Han Yu stood awkwardly in place, looking a bit lost. It was evident that he had stumbled upon a family dispute.
The woman also noticed Han Yu at this moment. Her face turned red, but she quickly regained her composure, cleared her throat a few times, and softly scolded her cousin stuck on the wall.
"Get down quickly, there's a guest here. What kind of behavior is this?"
The cousin remained unmoved, still embedded in the wall.
The woman frowned and snorted coldly, "I'm counting to three."
This threat worked; the cousin hurriedly extracted himself before she even started counting and trotted over.
"I was just afraid my cousin was still angry!"
The cousin's image was almost ruined in Han Yu's eyes, as he was currently smiling ingratiatingly.
"If it weren't for my uncle's letter saying you stole a bunch of mechanism diagrams, I might have been fooled by you and thought you were out having fun."
The woman's face showed anger as she glared at her cousin, speaking with annoyance.
The cousin was also quite embarrassed, repeatedly interrupting, "I know I was wrong. I'll go back later."
After a few idle exchanges, the cousin hurriedly pulled Han Yu along to introduce him.
It turned out that the woman was a Guardian of a Major Sect, dispatched to live in the world. Not only was she beautiful, but her name was beautiful too, Su Wanjun.
Her name sounded gentle, but who would have expected such a fiery temper?
Han Yu only dared to think this secretly in his heart.
On the other side, Su Wanjun looked at her cousin, frowned, and said, "I promised Uncle that I'd drag you back as soon as I saw you."
The cousin quickly retreated a few steps, smiling bitterly, "Cousin, you can't! If I return this time, my legs will be broken."
"At least wait until they've calmed down before I go back."
Su Wanjun nodded noncommittally, seemingly understanding the temper of the elders, and rolled her eyes at him, "Alright then, stay here for a while. Afterward, I'll accompany you back to avoid you really getting your legs broken."
The cousin felt bitter inside; staying here was no different from going home. He quickly changed the topic and asked, "Cousin, where are the things I stored with you?"
"In the room you used to stay in, no one has touched them."
Su Wanjun pointed to the side room.
Hearing this, the cousin quickly grabbed Han Yu and ran off, not forgetting to call back, "I'll go out with my friend for a bit and be right back."
Before Su Wanjun could react, he entered the side room, picked up a large package, and ran off with it.
Han Yu finally understood why the cousin would get beaten; with this deceitful behavior, after running away this time, he'd surely end up stuck to the wall again next time.
After escaping the Government Office, the cousin pulled Han Yu along and ran a bit further, before patting his chest with lingering fear, noticing Han Yu looking at him, and smiled a bit awkwardly.
"Sorry for making a fool of myself, my cousin is usually very gentle."
Back to business, now that they had the tools, it was time to head off to find the commoner. Hidden Moon Peak was twenty li outside Shuzhou City, quite a distance away.
Both of them refused to ride the Iron Kite; it might become a shadow in the short term.
This made it rather difficult since the cousin could control his Flying Sword, but Han Yu admitted he couldn't fly, and flying with a sword wasn't suitable for carrying people.
After some discussion, they finally decided on riding horses!
Soon, two fast horses galloped out of the city, rushing south.
This area was no longer part of the southern region, so there were few mountains. Instead, it was mostly plains, and even when they saw mountains, they were just like small mounds.
It was said that in the central regions, the land was abundant, and every State Prefecture was particularly large, unlike the impoverished countryside with many mountains and little land, where a few State Prefectures weren't actually far apart.
After half a two-hour period, the cousin reined in the horse, slowing down. Han Yu stopped along with him, curious, and asked.
"What's going on?"
The cousin then took out a Token, pressed a small spot in the middle, and the Token in Han Yu's arms vibrated simultaneously.
Was this using the SOS feature to contact the other party?
Soon, the cousin's Token also started vibrating, not too urgently, but it continued for a little while before stopping.
Han Yu could somewhat guess the other side's situation—sending back a reply, then continuing the SOS, but not a constant one, perhaps indicated that there was no immediate danger, but it was rather troublesome.
The cousin's next words confirmed his guess, "The commoner is indeed in trouble, probably trapped or unable to escape."
Surprisingly, the direction of the Token was indeed towards Hidden Moon Peak.
Since there was no immediate life-threatening danger, it was best to proceed cautiously, to avoid being unable to cope with various situations when they arrived.
After exchanging a look, they nodded and got back on the horse…
Hidden Moon Peak.
Naming it after Crescent Lake.
The peak wasn't particularly high, surrounded by lush forests. At the top was a deep ravine, as if the entire summit had been split in half.
At the bottom of the ravine was a secluded valley, with winding paths leading to quiet places, insects chirping and the wind drumming, and inside was the fragrance of flowers and plants. In the valley was a small, crescent-shaped lake, and when the bright moon hung high, Crescent Lake reflected the moonlight, as if it had captured the moon, hence the name Hidden Moon Peak.
If anyone said they were going to Hidden Moon Peak, they might not necessarily be going up the mountain; more often, they were entering the valley.
But now, the bottom of the valley seemed a bit unsettled. A few days ago, a group of people had come and surrounded the entrance and exit of the valley, and no one knew what had happened.
At the mouth of the valley, more than a dozen cultivators dressed in yellow were gathered, staring fiercely into the valley.
At this moment, a beautiful woman came running toward the exit in a panic, her chest heaving, catching the eyes of the cultivators, who dared not let their guard down.
"Stop!"
A cultivator immediately blocked the exit and reached out to stop the woman.
"There are bad people inside." The woman's hands were flustered as she pointed toward the valley, her expression panicked.
"Search! Only after searching can you pass."
The cultivator ignored her, responding coldly.
However, a few cultivators with lecherous eyes eagerly gathered, volunteering to make a move.
"You... you shameless..." The woman, face flushed with shame and anger, was on the verge of tears.
"There is someone we're looking for inside. If you don't allow the search, you won't be able to leave," the cold cultivator continued.
"I'd rather die than let you touch me..." Her face red, the woman gritted her teeth, preparing to break through the barrier. A few cultivators, who had been eagerly awaiting, rushed forward first.
"Hehe!"
Someone snickered lewdly, reaching out a claw, but before he could climb to the peak, the woman reached out and broke it.
"Ah..." A miserable scream was heard as all the cultivators surrounded her at once. After throwing off the lecherous cultivator, she attempted to push through, but after only a few steps, she ran into a wall of flesh.
The cultivator had a tall and imposing figure, his face was blue, and his eyes locked on the woman as he let out a low growl. Within a few exchanges, he struck the woman, sending her flying.
"Hmph!"
With a cold snort, the woman used the force from being struck to quickly flee back.
After a quarter-hour passed, an elderly man with a head full of white hair and unsteady limbs shuffled out.
Of course, another cultivator stopped him.
"You cultivators are lawless, even bullying an old man." The old man hammered his chest and wailed loudly.
"We won't trouble you. After a body search, you may leave," a cultivator said.
The old man, however, refused, wobbling on his cane as he tried to leave.
This time, the tall cultivator suddenly acted. He roared and formed his fingers into claws, reaching for the old man first.
The old man's expression changed dramatically, and he retreated hurriedly, no longer seeming even a bit unsteady.
"Damn it! Just you wait."
The old man, full of hatred, uttered these words before fleeing back into the valley.
On a hillside, two figures had been hiding quietly all along. Upon closer inspection, it was Han Yu and his cousin, who had come specially.
Han Yu had just been staring blankly at these two scenes, unable to discern clearly.
His cousin chuckled nearby, "Both of them are disguised by a commoner, unexpected, right?"
Indeed unexpected, these were clearly two different people, with completely different expressions, builds, and actions, not a hint the same.
The cousin admired, saying, "I've known the commoner for so long and still haven't seen his true face, because you never know which face is real. You don't even know how many of the hundred people you meet in a day might be him."
Han Yu was startled after hearing this, thinking to himself how terrifyingly adept someone could be at disguise.
Looking back at the entrance of the valley, no figure had emerged for quite a while; it seemed the commoner had given up breaking through that side.
"Why not break in and grab the person directly?" The cousin looked at the guards at the valley entrance and suggested.
Han Yu quickly stopped him, shaking his head, "If they dare put so few people there, they must have a backup plan. We might also get trapped if we run into a high-tier cultivator."
Glancing at the mountain gorge, Han Yu got an idea, pointing to a cliffside, "We'll go down from there."
"Fly down? That would still draw attention and we'd get discovered," the cousin frowned, shaking his head.
"We won't fly." Han Yu grinned.
At the cliff beside the gorge, his cousin peeked down, unable to help but feel his legs go weak.
"Maybe we should fly! Your way of going down isn't much different from looking for death."
The cousin shook his head repeatedly, his face turning pale.
Because Han Yu's method was to slide down closely along one side of the cliff, making it extremely difficult to be seen.
"It will be fine, it's safe, I've jumped before."
Han Yu used his experience of falling off a cliff with the Big Yellow Ox to reassure.
The cousin clearly didn't believe it, shaking his head like a rattle-drum.
"If it really becomes dangerous midway, then we fly."
In the end, they could only compromise, and even then, the cousin's face remained ashen.
"Ready."
Han Yu turned back to glance at him. The cousin nodded with a pale face, whereupon Han Yu grabbed him, jumped, and, with one hand holding the person, while forming a claw with the other, continuously slid down the cliff.
The rapid sliding made the cousin's face turn pale, nearly calling out several times but clamping his mouth shut to avoid alerting anyone.
Meanwhile, Han Yu carefully avoided major rocks during the descent, minimizing the fall of stones.
The sliding speed grew faster, and the cousin was ready to release his flying sword, when Han Yu sternly whispered, "Not yet, we're almost there."
As soon as he finished speaking, their two figures vanished into the foliage, a deep thud echoed on the ground.
Han Yu landed steadily, his entire skeletal frame trembling with resounding clangs like drums and gongs.
After pausing to exhale a deep breath, he set his cousin down.
The cousin sat ashen-faced on the ground, his demeanor a bit dazed, and suddenly, with a "wah," stumbled to a tree base and started to vomit profusely.
Han Yu looked at him helplessly, indeed, sometimes having a strong physical body really had its own set of advantages.