She was the beautiful woman from last night—the one who had thrown the Treasure Map fragment to Xiao Yun, trying to shift the disaster onto someone else.
She walked up to the two of them, her gaze sweeping over Xiao Yun before landing on Wang Wu. "Wang Wu, you ran pretty fast."
Her tone was far from polite, as if she had come to demand an explanation.
Wang Wu gave a dry cough. "Elder He, wasn't I just afraid of wasting time? Besides, didn't I bring you here for the meeting?"
He turned to introduce her to Xiao Yun. "This is He Feiqing, an elder of the local Spirit Crane Sect. Her Martial Soul is the Crimson Flame Fire Crane, and she's a rank sixty-five Soul Emperor."
Then he introduced Xiao Yun to He Feiqing. "This is Brother Li Si. His Martial Soul is the Glazed Flame, and he's a rank sixty-two Soul Emperor. He's the friend who helped us a great deal last night."
He Feiqing did not say much. She sized Xiao Yun up carefully, searching her memory for Soul Emperors from the surrounding area who might match him. As for the name, she could tell at once it was fake, just like Wang Wu's. On the surface, however, she merely gave Xiao Yun a slight nod.
Seeing that the atmosphere had turned a little delicate, Wang Wu quickly smoothed things over. "All right, all right. Since everyone's here, let's go."
He turned and took the lead, darting into the mountains along an unremarkable little path. Xiao Yun and He Feiqing followed behind him, one on either side, leaving several body-lengths of space between the three of them.
The three of them did not take the Imperial Road, but followed a mountain trail toward the depths of the