The generally accepted view at Red Pine was that among the academy's grand instructors, talking about Hong Da carried the least risk.
Of course, that was provided one actually had substance to back it up, rather than fabricating wild nonsense!
It wasn't that Instructor Hong was oblivious to people gossiping about her; to her, countless trivial topics simply weren't worth paying attention to.
Ranxue's daring to use Instructor Hong as an example had also been based on this knowledge—the quarantine post wasn't inside Red Pine, and what he said had been the truth.
Who would have thought it would actually draw Instructor Hong out?
Now, the mystery was finally solved: the reason Hong Da had spoken was still aimed at the youth!
Instructor Ranxue secretly breathed a sigh of relief, yet why did he... also feel a twinge of indignant grievance?
"The city center must be quite dangerous, I suppose," Wu Youren remarked calmly, his expression showing nothing out of the ordinary.
Inwardly, however, he was quite regretful. It hadn't been easy to catch hold of that keyword.
He had used Ranxue's words as an opening, vaguely hinting at an intention to head to Tianjing to lay some groundwork.
Who could have guessed that someone who seemed politically insensitive was actually remarkably vigilant?
There was nothing for it then; he could only wait around the vicinity for a few more days to see if Chen Quanxu would show up again.
Instructor Ranxue chatted with him for a few more moments, mentioning before he departed that if Wu Youren needed anything, he could look up a certain colleague at the quarantine post.
Wu Youren could sense that from Manna to this man, they all wanted to introduce their good friends into his circle.
He passed no judgment on their personal motives, but it did confirm that none of them regarded him as a scourge to be avoided like the plague.
It was roughly Ranxue's earlier stance: this was simply an instructor's duty, completely unrelated to political factions!
Still, unless necessary, he had no intention of bothering that colleague.
After waking up the next day, Wu Youren began wandering about to see if there were opportunities to communicate with others.
Oddly enough, nobody took the initiative to approach him during the day; it seemed evening was the proper time for socializing.
By the end of the day, he understood: in the mornings everyone prepared to head out for battle, at noon they rested, and only in the evenings did things become more relaxed.
Yet he disliked interacting with people at night; statistically speaking, that was more likely to invite spontaneous trouble.
Another day passed. He discreetly stocked up on some food, his backpack expanding a bit more, and then set out once again.
This time, he didn't head in the direction of Suotu, but toward the Rust Belt, somewhat curious in his heart: would anyone really tail him?
Over the course of the day, he covered more than sixty kilometers. He encountered a few minor situations along the way, but nothing serious.
At dusk, Wu Youren chose a dilapidated house to rest his feet.
Evidently no one was tailing him. As he set up traps, he sighed inwardly: actually, he... really wasn't as important as he'd thought.
Just after finishing the traps, his body shuddered. Well, here came another wave.
This wave wasn't especially strong, but it lasted for two full hours.
Fortunately, having already reached the qi refining stage, he took it in with ease. A sliver of doubt crossed his mind: had the experience points weakened after his advancement?
If that was truly the case, he was curious: just how much impact had his suggestion had on Liang?
When it was merely in the exploratory phase—not even a budding sprout yet—it had already delivered so much experience.
After receiving it, he naturally had to refine and absorb it. He went about this unhurriedly—mostly because his capacity was larger now.
He could even take out food and eat while refining.
Seeing his mouth moving, Xiao Ha also opened its beak demanding food.
"I bet you'll be hacking up pellets again tomorrow," Wu Youren said, feeding it a few strips of meat.
Yet after eating this time, the little snow harrier made an odd motion: it cocked its tail feathers straight up, exposing its back door.
"What the hell..." Wu Youren was stunned. Is it about to drop a big one?
Xiao Ha even pivoted slightly, aiming its back door right at his cheek, its cloaca visibly squirming.
"Get the hell out of here!" Wu Youren couldn't take it. Reaching out, he forcefully yanked it off his shoulder, heedless of its protests.
He had scrolled through plenty of short videos about bird parents cherishing food, but sorry... yours truly is a human!
Xiao Ha was extraordinarily stubborn, flapping wildly on the ground, yet its neck was firmly pinned down by a large hand.
Once it realized it couldn't get back up no matter what, it actually twisted its neck, forcefully swung its body around, and aimed its back door at its bird-dad once again.
Wu Youren was completely helpless. Are you dead certain that what you're about to produce is the pure essence of food?
He muttered under his breath, "If you dare spray..."
Fortunately, it really wasn't a projectile spray. Xiao Ha's tail feathers twitched twice, and from its back door, it actually squeezed out an egg-sized lump!
Regardless, this was the little snow harrier's maiden lump. Wu Youren fished out a glow stick and cracked it lit.
The lump was gleaming white, faintly streaked with blood vessels, truly resembling a young hen laying her very first egg.
However, the tip bore a faint trace of black; it really ought to be droppings rather than an egg.
Wu Youren picked up a twig and cautiously poked it. Sure enough, it was a squishy pile.
The next instant, his expression changed. He whipped out a small leather pouch, grabbed the pile directly, and stuffed it inside.
Immediately afterward, he released his perception. Sure enough, several scattered wisps of Guizu aura were surging toward him.
He yanked the drawstring of the pouch shut. With the scent sealed inside, the speed of those wisps of Guizu aura slowed noticeably.
Before long, the wisps of aura began circling around, clearly having lost their direction.
"You little..." Wu Youren looked at the young snow harrier, utterly speechless. "You really dropped a big one on me—and not just any big one!"
Xiao Ha gave its tail a shake, turned back around, and began clambering up the youth's trouser leg toward his shoulder.
Wu Youren no longer had time to bother with it. He sat there in a daze: Just what on earth is this thing?
The good news was that this stuff could probably serve as a Guizu-luring agent.
So, Xiao Ha could be entirely self-sufficient from now on?
As for the bad news... it wasn't actually that bad, nothing more than: don't take a dump out in the wild whenever you feel like it!
Still, he couldn't quite wrap his head around it. Even if it had mutated, it shouldn't have mutated into something like this, right?
Wait, Xiao Ha had come out of the Mount Xuanling Guizu domain, and later the Hall of Esoteric Masters had conducted a massive search of the surrounding area—what kind of treasure were they looking for again?
Wu Youren thought carefully, but still felt something wasn't right. That Guizu relic was rumored... to be some kind of pearl or bead?
Even if it were some other form, it couldn't possibly be a living creature, right?
After pondering for a long while without making any sense of it, Xiao Ha had climbed back onto his shoulder.
The little fellow's head began to bob. Having eaten and pooped, it was starting to doze off.
Wu Youren gave it some thought and decided to set aside his speculations for now, refining the experience points in his body first.
With these coming in waves, there was no telling when the next one might arrive; it was better to bank the gains as quickly as possible.
By midnight, he ceased full-power absorption.
Although quite a bit of the warm stream remained, he could absorb it anytime, anywhere without giving anything away.
Mainly, he simply couldn't contain his curiosity and wanted to figure out what exactly Xiao Ha had dropped.
Squeezing it through the leather pouch, it felt... somewhat hardened.
However, it wasn't quite like an actual egg yet; it seemed as if the outer membrane had thickened.
He extended his perception and carefully opened the pouch.
Sure enough, multiple wisps of Guizu aura began drifting toward him again, picking up noticeable speed.
Yet strangely enough, try as he might, he couldn't detect any unusual aura coming from this lump no matter what.
It was probably effective only against Guizu. Xiao Ha on his shoulder was sleeping soundly, so for spirits... it likely had no effect?
Noticing the Guizu aura accelerating, Wu Youren decisively tied the pouch shut, and the aura slowed down once more.
His curiosity piqued, he looked at the ruined house where he was sheltering and quietly slipped away—could it have something to do with the building as well?
Since no one was around anyway, making a few more experiments wouldn't hurt.
A kilometer away, Wu Youren chose an open area and opened the pouch once more.
This time, the stirring of Guizu aura was even more pronounced, moving slightly faster than before.
He couldn't keep playing around like this! The youth swiftly tied the pouch shut and fled in the opposite direction.
Xiao Ha had dropped a big one this time, but Wu Youren had no desire whatsoever to draw a massive wave down upon himself!
After wandering outside for half an hour, he quietly returned to the ruined house from earlier, and then decided to... move!
Facing an unknown phenomenon, one could never be too cautious. In any case, he barely had any belongings; it was setting up the traps that took time.
Not long after he left, silently and without a sound, a dark shadow descended...
Wu Youren moved considerably farther this time, covering over twenty kilometers. The only reason he stopped was that dawn was approaching.
A Guizu relic that caused the Hall of Esoteric Masters to launch a massive dragnet across Tianjing—what if he had actually stumbled upon it?
Mount Xuanling was so vast; a treasure capable of upgrading a Guizu domain... Of course, it was very likely not that, but he would never gamble on it!
Therefore, the farther he ran, the better.
By the time the youth finished setting up his traps once more, dawn was breaking. He planned to take a rest.
As for what to do next, he would think about it after waking up.
He turned off his wristwatch and was just about to stretch when he suddenly felt something was amiss.
Looking up, he discovered to his astonishment that perched on the broken wall of the room was a horned owl the length of a forearm.
These creatures were nocturnal and flew without a sound, so he hadn't noticed when it landed.
The youth rested his hand on his scimitar and spoke softly, "Senior, if that isn't you, don't blame me for being impolite."
"Wait," the horned owl spoke, staring with its round eyes. "I just have a few things I'm curious about... You advanced?"
"I don't know if you could call it that," Wu Youren answered thoughtfully. "I just feel my combat strength has increased a bit."
"You're already capable of posing a threat to me," the horned owl flapped its wings twice, landing silently inside the room.
It looked the youth up and down, then glanced at the little snow harrier. "Did it advance too?"
"I don't think so?" Wu Youren was startled, then thought for a moment before answering, "I'm not sure. How can Senior tell?"
"If you aren't even sure, I'm even less sure," Chen Quanxu said, his tone as blunt and straightforward as ever.
Yet a hint of gratification seeped into his words. "Not bad this time. Finally no motley tail following you around."
"I made some minor adjustments to my strategy," Wu Youren replied. "I waited three days for you at the quarantine post."
"Why don't you use your head, kid?" The horned owl continued in its blunt manner.
"Last time it was a snake. Even if it's a bird this time, do you think people wouldn't make the connection?"
Chapter 189