Yong Shanling forced a dry laugh. "You've been running around with Li Zhuo a lot these days. Why are you still so eager for this one?"
"By the way, I've got some news about Yun Shan," Yong Shanling said, nervously twiddling her fingers and stealing glances at Mu Yijie from the corner of her eye. "It turns out he's the number one cultivator in the cultivation world. He's the first one to reach the Tribulation Transcendence stage in five hundred years and the most likely one to ascend. But he disappeared twenty years ago, and no one has any idea where he is."
Yong Shanling excitedly shared the news with everyone and proudly declared, "Hey, am I amazing? I found out about Yun Shan as soon as I got here."
"Come on," Hou Hua bluntly retorted. "The news about Yun Shan probably spreads across the entire cultivation world. I bet you're the only bumpkin who didn't know."
Caught in her boast, Yong Shanling glared angrily at this hateful woman. Couldn't she just give her some face in front of Uncle Mu? Didn't she have any dignity?
"You abandoned me," Hou Hua said, refusing to look at the little troublemaker.
Feeling guilty, Yong Shanling quickly continued, "And my master. He probably didn't come. There are hardly any people who even know his name. He always brags about how powerful he is. Hmph, what a liar!"
Hearing Yong Shanling mention her master, Mu Yijie's heart skipped a beat. "Does your master often meet with friends?"
Yong Shanling thought of the friends in the alley who danced square - dance with her grandpa and obediently nodded.
Mu Yijie secretly laughed at his own over - sensitivity. How could Ling'er's master be Yun Shan? If he often met with friends, there was no way he could have kept his identity completely secret.
Just then, a conversation nearby caught their attention. They saw several burly men sitting in a nearby restaurant, talking loudly. Without making it obvious, they walked into the restaurant and sat down at a nearby table.
"Damn it! How on earth did Yun Shan cultivate? For all these years, he's the only one who has reached the Tribulation Transcendence stage. Elders from the Small Kunlun are only at the Void - Opening stage. No one from the Artifact Refining Sect or the Nine Great Families has even reached the Great Ascension stage. This is just not right," one man said.
"Who knows? Maybe he has some magical treasure. Do you think he discovered some ancient ruins?" another one guessed.
"Damn it! If he ever shows up in front of me, I'll definitely ask him how he cultivated. He's hogging all the good stuff for himself, not even thinking about how the cultivation world has declined," a third man growled.
"Yeah, in my opinion, we should capture him and force him to reveal his secrets. Hehe," another chimed in.
"Right! Good things should be shared. It's so selfish to keep them all to himself."
...
Li Zhuo swaggered over with a jug of wine. "Hey, guys, I'd like to ask you something." As he said, he poured each of them a cup of wine.
The men exchanged glances. Sensing that Li Zhuo didn't reveal any spiritual energy, they felt quite wary.
One of them, who seemed to be the leader, squinted his eyes and laughed heartily. "Just ask. We'll tell you everything we know."
"I wonder if any of you have heard of Zhou Chengzi?" Li Zhuo slowly refilled the men's cups.
The men exchanged looks again. One of them hesitated and said, "We've only heard of Wang Cheng and Zhang Yunzi. We've never heard of Zhou Chengzi."
"May I ask what business you have with this person? We can help you ask around among our acquaintances."
"No need. It's just a junior in our family who went out alone. The elders in the family are worried, so they sent us to check on him," Mu Yijie stood behind Li Zhuo, his hand on Li Zhuo's shoulder. He lifted the corner of his mouth slightly and said distantly.
Li Zhuo narrowed his eyes and laughed heartily. "Yeah, the elders in our family are just so worried. They wish they could call us hundreds of times a day."
"Haha, that's just how elders are. They always worry."
"Guys, this jug of wine is on me." After saying that, Li Zhuo and Mu Yijie calmly slipped away.
After they walked out of the restaurant, Li Zhuo curiously asked, "What just happened? I don't think I did anything wrong."
"Uncle Li, the fact that you don't have a powerful backer is your biggest problem. Those guys were already feeling for their knives. They're probably fallen demons," Yong Shanling explained.
"Fallen demons?!!!" Li Zhuo exclaimed. "What are fallen demons? Do they eat people?"
Yong Shanling gave him a disdainful look. "We're all cultivators. Even fallen demons are still human, okay? They don't eat people. They eat people's merits. Once they suck away your merits, you're in big trouble. At best, you'll choke on water or trip while walking. At worst, you'll get in a car accident, be hit by something, or even be killed by someone..."
Li Zhuo's face turned paler and paler. Just thinking about the possibility of dying from various accidents instead of in his beloved extreme sports made him break out in a cold sweat.
"This is so cruel! How do you cultivate? Will you also suck away my merits?" Li Zhuo dramatically hugged his chest.
Yong Shanling jumped up and slapped his head hard. "We're cultivators on the right path. We cultivate by eliminating demons and absorbing spiritual energy. Hmph!"
After that, they returned to the Northern Country Hotel to settle down. In the following days, they divided into groups to conduct investigations.
Yong Shanling and Mu Yijie were in one group, while Hou Hua, Li Zhuo, and Ye Qinghe were in another.
After two days of investigation, they didn't make any substantial progress. All they got were some gossips.
The most beautiful cultivator in the cultivation world has been chasing the head of the Ye family from foreign countries to China for a hundred years.
Some sword cultivators accidentally triggered a tsunami during a competition.
The Beast Sect accidentally caused a crab infestation while trying to breed a new type of spiritual beast.
An airplane crashed into the Bermuda Trading House, and the people on board have become their slaves.
...
Yong Shanling was stunned. She never knew there were so many secrets in the human world. After they regrouped and exchanged information, finding no progress, they decided to suspend the investigation on Yun Shan and her master.
Instead, they turned to search for information about spiritual herbs. If necessary, they could even enter Yun Shan.
Before leaving, Ye Qinghe stuffed a bottle of Returning Spiritual Pills into the hands of Yong Shanling and Mu Yijie respectively. He made them in a week according to the pill recipe he got from Yong Shanling.
"Thank you, Qinghe. You're amazing!" Yong Shanling didn't hesitate to praise him.
Yong Shanling and Mu Yijie decided to set off right away. But before that, they went to a stall and bought two black cloaks that could block detection from cultivators below the Golden Core stage.
They found a group of people and followed them.
Yong Shanling tightly held Mu Yijie's hand and followed closely behind them. Fortunately, Yong Shanling had already reached the Golden Core stage after her recovery. Otherwise, with her previous level, she wouldn't have been able to hide her aura at all.
"Who's there? Show yourself!" Suddenly, the group stopped.