Heading North

The sorry state of Ming Yu meant nothing to Qai. To him, Old Yu could definitely be a reliable figure in the family.

For now, the initial and immediate task for Old Yu, in Qai's mind, would be to handle the shop that the family would put up in the trading square during the Wasteland event.

But Qai was already picturing Old Yu, in the long run, to be the Library's custodian—an old looking cultivator would definitely fit the bill.

And as for Yu Yue and Shen, they would be requested to help his mother in the inn, taking the place of Shu Liang who, on the other hand, would be participating the entrance to the Desolate Wasteland.

Before going back home, Qai took the opportunity to pick up a dozen of common class skill scrolls from the merchants in the village—he needed to stack up some scrolls for the Library as originally planned.

"Let's purchase some things first," he informed his companions.

Qai thought that even if he would only acquire common class scrolls—as they were apparently the only available ones in the village—it could be deemed as already a good start for the Shu family's library.

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Shu Wei, meanwhile, didn't have any difficulty seeking aid from the chief. In fact, on that same day, Shu Wei and the chief had already agreed to go to Gale Village to request the help of its village head as well.

Shu Wei carefully explained how the three of them needed to cooperate in order to succeed.

The Wasteland event was easily seen as a grand one.

The two village chiefs, upon learning everything from Shu Wei and the details of his plans, decided to postpone their cultivator's traditional match—instead, they bought the idea of cooperating to take advantage of the situation for the benefit of the villages.

The two chiefs simply could not resist the profit as well as the reputation it would somehow bring to their villages' name should they truly succeed.

Shu Wei offered the two chiefs a spot in the planned trading area as well and encouraged them to pitch several temporary huts and food stalls below the plateau to be used by guest cultivators since the expected number of guests could balloon to more or less a thousand.

Surely the Shu family's inn would not be able to accomodate such large gathering. But with the help of the two nearby villages, there would be no shortage of resources.

And to ensure that the event would take place in the Shu family's territory, they would obviously need the approval and cooperation of the Purple Mist Sect itself.

So after the the village chiefs and Shu Wei agreed on the terms, they started to plan meeting the Sect Master the sooner the better.

Gale Village was apparently the nearest human settlement to the mountainous region to the north which was said to be the Purple Mist Sect's domain. But it would still take several days to reach the exact location of the sect.

So to avoid any mishaps in the journey, they decided to leave in three days and sent someone to get Shu Wu and Qai to accompany them, along with two other Heaven stage Expert cultivators from the two villages to act as personal guards of the village chiefs.

In all, the party consisted of seven members with Shu Wei as the only Sage while Shu Wu was the next strongest at half-step Sage realm—and the rest were in Heaven stage of the Expert realm.

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Three days later, all seven of them together with Shandian gathered in a hall in Gale Village.

They were not expecting much success in this journey but they were all hopeful that the Sect Master would somewhat give them opportunity to offer their assistance for the event.

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Days earlier in the plateau however, Qai introduced Yu Yue, Old Yu and Shen to the family and instructed them with their tasks.

He asked his mother and big sister to help them settle in the family since he and his big brother were summoned by his father to Gale Village.

So the two brothers rode the demonic War Horses on their way to the village—to the surprise of many in the Gale Village. But then the Shu siblings instantly commanded the beasts to return to the plateau as soon as they arrived.

The villagers had initially wanted to have a closer look but, unfortunately, the demonic beasts were immediately sent back.

The Shu brothers brought with them some medicinal pills concocted by Qinlun and distributed them to the members of the party upon meeting them.

And when everything was settled, they went on their way north to mountains full of hope.