Chapter 1286: Xingxiu Faction

If he was the one who had been given the cold shoulder, he would not have given a rat's ass; but because the person who was being so rudely snubbed was Luo Puti, Chen Xiaobei miffed.

Zhuo Qunfeng was discerning enough and attempted to salvage the situation, "My Shi Mei has been staying in the mountains for too long, and she has abandoned some of the etiquettes of the outside world. I hope Mr. Chen and Ms. Luo would not take this to heart."

"Oh, is that so? I thought it was because her self-esteem was so low, she was too shy to shake hands with my wife!" Chen Xiaobei curled his lips.

Even though Zhuo Qunfeng's excuse was believable enough, even a fool could tell that Wang Mengyu's refusal to shake Luo Puti's hand was not because she had no regard for worldly customs but because she was deliberately being hostile.

Chen Xiaobei was the type of person who could tolerate inveigling but not intimidation. The woman's belligerence would only tick Chen Xiaobei off.

"What did you just say? I am the granddaughter of the Kunlun Faction's Fifth Elder! You can never, in your entire lifetime, hope to gain the position, authority, wealth and resources such as mine! Why should I feel inferior to you?"

Wang Mengyu was not going to go down without a fight, spilling out all the anger that had welled up in her.

"Well, because you are not as beautiful as my wife."

Chen Xiaobei shrugged his shoulders.

"You... I..." Wang Mengyu was dumbstruck. All she could do was glare at Luo Puti, trying to find a flaw on her face that she could throw back at Chen Xiaobei.

But even through a woman's eyes, Luo Puti was perfect. Wang Mengyu could see nothing wrong with her.

Full score for her beauty, full score for her temperament and a definite full score for her body.

Especially today, in the skin-tight jeans that clung to the delicious curves and dips of her long slender legs. Almost all the men around her were staring at her.

Wang Mengyu turned beet red with humiliation, grinding her teeth with an intense loathing of Luo Puti. How could such a beautiful woman exist? It was so infuriating!

"Hmph!" Wang Mengyu stamped her feet and walked away furiously.

"What's her problem? What did we ever do to her? Why is she acting like we're her enemies?" Chen Xiaobei asked.

"Sigh, this silly girl is head over heels for one of our elder Shixiongs. Because you were late, elder Shixiong and the others left her behind to me because her cultivation was the lowest." Zhuo Qunfeng said. "Fifth Shimei is angry that she could not go with elder Shixiong. Please don't mind her, Mr. Chen."

"Oh, I understand now." Chen Xiaobei nodded. "As long as she doesn't bother my wife, I won't mind."

"Yes, yes, yes. I will talk to her later." Zhuo Qunfeng nodded.

The truth was, Zhuo Qunfeng had already warned Wang Mengyu earlier not to rub Chen Xiaobei the wrong way.

But this little miss was too proud. She was used to being spoiled by her Shi Xiongs and Shi Dis, who would always give in to her. To her, Chen Xiaobei was only an ordinary mortal being, not someone she would bother to respect.

"Who are the others travelling with us?"

Chen Xiaobei jumped to the next topic.

Zhuo Qunfeng said, "There are sixteen of us from Kunlun faction. Other than the children and grandchildren of the faction leader and the five core elders, there are also another 10 core disciples. There will also be 16 other people from Xingxiu Faction who will be joining us too!"

"Xingxiu Faction? Oh, why are there people from other factions?" Chen Xiaobei asked.

"Why are you still associating yourself with that cult?"

Luo Puti furrowed her brows. She clearly had prejudice about Xingxiu Faction.

As the chief inspector of the Six Door Organisation, Luo Puti knew more about Jianghu than Chen Xiaobei.

"Oh, Ms. Luo Puti is right. The Xingxiu Faction is a cult, but we have to take them with us on this trip. I'm sure Ms. Luo has studied my grandfather's manuscript. You should know that there are a lot of extremely poisonous snakes and insects in the desert!"

"Yes, there are also poisonous springs and plants."

Luo Puti nodded.

"Right! That is exactly why we invited the Xingxiu Faction to join us! The Xingxiu Faction's art of poison is unparalleled in Jianghu. They have been able to create antidotes for many unusual poisons that modern medical science would be unable to treat!" Zhao Qunfeng said.

"Oh, it makes sense now. I was a little too overzealous. A balance of yin and yang, good and evil replying on each other. Allowing them to come along will definitely be helpful to us!"

Luo Puti nodded.

Chen Xiaobei, on the other hand, made no comment. In this world, as long as it was on the topic of real poison, there was nothing Chen Xiaobei could solve.

"Thank you for understanding, Ms. Luo." Zhuo Qunfeng then changed the subject. "The others left about half a day earlier than us. We have to hurry and try to catch up before night falls!"

Unlike the movies, this expedition team were not going into the desert while riding camels. That desert animal was weak in comparison to the cultivators.

Going on foot was the fastest way to travel, at least for them.

"Alright. We came completely unprepared, so we'll just go with your plan." Luo Puti answered.

Again, Chen Xiaobei did not express any opinion and followed behind.

Once they left the airport, they drove to the edge of the desert, and immediately began their journey.

Zhuo Qunfeng had told them that the core disciples were the ones carrying the essentials like water, food, tents and sleeping bags. Once they caught up with them, they would have all the supplies they need.

Because Chen Xiaobei and Luo Puti did not kit themselves out, they were just going to eat off whatever Zhuo Qunfeng had brought.

At the beginning of their journey into the desert, it was almost effortless. They even travelled faster than an airplane!

Of course, even though they were quick, they had to stop every once in a while to determine the direction in which they were heading.

One part of the boundless desert did not look any different from the other. Everything looked the same! If they deviated by even the slightest, they could go completely off course!

Additionally, the GPS signal was unstable, disappearing and reappearing without a warning. That was why most of the time, they had to do the navigating manually, and this proved to be very difficult.

Luckily, even though Luo Puti had come unprepared, she had scoured over Zhuo Qunfeng's grandfather's manuscript the entire week.

She was even better than Zhuo Qunfeng at directions, and was a great help to him throughout the journey.

Except for the navigating, everything else went smoothly.

Of course, they were still only in the periphery of the Xijiang desert. The real danger lied at the border Black Desert.

As for the Black Desert itself, no one really knew what it was like.

Even Zhuo Qunfeng's grandfather was only able to go as far as the edge of the Black Desert. He had never really set foot inside it.

Thanks to Luo Puti's assistance, their journey was much more smooth sailing. They were able to catch up with the others by nightfall.

16 tents were set up around a large bonfire, where young men sat enjoying their meal and each other's company.

As Zhuo Qunfeng and his group drew near, everyone's eyes turned to them.

"Elder Shixiong! You're so mean! You started dinner without us!" Wang Mengyu called out as she ran over to an attractive-looking young man.

The young man seemed to not have heard her, and like the rest of his comrades, he was silent. They were all staring at the one person...