"How come I didn't know about this?"
Zhou Qingmei was startled.
If everything in the Pearl Pavilion was left for Li Nanchen to handle, it would be all too easy for him to work with outsiders from within.
She could already imagine the Black Sha Cult launching a full-scale attack on the Pearl Pavilion once Li Nanchen took charge.
With one side prepared and the other caught unawares, the Pearl Pavilion would surely suffer a devastating blow.
Most importantly, the Mysterious Mechanism Cave on the back mountain was almost completely cut off from the main hall at the mountain gate.
As long as the people guarding the Mysterious Mechanism Cave were replaced with members of the Black Sha Cult, and the disciples were stopped from going to report... the people in seclusion could not possibly know what was happening outside.
Lu Xiaoqing said helplessly:
"At first, it was only the Pavilion Master's idea. He hadn't discussed it with the elders or the senior uncles and aunts in the sect.
"It wasn't settled until a month ago. You'd already gone down the mountain by then, so naturally you knew nothing about it."
"At what hour did the Pavilion Master and the others enter this so-called Mysterious Mechanism Cave?"
Fang Shuwen asked.
Lu Xiaoqing's expression darkened somewhat:
"The hour of the dragon!"
It was already the hour of the tiger, less than two shichen from the hour of the dragon.
Although Nine-Congealing Mountain was already in sight, a mountain in view could still run a horse to death. At their current speed, it would probably take more than three shichen to reach it.
Zhou Qingmei instinctively looked at Fang Shuwen again. He said:
"Although we won't make it in time, since we've already come this far, there's no reason to turn around and leave.
"Bring your senior sister. We'll head to the Pearl Pavilion at once."
Zhou Qingmei cupped her fists and said:
"In that case, sorry to trouble you to carry my senior sister, Brother Fang."
Lu Xiaoqing frowned slightly:
"I'm afraid it's already too late. Qingmei, the greater tide is hard to turn. You should take this young brother and leave Nine-Congealing Mountain.
"Heaven and earth are vast, and there are countless opportunities in the jianghu. Once you've mastered your martial arts in the future... ow!"
Before she could finish, Fang Shuwen scooped her onto his back.
Then, with practiced ease, he reached for Zhou Qingmei's hand.
"Let's go."
Zhou Qingmei pushed off with one foot and used her lightness skill to carry all three of them. They shot into the air and headed straight for the Pearl Pavilion.
Lu Xiaoqing, who had still wanted to say something, was completely dumbfounded.
When had Zhou Qingmei acquired such a brilliant lightness skill?
No, wait... wasn't this the Pearl Pavilion's own lightness skill? But how was it so formidable when Zhou Qingmei used it?
But she soon realized it wasn't Zhou Qingmei's lightness skill that was formidable.
She was drawing on Fang Shuwen's internal force.
But the problem was, Fang Shuwen had just used his internal force to treat her injuries. Shouldn't he have been as empty as a house after the thieves had left?
How did he still have so much strength to spare?
Lu Xiaoqing was full of questions, but at that moment, she couldn't get a single word out.
On Fang Shuwen's back, she was being jostled so badly that she could only clutch his neck with both hands. She didn't dare squeeze with her legs... they had been broken in the fall, and any effort brought unbearable pain.
Otherwise, even if it seemed a little improper, she would have clamped both legs tightly around him to keep herself from being thrown off.
As time passed, she grew more and more astonished.
She could already accept that Zhou Qingmei was using Fang Shuwen's internal force to unleash an astonishing burst of speed with her lightness skill.
But what she couldn't accept was that Fang Shuwen's internal force seemed inexhaustible.
Helping someone else use a lightness skill with internal force consumed far more than using it himself... yet they had been running for a shichen, and there wasn't a single drop of sweat on Fang Shuwen's forehead.
She suddenly remembered what Fang Shuwen had said earlier about how it "didn't take much." At the time, she had thought it was just a young man putting on a brave face.
Now it seemed this fellow had simply been telling the truth!
This man was so young, yet his internal cultivation was unfathomably deep.
Where had Junior Sister Zhou found such a monstrous talent?
The Pearl Pavilion!
Inside the main hall of the front palace, Li Nanchen stood straight and tall in black robes at the head of the room.
His gaze fell on the Pearl Pavilion members in the hall, some seated and some standing.
There were two people seated.
A man and a woman.
The man was in his fifties, with a gaunt face that looked as though it had been carved with a blade and chiseled with an axe, its lines firm and resolute.
His hair was half gray, and his expression was utterly serious.
He was Zhou Qingmei's senior uncle and Zhang Fang's master, Xu Chongshan.
The age of the woman sitting opposite him, however, was impossible to tell.
Not a trace of time had been left on her beautiful face. Only in her languid gaze could the passage of years be seen.
That, instead, gave her an indescribable charm.
This was Lu Xiaoqing and Zhou Qingmei's revered master... Zuo Qingshuang.
At the hour of the dragon, after seeing the Pavilion Master and several elders into the Mysterious Mechanism Cave, Li Nanchen had gathered everyone here on the pretext of discussing important sect affairs.
Zuo Qingshuang yawned, the drowsiness in her eyes nearly spilling over.
She glanced at Li Nanchen:
"Little Chen, whatever you have to say, go on and say it. Once you're done, your senior aunt still has to go back and catch up on her sleep."
Xu Chongshan frowned slightly:
"Junior sister, you're a master and a role model now. You should still watch your words."
"Second Senior Brother, do you know why you're still all alone at your age?"
"Why?"
"Worry too much and you age easily... the girls don't fancy you."
The corner of Xu Chongshan's mouth twitched, and he spoke through gritted teeth:
"You make it sound as though there's a man who wants you!"
"Senior Brother, you should know, it's not that no one wants me. It's that my eyes are set above my head, and I can't take a liking to those crooked melons and cracked dates!"
"If you were really so wonderful, how could you attract nothing but a bunch of crooked melons and cracked dates?"
The disciples in the hall watched their senior aunt and uncle bicker, each with eyes on nose, nose on mouth, and mouth on heart.
They acted as though they were blind and deaf at that moment, unable to hear or see a thing.
Many of them, however, were already used to this sight.
Their senior aunt and uncle and the Pavilion Master had all grown up together. When the martial siblings got along, they truly got along, but when they quarreled, they truly had no gate on their mouths.
They aimed every jab straight at the heart.
In the past, their sect elders had been there to keep them in check. Later, their status had risen higher and higher, until only the Pavilion Master could hold them down.
Now that the Pavilion Master had gone into seclusion in the Mysterious Mechanism Cave to study the [Hundred Solutions True Scripture], who knew who could keep these two in check?
Li Nanchen?
Everyone stole a glance at Li Nanchen.
They saw no change in the young acting Pavilion Master's eyes. Instead, he wore a faint smile.
Then they heard him cough softly:
"Senior Uncle, Senior Aunt, please hear me out."
They still had to show the acting Pavilion Master some respect, so Xu Chongshan and Zuo Qingshuang both fell silent.
Li Nanchen said softly:
"I'm young and inexperienced. By rights, I'm not qualified to serve as acting Pavilion Master.
"But since Master has entrusted me with this great responsibility, I wouldn't dare refuse.
"To ensure the Pearl Pavilion can develop steadily, I've invited several Guest Elders. Today, I'd like to introduce them to everyone."