“It looks as thought someone had beat usto it and stroke a deal with the Cheng’s!” Old man Lin’s heart sank.

“These people acted fast!” frowned oldman Quan, and then he asked again, “Brother Ning, were you men about to findout more details? Who were these people that were able to strike a deal withthe Cheng’s?”

“They are with Lai Yue Inn in this town.If I am guessing correctly, the one behind these are Green Mountain Manor!”said old man Ning slowly.

Old man Du exclaimed uncontrollably,“What? Green Mountain Manor?!”

It wasn’t just him, the other two oldmen also had an incredulous look on their faces. They have heard of GreenMountain Manor. They knew very well what those three words meant.

The richest manor in the empire. Eventhe royalties dared not touch them. Rumor also had it that they haveconnections with One Hall, one of the four top powers.

They wouldn’t even had expected it intheir dreams that the Cheng’s had teamed up with Green Mountain Manor.

Their window had closed!

The same thought crossed their mind atthe same time. In looking back, they were the first ones who discovered themystical animals. And yet in the end, they had lost out on the opportunities.

Of course, none of these were important.The more important issue at hand was how were they going to report back totheir sect. What were they going to say about their mission to acquire themystical well and mystical animals?

If they had failed in this mission, howwere they able to return to their sect, and what would people say about them inthe future?

What could they do to possibly get ashare out of what Green Mountain Manor has?

After a long pause, old man Lin slowlystarted talking, “I have decided to take a trip to Willow tomorrow. Whatevermeans I have to use, I must set up a meeting with the Cheng’s. Else we will forcertain be left with nothing at the end!”

“You are right. Even those from GreenMountain Manor had taken actions. If we just keep on waiting, this will turninto a fruitless trip!” Old man Quan nodded and seconded old man Lin’s opinion.

Old man Du looked at the other two menand said, “Yes, we will take a trip together tomorrow. As long as we aresincere, I trust that Cheng Biyuan will meet with us. As I recall I had met himonce long time ago!”

“Me too! I hope this kid still remembersus!” Old man Lin smiled. A gentle smile as though he was looking approvingly atsomeone of a younger generation.

Theirconversation there was quickly leaked by a knave.

The western quarter of the Ning’sresident!

Sitting in thereception pavilion, Ning Xunzong listened to the recount of the knave. Hesquinted his eyes, but you could still see the coldness exuding from them. Afterthe knave was finished, he waved for him to go away.

The knave leftquickly. Only him and his two cla.s.smates were left in the pavilion. NingXunzong said angrily, “Those three geezers tried to get ahead of us. d.a.m.nthem!”

“They belong to thenine top sects. We must proceed with caution.

s.h.i.+ di

Ning, it looks like your grandfather has some friends inhigh places. How come you didn’t go and join the nine top sects instead?”

Not only did

s.h.i.+ xiong

Zhou not get angry, he startedasking unrelated question.

Ning Xunzong frownedand said, “I’m not sure either. Grandpa didn’t ask me to go join any of thenine top sects.

s.h.i.+ xiong

Zhou,

s.h.i.+ xiong

Gu, we really should reportthis to instructor Mu sooner rather than later!”

“Report this toinstructor Mu?” The corner of

s.h.i.+ xiong

Gu’s mouth twitched a couple of times and he shook his head wordlessly.

Seeing that, NingXunzong was baffled and asked, “

s.h.i.+ xiong

Gu, what do you mean by that? We shouldn’t report that to instructor Mu?”

“I don’t see the needto!” replied

s.h.i.+ xiong

Zhou. Hecasted Ning Xunzong a strange glace, “

s.h.i.+di

Ning, you know as well as I do that instructor Mu is thinking verypoorly of us right now. He probably wants to strangle us all. I am not going totalk to him!”

___

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