The Pastoral Life of a Cultivation Master

Chapter 3086 Sensing Danger
The person who arrived was Qian Zhenghao.

Five hundred meters may sound far, but for martial artists, it's very close. They can reach it in the blink of an eye, without taking much time. However, the steps on the iron chain bridge are simply connected; if you're not brave enough, you might not even be able to walk across.

Of course, Qian Zhenghao was quite bold, so in a short time, he reached Qian Ying and the others.

As for whether he sensed any danger below the iron chain bridge while crossing it, the answer is no. After all, his current strength is only at the eighth level of the Acquired Realm, so he couldn't sense anything while crossing the iron chain bridge.

Moreover, Qian Zhenghao's mind was focused on his feet, watching every plank under his feet to make sure he didn't step on the wrong thing.

However, what Qian Zhenghao didn't know was that as he crossed the iron chain bridge, Chen Mo's gaze followed his figure the whole time. Even when he disappeared into the fog and there was no trace of him, his eyes did not stop following him, as if he wanted to see through the fog to clearly see his actions of crossing the river.

Chen Mo's vision couldn't penetrate the fog. Even with his daytime vision, he couldn't see Qian Zhenghao through it. In reality, he was sensing a faintly dangerous aura emanating from the lake.

They wanted to see if the sense of danger would intensify if someone crossed the lake, or if they would also pay attention to Qian Zhenghao crossing the bridge.

To Chen Mo's surprise, although he could still sense the faint danger, he did not notice that as Qian Zhenghao crossed the iron chain bridge, the danger remained unchanged, neither increasing nor decreasing.

However, he could also sense the subtle danger, which seemed to move with Qian Zhenghao. Once Qian Zhenghao had walked far away on the suspension bridge and Chen Mo could no longer sense the danger, he finally gave up watching.

"Amo, are you worried about Qian Zhenghao?" Ouyang Ruoxi stepped forward and stood next to Chen Mo, asking.

"Hmm, this suspension bridge is too strange. Not only is the mechanism's operation somewhat perplexing—I don't know why it reverts to its original state at night, preventing people from crossing the lake—but the bridge itself is also very simple. If someone on the bridge isn't careful, they could fall into the lake. So it all seems to be deliberately arranged, but I don't know why." Chen Mo frowned, unable to understand the meaning behind everything on this suspension bridge.

"Then can you figure it out?" Ouyang Ruoxi seemed thoughtful after hearing this, but she couldn't figure it out either, so she could only ask Chen Mo.

Chen Mo shook his head and said, "I've observed it for a long time, but I haven't figured it out. Perhaps, when something really happens, we'll understand the meaning of this bridge and this lake."

Actually, he didn't really want to take it seriously, nor did he want to explore the meaning of the lake. But he couldn't help it; the lurking danger always made him somewhat worried.

"Forget it, if you can't tell, you can't tell. Maybe I'm just overthinking it," Chen Mo said to Ouyang Ruoxi with a hint of helplessness.

Ouyang Ruoxi could only nod. Since she didn't understand, she wouldn't think about it too much. Maybe she would find out later.

Ouyang Nan stepped forward and said to the two, "Amo, Ruoxi, we need to scout the surrounding area again before the other side comes over. If there is any danger, we should clear it out."

The fog is quite thick now, so visibility is very poor. Although we scouted the area yesterday, we also found a lot of poisonous creatures. If the number of poisonous creatures increases overnight, they might take advantage of the thick fog to ambush others, which would be disastrous.

Therefore, Ouyang Nan thought of taking advantage of the fact that the others had not yet crossed the iron chain bridge to investigate the area again, so as not to cause any danger to other martial artists once they arrived.

Although she didn't want to clean up, she had to do her job as usual. Since Qian Ying had arranged for her to be the leader of the advance team, she had to do a good job on the surface and not give that old guy any excuse to cause trouble.

Besides, the reason given for sending Qian Zhenghao back alone, while keeping the others from returning, was to ensure the safety of the area around the bridgehead structures. It would be truly embarrassing if the people from the other side encountered any danger while crossing.

While Ouyang Nan was cleaning up the area around the bridge in pairs, Qian Ying and the others were also questioning Qian Zhenghao.

Ignoring Qian Zhenghao's still somewhat disordered breathing after crossing the iron chain bridge, Qian Wantong pulled him to Qian Ying and asked about the situation on the other side.

What happened after Ouyang Nan and his group crossed the iron chain bridge yesterday has piqued the curiosity of Qian Ying and the others. Now that Qian Zhenghao has returned, he has naturally been brought in to answer their questions about what exactly happened yesterday and what occurred during the night.

In addition, I naturally want to know whether there are any dangers on the other side, and what kind of dangers we would face if we went there.

As the questioning progressed, Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing relaxed, realizing it was just a wild wolf.

Even if the wolves were strong, what Ouyang Nan and Chen Mo could defeat, even a larger pack of wolves would be no problem for them. They could easily handle it. If these two, as innate masters, couldn't even handle a pack of wolves with acquired strength, then they shouldn't be innate masters; they might as well just die.

Just as Qian Zhenghao finished asking all the questions and explaining the situation, Qian Wantong frowned and said, "Qian Zhenghao, why did you come back alone? Why didn't Ouyang Nan and the others come back with you?"

"Reporting to the steward, Captain Ouyang Nan originally planned for everyone to return, but due to the thick fog, we don't know if any danger might occur. If a strange beast appears and damages the bridgehead structures, it will affect our entire team's crossing operation. Therefore, Ouyang Nan has instructed me to return alone, while the others remain at the bridgehead to prevent any accidents or dangers," Qian Zhenghao replied respectfully.

He harbored resentment towards Qian Wantong, but adhering to the principle that a wise man doesn't fight a losing battle, it was better to obediently answer the questions. Otherwise, given Qian Wantong's strength, he could crush him to death with one hand.

Perhaps, once he has achieved a certain level of cultivation and gained the strength to deal with Qian Wantong, he will be able to speak with more confidence. However, after glancing at Elder Qian Ying beside him, Qian Zhenghao decided to continue to play it safe and not try to escape.

Upon hearing Qian Zhenghao's answer, Qian Wantong frowned, thought for a moment, and then continued to ask, "Then why did Ouyang Nan arrange for you to come back, and not anyone else...?"

Before he could finish speaking, Qian Wantong considered Qian Zhenghao's identity, as well as the identities of Ouyang Nan and the other three, and knew that Qian Zhenghao's return was the best option. After all, choosing anyone else might not convince them.

Qian Wantong was momentarily speechless, unable to say anything, and simply froze. Seeing Qian Wantong's reaction, Qian Zhenghao quickly lowered his head, secretly amused. This Manager Qian reacted quite quickly; if he had waited until he said everything, everyone would have laughed at him.

However, even though he didn't say everything, it still made him a laughing stock for many people.

If Qian Zhenghao had spoken up at that moment, he might have been able to offer Qian Wantong a way out, and the situation wouldn't have been so awkward. However, Qian Zhenghao lowered his head, completely ignoring Qian Wantong's embarrassment.

Qian Wantong added another mark against Qian Zhenghao in his mind, determined to teach this guy a lesson when he got back.

"Alright, whoever is assigned, as long as they explain the various aspects clearly, even one person is fine. It's just a message to pass on; it would be better if everyone came back. Ouyang Nan's thoughtful arrangement of having Qian Zhenghao return to report on the situation while the others watch over the safety of the bridgehead is excellent." Qian Ying naturally wouldn't let the awkwardness continue, so she spoke up directly to smooth things over, preventing Qian Wantong from feeling terribly embarrassed.

Not only that, Qian Ying also glared at Qian Wantong, saying, "How can you ask some things? If you want to ask, you should ask them privately."

When Qian Wantong saw Qian Ying's gaze, he felt a pang of unease. He realized he had spoken too quickly; if he had been able to stop the question, he wouldn't be in such an embarrassing situation.

“Yes, Elder Qian is right.” Zhou Zixing smiled and then asked again, “Elder Qian, now that we have a grasp of the situation on the other side, shouldn’t we cross the lake as soon as the iron chain bridge is built? If we are delayed and something else happens, it will be difficult to handle.”

Actually, Zhou Zixing knew that the iron chain bridge would be restored as soon as night fell, so he wanted to cross the lake as quickly as possible. If he was delayed and the iron chain bridge was restored to its original state before nightfall, he would be completely caught off guard.

Upon hearing what Zhou Zixing said, Qian Ying also thought of the problems she was worried about, so she turned to Qian Wantong and said, "Go and organize the team. We'll set off in ten minutes and cross the iron chain bridge to the other side."

Qian Wantong immediately agreed and quickly went to prepare. He moved so quickly because he didn't want to stand there awkwardly.

When Qian Zhenghao saw that Qian Wantong had slipped away, he looked up at Qian Ying and wondered what he should do.

Qian Ying shook her head and waved to him, saying, "If you have any luggage or anything here, hurry up and get it ready. If you don't have any luggage or anything, then get ready so you can cross the suspension bridge with us later."

Actually, Qian Ying wanted Qian Zhenghao to go first, so that if any danger occurred, there would be someone to hold him off. As for whether Qian Zhenghao was important or not, it didn't really matter. In the Qian family's ranks, he was basically invisible. If he could contribute something to the family's cause, it would be a way of repaying the family for their nurturing.

“Wait a minute, you go first and lead everyone across the lake,” Qian Ying said.

Qian Zhenghao felt helpless upon hearing this. He knew he was being used by Qian Ying, but he couldn't refute it and could only respectfully reply, "Yes, Elder."

"Alright, you can go now. Meet at the bridgehead in ten minutes."

"Yes."

Qian Zhenghao bowed and left. He didn't go anywhere else, but returned directly to the bridgehead to wait for the entire team to gather, and then led them across the suspension bridge.