Back in the jungle area, the party of four changed to five after they came across a granny hiding in a hollowed-out tree stump. As they were walking next to the stump, she had noticed her Matriarch amongst the group which prompted her to peek her head out. This almost caused Huo Qiang to punch her as the granny's face was similar looking to a goblin female.
"Wait it's me Feng Maling! Stay your hand!"
The grandma shouted out while still being stuck in her hiding place, she wouldn't be able to dodge the incoming punch if Qiang went through with it. Luckily the man jumped back, looking to Feng Liena with question marks hovering above his head.
"Ohoho, you were fine grandma?"
Feng Liena acted a bit surprised that the elderly woman made it out alive in one piece, mostly due to the old woman having a cultivation base in the core formation middle stage. The woman was good at hiding though, even Zhang Dong didn't pick her up with his enhanced senses.
Matt squinted with his eyes as he looked at the old woman, she had really wrinkled up brown skin, which looked like the type of color you got from overusing spray-on tan. She wasn't very good looking and the smudged mascara that made her look like she was crying didn't help either. He had the urge to dump some water on the woman's face and rub that mascara off but held it in.
"Why wouldn't I be alive!"
The granny managed to escape the tree stump, on which her butt got stuck after trying to squeeze out. She rolled forward and quite smoothly landed on her two feet. Matt wanted to hold up a '10' number and clap his hands, the old lady seemed to be quite nimble even for her advanced age.
Feng Liena shrugged and stuck her tongue out at her clan member, the elderly woman shook her cane at the busty Matriarch. The cane and robe that the woman was wearing, made her look like some occult wizard. Matt didn't say anything just yet, as he just looked at the two women bickering. He wasn't sure what kind of relationship the two had, but it made them look like close family by the way they were interacting with each other.
After a moment of some back and forth between the two, the woman gave out a cough and looked at the cultivators around them.
"Little Liena, I see you are traveling with the Hou clan young master... and this is..."
Feng Liena immediately jumped in, moving closer to Matt and patting him on the shoulder.
"This is little Dong, my little brother!"
Gloom filled Matt's face at the mention of his 'little' title. He thought that the granny would talk some sense into the strange Matriarch but the woman just squinted at him, her hand moving to her cane as she got closer.
"Are you sure... he...?"
Feng Liena just stuck out her overdeveloped chest and did a sideways peace sign over her eye, then stuck out her tongue in a strange pose that Matt only remembered some manga or anime characters doing back in his earth days.
"The Zhang Patriarch... could you give me a moment with the Matriarch..."
The old lady asked while the three men looked at the Feng clan members with strange expressions. Matt watched as the two moved away from the group and behind some treas, he had question signs in his eyes not knowing what this was about. He sat down on the tree stump that the old lady popped out from and strained his ears, trying to listen in on the conversation the two women were having.
"... yes, it was just like in the ancient texts..."
He could hear the two talking, it was mostly the young lady saying something about some old scriptures.
"Oh? so he carried you like in the writings of the great ancestor? "
"Yes, yes... he even..."
Matt continued eavesdropping as Feng Liena recounted their first meeting, but he had no idea what these old 'texts' or this 'great ancestor' was. Supposedly his rescue was something that those texts were describing, or prophecizing but when he tried to listen in some more as he tried to figure the situation out a booming voice next to his ear almost made him fall down from his seat.
"Hey brother, I think we shouldn't stay here too long."
The voice belonged to his new self proclaimed brother Huo Qiang, the young master had apparently taken a liking to Matt after the rescue party. After some bonding time which consisted of constant battles against various fantasy-like monsters, he started calling him brother. He even offered one of his younger siblings as a concubine to bring their clans together, though his gyaru sis didn't take to that offer kindly and he had to pull the two parties apart again.
"Ah... sure, after they are finished talking let's move out."
Matt rubbed his neck slightly before standing up, he gave up on the idea of listening in to the conversation now as it seemed to be over. The two women returned, Feng Liena beaming with a smile while the lady looked at Zhang Dong with a mixed expression.
"If it is so... I approve."
Feng Maling cupped her hands and gave a bow to Zhang Dong, the man not really knowing what this was about along with the 'approving' part.
'What are these two talking about... am I missing something here?'
The two apparently came to some kind of conclusion during their conversation, something probably related to those ancient texts. He didn't really feel like those things were important at the moment, as there were still some people missing. From the ten core formation elders, five were here and one was dead. This wasn't as bad as it looked, but considering that if he didn't arrive to save them they would probably be all dead by this point, besides the granny that knew how to hide.
They all headed out, the granny was the weakest member from the group and was more a backline attacker compared to the men in the party. They decided to keep the two ladies in the back along with mutton chops elder, that Matt forgot the actual name of and was embarrassed to ask about again.
Soon enough they spotted another casualty of the secret ground they were in. It was a mangled up corps of an unknown cultivator, which left them with three more potential survivors. They decided to rest up for the time being, no one was sure how long they were here anymore the day and night cycles kept changing. Matt managed to shoo his big sis away, for the time being, telling her that she should take care of her grandma while he cultivates for some time.
She gave him a cute pout, then repeated the same motion she did the first time he saw her on the flying ship and stormed out. He gave out a sigh and squatted down on the floor, there were a couple of machetes and axes scattered around all in various grades of the earth grade. He was slowly absorbing the scattered monster weapons from the hunted beasts, he found them to be slightly less potent for the progression of his body refining skill than the ones he was able to make himself of the same grading.
'Maybe it has something to do with how they are made... I get fewer points for slaying these monsters as well."
His progress was slow but he was at about thirty percent now, soon enough his body art would pass his regular cultivation. The time required to advance his regular cultivation technique was just too much, so this was the fastest way to get results. His body was giving off a golden sheen, it illuminated the cave that he was sitting in the people outside could feel their 'team leader' cultivating inside getting goosebumps from the strange energy fluctuations the part of the cave he was in was giving off.
Back outside Feng Liena exited the cave passage that Matt was cultivating in and headed into a different section. They had found this monster dwelling not long ago and decided to settle in for the night after clearing out the creatures inside. The busty woman walked to a separate cave room, that the granny was sitting in a lotus position. She gave out a sigh and sat not so far away from her clan member.
"Were the texts wrong... I don't think he is willing..."
The old lady opened up her eyes and replied while still sitting in her cultivation pose.
"You must not doubt the teachings of our great ancestor young Matriarch."
Feng Maling was skeptical at first, but after seeing Zhang Dong's high cultivation and how he just bulldozed through monsters that she would have trouble fighting one one one, she believed that he would be a fitting partner for this young Matriarch.
"The teachings are clear, maybe you must create a new starting point as the text proclaimed"
The baked potato announced in a wise tone and shut her eyes as she tried to rest up, her Matriarch thought about a couple of things and came to some kind of conclusion before departing, her face showing an odd determination that didn't fit her current character.
"Yes, I will create a new opportunity!"
After a couple of hours, Matt was done with absorbing the weapons. His golden skin glistened even more and he was sure that he would be able to reach the great circle soon. He hopped back to his feet and stretched out, he was a bit sweaty so he decided to wash up by the spring, which was nearby the cave they were staying in.
While he was walking through the cave corridors he felt a life signal close by, it seemed to be Feng Liena by the Qi imprint. He wasn't sure what she was up to, but she was clinging to the wall waiting for something.
'Is she waiting for me? Guess I'll act surprised?'
He was bare-chested at the moment, so he put his robes back on even though he was still sweaty. He whistled a bit to himself as he approached the corridor in which his favorite big sis was waiting for him, wondering what this was about. At the exact moment that he peeked out from around the corner, the girl came rushing at him.
She had a very cutesy way of running at this moment. Her arms were pushing into her chest, with her forearms to the side. She was waiving them around with her feet shuffling forward at an amazing pace, this made her chest bounce quite a bit, thus successfully making Matt focus his attention at the display. She was holding a piece of flattened fruit in her mouth for some reason and running right at him.
"Oh no, I will be late...Kyaaaa"
She bumped into the large bewildered man in front of her, she bounced off of him and landed on the ground with the piece of fruit flying out of her mouth. Then she just sat there, her legs bent a bit so he kind of could see the part between them. Still, there was some cloth covering the important parts, this made him swallow hard before shaking his head and finally reacting.
"Uhh...Are you alright?"
He wasn't sure what to do as he kind of instinctively reached out to help her off the ground while trying no to look at her undies. Feng Liena blushed hard as she grasped his hands back, Matt could have sworn that he saw stars in her eyes the moment he reached his hand out to her.
.
"Oh silly me, I didn't see you there~"
She stood up from the ground and dusted her posterior off, but before he could ask more questions she said that she was in a hurry and had to go. The man just rubbed his head and shrugged, leaving afterward to get himself cleaned in the nearby spring. While he was out, his elder sister was contemplating her next move as this was just the beginning...