With that worry out of the way, Elder Fa calmed down and instead started to chat with Yun Bei Fen. "So, you are on a mission with both your fiance and your senior martial brother? Does this mean this is your first mission?" She couldn't understand why so many people he was close with would accompany him otherwise. Normally, if you wanted a disciple to gain some experience, you would let them do a mission more or less on their own so they wouldn't rely on others too much. If it wasn't the case this time, then that might be because he was so young that his Master was worried that he wouldn't be able to keep himself safe while he was outside or that he would need some more support while he was there.
To be honest, it was a little strange that he would go on his first mission while he was already twenty years of age but if Mei Chao Bing was right and this boy had really grown up so sheltered, then maybe it wasn't that strange after all.
Yun Bei Fen nodded immediately. "It is. My senior martial brothers all went on quite a few missions already but I didn't. Anyway, I was in closed-door cultivation the past few years so there wasn't really much time. Before that, Master always felt that I was too young." In fact, back then, he wouldn't have minded going out. Especially if it was going out with Zhi Guan who would often be on the same team as Mei Chao Bing. Naturally, that was the kind of mission that he would like to be part of.
Elder Fa slightly raised her brows. "You were in closed-door cultivation for several years?" And that at the age of twenty? This disciple was getting more mysterious by the minute. Usually, wouldn't disciples at this stage and age only go into closed-door cultivation for a few months at a time? Maybe half a year at most? She really wouldn't have expected this.
Yun Bei Fen lowered his head and his face flushed red while he glanced at Mei Chao Bing. The reason he had gone into closed-door cultivation for so long … he really didn't know if he could just say it like this.
Seeing his little bunny so embarrassed, Mei Chao Bing reached out and rubbed his head. "Well, since Elder Baili didn't want him to go out, then he had to at least get to the highest level possible he could in the sect, didn't he? I'm afraid closed-door cultivation was really the only thing he could do."
Elder Fa wasn't completely sure what to think about this but she still nodded. In any case, this was another person's disciple. What she thought of the matter wasn't really important. "Well, as long as you were able to make progress, it's good. And I guess with your fiance and your senior martial brother being here, you don't have to be too afraid on this mission."
Yun Bei Fen nodded happily and grabbed Mei Chao Bing's hand, interlacing his fingers with him. "I'm not."
Mei Chao Bing smiled and gently squeezed his hand. Yes, he definitely wouldn't give Yun Bei Fen any reason to be worried.
Elder Fa was satisfied when she saw the two of them interact like this. It seemed that things were going really well between them. She didn't need to worry.
She went on to ask Yun Bei Fen a few more questions about his life and then also talked with Mei Chao Bing for a bit before sending the two of them out and letting them reconvene with their group.
After resting at the Zhen Yan Sect's camp for the rest of the day and the night, the group left the next morning, making their way back to the Teng Yong Sect.
When they returned, the other disciples of their sect were currently out, looking for further clues in the border region. So far, nothing had been found other than the array that Yang Wu Huang's group had discovered but they hadn't been able to check that place out so far since they had needed to take care of the matter with the missing disciples first. So up until now, it still wasn't completely clear what the matter with that place was.
Mei Chao Bing and Song Mu decided to send the others back to their own places first and then went to talk with the Elders. When they arrived at Baili Chao's place, they found out that Elder Xing had gone to the Teng Yong Sect and hadn't yet returned.
Mei Chao Bing faintly raised his brows, a little confused as to what was going on. He didn't dare to ask about it in front of Song Mu though and instead just focused on the matter at hand and explained how their journey to the other two sects had gone.
Baili Chao nodded slowly and tapped the armrest of his chair. "So it went like this. I see. Well, the two of you have worked hard. You should take some time to rest up and then we will see how to go from here. I guess it would make sense to have you and the rest of your groups redistributed to the other groups so you can help out. I will tell you when I've decided on how to assign you."
Song Mu and Mei Chao Bing nodded, cupped their fists, and then went out of the room, closing the door behind them.
Song Mu gave Mei Chao Bing a look when they stood outside, nodded wordlessly, and then left. He could imagine that Mei Chao Bing would want to talk with Baili Chao about some other things. His presence likely wasn't wanted for that conversation. In that case, he shouldn't make unnecessary trouble by insisting to stay.