“Not with that attitude,” Yaomu Shou retorted. “Anyway, let me talk to her and just keep quiet.”

“I only promise to try.” Long Di responded.

****

Upon deciding this, they headed back to where Wei Yun was laying. They just got back when they saw her with a pale white medicinal pill in her hand.

An intense medicinal fragrance permeated the surroundings. When she saw ‌they were close by, she quickly popped the pill in her mouth and instantly the wounds she suffered started to heal.

Neither Yaomu Shou nor Long Di made any move to stop her. Of course, she realised this and came to the conclusion that none of the two took her as a threat.

She wasn’t gonna lie. It hurt her pride.

“So here’s the thing. Long Di learned the cultivation technique he gave your Divine Daughter from some ruins near his hometown.”

Yaomu Shou didn’t mince words and with a straight face got down to lying so she could ensure Long Di’s safety.

She truly did care. Lord knows he didn’t.

Wei Yun didn’t know what they were talking about for so long within the qi shield. However, the cultivation technique that the Divine Daughter was practising was extremely powerful. So Long Di wanting to keep it safe from others did make sense. This was her thought process.

The only thing she didn’t know was why this Yaomu Shou was convincing Long Di to divulge this info. After all, there was nothing in it for her.

Still, she didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth and would pay any price to pry this information from their lips.

“Oh, so you can tell me where the ruins are and I’ll make my way there.”

If Wei Yun could find the ruins, it would be a significant contribution to their sect.

However, Yaomu Shou poured a basin of cold water on her head.

“The ruins aren’t there anymore. I was interested, just like you, and wanted Long Di to tell me where it was too.” Yaomu Shou said with a dejected look. Her acting was better than Long Di’s, that’s for sure.

She went on with a shake of her head. “Unfortunately, that’s no longer possible. When he got deep into the ruins, a glowing figure of an old man appeared before him and bestowed the cultivation technique upon him. The problem is, that when the old man did it, he brought down the entire ruin with him. Something about completing their generation’s wish of not allowing their line to be severed, so there was no need for the ruins to remain.”

Wei Yun felt despondent upon hearing this. This meant that the only way that Long Di could part from the technique would be by either writing it down or passing it on to her via spiritual transference.

“Will you please pa-”

“No.” Long Di didn’t even wait until she finished speaking before he shot her down.

“Why!?” Wei Yun felt aggrieved. Why was this boy so hard to work with!?

“Because!” Yaomu Shou interjected once more, not believing Long Di had anything in the way of a good reason. “The way the old man passed it on to him will remove it from his memory should he ever give it to someone else. This means that Long Di can only pass it on to someone who deserves it! He simply doesn’t want to risk it is all. The only reason why he didn’t give the entire technique to her was because Long Di’s spiritual force wasn’t strong enough at the time to pass the whole thing on.”

Wei Yun entered deep thought upon hearing this. When she thought about this, it kinda made sense.

It must have been an incredible lineage that possessed such a profound technique. This glowing figure probably did have enough power to pass the technique to Long Di with these kinds of restrictions in tow.

Considering Long Di’s cautious nature, it made perfect sense why he didn’t want to lose this technique to her, someone who only claimed to be Qin Ling’s friend.

“Then may we meet in a different setting?” Wei Yun finally asked.

Long Di rose a brow at her request. “Uhm… why?”

“I’ll send a message back to the Ice Phoenix Hall asking them to escort Qin Ling to the town where I’ll be staying. That way, you can meet her yourself and know that I’m telling the truth.”

Wei Yun wasn’t aware that Qin Ling had already received permission to leave the sect to join her in her search for Long Di.

Long Di didn’t have anything to say to this and as far as Wei Yun was concerned, this was tacit permission on his end to agree with what she said.

A few minutes later, because of the medicinal pill, most of her wounds closed up. Seeing that she was better, Long Di threw a shish kebab her way, forcing her to catch it.

“I’m not hun-”

“Will you be travelling with us now?” Long Di asked, interrupting her in the process.

The question caught Wei Yun off guard. She couldn’t read this eleven-year-old boy before her. Right after throwing her a shish kebab, he asked her a question out of the blue. This all felt random, and it made him hard to predict.

“U-Uhm, no, I won’t be travelling with you. You’re not willing to give up the cultivation technique and when I leave this place, I’ll end up where I entered this realm from.”

This was another characteristic of the secret realm. Due to the special conditions of the Spiritual Bingqi Realm, and its spatial laws, everyone who entered would return from the place they had entered from.

“Where can I find you?” Long Di asked.

“You can find me at Cang Bian City. It’s the largest human city nearest the Demon Region. I’ll be at the Golden Lion Gate, which is the ruling clan of that city.” Wei Yun revealed.

She then waved her hand, summoning a black pouch from her storage ring. She took what appeared to be a jade card from the inside.

“Uhm… May I please have a drop of your blood?”

“Excuse me?” Long Di was puzzled at the request while Yaomu Shou’s face twisted into a scowl.

“What do you think you’re asking!? Do you think that just because you’re a disciple of the Ice Phoenix Hall that you can ask for whatever you want!?” Yaomu Shou knew that Long Di was immune to insults for some odd reason but that didn’t mean she couldn’t get angry on his behalf.

Asking an expert for their blood was akin to asking for a pound of their flesh! Experts fought and blood was spilt; this was normal, but that was on the battlefield. Besides, what sort of deranged lunatic would steal blood from his opponent during a fight?

Depending on their origin or race, many secrets could be discovered through an expert’s blood. This was not something to be taken lightly.

In addition, this was a type of humiliation, especially in this kind of setting. It was one thing if Long Di offered it, but obviously, this wasn’t the case.

This was why Yaomu Shou was so angry for Long Di. She took him as her friend, so anyone who insulted him was insulting her. Plus, the boy was a societal corpse, dead in all things considered customary, complete with coffin and grave, so she couldn’t be bothered to explain the intricacies of things like this to him.

She had to thank her lucky stars that he didn’t ask her in the middle of all this what the heck she was getting angry for.

“I-I’m sorry, it’s just that I have no way to look for him should he end up getting… lost,” Wei Yun said with a red face.

Yaomu Shou scoffed at her thinly veiled words. “Tch! Don’t try to take us for fools! What you’re trying to say is that you think he’ll run and not go to that human city of yours.”

Wei Yun didn’t deny Yaomu Shou’s accusations, mostly because she was right. She gave Long Di no incentive to find her.

What reason did he have to traverse the whole way to this human city?

To find her? Fat chance.

She attacked him during their first meeting, and the warning with the assassin counted for squat since he was clearly able to take care of himself.

“I promise to seek you out.” Long Di stated calmly.

Wei Yun replied quickly before Yaomu Shou could get a word in edge-wise. “How can I tru-”

“Because there’s no need for me to lie to you since I neither fear nor care for you,” he advised with all the tact of a piece of wood. “I can just as easily say no if I wanted to if all it brought about was me suffering your pleas and beseeching, which it most likely would. Then you’ll learn I’m about as stubborn as Yaomu Shou is purple. Not being racist, just transitioning an observation to comparison.”

He paused at this point, wanting his words to sink in. Even Yaomu Shou, who wanted to interject earlier, kept her mouth shut, impressed with Long Di’s indifferent savagery.

“So, with all that said… I tell you the truth because you’re not worth my lies.” Long Di cocked his head to the side, “Now, what say you?”

Wei Yun descended into silence. She had to admit, that everything that Long Di said made sense even though it hurt her. He didn’t know her, nor did he have any reason to care for her. So why lie? There was no need to. He could just say no and be done with it.

What could she do if he said no? Fight him? That didn’t work out the first time. Beg him? The boy was absent any compassion and had a poker face that could peel the paint off of walls.

Yet, even with this, she felt unsatisfied. As if taking his word alone was insufficient.

“Oh by the way,” Long Di decided to add. “I would like to get some knowledge on special grade physiques. So if ya’ll could gather that for me, that’d be great.”

Wei Yun’s eyes widened slightly, “You have a special-grade physique???”

“You don’t need to know that.” Yaomu Shou came to the rescue once again. “Now you know that he needs something from you guys. After all, information about special grade physiques can be found if one knew where to look, but a great sect should have information on that subject not privy to the public… right?”

Wei Yun’s expression became pensive as she stared at Yaomu Shou. The latter only smiled in response, not saying a word more.

It was Wei Yun who broke the silence asking, “Who are you?”

“It would do one well to become more learned,” Yaomu Shou said with a mysterious smile.

Realising that she wouldn’t get anything more from the two, Wei Yun decided it was time for her to take her leave.

“Remember, Cang Bian City, Golden Lion Gate,” she stated after taking one final look back at Long Di.

“You might need to prepare for my arrival,” Long Di responded while offering her a goodbye wave.

Wei Yun would have wished that she took Long Di’s words to heart on this day.

“Oh… beware the goal of the great sects. Our Ice Phoenix Hall will not interfere… this time.” was the last thing she said before she offered them her back.