Especially recently, because the next Battle of Black Abyss was getting closer and closer, the pressure on the cultivators of the Red Talisman Association was also increasing.
Lu Ye's sudden appearance at this time undoubtedly boosted the morale of the Red Talisman Association, because Lu Ye's appearance let them know that Mount Miniscule hadn't given up on them!
Morale was an illusory thing, but sometimes it played a very important role. Lu Ye's arrival was Mount Miniscule's attitude. Hu Dequan immediately understood that Mount Miniscule was still working hard, and the cultivators sent here before weren't without support.
"Which Mount Miniscule is Fellow Daoist from?" Hu Dequan asked, "And who is your Daoist companion?"
Although Lu Ye's red talisman power gave him a very familiar and intimate feeling, there were still some things that he had to clarify.
"The east," Lu Ye replied. "My Daoist companion … Su Yuqing!"
"Who?" Hu Dequan was stunned for a moment, almost thinking that he had misheard.
Lu Ye repeated his words.
Hu Dequan's expression became strange. He looked Lu Ye up and down for a while, then said hesitantly, "Fellow Daoist, you can't joke about this."
He naturally knew about Su Yuqing. She was one of the three great sunshine of the east! Lu Ye was only at the middle stage of the Moon Jade Realm, so how could he be her Daoist companion?
"Of course I'm not joking." Lu Ye's expression was solemn.
Hu Dequan was a bit confused. He instinctively didn't want to believe it, but he also knew that Lu Ye wouldn't joke about this.
But if so …
He was actually also sent here by Mount Miniscule. His Daoist companion was a female cultivator from the Cloud Sea Peak, Chen Xuanhai's disciple.
Chen Xuanhai and Su Yuqing were on the same level, and he had to call Su Yuqing 'Martial Uncle' like his Daoist companion. If Lu Ye was really Su Yuqing's Daoist companion, then didn't that mean …
This young man in front of him whose cultivation level was lower than his was also a Martial Uncle?
"Fellow Daoist, you're really … admirable!" Hu Dequan held back for a long time, unable to express his complicated feelings. It was hard to imagine that someone like Su Yuqing would actually choose such a young man as her Daoist companion. As for the words' Martial Uncle '… he absolutely couldn't say it out loud, and he definitely wouldn't mention his Daoist companion to Lu Ye.
Hu Dequan coughed lightly and changed the topic. "Fellow Daoist, did you come here specifically to look for us?"
Lu Ye nodded and said, "Someone told me that there are two great powers in this realm. One of them is the Red Talisman Association. I guessed that they were created by our own people, so I came over to try my luck."
"Indeed." Hu Dequan called out, "Fellow Daoist, please follow me. I will bring you to meet the others. If they know that you are here, they will definitely be very happy."
Martial Aunt, I can't be the only one who suffers a loss. It's only fair if everyone suffers a loss together … Hu Dequan could already imagine the expressions of those guys when they heard that Su Yuqing's Dao companion had come here.
Because he had to guard against the sneak attacks of the Saint Blood Peak cultivators at all times, Hu Dequan suppressed his magic power fluctuations as much as possible as he moved forward.
Along the way, he asked, "Fellow Daoist, you haven't been tainted by the blood rain, have you?"
"No!" Lu Ye had already found out about the Red Talisman Association's attitude towards recruiting members from Xiang Yin, so he naturally knew how to answer at this time.
Moreover, he was different from Xiang Yin and the others. As long as he didn't activate the Blood Race's secret technique, he would be no different from an ordinary human. Xiang Yin and the others were different. Even if they didn't activate the Blood Race's secret technique and didn't look like anything on the surface, if Lu Ye activated his divine nature, they would still be suppressed because they already had the characteristics of the Blood Race inside them.
"That's good!" Hu Dequan heaved a sigh of relief. It wasn't that he really trusted Lu Ye that much. The main thing was that Lu Ye had only been here for a few days, so the chances of him being tainted by the blood rain were not high. "The divine nature contained in the blood rain is pervasive. If you are tainted by it, you will be in big trouble."
They chatted as they walked.
After half a day, the two of them arrived at an underground karst cave. Lu Ye looked around and found that this place seemed to have been abandoned for a long time. There were no traces of life.
He looked at Hu Dequan in confusion. The latter explained, "Fellow Daoist, please wait here with me for a moment. Fellow Daoist Meng Xu and Fellow Daoist Yang Ling will be here soon."
Lu Ye had also noticed that Hu Dequan had used a sound talisman to send out a message on the way here. Meng Xu and Yang Ling should have been called over by him to meet up here.
Lu Ye looked around the karst cave and blinked. He nodded and said, "Okay!"
With that, he found a place and sat down cross-legged.
After waiting for a while, footsteps came from outside, followed by a loud voice. "More brothers?"
Another voice followed, "Be quiet. Be careful not to attract the enemy."
The loud voice snorted. "I'm already hiding here. If I can still attract them here, I'll wring my head off."
As he spoke, two men walked in from outside. One was fat and the other was thin.
Their gazes swept over the familiar Hu Dequan and landed on Lu Ye. Their eyes lit up as if they had seen a treasure.
Hu Dequan stood up and introduced them to each other. "Brother Meng, Brother Yang, Fellow Daoist Lu Ye is from the east."
He then introduced the two to Lu Ye. The fat one was the loud voice, Yang Ling, and the thin one was Meng Xu. Including Hu Dequan, the three of them were at the late-stage Moon Jade Realm!
After all, they were sent by the Human Tribe to search for the core of Mount Fangcun. Their strength was definitely not low.
This time, if not for Lu Ye's insistence, Su Yuqing also wanted to wait for him to reach the late-stage Moon Jade Realm before asking him to help with the search.
Yang Ling laughed. "We're family. I was also sent from the east. Who's your Dao partner? I stayed at Mount Fangcun for a while. Maybe we know each other. "
Hu Dequan snickered at the side.
When Lu Ye said Su Yuqing's name, Yang Ling's expression suddenly stiffened. He turned to look at Hu Dequan with an expression that said, "Is this kid joking with me?"
Hu Dequan shrugged. When he heard this news, his reaction was no better than Yang Ling's.
Meng Xu also realized the seriousness of the problem. They used to call each other brothers here and were happy and carefree. Who could stand the sudden appearance of an Uncle-Master?
Meng Xu didn't even bother to say which Mount Fangcun had sent him here. He was afraid that he would make trouble for himself.
After a moment of awkwardness, Yang Ling scratched his head. "Forget it. No matter where you're from, we're all brothers here!"
"That's right!" Hu Dequan and Meng Xu agreed.
Yang Ling's expression turned solemn. "Brother Lu, although some things are basically confirmed, there are still some procedures to go through in order to join the Red Talisman Association. Please don't mind."
Lu Ye nodded. "No problem. What do we do?" He was mentally prepared for this. He knew that joining the Red Talisman Association wasn't that simple.
If it were that simple, the Red Talisman Association wouldn't be so pure after so many years.
"First, please use your red talisman," Yang Ling said.
Although Hu Dequan had felt the power of Lu Ye's red talisman, Yang Ling and Meng Xu hadn't seen it before.
Lu Ye immediately activated the red talisman's power and let Yang Ling and Meng Xu feel it.
After a moment, both of them nodded, indicating that there was no problem.
Yang Ling spoke again. "Brother Meng, I still want to test whether you've been tainted by the divine nature. If not, you'll be a member of the Red Talisman Association from now on."
Following his words, Meng Xu suddenly took out a ball-like object and tossed it to Lu Ye. "This is something I've painstakingly refined for many years. I'll have to trouble Brother Lu to drip some blood on it."
Lu Ye looked at the ball-like object in his hand and nodded. "No problem!"
He had some doubts before. How did the Red Talisman Association determine whether a cultivator had been tainted by the divine nature? Now, he finally understood that there was a special treasure here.
The Red Talisman Association had been fighting with the Sacred Blood Mountain in the Inner World for so many years, so they naturally had some methods of their own.
He didn't know what the result of using this object would be. Although the Talent Tree had burned away everything that was disadvantageous to him when he was refining the Sacred Blood, and he wasn't affected during normal days, he still refined some things that belonged to the Blood Race.
Normal methods wouldn't be able to detect any abnormalities, but Lu Ye couldn't determine what the result would be if he dripped his blood on it.
Actually, when Hu Dequan brought him here, he already had some guesses.
If Hu Dequan really trusted him completely, he should be in the Red Talisman Association's stronghold right now, and not here.
Hu Dequan had obviously taken precautions to bring him here.
In such an environment, with three late-stage Yue Yao cultivators gathered together, it would be very difficult for Lu Ye to escape if something went wrong with his test. Lu Ye even suspected that Yang Ling and Meng Xu had set up a trap at the entrance.
But no matter what, he couldn't avoid this test. If he could successfully join the Red Talisman Association, it would greatly increase their ability to resist the Sacred Blood Mountain.
As for confessing in advance … it probably wouldn't work. The Red Talisman Association's standards for recruiting members were clear. If he confessed, the only result would be being excluded.
So, he could only take a gamble.
He drew his Mountain Pan Saber and lightly cut his hand, dripping his blood on the ball-like treasure.
Yang Ling's voice rang out. "Don't be too nervous. Brother Hu said that you've only been here for a few days. As long as you haven't come into contact with the Blood Rain, there won't be any problems."
As soon as he finished speaking, the originally pitch-black ball suddenly glowed brighter and brighter, until the entire cave was dyed red.
Lu Ye looked up and saw Yang Ling's expression become extremely solemn. He saw Meng Xu's regretful and pained expression, and he also sensed Hu Dequan's clear hostility behind him.
He didn't know when the three Yue Yao cultivators had separated into three sides, surrounding him in the middle.
Lu Ye sighed.
He raised his hand and tossed the ball-like treasure to Yang Ling. He said, "Can the three of you allow me to explain?"
Yang Ling's expression was grave. "There's no need to explain. I also know that you didn't intend to be tainted by the Divine Nature. It's just that the Blood Rain is pervasive, and you don't know anything about it since you've just arrived …" At this point, he couldn't help but curse. "We were too slow. My friend, if you really want to blame someone, you can only blame us!"
If they were well-informed enough and had acted quickly enough, they could have found Lu Ye as soon as he arrived. This situation could have been avoided.
(End of chapter)
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
