Hearing the words of that girl surnamed Xie, Ruan Ping raised his brows, swivelling his head to look at the surface of the mirror.
Within the mirror, on the surface of the lake, as Yan Zhaoge strode winds rose and clouds surged.
As he walked, his gaze swept the area, before suddenly coming to rest on a single spot.
Within the bamboo house, Ruan Ping's heart skipped a beat as the Yan Zhaoge on the mirror's surface was clearly looking straight into his eyes.
Separated by the formation, by layers and layers of scenery, the two seemed to have crossed over that boundless distance.
Gazing over, Yan Zhaoge smiled slightly.
Ruan Ping instantly knit his brows. Separated by the formation, Yan Zhaoge actually still couldn't see him, but this scene meant that Yan Zhaoge could still clearly detect that someone was watching him through the formation.
Looking at the mirror once more, Yan Zhaoge's rhythm was strange as he suddenly advanced at times and suddenly retreated at others. The Ruan Ping who was extremely familiar with formations could instantly tell that Yan Zhaoge had the ability to leave the formation on his own, returning to Clear Concealed Island.
As he walked, he caused the winds and clouds to roil; he was actually coming back to influence the formation himself.
With Yan Zhaoge's current cultivation base, without entering the formation's core and not touching the treasures that had been used to set it up as well as its foundational spirit patterns, if he wanted to directly shake such a ma.s.sive formation, he still quite lacked the strength to do so.
However, continuing with this, the changes in the formation would only grow larger and larger, very quickly alerting the experts of Turbid Wind Pavilion.
Fang Zhun and the others were all there. With Turbid Wave Pavilion staying strictly neutral and not wanting to start an enmity with Broad Creed Mountain, this matter of him making things difficult for people with their formation thrown before his clan's Elders, Ruan Ping would be hard pressed to avoid a scolding.
Moreover, he was now completely unable to do anything to Yan Zhaoge.
If he wanted to continue raising the power of the formation to form a killing formation, the Xie Youchan beside him would already first not agree to it.
Xie Youchan said calmly, “If you wanted to test Junior Brother Yan's attainment in formations, it can already be considered that you have achieved what you set out to do.”
Falling silent for a moment, Ruan Ping laughed, “Indeed extraordinary; under that famed name the warrior exists true.”
Saying thus, he extended his hand and exerted some force to wipe the mirror.
The scenes on the mirror instantly vanished.
On Clear Concealed Lake, Yan Zhaoge suddenly smiled slightly, being able to feel that the earlier anomaly in the formation had already vanished.
Yan Zhaoge laughed lightly, slowing his steps as the clouds and wind at his side that were stirred by his aurqi also gradually calmed down.
Following behind him, Ah Hu gave a simple and honest laugh, “Young Master, the other party has lost?”
Yan Zhaoge shrugged, “It can't be considered a loss; Turbid Wind Pavilion and our clan originally also have no enmity between us. It is not like everyone is like him, having nothing better to do, bored till the point of seeking out trouble.”
Very quickly, the mists before him parted as one tall, one short, two girls garbed in green and wearing bamboo hats walked on the water, arriving before Yan Zhaoge and Ah Hu.
The tall girl removed her bamboo hat from which hung a veil, revealing a slightly ordinary face that still possessed a style of its own. It was precisely Xie Youchan.
“What a high attainment in formations Junior Brother Yan has,” Xie Youchan said, smiling, “Just now, my hands itched and I played a little joke on you. Here, I apologise; please do not take it to heart.”
Looking at Xie Youchan, Yan Zhaoge blinked, then laughed, “Senior Sister Xie's words are too heavy. It's only a small matter-how can I blame you for it? If Senior Brother Xu knew about it, it would be tragic for me.”
“However, next time, you should at least warn me beforehand ah; just now, I was not prepared for it at all.”
Yan Zhaoge did not just recognise the girl before him, he was even rather familiar with her.
Xie Youchan, one off the elite direct disciples of Turbid Wave Pavilion's younger generation, with a cultivation of a late Xiantian Martial Scholar. She was stronger than Ruan Ping, being only a half-step away from the Heavenly Connection realm.
Thirty this year, in the eyes of mere mortals, Xie Youchan could already be considered an old maid. However, with her talent and potential, looking at her potential future cultivation attainments, counting by longevity, thirty years could really not be counted as much.
The female martial pract.i.tioners of the Eight Extremities who remained unwed their entire life were also not few.
Yan Zhaoge could also be considered to be familiar with her. However, like Ye Zhongzhou, this familiarity stemmed from a relations.h.i.+p with Yan Zhaoge's fellow disciple, the 'Heavenly Roc' Xu Fei.
Xie Youchan broke out laughing, “Junior Brother Yan jokes. The last time I met with Senior Brother Xu, he was praising you the entire day for having grown face for Broad Creed Mountain.”
“Oh…an entire day…” Yan Zhaoge chortled, “There's something wrong oh…”
Xie Youchan pointed towards him a little, “You ah…”
She swivelled her head to look towards the short girl beside her, “This is my junior apprentice-sister Zhang Yao, whom you've never met before. Get to know her a bit; if Little Yao'er is outside next time and you see her, please take care of her a little.”
That short girl had also already long removed her bamboo hat from which hung a veil, revealing a cute, pink round face. She looked to be around the same age as Sikong Qing.
Zhang Yao had always been appraising Yan Zhaoge curiously, as she now hurriedly bowed, “Turbid Wave Pavilion's Zhang Yao, greets Senior Brother Yan.”
Yan Zhaoge smiled, returning the greeting, “Junior Sister Zhang, it is nice to meet you.”
Xie Youchan said, “Okay, Junior Brother Yan, do you still want to comprehend the dao on the lake?”
Yan Zhaoge answered, “I already made some gains earlier. What remains is to sort them out; for that, there is no longer a need to stay here.”
“I've heard that in the vicinity of this Clear Concealed Lake, other than the few main islands of its central region, there is still some other beautiful scenery. I'd like to see it. At the same time, there are also some treasures unique to this area; if your clan doesn't mind, I would like to collect some.”
Xie Youchan said, “That's naturally fine. Since it is so, we will take you to tour the area.”
Yan Zhaoge smiled, “In that case, I will be troubling Senior Sister Xie and Junior Sister Zhang.”
The four proceeded, Yan Zhaoge as though entering a treasure vault on Clear Concealed Lake as he made rather plentiful gains. It was just that many of these gains were things that only he himself was completely clear on.
In other people's eyes, they didn't appear any much out of the ordinary at all.
As they walked, a strange bird suddenly flew past, piercing through several layers of mist and clouds before it accurately found Yan Zhaoge, Xie Youchan and the others.
Looking over, Yan Zhaoge saw that that bird resembled a large goose, yet was much smaller in size, its entire body red as fire as it appeared exceptionally conspicuous within the dense clouds.
“Is this the Fire Goose that is trained by your clan? Able to freely traverse amongst the clouds of Clear Concealed Lake, it can accurately find your clan's disciples, and is quite good for communication due to its extremely fast speed,” Yan Zhaoge smiled and praised, “I've long heard of it, finally seeing it for the first time today. It is indeed worthy of its fame.”
Xie Youchan said, “I have let Junior Brother Yan see its unworthiness.”
Extending her arm, that Fire Goose spiralled downwards and landed on it.
Xie Youchan removed a note tied onto the bird's claw, reading its contents as she now raised her brows slightly, “Oh, a Pixiu has actually appeared in the vicinity?”
When the Elders of Turbid Wave Pavilion had received this piece of news, the matter not being urgent, they didn't need stronger experts to expressly rush over from Clear Concealed Island.
Through the formation, they could basically confirm which disciples were nearby, before sending a message to get someone to handle it.
With Xie Youchan and Zhang Yao just happening to be nearby and the elders determining that Xie Youchan had the ability to deal with the matter, they had sent the Fire Goose over with a message.
“Saying that we would be guides for Junior Brother Yan, yet something just had to happen,” Xie Youchan looked at Yan Zhaoge, “However, Pixius are rare; is Junior Brother Yan interested in going?”
Smiling, Yan Zhaoge nodded, “If Senior Sister Xie permits it, I also wish to witness for myself this famous rare beast which I've heard of, yet never seen before with my own eyes.”
They moved off, very quickly arriving on a small nearby island.
As Yan Zhaoge and the others landed on the island, within its forest, someone had already arrived.
However, this person didn't show himself, instead silently watching them walk further onto the island.
He was also extremely surprised, but quickly retracted his gaze, lest Yan Zhaoge's group sense and detect him.
This person's eyes flickered with a dangerous light, a cold smile surfacing on the corners of his mouth. He was clearly Infinite Boundless Mountain's Liu Shengfeng.