The Pastoral Life of a Cultivation Master

Chapter 3090 The Sorrowful Ouyang Clan
After the other four martial artists fell into the water, Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing grabbed the suspension cables of the iron chain bridge and walked across step by step.

The impact of the giant wave, along with the rocks it carried, did not cause any harm to the two of them; it only slowed their movement down a bit.

When Qian Wantong saw the two of them coming, he felt relieved and quickly went forward to greet them.

As soon as the two old men reached the bridgehead, the waves on the entire lake suddenly stopped, much to everyone's surprise. The sudden halt in the previously overwhelming waves made everyone suspect that someone was orchestrating this.

“Elder, let’s leave the bridgehead first,” Qian Wantong said to Qian Ying.

Qian Ying nodded, then looked back at the now-calmed giant waves, her expression changing slightly.

"Let's go." Zhou Zixing's expression wasn't very good either.

The three of them walked about a hundred meters away from the shore and arrived at the area where many martial artists were staying.

At that moment, a muffled rumbling sound was heard, much deeper than the previous one. Then, everyone saw the previously thick fog quickly dissipate, and visibility improved.

The lake, as everyone saw it, had returned to its calm state. Although there was no shimmering light, it was as still as a mirror, without the slightest ripple.

Of course, by this time the lake level had dropped by several tens of meters, revealing a large section of cliffs on the shore.

Although everyone was standing quite far apart, the lake was still visible because of its large size.

But everyone was completely bewildered. The earth-shattering power had just returned to normal in a short time, and there was no sound at all. What did this mean?
I had initially thought there might be some monster or powerful beast in the lake, but nothing has appeared. It's as if the scene just happened, which is really frustrating.

"Qian Wantong, the last person to arrive in our group, which family does he belong to?" Qian Ying stared at the lake for a long time, but still couldn't figure it out, so she felt a little tired. However, since she couldn't figure it out, she decided to stop looking. After all, they couldn't possibly go down into the lake to find out what was beneath it.

So, if we can't see them, we can't see them. The most important thing now is to keep moving forward. Of course, while we're moving forward, we should also ask which family the four dead martial artists belonged to. We should at least put on a show of mourning them, shouldn't we?

“Elder, the last four martial artists are members of the Ouyang family. They were placed last because the Ouyang family had a larger number of members during the initial grouping,” Qian Wantong said.

Naturally, he couldn't say that the current Ouyang family martial artists had not only squeezed out Ouyang Nan and the young man Li Mo, but also lost Ouyang Min, a master at the tenth level of the Acquired Realm. Therefore, there were no more masters at the tenth level of the Acquired Realm in the entire team now; the most powerful among them were martial artists at the ninth level of the Acquired Realm.

Therefore, given their weaker strength, they were naturally placed last when arranging the bridge crossing. Other families, while lacking innate masters, had martial artists at the tenth level of the acquired realm, so they were naturally taken care of during the arrangement process.

However, this kind of care is never made public; it's just an unspoken understanding.

Originally, the earlier groups crossed the lake without any danger, so everyone thought they would be able to cross safely. However, unexpectedly, when it was the last group's turn, something happened that resulted in the instant loss of four martial artists, which was truly regrettable.

"Oh, it's four martial artists from the Ouyang family." Qian Ying felt slightly relieved upon hearing this. Without Ouyang Nan's protection, these martial artists from the Ouyang family were practically easy prey. Of course, this kind of thing couldn't be made public.

“The four people who crossed the bridge with us were swept into the lake because the incident happened so suddenly and the force of the waves was beyond my control. Now that the lake is calm, please have everyone search both sides of the lake to see if they can find those four people. Perhaps people who fall into the lake after being swept away by the waves won't die, so let's keep looking,” Qian Ying said.

But this arrangement is just a smokescreen. After all, on this side, who knows if the recent impact might have separated the four people, or even sent someone back?

Qian Ying did not bring it up, but arranged for someone to return via the iron chain bridge to see if the four people would be found on the other side of the lake.

So this search is just for psychological comfort.

Look, even after the four martial artists got into trouble, they still arranged for people to search for them. So the rest of the Ouyang family should be relieved, right?

Although Qian Wantong was not as capable as Qian Ying, he was very experienced. He understood what to do after hearing Qian Ying's instructions.

So, upon receiving the order, they immediately summoned everyone and divided the martial artists into several groups, assigning them the task of searching. Two groups, centered on the bridgehead building, searched along the lake shore in both directions to see if they could find the four people who had been swept away in the water or along the shore.

The other two groups of people each explored outwards from the bridgehead building, about 100 meters away from the lake shore.

All four groups have signal flares. If they discover danger or a special situation, they can immediately fire the signal flares so that Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing, both innate masters, can arrive in time.

Upon hearing the order, everyone immediately sprang into action.

Of course, Ouyang Nan and four others were also assigned to a group to participate in the operation.

This operation involved finding people, so participation was unavoidable. Chen Mo and the others didn't say anything; they just participated because it was arranged, as long as it appeared legitimate.

Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing stood a hundred meters from the shore, watching the four groups of people on the operation, acting as a central support team, rushing to wherever there was a problem.

Since the fog has dissipated and it's daytime, any danger should be able to be addressed promptly.

After the four groups left, Zhou Zixing said, "Elder Qian, those four people should be gone."

It would be a miracle if it could still be found on the shore after being hit by such huge waves and rocks.

“Whether we can find it or not is another matter. If we don’t look for it, it might affect the morale of the whole team,” Qian Ying said calmly.

“Yes, whether we look for it or not is one thing, and whether we can’t find it is another.” Zhou Zixing repeated, naturally understanding what Qian Ying was talking about, and he also strongly agreed with the action.

“Alright, the most important thing for us now is to restore our strength. I'll protect you while you recover. You can protect me in an hour,” Qian Ying said.

Currently, they are the strongest in the team, but after activating the mechanism and crossing the iron chain bridge, their strength has been reduced to less than one-tenth. If any danger arises later, or if any strange beasts appear, they will truly be powerless to fight back.

Therefore, the most important thing is to seize the time to restore our strength.

Zhou Zixing nodded, then took out a recovery pill, took it, and sat down to meditate and recover his strength.

Qian Ying remained standing there, gazing at the lake before her, a sense of regret welling up within her. She had experienced so many difficulties before, and while she had felt regret before, it was only a fleeting, subtle feeling.

But this time was different. When we were on the bridge before, we felt powerless to deal with the earth-shattering impact and the rocks mixed in like cannonballs.

Although he was powerful, he was severely limited in the valley. Therefore, the crisis that had just occurred had truly posed a danger to him; how could he not feel regret?

But having come this far, it would be a bit disheartening to turn back.

Sigh, we still need to be more careful from now on. If there's any danger, it's best to send someone else to test the waters first.

As for Zhou Zixing, we should maintain a good relationship with him. If the two of them work together, they can face many dangers. We should only consider other options when absolutely necessary.

Meanwhile, when Qian Wantong was making arrangements, he didn't expect that several martial artists from the Ouyang family wanted to team up with Ouyang Nan.

Originally, Ouyang Nan was unwilling, after all, these family members were not of one mind with her, and their previous exclusion was even more disheartening, so Ouyang Nan had already given up on them no matter what.

However, this did not stop some people from sticking up to Ouyang Nan and wanting to team up with her. In order to appease the remaining martial artists of the Ouyang family, Qian Wantong could not refuse them. He could only persuade Ouyang Nan that this would only happen once and that such arrangements would not be made in the future, thus appeasing Ouyang Nan.

Therefore, several powerful members of the Ouyang family teamed up with Ouyang Nan, Chen Mo, and others to explore one side.

Along the way, the martial artists from the Ouyang family looked at each other, hesitant to say anything.

Ouyang Nan naturally knew what these guys wanted to say. Now that they insisted on teaming up with him, he guessed what they were up to. But they pretended not to see him and kept leading the team forward.

Finally, Ouyang Jun quickly walked to Ouyang Nan's side and said with a fawning smile, "Elder Nan, please have pity on us. Right now, the Ouyang team has no one to lead them, and morale is low. We've lost four more people, and everyone is in a panic. We hope you can come back and continue to lead the team."

Although the search was for four people, Ouyang Jun understood that there was a high probability that these four people would not be found and were probably already dead.

Upon seeing Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing return safely, they had already spoken with the rest of the team, wanting to invite Ouyang Nan back to continue as team leader.

There's no way around it; without a highly skilled member to lead the team, they're bound to suffer.

The fact that the four of them were the last to leave this time is a clear sign of being taken advantage of. The stronger teams left early, while the Ouyang family's team was left until the very end.

Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing were also the last two, but how could they possibly lend a helping hand when the other two were in danger?

The deaths of four people left the Ouyang family warriors deeply saddened, so they rallied a few to find Ouyang Nan and persuade her to return as team leader.

Moreover, after Ouyang Nan returns, the person named Li Mo will definitely join the team, which will improve the strength of the Ouyang family's team and prevent them from being ostracized by other families.