"No, that's not what I meant."
Seeing the two of them swear the Heavenly Dao Oath, Wan Lei finally felt at ease, yet at the same time, he felt ashamed of himself for having such thoughts.
From the moment he met them until now, they had never wronged him, Wan Lei, in any way, yet he had been suspicious and deceitful towards them.
"It's okay, as long as you feel at ease."
"How could I not trust your character?"
Wan Lei scratched his scalp.
"That… Brother Wan, there's something I need to tell you…"
Qing Feng also scratched his scalp, looking embarrassed, just like Wan Lei had looked a moment ago.
This appearance startled Wan Lei. "Damn it, you have something you feel guilty about towards me too?"
"It's fine, go ahead and say it."
"Just now, when you were ambushed by Huo Qingfeng, we were worried you might not win, so we spread the news of your attack, hoping others would come to your aid. Will this cause you any trouble?"
Fang Xiaoyu nodded.
"Indeed, my father just asked me if I needed help, and I said no."
"What's this? It's nothing. You were just trying to help us. Besides, even if you didn't say anything, we were going to find a way to spread the word ourselves. After all, with such achievements, how can we gain momentum if we don't publicize them?
How can we let the whole world know how powerful we are?
How about this, you two can make up for it by spreading the news of our victory, alright?"
"Okay, no problem."
"Alright then, now that everything is out in the open, you two should come with us to the Fang family. There are great benefits waiting for you there."
"Uh… Brother Wan, you know us brothers. We're used to being free spirits. We appreciate your kindness, but we really don't want to join a major power and be bound by others.
We prefer a life without restraints. Even if it's a bit poor, we are happy and at ease."
Tao Dian's attitude remained unchanged.
Wan Lei sighed.
"Brother, I'm not asking you to join the Fang family, but to join me."
"Join you? Are you building a force? I don't think it's necessary. You have the Fang family and the Yin Yang Sect behind you, and even the Kui Lian Sect. If you want to expand your own power, you have the Wan family to support and nurture you.
Moreover, with your talent, it shouldn't be long before you can recreate the glory of the Thunder Emperor. Why bother building a force and exhausting yourself? It will scatter your energy and be a case of abandoning the fundamental for the trivial."
"If it were in the past, I would never have tried to recruit you. I yearn for a life of freedom and ease even more than you do.
However, brothers, the Thunder Wind Realm is about to change."
"Change?"
Wan Lei nodded, then flicked his hand to set up a soundproof array, and told Tao Dian the details of the Desert Demon Array.
"The Liu family actually did such a thing, destroying their own foundation and poisoning living beings!"
"Brothers, it's likely that in a year or two, the demon race will arrive. At that time, the Thunder Wind Realm will be ravaged, and when the nest is overturned, where can the eggs remain intact? How can you two rogue cultivators resist the general trend?
Why don't we unite, and together with all the cultivators in the world, jointly resist the Liu family and the demon race.
At the very least, during this period, you will be at the Fang family and won't have to worry about being poisoned when the great chaos begins."
"Brother Wan, we believe you and understand your concerns. We indeed have no evidence to accuse the Liu family of this, and we might even be attacked instead. We can only expose them when the incident occurs.
Fortunately, Brother Wan, you made backup plans; otherwise, our Thunder Wind Realm would truly be doomed.
On this matter, we are willing to contribute our humble efforts to help you form the alliance. At that time, we will also try our best to contact other rogue cultivators and call on everyone to jointly resist the demon race."
"Yes, I trust your character the most, and I am most willing to entrust important tasks to you.
Brothers, times create heroes, and heroes create times. Whether we can leave our names in history depends on this opportunity."
Wan Lei smiled. He knew that for these two upright individuals, appealing to righteousness was the best way to keep them. He also knew what such people valued most, which was nothing more than reputation.
People cannot be without desires.
Although their strength was not great, their character could be trusted one hundred percent, and they were intelligent and capable of doing things, making them suitable for important tasks.
This was Wan Lei's first step in building his own team.
After all, the Fang family, Yin Yang Sect, and Kui Lian Sect had all been around for fifty thousand years and had their own established systems. They could unite, but why should they listen to Wan Lei?
Therefore, he needed to personally build a force that obeyed him, so that his commands could be carried out when things needed to be done.
At this moment, Tao Dian and Qing Feng also trusted Wan Lei a great deal. After all, they had a prior relationship, and Wan Lei had shared the secret base of the Wan family and the invasion of the demon race, such important matters with them. They had no reason not to trust him.
After settling matters, Qing Feng and his companion returned to the Fang family with Wan Lei and the other.
They had used several teleportation arrays to get there, but returning was easier. As long as Wan Lei had been to a place, if it wasn't too far, he could directly set up a single-use teleportation array to return.
As they left, the battlefield where they had fought fell silent.
The lava below was no longer flaming and gradually cooled, forming new minerals.
Later, the common people discovered this place. They saw these minerals and the twenty devil-like sculptures.
This was, after all, the Central Domain. After some inquiries, they learned that this was all because of Wan Lei and Fang Xiaoyu.
Thus, they returned to this place, bowed in worship, and began to mine the minerals, living a more prosperous life.
Young Master Lei, unintentionally, had done another great deed that benefited all beings.
It was truly a cause for celebration.
Northern Central Domain,
Fang Family,
Fang Xiaoyu's courtyard.
A stream of light from a teleportation array appeared, and after it dissipated, the figures of the four appeared in the courtyard.
In the courtyard, Old Fang was sitting at a stone round table, drinking wine by himself, with several small dishes on the table.
"Oh, Old Fang, why are you here?"
Wan Lei was very surprised. After more than a year, seeing Old Fang's dead-fish face still felt very cordial.
Old Fang stood up, not looking up, and patted his sleeves. Then, he clasped his hands in a salute.
"Fang Huifeng pays his respects to the two seniors."
Wan Lei and Fang Xiaoyu immediately moved aside. How could they accept such a grand salute from Old Fang?
This would disrupt their seniority!
"Hey, what are you doing? Sit down, sit down quickly."
Fang Xiaoyu saw that Old Fang's expression was very displeased and guessed what was going on. She quickly put on a cute and filial demeanor.
"Hmph, you two both have the strength to crush those in the Tribulation Stage, making you top experts in the Central Domain. What's wrong with me saluting you?"