The righteous faction's camp was actually part of a small city in the border region. Several big courtyard houses had been emptied out and given to the cultivators that were taking part in this mission.
Even though Mei Chao Bing and Yun Bei Fen hadn't been there when the Teng Yong Sect's people moved in, Mei Chao Bing had no trouble finding where they were. The people normally living in the city were mortals that had never cultivated. Thus a cultivator could perceive their lack of spiritual energy, making it easy to find the place where the disciples were staying. As for finding the Elder … It hadn't been too long since he saw Baili Chao so he still had a good measure of how powerful he was. Judging from that and thanks to the fact that Elder Baili had done nothing to suppress his cultivation stage, he could just go straight up to the door of the courtyard where he was staying.
Mei Chao Bing cupped his fists and bowed even though the door was still closed. "Greetings, Elder Baili. This is Mei Chao Bing. I've brought Yun Bei Fen over."
Inside the room, Baili Chao's brows twitched. Mei Chao Bing! That brat actually dared to show up here?! He leaped to his feet and rushed to the door, pushing it open and glaring at the person outside.
Yun Bei Fen stood next to Mei Chao Bing, blinking his eyes. Was this really where his Master was staying? How did senior martial brother Mei know? When his angry-looking Master stormed out of the room, Yun Bei Fen's eyes widened even further. Whoa! Senior martial brother had been right! Well, not that he had really question that he would be able to do it. Of course, he was sure that his senior martial brother Mei could do everything. He just hadn't understood how. He still didn't understand.
"You still dare to show up here! Didn't I hand this boy over to you so you could bring him here? What took you so long?!"
Mei Chao Bing lowered his hands but kept his gaze to the ground. Well, it wasn't a wonder that the Elder was angry at him for this. He had indeed taken a long time even though he would have been able to bring Yun Bei Fen been over in less than a few hours. And that was even true if he wasn't of an even higher level than he pretended to be. "I —"
Before Mei Chao Bing could apologize, Yun Bei Fen jumped at his Master, hugging his neck. "Master!" He rubbed his head on Baili Chao's shoulder and then looked up at him, blinking his limpid eyes. "Master, you won't believe what happened! Actually, senior martial brother Mei was bringing me over to the border region but then we had an accident. So many things happened and I was even attacked by a very big spiritual beast! If not for senior martial brother Mei saving me, then you would have never seen me again!"
Baili Chao furrowed his brows. What was this supposed to mean, huh? He turned to look at Mei Chao Bing, his brows still furrowed.
Mei Chao Bing couldn't help but sweat. Even though he appreciated that his little bunny was trying to help him, there was no way to make this story sound sensible in front of the Elder. What kind of accident? What kind of spiritual beast? Even though only the Sect Master knew his true level, everyone still knew that had he had been in the core formation stage for several years already. How many spiritual beasts were there that could make things difficult for him and delay them for such a long time? And even if he brought out the midnight wolf to prove the story, that would still raise the question of how he had been able to defeat it in the end.
Mei Chao Bing cleared his throat and cupped his fists, bowing again. "Some things happened indeed. I'm very sorry for being late, Elder Baili."
"Then what kind of spiritual beast was it? And what accident? Did you really need to take this long?" He asked exactly the questions Mei Chao Bing had feared but he didn't really expect an answer. Instead, he turned to his disciple and looked him over, patting his shoulders and arms to make sure that nothing was missing. "Well, you don't seem to be injured. That's something at least."
Yun Bei Fen looked from his Master to Mei Chao Bing and back again. Finally, he grabbed Baili Chao's hand. "Master! You wouldn't be angry at senior martial brother Mei, would you? He really did all of that just for me. You know, he actually taught me how to sense spiritual energy so that I would know if enemies are around while we're in the border region. And he showed me how I can use my spiritual energy to raise the flying sword into the air. I haven't learned how to really fly on it yet but I'm slowly getting there! Senior martial brother Mei said it would be good if I learned it fast so that I could get away if I was attacked by somebody I can't beat."
Baili Chao raised his brows. That brat had actually managed to teach his disciple some new things? And here he had thought that Yun Bei Fen's limit would be to learn how to take in spiritual energy. He glanced at Mei Chao Bing but the brat still refused to say anything. In the end, he could only turn back to Yun Bei Fen. "Is that true?"
Yun Bei Fen nodded eagerly. "Yes! I can show you!" He took the sword out from his spatial ring and then used his spiritual energy to make it rise into the air. The sword wavered from side to side, not looking stable at all but this was much more than Baili Chao had ever been able to teach him.
The Elder was dumbfounded. These two had only been gone for a few weeks. How come his disciple had suddenly learned new things? He turned to look at Mei Chao Bing and finally clicked his tongue. "Oh, all right, I know now. You go on in and rest first, Fen'er. I'll talk to your senior martial brother Mei for a bit."
Yun Bei Fen looked from one person to the other and tugged at his Master's sleeve again. "You're really not angry at him?"
Baili Chao sighed and waved at him. "You go now. What's there to be angry about? You finally learned some new tricks. Who knows? Maybe this brat can actually still make a decent cultivator out of you."
Yun Bei Fen pursed her lips and looked at Mei Chao Bing. He really didn't want to leave him alone when his Master was in this kind of mood.
Mei Chao Bing smiled and nodded to the door. He was really happy that his little bunny was trying to make things easier for him but he knew that he wouldn't get around this talk with Elder Baili. So why should he try and bargain for more time? It wouldn't change the final outcome. So he should just face it right now.