"All right—haha—so which sect are you from, if you don't mind my asking?" Wei Zhao raised his head and looked at Tian Chan. Seeing her hesitate, he added, "Haha, don't misunderstand. Wandering cultivators like you and me have to find a sect to attach ourselves to sooner or later. If nothing much comes up once I'm out, I might well throw in my lot with your sect too."

"Ah... you really mean to attach yourself to an ancient sect?" Tian Chan blinked, then asked with a flicker of delight.

"Of course. If I can't make a go of it out there, I'll definitely find an ancient sect to take shelter with," Wei Zhao said.

"The Heaven—" Tian Chan nearly blurted out the words 'Xuandan Sect' before she caught herself, and regretted it the instant the first syllable left her lips. She hurried to add, "Tian Chan is only lodged with her present sect for the time being, and may leave it yet, so... if you do want to attach yourself to an ancient sect later on, you could first put out word on the ancient plane, and if it reaches me, I'll get in touch with you..."

"Haha, very well." Wei Zhao nodded. Since Tian Chan was unwilling to say more, he would not press her. "Then I'll take my leave. Until fate brings us together again!"

"Wait—" Tian Chan suddenly called after him.

"Hm?" Wei Zhao paused and turned to look at her.

"Take this..." As she spoke, Tian Chan untied a fragrant pouch from her sash and held it out to Wei Zhao.

"What is it? A token of love?" Wei Zhao asked, startled.

"Do you... want a kick?" Tian Chan's face flushed crimson at once, and she glared at him with wide eyes.

"I was only joking." Wei Zhao shrugged.

"This pouch can disguise your aura as that of a spirit beast. Wear it on you, and it will protect you," Tian Chan said. "It will keep spirit beasts from attacking you."

"Oh?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. What a fine thing, he thought—but then he turned it over in his mind and grew puzzled. "Then what about the Five Baleful Dragon from before..."

"The Five Baleful Dragon is a high-grade spirit beast. This pouch can actually only deceive spirit beasts below the heaven rank; against those at or above heaven rank it has no effect. And even then, it only disguises your aura—if you get too close, or provoke a spirit beast yourself, it will still see through you," Tian Chan said.

"Then what about you...?" Wei Zhao asked, astonished that Tian Chan would give him such a thing.

"I'll follow the Five Baleful Mountains all the way; the teleportation array is just ahead. The whole range belongs to the Five Baleful Dragon—no other spirit beasts roam there. As long as I don't provoke the Five Baleful Dragon again, I'll be in no danger," Tian Chan said. "Besides, I'm only lending it to you. The next time I see you, you must give it back."

"Very well, then I won't stand on ceremony." Hearing her say so, Wei Zhao put aside his scruples, nodded, and accepted the pouch.

"Mm..." Tian Chan waved to him. "Then I'll be going... until we meet again..."

"Until we meet again!" Wei Zhao cupped his hands in salute, then strode down the far side of the Five Baleful Mountains. A deep reluctance weighed on his heart, yet he did not turn back. He and Tian Chan were fated to belong to two different worlds. If Tian Chan was connected to the Five Luminaries Sect, she was surely one of Patriarch Xuanchen's people, while he belonged to White Collar's faction. However close their private friendship, one day they would inevitably find themselves on opposite sides, and then both would be hard pressed. Better, then, while their acquaintance was still shallow, to let their paths part for good.

"Heaven Thunder Pig, do you think... Tian Chan is a good person or a bad one?" Wei Zhao asked once he had descended the mountain.

Heaven Thunder Pig found a soft patch of earth and wrote three words: "A good person."

"Haha, you seem quite close to her?" Wei Zhao asked. "Is it because you think she's pretty? You lecherous pig."

"No, it's not that—her aura is a lot like yours!" Heaven Thunder Pig shook its head and wrote.

"Like mine?" Wei Zhao was briefly startled, then understood at once. Tian Chan was a cultivator of the five elements, and so was he; it made sense, then, that Heaven Thunder Pig would sense a similarity in their auras.

"Oink oink..." Heaven Thunder Pig nodded.

Perhaps it really was because he and Tian Chan were so alike that he felt such an indefinable fondness for her? Wei Zhao thought it over—perhaps that was the only explanation.

After descending the mountain range, Wei Zhao set off toward the safe zone, guided by the directions on his map. At first he encountered no spirit beasts, but the farther he went, the more of them began to appear in the wildlands. It was just as it had been before: evidently the Five Baleful Mountains truly were forbidden ground to these beasts, and he met them again only after he had gone some distance.

The pouch Tian Chan had given him, however, proved very useful. As Wei Zhao walked along, the spirit beasts that spotted him from afar showed no inclination to attack. They were only low-grade beasts, yellow rank at that, and Heaven Thunder Pig could easily have suppressed any of them—but none of them showed the slightest wish to come near.

"Heaven Thunder Pig, do you think I look like a spirit beast right now?" Wei Zhao asked, curious.

"Oink oink..." Heaven Thunder Pig nodded, then shook its head.

"All right..." Wei Zhao had asked only idly. He had no real desire to understand the principle behind it. Many treasures of the cultivation world have no principle worth delving into.

After a full day and night of hard travel, Wei Zhao finally reached the safe zone. Fast as he had been, the Five Baleful wildlands were simply too vast—no wonder the trial had allowed everyone fifteen to twenty days to make their way.

As he drew near the safe zone, Wei Zhao's brow suddenly furrowed. He sensed that there was more than one heaven-rank expert inside—three of them, in fact. Or rather, four!

For Li Ciba was an external cultivator, and Wei Zhao's golden finger could not sense his level of power. But Wei Zhao could sense the rank of heaven-grade experts, and within this safe zone there were three heaven-rank internal cultivators!

Could there be other heaven-rank experts hiding here besides Feng Shipian and Li Ciba? At that thought, Wei Zhao's steps grew hesitant. Friend or foe, he could not yet tell, and if Feng Shipian and Li Ciba truly were inside, well and good—but if the people in the safe zone were not them, but another band of three heaven-rank experts, then Wei Zhao would stand even less chance against them.

Still, if it were another group, then where had Feng Shipian, Li Ciba, and the others gone? RS

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