Chapter 299: Must I Reflect?

Hu Wanwan watched the two people chatting happily as they walked into the house together, a question mark appearing above his head.

?

Wait, is something not quite right?

I remember, I should be the one who organized this gathering, right?

Is it my imagination?

... How come it feels like I am the outsider!?

Slap.

"Sigh."

Jiang Mingzhi patted his brother, who had begun to contemplate life, shook his head in sympathy, said nothing, and just sighed again.

"Sigh!"

After sighing, he followed directly behind Gongsun Changshou, leaving Hu Wanwan alone outside the door to doubt his life.

However, what Jiang Mingzhi did not know was that behind his back, his good brother had already changed his expression.

Hu Wanwan was frowning slightly, rubbing the shoulder that had just been patted, and silently staring at Jiang Mingzhi's back.

He pondered in his heart, his eyes showing a hint of struggle.

Do I really have to do it?

He is, after all, my brother...

But in the end, the confusion in Hu Wanwan's eyes faded, and he let out a long breath, as if exhaling all the emotions in his chest.

"Hoo... sigh."

When he opened his eyes again, he had returned to being the free-spirited and casual strapping man he was before.

He quickly caught up, knocked on the closed door, and shouted:

"Hey, hey, hey!"

"What is wrong with you two? Wait for me! I haven't gone in yet!"

Brother...

I have long since ceased to have one.

Everyone sat around a large table; there were six people in the room, including Chu Yitai, who stood with his head bowed behind Chu Hairen, while the other servants had all retreated.

"Ahem."

Seeing everyone's gaze fall upon him, Hu Wanwan coughed lightly and stood up, first bowing sincerely to everyone present.

"Regardless of anything else, I, Hu, would like to thank you all for doing me the honor of coming here."

Except for Jiang Mingzhi, who nodded slightly, the other three showed no reaction; they were merely here for the money, so naturally, there was no need for thanks.

In a word, it was just business.

If not for the sake of the reward, these three would not have paid Hu Wanwan the slightest bit of attention.

The crowd's reaction was calm, but Hu Wanwan did not care; he straightened his body, his expression turned serious, and he said in a deep voice:

"I know that you all have extraordinary backgrounds, being either princes or disciples of great sects, and possess your own pride. I understand, because I am the same kind of person."

Regardless of whether this was a conspiracy, the five people in the team at this moment could be called luxurious; not a single one was an easy person to deal with.

And such a configuration was, in the end, for a long-planned murder; one has to say, it was somewhat speechless.

"But this trip is extremely dangerous, so I hope you will follow my lead and not act on your own."

Jiang Mingzhi and Chu Hairen did not speak, and although Gongsun Changshou frowned slightly, he did not object in the end.

Aside from Ren Yidao, although everyone present had their own means of self-preservation, no one was confident that they could wander around inside Death Valley and come out unscathed.

Following orders was not just for the convenience of others, but also for being responsible for one's own safety.

And what about Ren Yidao?

Danger?

What danger?

Going inside is just like going home; everyone inside is a talent, and I love it!

They catch the humans who sneak in, what does that have to do with me, a pure-blooded demon fox?

"Thank you all for your understanding."

"This trip is dangerous, but this is merely a trial. Although the Great Elder is targeting me, he has not left us without a way out. Please look."

Hu Wanwan breathed a sigh of relief and took out a scroll, spreading it out on the table.

"Fortunately, Death Valley is a place where the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect raised demon beasts. Every area has detailed records, and when the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect was destroyed, our clan obtained a detailed map of it."

When the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect disintegrated back then, it was truly a dance of demons; various families in the Eastern Wasteland partitioned it like greedy jackals, licking even the meat off the bones.

"Relying on that map, the elders of our clan sneaked into it several times decades ago and discovered many changes, leaving behind an even more detailed map."

"I will share this map with you all later, so that even if something goes wrong, we can rely on this map to find a way out."

Hu Wanwan's fingertip stopped at the middle of the route, pointing to one of the dim lines.

"Look here, he discovered a secret path here that can bypass most of the demon beast gathering areas; it might be an escape route dug privately by one of the Sect Masters of the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect back then."

"In other words, as long as we have this map, we only need to walk the first three hundred miles, and then we can enter the secret path to bypass most of the demon beasts and arrive safely and directly at the destination, which is the place where the Token is stored."

Seeing that the others were more interested in the map, Hu Wanwan had to remind them:

"Remember, remember! We do not need to provoke the demon beasts on this trip; we only need to obtain the Token."

Hu Wanwan was truly worried that this group of people would mess things up once they had the map; if something went wrong halfway, it would be bad for his final plan.

"However, there are three Tokens in total, two fake and one real; we need to find the real one among these three locations."

"Once one of them is taken, the Array at the other two locations will be activated, attracting the attention of the demon beasts."

"Therefore, to reduce the risk of exposure, I have decided that we shall split into three groups to retrieve all the Tokens at the same time."

Hu Wanwan pointed at the three marks on the map, his expression incomparably serious.

"Master Gongsun and Brother Jiang Mingzhi will be one group, I will be with Brother Hai Ren, and Daoist Ren will be a group on his own. How about that?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present had a shift in their gaze, including Chu Yitai, who had seemed to be resting with his eyes closed the whole time; they all looked at Ren Yidao.

But Ren Yidao, who was at the center of everyone's intersecting gazes, blinked and looked behind himself.

Ren Yidao:?

Everyone:?

"There's no one behind me, right? Is there something stuck to my face? Why is everyone looking at me?"

Seeing this scene, Jiang Mingzhi gave a light cough and took the initiative to ask:

"Uh, Daoist, do you have nothing to say? If you are alone, will there be any problems?"

Ren Yidao, who was playing dumb, suddenly realized and said with an "oh":

"Oh, you want to talk about splitting into three groups. Just say so."

"I have no problem."

The youth revealed a shy smile and spoke somewhat bashfully:

"If anything, without you all getting in my way, this actually suits me better."

Don't misunderstand, I'm not targeting anyone in particular; I'm saying that everyone present... is trash.

If you don't come to get in my way, I can save myself a lot of unnecessary trouble.

These words left everyone present speechless.

The three Princes who had witnessed Ren Yidao's methods all remained silent. Although Gongsun Changshou had something he wanted to say, he also remained silent. Only Chu Yitai took a few extra looks.

Regarding this mysterious Daoist, Chu Yitai had been silently evaluating his strength.

In the end, he reached a conclusion—all show and no substance.

His Dharma Power was not apparent, and only his physical body could be considered outstanding, but even that was just decent.

"He is nothing more than a fame-seeking charlatan. To think Chu Yiping would be bluffed by a guy like this."

Chu Yitai was of the same generation as Chu Yiping, and the two had a fairly good relationship. After Chu Yiping returned from his failure, he heard plenty of complaints from him, and they had also discussed some of the details from back then.

"The other party's strength is definitely not as simple as it appears on the surface!"

Although Chu Yiping had emphasized this many times, Chu Yitai still preferred to believe his own judgment.

Hearing is false, seeing is believing.

He trusted his own judgment more; this guy's strength was not as powerful as Chu Yiping described.

"Did he exaggerate the other party's strength to make his own carelessness less obvious? How shameful, Chu Yiping."

Hmph.

Chu Yitai let out an almost silent huff and was about to withdraw his gaze.

But at this very moment, he felt the other party glance at him casually.

!!!

It was truly just one glance, yet it made his heart skip a beat!

"Cough..."

Chu Yitai put away his contempt, narrowed his eyes to stare at Ren Yidao for a moment, and then silently closed his eyes.

"Perhaps, he is not that unbearable."

The room was not large, and everyone saw the small interlude between Ren Yidao and the others, but everyone tactfully did not mention it.

Since it was best not to offend anyone, it was better to just pretend nothing had happened; it was better for everyone.

After discussing the details of each location for an hour, the sky had already dimmed, and Hu Wanwan took the initiative to end the meeting.

"Those are the general details; we will discuss the rest in more detail on the road."

"It is getting late today, let us depart at noon tomorrow; most Demon Beasts are taking their afternoon nap at that time."

At this moment, Ren Yidao raised his hand and shook his head, saying:

"I would like to investigate some matters here tomorrow. Could the time be postponed?"

Hu Wanwan was stunned for a moment, then without hesitation, he nodded readily:

"Naturally, that is possible. We will rest in Wanshou City for two days and depart at noon the day after tomorrow."

"Many thanks."

What Ren Yidao did not know was that the request he made actually happened to suit Hu Wanwan's wishes.

Even if Ren Yidao had not brought it up, he would likely have found an excuse to postpone the time tomorrow anyway.

Because he had not received the message passed on by the people in his clan!

"Did something go wrong with my clan uncle? Why is there still no response to my message?"

After approaching the vicinity of Wanshou City, Hu Wanwan had secretly sent a message to his clan uncle, who was his backup, but he had received no response until now!

This turn of events made Hu Wanwan somewhat uneasy, but in order not to cause hesitation among the others, he had no choice but to push the time back by one day.

If there was still no news by then, he would have no choice but to bite the bullet and continue.

"There shouldn't be any accidents."

Similar to Ren Yidao's confidence, Hu Wanwan also had a means to ensure his own safe escape—Transformation Demon.

Although he could not fully transform into a Demon Beast, his bloodline was enough to allow some Demon Beast characteristics to appear on his body; this was also the confidence the Hu Family had in sending people to explore Death Valley.

"Even if something goes wrong, I can make them attract the Demon Beasts' attention while I escape unscathed."

After comforting himself in his heart for a while, Hu Wanwan smiled easily:

"Since we have time to rest tomorrow, why don't you all take a stroll around this Wanshou City."

"Don't look at this city as small; it actually has quite a few good things. Many people still have magic treasures from the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect back in the day in their hands."

"Counting the days, tomorrow should be the routine grand market of Wanshou City. You all might want to go try your luck; perhaps you can dig up some rare treasure."

Click.

Gongsun Changshou, who had been looking sleepy, immediately perked up upon hearing this, his eyes widening as he said:

"A market!"

"Are outsiders allowed to set up stalls there?"

Hu Wanwan:?

U-usually, shouldn't you be going there to hunt for things?

Why are you so excited about setting up a stall?

"It shouldn't be restricted for outsiders to participate. Does Master Gongsun have something he wants to sell?"

Gongsun Changshou waved a hand and laughed excitedly:

"Haha, must one only set up a stall to sell things?"

"No, it's for the fun of it! Understand? Forget it, you wouldn't understand even if I told you."

Being looked down upon for no reason, Hu Wanwan gritted his teeth in secret, but could only offer an awkward smile.

"Let you act arrogant for two more days. When the time comes, I will make you spit everything out!"

To hire this greedy guy, Hu Wanwan had spent a fortune; those materials added together were enough to craft a powerful heavy treasure!

He coughed twice and changed the subject:

"Brother Hai Ren and Brother Mingzhi both have places to stay, and my Hu Family also has a place to lodge in the city. Master Gongsun and Daoist Ren, please follow me."

"This lodging is truly luxurious."

Before walking into the unremarkable room, Ren Yidao hadn't held much hope; after all, it was just a place to sleep.

But when he entered the interior of the room, he finally understood just how keen this group of Kings was on spending their wealth on indulgence.

The mansion here was, in terms of sheer luxury, not much different from the Tianxiang Pavilion in Hu City.

Aside from the lack of beautiful maids to serve and song and dance to listen to, there was truly an illusion that made Ren Yidao think he had returned to the Tianxiang Pavilion.

The mansion the Hu Family kept here might not be lived in for years at a time, yet it remained this luxurious.

Thinking back to the attire of the others in the city, and recalling the exhaustion and despair on their faces, Ren Yidao couldn't help but...

Lie down more comfortably.

"Why? Should I feel guilty? Should I reflect first?"

"The problem is, it wasn't me who caused them to live such bitter lives!"

Is it Huhu's fault?

Obviously not!

Then why feel uneasy? Just for nothing?

"Besides, when it comes down to it, the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect weren't exactly good people either!"

"If it weren't for their problems in raising Demon Beasts, would they have caused their own deaths? Would it have led to their orthodoxy being carved up by others? Would it have implicated their descendants into falling to their current state?"

"I am just an outsider passing through; why should I reflect on their mistakes?"

Therefore, Ren Yidao lay down with a clear conscience and slept without any burden.

Until midnight, when he heard someone knocking on the door...

Knock knock.

Hm?

"... Who is it?"

The person outside did not answer and continued to knock twice.

Knock knock.

"Hm?"

Oh no, could it be that I've encountered something dirty?

Ren Yidao was just about to get up to see who exactly the person was, when he suddenly noticed the Yellow Sand Tiger lying at his feet had suddenly changed its appearance.

It crouched on the ground, baring its teeth at the outside, its throat emitting a low, rumbling sound similar to a tiger's roar.

Slap!

Ren Yidao casually flicked its skull and admonished it:

"Remember, you are a little kitten; you should be meowing."

Yellow Sand Tiger:?

You're telling me this at a time like this!?