With that having been talked about, the group got back to the topic at hand.
"What do you think we should do for the next few days?" Song Mu looked at Mei Chao Bing, his brows slightly furrowed.
Mei Chao Bing gave a faint smile in response. "Right now, you're the leader of this group. Why are you asking me?"
Song Mu gave a smile of his own at that retort. Yes, why was he doing that? Because no matter what had happened, he still valued Mei Chao Bing's thoughts deeply. Even if this person wasn't willing to acknowledge that, he would still not do without. "Well, as the leader, I am asking for your opinion. Don't you think you should answer me?"
Mei Chao Bing lightly shook his head but still pondered the issue. "Well, Elder Cai already asked us to stay here so we have no reason to leave no matter what our own intentions are. That means we basically have two options: Either we stay in this hut and really just rest up and cultivate or we ask the Elder if we can help out with anything out there."
Song Mu nodded and then looked at the others. From the seven people that were left, four of them were of a very high level. The other three though … Yun Bei Fen, Yi Ju, and Tan Xin were different. It would likely be good for them if they really had the chance to rest up for a while.
But adding even just four people to a search party and especially some that had been there when the clues in the Teng Yong Sect's area had been found might still be beneficial. They could just leave the other three here. Then again … if something happened, that might make the people of the Jian Chu Sect suspicious.
His brows furrowed tighter and he finally shook his head. "It would likely help if we offered our assistance but I still think it wouldn't be a good idea. Anyway, it's good if we can rest up and it's not like there's nothing to do." He turned to Yuan Lei and Yi Ju that were sitting next to each other and gave a faint smile. "The two of you have had to try and learn things whenever there was a break but with having to go on patrol as well, you really didn't have many opportunities. Maybe you could use these days to both rest up and learn some more as well."
Yuan Lei nodded while Yi Ju's expression lit up as well. She had hoped that she would be able to learn how to read traces from Yuan Lei back when they had still been scouring the area of the Teng Yong Sect but with the new mission of going to the other two sects, there hadn't been many opportunities anymore. To now have a chance to learn from Yuan Lei uninterrupted was definitely something that was beneficial to her.
Seeing that they had no problem at all, Song Mu turned to Mei Chao Bing and Yun Bei Fen and gave a wry smile. "I guess I don't need to tell the two of you what to do. Anyway, Yun Bei Fen has been working hard these days. I guess nothing will change about that."
Mei Chao Bing nodded and lightly brushed Yun Bei Fen's back. He didn't believe either that Yun Bei Fen would just take these days to rest up. He had actually made quite a bit of progress since they had come to the border region.
These few days might not make too much of a difference but if things went well, he would at least be able to show him one new skill. Then, Yun Bei Fen might be able to defend himself a little bit better if something happened in the future. And the likelihood of something happening was getting bigger with each passing day so he really didn't want to wait too long before he taught him something new.
Song Mu turned his attention to Liu Bao Ru and Tan Xin, not quite sure what to say to them. From the very beginning, Tan Xin didn't seem to have been taught anything since she was the only one who could refine pills so the task of identifying any herbs they found and making elixirs should they need them had naturally fallen on her, without a need to give her another task.
On the other hand, Liu Bao Ru was of a high-enough level that this alone had made her a valuable member of the group and Mei Chao Bing hadn't pushed her to do anything else. This made it a little difficult to tell the two of them what to do.
Tan Xin smiled. "Don't worry, senior martial brother Song. I can just train a bit with senior martial sister Liu. Anyway, my cultivation level also isn't that high. I should probably practice a bit more. Just knowing how to refine pills won't save me if we were attacked outside and I can't always rely on all of you to protect me."
Song Mu glanced at Liu Bao Ru to see if she was alright with that.
Naturally, Liu Bao Ru nodded. Anyway, she had nothing else to do save for cultivating herself. She might as well use some of the time to work with Tan Xin. As her senior, that was what she should do.
Song Mu gave a satisfied nod when everybody had found a task for the next few days. "Alright, if any of you need help, just tell me. I'll do what I can to help out. Should I hear anything new from Elder Cai, I will inform you."
With that, everyone left to work with their partner and take care of their own tasks.