Chapter 1139 - 345: Wait, Old Hen, Why Did You Suddenly Come Back?

Above the blade’s glimmer, a round-faced youth stood with hands behind his back, his robes fluttering with an air of elegance.

Yet those small rolling eyes always carried a look of mischief.

"Whoosh—"

Yan Xiaohu traveled by sword control, moving at lightning speed, heading straight for the peak.

Suddenly, he paused mid-air, the blade arc carved a semi-circle in the sky.

"Huh?"

He squinted his small eyes, intently staring at the familiar courtyard halfway up the mountain.

On the green stone slab in front of the courtyard gate, a gray-brown figure was curled up.

"My goodness!" Yan Xiaohu’s eyes widened in disbelief, "Old Fourth? You’re back?!"

Without another word, he swiftly changed direction with his large blade, the sword energy burst forth as he dove downward!

As the blade touched the ground, a cloud of dust billowed up.

Yan Xiaohu landed steadily, summoned back the large blade with a "clang" in his hand.

He rushed to the courtyard gate, taking three steps at a time.

There, he saw an old hen sleeping soundly on the steps, its feathers stained with dark red blood.

"Old friend, is it really you? When did you get back? Did you miss me?"

Yan Xiaohu’s voice trembled as he carefully picked it up.

The familiar touch made his eyes well up with tears, he couldn’t help but bury his face into its feathers deeply inhaling—

"Ugh—" He quickly turned his face away, dry heaving, "Did you roll into a dung pit?"

Suddenly, his entire body stiffened.

That foul smell unmistakably mixed with the rusty scent of blood qi.

"Old Fourth!" Yan Xiaohu turned abruptly, shouting into the courtyard.

But the courtyard remained utterly silent.

He hurriedly pushed the door open, causing the accumulated dust to fall.

In the empty courtyard, the stone table was covered with fallen leaves, cobwebs formed between the window panes, and sunlight cast dappled shadows through the gaps.

Yan Xiaohu quickly took out the identity token, green light flickering at his fingertip, sending out three transmissions in a row, yet there was no response, like dropping a stone in the sea.

"Strange..." Yan Xiaohu scratched his head, looking at the sleeping old hen in his arms, frowning tightly.

If Old Fourth didn’t come back, how did this old hen appear here alone?

Five years ago, when Old Fourth and Second Senior Sister left the Taiqing Sect for the Imperial City, they clearly took this old hen with them.

That night when he secretly tipped them off, watching their departing figures with Master and Uncle, he even saw the old hen perched on Old Fourth’s shoulder.

"Wake up, wake up!" Yan Xiaohu shook the old hen vigorously, but it was like it was drunk, showing no reaction.

"This really is bizarre. Last time, you were taken by Old Fourth’s godson, Buddha Son, and appeared here mysteriously years later."

"Now your master personally took you away, and you ran back on your own?"

Yan Xiaohu couldn’t help but mutter, checking it over carefully but found no injuries.

"What, homesick?!" Suddenly, Yan Xiaohu’s eyes lit up, he grinned slyly, "Could it be you can’t bear to leave me?"

"True, I took plenty of spirit eggs from you yet fed you many spirit stones, consider me half your master!"

With that, he took out a few top-grade spirit stones from his storage bag, waving them in front of the old hen’s beak.

If it were the usual circumstances, the glutton would have pounced long ago, but now it remained asleep.

"Forget it, you’re too filthy," Yan Xiaohu wrinkled his nose in disdain, "Better find a place to clean you up first, or it’ll waste those silky-smooth feathers!"

He picked up the old hen, gently tapped his fingertip, and silently closed Zhou Qing’s courtyard door with a spiritual power.

Turning, he stepped onto the large blade, a flash of the sword light took him flying down the mountain.

But he quickly turned back, heading straight for the peak, murmuring incessantly the entire way.

"Almost forgot business, now that Taiqing Sect has decided to attack the Cangyan Daoist Palace, those cushy jobs can’t fall into outsiders’ hands!"

"Purchasing, transportation, loot tallying... these lucrative roles need to be claimed early, after all, I still have eight brothers to support!"

...