Even though Zhao Yunxiao was seated on quite the exquisite bed, he found it difficult to get truly comfortable.
Physically, this was definitely a conducive place for rest. However, the psychological aspect of things continued to weigh down upon him, to the extent that he found it too distracting to even enter meditation.
Finally, he could not hold it in any longer and looked over to the figure seated across the room.
"Senior Martial Brother Gan, shall we have a chat?" Zhao Yunxiao said.
Seated in a cross legged manner on his own bed, Gan Luozhi answered without opening his eyes. "What do you want?"
"I understand that there have been some minor differences between us in the past, but that is something that only arose because of the circumstances that we were in back then," Zhao Yunxiao said. "Personally, I truly respect you as a senior. After all, everyone knows about your exceptiona-"
"Cut to the chase."
"Ahem!" Zhao Yunxiao cleared his throat a little before continuing. "What I want to say is this – I hope we can put aside our past differences and work together during this trip. Who knows? If things go smoothly, we might just receive some great rewards from Elder Feng!"
"Work together? With you?" Gan Luozhi scoffed. "Of course things are going to go smoothly, but that's because I am going to make things work. As for you, just try not to get in my way and everything will work out just fine!"
"...I understand. In that case, I will be relying on Senior Martial Brother Gan," Zhao Yunxiao felt the corner of his lips twitch.
If Gan Luozhi really could personally ensure that everything worked out just fine, then Zhao Yunxiao would naturally be fine with taking a back seat and letting him handle things. In fact, he would even welcome such a thing since that would give him more leeway to focus on gathering information on cultivating the body strengthening system.
But the problem here was that Gan Luozhi was not particularly famous for his ability to handle things well!
And if Gan Luozhi messed things up, Zhao Yunxiao would not be able to avoid being implicated as well!
Nevertheless, there was no use in confronting Gan Luozhi right now. Judging from his personality, Gan Luozhi might even get triggered into deliberate sabotage if the wrong buttons were pushed.
Zhao Yunxiao could only choose to observe the situation for now, while getting ready to step in whenever the situation called for it.
At least he knew now that Gan Luozhi had the intention to do well, so that was better than nothing. Zhao Yunxiao felt slightly more assured after hearing that, and slowly eased into a state of light meditation.
After a few moments, Gan Luozhi opened his eyes ever so slightly to steal a peek at the meditating Zhao Yunxiao.
In his head, his conversation with another junior martial brother late last night started to replay itself.
Big news, Senior Martial Brother Gan! Junior Martial Brother Zhao beat Senior Martial Brother Geng Guoye in a spar!
Even if you want to believe in fake rumours, at least choose something that is a little more plausible. That brat beat Senior Martial Brother Geng? What a joke! Don't you know that Senior Martial Brother Geng is an Origin Core realm martial artist?
That's not it. Senior Martial Brother Geng promised to suppress his cultivation level to match Junior Martial Brother Zhao's, only to be forced to release his true strength!
...Is that true?
It happened in front of hundreds of eyes at the Clear Thoughts Pavilion. How can it be fake?
Before realising it, a faint smile appeared on Gan Luozhi's face, though he quickly suppressed his thoughts to regain his stoic expression.
That said, he had to admit that it felt good to hear that piece of news. With this, everyone would finally shut up about his loss to Zhao Yunxiao in the past.
Now, all that was left was to let Zhao Yunxiao know who exactly was the superior one between them. Once that was done, everything would fall back into place, returning to how it was before.
In that sense, perhaps them ending up on this trip together could also be seen as fate working in his favour!
***
Even though they were all located in the northern regions of the Duyuan Empire, Armed Ape Tower was located further away from Purple Plum Mountain than the Origin Lake Sect was.
And unlike the Origin Lake Sect's territory, which comprised mainly of relatively flat lands and numerous water bodies, the Armed Ape Tower was based in the depths of a dense forest.
Elder Feng Wanjia did not call for the outer disciples even once, so everyone was able to get ample rest during the journey that took almost an entire day.
By the time they arrived, the sky was already starting to turn dark.
The door to the bamboo house slowly opened and Elder Xiong Yan led the way out, followed quickly by the rest of the group.
As Zhao Yunxiao landed lightly on a wooden platform, he immediately did a quick scan of his surroundings.
They were currently at a wide clearing, surrounded by tall trees that were each more than a hundred metres tall. Beneath their feet, the ground had been covered neatly in wooden boards, which in turn formed a wooden path that led out of this clearing.
Standing by the exit were two young ladies, both dressed in the disciple robes of the Armed Ape Tower – a heavy fur cloak that covered them from head to toe. If not for the fact that the hood was currently pushed back, the faces of these female disciples would have been hidden beneath the shadows.
It was difficult to describe their looks as exceptional, but they were definitely not ugly either. That said, their eyes that were burning with vitality easily drew in everyone's attention, making their appearances irrelevant to a certain extent.
Seeing the arrival of the bamboo house, the two female disciples immediately stepped forward to greet them.
"Greetings, Elder Xiong! Welcome back!"
"Mm," Elder Xiong Yan nodded in satisfaction while gesturing towards Elder Feng Wanjia. "I have returned with the Black Tortoise Sect's Elder Feng. Hurry up and greet her."
"Greetings, Elder Feng!" the two female disciples were flustered for a moment, but quickly regained their senses and bowed towards Elder Feng.
"Please rise," Elder Feng Wanjia said.
"Thank you, Elder Feng!"
"I will take things from here, so go inform Sect Master Kui of our arrival," Elder Xiong Yan said.
"Yes, Elder Xiong. We will take our leave!" the two female disciples hurried off immediately.
"My apologies for not being able to prepare a grand reception for your arrival," Elder Xiong Yan turned towards Elder Feng Wanjia. "I hope you won't hold it against us."
"Don't worry about it. This trip is a last-minute decision, so that much is understandable," Elder Feng Wanjia shook her head indifferently. "Let's enter."
"Thank you for understanding. In that case, please follow me."
With a wave of his hand, the bamboo mansion shrank to the size of a fingernail and flew into Elder Xiong Yan's sleeves. He then started leading the way into the depths of the forest.
The wooden path that they were on branched out at numerous intersections, splitting into paths that led to who knew where. With the tall trees blocking the way, it created a maze-like terrain that was nigh impossible to navigate through unless one was already familiar with the terrain.
In addition to the fact that the sky was already turning dark, the thick canopy overhead blocked out what remained of the sunlight. This resulted in their path receiving close to no natural illumination whatsoever.
Thankfully, there were little stones attached to the edges of the wooden path at regular intervals, each emitting a warm glow to light up the way for the group.
Of course, the group could have easily kept track of their surroundings with their spiritual senses as well, but these little stones of light did more than just that. Their presence not only provided simple illumination, but also a beautifying effect on the surroundings that made it look far more welcoming.
Under Elder Xiong Yan's lead, the group quickly arrived at a huge wooden mansion.
It was a three-storey mansion made with several different types of wood, with the contrast in wood types used cleverly at various junctures to give the structure a greater sense of artistic depth. Numerous exquisite carvings could also be seen on the wooden surfaces, each done with deliberate intention to complement the others, adding an aura of profoundness to the already ancient-looking building.
"Greetings, Elder Xiong!" a male disciple standing by the entrance greeted as they approached.
"Go prepare some tea for our guests," Elder Xiong Yan instructed without taking a second glance at the disciple. "Qie Xing, go gather the core disciples."
"Yes, Elder Xiong!" Qie Xing answered immediately.
The male disciple hurried into the depths of the mansion while Qie Xing left for the depths of the forest. At the same time, Elder Xiong Yan settled the group down within the mansion – in a large hall that was well-lit with candles that lined the walls.
Surprisingly, each of them got a seat, including Zhao Yunxiao and Gan Luozhi.
Shortly after, a female disciple, who looked to be around twenty years of age with rather pretty features, entered the hall to pour tea for everyone. Despite her obviously skilled movements when serving tea to Elder Xiong Yan and Xiong Yekong, her expression quickly turned frigid as she approached Elder Feng Wanjia's table.
Her nervousness was apparent for all to see.
"Relax, I don't bite," Elder Feng Wanjia assured with a smile, clearly noticing this as well.
"Y-Yes, Elder Feng!" the female disciple jumped a little upon being addressed.
Seeing how her words only made the female disciple feel even more nervous, Elder Feng Wanjia could only let out a helpless chuckle. This was not her first time seeing something like this, but it was not her duty to help. In the end, it was still up to the disciple to overcome her own reservations.
"Don't worry, Elder Feng is a very reasonable person," Gan Luozhi spoke up at this point, even standing up to gently take over the pot of tea from her. "Come, let me do it."
His movements were swift. In just a matter of seconds after offering to help, he was already done serving Elder Feng Wanjia, Sect Protector Shan Lihui, Fei Weng, and Hua Shui.
"Here," Gan Luozhi handed the teapot back to the female disciple with a warm smile. "That aside, I have to say that you are really pretty. Would it be possible for me to know your name?"
"Y-Yes..." the female disciple answered meekly. "I am Qing Fengxi, an outer disciple of the Armed Ape Tower."
At the same time, her eyes began to sparkle as she looked at Gan Luozhi, having been completely caught off guard by his gentlemanly behaviour.
"I see. Nice to meet you then, Sister Qing. My name is Gan Luozhi, but you can just call me Brother Gan," Gan Luozhi said while maintaining his smile. "If there is anything that you are unsure of in the future, feel free to approach me for help."
"Okay..." the female disciple answered before quickly turning around to leave, trying to hide her blush that was becoming more apparent by the second.
The others simply watched on in amusement, no one bothering to stop Gan Luozhi.
After all, there was nothing wrong with what he had done.
If this was a sincere offer to help out Qing Fengxi and connect as fellow cultivators, that was certainly fine. But even if this was his way of expressing interest in the other party, there were no rules against it either.
In fact, there were plenty of cases where disciples from different factions ended up as cultivation partners. As long as both parties were willing and both factions were of the orthodox path, there was nothing that truly stood in their way.
Only Zhao Yunxiao could not help but scoff in his heart.
It was fine if Gan Luozhi was seriously expressing his interest, but that was unlikely to be the case.
Just like how there were plenty of cases where disciples from different factions ended up as cultivation partners, there were also plenty of cases where disciples behaved like complete casanovas when visiting weaker factions.
And he was 90% certain that Gan Luozhi belonged to the latter!
On top of that... what about his tea?
Gan Luozhi had not poured any for him, so why did this Qing Fengxi leave with the teapot?
Well, that actually worked out perfectly for him.
Zhao Yunxiao promptly stood up, wanting to head to the back of the hall to ask for some tea. This was not because he really wanted the tea, but because it would look strange if he were the only one without it.
Or at least, that would be his excuse.
In actual fact, he simply saw this as a good opportunity to speak to the native disciples. If he did this right, it could very well open up avenues for him to glean some information regarding the body strengthening system!
However, he had yet to even take his first step when he heard a deep voice suddenly call out to him.
"Do you need to go somewhere, Brother Zhao?" Xiong Yekong asked while standing up as well. "You are still new to this place, so why don't I show you the way?"
His sudden offer instantly wiped away every last bit of intrigue anyone had in Gan Luozhi's little antiques from earlier, forcing their attention onto Xiong Yekong and Zhao Yunxiao as they hoped to figure out this confusing situation.
This offer might seem simple, but it was anything but that.
Even Zhao Yunxiao could not help but be alarmed.
Not only did the famous Feral Claw Xiong Yekong know him by name, but was also offering to show him the way?
He was no beautiful fairy, so what's the catch here?