They walked the first stretch of the way and then switched to using their swords. Mei Chao Bing had his little bunny pick up his spiritual beast before he pulled him onto his sword. The others looked over making Yun Bei Fen raise his brows while Mei Chao Bing patted his head. "Fen'er isn't used to using a flying sword yet."
The other three looked at him and couldn't help but wonder what was up with that. Wasn't he already about twenty years of age? Why was he still unable to use a flying sword then? He was one of Elder Baili's direct disciples so he should be a talent, shouldn't he? How come something as simple as that still couldn't be done by him?
Mei Chao Bing didn't bother to answer their confused gazes and Yun Bei Fen wasn't paying attention. He very happily leaned against his senior martial brother Mei while stroking Xiao Hui's fur.
Gongsun Chen looked over for a while before he finally shook his head and motioned to the front. "All of the groups have a territory that they are combing through to find any clues as to what the demonic practitioners are planning. We'll go to the place where he stopped yesterday and then continue searching from there."
Mei Chao Bing nodded but didn't say anything else. He and Yun Bei Fen had become part of this group later on so he should hold back, regardless of what he thought. It was good enough that Gongsun Chen was willing to make sure that they wouldn't lack any vital information. Others might not have done that. Well, then again, it was also in his interest so it wasn't completely unexpected.
In a matter of minutes, the town they had stayed at before was left far behind. Yun Bei Fen hadn't paid any attention at first but he couldn't help but finally look up and take in the surroundings. Seeing them, he shrunk back into Mei Chao Bing's arms and raised Xiao Hui higher, burying his face in the gray fur. He didn't like this place at all.
Even though the righteous sects liked to call this part of the world the border region it was already part of the demonic sects' territory. Looking at it, it seemed to deserve the name. There weren't any towns or villages around. Neither could anything be seen of the lush forests and green meadows on the other side of the border that Mei Chao Bing and Yun Bei Fen had passed through previously. The whole region looked utterly desolate as if it had dried up and died. It made him shiver just thinking about it. How could a region like this exist?
Yun Bei Fen glanced up, asking Mei Chao Bing with his eyes just what had happened here for this place to turn out like this. He just couldn't imagine that it had always looked like this.
Mei Chao Bing sighed. He had gone on many missions in the past so he had seen much more of the world and even though this sight wasn't pretty, it wasn't the worst out there. Thus to him, this wasn't too bad. He still couldn't help but wonder just why his Master had exchanged a life in the Teng Yong Sect for something like this.
What about this part of the world was better? What part of the demonic sects was better than the righteous sects? Granted, the righteous sects weren't perfect. Otherwise, the last few years would have been easier for him. But that didn't mean that the demonic sects were better. He had never been part of one, he had never gotten close enough to find out just how life would be there but he couldn't imagine that it would be any better than the Teng Yong Sect. All the stories he had heard about them had instilled that thought in him. And anyway … looking at the small person in his arms, he was sure that the righteous sects had to be the best place to be if they held such a treasure.
Mei Chao Bing pulled himself out of his thoughts and shook his head in response to Yun Bei Fen's question. "I don't know either."
He was sure that this wasn't natural though. He hadn't dared to inquire about the situation of the territory of the demonic sects or anything going on over there for fear of drawing even more unwanted attention to himself but he still knew what he had learned after he came to the Teng Yong sect:
Originally, the righteous and demonic sects had lived everywhere around the world, not hindering each other or questioning what the other side was doing. In fact, back then, what the demonic sects had practiced was just another type of cultivation and though it was much crueler than the one the righteous sects practiced, it wasn't anything that was considered taboo.
It was only after a long time when different movements emerged on both sides, that there were parts of the non-righteous faction that were deemed inappropriate. The righteous cultivators made it their task to hunt these people down to make sure they wouldn't harm innocent lives and with time, these sects were driven to what was now known as the demonic sects' territory. It had just been a place in the world that was shut off from where most humans lived, not one that was in any way worse than the others. In fact, this place had originally been just as high in spiritual energy as the place the righteous sects lived which was why no war had broken out immediately.
The righteous side had still taken precautions and established five main sects that were from then on tasked with guarding the rest of the human world against another threat emerging from where the demonic sects were now gathered. The Teng Yong Sect was precisely one of these five main sects so naturally, they had reacted when they noticed that something was going on in the border region.
Anyway, if the demonic sects' territory had suddenly turned into this, then maybe that was a sign of what the demonic sects were doing. It would be best if he looked for signs that could help him discern whether he was on the right track or not.