Hua Mei was still sitting crossed legged. The difference was that her head was wobbling due to her coming out of the mindspace.
"All… All I feel is exhaustion."
"Uhu… Just like having sour muscles." Xin Feng answered her doubts like the wise man he was. He supported the back of Hua Mei who fell asleep while he was talking, and placed her on the floor carefully. After he had confirmed his increase in intelligence and wisdom, he began to work on his Qi and Mana. The night came soon, and it was only after noon when Hua Mei woke up from her sleep.
…
Hua Mei sat up when she woke up, and yawned while she stretched her body. "And you sway I have a training addiction…"
"I never said I didn't" Replied with a lack of expression in his tone. Since Hua Mei was finally awake, he opened his eyes to end his training and start a new day.
"Good morning?"
"Good morning." Hua Mei greeted back with a smile.
"We should head back to the sect. We'll need communication devices, since the best option would be to split the disciples to different villages to have a better observation within the area."
"Solid plan. Is there anything else to expect from the wise Xin Feng who's one step ahead of everything." She jested, as she stood up to pat his back and exit the building. The two went to check on the disciples and the sect master, and told the five of them that they'll be returning soon. Arriving in front of the sect after using their teleportation talisman, they used their own method to pass through the barrier, before they ran around in search for a shop that had the cheapest and lower quality communication devices. When they had found one that followed their demands, they collected more than a dozen duplicates of it.
…
"Oh, my, goodness…" Xin Feng muttered in disappointment, when he realized that the talisman could only bring him to the sect.
"What?"
"We only have connecting talisman that brings us to one receiver."
*Gasp* "Our mount. How are we going to…?"
"Exactly."
…
The two went back to the sect, to find a beast tamer's shop. Hua Mei bought a healthy and strong beast that focused more on defense and speed, and wasn't aggressive. If ever an attack like Xin Fan's came, they would need the speed and sturdiness of the beast to survive such attacks without getting the beast or themselves harmed.
After the two had bought their mount, they drove together through the barrier with the help of Hua Mei's technique to spread the inscription's energy around her. The mount was sure expensive since it cleared almost half the amount of high-grade spirit stones that Hua Mei had in her storage ring. It was worth it though, because it took them half the time it took to fly with the previous mount with their current mount.
"Wow!" One of the outer disciples were astonished by the beauty of the mount when the the two arrived. The beast looked like a seahorse, but its tail was coiling to its back instead. It had blue and violet colored glowing-wings, that was half a meter away from its back, and its body had a golden color that combined with its brown exoskeleton.
"How's the sect master?" Xin Feng asked the astonished disciple. The disciple woke up from her stupor, and immediately bowed down, before answering "He's still asleep, but seems to be having nightmares with you in them."
"I see… He should be up soon then. Notify the others to gather here."
The other outer disciples soon came, and gathered around the mount. When everyone was ready to listen, Xin Feng told them about his plans. Each disciple had to guard their own village, and when the situation seemed too dangerous, they had to notify Xin Feng, Hua Mei, and everyone that had the same type of device with them. The devices were duplicates of each other, which meant that one conversation would be heard through every device, as long as they were activated.
The outer disciples didn't reject, and obeyed Xin Feng's orders under Hua Mei's eyes. Each of the disciples were separately brought to a different village by Xin Feng, who knew a few details of the country's map thanks to appraising a map when he was in the strategic room.
After Xin Feng had finished bringing the last disciple, he went on to scout the areas that he hadn't flew by. Finally, after flying more than three hours, he heard a faint scream from a few distances away. It was the scream of a young woman, and because she sounded desperate, Xin Feng commanded his mount to fly towards the sound with haste.
The beast that was intelligent enough to understand how desperate Xin Feng was, flew as fast as it could. Within a few minutes, it was able to reach the source of the cries. The scream was from Liu Lue, who was throwing a tantrum as she tried to fight off the charm of ExE. Liu Lue noticed Xin Feng descending with his mount, so she yelled out to him. "Xin Feng! Help Me! Please! It hurts to resist! My memories! But mama! Ah! I don't want to kill innocent humans!"
"Don't worry… Mindspace. Expansion."
Xin Feng brought Liu Lue to his mindscape, and when she had gained sight to see what was around her, he began to explain where he has brought her. He then asked her if it was possible for her to feel the corrupt energy withing her mind, which she replied with a look of fear and saying that she kept getting horrible nightmares of her parents whenever she tried to get rid of the energy.
"Try thinking about the good times that you were able to experience, whenever the nightmare appears."
"O-okay…" She muttered, as she closed her eyes to fight against the corrupt energy with happy thoughts.
"I- I think it's working…"
"Ah! Please! Happy… Happyy!" The painful resistance of the charm got even worse as she tried to ridden it.
Xin Feng sighed when he saw the state of Lie Lue. 'Unfortunate…You did a good job raising her old man… But you lacked discipline and responsibilities to teach her to grow.'
With a look of pity, he threw a strong and sharp wind blade to painlessly cut off her head.
*Huff...*
"Exit, please"
…
Xin Feng was still sitting on his mount, and Liu Lue was still pressing her hands on her head. After a few seconds, Liu Lue managed to become aware of her surroundings. She retracted her hands and looked around herself in ignorance and confusion, because she felt that she had certainly died a few seconds ago.
"Welcome back, my dearest sister." Xin Feng awakened her from her daydream with a smile that a butler would give to his master. The moment Liu Lue heard Xin Feng's voice, her face turned into one of jolly. She bowed flat to the ground, as she shouted "Brother Feng Feng! Thank you!"
"Yeah-yeah, just hop on already. Time's running short. We need to save our fellow brothers and sisters."
Liu Lue nodded as she remembered how dire the situation was. When she had hopped on the mount, Xin Feng continued to detriment her emotions by saying "Saving you is only natural, and you will definitely not be the last person I'll help in a dire situation."
"Still…" He added when he saw her look of pain. "If you really want to thank me, consider giving me some high-grade spirit stones."
It was his method to put her morals at ease in a way where he would benefit as well. Xin Feng extended his hand out to her, in wait for his pay.
"Five is enough."
"No, that's too little!" Liu Lue refused
"What do you think I am? A swindler?"
"It's just… My life can't be worth so little to you, right?"
"Of course not. Your just like a sister to me, which is exactly why I don't want to ask anything but for you to stay alive."
A tear dropped from her eye when she heard such sweet words from Xin Feng. In a sudden motion, she embraced Xin Feng into a tight hug, before she uttererd, "Fine… But let me at least thank you with a loving hug for the entire flight."
Xin Feng caressed her arm that was embracing his body, as he uttered the word "Sure" with a peaceful smile.
…
"The sect master is already up" Hua Mei approached the two when they had landed, to inform Xin Feng about the latest news.
"Just in time… This means that master and disciple can scout around this area, while we head further to the east to take care of the other charmed disciples."
Together with Xin Feng, Liu Lue went down from the mount to follow the two in the direction where the sect master stayed in. While they were on their way, Hua Mei told Xin Feng that she had updated Xin Fan about what had happened already because he was looking for him in concern to apologize to him. "I told him that there was no reason to, since it was nothing but a cultivation technique you used to cause him nightmares. It took him some time for him to accept it, but it seems that he's accepted it."
Since the three of them were about to enter the building Xin Fan stayed in, Xin Feng gave a nod of gratitude to end the conversation. When Xin Feng entered the room, a glint of worry could be spotted in the old man's eyes, before it quickly disappeared.
'Looks like he finally realized how careless he is…' Xin Feng thought as he let out a slight grin to show his father how careless he had been.