In front of them was a small crater with the muscular man from earlier.

"Hah… I was so close to winning…!"

The depressed look more dead than alive when he suddenly sat up and talked to no one specific before heaving a large sigh filled with regret and unwillingness.

It seemed like the muscular man had not given up on his fight against the crystal tortoise yet…

"Brother…"

A slightly helpless voice came out of Chen Chun's mouth as he looked at his beaten-up elder brother still wanting another go with the crystal tortoise which had easily sent him flying earlier.

"Ah, Chen Chun? And…? Yue Wan!"

With a surprised look on his face. The muscular man firstly stared at his little brother, before turning all of his attention towards Yue Wan standing on the side.

It seemed like the muscular man was familiar with Yue Wan as well, as his face slowly showed a little bit of fear while looking towards Yue Wan.

The fear shown on the muscular man's face was not seen by Sofie, but Yang Meng managed to pick it up and started to wonder to himself, just what on earth Yue Wan had done to make her senior brother fear her so much?

Thinking a little more about it, Yue Wan also seemed to be quite rude to Chen Chun earlier on…

Regardless of how hard he tried to think, Yang Meng could not figure out what Yue Wan had against her senior brothers…

"W-what is that demo- junior sister doing here!"

The muscular man asked in a shaken voice as he pointed at Yue Wan with fear in his eyes.

"Hmph! Senior brother Chen Long, it's been awhile… I see that you have improved your movement technique as of late, to move such a distance and even be able to create a crater just from impact… Indeed impressive, senior brother~"

The mocking voice of Yue Wan drifted over as she teased Chen Long with his earlier fight against the crystal tortoise.

Chen Long's face instantly changed when he heard Yue Wan's clear mocking words of his earlier valiant fight against the crystal tortoise "YUE WAN!"

Angry as he was, Chen Long still didn't do anything as he felt himself rooted in his spot. Only able to verbally argue and angrily glare towards Yue Wan, as he really didn't dare to do anything to her… Chen Long clearly knew how evil Yue Wan could be…

…

Meanwhile, Sofie had no idea what was going on as both Chen Long and Yue Wan had suddenly started to argue with on another all of a sudden.

"S-should we not get b-back to the sect…?"

Looking extremely nervous upon asking, Sofie grabbed the hem of Chen Chun's robe and asked in a timid voice.

Chen Chun was also wondering how long his elder brother was going to verbally fight against Yue Wan and was slightly surprised when he heard what Sofie said.

Looking down on the little girl timidly looking towards him, Chen Chun felt like they had indeed stayed here waiting for his elder brother and Yue Wan to finish their argument for too long.

"Yeah, we have indeed wasted too much time waiting for those two… Junior sister… Sofie was it? Let's head back ahead of those two. Junior brother Yang Meng as well. Looking at those two, they might be going at it for hours…"

Helpless at the verbal battle unfolding between his big brother and Yue Wan, Chen Chun decided that it was a better idea if he escorted the junior sister and brother back to the sect. Looking at them, they should only be around 10 or 11 years old and staying inside the underground forest for long periods of time, was indeed not a good thing…

Both Sofie and Yang Meng looked at each other in surprise when they heard what Chen Chun said.

Hours… Spending hours arguing with each other!?

This sounded unimaginable to both Sofie and Yang Meng, but the moment they turned and looked at the annoyed expression on his face, both of them felt what he said might be true…

"B-but what about their safety! W-won't it be dangerous for them to stay here alone?"

Realizing that they would be leaving early, Sofie could not help but grow worried about them, they were after all still quite deep inside of the underground forest and there were strong demon beasts everywhere.

"Ah… You don't have to worry about them, while Yue Wan is only at the third stage of the qi condensation realm. My elder brother is already at the sixth stage, so there isn't that much of a threat to their lives. The crystal tortoise from earlier can be considered a coincidence and it most likely wouldn't even have bothered with us if my elder brother didn't start hara.s.sing it…"

Explaining about how strong Yue Wan and Chen Long was, Chen Chun looked a little helpless when he talked about his elder brother's earlier hara.s.sment of an innocent demon beast.

Hearing Chen Chun's explanation, Sofie quickly remembered the clash between Chen Long and the crystal tortoise earlier. The after shock from their clash alone had already destroyed the surroundings, there was no way Chen Long was weak, seeing as he survived and was… Somewhat fine, if you forgot about destroyed clothes. Now that she was thinking about it, there was no blood leaking from wounds or anything like that… Though he did have a few of his limbs bend in some strange directions…

Inspecting Chen Long, who was currently in a heated argument with Yue Wan about her getting lost in the underground forest. Sofie saw that most of his limbs had returned to how they normally looked.

Chen Long looked like nothing had happened to him and if it was not for the destroyed robe, Sofie would indeed believe that nothing had happened to him.

Mystified by the fast recovery of Chen Long, Sofie stared at him for a long time and it was only when Yang Meng grabbed hold of her hand and started dragging her away that Sofie recovered

Looking at Yang Meng, Sofie quickly threw Chen Long's fast recovery speed to the back of her mind and followed after Chen Chun walking in front of them.

…

Time pa.s.sed and the journey through the underground forest was easy. The only time they encountered a demon beast, Sofie fought against it as it was only a rank 1 demon beast.

The fight was not spectacular in any way, as both Sofie and the small wolf looking demon beast had not yet reached the qi condensation realm.

Sofie used the simplest form of attack a cultivator had. Gathering qi in her hands to increase her punching strength.

The small wolf demon beast on the other hand was not so proficient and even though it had some qi inside it, it could not use any of it.

Normally, Sofie would never want to hurt something like a cute small wolf. The small wolf demon beast was an exception, it was not cute in any way and looked more like some sort of abomination created out of crystals and flesh.

The fight had ended quickly, and the group had continued onwards.

"By the way senior brother Chen Chun, what realm have you reached?"

Exiting the underground forest Yang Meng asked Chen Chun in a curious voice.

"Ah, I reached the sixth stage of the qi condensation realm as well, though my brother is already at the peak, while I just entered the realm…"

Chen Chun answered in a kind voice. During the journey, both Yang Meng and Chen Chun had hit it off pretty well even though Chen Chun was 6 years older.

"I see… You are indeed impressive senior brother Chen Chun!"

Yang Meng said in a heartfelt voice, clearly admiring Chen Chun.

Sofie, who was walking beside Yang Meng and was holding onto his hand. Ignored Chen Chun and Yang Meng's constant praise for one another and looked at the tunnel leading up to the surface and into the sect grounds.

Finally, she could get something to eat!

Thinking this, Sofie displayed a happy smile as she moved up the tunnel leading to the sect grounds.