Extra's Strategy: Cultivate Protagonists, Become Invincible-Chapter 234: Discussing The Dao

Chen Yan's premonition only grew in intensity as they approached the foot of the mountain.

He could tell that Han Xuhan was concocting another one of his evil plans, probably as a returning move to vent his dissatisfaction after being arrested and harassed like that.

But what his plan might be, and how it involved this mountain, both were mysteries that he had no clues to.

"Senior disciples typically live near the peak of the mountain. I guess the way to your residence is going to be a long walk, senior brother," Han Xuhan said as he gazed up at the distant mountaintop.

"It's not like anyone's forcing you to go there. What's the point of visiting my house when you've met me already?" Chen Yan replied warily.

"This is social etiquette, Senior Brother, part of politeness and modesty. If my neighbors visit me, I should visit them as well.

Oh well, even if the road is long and arduous, stopping once in a while to discuss the dao should relieve the pains of our journey."

"...?"

Chen Yan was completely lost. He almost began to suspect that Han Xuhan had lost his mind from all the bottled-up anger and frustration.

Han Xuhan began to walk up in a relaxed gait. His pace was so slow that he appeared aimless. With a twisting feeling inside his gut, Chen Yan followed him closely.

About fifteen minutes passed, and they were barely past a tenth of the path. Even an ordinary mortal would've covered twice as much distance.

Moreover, these fifteen minutes hadn't passed in silence.

The entire time, Han Xuhan had bombarded Chen Yan with meaningless questions, from asking about the origins of random odd-looking trees and roadside rocks, to sneakily trying to trap him into admitting his various misdeeds.

Chen Yan felt like he was being toyed with. If any of his peers saw him following a junior disciple like a good little servant, he would become a laughingstock in certain circles.

Rumors of the morning's incident would surely spread if his ill-wishers caught wind of it. If both incidents were combined...

He couldn't let that happen.

Unable to hold back his frustration anymore, he blurted out, "Are you just trying to waste my time? What's the point of this? If you don't have a proper reason, just scram back to your hut!"

Han Xuhan shrugged. "Why are you always so impatient, Senior Brother? If you can't see any proper reason to accompany me on the way up, just run there by yourself and wait for me to arrive."

"..."

Chen Yan took a deep breath and really did what Han Xuhan suggested. In less than a minute's time, Han Xuhan was no longer visible behind him, blocked by the bends and undulations of the mountain path.

He regretted the decision almost immediately.

Not being able to keep an eye on that sly little bastard brought a much worse feeling than being forced to accompany him. He had led a starving wolf into his territory, and that wolf had tricked him into parting their ways.

Chen Yan wanted to slap himself for falling for such obvious bait. But returning to Han Xuhan's side was out of the question now.

That would be even more disgraceful.

As a disciple of the Senior generation, he had his pride. And as Han Xuhan's opponent in their little game, he had an extra layer of loftiness around that pride.

So Chen Yan slipped into the mass of trees and foliage surrounding the road, cast a concealment spell upon himself, and snuck his way downhill.

There, he made a concerning discovery. He couldn't find Han Xuhan on the road either!

"Did he finally give up?"

Feeling a flicker of hope and relief, Chen Yan rushed further down the road. But not a soul could be seen anywhere near the foot of the mountain.

"Even if he ran off, he couldn't have gone far..."

The relief in his heart gave way to doubt.

Suddenly, his ears caught a faint commotion in the distance.

Slowly, Chen Yan turned on his heels and looked up at the mountain. The source of the commotion seemed to be...

"Xiao Mei's hut!"

Chen Yan's countenance changed drastically. Gravel, leaves, and dust flew under his feet as he sprinted uphill once again.

"I knew it! That scourge had a plan. He just had to shake me off so that it could work!" 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

It didn't take him much time to reach his junior sister's hut.

But Chen Yan didn't shed his concealment right away. He needed to know what Han Xuhan's real plan was before he could confront him about it.

Otherwise, that brat was surely going to give him some outrageous excuse, like 'visiting fellow disciples to discuss the dao', and evade being held accountable for his malicious intentions.

With that thought in mind, Chen Yan hid behind the trees and observed the situation.

The area outside Xiao Mei's hut had been flooded by a cloud of black fog. Inside the fog, Han Xuhan and Xiao Mei were locked in a vicious duel.

Fortunately, although the fog was quite dense, it wasn't enough to blind someone like Chen Yan.

His spiritual senses were quite developed, thanks to his peak ninth-layer cultivation in the Mystic Path. His decent martial cultivation also gave him a vision that could penetrate this small volume of fog with ease.

He could clearly see each move of their battle, and he could even calculate its outcome.

Xiao Mei wasn't using any of her Mystic Arts, which probably had something to do with the fog's poisonous effects. That left her in a position of major disadvantage.

Han Xuhan had already defeated her in a duel of martial arts before. That defeat had left her mentally wrecked and demoralized, whereas Han Xuhan's martial cultivation had gone up a few notches since.

The chasm between their martial cultivation was no longer a qualitative difference. Both were in the third phase. Xiao Mei might be at its peak, but Han Xuhan was clearly not too far behind.

Chen Yan could hear him taunting her constantly as they fought, really digging into her pitiful defeat in their previous duel. Every move she made was read by him like an open book.

"How did he get such a good understanding of Xiao Mei's martial arts? It's not possible to learn so much from one duel. Her arts come from..."

In the middle of his musings,Chen Yan thought of a terrible possibility.

"...Has any of my juniors betrayed their martial siblings?"