After some minutes, the teen got up with no effort, as if he was never wounded, left the cover of the bushes, saw the old expert that was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the road, surprisingly there were no signs of the massacre, the bodies disappeared and even the cart was nowhere to be seen.

After a surprised expression flashed across the teen's face, he proceeded to near the expert. When reaching some foot of distance in front of the sitting expert, the teen kowtowed

"Thank you Savior for saving me, although you did not know me, you saved me. This Wu Guang will never forget this kindness and will repay it with all the effort, even if it takes a full lifetime"

"Hahaha, it's good that you are feeling well now. Rise young man, and don't be mistaken, I need no repayment for saving a life, and we are somewhat acquainted already, You can call me Elder Chen." Opened his eyes and laughing said the expert.

"I wouldn't dare" answered the teen with a scared expression on his face.

"Well, I will not repeat myself, rise" Said Elder Chen with a serious expression but a gentle light in his eyes.

Seeing the teen rising and standing in front of him, the Elder expression turned a somewhat serious

"Sit down and tell me, what happened to you?"

Sitting down, the teen had an expression as if recalling something, and then proceeded to say in a surprisingly calm manner, as if he was just an observer and not one of the victims

"Youliang and I were walking together with the servants of master Shu, accompanying him in his travel to the Three Hills Sect. The master was injured near Boundary Hill, so he was resting in a cart, together with his son. A disciple from the sect was guarding us, and the cart was being driven by an old man that was traveling to Boundary Hill City and joined us, offering his cart for the wounded master.

If I am not mistaken, the Young Master from the sect saw someone ahead, and after some talking people emerged from some hiding spots and surrounded us" At this moment the teen seemed to become a bit agitated but in a moment his expression relaxed and he continued in the same calm and flat manner

"Right after the people emerged, there was pain and I fell on the ground. I should have lost consciousness afterward"

Elder Chen was looking as in deep thought, but murmured "Hmmm, yes, I remember that you and the other apprentice were the first one to be stricken down"

"Elder Chen was there?!" The teen suddenly interrupted

"Ahh, yes, it seems that you don't remember. And you did mention it before, was the cart driven by someone?" The elder said without any anger for being interrupted

"Huh? Savior, was the old man the owner of the cart?" Said the teen with a surprise plastered all across his face. Then, remembering that the person in front saved his life, he quickly bowed and apologized

"I am very sorry for the outburst"

"I would not take it at heart anyway. After all, you were almost killed some hours ago" Elder Chen said, then after a moment, he motioned with his hand

"Could you tell me what do you remember after you awoke? How did you reach the bushes?"

"I awoke because of pain and the feeling of being hit. The people who attacked us were still here, some were taking care of the wounds, some were walking around, and one of them kicked me twice or thrice and after seeing no reaction just threw a stone at me and left. I fell asleep or lost consciousness again, some time later when I woke up, there was nobody around, so I slowly crawled to the nearest bushes, the next thing that I remember is Elder's voice.

"I see" murmured the Elder and fell silent. In his mind, he was comparing the recounting of the teen to his memories and later observations. Everything fitted, and the fact that he survived, was mostly because of luck. Only a Soul stage expert can use qi to sense life signs, so the spirit stage cultivators that were left to deal with the aftermath could only check with force. Then he looked at the teen and asked

"If I am not mistaken you traveled to the Sect Headquarters because you're almost 14 years old and intended to take the sect entrance exam?"

"Yes" Nodded Wu Guang

"Accompany me during my investigation of this attack, and then I will take you there" And noticing the question in the teen eyes, he added

"Your Master Shu Qiang and his son are already there"

"Thank you!" Following these words, with a bow, the teen fully displayed his gratefulness. Then with some hesitation, he asked

"If we have the time while in Boundary Hill City, can I visit Head Administrator Zhi? He is a distant relative who took care and taught me before, also he was the one who sent me to study under Master Shu"

"There is no problem with that" Answered Elder Chen, then as if something occurred to him, he asked

"So, how well do you know the City?"

"I am fully acquainted with the merchant district in the city. For the military part, I can give a brief overview based on the information that I studied. Regretfully I don't have any knowledge worth sharing with Elder about the residential districts, except the one that I read in the respective ledger"

"You worked with the city tax books?" Surprised the Elder didn't hold back and confirmed

"Uncle Zhi believes in learning through doing, so I was working alongside his subordinates during the past two seasons"

"Good, then perhaps you can assist me with one matter. Do you remember any strange talks about goods from the Wildlands?"

"There was once a discussion between the head of the North Gate, the customs officer in charge, and my Uncle. If I am not mistaken, it was about some Wildlands beast hides that were being sold in Coast Hill City but were missing the custom's seal. They launched a full inquiry, but did not find any sign of smuggling, so the matter was abandoned"

"We are going to Boundary Hill City, you will see your Uncle in short, after all, it seems I will have to talk with him as well" Said the Elder, stood up, extended his hand effortlessly picking up Wu Guang, activated a movement technique, and disappeared from the spot.

During all this long dialogue, Wu Guang, or better said his real self, Bai Qi was internally questioning himself regarding his words and actions. His Uncle may not be a close relative, and while studying under him they did not share much contact, but, he could sense a discrepancy between the real and the new Wu Guang. Weighting both pros and cons, he decided to take this small risk after sensing the Elder interest in something regarding the Boundary Hill City. He felt that this elder was not simple, after all, he had concealed himself to the point that even Bai Qi unmerged soul sensed only a first stage Soul expert during the brief fight, and adding the fact that he had wood essence in his possession, this elder should be someone respected in the sect. Even if he was not interested in a small sect from this minor plane this was a heaven-sent opportunity to improve his standing before joining, after all, Wu Guang was supposed to join it and Bai Qi decided the same considering that there were no other options on the horizon.