Chapter 142: Leading the Soul Hunting Team
After learning about the progress of their cultivation, Ning Bei waved his hand and told the group to prepare. Tomorrow, he would lead them to the Sunset Forest for soul hunting.
The young ones excitedly nodded and dispersed into two groups.
Just as Ning Bei was planning to rest, the steward called him to the council hall, where Ning Fengzhi had something to discuss.
Upon entering the council hall, Ning Bei saw that both Jian and Gu were there. He was puzzled as to what was so important that it required such a large gathering.
Once everyone had arrived, Ning Fengzhi instructed the servants to bring out a tray, on which were several mechanical contraptions.
Ning Bei immediately understood that these were simple mechanical hidden weapons that had been created.
"Nice efficiency. It's been less than ten days, right?"
Ning Fengzhi nodded with a smile.
"After receiving the crafting methods from you, I hired a group of skilled craftsmen from Gengjin City to quickly make these hidden weapons."
"Some other types of hidden weapons require specific techniques and aren't suitable for the direct disciples of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. But these two are simple enough."
Ning Bei nodded as he looked at the silent sleeve arrows and the Zhuge crossbow on the tray. These were indeed suitable for the direct disciples of the sect.
Jian and Gu exchanged puzzled glances, unsure of what exactly these two were up to.
"Fengzhi, Bei'er, can these pieces of metal really give auxiliary soul masters any fighting power?"
Gu Long looked skeptically at the hidden weapons before him. Could mere iron compare to the power gained through painstaking cultivation?
After a brief glance at each other, Ning Bei and Ning Fengzhi both smiled. They had already tested the weapons' power.
"Grandfather Gu, why don't you give these weapons a try?"
Gu Long didn't object and immediately walked to the center of the hall.
"Let me see what these lumps of iron can do."
Without wasting time, Ning Bei picked up a silent sleeve arrow and aimed it at Gu Long, pulling the trigger.
A slender iron arrow shot out, cutting through the air straight at Gu Long.
Gu Long's eyes narrowed slightly, and with a single hand, he caught the arrow. The force of the arrow surprised him slightly.
"Well, this arrow has the power of a Soul Sovereign-level battle soul master. A normal person wouldn't be able to avoid it."
Chen Xin, standing aside, was also surprised. He hadn't expected this father-son duo to have come up with such a thing.
"Where did you two get these? If all the disciples of the sect start learning these kinds of underhanded methods, won't it be a bit misplaced?"
"Well, Uncle Jian, I got the crafting method by chance. Our direct disciples don't have much combat power, right? With these, they'll have an extra layer of protection. After all, it's always good to have some precautions!"
Chen Xin nodded thoughtfully. As long as the sect's disciples didn't start learning these kinds of tricks on a large scale, it was fine. It was good to have more options in battle.
After testing the silent sleeve arrow, Ning Bei picked up the Zhuge crossbow and fired several arrows toward Gu Long.
Seeing the number of arrows, Gu Long didn't try to catch them with his hands. Instead, he created a protective shield made of soul power to block them.
The arrows hit the soul power shield and made slight ripples before falling to the ground.
After a moment of thought, Gu Long gave his evaluation.
"Each of these arrows has the power of a high-level Soul Sovereign's full-force strike. With a rapid-fire attack, even a defensive Soul Sage wouldn't be able to withstand it."
Ning Bei and the others nodded in satisfaction upon hearing Gu Long's assessment. This was already a great result, as the cost of making these hidden weapons was negligible for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, yet they could provide their direct disciples with significant combat power.
"Father, do you plan to make these in large quantities?"
"Yes, I plan to equip the direct disciples with these two hidden weapons. The others, which require special techniques, will be given to disciples with poor cultivation talent to study."
Ning Bei nodded. This was a feasible idea, so he didn't offer further suggestions.
"By the way, tomorrow I plan to take Rongrong and the others to the Sunset Forest for soul hunting. It will probably take a few days."
Hearing this, Gu Long instinctively wanted to warn Ning Bei that it was too dangerous, but he stopped himself when the words almost left his mouth.
Ning Bei was no longer the young auxiliary who needed to rely on the old masters.
"Be careful, the Sunset Forest is still very dangerous."
What was originally a reprimand turned into a reminder. Ning Bei nodded, indicating that he would be careful. If anything happened, they had plenty of auxiliary battle soul beasts and pills for safety.
The next morning, Ning Bei arrived at the sect's gate, where the young ones had been waiting for a while, their faces full of excitement.
"You're quite punctual! Let's go!"
Ning Bei summoned the Hurricane Hunting Falcon, which had grown into a ten-thousand-year soul beast. Its wingspan now reached an impressive six meters.
Ning Rongrong, filled with joy, stepped forward to the hunting falcon.
"Brother, are we going to ride the little falcon to the Sunset Forest?"
Ning Bei shook his head, laughing as he looked at his sister.
"You got it wrong. I'll ride the little falcon, and you all will run."
"Ah! You sly brother, you're too shameless! No way, I want to ride the little falcon too."
Xiao Wu didn't say anything, but her expression clearly showed she was also too lazy to run. However, Ning Bei didn't give them a chance to hop on, directly commanding the Hurricane Hunting Falcon to soar into the sky.
"Appropriate exercise is good for both mind and body. That's settled."
Looking up at the person and beast circling above him, Ning Rongrong and Xiao Wu stomped their feet in frustration.
"Hmph, shameless brother! If you don't let me ride, I'll never run to the Sunset Forest!"
"Xiao Wu, let's rent a carriage!"
Xiao Wu nodded, fully agreeing with her friend's decision.
Just as the two were about to set off, Ning Bei's voice rang out again.
"The last one to reach Sunset Town gets a reward—candied chestnuts!"
The two girls, who were planning to slack off, froze up at the sudden challenge. Was he a devil?
"Also, the first one to arrive gets a reward. Let's see who gets there first!"
With that, Ning Bei glanced at Ah Du and the others, nodded at them, and then ignored everyone else, signaling the falcon to head toward the Sunset Forest.
"What should we do, Rongrong? Should we run?"
Hearing her friend's question, Rongrong smiled cleverly.
"Run? Brother only said the last one gets punished. As long as we get there together, we'll be fine!"
Xiao Wu's eyes lit up immediately.
"Only you could come up with such a plan, Rongrong!"
Rongrong smirked and planned to discuss with the others about taking a carriage together.
But when she turned around, she couldn't see anyone else's figures. Ah Du, the others, and Zhu Zhuqing, upon hearing Ning Bei mention the reward for the first place, quickly ran off toward Sunset Town.
All that was left was a cloud of dust.
"Ah! These damn guys! They didn't wait for me! Xiao Wu, wait for us… hey!"
Rongrong was still planning to discuss how to deal with Ah Du and the others after arriving at the Sunset Forest, but when she looked back, Xiao Wu had already disappeared from sight.
I and my sisters are heart-connected; my sisters and I use our brains!
The huge sect gate was left with her alone, looking disoriented.
On the road leading to Seven Treasure City, the little rabbit, running frantically, silently apologized to Rongrong. She knew that with Ning Bei's personality, he would definitely treat them as the last ones to arrive and give them both a round of candied chestnuts.
Xiao Wu, with no hesitation, had completely abandoned her friend.
Rongrong, realizing the situation, was so angry she nearly exploded. With no choice left, she summoned the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda to buff herself with speed and soul power, using all her strength to chase after the main group.
(END CHAPTER)
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