The red pouch

The guards would never try to stop them, but they were ordered not to let anyone enter just like that.

"We'll have to search you." One of the guards spoke up.

"Search?"

The guard waved his hand around as he tried to explain, "It's nothing big. Since the murders have increased, we wanted to make sure that nobody with ill-intentions enters the city."

Elder Fang suddenly chuckled in a manner that sent a shiver down Fu Jie's spine, "Are you saying we have ill-intentions?"

"No! H-How could that be? We would never think that!" The guard tried to defend himself.

Elder Dayu clicked his tongue, "If it's needed, then on with it. Why waste so much time?"

The guards nodded as a response.

Since Elder Dayu had spoken up, all the disciples formed two lines and the guards started patting them down one by one, making sure that they didn't carry anything strange with them.

Fu Jie couldn't help but compare this situation to the real-life airport scene where every passenger was thoroughly checked and when he compared the two scenes, he almost wanted to chuckle.

The security procedure didn't take more than a few minutes and just as expected, all of them were absolutely clean.

They were here to help these people so unless there was an imposter among them, they would naturally not be caught for bringing anything with ill-intentions.

They entered the Yuexing city and stood together, looking like a large group of children waiting for their teachers to give them further orders.

Elder Fang and Elder Dayu looked around at the lively atmosphere of the city with a frown.

"These people really know how to hold a celebration," Fu Jie whispered.

Chen Qiao chuckled, "I've heard that the richest man in this city was the mayor. It's only natural that such a big celebration was held for his son's birthday."

"It's weird," Xu Lifen commented.

Fu Jie turned his head to look at her as he questioned, "What do you mean?"

Xu Lifen seemed to have something in mind but she didn't dare say it out loud and it was senior martial sister Yao Meirong who spoke up and answered Fu Jie's question, "There had never been a birthday celebration this big and the last I checked, the mayor's son wasn't a newborn."

Fu Jie, "Maybe the mayor decided to be an exemplary father all of a sudden."

Yao Meirong chuckled as she heard this, "That may be so, but what would bring about this sudden change?"

Chen Qiao also nodded as he added to the conversation, "There has to be a reason why the mayor is celebrating his son's birthday so grandly at a time like this."

At this moment, Ah Bai and Ah Lu ran over to Elder Dayu's side and bowed in respect as they spoke up, "Master, we'll be going ahead."

Elder Dayu looked down at them and gave a simple nod.

The twins straightened their backs before smiling brightly and heading ahead, leaving the rest of them behind.

Fu Jie, "Is it okay to let them go alone like that?"

Chen Qiao, "Are you afraid they'll get lost?"

Fu Jie, "..."

That was right. It wasn't like this was the real world and those two were certainly not normal children and hence, nobody needed to be worried about them, but Fu Jie couldn't help but be worried about them because of this exact fact. Nobody else was worrying about them so Fu Jie had to step up and do it. After all, those two were still mere kids. Even if they were powerful, their minds were still immature and their bodies looked weak and would definitely attract bullies.

Fu Jie suddenly wanted to slap himself as he chuckled.

Who the hell was he worrying about?!

He should be worrying about himself the most right now!

Before Fu Jie could say anything, Elder Dayu suddenly spoke up and attracted the attention of all the disciples, "We'll divide and search in smaller groups."

The disciples nodded in understanding, "Understood!"

Fu Jie was also about to copy them but he stopped and thought back to the dream he had previously on the way over here. Just by thinking about that ghost's face made a shiver crawl up his spine and he immediately showed his disapproval in Elder Dayu's idea, "Wouldn't it be more troublesome if we get divided?"

Everyone suddenly looked at Fu Jie, some in curiosity, some in admiration of how much courage he had, and others offended on behalf of Elder Dayu. If an Elder had said it, the disciple should simply follow the order and not raise their hands to point at the Elder and question his decision.

Just where in the world did this rude disciple come from?

Elder Dayu also looked at Fu Jie with an unfazed expression as he waited for Fu Jie to continue what he was trying to say.

Fu Jie suddenly felt awkward for having been put in the spotlight, but since he had dragged himself in this spotlight, he knew he couldn't blame someone else.

"I mean... If there really is a ferocious ghost, the ghost would be powerful and we can all take it down together, but if we were to be divided, we'll become easy prey for the ghost." Fu Jie felt that he had said something intelligent, but how was he to know that what he had said was nothing more than nonsense?

Some disciples of the Jade Pavilion snickered as they listened to him.

Elder Dayu's facial expressions remained just as neutral as they were when Fu Jie began speaking.

Yao Meirong suddenly came to his rescue as she stepped up, "It's okay brother Xia. If we can't even handle a ferocious ghost, we wouldn't be deserving of calling ourselves Elder Dayu's disciples."

Elder Fang chuckled as he added to this, "None of my disciples have missed out on training so young white-mask need not be worried. A ferocious ghost is nothing more than a street dog that barks."

"Oh..." Maybe it was only Fu Jie who was afraid of meeting this ferocious ghost that could turn humans into eyeless, bloodless, hanging tongue ghosts.

Unexpectedly Dai Xiaobo also stepped up as he suggested, "If brother Xia is afraid of it, you can come with me."

Elder Dayu, "That's good. Dai Xiaobo, Chen Qiao, and Xu Lifen. You three can accompany your brother Xia."

Fu Jie gulped as he heard this but said nothing.

Soon the other teams were also divided and they all got ready to set out in different directions.

Chen Qiao put his arm around Fu Jie's neck as he beamed, "Then let's go and check out the Peach tavern!"

Xu Lifen simply sighed as she shook her head, "You just want to drink and get others drunk."

Chen Qiao cheekily grinned, "When else can I get this wonderful opportunity to get Brother Xia drunk?"

They got ready to walk away but suddenly, a girl called out to Fu Jie, "Young man!"

Fu Jie turned his head to look at the girl from the Jade pavilion who had stopped him by pulling his sleeve.

He had seen her before. This was the same girl that was traveling on the sprinting wolf together with Elder Dayu and Elder Fang.

Although he couldn't see her whole face, just from her lips along, he could recognize her as a beauty.

"Can I help you?" Fu Jie asked.

The girl's lips curled upwards as she picked something up from the ground and handed it to Fu Jie, "You dropped this."

It took Fu Jie a minute to digest the words as he looked down at the red-colored pouch that was being handed to him.

Chen Qiao and Xu Lifen also curiously looked down at the pouch whereas Dai Xiaobo suddenly frowned as he saw the pouch, but nobody had noticed the change in his facial expressions.

"That..." Fu Jie was sure that this pouch didn't belong to him, but when he saw the polite manners of this girl and her soft lips curled up in a friendly smile, he couldn't say the words 'That isn't mine.'

He reluctantly took the pouch and bowed, "Thank you..."

The girl also bowed back before turning on her heel and walking away.

After she had left, Fu Jie, Chen Qiao and Xu Lifan curiously looked at the pouch as if it were a ticking time bomb.

Chen Qiao snickered, "Could it be that someone has taken an interest in you, Brother Xia?"

Xu Lifen squinted at it and Fu Jie was also confused and a bit stunned.

Fu Jie opened the pouch and found it to be filled with some medicinal herbs.

"Ah!" Chen Qiao reacted first, "I think she just gifted you some medicinal herbs. Doesn't this mean she wants you to take care of yourself? How kind of her!" He patted Fu Jie's back proudly, "Brother Xia also has charms!"

Fu Jie sighed.

For some reason, he had a bad feeling in his stomach about these herbs and he didn't know why.

He knew himself well and with how much he had embarrassed himself already, there was no way someone would be attracted to him.

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