Chapter 144: The Island Master's Missing Daughter
"There's no need for such formalities. Please take a seat, everyone."
The brocade-robed man's expression was calm and tranquil, but there was a barely detectable hint of agitation concealed deep within his eyes.
Han Li and everyone else in the room did as they were told, returning to their seats.
"I'm not going to waste any time here. The missing person that I'm searching for is none other than my daughter, Yuqing. Two days ago, she suddenly disappeared along with several companions, and these are some leads that I've managed to gather following her disappearance. If any of you can help me find my daughter, I'll be sure to reward you handsomely."
Lu Jun swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, releasing around a dozen jade slips at once, all of which landed on the tea tables beside the cultivators in the room.
Han Li picked up the jade slip, then pressed it against his forehead before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
The jade slip contained a visage of Lu Yuqing, and she was a young woman dressed in white who appeared to have been around 18 to 19 years of age.
He was rather taken aback to discover that Lu Yuqing was none other than the white-robed young woman he had run into at the Thousand Medicine House not long ago.
Following her visage were the visages of several more people. These were the companions that had gone missing with Lu Yuqing, and their identities were clearly stated as well.
The first one was the blue-robed young man who had accompanied Lu Yuqing on her visit to the Thousand Medicine House, and his name was Fang Leng.
He was a Temporal Pill Master, and he was the disciple of a renowned Earthly Pill Master in the Black Wind Sea.
As for the others, they were all guards that had been assigned to Lu Yuqing.
All of them had left Black Wind Island using a teleportation array two or three days ago, and they had been missing since then.
The jade slip also contained a list of places that Lu Yuqing often frequented.
There wasn't much information in the jade slip, so Han Li was able to read through everything quite quickly, following which a contemplative look appeared on his face.
"Island Master, do you have any idea of why Young Mistress Yuqing may have suddenly disappeared?"
The question had been raised by the burly man in the trio, and everyone immediately turned their attention to him upon hearing this.
Han Li's gaze also fell upon the burly man. According to Guan Yong, these three had come from a place known as Splendid Mountain Island, and they referred to themselves as the Three Scourges of Splendid Mountain.
No one knew their names, and to outsiders, they were merely known as the First Scourge, the Second Scourge, and the Third Scourge, with the burly man being the First Scourge.
All three of them were itinerant immortals who had no set residence. Furthermore, they always worked together and had a reputation for being ruthless, so they were quite renowned in the Black Wind Sea, and no one dared to mess with them.
A hint of sorrow flashed through Lu Jun's eyes upon hearing this question, but he quickly composed himself as he replied, "My son, Lu Mo, left on a journey several years ago, but not only has not returned, his Origin Soul Lamp has also been snuffed out. To this day, I still have no idea what's happened to him.
“Yuqing has always been very close to her brother, and she had always wanted to go and find out the cause of his death, but I've never allowed her to go. I presume her sudden appearance may have something to do with this."
Everyone fell silent upon hearing this.
Han Li thought back to Lu Yuqing's conversation with Fang Leng back at the Thousand Medicine House on that day with a contemplative look in his eyes, and he recalled that they were indeed discussing something about Lu Yuqing's brother.
The First Scourge exchanged a glance with his companions, then said, "In that case, would it be possible for us to have a copy of Young Master Lu Mo's information as well? I'm sure that would help us in our search for Young Mistress Yuqing."
"That's a good idea," Lu Jun replied with a nod, then pulled out a jade slip along with around a dozen blank jade slips.
After making copies of the initial jade slip, each person in the room was given a copy.
Han Li injected his spiritual sense into the jade slip to find a rather messy and disorganized collection of information on Lu Mo.
All of a sudden, he caught sight of a rather surprising piece of information.
It was a visage of a blue tiger mask, but it wasn't very clear.
The mask was very similar to the ones worn by Transient Guild members, and it was rather familiar to Han Li.
That mask belongs to Wyrm 16
Han Li quickly recalled that Wyrm 16, with whom he had carried out a mission on Red Moon Island, had been wearing a blue tiger mask.
Could it be that Lu Mo is Wyrm 16?
Han Li couldn't be sure.
Right at this moment, Lu Jun swept his sleeve through the air once again, and around a dozen black badges were released before landing beside everyone in the room.
"These are Black Wind Badges. With these badges, you'll be able to use all of the teleportation arrays on Black Wind Island while carrying out your mission," Lu Jun explained.
Everyone immediately extended collective words of gratitude toward Lu Jun.
There were many teleportation arrays on Black Wind Island that were connected to other islands in the Black Wind Sea. Due to far all of the islands were away from one another, it would've normally been very expensive to travel to those islands through teleportation arrays, so these Black Wind Badges would save everyone a lot of spirit stones.
All of a sudden, a cold and forbidding look appeared on Lu Jun's face as he continued, "One more thing: none of you are to tell anyone about this mission. Otherwise, don't blame me for turning on you. If I want to have someone in the Black Wind Sea killed, they won't be able to get away no matter where they hide!"
"Rest assured, Island Master, our lips are sealed!" everyone in the room hurriedly assured.
Lu Jun's expression reverted back to normal as he said, "If any of you manage to bring back my daughter safely, I'll be sure to follow through on my promise and grant you one request."
"In that case, we'll begin our search right away. We'll be taking our leave now."
The First Scourge cupped his fist in a parting salute toward Lu Jun, then departed with the other two scourges.
Han Li and the others quickly departed as well, and before long, Lu Jun was the only one left in the room.
Right at this moment, a black-robed elderly man abruptly appeared beside him in a wraith-like manner. His hair and beard were all completely white, but his face was as delicate as an infant's. His aura was enormous, indicating that he was a mid-True Immortal cultivator.
"Can we really count on those people to save Yuqing? You should send me instead, Island Master," the black-robed elderly man said.
Lu Jun immediately shook his head as he sighed, "No. There's recently been a lot of activity taking place on Azure Feather Island, and it seems like they're about to make a big move, so none of us can leave Black Wind Island at a time like this. I'll simply have to count on those people to find Yuqing. I've promised them quite a handsome reward, so I'm sure they'll do everything in their power to find her."
"But..." The black-robed elderly man wanted to protest the matter further, but Lu Jun raised a hand to cut him off.
"We must keep our priorities in check. Unfortunately, there are more important things for us to worry about right now than Yuqing," Lu Jun said with a hint of weariness in his voice.
The black-robed elderly man heaved a resigned sigh upon hearing this. "I can't believe Yuqing would choose to run off at a time like this."
"She does whatever she wants because I've spoiled her rotten! Once she comes back, I'm going to teach her a good lesson!" Lu Jun harrumphed coldly.
"Yuqing is not entirely to blame. It's already been so many years, yet we still haven't been able to find out the cause of Mo'er's death, so it's no wonder that she would grow impatient," the black-robed elderly man sighed.
Lu Jun rose to his feet with an agitated expression, clasping his hands behind his back as he paced back and forth in the room.
He then drew to an abrupt halt as he said, "If this is just a simple disappearance, then that wouldn't be a cause for concern. What I'm most worried about is that she's inadvertently exposed her own identity and fallen into the hands of cultivators from Azure Feather Island. If that's the case, then we'll all be in a terrible situation."
The black-robed elderly man's brows furrowed slightly as he said, "Yuqing is a little sheltered, but she's a very bright and intelligent girl. On top of that, she's carrying several powerful spirit treasures, so I'm sure she'll be fine."
"I certainly hope so," Lu Jun sighed.
……
After departing from the island master's manor, Han Li and the others all flew toward the same place in silence.
Moments later, everyone had arrived in front of a huge rhomboid brick building in the city.
On the first floor of the building were around a dozen teleportation arrays of different sizes, all of which were giving off glowing white radiance, and a destination island was marked out beside each array.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this.
He had already been on Black Wind Island for several days, and during this time, he had learned extensively about Black Wind Island and the nearby region.
The islands that were marked out in the teleportation hall were all technically subsidiaries of Black Wind Island.
Unlike a small and rural island like Dark Veil Island, Black Wind Island was situated at the center of the Black Wind Sea, and it wasn't the only powerful island in the region. Hence, the smaller islands near the most prominent islands in the area would form alliances with those larger islands for protection.
Due to the fact that Black Wind Island had a teleportation array that led to the outside world, it had a unique advantage, and that was why it was such a thriving city.
However, it was also exactly because of this that it was attracting a great deal of envy from nearby island alliances. As a result, it had many enemies, and there were conflicts constantly taking place.
Thankfully, Lu Jun was a late-True Immortal cultivator, and he had many powerful guest elders at his beck and call, so he was able to keep all of the nearby forces in check, thereby ensuring the peace of Black Wind Island and also contributing to the peace of the entire Black Wind Sea to a certain extent.
However, none of these conflicts had anything to do with Han Li. All he had to do was find Lu Yuqing, and he would be able to leave the Black Wind Sea.
None of the other people had any idea where Lu Yuqing could be, but he already had a good guess of her location.
With that in mind, a faint smile appeared on his face, and he directed his gaze toward the teleportation arrays in the hall.
At this moment, the hall was completely empty aside from the cultivators in charge of overseeing the teleportation arrays.
Han Li's gaze fell upon one of the teleportation arrays, and he began to make his way toward it.
This was one of the islands that had been mentioned in the jade slip. Its name was Assembly Island, and according to the jade slip, Lu Yuqing had previously left Black Wind Island using this teleportation array.
Hence, if he wanted to find her, then Assembly Island was naturally the first place to visit.
Everyone else was thinking the same thing, and after a brief pause, all of them made their way toward that teleportation array.
A gray-haired elderly man beside the teleportation array was rather taken aback to see such a large group of people approaching him, and he hurriedly asked in a respectful voice, "Are you all here to take the teleportation arrays, esteemed seniors?"
"Why else would we come here? Hurry up and stop wasting our time! I'm in a hurry!" the First Scourge harrumphed coldly, then flashed his Black Wind Badge at the elderly man before stepping onto the array.
Everyone else also brought out their Black Wind Badges before stepping onto the array as well.
"Yes, my apologies, Senior."
The gray-haired elderly man didn't dare to delay, and he immediately cast a series of incantation seals, following which Han Li and everyone else vanished from the array amid a flash of radiant white light.
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