Feng Luotian talked with Wu Neng and his family for half a day, and the sun almost set. He bid his farewell and prepared to leave.
Wu Xin was told by her parents that her big brother could not stay with them, so she threw a tantrum and cried. Afterward, she ran into her room and shut her door tight. The rest of the villagers could do nothing but smile wryly at her actions.
Later, all the villagers except Wu Xin bid farewell to Feng Luotian as he was leaving. When he was about to depart, Tu Lingxi caught up to him and asked: "What are you going to do next?"
"I will pay a visit to their hideout. There's still something that bothers me."
"What is it?" Tu Lingxi raised her eyebrows in curiosity.
"Why did Jiu Hao have to rush back to his base the moment he knew you were attacking it?" Feng Luotian answered with a question.
"Now that you mention it, his actions were indeed suspicious."
Indeed, unless there was something crucial for Jiu Hao at the hideout, why would he bother traveling back and forth when he planned to take down the village?
It might be cultivation resources, weapons, treasures, or something else entirely. Regardless of what it might be, it was still worth visiting that place since there would be no one to stop them from plundering it clean.
"Wanna come?" Feng Luotian invited.
Tu Lingxi's face grew a little red. She did not expect him to invite her to travel with him alone. Nevertheless, she acted indifferently: "Okay, I'll tag along until we really finish this bandit's matter."
"Are you not going to bid farewell?" Feng Luotian asked.
"Just wait a minute." Tu Lingxi returned to the village. She informed the villagers that she would check the bandit troupe's hideout with Feng Luotian before continuing her previous journey to further her cultivation.
The village did not stop her from doing anything she wanted. Since the bandits had been wiped out, there was no reason to hold her back from her cultivation path.
"I'm ready." Tu Lingxi ran back to Feng Luotian.
"Which way is their hideout?" Feng Luotian asked.
"It's that way, a couple of miles to the north." Tu Lingxi pointed.
Suddenly, Feng Luotian had an idea. He smiled and said: "I remember you saying that speed has always been your strongest attribute. Let's have a race. Whoever reaches their hideout first gets to choose whatever they want from there."
Tu Lingxi gave Feng Luotian a contemptuous glance. "Heh! Are you challenging me to a race in terms of traveling speed? Then you're on, and get ready to lose."
Feng Luotian only chuckled in response.
Although she knew that Feng Luotian was also proficient in speed, as she had observed during the battle with the bandits earlier, she also noticed that his speed relied heavily on Theríon and could only be sustained for a few moments.
If it was a competition of battle speed, she might not stand a chance at all, but this was a race where they needed to maintain their speed at its maximum for a longer period of time.
This was precisely Tu Lingxi's specialty. Not to mention that she could travel through the air, so she did not have to contend with monsters, trees, hills, or anything on the ground.
In short, this race was completely in her favor, and yet someone with the same cultivation level had the nerve to challenge her to this race.
As for Feng Luotian, since he had just become a Six Fangs Fighter, he wanted to test his maximum speed and how long his Pinnacle Flash Lightning could last. However, testing the skill by himself was boring, so he suggested the bet for fun. He did not mind losing this game at all.
Feng Luotian picked up a pebble from the road and threw it up. "Let's start when the pebble touches the ground."
"Whatever." Tu Lingxi smiled and waved her hand, her expression that of someone who had already won.
A clamor sounded as Feng Luotian activated his Pinnacle Flash Lightning while Tu Lingxi placed a sakura petal under her foot.
Right as the pebble dropped, an explosive sound was heard, and their two figures vanished, leaving behind only a cloud of dust.
"These youngsters will definitely become great individuals in the future." Wu Neng sighed, lamenting his own lack of talent.
———
Half a minute later, Feng Luotian reached their hideout, drenched in sweat as his Theríon almost ran out. He dropped to the ground, trying to catch his breath.
Meanwhile, Tu Lingxi proudly stood on a tree branch and laughed out loud: "Hahaha!! I told you to get ready to lose, didn't I, Big Brother Feng?"
It was indeed her game. Tu Lingxi had arrived about ten seconds earlier and was completely fine. Her travel barely used any Theríon at all.
"Aah, you are good, Sister Tu. I'll give you that." Feng Luotian gave Tu Lingxi a thumbs up, still catching his breath.
Tu Lingxi hopped up and down in joy after receiving the compliment, then sat beside Feng Luotian, waiting for him to recover so they could explore the place together.
"Please call me Lingxi. I don't want you to stand on ceremony with me, Big Brother Feng." Tu Lingxi suddenly said while facing away, her voice soft and fast. One might think she was talking to herself, but Feng Luotian heard her loud and clear.
Seeing the timid side of this twin-buns girl, he couldn't help but chuckle before teasing her. "You are just a kid after all, Lingxi."
"You!!" Tu Lingxi quickly turned her head to glare at Feng Luotian. "If you regard me as a kid again, I'll punch you, Big Brother Feng."
"Hahaha," Feng Luotian couldn't hold back his laughter.
Not too long after that, he had recovered most of his Theríon and stood up. Together with Tu Lingxi, he began searching for any clues or items within the bandit troupe's hideout to answer their questions.
However, after searching most of the places, they found very few valuable items. Only basic weapons, armors, and food ingredients were found.
The only place they had yet to search was Jiu Hao's room, and as they expected, once they entered the room, they got the answer to their question right away. The room was filled with monster cores, pills, and a couple of advanced weapons.
"Wow!! They must have plundered a lot of people to gather all these!!" Tu Lingxi jumped around the room in surprise and excitement.
"There must be a lot of innocent lives lost because of them." Feng Luotian solemnly commented.
Noticing his mood was not as good as hers, Tu Lingxi became less energetic: "Yes. It's good that we got rid of these guys."
"Mhm." Feng Luotian nodded.
He was not that interested in the pile of treasures around the room, so he walked toward the main desk. He wanted to find some clues to connect the dots in his mind.
First, the village got attacked by a Talon monster that showed the behavior of the tamed beasts.
Second, the Talon monster was at the same level as Wight Wolf that was controlled to assassinate Mei Yue'er.
Third, right after the village got attacked by a Talon monster, the bandits came to the village to claim the protective treasure that could stand against a Talon monster.
These three points made him suspect that there was a possibility Jiu Hao was somehow related to the ones who had planned an assassination on Mei Yue'er.
While he was busy looking through the documents on the desk, Tu Lingxi called out: "Look!! They even robbed one of your schools. See? These two chests of monster cores and pills have your Peacock School's sigil."
As the most prestigious school in Divine Bird City, even though Tu Lingxi was an outsider, she could still recognize the symbol.
Feng Luotian raised his head and saw that it was indeed Peacock School's sigil on those two chests. He let out a chuckle and continued skimming through the documents: "They even dared to rob our school's items. I don't know if they are brave or dumb to actually court d—"
Suddenly, he paused mid-sentence. His expression immediately turned ugly as he stored one of the documents into his ring.
"What's wrong?" Tu Lingxi asked as the pause was a little strange.
Feng Luotian quickly hid his emotion: "Nothing. It's just that there is no important document here as well. So, when you raided their hideout, the things Jiu Hao was worried about were probably these treasures."
"Yeah, I guess." Tu Lingxi agreed.
He walked towards the pile of monster cores and pills: "As per our bet earlier, you can pick whatever you want first."