Chapter 1360: Traveling Through the Starry Night

Li Yan was accompanying Shangguan Tianque on important business for this trip. He had to finish what was on his hands and would only have time to go after returning to the sect.

Hearing this, although Donglin Tingyue was very anxious, when she thought about what Liu Huaigu had said to Shangguan Tianque earlier, she had a related guess. No matter how she negotiated now, Li Yan would not immediately rush back to her family with her. She was also tactful enough not to get entangled in this matter. Fortunately, the “Broken Army Sect” and the “Donglin Family” belonged to the same power, and the distance between the two families was much closer than to the market. There was only a distance of tens of thousands of li between the two families. For their Nascent Soul cultivators, this would not take too much time at all. And if Donglin Tingyue were to go back, most of the journey would be on the same path as Li Yan and the others.

After returning to the inn, just as the three of them were walking towards their respective rooms, Donglin Tingyue’s voice sounded in Shangguan Tianque’s mind.

“If Fellow Daoist Shangguan has finished your business, and if you still believe this little sister, this little sister is willing to return with you!”

Shangguan Tianque’s footsteps paused slightly. He was also an extremely intelligent person and instantly understood the meaning in Donglin Tingyue’s words. The other party should have already seen through his plans, that he would leave here at any time. And this departure would definitely be quiet and silent, not wanting others to know. He had rented this place for half a month precisely to make it so that even if others inquired, they still couldn’t determine the time he left the market.

And Donglin Tingyue’s words had another layer of meaning. If he agreed to let her leave with them, if something were to happen along the way, she might help him. The key here was whether he trusted her or not. Shangguan Tianque pondered for a moment and immediately transmitted his voice to her.

“Just be ready, Fellow Daoist!”

Subsequently, Shangguan Tianque walked towards his room. He had already guessed about the transaction between Donglin Tingyue and Li Yan. Donglin Tingyue was not in a hurry to return to her family. One, the two of them had not been able to complete the transaction immediately, but it shouldn’t be the kind where the transaction had failed. This could be seen from Donglin Tingyue’s attitude. The biggest reason probably lay with Li Yan. And Donglin Tingyue, unable to complete the transaction immediately, probably wanted to look for other opportunities in the market.

Secondly, after Donglin Tingyue got the detoxification pill, she had the same worries as him, afraid of being alone and weak, and encountering accidents on the way back. After considering the relationship between their two families, she chose to trust him and planned to return with him, so that they could look out for each other on the road. It had to be said that at their level, even their eyelashes were hollow. Often, from an inadvertent sentence from the other party, one could guess many things, and it would be extremely close to the truth.

On the morning of the fourth day, Shangguan Tianque took Li Yan to the auction house. This time, he did not call for Donglin Tingyue. If she was willing to go, she would probably want to go alone. Everyone had their own privacy, and it was better to maintain a certain distance. After everyone entered the auction house, the auction house would give each person a black robe that covered them from head to toe. After putting on this robe, with the suppression of the auction house’s formation, it was said that cultivators below the Body Integration stage shouldn’t even think about knowing who was under the black robe.

Their voices would all be changed to various tones that did not match their own, and after putting on the black robe, everyone’s height and build were exactly the same. You couldn’t even tell from their figure whether they were male or female, old or young, or if they were the person you suspected. This was a form of protection the auction house provided for all its guests. When leaving, the guests would also leave one by one through different channels at intervals. This was the important reason why everyone felt at ease with the auction house.

Only those who entered together, like Shangguan Tianque and Li Yan, would know who each other were. Therefore, Shangguan Tianque didn’t want to know if Donglin Tingyue would enter the auction house. He also didn’t want others to know when he had entered. After leaving the inn, the two of them found a place to change their appearance…

Time flew by, and half a day quickly passed. When Li Yan and Shangguan Tianque returned to the inn in separate batches, no one knew where they had gone. Of course, you could suspect that they had gone to the auction house, but at least you had no idea if they had participated in the bidding after entering, if they had won anything, and so on. Or, they might have just been wandering around the market, you couldn’t be sure.

After returning to his room, Li Yan began to sit cross-legged and meditate. Earlier at the auction house, Shangguan Tianque had ultimately spared no expense and had really won the bid for that twin-stalked “Void Silver Grass.” Li Yan estimated that Shangguan Tianque’s Spirit Stones were almost depleted. But fortunately, at this auction, quite a few medicinal herbs that could help Nascent Soul cultivators break through had appeared.

There were fewer people competing for them. Even with people like Liu Huaigu around, they couldn’t be sure what Shangguan Tianque was ultimately interested in, and which raw material he needed. He couldn’t possibly join in and raise the price for every item he suspected Shangguan Tianque was bidding for. If he made a mistake, he would have to buy it. If he called out a price recklessly and didn’t have enough Spirit Stones himself, a mere Nascent Soul cultivator, daring to disrupt the merchant’s reputation, might not even be able to walk out of this market alive.

When Li Yan saw the “Void Silver Grass” appear, although Shangguan Tianque’s voice had become very deep after putting on the black robe, he could still hear the suppression in his voice. It was the anger he was trying to suppress against those who were raising the price after he had raised it time and time again, and also a deep worry.

Upon returning to the inn, Li Yan immediately entered a state of meditative breath regulation. He planned to keep his state at its peak. After bidding for that “Void Silver Grass,” Shangguan Tianque had immediately sent him a voice transmission that they would leave the market on the night of the third day. Shangguan Tianque did not choose to leave immediately after this auction, of course to avoid the attention and speculation of some people at this time.

In the dead of night three days later, after Li Yan left the inn alone, his Divine Sense began to probe in all directions. After confirming that no one had noticed him, he flashed into a long alley… When he came out again, he had already turned into a bald old man in a grey shirt. Staggering along, he quickly blended into the night market ahead. Many places in the market were open day and night. Often, the night markets in some places were even more crowded than during the day, with people coming and going in a bustling scene.

After entering several shops, Li Yan spent a good half an hour wandering around the free market before slowly walking along the street towards the southwest. There was a market exit there. At this time, there were also many cultivators leaving the market. Many of them were unwilling to stay here for one night and save a large sum of Spirit Stones. So, once they had bought what they wanted, they would leave immediately. However, most of them were in groups of two or three, or even four or five, traveling together…

Three hundred li southwest of the market, this was already outside the jurisdiction of the market. In the dark night, the mountains were like crouching monsters, near and far, giving people a cold and chilling feeling. It was as if they would pounce out at any moment and devour people! And in the dense jungles and grasslands, various strange sounds could be heard from time to time, like the eerie laughter of a night owl, or the low growl of a ferocious beast in the dark night.

High in the sky, a figure landed silently in a mountain stream in a forest in a valley. The stream here gurgled past, making a clear gurgling sound, which traveled far and wide in the night. The black and white light reflected by the starlight in the sky made the scene here seem extremely dark and gloomy.

When this figure landed, the person immediately looked around. Just as he was sweeping his gaze around, a ghost-like shadow suddenly revealed itself from the shadow of a giant rock in front of the mountain stream. That person appeared silently, so the moment his figure was revealed, it gave the person who had landed in the mountain stream a shock. Then, he saw a bald old man in a grey shirt standing there in the moonlight. The bald old man in the grey shirt made a strange gesture to the newcomer, and the newcomer immediately relaxed.

The newcomer also chuckled lightly and immediately formed a strange hand seal in his hand.

“Elder Li has good means. I didn’t even notice you were already hiding here. I thought I had arrived early.”

Under the light of the night, one could see that the newcomer was a fat and large monk. He was patting his own shining head and laughing. But the light laughter that came out did not match his fat and large figure, and it sounded very gentle.

“I also just arrived. Since you are here, let’s hurry up and get on our way. The sooner we get back, the better!”

The bald old man in the grey shirt was none other than Li Yan. He looked at the portly fat and large monk in front of him. He had also not expected Shangguan Tianque to have transformed into such an appearance. It was indeed extremely difficult to connect him with his original self. The two of them had both transformed their appearances. To avoid any misunderstanding, they had already agreed on a confirmation gesture for when they met. And at this time, the two of them were both speaking in their own voices, so they quickly confirmed each other’s identities.

“Let’s wait a little longer. Fairy Tingyue hasn’t come over yet!” Shangguan Tianque then used a voice transmission. And he quickly chose a shadow and instantly blended into it.

“Oh? She’s also coming back with us?”

“She had made this request, but we only set the return time at the end of the auction, so we didn’t rush to inform her. I only sent her a voice transmission this evening, so I’m not sure if she will be willing to leave with us today. We’ll wait here for another half an hour and then set off!” Shangguan Tianque said via voice transmission, his voice revealing a calm and steady tone, without any further explanation for concealing this from Li Yan.

Hearing this, Li Yan’s heart stirred.

‘This Shangguan Tianque is so careful. He only told me about this matter at this time, and he also only notified Donglin Tingyue at the last minute…’

As for Donglin Tingyue’s request to leave together, Li Yan guessed it was probably related to him. The other party was probably afraid that something would happen to him, so she wanted to travel with them to ensure his safety. As for Shangguan Tianque’s actions, although Li Yan was not happy about it in his heart, thinking that he was not too familiar with the other party, it was normal for him to be on guard. And he himself had also hidden many things, which the other party should be able to guess some of. So, the two of them could not be said to be close friends, only that they trusted each other from the perspective of the sect.

However, as long as the other party had no intention of plotting against him, Li Yan would just do his part. He wouldn’t care too much about it. The other party had led the “Broken Army Sect” to make a name for itself and had survived until now. This was also inseparable from the other’s caution. Otherwise, they would have been eaten by others long ago, with not even the bones left. As for this, Li Yan could be considered to understand. Hadn’t he himself also borrowed the other’s place to stay for the time being? Once he was ready to go to the Azure Pavilion Realm, then in his future years, he would have no more contact with them.

Subsequently, the two of them hid in another place and quietly began to transmit their voices again. After about the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, another figure quietly landed in the mountain stream…

In the night, on a “White Jade Skiff” flying magical treasure, three people stood on it. Li Yan and Shangguan Tianque’s transformed appearances had not been restored, and they remained as they were before. At the bow of the skiff, Shangguan Tianque and Donglin Tingyue were exchanging voice transmissions, while Li Yan stood at the back with his hands behind his back. He released his Divine Sense and was scanning in all directions. In the night, near and far, there were streaks of light streaking across the sky.

They were not the only three traveling in the night. It was just that after sensing each other, they would choose to deviate from each other’s route by some distance, clearly not wanting to cause trouble. This “White Jade Skiff” was also a flying magical treasure that Shangguan Tianque had taken out. He had not used the Green Cloud Sparrow from when they came, so as not to be recognized by familiar people and have their origins investigated. He was truly careful in everything he did.

Li Yan looked at the young man standing next to the fat and large monk in front and couldn’t help but say in his heart.

‘He’s really so concerned about his appearance. Even when he transforms into a man, he has to be incredibly handsome. Doesn’t that still attract attention? The effect is greatly diminished!’

At this moment, Donglin Tingyue had already transformed into a young man, but he was a handsome and elegant young master of a chaotic world. Although Li Yan didn’t know what her appearance was like under the silver mask, he still felt that her transformation into such an appearance was still a bit eye-catching. For Li Yan, he would never do this.

Under the starlight, various flying magical treasures turned into streaks of meteors of different colors, flashing past like arrows, making the night sky look magnificent and brilliant, like a dream… But under this dreamlike starry sky, there were many things like killing people and stealing treasures constantly happening. The three of them just took advantage of the night and flew towards the southwest!

Five days later, only Li Yan was left at the front of the “White Jade Skiff.” The other two were sitting cross-legged at the back, meditating with their eyes closed. The three of them had only chatted about some things in the early stages, and then there were not many topics to talk about. Especially after Donglin Tingyue had indirectly asked about Li Yan’s origins several times, seeing that he was very cautious about it and was unwilling to talk much, she had given up the idea of probing for information.

Later, the three of them divided the work slightly. Each person took turns to control the “White Jade Skiff,” paying attention to the movements around them at all times, while the other two meditated and rested. And so, the three of them traveled all the way, and the journey was quite peaceful. After all, the three of them all exuded the aura of the Nascent Soul realm. They were considered a not-weak team here. Unless a cultivator at the Spirit Transformation realm or above bullied the weak, otherwise, few other cultivators would come looking for trouble.