fine. Having your entire neighbourhood hate you is a hassle.

But Jiang Xiaotong knew that nothing would be sailing smoothly. They would eventually require their vast accumulated treasures. And that requirement came to them faster than they first thought.

Money, money, money. It's always money.

If only Jiang Xiaotong's "wants" require no money.

If they had not given up everything they had there was no need for them to traverse the Da dynasty secret realms.

And even if they needed to find the Da dynasty secret realm, or any secret realm it would be as easy as riding a bike. Take for example the compass Jie Qiqiang once owned. It was a miracle compass that showed the owner the way towards what they wanted most. (It greatly reminds Jiang Xiaotong of Captain Jack Sparrow's own compass.) All they needed to do was follow where the compass was pointed towards and there, at the end of the road, would be the thing the holder most wanted. If only Jie Qiqiang had kept that one compass.

"Don't Da dynasty secret realms appear at certain intervals?" Jiang Xiaotong questioned.

They all looked towards Feng Delun for answers.

Like any other secret realms, the Da dynasty secret realms moved from one place to another. There was no way to properly track down a secret realm's movements.

"They do open on the surface at random. But if we know their exact current location we can forcefully enter." Feng Delun explained.

All of them were forgetting something. "With no repercussions?" Lai Meihui questioned.

"I can tinker with the realm's protection arrays." Feng Delun's eyes remained glued to the map.

Jiang Xiaotong would not believe more in anyone else, other than Feng Delun when it came to arrays. Though Feng Delun's ability to read maps and tracking down a finicky secret realm was up for test.

"I'm very optimistic in our ability to get in to the secret realm. Not the part when we are inside the secret realm." Lai Meihui sat down behind Jiang Xiaotong, leaning on each other's back.

Jie Qiqiang suddenly massaged his muscled arms. "Just thinking about the Da secret realm makes my muscles ache."

A suggestive smirk appeared on Lai Meihui's lips, her hands waved in the air as if she was massaging someone. "Want me to give you a service?"

"Haha, without the aftercare please." Jie Qiqiang was used to Lai Meihui's inner workings.

The woman pouted.

"Give it up Meihui, none of us likes to do bed exercise." Jiang Xiaotong reminded her with a serene smile.

"Unbelievable! How can all of you forgo… physical needs? None of you relies on your virginity to cultivate." Lai Meihui was full of disbelief.

Both him and Jie Qiqiang pressed their palms together. Like enlightened sages praying to the gods to lead the lost soul's way. The two of them said in unison, "Romance brings too much drama."

"It's only bed exercise, no feelings attached." Lai Meihui made her argument.

"Heh, no feelings attached, there's always feelings attached." Surprisingly Feng Delun joined their conversation.

Jiang Xiaotong cheered, "Yes!"

Jie Qiqiang followed, "Elder brother Delun is correct!"

"You three are no fun." Lai Meihui complained.

After a while Feng Delun managed to pin down the secret realm location. It was beneath an unseemingly lake. The secret realm entrance looked far too normal to be called a secret realm entrance. They started to doubt Feng Delun's sense of direction. There was a saying they all agreed on (including Ming Yongnian) was that "when lost it's all Feng Delun's fault".

"Err, elder brother Delun, is this really the entrance?" Jiang Xiaotong asked.

Feng Delun sent him a glare. "I'm not wrong, this time I didn't read the map upside down. There's an intricate protection array around this lake."

As it turned out Feng Delun still remembered his age old blunder. Reading a map upside down.

Jiang Xiaotong almost felt terrible for teasing the older man. Then again he was a little shit who enjoyed Feng Delun's suffering. There was a lot of little blackmail material anyone could use against Feng Delun to embarrass the older cultivator. Whenever the chance to embarrass the older cultivator came up Jiang Xiaotong couldn't resist it.