32 Day 31: The Scum Is Adventurous (2/2)

”Greetings, Elder Fei. Elder Xi.” Sun Yi said and bowed. The remaining gentlemen, except Fei Yin, followed.

Fei Lin nodded and smiled at them.

”What?” Fei Yin asked his brother. ”Where's my Brother Chen?” he asked, frowning.

Li Tian, Feng Mo and Chen Han automatically looked at Fei Yin. 'my' Brother Chen? They thought. Should be 'our' Brother Chen.

But, they let him be since they knew Fei Yin's in love with Chen Sheng.

Chen Han, on the other hand, even though his eyes narrowed (since he still held Chen Sheng as his real brother) as he looked at Fei Yin, he just frowned and didn't speak. ”Elder Fei. Elder Xi.” He called the two. ”Where is my Ah Sheng?” he asked, emphasizing the word 'my' as he glanced at Fei Yin.

Sure enough, Fei Yin glared at him. Sun Yi glanced at Chen Han, his face blank but everyone knows he's also Chen Sheng fanatic. Every one of them want to possess Chen Sheng – aside from two.

Among the group of eight gentlemen, only two – Fei Lin and Wu Yuan, are not Chen Sheng's fan. (ah damn. My already hurting stomach hurt from laughing at this scene. XD)

Fei Lin blew out air, but still a smile on his handsome face. Li Tian and Feng Mo looked at him, then at Fei Yin.

Needless to say, these two are undeniably brothers just by looking at their face.

”Sorry for the late introductions. We're in a hurry earlier.” Fei Lin said and looked at Li Tian and Feng Mo. ”My name is Fei Lin. I am the grandmaster of the Upright Sect.” he said, then smiled. ”Also Fei Yin's elder brother.” He added and glanced at Fei Yin.

Fei Yin didn't speak. Fei Lin chuckled.

”We've already met before.” Xi Ling said, his face blank. ”My name's Xi Ling, an elder of the Upright Sect.” he said.

Li Tian and Feng Mo nodded, then bowed, remembered this is the guy who fetched Chen Sheng in the Promising Sect.

”We'd like to properly welcome you to the Upright Sect.” Fei Lin said. ”But, before that – ” he said and smiled. ” – why don't we all look for the person who connects us all?” he asked, referring to Chen Sheng.

”Where did Junior Brother Chen go?” Sun Yi asked. ”Isn't he with you two earlier?” he added.

Xi Ling turned to him. ”The three of us went to meet with the leader of the sect, together with two high elders.” he answered.

The six gentlemen looked at each other. Knowing Chen Sheng's attitude, he must have left them (the three elders) all speechless and ran off to somewhere.

”You know where he went?” Fei Yin asked his brother.

Fei Lin shook his head. ”We can't sense his presence.” He answered, his face serious. ”That's why we went to find you first. Maybe you had an idea in which places he'd like to go to.” He explained and looked at the five gentlemen who are Chen Sheng's fans.

They looked at each other.

”Brother Chen likes to go to populated areas.” Li Tian answered. They looked at him. ”He... he likes to... to – ” he said, then pressed his lips tight.

Li Tian, Feng Mo, Fei Yin and Chen Han's face was covered in dark lines.

”Pft – ” Sun Yi laughed. Wu Yuan's face twitched, but didn't say anything.

”Hm? What's wrong?” Fei Lin asked, puzzled. Even Xi Ling's blank face is now also puzzled.

”Ehem.” Fei Yin coughed, his face blank. ”Brother Chen loves to talk with people and do business with them.” He answered, his eye twitched. Obviously, they knew Chen Sheng is a scum, and so every time he goes to populated areas, when he sees a chance, he'd trade with them with something, in which the something he trades with them is of lower value than the one he's going to trade for.

A trickster. Fei Yin thought.

Fei Lin and Xi Ling fell silent, speechless of Chen Sheng's other side.

”Err...” Fei Lin broke the silence. ”We didn't sense his presence here.” He said and looked around the capital.

They all looked around. Surely, they've been here for a few hours yet they haven't seen Chen Sheng.

”Do you know of other places he likes to go to?” Fei Lin asked.

They looked at each other, then shook their head. Fei Yin, Li Tian and Feng Mo, even though Chen Sheng has been their fellow disciple for 15 years, but given this question, they realized how less they knew of him.

Chen Sheng knew everything about the three of them, yet Chen Sheng, aside from his attitude and family, they knew him almost next to nothing.

A long silence passed.

Fei Lin cleared his throat, sensing the awkwardness in the atmosphere. ”Alright. Let's split up to look for him – ” he said.

He was cut off by the flapping of wings. They all turned when they heard the people exclaimed. They saw a Thousand Six-Winged Eagle flying down the ground.

”Xia Di!” Li Tian and Feng Mo called, their face lit up. This is Chen Sheng's contracted beast. Since the master and the contracted beast's soul are linked, they could find Chen Sheng through his contracted beast.

”Xia Di.” Fei Yin called. ”Do you know where your master is – ” he said.

But before he could continue, Xia Di cut him off. ”My contact with my master was cut off.” He said and landed on the ground.

Their eyes went wide, shocked. Chen Sheng is... missing? They thought, horrified, by the sudden thought that appeared on their head.

If Chen Sheng is lost, Yu Sheng could have a chance to... their face went pale.

But, their pale face was returned to color by Xia Di's next words. ”The last time I sensed him was not far from the Mist Peak Palace.” He continued. They turned to him. ”I lost him somewhere around the boulders of rock.” He added.

Fei Lin and Xi Ling looked at each other, their face serious. The six gentlemen plus one beast saw their expression.

”What? You know where Ah Sheng is?” Chen Han asked.

Xi Ling turned to them. ”If he's where we thought he might be...” he said, then paused.

Fei Lin continued. ”He's fine...” he said. ”Or...” he stopped.

They sharply turned to him.

Fei Lin took a deep breath, then looked at them. ”He's not.” He said.

”What do you mean?” Li Tian asked, his forehead knotted.

Sun Yi and Fei Yin is silent, thinking deeply.

Chen Han looked at the two, then a sudden realization hit him. ”Hey.” he called as he turned to Fei Lin and Xi Ling. ”You don't mean – ” he said, panic is written on his face.

”What are you talking about?” Feng Mo asked, puzzled.

The silent Wu Yuan answered. ”It's the Spring of Retribution.” He said. ”Right?” he asked and turned to Fei Lin and Xi Ling.

”'Spring of Retribution'?” Feng Mo and Li Tian asked.

”It's not really a secret, but it's also not that famous.” Fei Lin said.

Li Tian and Feng Mo looked at him.

”As the name suggests, the Spring of Retribution is a special place in the Upright Sect where we reward the disciples by cleansing their soul, or punish them by soaking them in the spring filled with malevolent energy.” He explained.

Li Tian and Feng Mo's eyes went wide.

”So... that spring could cleanse the soul, but as well as filled with malevolent energy?” Li Tian asked.

Fei Lin nodded. ”Yes.” He answered. ”The malevolent energy accumulated by the spring come from the tainted soul of the disciples.” He said. ”The disciple that's to be rewarded, the malevolence on their tainted soul is cleansed by the spring. But, the disciples who is going to be punished has their tainted soul be resonated with the malevolent energy when they're soaked in the spring.” He explained.

”That's...” Feng Mo said, didn't continue. Extreme. He thought.

This is one of the reasons why the Upright Sect produces outstanding disciples. The disciples yearn for their soul to be cleansed, hence they do tasks that deems them rewards. At the same time, since they don't want to be punished.

They would never do foolish things that'll make them be punished.