After listening all that time, Yun Huanling had latched onto just one word. "Run? Why do your disciples have to go in person to ask other sects for help? Is it to show your sincerity?"
The two fell silent. One disciple tugged at his sleeve, looking a little uneasy. On closer inspection, even the tips of his ears were faintly red.
Yun Huanling failed to notice anything amiss with either of them. When they said nothing, he continued, "The major sects outside don't really care about that. Just make sure you pay them enough afterward. Use a Thousand-Mile Message Talisman to ask the Azure Tide Sect for help. They'll send people right away. Their Sect Leader is very reasonable."
He had actually meant to suggest the Heavenly Secret Sect, but then he remembered his fellow disciples, whose pathetic combat abilities were scarcely better than his own, and promptly changed his recommendation to the Azure Tide Sect.
One of them said rather weakly, "W-we don't have any Thousand-Mile Message Talismans."
Yun Huanling froze, clearly having never considered that possibility. In his mind, even the poorest sect should have a few on hand. Even the Jade Sword Sect, so poor they practically wanted to pawn their own trousers, had a few. Did this little sect really not have a single one?
Before long, the pair arrived at their hosts' sect.
The Azure Fall Sect Mountain Gate stood wide open, but the so-called Mountain Gate was really just an arch assembled from a few stones. Su Jiu estimated that it was not even a quarter the size of the Azure Tide Sect's gate.
Two stone lions stood at the entrance. Were those meant to safeguard a residence? But this was a sect. Safeguard a residence?
A question mark slowly appeared before Yun Huanling's