My Enemy Became My Cultivation Companion-Chapter 904 -

Seeing the young girl staring directly, Chu Yiyuan felt embarrassed, as such a destitute scene was witnessed by them.

Although the Divine Sect brothers and sisters are close, it is precisely because of their closeness that it's more embarrassing to be seen like this. If they return and declare that the White Lotus Sect is all old and frail, how should people react?

Chu Yiyuan took a few steps forward, speaking proactively, "This is just a small stronghold. We'll stay for a few days, and after the handover, we'll leave, so you'll have to endure for a while."

Unlike the young girl, Chen Yi merely glanced around briefly, then replied, "Understood, but it's better to hurry. It's rumored that the Hero Conference at Dragon and Tiger Mountain is imminent, raising the banner to crusade against the White Lotus Sect. It's best if we investigate soon."

Chu Yiyuan nodded repeatedly—he certainly knew about the Hero Conference at Dragon and Tiger Mountain. To avoid the wrath of the White Lotus Sect, Dragon and Tiger Mountain had closed its gates, inviting Taoists from all over to assist with their swordsmanship.

And in the affairs of Jianghu, it's often a matter of you helping me, I help you; you seek others to help me, I then find others to help you. Once this matter spread throughout the land, it gathered not only Daoists but also a large crowd of Jianghu people. By nature, people like to join in the excitement, turning what was meant to be a Taoist sword assistance into a Hero Conference through word of mouth.

Chu Yiyuan found this utterly detestable. In ordinary times when there's trouble, you don't see a single cat or dog, but as soon as it comes to exterminating the White Lotus Sect, all supposed Jianghu experts show up.

Chen Yi continued to inquire, "By the way, what is Incense Master Chu here to hand over?"

Upon hearing this, Chu Yiyuan revealed a bitter smile, lowering his voice, "The root cause of the Hu-Guang incident lies with Su Hongtao, but I'm afraid I also bear undeniable responsibility. Now, I'm afraid those above will hold me accountable, so I need to undertake tasks to redeem myself."

Su Hongtao's soul had been obliterated, and Ji Yuan's soul had not been spared by Chen Yi, so naturally, there was no fear of premature exposure. However, the task of redemption mentioned by Chu Yiyuan was still intriguing.

Chen Yi asked, "Tasks of redemption?" He glanced around, "Is there something special here?"

Chu Yiyuan anticipated Chen Yi's question and replied meaningfully, "I'll speak of it later; even I need to explore and clarify the situation."

......

The village was in such disrepair as to be unbearable to view, overgrown with wild grass everywhere, moss covering the crumbling stone walls, no sounds of poultry or livestock, uneven steles stood in the neglected ridges of fields.

Although it was temporarily inhabited, there was no sign of regular human life, as if it was abandoned. It seemed that these White Lotus Sect people also came from elsewhere.

The three of them took shelter in the village's shrine for the time being, Chen Yi casually inquired about information.

From the snippets of instructions Chu Yiyuan gave to the surrounding villagers, it appeared they were digging some underground ruins here.

Could there perhaps be a Secret Realm beneath their feet?

While Chen Yi was pondering this, a voice suddenly sounded by his ear:

"There's something peculiar here."

Who else could it be but the Old Saintess residing within the Tripod day in and day out?

Chen Yi asked, "What have you discerned?"

"Not certain yet, we need to assess the terrain. I feel it's somewhat similar to the place where they excavated the Tripod I'm in," said the Old Saintess.

Chen Yi raised his eyebrows, catching a hint of a clue. Why was she hiding in this Tripod, and what is the true origin of the No-Life Tripod—all this was information the Old Saintess had yet to reveal to him.

The only thing Chen Yi knew was that the Tripod was definitely not a White Lotus Sect artifact.

He turned around and instructed Yin Tingxue and Donggong Ruoshu to stay put, then got up and left.

Yin Tingxue showed some concern between her brows; she wanted to speak, but didn't want to delay Chen Yi, so she held back. After Chen Yi left, she glanced around at the White Lotus Sect people coming and going outside the shrine, finally sighing softly.

Though the sights along Hu-Guang were dilapidated, they weren't overly deep—only the girl who grew up in the Prince Mansion knew what true displacement felt like.

Beside her, Miss Donggong was carefree and without the young girl's sentimental worries. She had already become hungry and pulled out flatbread and smoked meat from the Square Land.

Martial Artists are not Taoists or monks who can survive on air and dew; fasting is not practiced. Their martial training begins with eating, and unless they've attained the miraculous Grandmaster level, at most they can only manage not to eat for ten days to a mere few weeks.

But Miss Donggong didn't have the bad habit of skipping meals.

Slicing smoked meat wrapped in flatbread, Donggong Ruoshu ate each roll in a few bites, quickly proceeding to slice more meat. Yin Tingxue's ears twitched slightly, seeing two or three children standing at the doorway, staring at the food in Donggong Ruoshu's hands.

Yin Tingxue asked Donggong Ruoshu, "Is there more? I want some too."

Donggong Ruoshu divided a piece of bread for her, and Yin Tingxue broke it into several pieces, handing them to the children. They grabbed them and quickly ran away fearfully.

It seemed they viewed them as untouchable Goddesses and dared not interact much for fear of offense. Yin Tingxue heard such sentiment.

After Yin Tingxue returned, Donggong Ruoshu kept moving her hands, saying: "So you were sharing with others, huh? You should have said, actually, it wasn't necessary."

"Not necessary?" Yin Tingxue asked.

Donggong Ruoshu pointed somewhere and said, "Look at that."

Yin Tingxue followed her gaze and saw, beneath a tree not far from the shrine, several women gathered around a pot, adding firewood and watching the flames.

Indeed, there was a pot cooking, but it didn't seem like food.

"I saw them cooking something."

Saying this, Donggong Ruoshu boldly called out,

"What delicious thing are you cooking?"

The women were startled, immediately stood up. As Yin Tingxue took a few steps forward, they all lowered their heads timidly, only one elderly lady stepping forward to the pot.

The elderly lady hesitantly tried to block, but Yin Tingxue still saw behind her that the pot was boiling grass leaves and yellow mud...

"That's not food." Yin Tingxue said firmly after a long pause, "That's just yellow mud, grass roots, and leaves."