Chapter 97: The arrival of a new group
(A/N: psst, read the previous chapter if you have seen the duplicate one earlier.)
Hu Anjing turned around and looked at Li Huang.
"Well, it is not like we have a choice." Hu Anjing said. They had to do this to survive and most importantly they had to do it right.
"That is true. I have the woods in this storage ring and the stones in this one." Li Huang smiled and handed her the storage rings. Although the storage rings were far from getting full it was better to keep the items in there before it has been decided about the place that they are going to use them.
Hu Anjing took the rings and mentally checked the contents of the rings. She was surprised By the amount that they had gathered in just 3 hours.
"Junior uncle, you also worked hard." Hu Anjing said.
"Yeah, we found a good balance in the team." Li Huang said.
"How is the keep so far?" Li Huang asked after looking at the building that was taking shape slowly.
"It is really one of the best designs that I have ever seen. It is even better than what I thought about it when I saw the blueprint. Giant giant apes can't even scratch it." She said with stars in her eyes. Although she didn't like this type of manual labor work still it is always interesting to build something and see it take form.
"You seem to have fun." Li Huang smirked. The fact that Hu Anjing can be this relaxed and at the same time serious in her work is really something.
"What can I say? Someone told me to be the leader and now I have to do all these works…" She said and slumped her shoulders over-dramatically.
"There, there…" Li Huang said and rubbed her back.
They were playing around like this until they both felt a group enter their Qi sense. They both turned in a direction at the same time.
"We seem to have visitors…" Li Huang said.
"They seem to be from the White Moon sect." Hu Anjing said as she recognized the disciple robes. Li Huang was also aware of this but didn't care who they were, as long as they are one of the participants and their name isn't Jin Fen, they are welcome to enter this fort.
"Do we have a good tent that we can use for a meeting?" Li Huang asked without turning to Hu Anjing as he kept looking at the white moon disciples' movements.
"We have exactly what you want…" Hu Anjing said as she understood what Li Huang wanted. In these kinds of meetings, although it is only on the level of the disciples, you have to keep in mind that your presentation can gain or lose face for the sect so Li Huang wanted them to have them use the best tent for this meeting. That aside White Moon sect is also an ally sect so this mattered more.
"Good, send a disciple to welcome them. Tell them we will meet their leaders." Li Huang said to Hu Anjing.
"Okay, I'll be on it." Hu Anjing said and walked toward one of the disciples.
Li Huang also got back to the other guards to tell them his next plans.
"The disciples from the white moon sect are near here so I have to meet them soon. You three have to guard without me for a time. As it would make it hard for you to collect materials with only you three, you should only focus on the guarding aspect of the job for now as we will get new members soon." Li Huang explained to them the situation. He was positive that the white moon sect would join them.
——(POV third person, White Moon sect's group)——
He Junli was in front of her fellow disciples and was leading the way. By her side, you could see her friend Yuan Yunyu looking around with vigilance.
"There is someone coming toward us, he is alone." Yuan Yunyu told He Junli as she kept looking at the location that she sensed the new presence.
"I know. It must be one of the heavenly sword sect disciples that came here to guide us." He Junli said.
"What should we do, senior sister?" Yuan Yunyu asked her leader and best friend.
He Junli asked her best friend to call her by her name but she refused from doing so as she deem it inappropriate. After many failed attempts she learned to just ignore this and consider it her friend's personality.
"Nothing, how can they have any ill intents when they have only sent one person?" He Junli said and dismissed her friend's worries. She is the disciple of the next matriarch of the sect so she knows that their sect and the heavenly sword sect are closer than what is known to the public. Well, if they decided to send Li Huang or Hu Anjing they both could be a serious danger to all of them if they wanted to, but she didn't know that.
"I understand." Yuan Yunyu said and nodded.
Moments later the messenger was in front of the group and cupped his fists.
"Greetings, fellow disciples from the White Moon sect. I will guide you to where we are building the fort. Our leaders are eager to see you." The messenger, Kong Chin said the exact words that were told to him.
He Junli wasn't one to miss such obvious hints and understood the intention behind these words.
"As are we." She said and gestured for Kong Chin to show the way. Kong Chin who was told about how to act let the leaders of the white moon sect walk one step ahead of him and didn't let this small thing be used to make a scene.
As he was an outer disciple, it could be interpreted as an insult to the other party if he were to walk in front. This kind of thing only happens when the younger generation are in contact as the older ones don't care about such useless formalities but alas, all of the disciples in this trial are from the younger generation so this kind of action can easily prevent a confrontation.
On the other hand, if they were to send an inner disciple or a core disciple, they would be losing face for the heavenly sword sect because such a disciple is used as a mere messenger. It is really important to know what action to take as each small thing could be seen as an indication about you and the sect you represent.
Kong Chin was a far better option in the outer court disciples as the other option would be Lai Xinyue. As she is too blunt and from Li Huang's experience, doesn't like to follow a script, she would be a ticking bomb in this situation.
…
After a few minutes, the group of the White Moon sect's disciples entered the vicinity of the keep that was under construction. Hu Anjing and Ye Ling gave the to-do list for the keep to the disciples so that they can continue with their work while the leaders are in the meeting. This would also work as a move to show the white moon disciples that they are taking these beast hordes seriously.
To no one's surprise, the White Moon sect's disciples were impressed by the design of this keep that could rival some of their sect's structures. This was an unintentional flex from Li Huang.
"The leaders will go to this tent, I will guide others to their temporary stay." Kong Chin said his line. Hospitality and being subservient are different. This sentence was chosen to show the leaders of the white moon sect disciples that although the heavenly sword sect is showing hospitality, they are no pushovers.
He Junli raised an eyebrow at this but didn't say anything as she would have done the same in Li Huang's shoes. Unfortunately, Yuan Yunyu wasn't the same as her. Although she is very smart, but when she feels someone is disrespecting her best friend, she wouldn't care about anything and would give them a piece of her mind.
"How d—" she wanted to start her sentence with 'how dare you' but He Junli stopped her as it was really overreacting to a sentence with no malice behind it.
"Thank you. You can go, we will continue on this way." He Junli said and went toward the tent that was the meeting place. Behind her, two of her fellow disciples who were in the vice-leader position followed in her tracks.
The moment they got near the tent, Li Huang, Hu Anjing, and Ye Ling got out of the tent and stood in front of them.
"Hu Anjing, chief disciple of the heavenly sword sect." Hu Anjing cupped her fist and introduced herself out of politeness.
He Junli followed her example and introduced herself.
"He Junli, core disciple of the white moon sect." She said and cupped her fists.
"These are Yuan Yunyu and Zhan Xinyi, my other fellow disciples." She continued with an introduction of her fellow disciples. This seemingly harmless sentence was not meant to be that harmless. She meant for Hu Anjing to do the same and with this, put Li Huang out of the conversations that are ahead.
'Why is this girl being hostile to me? The hell did I ever do to her?' Li Huang was surprised by this. As far as he can remember, he hasn't ever seen this He Junli before today.
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