The Science of Cultivation

Chapter 164: The Real Targets

“Li Lang! You’re okay!” a female voice called out.

Li Lang turned to find Sima Xue, dashing out from a group of people headed their way. Before he could make out who they were, Sima Xue was already close enough to obscure his line of sight.

“Yes. I assume you met with attackers too if you returned here so quickly?”

“Yeah, but they were no match for me. I even found out their objective,” Sima Xue proudly proclaimed, only for her voice to mellow out the more she spoke. “But I knew it wasn’t likely they would be working alone, so I thought you guys were in danger, too. I was just about to request people to help me. Speaking of, they’re right behind me.”

She stepped aside as to welcome the newcomers, but Li Lang’s eyes didn’t leave her. He carefully examined the Nightmoon Valley disciple with a frown. That was because he suspected the fight hadn’t gone as smoothly as she described. Her entire attire was different from the ones earlier in the morning. The reasonable explanation was that her clothes got dirtied, or worse, damaged during the fight.

It wasn’t so easy to tell if his suspicions were true or not, though. With a recovery pill and some time, most flesh wounds would heal without a mark. In fact, his own fingers had already fully healed up. While it still ached a bit, externally, there were no signs of any injuries.

As much as he wanted to ask about the details of Sima Xue’s encounter, the other group quickly approached.

Forced to direct his attention to them, Li Lang finally recognized the people he had parted with not long ago. They were Gui Hong and Ning Fei, but also an older man behind them. He had sunken cheeks and was bony to the point that he appeared sick. However, his complexion was flush, telling another story.

“You’re back, too?” Gui Hong asked with a wondrous expression. “Did you get attacked as well?”

“Yes. Wei Ping and Long Yi are still out there, but the assailant should have retreated.”

“Retreated?” Nine Fei yelled out in alarm. “Shouldn’t the attacker have been at least around the same strength as Sima Xue’s assailant? How did you get them to retreat?”

Before Li Lang could answer, the old man in the back cleared his throat.

“Gui Hong, Ning Fei, do not forget yourselves. Keep calm and analyze as much as you can. If you did that, the answer to your question should’ve been obvious to you.”

“Yes, Elder An.”

Gui Hong and Ning Fei tipped their head toward their elder before following his gaze. It naturally led to the man behind Li Lang, the man known as Yun Ming. Having calmed down somewhat, the connection was quickly made.

“Please excuse them for their overeagerness. They couldn’t control their emotions after having heard what happened.” The old man nodded amiably to Li Lang before directing his gaze to Yun Ming. “As for you. Who might you be, friend?”

“Oh, don’t mind me,” the man in question quickly waved both hands and backed away. “I just happened to pass by and inadvertently got involved. I couldn’t exactly let my first-ever customer die just like that, after all.”

“Regardless, this matter was due to us. You have my thanks,” the elder continued.

His words got Li Lang directing a confused look at Sima Xue, who was only too happy to clarify.

“Umm, from what I learned from my assailant, they were looking for Gui Hong and Ning Fei. It just happens they were spotted with us before we left, so they wanted to make sure they didn’t sneakily get away.”

Li Lang glanced down and fell into thought as he heard the explanation.

So that’s why Sima Xue went to ask for help from the Eroding March Pavilion.

Wait, so they only ambushed us to check if they were in our Skyrunners? That means they only attacked us because they couldn’t detect who was inside, thanks to that Qi sense-blocking feature.

This could’ve all been avoided if I picked one of the other vehicles! And now, I don’t even know if Wei Ping and Long Yi are all right. They may have survived the attack, but being stranded in a forest filled with Foundation Establishment-level beasts isn’t exactly safe.

“We have to get back out there to

“Elder An?” the two parroted in unison, exchanging a brief glance. “W-we didn’t cross p-paths with any elder. We asked some g-gatekeepers regarding the whereabouts of Nightmoon Valley’s Lady Xue, b-but we didn’t ask any elder.”

“Umm, sorry to interject,” Li Lang said. “Wouldn’t that just mean he’s still out there searching? Do you have some way to contact him from here?”

The two Eroding March disciplined glanced down awkwardly.

“...No.”

That day, Elder An searched for a full twelve hours before he returned after the sun had set.