Ever since the conversation about his illusory body, Song Ren became much quieter for a couple of days. He did not even have the mood to bully Yun Heng anymore. Instead, every time he saw Lonemoon and Yi Qing, he would go into hiding while covering the lower half of his body. He always looked so afraid, as if they were planning to do something to him at any moment. His eyes were also always filled with indignance.

　　“Hey, hey, hey, why are you looking at us like we’re wolves?” Lonemoon pursed his lips. He could not resist grabbing Song Ren and confronting him. “Even if your thing is growing out, we’re not interested in it! It’s not like we’re lacking it.”

　　“Not… lacking it? Song Ren’s eyes widened. What did that mean? Did they pluck off many in the past?

　　“We have cupboards full of that thing that you have.” Radish would sprout one every now and then..

　　“Cup… cupboards full!” Song Ren looked terrified. Even his legs began to tremble.

　　“That’s just about enough from you. Do you really think we care for your thing?”

　　“…” You already have cupboards full of them – how dare you say you don’t care for it?

　　“Since this thing has begun growing on your body, it’s up to you how you want to deal with it. You can give it to others or you can use it to refine pills. We don’t care! But I’m reminding you – if you don’t use sorcery to preserve it after plucking it off, you must use it for pill refinement within three days. Otherwise, even if you refine a pill with it later on, you would not be able to consume it.”

　　Consume!!!

　　Pluck it off, and eat it, and refine pills with it!

　　w(゚Д゚)w

　　Song Ren felt a chill run down his spine. His body was beginning to hurt. “You’re a bunch of demons!” After shouting, he threw his hands in exasperation and ran out, not even noticing Yun Heng, who just walked into the hall. In a flash, he disappeared.

　　Lonemoon, “…”

　　Yi Qing: “…”

　　Shen Ying, “…”

　　“What are you all looking at me for?” Lonemoon turned to glare at the master and disciple duo. “Did I say something wrong?”

　　“N-No.” The two of them shook their heads.

　　Get rice, get rice, get rice…

　　Cook, cook, cook…

　　You’re rich – you’re always right!

　　“Three Exalted Masters…” Yun Heng, who just walked in, looked extremely confused. “What’s going on with Fellow Daoist Song?”

　　“Perhaps he’s going through a rebellious phase?” Lonemoon replied, glancing at him. “Were you looking for us for something?”

　　It was then that Yun Heng recalled his purpose for entering. He handed a letter to Lonemoon and said excitedly, “It’s like this, Exalted Master, when I went to the Mystic Sects to report urgent news to them early, I found a series of deviant- remnant souls in the north once again. They were traveling steadily in our direction as well. Your disciple was thinking that since we have all been training for a long time, could we-”

　　“You want to bring people from our sect up there to deal with the ghosts?” Lonemoon frowned.

　　“Yes.” Yun Heng nodded. He looked more excited. “Everybody’s purpose for cultivating was to deal with these deviant ghosts and do justice for the world. Why not we take this opportunity to let everyone-”

　　“No!” Lonemoon interrupted. They hadn’t even grown their wings and they already wanted to fly. “They have only just learned to gather Qi into their bodies. They don’t even have their foundations yet, and they’ve only learned a couple of seals. Yet, you’re thinking of sending them to deal with a huge bunch of ghosts – and ghosts with grievous energy at that. Why not just kill them immediately?”

　　“…” Yun Heng fell silent. He knew that this was a risk. “But… if we leave the remnant souls there, they would invade the civilians’ cities once again. What should we do then?”

　　“Let Chef and I go!” They were just remnant souls after all. They could not be allowed to affect his sword cultivators!

　　Yun Heng’s expression changed, He looked pained. Hesitating for awhile, he finally said, “Of course I trust in both of your skills, but… everybody has been training for a period of time. Of course, the disciples would be grateful to have their masters’ help. But we haven’t actually been to war before. If too much time passes…”

　　He could not complete his sentence. His face crumpled with worry and guilt.

　　Lonemoon hesitated, suddenly understanding what Song Ren was saying. Lonemoon did indeed neglect one important factor – a man’s heart!

　　In the beginning, Lonemoon made such a grand entrance and went to great lengths to build such a huge immortal palace just to show this world – that had never before encountered immortal cultivation – that immortal cultivators do indeed exist. For the past few months, these people have truly begun to gather Qi in their own bodies and train in sword cultivation, all in the hopes of one day dealing with the deviant ghosts themselves.

　　Yet, the problem was they had never witnessed it for themselves. In other words, all that they knew was theory. They had been training in isolation for so long that they had never gotten a chance to put their skills into practice. In the beginning, this did not pose much of a problem. However, if more time is allowed to pass, they could begin to have doubts about their training. At that time, once their hearts were distracted, they would not be able to train properly.

　　“I understand.” Lonemoon nodded. Indeed, it was time to bring his disciples out on an adventure. “Tell Si Yu to bring over a couple of disciples who have been training frequently with spirit Qi along with you. The group of you will come to the north with us.”

　　“Yes, Exalted Master!” Yun Heng heaved a sigh of relief and turned to walk out.

　　——————

　　Si Yu gathered a total of seven people. Most of them were at the sixth-stage of Qi Refinement and were all relatively young. In other words, they had less waste materials in their bodies. Naturally, the spirit Qi was able to flow more smoothly within. Lonemoon had never thought of allowing them to become his assistants. They would only follow to witness for themselves the effectiveness of their training. To put it bluntly, they were only tagging along for publicity’s sake.

　　Therefore, he gave them a few simple instructions before summoning his flying artifact and flying toward the north, where Yun Heng pointed him toward. All of them were obviously getting excited. They got even more excited when the random plank that Lonemoon tossed aside turned into a boat that carried everyone into the air.

　　They remained stunned for a full half-hour before they dared to walk around on the boat. Before them, multi-colored lights flashed.

　　Since they were all disciples who were in the Qi Refinement stage, Lonemoon guessed that they would not be able to withstand the pressure should they travel too quickly. Thus, he intentionally slowed down the speed of the artifact. It took them an entire day before they arrived.

　　From afar, they could see the deserted lands. The ground looked completely scorched – they were all black. There was not even a bit of green on the entire land. The scene looked especially bleak.

　　Lonemoon activated his divine perception and steered the spirit boat toward the west, where the Yin Qi felt the strongest. The further he flew, the darker the skies got. Just a second ago, it was broad daylight. Now, it seemed like everything around them was pitch-black.

　　From in front, they could hear the faint and chilling cries of the ghosts, which pierced their ear drums.

　　“There are deviant ghosts! Deviant ghosts are in front!” The disciples exclaimed at the top of their lungs.

　　Lonemoon immediately caused the boat to land before keeping it. Everything around them was completely dark by now. The air was chilling to the bone due to the presence of rich Yin Qi, which covered the skies and threatened to overwhelm them. The terrifying cries seemed to be right beside their ears. They were becoming clearer by the second.

　　Everybody began to panic. They drew their swords and looked toward the front with fear.

　　“Calm down…” Lonemoon reminded them. “Regulate your spirit Qi, like we trained you to do!”

　　They all paused. One by one, they began to follow Lonemoon’s instructions. Indeed, the chilling Yin Qi that was there earlier began to dissipate. The temperature of the surroundings just around their bodies slowly creeped upward. It was as if they had formed a layer of protection around themselves so that the Yin Qi could no longer reach them.