Strangely, when they reached the secret cultivation cave a few days later, Bai Zisheng had still not returned. However, beside that, Zi Moyan's first meeting with Ye Mu went pretty much just like Baotian had thought it would:
"Gah! Junior brother, you bastard, why did you bring that thing in!"
Watching Zi Moyan creating fire in between her hands, ready to incinerate him, the unfortunate fox froze on the spot, not knowing how to react. Baotian, watching the scene, pressed his hand against his mouth, desperately stopping himself from laughing.
"Uhm, greeting, lady Zi, my name is Ye Mu, a humble Spirit Beast of the Fox tribe" the fox presented himself. "I will operate under fellow Zhang for a certain period of time and, as such-"
Baotian quickly looked away as Zi Moyan's head snapped toward him, catching him laughing at them. She frowned disgracefully.
"- I hope we can share an amicable relationship" Ye Mu finished.
Zi Moyan frowned again, this time at him:
"I met Spirit Beasts thrice and all three times, they tried to kill me" she said. "You'll understand I don't have much trust - or appreciation - of your kind"
Ye Mu nodded, seemingly understanding:
"Naturally, fellow Zhang has already placed a large amount of tampering formations in my core to secure my cooperation, so there is no fear to hold about me" he said. "And just like humans, we Spirit Beasts are not the same. My father was once killed by one of you, and I do not hold all humans accountable for his death, I hope you will be able to hold the same views toward me"
Zi Moyan's frown, as she heard this, gradually eased, and she sighed:
"If we have a guarantee we can trust you as you say, then I suppose there is no problem for me" she said. "I'm already used to working with people of different horizons, and with the worst scum of this realm. You seem relatively reasonable in comparison, so even if I have some reservations about your kind, I can take that much"
Baotian, watching the scene, nodded slightly, approving her behavior. He had already more or less anticipated her to accept it quick after her initial reaction.
'Still, I was hoping for a better reaction' he thought.
Ye Mu panicking as he's threatened, Zi Moyan progressively becoming more aggressive seeing him getting agitated and so on, it would have truly been hilarious. However, to think that the fox was so good at de-escalating the situation! How unfair!
"Can I know what you are thinking about, junior brother?"
"...
Ah?"
Lost in thought, Baotian had not noticed Zi Moyan approaching him, and putting her hand on his shoulder, looking at him with a sinister smile.
"You seemed to be having a lot of fun watching us a minute ago, perhaps you can tell me why?" she asked again.
"Would… would you believe me if I said I was just happy to see my two favorite people meet each other?"
"No"
"Ah, curse"
Flick! Using her Core Formation strength, she mercilessly flicked Baotian's forehead, causing him to see the light for an instant.
"Argh, senior sister, you bitch, it hurts!" Baotian exclaimed miserably.
"Enough swearing, little brat, explain me how come you have a Core Formation level Spirit Beast under your commands now" Zi Moyan said.
Baotian glared at her but explained everything that had happened nonetheless.
"You truly have a gift when it comes to putting yourself in the worst situations" Zi Moyan sighed, shaking her head. "You met your junior brother, now your enemy, who has a Nascent Soul combat power and almost ended up fighting him to death with senior Bai, fought a pseudo-Core Formation level opponent, also nearly to death, with the referee preying on your downfall.
Then, you called a Nascent Soul genius a mentally ill retard in front of everyone and then, along with the same pseudo-Core Formation level opponent who almost killed you a few days ago, you went on to chase the referee of your fight, an actual, experienced Core Formation cultivator, and actually fought him until he died after chasing you like a lunatic on a good two kilometers and, once again, almost killed you, did I get it right?"
It was Baotian's turn to frown. When she put it like this, it gave the impression that he was some kind of unparalleled genius in the domain of courting death…
"I… guess it can be interpreted this way"
"Good. Then it means you should have the Divine Storm Sect elder's core in your storage back, right?"
"..."
"Answer me, you impertinent junior brother!"
"Is that really the one thing you gave attention to?"
"I absolutely need a Spirit Core of the mid stage or above to speed up my cultivation, and you just happen to have one. Give it, please"
"Hmph, at least you said please, that's already better, you impolite senior sister. What do I get in exchange?"
"Can't you be nice and offer this useless thing to your senior sister? It's not like you need it for your cultivation, and-"
"When I ask for it, I want you to let me borrow your late stage Core Formation barrier artifact"
"..."
"Is this a deal, senior sister?"
"Ahh… yes, it's a deal, you bratty junior brother"
Watching them talk, Ye Mu couldn't help but tilt his head, noticing how carefree Baotian looked with his her, compared to his usual self. He didn't even ask her to sign a spiritual contract. The latter turned toward him, unaware of his thoughts:
"Hmm, se… fell… uh"
"You can call me Ye Mu, fellow Zhang"
"Ah, fine, Ye Mu, I actually have a problem that would require your help, but you might not appreciate its specifics" he said.
"Do tell, fellow Zhang"
"For a very important project of mine, I would need an intact, uhm… Foundation, from a Spirit Beast. Maybe more than one, in fact. Do you know where I could find such a thing in our kingdom in a short period of time?"
The fox looked at him silently, not answering.
"Preferably, of a tribe opposed to the Fox tribe, of course, so we can also help your tribe-"
"That won't be necessary" Ye Mu said, taking two objects filled with spiritual energy, that Baotian could only assume to be Foundations, out of his storage bag.
"..."
Uh?
What kind of absurd luck-
"It belongs to a few comrades that were stuck at the peak of Qi Building, too" he explained. "A few months ago, we were attacked by some kind of centipede-like creature on our way there, and the only one to survive was me. They didn't really have close ones, so I don't think anyone would complain"
He looked down, shameful:
"I… honestly, I don't think they'd wish for this, but having their cores near me… it reminds me that they died without me being able to do anything" he said. "I couldn't resolve to just get rid of them but at least, this way, that would… give it meaning, I suppose"
"..."
Baotian's joy upon seeing the solidified Foundations quickly faded seriously started to consider if the only moments where he could get lucky were when Ye Mu was proportionally unfortunate.
'More important than this…'
A centipede-like creature? Baotian didn't know where or when, but he distinctly remembered a centipede being implicated in one of the turning points of his life. He had strictly no idea what that could mean but, the more he thought, the more he found it suspicious.
In the first place, if he followed the reasoning in the story of "The Golden Iron And The Hidden Gem", he shouldn't get so lucky. Until recently, the only moments of intense fortune he experienced were those preceded or succeeded by some form of calamitic event targeting him. As he went through so many good developments, his instinct was screaming to him that something was wrong.
Whether some kind of powerful entity was doing it, if this was the peace before the storm and some cataclysm was preparing to hit him in the face, or both, he felt chills run the length of his back.
'Now that I think about it… didn't Xue Lan… this [thing] mention some kind of being that led me into the Purple Sky Village?'
The chills intensified. Because of the dire situation he had been in at the time, he had momentarily forgotten about that but, now that it came back to his mind, he couldn't help but feel intense fear invading his heart.
'Just as I thought… I absolutely need to get stronger, fast, fast!'
Happily… it was exactly what he was about to do anyway.
"Alright, now that we have those, we can depart" he said.
Zi Moyan frowned:
"Depart to go where?" she asked. "Now that I have the Spirit Core, I need to absorb it and-"
"The cave helps for your cultivation, but it won't help you to assimilate the core faster, right?"
The reason for which Zi Moyan's scripture, the Erratic Phoenix Dance scripture, was considered a demonic one was because it allowed the user to consume a Qi Cube, Spirit Core, or Nascent Soul of one or more minor realms than their own to speed up their cultivation. For instance, with the mid stage core he had just traded her, Zi Moyan would be able to greatly shorten the time she would need to complete the early stage formula and reach the mid stage.
Even though it evolved in the Void Hurricane, its principles remained the same. It was a demonic technique separate from classic cultivation and as such, the formations in Bai Zisheng's cave wouldn't help.
Therefore, through some convincing, she eventually agreed:
"But where are we going, this time?"
Baotian smiled. There was one easy way he could speed up his cultivation by two:
"Finding my dear disciple" he said, enjoying the look on Zi Moyan's face.
Up to now, he had only refrained from chasing his fake disciple, Xiao Hanchen, for one simple reason: his cultivation was too low. If he went now, he would surely be able to catch him, but then what? He needed him to reach Qi Building to refine him and gain sufficient benefits. With his current cultivation speed, Hanchen would only reach the next stage in five years, in the best case, so catching him and capturing him now would be pointless.
Worse, with his Shadow Embodying True Physic, he would almost surely be able to escape and then, he would actively search his body to know what kind of tracking device Baotian had left on it. Once he succeeded in getting rid of it, there would be no hope of catching him again.
'But now, with the blood essence offered by senior Bai, the scripture traded with senior Hanchen and the solidified Foundations given by Ye Mu, there is no need to wait any longer'
Combining these through the Crazed Demonic Blood Burial Mantra, Baotian was certain he could force Hanchen directly to the Qi Building stage!
'Of course, it will only be a watered-down version of it, and will likely cause severe backlash in the long term, but it's alright' he thought.
After all, he only needed Hanchen and his cultivation to be intact until he had successfully refined him to increase his talent. And now that he realized that the Divine Storm Sect was actively hunting down its enemies, which included both himself and Hanchen, it would definitely be safer to act now, before the young man could be caught and killed by them.
"Come on, let's not lose any time, and depart now!" he said, unable to wait any longer.
He felt sorry for his fake disciple but, with the invisible threat of another powerful cultivator looming over him, one who had potentially manipulated the situation for months by manipulating Ye Mu into following him and Zhenyun into making him escape to the Purple Sky Village, and all the other problems he had, morals were not his priority in the moment.
He flew out of the cave, waiting for his two companions. Ye Mu began to follow him and, with a sigh, Zi Moyan did the same. However, as she did so, she looked at Ye Mu and thought:
'Losing all his comrades, just like that… how would I react in his place? If it was junior brother dying there?'
The answer wasn't certain, but one thing was sure: she would still be aiming for immortality afterwards. Just like Baotian, it was her life goal, and abandoning it due to his death would just destroy the meaning of everything she had done until now, and of everything he did, too.
But still, she knew it: it would hurt, beyond what words could express.
'When I think about it… he is my only true friend'
Shaking these thoughts away, she caught up to them, and the three began to fly toward the south of the Xuanhe kingdom, to hunt down Xiao Hanchen and refine him.