"There are many Tai Gu sects that come to the secular world for training. As for this Snow Valley business you mentioned, I don't know which sect was responsible. The only thing I can say for certain is that it had nothing to do with my sect." Xue Jianfeng's tone was that of a man wholly uninvolved. Then he added, "You see, my temper is quite mild. Even in the matter of recruiting disciples, I've given you all this time to think it over. Others simply go straight to your door and demand people. Have you made up your mind?"

"I've said it before—I will absolutely not go to the Tai Gu Alliance. And what you're doing has long since disrupted the order of the secular world. Do you mean to make enemies of every cultivation force in the secular world?" Qiu Lingshan said stiffly.

"Enemies of the secular world?" Xue Jianfeng looked surprised, then said with disdain, "What nonsense is Miss Song talking? Even if you added up every cultivation force in the secular world, their combined strength still wouldn't match a single Tai Gu sect. So there's no possibility of mutual hostility at all. The Tai Gu Alliance has never regarded the secular world as an opponent—otherwise the secular world would have been wiped out long ago."

"In other words, the Tai Gu Alliance doesn't take the secular world seriously at all. If you fancy a disciple with decent aptitude, you just reach out and take them. Is that what you mean?" Wu Chengtian said in a low voice.

"It sounds a bit harsh, but the meaning isn't wrong. It's just that some people go about it more aggressively, while I am relatively mild—which is why I'm here reasoning with you nicely." Xue Jianfeng nodded indifferently and swept his gaze over the crowd. "I see that all of you have excellent aptitude. To cultivate to the Great Perfection of the Heaven Rank in a rotten place like the secular world is truly rare. How about this—why don't you all come back to the Tai Gu Alliance with me? That way you can look after one another. Miss Song, that should be no problem, shouldn't it?"

Everyone was momentarily stunned. This fellow truly knew how to climb a pole when it was offered—not only did he want to take Qiu Lingshan, he wouldn't even let the rest of them go?

"Oh, and those unconscious beauties upstairs can come back to the Tai Gu Alliance as well. I can see you have no way to cure them, but I do. Only it has to be at the Tai Gu Alliance. How about it?" Xue Jianfeng's eyes darted about as he spoke.

"You can cure them?" Qiu Lingshan and the others felt a surge of joy at these words. Over the past three years, Gu Mengyao and the others had shown no signs of worsening, but neither had there been the slightest improvement. If this went on, no one knew what might happen. If there was a chance to cure them, it would be a blessing beyond measure.

"Of course. Just because the secular world can't do something doesn't mean the Tai Gu Alliance can't," Xue Jianfeng said with an air of profundity.

"Is that so? Then tell us—why are Sister Mengyao and the others unconscious?" Ying Ziyu suddenly had a flash of inspiration and cut in.

"Uh, well..." Xue Jianfeng was instantly stumped. In truth, he had no idea why Gu Mengyao and the other women were unconscious, and his talk of the Tai Gu Alliance being able to cure them was pure nonsense. The only reason he said it was to trick the women into coming back to the Tai Gu Alliance.

Never mind that the women were unconscious—each of them was a beauty that could topple a city, and that was plain for all to see. When Xue Jianfeng had come in earlier and swept a glance over them, he had immediately begun to drool, and could not help but conceive the notion of building himself a harem. If he could get all these peerless beauties back, the very thought of it was enough to make a man unable to stop himself!

"Hmph, you see? I knew he was a fraud!" Ying Ziyu crossed her arms and sneered. Qiu Lingshan and the others had also caught on by now, and they glared furiously at Xue Jianfeng. Their concern had clouded their judgment; seeing the look on Xue Jianfeng's face, they instantly knew this fellow was up to no good.

"I, Xue Jianfeng, am the foremost of the younger generation of the Tai Gu Alliance. To think that coming to this secular world, I would be called a fraud. Heh heh. It seems good men really do have a hard time of it. I've taken such pains to reason with you, and it's all been useless. Then there's no help for it—I'll just have to learn from how the other sects do things." Xue Jianfeng's expression changed.

"What are you going to do?" Qiu Lingshan and the others all went on their guard.

"What am I going to do? Isn't it obvious? Today I'm taking you away by force, and I'd like to see who dares say a word against it!" Xue Jianfeng, stung into rage, abruptly turned hard in his attitude and reached out without the slightest scruple to seize Qiu Lingshan.

Qiu Lingshan was alarmed at the sight and hastily drew back to dodge, while Wu Chengtian and the others all rushed forward. But their speed could not compare with Xue Jianfeng, an expert at the Great Perfection of the Foundation Establishment stage. With only the slightest exertion, Xue Jianfeng had already closed in beside Qiu Lingshan and seized one of her arms.

"I'm taking you back to the Tai Gu Alliance right now—let's see who can stop me!" Xue Jianfeng laughed heartily, elated with himself.

But before his laughter died away, the person he had grabbed wore the expression of one looking at a madman and said with disgust, "Hey, hey—men and men should keep their hands to themselves. Please have some respect!"

"What?" Xue Jianfeng was startled into horror. The voice was male! So what he had grabbed was not Qiu Lingshan at all, but a man's arm—and this man had not been in the villa before at all. He paled with fright. "Who are you?"

"You want to snatch my girlfriend, yet you don't know who I am. Is that appropriate?" Wei Zhao smiled faintly.

"Wei Zhao!" Qiu Lingshan and the others were utterly dumbstruck once they saw clearly. They rubbed their eyes hard, even pinched themselves desperately, and only after making sure they were not dreaming did they rush forward cheering and leaping. They had never dreamed that Wei Zhao would suddenly return at such a moment!

"Everyone, I'm back. Leave the rest to me," Wei Zhao said, turning to smile at the crowd. Though his heart held a thousand words, he would first send this fly before him packing.

"He's an expert of the Heavenly Dao stage from the Tai Gu Alliance—Chief, you must be careful!" By now the crowd was beside themselves with excitement and wild joy, but they at least still remembered the enormous threat that was Xue Jianfeng—otherwise they would have long since thrown caution to the wind and rushed up to surround Wei Zhao.

"Don't worry, it's fine," Wei Zhao said with a careless grin.

The fact that he had been able to return in time this time was actually thanks to Fei Yangsheng. Originally he would not have come back so soon; on the way he had planned to make further good use of that piece of char's spiritual sense energy to recover even greater strength. But last time, through the spiritual sense mark, he had discovered that Fei Yangsheng had come to the villa, and he immediately knew something was wrong. Only then did he abandon that plan and rush back at the first opportunity, and today he had finally arrived in time.

"You're their leader?" Xue Jianfeng sneered with contempt. Although he had indeed been startled by Wei Zhao's sudden appearance, now that he was certain the man was from the secular world, there was nothing at all to fear. (To be continued.)