Elder Fa sighed once again when she saw his expression and then motioned at the table. "Why don't you sit down?" Anyway, it wasn't this child's fault. And if they came here from the Teng Yong Sect's camp, then that meant that they had something important to say. She should give him the feeling that he was able to speak openly about it. That would make things easier for both of them.
Mei Chao Bing shook his head to decline the offer though. He didn't feel that it would be right to just sit down in front of an Elder of another sect, especially with the others still standing behind him. Instead, he took out the letter that their own Elders had prepared and handed it to Elder Fa with both hands. "All the relevant information should be in here. If you want to know anything else, then please ask. We will try to answer what we can."
Elder Fa took the letter and read it over, her brows slightly raising. "So something like that happened. I gather that the Jian Chu Sect and the Li Ren Sect were also informed?" She glanced at Mei Chao Bing who nodded in return.
"Yes, part of our group will be heading to the Jian Chu Sect next and another group is already on its way to the Li Ren Sect right now."
She nodded and then closed the letter again, putting it back into the envelope and putting it aside. She propped her elbows up on the table and rested her chin on her hands, pondering for a while. "Your Elders have told you the details about what was written in there?"
Mei Chao Bing gave another nod. "All of us were informed before we headed out so we would be prepared for whatever happened."
Elder Fa kept quiet for a moment before glancing over the other disciples. They looked as if they were exhausted but not hurt. It was good for them but still quite strange considering what she had read just now. "Were you attacked on your way here?"
Mei Chao Bing shook his head. "We weren't. We did meet up with a few other disciples along the way that had been attacked though. Their group had to split up and we don't know yet what happened with the others. We sent two of our people with them to return to our sect for now to they can report to our Elders."
Elder Fa gave a hum and then leaned back in her seat, folding her hands in her lap. "Was that closer to your sect's territory or our sect's territory?"
Mei Chao Bing couldn't help but smile faintly when he heard that question. Obviously, she wouldn't bother to ask if she didn't intend to help. Thus, he couldn't help but be grateful to her. "Unfortunately, I don't know where exactly they were attacked. Originally, all the groups were scouting the region after dividing it into several areas. Even if we knew which area they were in, it is still hard to say where exactly in the area they were attacked. In any case, it could be that some of the disciples fled in this direction."
Elder Fa nodded and then got up. "In that case, I will tell my disciples to look around and bring them here in case they see them. It's good that you told me. We will have to strengthen our own groups if we want to make sure that something like that won't happen again." She walked over to the entrance of the tent and glanced at Mei Chao Bing again before stepping out. "The people that met up with you … How badly hurt were they?"
This time, Mei Chao Bing hesitated slightly. "Well, the degree to which they were hurt was actually quite different. One of them didn't really seem injured while one of them was quite heavily wounded and the third one was somewhere in the middle." He couldn't help but feel a little bad relaying that information this way since he was sure that those injuries hadn't been gained by a fight with demonic practitioners at all and instead been inflicted voluntarily.
Telling her this was definitely misleading and might make trouble for her disciples. He also couldn't say what he thought so without condemning Yang Wu Huang and the others for something he had no proof for. While he might dare to do that with Elder Baili, others were a different matter altogether. Thus, he could only keep it as vague as this.
Elder Fa gave him a long look and then nodded. "Very well. I will instruct my disciples and also have them ready a tent for you to take a rest. Even if you need to go to the Jian Chu Sect, you also shouldn't do so without taking care of yourselves first. If you collapse on the way over or are too weak to resist an attack, how does that help?"
Mei Chao Bing inclined his head. "Thank you very much, Elder Fa."
She nodded and then left, waving for one of the disciples and giving him instructions. "When they're done, bring Mei Chao Bing over to me again. There are some things that I need to talk to him about."
The disciple nodded and then went to do as he had been told before leading Mei Chao Bing and the others over to the newly constructed tent. Once he had settled them, he took him to the side, telling him what Elder Fa had said.
Mei Chao Bing just nodded, not surprised at all. Thanks to his cultivation level, he had been able to hear her words to the disciple, and even if he hadn't, he had expected something like this. After all, the history between this woman and his Master … It made it so that she likely would have some questions for him. Now, was probably the best time to actually have a talk about that.
There are some news:
For one, I am starting another new novel over on Pat reon today called "The Seat to My Heart". Just in case you're interested ;)
Second, the rest of you can look forward to Halloween because last year's pat reon special "A Little Pumpkin Basking in the Moonlight" will go public this year! So, on October 31st, you'll get 4 chapters full of halloween-themed little bunny-antics :)