Sun Yucheng asked, “Miss Liu, may I know where Vast Cold Palace is?”

　　 “Ascending Dragon Mountain,” Liu Di replied with a smile.

　　 Stunned, Sun Yucheng turned to look at Elder Su.

　　 Elder Su and Elder Ren were both surprised to hear this too as they had never thought that such a coincidence could be possible.

　　 Liu Di noticed their expressions and chuckled as she asked, “Is there anything you would like to say, Young Master Sun?”

　　 “No, no,” Sun Yucheng replied and hurriedly waved his hands while he laughed. “I have never expected Vast Cold Palace to be located at Ascending Dragon Mountain.”

　　 “Not many people know the whereabouts of Vast Cold Palace,” Liu Di replied with a smile. “Since Young Master Sun has saved our lives, it’s only right for us to be honest with you about it.”

　　 “Ascending Dragon Mountain is great…” Sun Yucheng grinned from ear to ear. “Ascending Dragon Mountain is a wonderful place.”

　　 “Puff!” The other three young girls spat out mouthfuls of blood again and sat on the ground weakly.

　　 Liu Di gave them a helpless glance.

　　 “Elder Su,” Sun Yucheng said.

　　 “Understood.” Elder Su gave a fist salute.

　　 Liu Di replied, “Don’t worry about us. We can carry on with our journey after resting for a short while.”

　　 “We’re not in a hurry, so you should all recuperate first,” Sun Yucheng said worriedly.

　　 Elder Su approached the three young girls to examine their injuries.

　　 However, despite their frail conditions, the young girls still had their guard up as he stared at him warily. They each took out a ceramic bottle from their inner pocket before they poured a pill into their mouth. Then, the three of them closed their eyes and started channeling.

　　 Elder Su looked somewhat awkward as he stopped in his tracks and glided back to Sun Yucheng.

　　 Liu Di said apologetically, “Senior Su, please don’t feel offended. Our disciples are all wary of men.”

　　 “Hehe…” Elder Su shook his head and chuckled.

　　 Sun Yucheng waved a hand. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

　　 Liu Di nodded apologetically before she changed the topic. “May I know where Young Master Sun is headed to handle your affairs?”

　　 “Oh, we’re on our way to Ascending Dragon Mountain.”

　　 “Hmm… Ascending Dragon Mountain?”

　　 Sun Yucheng replied, “We heard that Ascending Dragon Mountain has splendid scenery, so we’ve been wanting to go there and do some sightseeing. We never knew that Vast Cold Palace is located at Ascending Dragon Mountain too. What a coincidence!”

　　 A tender smile appeared on Liu Di’s face.

　　 She thought that Sun Yucheng had said this on purpose because he wanted to take care of them.

　　 The three other girls sat on the ground and channeled for a while until their pills took effect as some color gradually returned to their cheeks. When they rose to their feet, the girls’ faces did not seem as startlingly pale as before.

　　 “Let’s go!” The eight of them brought along the horses from Mysterious Pavilion and galloped away.

　　 On the evening of the next day, they stopped to rest and started a bonfire in a forest.

　　 Chu Li and his three companions sat right across the four young girls with the bonfire burning brightly between them. The light from the bonfire illuminated their faces with a reddish glow.

　　 Chu Li sat cross-legged and kept his eyes shut while he observed their surroundings.

　　 Sun Yucheng struck up a conversation with Liu Di in which they chatted about some strange and extraordinary stories as well as some local customs and practices of the Zheng Dynasty.

　　 Liu Di might be young but she had many valuable experiences. She chatted tirelessly in a gentle and pleasant manner, so Sun Yucheng became utterly captivated and amazed as he listened to her stories.

　　 Meanwhile, the other three young girls examined Chu Li with interest.

　　 They were very curious about Chu Li.

　　 Normally, a person with such a high cultivation level would not be willing to work for others. Even their palace leader was not as powerful as this guy. How was it possible for a person like him to pledge loyalty to someone else?

　　 Chu Li suddenly opened his eyes. “More people from Mysterious Pavilion have come!”

　　 The girls’ expressions changed immediately.

　　 Sun Yucheng asked, “They’ve sent more people over?”

　　 Mysterious Pavilion was quite capable indeed, seeing as they had managed to catch up to them so soon.

　　 Chu Li nodded. “I’ll go and get rid of them!”

　　 “Can you manage on your own?” Sun Yucheng asked anxiously. “How about we lend you a hand?”

　　 Chu Li shook his head. “That’s not necessary.”

　　 “… Alright then.” Sun Yucheng was thoroughly convinced by Chu Li’s martial arts skills.

　　 Chu Li gave a fist salute before he glided away.

　　 Liu Di stared at his retreating silhouette and asked, “Young Master Sun, who is this Young Master Zhao? Judging by his capabilities, he shouldn’t be a nameless figure!”

　　 With Chu Li’s martial arts skills, it should be impossible for him to remain unnoticed by others since his talent would naturally show itself even if he tried to hide it. It would only make sense for him to be a well-known figure.

　　 Sun Yucheng laughed and replied, “He’s no one famous.”

　　 “Well, that’s strange,” Liu Di said with a chuckle. “Nonetheless, I’m impressed that Young Master Sun has managed to recruit such a top-notch master!”

　　 Sun Yucheng’s smile widened.

　　 Liu Di suggested, “I still think we should go and check on him though. After all, Young Master Zhao is on his own.”

　　 “Sure.” Sun Yucheng nodded.

　　 The more powerful Zhao Dahe was, the more impressive Sun Yucheng would seem. Thus, Sun Yucheng felt pleased with himself and he enjoyed this sense of pride very much.

　　 They moved in the direction where Chu Li had left and walked over a thousand meters before they noticed Chu Li standing in a clearing. The place reeked of blood, and there were twenty black-robed men lying motionless on the ground all around him.

　　 “Brother Zhao!” Sun Yucheng called out.

　　 Chu Li looked over and nodded.

　　 Sun Yucheng and the others came over and studied the dead bodies on the ground.

　　 Liu Di had a grave look on her charming face as she examined these dead men and tried to determine their capabilities. Secretly, she felt lucky when she saw that there were ten Grandmasters among this group of men. Indeed, Liu Di and her companions would not have been able to survive if the four of them had been traveling by themselves.

　　 Sun Yucheng exclaimed, “Mysterious Pavilion has sent so many people this time!”

　　 Elder Su turned to Liu Di. “Miss Liu, why are they pursuing the four of you so persistently?”

　　 “We’ve killed a detestable Mysterious Pavilion protector. That’s how we got into such big trouble. I deeply regret not having listened to the Palace Leader’s advice. We shouldn’t have interfered in someone else’s business!” Liu Di replied.

　　 Elder Su slowly nodded and sighed. “Well then, this will cause them to resent us even more.”

　　 The young girls were being hunted down so aggressively just because they had killed one Mysterious Pavilion protector. Since Zhao Dahe had killed so many more protectors of theirs, Mysterious Pavilion would certainly unleash a furious storm of attacks on them the next time. This meant that they would be in an alarmingly dangerous situation from then on.

　　 Elder Su asked, “Miss Liu, may I know how much further we have to travel to reach Ascending Dragon Mountain?”

　　 Liu Di replied, “It’ll take us three more days to arrive at our destination.”

　　 “Three days…” Elder Su turned his gaze to Sun Yucheng. “Young Master, I’m afraid we won’t be able to avoid their next round of attack.”

　　 Mysterious Pavilion had an incredibly efficient communication method, so it was very likely that their people would catch up to them by tomorrow.

　　 Liu Di frowned and asked, “How about we carry on with our journey using our light-body techniques?”

　　 Chu Li spoke up, “That’s not necessary. Just let them come to us!”

　　 “Young Zhao, Mysterious Pavilion will surely dispatch their top-notch masters after this!” Elder Su replied. “We can’t be careless.”

　　 Chu Li muttered, “I’d like to see for myself just how powerful Mysterious Pavilion’s martial arts masters are… The two of you should show yourselves already!”

　　 That last line from him echoed into the distance.

　　 Two silhouettes silently glided down from the treetops.

　　 Elder Su and Elder Ren looked alarmed as they had not noticed anything at all in spite of the close distance. These two fellows’ cultivation levels were probably much higher than theirs!

　　 The two silhouettes turned out to be two old men with white eyebrows and beard. One of them had a tall stature while the other was short. Both of them had ordinary-looking faces and piercing eyes.

　　 The two old men quickly swept their eyes over the twenty men on the ground and shook their heads lightly before they fixed their gaze on Chu Li with wary expressions.

　　 The short old man asked, “Who are you, and where are you from?”

　　 Both of them had never expected Chu Li to be capable of defeating their people so quickly as they could never have managed to kill all twenty of these martial arts masters in such a short amount of time if they had been in his place. These two old men had arrived slightly later and had been wondering if they should show themselves just yet, but Chu Li ended up revealing their presence by shouting at them to come out.

　　 Chu Li replied, “I’m a nobody from the countryside. Are you people from Mysterious Pavilion going to keep pestering us?”

　　 The two old men said, “If you’re willing to join Mysterious Pavilion, then we can forget about this entire incident and you won’t be hunted down by Mysterious Pavilion anymore. Otherwise, we’ll never rest until we kill you!”

　　 Chu Li shook his head. “That’s impossible. Go ahead and fight me then.”

　　 “In that case, we shall let our skills speak for themselves!” The two old men huffed lightly and broke into an unpredictable step technique before they abruptly charged toward Liu Di and the other three girls.

　　 Chu Li instantly appeared in front of Liu Di before he swung his hands forward. Two cold streaks of light shot out of his hands.

　　 The two old men had been carefully guarding themselves against his flying blades. So as soon as a silhouette appeared before them, they immediately turned their bodies sideways and dodged those two cold streaks of light just in time. However, the old men did not expect to find two more flying blades to shoot toward them right after that.

　　 Thus, they were unable to avoid this second round of attack and could only look on helplessly while the flying blades pierced into their chests.

　　 “Ding…” The old men were sent flying away in a clear ringing sound. However, it turned out that they had been wearing Heart Guard Mirrors on their chests all along.