Yulou's joining made Chu Danfeng feel at ease that the plot was back on track. However, now was not a good time for the child to fall in love. The most important thing at the moment was to find Fang Qingya.
The group searched the area within a dozen miles around the accident site, but found nothing except the bodies of some Chunyang Island disciples - the place had just been attacked by a human-faced spider, and even the NPCs who had been watching had disappeared without a trace.
"Fortunately, Fourth Brother's body has not been found, so he is most likely safe for now." Chu Danfeng could only comfort his fellow junior brothers and sisters in such a pale voice.
Lin Shuer sniffed: "The last thing I said to him was calling him boring."
Chu Danfeng was upset, but as a senior brother, he had to hold on. Even though he knew there was little hope, he still rubbed the little junior sister's head and assured her, "As long as she hasn't left the secret realm, we will keep looking and we will find her eventually."
Lin Shu'er uttered "hmm" with a nasal tone, and suddenly she felt that she had found her backbone, just like when she got into trouble as a child and was afraid of being punished by her second senior sister or master, as long as she ran to the bamboo house of her fifth senior brother, all the difficulties could be avoided.
She pursed her lips, grabbed Chu Danfeng's collar, and tried to act coquettishly with her fifth senior brother like she did when they were little.
Hua Tingxuan's eyelids jumped, and he was about to find an excuse to pull the man away from his senior brother as usual, but he saw Yulou took action first.
Yulou took the lead and grabbed Lin Shuer's hand, separating her from Chu Danfeng, and comforted her: "Don't be sad, sister. Brother Chu is right. There is always a way. Hey, I really envy you for having such a gentle and handsome senior brother."
Although the words were meant to comfort Lin Shu'er, her gaze was always on Chu Danfeng's face, with a hot and seductive look.
Lin Shuer: “???”
Hua Tingxuan: “!!”
Hua Tingxuan couldn't help but become alert. As early as in his previous life, he had heard of this Miss Yulou like thunder. It was said that all the men who had seen her were fascinated and fell at her feet.
Once upon a time, someone heard that "Your Majesty sleeps with a corpse all day long" and wanted to present Yulou to him. However, his flattery backfired and he was beaten out of the hall by Hua Tingxuan. From then on, no one dared to present a beauty to Your Majesty.
Therefore, in his previous life, he had only heard of Yu Lou but had never met her. Unexpectedly, the first time he met her, he saw this woman seducing his sweetheart.
Boss Hua instantly developed murderous intent.
However, the person involved, Chu Danfeng, did not notice the beautiful lady's glances at all, and had no idea about the other people's glances. From the beginning, he had been staring at the ancient locust tree.
Chu Danfeng suddenly said: "Come down!"
Everyone also looked at the ancient locust tree. No one knew how many years old it was. The tree cast a shade from bottom to top, with lush branches and leaves, and the tree was serene.
Lin Shu'er was puzzled: "Is there anything on the tree?"
Yulou also looked confused.
Only Hua Tingxuan quietly released his spiritual sense, and then he understood and said, "Junior Brother, shall I pull him out?"
Chu Danfeng nodded and gave a concise instruction: "Leave him alive."
Before the two female cultivators could react to what was happening, they saw Hua Tingxuan had already flashed into the tree canopy. A moment later, he came down to the ground, carrying a young man with a pimple-covered face, accompanied by a bunch of bluffing shouts.
Li Yunyi landed unsteadily and fell flat on his face. He then hurriedly got up and said with his neck stiff, "If you dare to be rude to me, I will call you dad..."
Chu Danfeng couldn't bear to hear him mention his scumbag father. He slapped Li Yunyi on the back of his head with a fan bone, "It's no use calling anyone dad! Do you know where the black-clothed man with a bamboo hat went?"
Lin Shu'er was delighted when she heard this. Wouldn't it be possible to find her fourth senior brother this way
But Li Yunyi covered the back of his head and his face fell instantly: "If I knew, I wouldn't hide in the tree."
This was the truth. The situation was too chaotic at the time and everyone was busy taking care of themselves. If the spoiled Young Master Li could find capable subordinates, he would not be in such a mess.
Lin Shuer said disappointedly: "What should we do then?"
Chu Danfeng said nothing, but took out his shining disciple sword and placed it on Li Yunyi's neck. He narrowed his peach blossom eyes and raised his eyebrows: "Since it's useless, just kill him with one sword, and consider it as earning ten spirit beads."
"!!" Lin Shu'er had never seen Fifth Brother speak so harshly and was startled.
Li Yunyi was so frightened that his face turned pale: "Miss Chu, you are so beautiful, how can you be so vicious? You really let this good-looking appearance go to waste!"
The corner of Chu Danfeng's lips twitched, and he thrust his sword forward half an inch, immediately scraping the oily skin on Li Yunyi's neck, leaving a bloody mark on the sword's edge.
"No, no, no, don't kill me, don't kill me!" Li Yunyi yelled at the top of his lungs, "I, I know the whereabouts of 'Uncle in the Bamboo Hat'!"
Chu Danfeng did not put away his sword: "Speak."
Li Yunyi swallowed his saliva: "He he he... I I I... We agreed to participate in the ghost marriage ceremony. He will definitely be there at the ghost marriage ceremony in seven days."
Chu Danfeng: “Ghost marriage ceremony?” This part doesn’t seem to be mentioned in the original book, which is beyond his knowledge.
Hua Tingxuan suddenly thought of the confession of the "Five Hehuan Heroes" - the so-called "Soul-writing Pearl" was at the "most grand ceremony."
Yulou then confirmed his guess: "It just so happens that I also want to go to the ghost marriage ceremony, and I know a shortcut."
Chu Danfeng and Hua Tingxuan exchanged a glance and ordered, "In that case, we will go too. Xuan'er, you take him and find the 'man in the bamboo hat'. Then we can use him to exchange for the fourth brother."
Lin Shuer finally breathed a sigh of relief and whispered, "You mean... you want him to be a hostage? Then he doesn't have to die. The way Fifth Senior Brother just acted with murderous intent was really..."
Before she finished saying "a little scary", Yulou replied with starry eyes: "So cold and unruly!"
Hua Tingxuan could no longer bear it, and whispered to Lin Shuer: "You two should be quiet. If Junior Brother really wanted to kill someone, he wouldn't have drawn his sword."
Lin Shu'er suddenly realized and whispered to Hua Tingxuan: "Yes, Fifth Senior Brother's life weapon is not a sword but a peach blossom fan. Sometimes I feel like you are like the worm in Fifth Senior Brother's stomach!"
“…” Hua Tingxuan thought to himself: The worms in my stomach are nothing. I am his man, and no one knows him better than me.
This secret realm is simply a small world, incredibly large. Following the route pointed out by Yulou and Li Yunyi, it would probably take several days to walk there - similar to the restrictions at Wanjian Peak, it is also impossible to wield a sword within the secret realm.
Before I knew it, it was almost dusk.
"There seems to be a village ahead. Why don't we stay there for the night?" Lin Shuer suggested.
Li Yunyi was the first to agree: "Yes, I need to take a break. My legs are weak from walking. Ouch! How can you walk with your eyes closed?"
It turned out that a beggar-looking man bumped into him.
"Please have mercy on me and give me something to eat." The beggar said quietly.
"Get lost!" Li Yunyi pinched his nose and said in disgust, "What's that smell on him? Did he not steal my purse?"
But the beggar still refused to give in: "Please have mercy on me, give me something to eat."
Both of Li Yunyi's hands were tied up with the immortal rope, and the other end of the rope was in Hua Tingxuan's hand. He could only move his feet. Without saying a word, he raised his feet and kicked, cursing fiercely: "Don't you have ears? Can't you hear me when I told you to get out? What bad luck!"
Chu Danfeng waved his hand and sent out a stream of spiritual energy, blocking Li Yunyi's kick. "Don't move! If he wants food, just give it to him."
The beggar stared at Li Yunyi with his cloudy eyes, as if he couldn't see anyone else, which was quite creepy.
Li Yunyi also noticed something was wrong, swallowed his saliva, and said, "But there is no food to give. Besides, my hands are tied, so I can't give it even if I have it."
"That gentleman is right!" A peddler carrying a load on his shoulder came over with a smile, "Listen to the advice and eat your fill. If the beggar wants something, give it to him. If he has nothing to eat, you can buy it from me. Two spirit beads and a hot white steamed bun!"
Generally, when monks travel far away or enter secret realms and cannot practice fasting, they usually bring fasting pills with them. No one will waste storage space to bring food.
"Two spirit beads? Why don't you go and grab them?" Lin Shu'er asked in surprise.
"Oh, sister Shu'er, how can you, a girl, have such a loud voice? I was startled." Yulou took the opportunity to act weak.
Lin Shuer: “…”
"Untie his rope." Chu Danfeng frowned and thought for a moment, then instructed Hua Tingxuan and lowered his head to rummage through his mustard seed bag.
But as soon as Hua Tingxuan untied the rope, Li Yunyi ran away.
The first person to catch up was actually the beggar.
Chu Danfeng cursed inwardly and started to chase after him, but he was still a step too slow. Li Yunyi had already kicked the beggar, and the beggar turned into a ball of black mist and disappeared into thin air.
"You stinky beggar! You're haunting me!" But just as he finished cursing, he was also firmly held down. Hua Tingxuan grabbed Li Yunyi and improved the way of tying the immortal rope - he tied it into a rope buckle and tied it around the neck like a dog, with one end held in Hua Tingxuan's hand.
Li Yunyi pulled the rope around his neck with a look of grief, "I was wrong. I will never run away again. Lady Chu, Brother Hua, please have mercy on me and don't tie me up like this. Otherwise, if my fellow apprentices see it, how can I continue to be the young master?"
Chu Danfeng held his forehead with his hand: "Do you know what kind of trouble you got yourself into? The thing just now was a 'starving ghost', begging for food from others. If you don't give it to others, it will hurt people."
Li Yunyi was so shocked when he heard this: "Is it true? How do you know?"
Chu Danfeng had read the plot, so of course he knew a thing or two about the monsters in the secret realm. Hua Tingxuan also knew the details of that thing, but he didn't reveal it. He was thinking about whether he should praise Chu Danfeng to make his presence felt, but he heard Yulou speak in a sweet voice first: "Brother Chu, you know a lot. Yulou has admired people with broad knowledge since he was a child."
Hua Tingxuan: “…?”
Lin Shuer rolled her eyes and muttered softly, "She's so coquettish, can't she speak properly?"
At this time, a few more beggars appeared out of nowhere. This time, they ignored Li Yunyi and held their bowls to Chu Danfeng and the others and said quietly, "Have pity on us, please give us something to eat."
Even the lines haven't changed.
"Two spirit beads in exchange for a big white steamed bun! You won't suffer a loss or be cheated!" The hawkers carrying loads on their shoulders shouted whenever they could, with an unconcealable look of pride on their faces.
… Chu Danfeng almost suspected that this was a black industry chain. Those starving ghosts could not have been caught by vendors specifically to cheat people out of their spirit beads.
At the same time, a beggar's bowl was pushed in front of Lin Shu'er. Because Lin Shu'er had just listened to Chu Danfeng's explanation, she didn't dare to push him away and was so scared that she didn't know what to do.
The vendor looked determined to win, "Girl, spend money to get rid of the disaster."
Lin Shu'er gritted her teeth and was about to take out the spirit pearl, but Chu Danfeng stretched out his hand to stop the beggar and stuffed something into his junior sister's hand, "Give him this."
“Ha, stop struggling, they don’t want the fasting pills! You cultivators, shouldn’t you be indifferent to vulgar things? Why do you want money over life?” The vendor stretched his neck and mocked, “Hey, if you don’t believe me, just try it!”
However, when the beggar saw Lin Shuer's "alms", he was stunned at first, and then with the vendor's "as expected" smile, he took the things with both hands, and bowed to Lin Shuer happily before leaving.
The vendor’s smile froze on his face: “???”
Chu Danfeng smiled slightly: "Oh, nothing else, you, Master Chu, have plenty of snacks here! These starving ghosts must have eaten white steamed buns all year round. Seeing my osmanthus cake, aren't they ecstatic
After solving Lin Shuer's problem, Chu Danfeng wanted to give Hua Tingxuan and Yulou a handful of snacks each, but suddenly an idea came to him, and he stuffed all the red bean cakes and plums into Hua Tingxuan's hands.
"Brother Chu, what should we do? I'm so scared too." Yulou pulled Chu Danfeng's sleeve and said in a delicate voice.
Hua Tingxuan and Lin Shu'er both showed indescribable expressions, but Chu Danfeng calmly pushed away her hand that was pulling his sleeve and pointed at Hua Tingxuan: "I don't have any here, go ask your brother Tingxuan for some."