Yue Qing had carefully analyzed the cause of his master's death and found it extremely suspicious.
Back then, a Draconic Lizard had reportedly appeared in the Burning Desert. An adult Draconic Lizard counted as a demonic beast, so a Golden Core cultivator had to lead the hunt.
Azuresteel Sect disciples also needed training, so it was perfectly normal for a Golden Core cultivator to lead them.
Nanmen, a Seventh-Layer Golden Core True Person, had originally been in charge of the expedition. His combat strength was somewhat excessive, but there was nothing wrong with overestimating the enemy in order to keep the disciples safe.
Of course, if the disciples could handle the Draconic Lizard themselves, the Golden Core cultivator would not intervene.
There had been seven Emergence from Dust Stage disciples and over a hundred Qi Refining Stage disciples. Since Azuresteel Sect was officially organizing an expedition, they certainly would not be dealing with just the Draconic Lizard. The areas that needed clearing would be cleared as well.
Then Feng Yishu had suggested, what if there were a pair of Draconic Lizards? Two Golden Core cultivators would be safer, so he had gone too.
The most infuriating part was that, after the Azuresteel disciples arrived, they actually encountered three adult Draconic Lizards. Did these things travel in threes too?
True Person Nanmen had single-handedly held off two, while Feng Yishu resisted one and covered the disciples' retreat.
It had been a relatively disastrous training expedition for Azuresteel Sect. Five of the seven Emergence from Dust disciples returned, though two had been crippled. Of the hundred-plus Qi Refining Stage disciples, more than ninety returned—later, around ten of them had their cultivation crippled for fleeing in battle.
Most importantly, True Person Nanmen had fallen.
True Persons had a higher death rate than High