Chapter 2556: Search

The Goddess of Wu Mountain smiled. “Not really. I merely sensed a formidable power hidden inside her body. She should have no problem protecting herself.”

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

“A formidable power?” The Mermaid Queen was stunned.

The Fiend races’ Saintess’ cultivation should be beneath mine, but the knowledge and composure she displayed...

Zu An remained calm, as if he had already known that.

He hadn’t doubted Yumen Beiqing at the start. The way she hadn’t hesitated to sever ties with the Fiend races for him greatly resembled Xie Daoyun. But as he spent more time with her, he'd noticed so many anomalies that it was clear something was amiss. If he was that dense, he wouldn’t have survived skirting around death for so many years.

For instance, he had followed Yumen Beiqing’s information to locate Pei Mianman’s whereabouts, but the latter was nowhere to be found, as if she had never appeared in those places. After he thought about it, there was only one possibility: The information he'd received from that town was off.

He'd initially suspected that Xie Daoyun was misleading him out of jealousy, but he quickly rejected that conjecture. Having known Xie Daoyun for years, he knew better than anyone else that she was an educated, sensible, and gentle young miss. She wouldn’t do something like that.

Subsequently, more and more details popped up that further convinced him that she wasn’t the real Xie Daoyun.

For instance, while the two of them were getting steamy, he'd tried using some secrets that only he and Xie Daoyun knew to test her. Despite Yumen Beiqing’s best attempts to impersonate Xie Daoyun, she clearly didn’t know about these secrets. That had also made him realize how even when the two of them were getting passionate, Yumen Beiqing still exuded inexplicable coldness and even hatred toward him.

He couldn’t understand why a woman would submit to a man if she hated him. And if she truly hated him, why did the system not pick up on her rage? Sometimes, he'd wondered if he was reading too much into it.

However, more details surfaced when they arrived in this world, and they confirmed his conjecture that Yumen Beiqing was concealing many secrets from him. He tried to test her many times, but she'd never shown any openings.

But then, he'd secretly probed her body while they were getting some action, and it was then that he detected a formidable sealed power inside her. However, he hadn’t dared to probe the sealed power too deeply out of fear that she would notice his intrusion.

The act they'd put on together felt like a harmonious orchestra at first. It was only recently that Yumen Beiqing started looking distracted. It felt as if she was no longer interested in maintaining the act.

Even so, Zu An had had no choice but to continue the act because he needed her to find Pei Mianman and the real Xie Daoyun. Yumen Beiqing had to have come into contact with Xie Daoyun at some point to gather so much information about them.

He'd been planning to find a good time to have a show of hands with Yumen Beiqing when the latter suddenly went missing. There was a chance that Yumen Beiqing was leaving for good, so he had to find her, whether it was for Pei Mianman or Xie Daoyun.

Thus, he bowed to the Goddess of Wu Mountain and said, “Thank you for your advice, but I still have to find her, or I’ll feel uneasy.”

The Goddess of Wu Mountain hesitated for a second before gently replying, “I am the cause of this matter. I’ll accompany you in your search.”

Zu An looked at her in astonishment. Her offer was at odds with her cold nature, but it would indeed be helpful to have the aid of someone from this world. It was also a pleasure to travel with someone who looked so much like Pei Mianman. “Thank you, goddess.”

The Mermaid Queen shot vigilant looks at the Goddess of Wu Mountain.

Is she interested in big brother Zu too?

The thought that the other party resembled the woman Zu An loved deeply left her feeling profoundly helpless.

Xingtian and Kuafu walked over and clasped their fists at them. “We won’t be able to accompany you anymore, as we have to return to report the incident here.”

So many things had just happened at Zhong Mountain. All the powers in the world were in an uproar now. They had to return to their tribe to decide on their next move.

“See you!” There were many questions Zu An wanted to ask them, but his priority at hand was to find Yumen Beiqing. He didn’t dare to delay this matter.

After parting ways, Zu An began searching for Yumen Beiqing’s trail. He had been too focused on dealing with Nuba earlier, so he hadn’t noticed her sneaking away.

The Goddess of Wu Mountain pointed in a direction. “I know every blade of grass and tree on Wu Mountain. I sensed her heading in that direction. However, Wu Mountain is nothing more than a peak on Spirit Mountain. It won’t be easy to find a single person here.”

Zu An knew she was right. The Spirit Mountain of this world was tens of thousands of times larger than the mountain ranges in his previous world. Even the mountain peaks easily reached tens of thousands of meters in height. There were countless venomous creatures and ferocious beasts in the region. Powerful cultivators also established their caves here, and they constructed dangerous beguilement formations to protect their caves. Even a grandmaster from the Cultivation World would fare no better wandering the Spirit Mountain region and trying to survive in the wilderness; the odds of survival were zero. Finding a person here was harder than finding a needle in the ocean.

“It’s fine. At least we have a direction to work with now. Thank you, goddess.” Zu An began making his way in the direction pointed out by the Goddess of Wu Mountain. From time to time, he took detours, heading left at one moment and right in the next. It was as if someone was pointing out the directions for him.

The Goddess of Wu Mountain noticed his lack of hesitation in navigating and asked, “Did you plant a location talisman on that lady?”

Zu An shook his head. He had considered that, but he also knew that Yumen Beiqing wasn't as simple as she appeared. Such a move would reveal that he was suspicious of her, so he had to give up on that idea. “I can communicate with small animals. They're the ones pointing out the directions for me.”

He was relying on the jade badge’s ability to commune with living beings to find Yumen Beiqing. The latter had moved carefully, but she wouldn’t go to the extent of guarding against worms, birds, and small animals.

The Goddess of Wu Mountain was awed. “You must have a pure and kind heart to be able to commune with animals.”

She had heard that only the noblest souls would inherit such powers. Even the Mermaid Queen’s eyes glowed wondrously as she looked at Zu An.

I've chosen the right person!

Zu An’s face heated up. With the misunderstandings they were having, it was tough for him to break their bubble and tell them that it was an artifact’s ability.

Fortunately, he noticed a trail and soon arrived at the cliff face. He concluded, “She came here and entered that spot."

“There seems to be a concealment formation here.” The Goddess of Wu Mountain quickly noticed something amiss and waved her sleeves. A fog shrouded the cliff face, revealing the formation’s details. “It’s a complex formation. It won’t be easy to decipher it.”

“It’s not that hard.” Zu An whipped out his Tai’e Sword and plunged it into three locations. The formation on the cliff face scattered, revealing a black cavern.

The Goddess of Wu Mountain widened her eyes in shock. Absolute strength and a deep understanding of the formation’s weaknesses were required to dispel a formation in such a manner.

This fellow is an enigmatic one.

The Mermaid Queen took out a Night Illumination Pearl to gently light the cavern. Intense heat pulsated from within. There was no oxygen in it at all. If not for their high cultivation levels, the immense pressure difference would have blown their bodies to bits as soon as they stepped into the cavern.

It was a mess inside the cavern. There had been a huge battle here.