As for the rest of the Jing Taiyang crew, scattered as they were on separate errands, Wei Zhao made no particular effort to keep watch on their every move. For one thing, it was impossible to watch them all; for another, so long as he kept his eyes on Dr. Glasses and Brother Dafeng, everything else would naturally fall into place—there was no need to go to such trouble.

Like Dr. Glasses, Brother Dafeng had no inkling that Wei Zhao was hovering right above his head. He was still fretting in secret over how to get in touch with Wei Zhao, and after rolling his eyes a few times, he turned to Dr. Glasses and grumbled, "It's been most of the day already. Jing Taiyang and the others haven't shown the slightest sign of movement—what if something's gone wrong? Should I slip out and take a quick look?"

"You? You're not even one of the Taigu Alliance. What if you go wandering out there and someone spots you? These are all Foundation Establishment experts—some of them may even be Golden Core. Don't you value your life, boy?" Dr. Glasses shot him a glance.

"I don't think that'll happen. These islands aren't exactly big, but they're not small either, and there aren't that many people gathered here. As long as I'm careful, no one will notice me," Brother Dafeng said confidently. What he really wanted was to go out and try his luck. By his reckoning, so many days had passed that Wei Zhao ought to have arrived by now; with a bit of luck, he might just run into him—and avoid falling prey, blindly and inexplicably, to whatever dirty tricks Dr. Glasses and his lot were plotting.

Dr. Glasses laughed to himself at this. He had long known what Brother Dafeng was really about, so he could easily guess what was going through the fellow's mind. Had they been out in the open, he might well have turned the situation to his own advantage; but this archipelago was the transit point between the Taigu minor Jianghu and the mundane world, and in theory only members of the Taigu Alliance ever appeared here. If Brother Dafeng were spotted, it could easily ruin everything—so the idea had to be abandoned.

"Patience. Barely a day has passed. I'm sure word will come soon enough," Dr. Glasses said, and before Brother Dafeng could start nagging again, he added flatly, "That's settled, then. I'm going to rest a while—you keep watch."

Brother Dafeng had no choice but to let it drop. Less than half a day later, the Foundation Establishment experts sent out to investigate—Jing Taiyang and the rest—began coming back one after another to report. They were, after all, disciples of their respective sects, and they had not set out together; each had simply gone to the small island belonging to his own sect. So their comings and goings aroused little suspicion, and they soon learned the latest news of their respective sects.

After piecing together all their reports, Dr. Glasses mused, "So the other Taigu sects are all quiet. The ones making the biggest splash lately are Cangwu Sect of North Island—and the Snow Sword Sect, which came off badly?"

"That's right. Everyone's been talking about it—it's caused a huge uproar. The Snow Sword Sect has really lost face; their prestige is in tatters," Jing Taiyang cut in eagerly, anxious to prove his worth.

Though no Snow Sword Sect disciples were present, the affair had blown up so enormously that they could hardly have failed to hear of it—and besides, the archipelago was only so big, and a bit of fresh excitement was rare. When people gathered together, apart from discussing this, there really was nothing else to talk about.

"Bing Wushuang, an early Golden Core cultivator, and Xue Jianming, one at the peak of Foundation Establishment—the last two holders of the title of the Taigu Alliance's foremost Foundation Establishment expert, and now both are crippled. That's rather interesting," Dr. Glasses said, stroking his chin in thought.

"More than that. After the two of them were crippled, word is they've been holed up in that little wooden hut in the woods and won't come out—they won't even see their own Snow Sword Sect people! And after all these days, the Taigu minor Jianghu has only sent a token letter, no pills, no reinforcements. Everyone says the Snow Sword Sect's higher-ups have already given up on the pair of them. Heh heh," Jing Taiyang continued.

"Surely not? If they're such formidable experts, how could they be abandoned so easily?" Brother Dafeng looked utterly baffled.

"Brother Dafeng, you don't understand. The people of the Taigu Alliance—to put it nicely, they're pragmatic; to put it bluntly, they're simply snobbish! Bing Wushuang and Xue Jianming may both be famed geniuses, and if they had merely been injured in the normal course of things, the Snow Sword Sect would have protected them no matter what—after all, properly trained, they'd be pillars of the sect. But now they're crippled, and what use is a cripple? It's entirely to be expected that the sect's higher-ups would abandon them—not strange in the least," Jing Taiyang rushed to explain.

To him, Brother Dafeng was a top boss, just like the mysterious man in black. If he wanted to climb higher, of course he had to curry favor and keep smiling.

"Quite so, quite so. What I feared most was that nothing at all would happen to them. As things stand now, we have just the opening to make something of this," Dr. Glasses said, suddenly smiling with keen interest.

"How do we make something of it?" Brother Dafeng asked.

"Win hearts and make them ours!" Dr. Glasses clapped his hands in excitement. Though he had brought Jing Taiyang and the others in this time ostensibly to deal with these Taigu Alliance experts, neither he nor Lan Xiaoru had ever intended to meet the Taigu Alliance in open confrontation—after all, such a course was not only meaningless but wholly without benefit.

What they truly intended was what they had always intended: to bide their time, recruit and control more Foundation Establishment experts. If a Taigu Alliance disciple were to be caught alone in this place, they would strike without hesitation—the more the better. But such opportunities were plainly rare, so they had no choice but to switch to a gentler, more covert approach—from forceful, direct control by drugs to secret recruitment and infiltration.

As the saying goes, a fly will not bite an egg that has no crack. Had nothing happened to these Taigu Alliance people, Dr. Glasses and his crew would have found no opening even after slipping in—because ordinary Taigu Alliance disciples would pay them no heed at all, and might even attack them outright. But now Bing Wushuang and Xue Jianming had delivered just the opportunity they needed!

"Er—how exactly do we recruit them? Are we supposed to just go up and approach them?" Brother Dafeng asked hurriedly.

"Well now..." Dr. Glasses thought for a moment, then turned to Jing Taiyang and the others. "You said just now that this Bing Wushuang and Xue Jianming have been hiding in that little wooden hut in the woods and won't come out to see anyone?"

"Yes. But since none of us are Snow Sword Sect disciples, we couldn't learn anything more specific," Jing Taiyang answered.

"If that hut is in a remote spot, Dafeng and I might well be able to make the trip. But without knowing the exact situation, it's hard to say—if there happen to be other Snow Sword Sect disciples moving about nearby and they run into us, that would be trouble." Dr. Glasses paused there, then looked around at the group. "Very well, to be safe, we'll have to pick one of you to go in our place. Which of you will do it?" (To be continued.)