Chapter 298
Xu Zirong’s expression softened. He took Xu Ziyan’s shoulder and kissed his cheek, “don’t worry. I will surely protect you.”
Xu Ziyan snorted, “I’m not a woman, I don’t need any protection!”
Xu Zirong smiled softly and said in a low voice, “of course I know that my brother is not a woman, but I am willing to protect you because you’re my lover, and it’s nothing to do with your gender.”
Xu Ziyan blushed, and he ruffled Xu Zirong’s hair vigorously, “Okay, no more sweet talk. Just take out that mask…I’m going to cover this damn dragon pattern as it’s too obvious.”
Xu Zirong stuck out the tip of his bright red tongue and licked his lips, and said with a bit of pity, “actually, my brother’s dragon pattern is very beautiful…” Noticing Xu Ziyan’s unkind look, he immediately changed and said, “but it can only be seen by me, as the others don’t deserve it!”
Xu Ziyan rolled his eyes helplessly, took the golden mask from Xu Zirong’s hand and put it on his face. He turned around and pulled out an identical silver mask and put it on for Xu Zirong’s face. He said, “you already look too seductive. Cover it for god’s sake!”
Xu Zirong: …
“If my brother doesn’t like others seeing my face, how about I cover the whole face?” Xu Zirong asked with a smile.
Xu Ziyan frowned, and he refuted with his reddened ears, “I am just afraid that someone will fall in love with you and it will waste my time dealing with it!”
Xu Zirong smiled but did not say a word, but the look in Xu Ziyan’s eyes was surprisingly gentle.
The two got intimate for a while in the hut, then took the cloud shuttle provided by Big Foot Luo and reached the assembly point in about three days.
Coincidentally, the assembly point turned out to be the Xuan Jia sect mentioned by Old Liu and the others, and since this sect was located on the edge of the controlled area of blood-sucking worms, it became the first line of battle between human cultivators and blood-sucking worms.
Apparently, this first line was not the only one. Since there were three areas of blood-sucking worms, the other two areas were located in the eastern and southern parts of Xuan Yu realm respectively. In the past two years, it began to show a downward trend, and even many areas that were once controlled were recaptured by human cultivators.
Only the blood-sucking worms in this central area had undergone unforeseeable changes. The attacks of cultivators didn’t create the expected effect. Instead, it brought about a sudden mutation and killed a lot of cultivators inside.
The Xuan Jia sect was originally only a medium-sized sect, and there was about hundreds of years of heritage inside the sect. However, in recent years, the reputation of the sect grew continuously with the acceptation of the disciples who’d escaped from the killings of blood-sucking worms. It then started to grow into a big one.
At the same time, since Xuan Jia sect was located at a key location and it was stopping the expansion of blood-sucking worms in the central area. That’s why the higher level of the Cultivation Alliance sent as much as assistance as possible, and they dispatched a few cultivators who exceled at spells. With a lot of support, they repaired the guarding array of Xuan Jia sect.
After obtaining those materials, the strength of Xuan Jia sect began to continuously increase, becoming a strong defense barrier against the blood-sucking worms.
However, with the improvement of their strength, some senior members of the Xuan Jia sect began to feel dissatisfied with their position in the alliance. They might not have said anything on the surface, but there was already some secret discussion going on…
“Is it the protective array of Xuan Jia sect in front of us?” Xu Ziyan said softly while standing on the cloud shuttle, looking at the huge protective shield covering the entire Xuan Jia mountain.
Xu Zirong stood beside him, looked at it for a while and nodded, “this great array has integrated the entire mountain of Xuan Jia. As long as there are enough spiritual stones, it will not be easily broken. Those who set up the great array had already reached a very high level of its study.”
“Oh? How is it better than you?” Xu Ziyan asked and raised his eyebrows.
“Our specializations are different and we cannot be compared.” Xu Zirong smiled lightly. When he first learned about arrays, most of it were to fight the enemies, and he was naturally looking for a faster way.
However, the array of this mountain was mainly for defense, and it was a completely different approach.
“Hmm.” Xu Ziyan nodded, but he still had some doubts while looking at the protective mountain. He thought that the array would only be activated whenever an enemy started attacking, and there’s still some distance from the front line, so why did the array already get activated? Could something have happened these few days?
While thinking about this question, he commanded the cloud shuttle to descend.
Before he landed, several figures had already emerged from the protective shield of the big array. They watched Xu Ziyan and the others vigilantly. The leading one, who was in green clothes, yelled, “who are you?”
“I am a disciple of the Liu Guang sect and I have a mission.” Xu Ziyan raised his hand and threw out his jade pendant to show his identity.
“The Liu Guang sect?” The expression of the cultivator in green clothes changed slightly, but it soon returned to normal. He looked at the Xu brothers, who were masked, and asked disdainfully, “could you both be carrying that mission of exploration?”
“Huh?” Xu Ziyan successfully captured the change in the expression on the cultivator’s face, but he didn’t understand why there would be such a change after he heard about the Liu Guang sect.
Moreover, the mission that they would carry out this time was also considered a secret. So how did this cultivator find out about it?
He narrowed his eyes slightly, and he gazed at the cultivator sharply.
The cultivator in green clothes suddenly felt his body sink, and a strong pressure surged from all directions, as if to crush him into pieces.
“How did you find out about our mission?” Xu Ziyan asked coldly.
The cultivator in green clothes immediately started sweating and there was a trace of fear in his eyes. It seemed that he’d realized that the person in front of him was an elite disciple from the Liu Guang sect, and he’d reached a solid level of golden core no matter what his status was.
And he’d only reached the level of Qi condensation, even his master had just reached the later stage of golden core…so he wasn’t really qualified to act aggressively in front of Xu Ziyan.
At this moment, the disdain for the Liu Guang sect, which had risen because of the rise of Xuan Jia sect, instantly vanished…
“Senior…please allow me to…” The cultivator in green clothes explained to Xu Ziyan with a pale look under huge pressure, “I didn’t mean to sound mysterious, but the exploration team sent by the Xuan Jia sect was already sent back, and they also knew why the blood-sucking worms had evolved. Coincidentally, the disciples of Tian Yu sect were also here yesterday and they were shocked to learn that the mission had been completed. However, they still decided to make the mission public after confirming that I’d sent them back, and they also told me about some disciples from the Liu Guang sect for the mission.”
“Huh? Is it done already?” Xu Ziyan looked at him in surprise.
The man in green clothes noticed that the pressure coming from all directions was decreasing, and quickly wiped the sweat on his forehead. He said respectfully, “yes, senior, that task has been completed by my disciples in Xuan Jia sect. Although they also suffered from heavy losses, they did not disgrace their mission and managed to find out the cause of the mutation of the blood-sucking worms.” At the end, the cultivator looked a little proud of himself.
“Well… Anyway, let’s go take a look first.” Xu Zirong whispered in Xu Ziyan’s ear.
Xu Ziyan nodded and turned to look at the man in green clothes, “please lead us the way. We’re obviously here for a mission and we need to know the final result.”
The man in green clothes bowed, “Senior, please then come with me.”
Xu Ziyan hummed and followed behind the man in green clothes, and followed him into the range of the array.
When crossing the array, Xu Ziyan vaguely sensed a majestic momentum sweeping across him. He knew that it was the nascent soul cultivator stationed at Xuan Jia sect, who was investigating, which inevitably made him doubtful again.
What happened to the Xuan Jia sect actually? What made the whole sect so traumatic? Even the nascent soul cultivator was so nervous and he even had to investigate when someone crossed the big array?
With such doubts, Xu Ziyan followed the cultivator in green clothes to a hilltop at the Xuanjia sect. There was an extremely wide courtyard. The atmosphere in the courtyard was mixed with different things, as if it was a cultivator’s residence.
“Senior, please wait again, wait until I report our head and I’ll take you to the Rewards and Punishment Hall.” The man in green clothes saluted, turned around and left.
Xu Ziyan and Xu Zirong were looking at each other and they both noticed something wrong.
“Hmph, let’s see what the hell is going on at Xuan Jia sect first.” Xu Zirong smiled coldly. He didn’t have a good impression of the sect. It was very possible that the son of the head was in love with Bai Hua, and this fact alone agitated him.
“Well, don’t worry about it. I also think that things here are not that simple, and there might be stuff happening in Xuan Jia sect these two days. Otherwise, this array wouldn’t be opened so easily.”
