"Then I'll take my leave!" Ran Chou said.
"Wait! Are you going to Kaifeng?" Sun Simiao asked.
"Of course I'm going to Kaifeng," Ran Chou replied.
"If you go to Kaifeng now, I'm afraid you might not find Huang lad. He should be on his way to Khitan by now," Sun Simiao said.
"Khitan?" Somewhat surprised, Ran Chou asked, "Is he going to find Ling Tianya?"
"That's right, he's looking for Ling Tianya. As it happens, I was the one who brought this matter up with Huang lad. At the time, Khitan had mustered an army of five hundred thousand and was preparing to march south against Great Song..." Sun Simiao recounted what had happened to Ran Chou.
"I see. So I won't find the Sect Master if I go there," Ran Chou said with a frown.
"That's hard to say. We don't know how long Huang lad will stay in Khitan. If it's only a short stay, just a few days, then by the time you reach Kaifeng from Dali, he might have just returned from Khitan as well. If he stays in Khitan for a long time, though, it's hard to say," Sun Simiao said.
"I understand." Ran Chou nodded. "I won't go deliver the message in person, then. There's still plenty to deal with in the aftermath of this trip to Chengdu, so I'll return to the Heavenly Demon Sect first. But rest assured, both of you. I'll have someone from the sect send word to the Sect Master."
By the time Ran Chou left the Medicine King Hall to return to the Heavenly Demon Sect, Huang Xiao was already on his way back from Khitan.
Huang Xiao had not expected that his grandfather had long since decided against marching on Great Song, so he had hardly