(MC POV)
After that bizarre turn of events, we decided to just head back home via teleportation.
Well, aside from having a stopover at one of the inns first at the request of my two foxes. They were really enthusiastic about it for some reason, so I made sure I satisfied them really thoroughly.
"Welcome back, Master!" Diao Chan greeted me the moment I appeared in the courtyard.
"Umu, I'm back."
Seems like everyone else was still in the baths considering the time. Well, work hard, play hard as they say.
Diao Chan stopped and sniffed in my direction, my Witch frowning at my fox disciples.
"You two had sex with Master didn't you?"
"Ufufufu~ Maybe?" Manami giggled, entwining her fingers with mine.
Kiyomi did not answer and simply leaned her head on my shoulder, her arms wrapped around mine.
Diao Chan immediately leapt towards me and hugged me, "Masteeeer!! Not fair!! I wanna have sex with Master too!!"
I patted her head, "Later, if you are a good girl."
"Oh~ Does that mean I'll get something nicer if I'm not a good girl?"
I flicked her forehead with a finger, Diao Chan yelping out in pain as I did so.
"Where is Brendan?" I asked, changing the subject.
Diao Chan shook herself out of her blissful face, "Ahem… Brendan hasn't returned yet, actually."
Hmm… I suppose he would take longer seeing that he could not teleport.
"Papa! Papa!"
*Pomf*
I looked down to see Cai Hong hugging my waist and looking up at me with a big smile on her face. Her hair was still a little wet from her bath.
"'Walecome' back, Papa!"
So cute.
Of course I had to pat my cute little dragon's head, "I'm back, was Cai Hong a good girl?"
"Mnn! Mnn! Cai Hong was good! Cai Hong 'pwacticed' 'rweally' hard!"
"Oh, that's a good girl! Does Cai Hong want a candy?"
"Papa's candies! Cai Hong want!"
Of course I gave her the candy.
My two fox disciples decided to go for their bath, though they did try to tempt me to join them.
Unfortunately for them, I told them to go ahead as I wanted to rest for a bit in my room first.
They didn't question me and merely bid me to have a good rest, allowing me to head back into my room by myself.
Once I closed myself within my room, I teleported myself back to the Jianye city's auction house, appearing on the roof.
The broken part of the building was cordoned off with a few guards watching over it. There was also a group of them patrolling around the place but other than that, this place was relatively empty.
I focused my senses, trying to find traces of that crazy girl and track her down.
No, I'm not going to take her in, I just wanted to keep track of her whereabouts just in case. I decided not to help her since she might influence my disciples to become as crazy as she was.
I might also just be a tiny, little bit afraid of her. Just a tiny bit.
Hey, you would too if she had those things done to you. See how you like being chained to a post in the middle of Spider Valley and have thousands of man eating spiders come running at you.
Yeah, I thought so.
No, I'm just here to see where she went so I can prepare counter measures for her just in case.
Tracing the aura that was heading straight into the air, I followed its path heading towards the West.
I made sure to cover my own tracks of course, in the unlikely event that there were other people trying to track her as well.
I followed the trail for a good while, it seems like she travelled quite a long distance away from here to run away from them. The fact that I sensed no one else flying in this direction meant that either her pursuers are quite skilled or they didn't bother to send someone after her yet.
Not sure how important the elderly man was, so I don't know which one is the more possible reason.
Along the way, I noticed that I flew over an open piece of land that looked to be undergoing a massive construction project.
I only recognised it as the former capital of Dong after seeing the giant rock that was the meteor that I summoned before. Several temporary shelters were built all around it, no doubt for the workers or maybe the former residents to stay in while the city was being built.
It looks like they were already digging up holes to lay the foundations to the city, Elaria sure works fast. Maybe the city would finish building faster than predicted.
That crazy girl's aura seemed to have hovered around here for a while before moving on. Now I'm a little worried that this place might have been where she would have hidden herself in the original timeline but I guess I'll never know.
I'm not even sure how much the original timeline has changed ever since I came back, which probably makes any other attempt on my part to preserve it moot now that I think about it.
Like the fact that Beiyang actually conquered all these lands here? Pretty sure this didn't happen in my previous life.
I'm not even sure if Dong actually invaded us either since I was in closed door cultivation during that time.
Oh well, I'll just have to deal with the changes as it comes.
I continued to follow that crazy girl's trail that continued westwards, it took me a little further to realise she was headed towards the direction of Beiyang.
She couldn't have chosen to hide there of all places, could she?
I increased my speed, quickly reaching the edge of the Death Mountains in record time.
It was there that I found her trail ending abruptly, as though she suddenly disappeared. That's odd, there's no way she got killed here right? Or was it that she realised she had left a trail for someone to follow and hid it from here on?
Or maybe… Was this a trap the entire time?
I focused my senses, searching for any inscription or presence that might be nearby.
Sensing nothing, I slowly descended towards the ground at where the trail ended, thinking she might have simply landed here and continued on foot.
Unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case and her trail indeed seemed to end here. Perhaps she decided to hide in the remnants of Death Mountains itself?
Without any other clues to go on, it seems like I won't be able to find her so easily.
I briefly considered asking the monsters for help, but I figured that if she doesn't want to be found, we most likely wouldn't be able to find her anyway.
Hmmm… Maybe I'll come back here again in a few days to see if there's any changes around here. Knowing her, I doubt that things would stay quiet when she is involved so there's bound to be some traces around wherever she goes.
Oh well, guess I should go back and satisfy my Witch first.
I wonder how Brendan is doing?
Just then, I felt the mental prod of a telepathic call from Manami.
"Manami? What's wrong?"
"Oh Master! You're alright! We didn't find you in your room so we thought something happened!"
Hmm? They normally don't barge into my room like that unless something happened…
"Sorry, I went out to check some things. What's wrong?"
"It's Brendan, Master… Liehui returned without him… He was taken."
Damn it.