Seeing the monk’s confident demeanour, Xu Fei started the navigation and sped off, taking half an hour to leave the city and arrive at Fenghui Wharf.
After getting out, Xu Fei saw that Fenghui Wharf was likely an old, abandoned dock from ancient times, now even turned into a tourist scenic spot.
Beside the wharf ran a large river, its banks lush with water plants, where numerous birds nested, while across the river stretched an endless expanse of forest, the scenery quite picturesque.
When the monk got out and saw the scene before him, he couldn’t help but exclaim.
“Well done, Ma Sanlaizi, you’re like a worm in my stomach, this place is perfect!”
The monk, in high spirits, took two steps at a time to the edge of the wharf, sat cross-legged, removed the prayer beads from his chest, and began chanting Buddhist sutras.
Though the sutras sounded obscure and hard to understand, they carried an indescribable charm.
After chanting for a while, Xu Fei noticed no apparent changes, but a faint ripple of true qi seemed to emanate from the monk’s body, which surprised him.
Having cultivated true qi and become a cultivator after encountering the Heavenly Dao Divine Needle, Xu Fei felt this monk might be similar to himself.
Yet, judging by his attire, he seemed more like the rumoured wandering cultivators of the cultivation world.
These wandering cultivators belonged to no specific sect or lineage, living freely, roaming the world, and stopping as they pleased.
Finally, after some time, Xu Fei began to notice changes.
The melodious sutras seemed to carry into the distant forest, and soon a large flock of various birds, chirping noisily, flew over, landing on or around the monk.
The monk opened his eyes and looked at Xu Fei.
“Do you have something your friend carried, something that might have his scent?”
Xu Fei understood, the monk was likely a wandering cultivator who could control animals, and by using an item with Hell’s Ear’s scent, he could track Hell’s Ear’s location.
So Xu Fei thought for a moment, before the mission, Hell’s Ear had indeed left some personal equipment, like a listening device, with him, he quickly handed it over.
The monk took the device and placed it in front of him, the birds, as if well-trained soldiers, came forward to sniff it, then spread their wings and flew off.
“How long will this take?”
Xu Fei asked the monk, watching the birds disappear into the sky.
“No more than a few hours at most, these little guys are quite capable, I trust them!”
So Xu Fei waited on the spot for about two hours, until finally the first bird returned.
To everyone’s slight disappointment, the bird shook its head, having found nothing.
But Xu Fei wasn’t discouraged, he knew such things rarely succeeded on the first try.
Otherwise, the monk wouldn’t need to use this wide-net approach every time, he could simply train one bird to carry with him daily for convenience.
As time passed, more birds returned.
Finally, one of the birds brought an answer.
“Well? Any results?”
The monk, seemingly shocked by the bird’s response, paused before speaking.
