Rumors in the Central Plains: Yao Chen Wasn't Dead?

She gave a light cough, lifted her chin, and glanced at Sun Qi out of the corner of her eye.

"Since we're going the same way, I suppose I can bring myself to travel with you. That way, we can look out for each other on the road."

Sun Qi looked her up and down and waved her off with undisguised disdain.

"Oh, come on. Old Sun can cover a hundred and eight thousand li in a single somersault. Can those little short wings of yours keep up? Don't make Old Sun wait for you."

The Heavenly Demon Phoenix Clan had always been renowned across the continent for its speed, yet now a monkey had openly mocked her for being slow!

But Feng Qing'er couldn't refute him. Judging by the speed Sun Qi had shown earlier, even Fei Tian would have had great difficulty catching up.

"Pah! You're the one with little short wings!"

Sun Qi couldn't be bothered to argue with her and turned his gaze to Fei Tian.

The Wind Lightning Pavilion elder hovered quietly nearby, wearing the same cold, cute expression he had worn all along.

Though Feng Qing'er was a burden, Fei Tian, a Dou Zong, was fairly useful.

With a Dou Zong as a bodyguard, he could avoid plenty of trouble on the road through the Central Plains, where Dou Wangs were as common as dogs and Dou Emperors walked everywhere.

As for whether Fei Tian might attack him, the thought never even crossed Sun Qi's mind.

Leaving aside the fact that Venerable Feng stood behind him, the speed of the Somersault Cloud alone gave him more than enough confidence to escape from a Dou Zong expert.

In short, zero risk.

As for Fei Tian, he naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to attack Sun Qi on a whim, either.

Besides, the Southern Region of the Central Plains was still within the Starfall Pavilion's sphere of influence. If anything happened to Sun Qi, Venerable Feng could arrive in an instant.

"All right." Sun Qi nodded, then added, "But Old Sun is in a hurry, so you'd better flap those little wings faster."

Feng Qing'er snorted and turned her head away, flicking her ponytail.

"Who needs you to wait? I can keep up!"

Feng Qing'er spread her wings. Their blue-green feathers shimmered in the sunlight, each one like a meticulously polished jewel.

She deliberately flew half a body length behind Sun Qi and to his side, secretly studying the monkey's back with her phoenix eyes.

She had lost twice in a row!

At the Four Pavilions Assembly, she had at least managed to exchange a few moves with this damned monkey, but today she hadn't even been able to withstand a single blow from his staff.

Feng Qing'er had never lost to anyone of her generation in the Heaven Demon Phoenix Clan since she was little. Yet she had met this damned monkey and lost both times they fought.

She couldn't swallow the insult.

Why?!

They were both magical beasts in human form, and Feng Qing'er even had the Heaven Demon Phoenix Clan's bloodline, yet when he fought her, it was like an old man playing with a naughty child.

She wanted to see just how this monkey had managed to surpass her so easily.

But she would have to coax the information out of him slowly, so she wouldn't get worked up.

"Hey, damned monkey." Feng Qing'er flapped her wings and drew a little closer, deliberately making her tone casual. "What exactly are you going to the Northern Region for?"

Sun Qi sat cross-legged on the Somersault Cloud without looking back.

"To find my teacher."

At that, Fei Tian's Dou Qi Wings faltered slightly.

He turned his head, a trace of puzzlement appearing on his cold, cute face.

"When did Venerable Feng go to the Northern Region?" Fei Tian sounded somewhat perplexed. "I haven't heard any news of Venerable Feng leaving the Starfall Pavilion."

Sun Qi turned to look at him as though he were an idiot.

"My teacher is Yao Chen."

Fei Tian stumbled and nearly fell out of the sky.

Feng Qing'er's wings also stiffened for an instant, and she faltered in midair.

"Yao Chen?" Feng Qing'er's eyes went wide. "Didn't Venerable Yao already perish?"

Fei Tian steadied himself, his brows furrowing.

"Word of Venerable Yao's death spread throughout the Central Plains long ago. All the major sects know about it, so how..." Halfway through, he suddenly saw Sun Qi looking at him like an idiot and swallowed the rest of his words.

Sun Qi folded his arms across his chest and snorted.

"My teacher is a Nine Revolutions Peak Dou Zun expert. How could he perish so easily?" He shook his head, sounding utterly certain. "Everything you've heard out there is just rumor. My teacher merely went traveling across the continent."

He said it without blushing or missing a heartbeat.

Yao Chen had indeed died once, but his soul remained. Once the materials for his resurrection were gathered, he could be reborn, so calling it traveling wasn't really wrong.

How did a soul traveling not count as traveling?

Fei Tian fell silent.

The two looked at each other, neither knowing what to say for a moment.

The news they had heard was that Venerable Yao had perished. The story had spread through the Central Plains in such convincing detail that it had once shocked the entire region. Could it really be false?

But the monkey before them was Yao Chen's personal disciple. When he said his teacher wasn't dead, his words carried a different weight.

Fei Tian stared at Sun Qi for quite a while, trying to find some trace of a lie on his face.

But Sun Qi didn't show the slightest flaw, as though the stories circulating throughout the Central Plains really were rumors.

Fei Tian began to wonder.

As an inner elder of the Wind Lightning Pavilion, he had no shortage of sources, but he couldn't possibly know everything that went on inside the Starfall Pavilion. What if Yao Chen really was traveling in secret, and outsiders had mistakenly spread news of his death?

Sun Qi caught sight of their expressions and grinned.

"What, were you hoping my teacher really had perished?"

Fei Tian came back to his senses and shook his head, asking no more questions.

Feng Qing'er pursed her lips and turned her head away, her ponytail swaying in the wind.

"Who was hoping that?" she muttered. "I only heard everyone out there saying so..."

"You believe what people say out there?" Sun Qi scoffed. "You haven't made any progress all these years. You believe whatever anyone tells you."

Feng Qing'er's delicate brows shot up.

"Damned monkey, say that again!"

Sun Qi burst out laughing. The Somersault Cloud shot forward, leaving Feng Qing'er some distance behind again.

Fei Tian followed behind, silently watching the monkey and bird bicker. As for him, a man, he frowned but couldn't get a word in.

He needed to go back and give the pavilion master a thorough report about Yao Chen being alive.

After all, a Starfall Pavilion with Yao Chen holding the fort and one without him were on entirely different levels.

Feng Qing'er flapped her wings twice in the air, then suddenly folded them and swooped down, landing steadily on Sun Qi's Somersault Cloud.

The surface was soft and springy, like stepping on cotton, yet it flew at an outrageously fast speed.

She crouched down, reached out to feel the cloud's surface, then patted it and examined it from every angle for quite a while.

"Damned monkey, what heavenly treasure was this cloud made from?" Feng Qing'er looked up, her phoenix eyes full of curiosity. "It can fly so fast."

Sun Qi sat cross-legged at the front of the cloud and rolled his eyes at her.

"Take a guess. If you guess right, I'll tell you."

Feng Qing'er glared at him.

"Damned monkey, you're so stingy!"

Sun Qi folded his arms across his chest and tilted his head at her.

"I'm stingy? Then get off my Somersault Cloud."

Feng Qing'er choked. She opened her mouth but couldn't get a word out.

Riding the cloud really was comfortable, and it was fast, too. It took far less effort than flapping her own wings, and for the moment she really was reluctant to get off.

Seeing her at a loss for words, Sun Qi grinned until his eyes narrowed to slits, then casually added another remark.

"Also, back when Old Sun was at the same level as you, I didn't take offense when you called me a damned monkey."

"Now Old Sun is a whole major realm above you. What should you call me?"