After boarding the flying boat, he chose a corner to sit in, not taking the initiative to talk to anyone, and acted as if strangers should not approach him. He spent two days in this way, and when he arrived at the next location to see Xiaocheng, he disembarked from the flying boat with the others.
Jianxiao City is the only city with a teleportation array leading to the floating city, which means that there must be merfolk and humans maintaining the teleportation array together in this city.
Apart from Meng Shui, who relied on sheer courage, most of the merfolk who managed to come to human territory were highly skilled in cultivation.
Compared to airships, teleportation arrays have no other drawbacks except for their high price.
This place is quite far from Yunhan City. In the past two days, Fu Mingxu couldn't help but think of Hantao. After his initial confusion, he felt a bit guilty for leaving without saying goodbye.
He hoped the other party wouldn't be angry. He thought that Han Tao still had the Dragon Clan and Yunhan City to manage, and it was unlikely that he would accompany him to find some floating city whose location was still unknown.
Moreover, he left a message saying that he would definitely go back in six months to check on the condition of the demonic seed in his body.
Half a year is like a tiny wave in the vast ocean of the Dragon Clan's long history.
Of course, to avoid any accidents, he still shamelessly sent a message to Qi Muyuan, asking him to contact Han Tao in five days and keep an eye on the demonic seed in his body.
He thought that Qi Muyuan and Han Tao had a close private tutoring relationship, so he felt that there shouldn't be a big problem.
Qi Muyuan, upon receiving the message, asked in a somewhat exaggerated tone: "You ran away?"
Fu Mingxu felt a pang of panic at his words, and forced a smile: "What do you mean by running away? Sect Leader Qi is joking."
Qi Muyuan hit the nail on the head: "Then why don't you wait until he comes out of seclusion before saying anything?"
Looking at the people coming and going in Jianxiao City, Fu Mingxu adjusted his veil, leaned against a railing, and said solemnly, "The matter is urgent. I have already left a message for him."
Qi Muyuan didn't believe a word he said, but he knew he couldn't persuade him otherwise, so he just said, "I will do what you said, after all, he is also my friend."
He then kindly reminded him, "I hope you have good luck."
These words sounded ominous, so Fu Mingxu smiled and pretended not to hear them.
Qi Muyuan laughed after cutting off the communication. The disciples below felt a little uneasy when they saw their sect leader grinning.
Tsk, a dragon is about to go crazy.
The teleportation array to the floating city wouldn't open until the next day, so Fu Mingxu decided to find a place to stay in Xiaocheng first.
He saw some cultivators who had come down from the flying boat enter an inn, and after thinking for a moment, he also went there.
Just as he was halfway there, a surprised voice suddenly rang out behind him: "Fellow Daoist Fu, is that you?"
The voice sounded familiar. Fu Mingxu turned around and saw Yan Yun standing there with something in his hand. Beside him was Li Chixue, whom he hadn't seen for a long time.
When they saw him turn around, surprise flashed across their faces simultaneously.
Unexpectedly, I ran into an acquaintance in Jianxiao City, which made me feel a little less awkward in this unfamiliar place.
Yan Yun really didn't expect to run into him here. He glanced at his senior brother, tugged at his sleeve, and whispered, "Senior brother, it really is Fellow Daoist Fu."
Fu Mingxu nodded politely to the two of them, the veil on his hat fluttering as it peeked out half of his delicate, fair chin.
Li Chixue was pulled forward by Yan Yun but did not resist. When she reached him, she managed to utter a sentence: "Long time no see."
Yan Yun glanced behind him and asked curiously, "Is Fellow Daoist Fu alone? Where is City Lord Han?"
Fu Mingxu hadn't expected him to ask that, and simply smiled and said, "Only me."
As for the rest, although he had a relationship with both of them, there was no need to explain it so clearly.
Yan Yun's face flashed with surprise, but she quickly calmed down. Li Chixue's gaze swept over the edge of the veil for a moment before she asked, "You want to go to the Floating City?"
Now it was Fu Mingxu's turn to be surprised: "How did you know? Are you going too?"
“Most of the people who come to see Xiaocheng want to go to the Floating City,” Yan Yun said with a smile. With Han Tao not around, he felt no pressure and only genuinely regarded Fu Mingxu as a friend. “You may not know, but Qingheng Sect is nearby. Xiaocheng belongs to our sect, and the teleportation array here is maintained jointly by us and the merfolk.”
He looked at Li Chixue and continued, "This time, the activation of the teleportation array was handled by my senior brother."
"What a coincidence!" Fu Mingxu thought to himself.
His gaze fell on Li Chixue through the spiritual veil, and he made a token compliment: "Fellow Daoist Li is indeed a promising young man."
After all, not every cultivator can activate and maintain a long-distance teleportation array.
As more and more people gathered, Li Chixue overheard their conversation. He gently shook off his junior brother's grip on his sleeve and looked at Fu Mingxu: "There are too many people here today. The inns in the city are probably already full."
Before he could finish speaking, Fu Mingxu noticed that many inns had already put up signs saying they were full. Many cultivators who had arrived late and hadn't managed to get a room were arguing in front of the doors, creating a chaotic scene.
Li Chixue followed his gaze and spoke at the opportune moment: "Qingheng Sect is not far away, perhaps you can consider spending the night there. Tomorrow you can go to the teleportation array with me, so you won't be late."
A note from the author:
Fu Mingxu: That was close! I was almost attacked. I'll run first.
Han Tao: What happened...?
Chapter 66
Fu Mingxu politely declined Li Chixue's suggestion. He didn't see the slight disappointment that flashed across her eyes, and simply chuckled, "Thank you both for your kindness, but I'll just find a place to spend the night. It's best not to disturb your sect."
Yan Yun didn't expect him to refuse. She wanted to persuade him again, but when she met the look in her senior brother's eyes, she had no choice but to shut up.
The three exchanged a few more words. Seeing that Fu Mingxu had made up his mind, Li Chixue said calmly, "Then you should hurry up and find a place to stay."
Fu Mingxu nodded, and then heard him add, "If we don't find it before dark, send us a message."
Yan Yun quietly raised her finger to him and quickly said, "Qingheng Sect has plenty of guest rooms. We're all friends, so don't be too polite."
Since the two had gone this far, Fu Mingxu couldn't refuse again, so he just smiled, nodded, and agreed.
The three naturally exchanged communication methods. The two watched him leave, and Yan Yun finally couldn't help but ask, "Senior brother, as long as we extend a warm invitation, Fellow Daoist Fu will definitely come to Qingheng Sect as a guest with us."
He glanced at Li Chixue's cold face and asked anxiously, "Don't you want him to go?"
Seeing that there were quite a few cultivators in Xiaocheng, Fu Mingxu turned around and disappeared from their sight in a few turns.
Li Chixue's hands, hidden in his sleeves, tightened. His sword-like eyes were fixed on the flag under the eaves. He didn't answer Yan Yun's question directly, but instead said, "Can you leave him in the Qingheng Sect forever?"
Even if he can stay at Qingheng Sect tonight, the actual distance might be less.
What about tomorrow?
Yan Yun didn't understand what he meant. She only felt that her senior brother was too rigid, but she also felt that it was not good to openly undermine the city lord of Yunhan City, so she stopped talking.
Moreover, seeing his senior brother's indifferent attitude towards Fellow Daoist Fu today, without showing any enthusiasm, he vaguely realized that he was overthinking things.
The two left Jianxiao City in silence. Yan Yun passed by a man dressed in purple robes with white blindfolds. He was amazed by the man's appearance and demeanor, but felt annoyed to see his senior brother still looking straight ahead.
After walking until they were in a deserted place, he finally couldn't help but ask, "Senior brother, do you really have no romantic feelings for Fellow Daoist Fu at all?"
His question was so direct that Li Chixue paused, her eyes turning cold as she looked at him.
Yan Yun felt a little guilty under his gaze, but she wasn't afraid of him. Since she had already asked, she simply blurted it out: "I always felt that you treated Fellow Daoist Fu differently."
After the words were spoken, there was a long silence.
Li Chixue remained silent for so long that Yan Yun almost gave up on answering her.
“Nothing is different.” Li Chixue stood straight, like a snow-covered pine tree atop a high mountain, proudly standing between heaven and earth. “You’re overthinking it.”
After saying that, he stepped over Yan Yun and walked towards the direction of Qingheng Sect.
Yan Yun was stunned by his concise and direct denial. After he reacted, he thought about what Li Chixue said and actually felt that what he said might be right.
After all, even in the secret realm, he hadn't seen his senior brother do anything inappropriate towards Fellow Daoist Fu.
Am I just overthinking things?
Yan Yun began to have serious doubts about his previous judgment. He stared at Li Chixue's proud back for a while, shook his head, and then quickly followed her.
A gentle breeze blew through the mountains, and the rustling of the leaves seemed to carry a faint sigh. This sound was carried away by the wind and vanished into the world in an instant, as if it had never existed.
...
Inside Xiaocheng, Fu Mingxu spent half an hour finally finding a guest room that had been overlooked.
Aside from being a bit small and out of the way, this inn has no other drawbacks. At worst, I can just get up a little earlier tomorrow morning.
To avoid causing any trouble, he didn't come out of the guest room after entering. After setting up several defensive magic arrays, he casually took off his veil, adjusted his sleeves, sat down, drank a glass of water, and then sat down to think about other things.
Cautious as he was, he drank the water he had prepared from his storage bag. He then ate two sweet-tasting fasting pills with the water, and the hunger in his stomach vanished the moment the pills dissolved.
Fu Mingxu smacked his lips, feeling no pleasure in eating.
But now was not the time to be picky. As night fell, he did not sleep, but instead chose to meditate on his bed. However, he kept dozing off in the middle of the night because he was not used to meditating, and he only breathed a sigh of relief when dawn broke.
He got up, feeling only soreness in his back and waist.
Forget it, I'll just sleep next time. Meditation really isn't for him, except for finding a trace of the feeling of wandering the Cangling Continent alone.
As the first rays of sunlight touched the earth, he received a message from Li Chixue.
"The teleportation array will be activated at 9:00 AM. Remember this."
Li Chixue's voice was as clear and cold as snow, truly sobering.
Fu Mingxu hadn't expected him to remind him so early in the morning. He appreciated the kindness and replied, "Thank you."
He glanced at the sky and decided it would be best to go and wait early, since although it was a teleportation array, it wouldn't just teleport him alone.
On the other side, Li Chixue stood at the sect entrance for a while, clutching the teleportation talisman in his palm. Then, as if remembering something, he turned back towards the sect's mission hall.
He arrived at the mission hall in no time, his gaze falling on the missions at the top. He said to the steward beside him, "I'll take the mission at the top."
"Huh?" The manager was clearly stunned.
Li Chixue's expression remained unchanged as she looked at him and repeated, "Please write this down for me."
Then, he transformed into a streak of sword light and departed.
The manager then realized what was happening, looked at the task at the top of the projection stone, and after thinking for a moment, wrote down Li Chixue's name.
[Search for Jiao Dan.]
However, these four words were marked as an extremely dangerous mission that could only be undertaken by those who had not reached the Golden Core stage.
Although the Qingheng Sect and the Merfolk jointly maintain the teleportation array leading to the Floating City, this does not mean that the two sides are as close as family. Moreover, the sect has even explicitly stipulated that disciples are not allowed to go to the Floating City unless absolutely necessary.
But accepting this mission is indeed a reason to go to the floating city.
But why did Li Chixue suddenly accept this task? The steward couldn't figure it out, but since his actions didn't violate the sect's rules, he couldn't say anything more.
He suddenly remembered that it was time for Li Chixue to take over the teleportation array today, and a disciple would go to take over, since the same disciple couldn't be allowed to maintain the array.