Chapter 15

Fatty and Little Wu stared at her blankly, unsure what they had said wrong. They glanced nervously at Youyou, who shot them a look but ignored them. She simply looked at Xu Haoyue and said flatly, "I'm hungry."

Xu Haoyue scratched his head, unsure how to respond. A Xu winked at him. Quick on the uptake, Xu Haoyue instantly understood. He slapped the table and shouted, "Hey, waiter! Hurry up with the food, please!"

And so, another day passed in a blur. It seemed everyone had completely forgotten about the two missing people still in the mountains. In the blink of an eye, it was already their fifth day in this world.

That morning, just after they got up, they heard a commotion downstairs. Everyone hurried to get ready, eager to run down and see what the fuss was about. But as soon as they reached the stairwell, they saw Magistrate Zhang from yesterday leading a large group of constables rushing urgently up the stairs.

Everyone at the top of the stairs took several frightened steps back at their aggressive approach. Jing Yuan, who was at the front, bumped into Xu Haoyue while retreating, and the two of them tumbled down onto the stairs. They stared fearfully at the people coming up, even readying themselves to turn and run.

Jing Yuan steadied himself slightly and asked with a tremor in his voice, "Um, M-Magistrate... cough... Magistrate Zhang, what brings you here?"

Only then did Magistrate Zhang realize that bringing so many people up was indeed quite intimidating. He hurriedly offered an apologetic smile. "My apologies for startling you all, young heroes. The matter is this: In a few days, our Qingzhou will host the decade-long Jiuzhou Competition. However, that... that Yongzhou has colluded with the Otherworlders, secretly murdering several of Qingzhou's talented youths. Now, Qingzhou lacks enough participants. His Majesty has heard that seven righteous individuals have arrived in our Guangyu County and has ordered me to invite you to compete on behalf of Qingzhou."

Hearing they weren't there to arrest them, everyone collectively sighed in relief. Once they understood the situation, the younger ones grew eager, but they didn't have the authority to speak. They could only look expectantly at Xu Haoyue and Jing Yuan.

But the two of them didn't agree immediately, saying they needed some time to consider. Magistrate Zhang didn't press them, replying with a smile, "Of course, of course. Please take your time to think it over. I'll wait downstairs for your favorable reply."

Once Magistrate Zhang went downstairs, everyone quickly gathered in Jing Yuan and Xu Haoyue's room, excitedly discussing the matter.

"What do we do? What do we do? Do we agree or not? Quick, quick, Brother Haoyue, give us an answer!" A Xu was very anxious for a decision. Xiao Ai, without a second thought, gave him a knock on the head. "What 'what do we do'? Of course we can't agree! My brother is still missing in those mountains, unfound."

But Jing Yuan countered, "It's not as simple as that. It's already the fifth day, and we still haven't heard a thing from Senior Brother and the others. I'm starting to worry they're just stringing us along. If we help them win this competition, do you think they'll actually put more effort into searching?"

"Right, right, I think so too," Little Wu nodded repeatedly in agreement.

"Pfft, you just want to go see that so-called Jiuzhou Competition. No need to dress it up so nobly," Xu Haoyue tore into them without mercy. Fatty pursed his lips and snorted coldly. "As if you don't want to go either."

"I do want to go. That's why we need to make a deal with that Magistrate Zhang," Xu Haoyue admitted frankly.

"What kind of deal?" Youyou, who had been silent until now, suddenly asked.

"Oh!" Jing Yuan suddenly pointed at Haoyue and laughed. "I get it."

"What is it? Could you two stop being so cryptic?" Xiao Ai grew even more impatient.

Jing Yuan chuckled. "You just said your brother hasn't been found, right? We'll make a deal with him. We'll participate, but they have to help us find our people too."

"Right! We can do that. Why didn't I think of it?" A Xu slapped his thigh and laughed heartily.

Youyou and Xiao Ai glanced at him and sneered, "Because you're an idiot!"

After making their decision, they sent Jing Yuan and Xu Haoyue as negotiators to discuss the details with the County Magistrate. But upon going downstairs, they found Su Heng had also arrived, with Qi Ziguang standing beside him. Qi Ziguang, completely unaware they were responsible for the earlier incident, waved at them warmly. The group couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt looking at him.

Su Heng stepped forward and said many good words on behalf of the County Magistrate and Qingzhou, making it awkward for them to immediately bring up their deal. Fortunately, Jing Yuan and Xu Haoyue weren't so inflexible. The two of them earnestly explained the situation, expressing their hope that the other side could help find their fellow disciples as soon as possible.

The County Magistrate was quite straightforward, agreeing directly. He stated he had already requested manpower assistance from neighboring counties and would deploy more people to help with the search over the next few days. His only request was that they could focus on the competition with peace of mind.

The matter was settled just like that. Originally, they had planned to enjoy themselves for a couple of days, but they were then informed the competition was in just three days. They had to head over immediately to make preparations.

Everyone groaned at this news, especially the fat guy, who genuinely didn't want to move. The previous day's activities had been far too strenuous for him.

Just as everyone was bracing themselves for another long walk or a bone-jarring carriage ride, Su Heng appeared before them. He told them he could use a spell to take them to Qingzhou's capital city, which would be much faster than any cart or horse. The key point was comfort.

At that moment, everyone felt Su Heng resembled a beautiful, adorable angel.