“Hey, they’re looking for you!” Lonemoon answered, as if he already knew what was going to happen. He pondered for a moment, then said, “There are 23 people in total. They’re all either Soul Formation cultivators or traveling immortals. I think that’s more or less all of them!” The phenomenon that just occurred undoubtedly attracted attention.

　　Fatty turned pale at once. A shred of panic flashed across his face. “What should I do? Let’s leave at once.”

　　“Leave? What for?” Lonemoon glanced at him. “You have to settle this sooner or later. It’s good that they are here. It saves us the time that would have been spent looking for them.”

　　“Settle…. Settle this?” Fatty stuttered. Seeing that Lonemoon was serious about this, he became even more panicked. “They won’t listen to reason.”

　　“Who says we’re going to reason with them?”

　　“Eh? Aren’t we?”

　　Lonemoon let out a short laugh and spread out the fan in his hands. Emphasizing each word, he said, “All we have to do is give them a good beating.” The only way to deal with people who even thought about consuming others was by showing their fists.

　　Fatty:: “…”

　　This was what he meant by settling things? Wasn’t this more likely to cause trouble?

　　“Didn’t… didn’t you say there are 23 of them – all either Soul Formation cultivators or traveling immortals?”

　　“Mm, and then?”

　　“There are only four of us!” Fatty looked on the brink of breaking down. He was extremely anxious. Although he knew that Fellow Daoist Niu and Fellow Daoist Chef had formidable hidden powers that were out of this world – otherwise they would not have been able to discover what was really wrong with Fatty – they were clearly outnumbered. “There are so many of them, and they all have immortal weapons-”

　　“You’re right. .Four of us is too many.” Lonemoon kept his fan and turned around, sighing. “Chef, I’m leaving them all to you.”

　　As he spoke, he retreated and stood aside. Chef is the most professional at fighting! Lonemoon was definitely not doing this to take revenge on the master and disciple duo that cheated him back in the forest.

　　“…” Fatty stared blankly at Lonemoon. He did not think there were too many of them. He continued to try to persuade Lonemoon, “I didn’t mean-”

　　Before he could finish speaking, Yi Qing raised his arm beside him. A long sword appeared in his hands, and sword Qi that felt much more intimidating and frightening than the aura of the lightning tribulation earlier began to fill the sky. It was threatening to engulf all of them.

　　Fatty felt his legs turn to jelly. He caught himself just as he was about to fall to his knees. Even the people who were far away from them felt the aura. Some fell down from the sky.

　　Fatty turned around to study Yi Qing, who was now behind him. Before he developed his own cultivation, he did not sense this about Yi Qing. Now, he realized that his entire body emanated a frightening aura which caused fear to well up in one’s chest. Nobody in the right mind would even think about fighting him.

　　Yi Qing took a few steps forward, toward the people who were still heading toward them. He had only casually walked forward, but Fatty felt the sword Qi that flowed out of his body. It caused Fatty’s chest to tighten. Was this their true power?

　　He looked even scarier than all the Soul Formation cultivators and immortal cultivators he had ever seen. Suddenly, he understood why Lonemoon said what he did. The four of them were really more than enough to take on the group heading toward them. In fact, Yi Qing alone was enough – more than enough.

　　Lonemoon was not joking. Yi Qing really could do it alone.

　　A sudden realization dawned on Fatty. He was no longer anxious or worried. Instead, he became very quiet. Was this what it meant to be a cultivator? He did not know that a person could be this strong – so strong that he did not even have to worry about any threats or dangers around him. He clenched his fists by his side as desire and hope began to well up in his chest.

　　If he could…

　　Yi Qing turned back and looked at Lonemoon, saying, “Look after Master. Don’t lose her!”

　　“Got it!” Lonemoon waved his hand out of habit.

　　Yi Qing tightened his grip on his sword as the sword Qi around his body thickened still. Then, he flew up into the air and headed for battle.

　　“Wait!” Fatty suddenly called out, as if he had just figured something out. His ball-like face had a somber expression on. He cupped his fists and bowed toward the two of them, saying, “Can I please ask the two of you cultivators not to take action?”

　　“You’re kidding, Fatty.” Lonemoon looked at the pure, innocent, white face in front of him in disbelief. “You want to let them off?”

　　“No!” Fatty shook his head adamantly. He clenched and relaxed his fists several times before saying, “I want to settle my own grievances with them!”

　　“…” Lonemoon exchanged a meaningful glance with Yi Qing and fell silent.

　　“Please, I would like the three of you to help me. I am already a cultivator now. Sooner or later, I want to seek my own justice.” He turned to the two of them and said very seriously, “Please give me this chance. Can you hold back for now? Fellow Daoist Chef!”

　　“No!” Yi Qing put down his sword and pursed his lips. He’s going to reject this fella! Who the hell was Fellow Daoist Chef?

　　Huh?

　　Σ(°△°|||)

　　“Why… why?” Fatty’s serious expression crumbled and was replaced with helplessness. He turned to Lonemoon and said, “Please talk to him, Fellow Daoist Niu?”

　　Lonemoon cracked too.

　　“Chef, go ahead. Don’t leave a single one for him.” Lonemoon’s expression was extremely dark and his attitude was cold toward Fatty. What the hell was Fellow Daoist Niu!

　　Eh eh, eh…

　　(゚Д゚≡゚Д゚)

　　“No! Fellow Daoists!” Why couldn’t they give him a chance to seek his own revenge?

　　He watched as Chef flew toward them with his sword. Even Lonemoon, who was planning on slacking, drew his own sword. Fatty was left feeling desperate.

　　“Chef,” Shen Ying suddenly called out while gnawing on a fruit. “I’m hungry!”

　　She took another bite…

　　The figure that was headed straight for the group stopped in mid-air and turned around.

　　“Yes Master, no problem Master!”

　　The sword Qi around Yi Qing rested at once and then disappeared. He flew back toward Shen Ying. Then, he retrieved all of his cooking equipment out of his storage bag and began cooking…

　　Lonemoon: “…”

　　Fatty:: “…”

　　——————

　　Five minutes later.

　　More than ten figures dropped down from the sky. Each of them was a highly skilled cultivator – the least skilled among them was a Soul Formation cultivator. They went to a cottage not far away from where the group was standing and looked around both inside and outside. One by one, they released their divine perceptions to scan the surroundings of the cottage. Yet, they could not find anything.

　　That’s strange, why is the aura gone? Could we be too late? Maybe he’s escaped!”

　　“He’s just a mortal. If he’s still alive after being so severely injured, how could he escape from our sights? The phenomenon we just saw in the sky might not have been caused by him.”

　　“Impossible! It was definitely him. I sensed his aura. The array that has been sealing our sect off from the rest of the world has been destroyed as well. That means that the array we set up in his consciousness a long time ago has also been destroyed. Other than Hui Ze, nobody could have caused such a phenomenon in the sky.”

　　“But he would only be able to cause it after forming his core. Even if he really can start cultivating, it can’t be that he has formed his core already.”

　　“I’m just afraid it would be like what happened before – somebody might have helped him to hide from us.”

　　“Whatever it is, we have to find him first. You might have forgotten – the day of introduction is fast approaching. If we don’t find him, who among us can appease them?”

　　As if just realizing something, all of the cultivators’ expressions changed. A moment later, the person who spoke first chased them.

　　“Look for him! Even if there’s only a shred of him left. Even if he’s buried six feet under!”

　　The group split up and began to search for him, again and again. One by one, they left the cottage and spread out to cover more ground.

　　The people who had been eating in an array just ten over metres away from them: “…”

　　The Fatty quickly felt at home. He did not have a single negative thought in his mind. Instead, all he did was ask for another bowl of rice.