“Let’s go, take me there!” said Lin Jin. Qing Zhi was thrilled to hear his response since he had come here expecting to be rejected; he did not expect Mr. Lin to agree to help him so easily.
He led the way enthusiastically. Once outside, Qing Zhi invoked a spell to summon a breeze. Lin Jin smiled and summoned himself a cloud to follow Qing Zhi. Only then did the latter realize that Lin Jin was more adept at controlling clouds. Lin Jin’s proficiency in manipulating clouds was on par with his wind manipulation skills too, which further impressed Qing Zhi.
Both men flew out of the mansion. With Qing Zhi leading the way, they arrived at a mountain behind the Mystery Dao Sect.
However, they couldn’t see anyone upon descending to the ground, not even the oriole Qing Zhi had mentioned.
Frightened, Qing Zhi quickly searched the area in a panic.
Lin Jin noticed a pool of blood on the ground, which emitted a monster aura. He probed it with his needle and the oriole’s information was added to the museum.
“Rank 6 monster, oriole bird.”
“Proficient in Transfiguration and sending sound waves. Currently wounded. The five treatment methods are…”
After reading through the assessment, Lin Jin noticed how strange her injury was, but it wasn’t too much trouble for him. Although it couldn’t be treated easily, it didn’t require exhaustive effort either.
Judging by this pool of blood, Lin Jin knew that Qing Zhi wasn’t lying. The only question that remains was the oriole monster’s location.
Qing Zhi was panic-stricken. Despite being an immortal, his forehead was covered in sweat.
“W-What’s going on? I told her to wait here. Why is she gone?” Out of desperation, Qing Zhi took out a talisman.
This talisman looked old as if it was drawn a long time ago by someone with a high cultivation level.
“This is a gift from an expert one thousand years ago, and it shall be used here today,” Qing Zhi said. He tossed it up and invoked a spell.
The talisman flew up and hovered in the sky. The next instant, it vibrated and waves rippled in the space around them.
The ripples grew bigger, turning the air into a vertical water surface.
“Day and night reversed, take the law of the universe and go. Reveal!” chanted Qing Zhi through gritted teeth before he pressed his index fingers together to point ahead.
Boom!
A strange sound filled the air and the floating talisman burned away. The strangest thing was how the ripples around slowly died down to reveal a scene that was completely different from what they were seeing.
As if looking into a giant mirror, they saw the ‘past’.
Or rather, what happened here before they arrived.
It was the image of a woman in yellow, coughing up blood. Qing Zhi wore a worried expression and the two conversed a little before the woman fainted. Qing Zhi then panicked. He seemed to have thought of something, so after setting the woman down and placing a camouflage spell over her, he rode away on the wind.
It was exactly as Qing Zhi had told Lin Jin earlier.
However, shortly after Qing Zhi left, a mysterious human silhouette appeared. This person materialized out of nowhere as if he had been here all along. Qing Zhi and the oriole hadn’t noticed his presence at all.
The man’s countenance couldn’t be seen but he wore black robes. With a fling of his sleeve, he swept out a gust of dark wind to take the oriole away before jumping up, disappearing without a trace.
Qing Zhi’s eyes widened and the veins on his forehead were on the brink of bursting. If the enemy was here, he would have killed them immediately.
After all, if the love of one’s life had been kidnapped, and her fate remains unknown, they wouldn’t be able to sit still either. The same principle applied to immortals.
To an extent, they were human too.
“That person has strong cultivation and he has been here this whole time. Qing Zhi, you should report this to your sect and let Miao Yan Zhenren make a decision,” Lin Jin suggested.
It was the most sensible choice. Although this was the sect’s rear mountain, an area that separated the sect and the outside land, he still had to report this incident.
Since the kidnapper had already left, leaving no traces behind, what could they do even if they found him? The man in black was too much for Qing Zhi and Lin Jin to handle, even if they fought together.
Reporting this incident was their next best option.
Yet, Qing Zhi hesitated and was nervous.
He knew that action might not be taken even if he reported it to the sect. By dating the oriole in secret, he had already gone against the sect’s rules so coming clean wouldn’t do him any good.
Qing Zhi knew that he had no other choice. Mr. Lin was right, that the man in black was too powerful and his movements were discreet. It wouldn’t be easy to track him down, and Qing Zhi alone couldn’t save the oriole either.
Even if it meant being punished by the sect, Qing Zhi would accept it.
Lin Jin could see Qing Zhi’s worries. “Don’t worry too much. If we see Miao Yan Zhenren or Chen Xuankong, I’ll help you put in a good word.”
Qing Zhi thanked him.
However, a voice suddenly spoke up from beside them.
“You’re a beast appraiser? Interesting!”
Simultaneously, a black wind circled below Lin Jin’s feet. Even Lin Jin couldn’t react in time and was swept up by the black gust. In the blink of an eye, he had flown out of the Mystery Dao Sect, and into the miasma.
It all happened so quickly that even Qing Zhi couldn’t react in time, never mind Lin Jin. When Qing Zhi regained his senses, Lin Jin was already ‘kidnapped’.
“Ah, oh no!” Qing Zhi was frightened out of his wits.
The oriole being kidnapped was a huge deal for him, but it probably meant nothing to the sect. Now, the kidnapper took Lin Jin too.
Things became serious. As a disciple of the Mystery Dao Sect, it was not surprising that Qing Zhi knew the purpose of Mr. Lin’s visit; he was brought here to treat Mr. Qi!
Who was Mr. Qi?
Qing Zhi knew him too. He wanted to pursue them but he didn’t know where to begin. Then, he suddenly felt himself being smacked on the back of his head by a bat. Dizzy from the shock, he couldn’t even stand straight.
Even then, Qing Zhi was still an immortal. He acted swiftly without hesitation, so he immediately cast a spell.
A ray of light shot up and exploded in the sky.
It was an amulet unique to the disciples of the Mystery Dao Sect, and it was used to alert the others about an impending danger. No one was to use it recklessly. At the sight of this alarm, every disciple of the Mystery Dao Sect, no matter who they were or what they were doing, had to come to the scene, even if it meant suffering a backlash by pulling on the brakes too hard.
It didn’t take much to imagine how severe the punishment would be if someone misused this signal.
However, Qing Zhi knew he had to use it now. Mr. Lin being kidnapped was a huge issue. The sect had to be informed at once.
Sure enough, the loud explosion alerted the entire Mystery Dao Sect.
