Speaking of Yun Bei Fen's senior martial brothers, his first senior martial brother, Zhi Guan, had actually arrived at the town where the Teng Yong Sect was staying. Even though he had been out on his own mission to sharpen his sword skills, he had immediately stopped that when his Master's letter arrived.
While it wasn't wrong to say that his sword and the sword arts were the most important to him in his life, there was actually one thing that was even higher on his list of priorities than that: his little junior martial brother.
Anyway, those that followed you on your path to becoming a master of the sword were your brothers-in-arms. Naturally, that kind of person had to be treated with the utmost respect and helped on their path as well.
Normally, his little junior's needs were a little strange but he had never minded taking care of them. Now though, the letter actually mentioned that he would have a new sword forged. Remembering the disaster of Yun Bei Fen getting his first sword, Zhi Guan felt that this was a great opportunity. Upgrading his little junior's sword was definitely much more important than training his own sword arts. That would still have time until later.
Thus, he had moved out immediately and gathered the necessary ingredients as fast as he could. Then, he rushed over to the town and made his way to his Master's courtyard. When he arrived, he found his Master and Elder Xing of their sect staring at a map with dark expressions though.
Zhi Guan's gaze moved from one person to the other and he hurriedly made sure of the most important thing. "Did something happen to little junior?"
Baili Chao looked up, a little surprised to see his oldest disciple. "Ah Guan, you're here." Actually, he was a little relieved. Despite being focused way too much on training his sword arts, his first disciple was still very dependable. Just the kind of person that they would need to solve their current crisis.
He motioned for his disciple to come over and then pointed at the map. "Nothing has happened to your little junior but something did happen to some of our other disciples. They were attacked just a few days ago. One of them died, three of them vanished and the others made it back over the next two days but were more or less grievously injured. Right now, we think that the ones who couldn't be found have most likely been abducted by demonic practitioners."
Zhi Guan nodded, feeling that he understood. "Should I go and rescue them?"
His Master looked at him, trying to figure out if it would really be a good idea to send him. Most likely, there wasn't a single person in the Teng Yong Sect that was better than Zhi Guan in terms of sword arts.
But cultivation didn't just rely on how well you could wield your sword. In terms of spiritual energy, he was a bit lacking. And while he did have a good grasp on judging situations and finding the most favorable way to go about something, his obsession with sword arts was also something that could get in his way.
If somebody actually challenged him to fight one-on-one while he was in a situation where escaping or directly making his way out would be more favorable, then he had no doubt that Zhi Guan would still agree. It might be slightly different if it was his own junior martial brother that he needed to protect but even then, the chances were probably just about fifty-fifty.
If the demonic practitioners in this situation were just anybody, then he might not be too worried about that. But one of the people they suspected to be on the other side was Elder Feng who knew pretty precisely just how the disciples of the Teng Yong Sect operated. Someone as peculiar as Zhi Guan — or Baili Chao's other disciples for that matter — definitely wouldn't have slipped his attention. No, he would know exactly how to lay a trap for him.
Elder Baili sighed and sat down on the chair behind him, rubbing his face. "We should send somebody but I'm not sure if you alone will be enough."
Zhi Guan slightly furrowed his brows but still nodded. Anyway, he didn't know the situation very well so he would believe his Master if he told him so. "Maybe we could call Shen Lei over?" He had worked together with him several times in the past and Shen Lei was about the same level as he was. No matter how tough the situation was, he believed that they would be able to figure it out together.
Baili Chao didn't look convinced though. "We would need to send a letter back to the Teng Yong Sect for that and who knows if he is even there at this moment?" In fact, he doubted it. His second disciple was currently in closed-door cultivation so knowing Shen Lei, he was probably using the opportunity to gain some experience outside himself and would only hurry back when Luo Lin emerged from cultivation.
And even if that wasn't the case and he was staying there … "With the letter being sent and him coming over here, I'm afraid too much time would have passed. And letters can be intercepted. Who knows if our message would ever reach him? No, I'm afraid that we will only be able to use the people that are currently staying here."
Elder Xing next to him sighed. "It's a pity that Mei Chao Bing, Song Mu, and Xi Ju Hao are all currently out traveling to the other sects. They would have been our best bet."
Baili Chao sighed as well when he thought of that. Yes, three disciples at the core formation stage that could be trusted … they really would have been the best candidates for this task.