At that time, Nian Hong Fang had pulled over the two people he had met to ask them for help. "Junior martial brother Xiao, junior martial brother Shao, you have to help me!"
Yes, the two people Nian Hong Fang had found were precisely Xiao Dong and Shao Hai who had just returned from the mission their Master had given them.
The two of them exchanged a glance and raised their brows in surprise. They had become acquainted with both Wu Min Huan and Nian Hong Fang back when they entered the inner sect. Most of the people there had thought that they had a poor foundation and wouldn't amount to much since they had come from the outer sect. In their eyes, Xiao Dong and Shao Hai obviously weren't talented geniuses but only someone who had worked hard and thus somehow managed to squeeze in. Because of that, they looked down on them and tried to reduce the time they had to spend with them.
Among the few exceptions were these two people. Wu Min Huan had been down on his luck since his Master had taken in Yu Jin so he actually felt quite close to these people that had been 'abandoned' in the same way he had. On the other hand, Nian Hong Fang had always had a gentle temperament and was easy to get along with. As somebody who had achieved his status not by cultivating or practicing sword arts but by relying on his achievements with alchemy, he also had a different perspective on lots of matters.
Now that they saw this person so distressed, Xiao Dong and Shao Hai were naturally much more concerned than they would have been if it had been somebody else.
"Senior martial brother Nian, what might be the matter?"
Nian Hong Fang glanced at the dark-clad person that was getting further and further away and waved at the two of them to follow him. "I'm afraid I won't be able to explain everything right now. You see that person up front? I think that he might have some information regarding Zhi Wu."
Xiao Dong raised his golden brows. "Your … vanished lover?" He couldn't help but feel astonished. As far as he was concerned, humans were fickle creatures that would just leave each other if their feelings faded. They weren't like dragons who would be faithful even past their death. Thus he had honestly thought that that Ma Zhi Wu had just left Nian Hong Fang and didn't want to return. As harsh as it sounded, that did seem like the most plausible explanation to him.
Nian Hong Fang nodded widely, his eyes tearing up. "Yes, he actually wrote me a letter, indicating that he wasn't doing very well. I don't know what exactly happened but it seems that he is imprisoned somewhere and in big trouble. We have to find out where he is!"
Xiao Dong and Shao Hai once again exchanged a glance. This time, it was Shao Hai who took the lead.
"Don't worry about it, senior martial brother Nian. We will definitely help you out. What can we do?"
"Well, I made a copy of that letter in the hope that it will give us some clues but I'm not sure if it will be enough. I thought about following that man but my fighting abilities aren't very high. I'm also not too good at tracking somebody. Maybe you two could …?" He gave the two a glance, feeling a bit of a guilty conscience.
Not even the Sect Master had wanted to help him or he would have sent somebody out to investigate long ago. Could he really expect two junior martial brothers to do something like this? Especially since this was dangerous. It wasn't just investigating some clues. They would directly go to the place where Ma Zhi Wu was being held if things were as he thought.
Since these people had already dared to imprison Zhi Wu, there was no saying how they would treat the other disciples of the Yun Zou Sect. After all, they obviously didn't care about who was behind him. Otherwise, they already would've set Zhi Wu free. But now that nothing had happened to them for five years in way of retaliation, they should be even more arrogant and look down on the Yun Zou Sect. They probably wouldn't expect to run into any trouble regardless of what they did.
Shao Hai shook his head. "Don't worry about it. We're all part of the same sect. Naturally, we should help out one of our senior martial brothers if he gets into trouble. And anyway, if it's a pair of lovers that's being torn apart, then we should lend a helping hand even more so. Isn't that right?" He looked at Xiao Dong who begrudgingly nodded his head.
Well, he didn't mind helping. Anyway, his king and his king's beloved weren't there so this was another good opportunity to spend more time with Shao Hai and cultivate some feelings between them. After all, he still hadn't forgotten the task he had been assigned. It was a pity that he hadn't made any progress in the last years.
The two of them bid goodbye to Nian Hong Fang, telling him to go back to the sect while they would follow that other man to wherever Ma Zhi Wu was being held.
When the person in front finally slowed down, Xiao Dong and Shao Hai couldn't help but blink their eyes. In the last few years, they had traveled around quite a bit and naturally come to know disciples from several other sects. Seeing the place where this man was headed to, they had a very bad feeling.
"That's … Isn't that the Chun Feng Sect?" Xiao Dong raised a brow and turned to his friend, his lips twitching. If he remembered correctly, then this sect had a very good relationship with the Yun Zou Sect. Why would the person that knew something about this Ma Zhi Wu's disappearance go to the Chun Feng Sect? This was unscientific!
If one of their allies knew about a missing disciple of theirs, wouldn't that person tell the Yun Zou Sect about it? But if that was the case, then this Ma Zhi Wu wouldn't have been gone for five years without a word. Then what was going on here?
Shao Hai's thoughts were about the same so he could only shake his head. "It is but I don't understand either. What should we do now?"
"I don't know. Follow him further in?"
Shao Hai nodded. "We probably should but what if they see us? We can hardly say that we followed somebody over to find our missing disciple here, can we?"
"No but I guess we don't have any other choice, do we? We can't just return and say that the guy went to the Chun Feng Sect. Wouldn't that sound as if we were purposefully making trouble? After all, our sects have a good relationship with each other. They shouldn't have anything to do with our missing disciple."
Shao Hai pursed his lips and nodded. "They really shouldn't. I do wonder why that guy came here though."
Xiao Dong shrugged his shoulders and then inched closer to the Chun Feng Sect, keeping his eyes trained on the disciple that was bringing the letter back. "Who knows? Maybe it's some kind of diversion tactic or something. We don't even have to understand. We just need to follow him and see what he does. If he leaves again and goes somewhere else, then we'll follow along. If he stays here … Well, I guess we'll take a look around and see if that Ma Zhi Wu is indeed here. Then we'll know and can go and report back."
Shao Hai nodded. Well, that really seemed like the best thing to do. He could only hope that they wouldn't get into trouble.