Chapter 110: Map
"Brother Ke?" Jiang Yue called again to draw Xuan Ke from his thoughts.
"Your brother Ke found out something. Do you want to work together?"
Xuan Ke took a seat across the two young men.
He grabbed a gourd from his waist and tipped his head to take a long drag.
When he saw this, Yu Nianzhen raised his eyebrow in question.
From what he knew, Buddhist monks took grain avoidance to the extreme.
In addition to food, they also avoided wine and other drinks.
Looking at Xuan Ke who didn’t even bother to hide his drinking, Yu Nianzhen concluded that the other was an errant monk.
"Does brother Yu want a cup?" The monk asked and tried to pass the gourd to Yu Nianzhen.
However, Yu Nianzhen didn’t dare to take it.
The memory of what happened when he last accepted a sip of wine was still fresh in his mind.
Although he benefited from the experience, he also gained a certain reputation.
He didn’t care about his reputation, but he realised he needed to be more careful about accepting food and drinks from others.
"Brother Ke doesn’t need to bother." Yu Nianzhen said and grabbed his own gourd from his waist.
Xuan Ke shrugged and then took another gulp.
"Brother Ke, you said you found something?" Jiang Yue inquired.
"I know what the BlueStar Treasure pavilion and the Death Flower Ascension Front are up to."
After that, Xuan Ke revealed everything he found out.
Many years ago, the BlueStar Treasure pavilion found one-half of a map.
However, they couldn’t find the other half after many years, and the map was temporarily set aside.
As luck would have it, the other half was eventually found by the Death Flower Ascension Front.
This presented a complication because both sides wanted to complete the map, but didn’t trust each other to work together.
Before the thousand herbs garden opened, the two parties made a deal.
The deal was for the younger generation of both sides to bring their halves into the secret realm.
After meeting up, they would unite the two halves to complete the map.
When the map was complete, a copy would be made, and each side would take one.
This deal was made because the two sides were wary of each other.
The BlueStar Treasure pavilion was open, and its experts were known to everyone.
However, the Death Flower Ascension Front was hidden, and its members were unknown.
Because of this, the BlueStar Treasure pavilion didn’t dare to set up a meeting and risk being ambushed.
After consideration, the thousand herbs garden was chosen as the meeting place.
The rationale was that the secret realm could only allow a limited number of origin forging realm cultivators.
Neither side could send too many people, which limited the risk for both parties.
Although this plan was agreed upon, both sides had their considerations.
The BlueStar Treasure pavilion cooperated with the border guards to deal with the opponent, but the Death Flower Ascension Front was not passive.
For whatever reason, the ascension front had snuck in more people than expected.
Right now, both sides were trying to grab each other’s half, but neither had succeeded so far.
"A map..." Jiang Yue muttered and looked thoughtful.
"What kind of map?"
"I am not sure. Some say it’s an ancient tomb, and others say it’s a ruin." Xuan Ke also looked thoughtful as he said this.
He had tried to clarify things, but no one was sure, or those who knew were not saying anything.
"However, it should be a good map if both sides are going this far for it." Xuan Ke grinned evilly.
"You want us to work together to steal one or both of the maps?" Jiang Yue was quick to catch on.
"Brother Yue is quite clever."
"Why tell us, though?" This was asked by Yu Nianzhen asked.
From where he stood, Xuan Ke was a stranger.
The previous cooperation was a matter of necessity and not friendship.
Although he didn’t dislike the monk, he didn’t dare to be reckless.
After all, his and Jiang Yue’s life could depend on the other if they agreed to his plan.
Also, he didn’t completely believe the monk.
From what he had seen of Meng Zihua, the young woman looked like a cautious kind.
She didn’t look like the type of woman who would tell vital details to random members of her BlueStar Treasure pavilion.
Even if she told others, she would make sure those people had better sense than to talk where they could be overheard.
This meant the monk knew about the map earlier than he revealed it, or someone had wanted him to find out.
In either case, there was reason to be suspicious.
After considering everything, Yu Nianzhen felt Xuan Ke’s words were a combination of truth and untruths.
"Why not recruit others from your Thunder God temple?"
"Why?"
Xuan Ke thought about it for a moment and then grinned before he continued," probably because I like the two of you better."
He shrugged and seemed not to care whether they believed him or not.
The two looked at each other and held the silent conversation that had become so common lately.
Jiang Yue raised his right eyebrow.
Yu Nianzhen narrowed his eyes and also raised his eyebrow.
Jiang Yue nodded and smiled helplessly.
Yu Nianzhen sighed and also nodded.
In the end, they couldn’t sense any malice from the monk.
As long as he wasn’t plotting against them, they could cooperate to get the map.
Once they had the map, their cooperation would end, and each was free to do as they liked.
After that, Jiang Yue chuckled and turned to Xuan Ke, "let’s work together."
The monk didn’t seem surprised.
Instead, he smirked and looked at the two.
"I suggest we target the map belonging to the Death Flower Ascension Front." Yu Nianzhen suggested.
Although it was easier to grab the guardian box from the BlueStar Treasure pavilion, it would lead to a lot of trouble.
This was especially because the border guards were allied with the BlueStar Treasure pavilion to guard their half of the map.
"I also think so." Xuan Ke said.
"Do you have any clues?"
"All I know is that it should be in the hands of the young leader of the Death Flower Ascension Front. It should also be under heavy protection. Other than that, I know nothing."
The three fell silent after that.
What they knew was too little.
Not only did they not know enough about the map, but they also didn’t know the protections surrounding it.
"We should find Li Futian."
"Li Futian?" The monk asked.
"He is from the Celestial Sky sect. I have a feeling he will know something." Jiang Yue said and frowned.
From his time with Li Futian, he found that the other was rarely surprised by anything.
He seemed to always know everything and accepted it all as the workings of fate.
At this time, he felt they could loop him in and get his help.
"Where is this Li Futian?"
"He should be with the allied forces."
"Then we know where we are going on next." The monk said and stood up.
"I will get the two women." Jiang Yue said and left the tent.
As he was leaving, he heard the monk burst into laughter.
"What is it?" Yu Nianzhen asked.
"I wonder what face the surnamed Bai will have when she knows about the two of you."
Yu Nianzhen felt his lips twitch, but he didn’t say anything.
Since the young woman showed her intentions, he had wanted to tell her about Jiang Yue.
However, he always remembered his master’s warnings.
"Let’s go."
Without waiting for the monk, he left the tent.
A moment later, the two women and Jiang Yue joined them to make a party of five.
"Do we need to detour as we planned before?" Wang Xue’er asked.
The initial plan to detour was to avoid being followed by members of the Death Flower Ascension Front hiding in the trade valley.
However, the members of the front had long escaped.
"The situation is even more dangerous." Jiang Yue frowned when he thought about it.
All the members of the front escaped by teleportation.
This meant their destinations were random places within a radius of a few kilometres.
It would be okay if the members did not gather up.
However, if they managed to gather in another place, travelling could prove dangerous.
"Should we travel with the others?" Bai Ruyue suddenly asked.
Until this moment, the others hadn’t noticed there was a lot of activity in the valley.
Now that someone had mentioned it, they saw that the border guards and members of the BlueStar Treasure Pavillion were running about.
Half their camps had already been packed away, and the rest were in the process of being collected.
"It may not be a bad idea to travel with them." Jiang Yue nodded and walked toward a random border guard.
His plan was to inquire about their destination and if possible, bring his group to tag along.
While Jiang Yue was inquiring, the other four grouped together to wait.
As she was want to do, Bai Ruyue approached Yu Nianzhen.
She had just made three steps when she noticed something.
Her face turned pale, and she jumped back to keep some distance between herself and Yu Nianzhen.
