According to the original plan, Zheng Qing had intended to assemble a standard five-person hunting team from the You Zui Hunting Team for that night's adventure. But plans could not keep up with changes, and the other hunters on the team all had inconvenient schedules.
Take Lan Que, for instance. With finals approaching, Lan Que, one of Starry Sky Academy's outstanding students, had spent several consecutive days in the arena. Especially since it was friday, it was said that he had broken so many bones during an afternoon defense match that Zheng Qing truly could not bring himself to ask the aloof swordsman to go adventuring while injured.
As for the little monk Shi Yuan, he was occupied with a religious ceremony. That day was the thirteenth of the fifth lunar month, the Day of Gengwu in the month of Xinsi, a day for worshipping Guan Sheng, the City God, the Dragon King, and many other deities—though those were merely far-fetched claims of traditional mysticism, and no Legendary Wizard had ever confirmed the deities' birthdays. Still, whenever such days came around, Atlas students could not avoid reciting a few prayers before the statues of the gods.
They might not be your gods, and you might not worship them, but you could not show them disrespect.
Another important reason Zheng Qing had not informed the little monk Shi Yuan was that he had almost never participated in the You Zui Hunting Team's group training. Inviting him would have been less reliable than inviting Nicholas.
That afternoon, Nicholas had quietly sought out Zheng Qing, hoping to join the evening's adventure. Zheng Qing knew that he wanted to help Liu Feifei capture the Faceless Demon disguised as her pet snake, but Zheng Qing was unwilling to invite Nicholas.
Leaving aside the fact that