After leaving Arthur's house, Li Xuanjian and Lin Luo both let out a long sigh of relief.
Lin Luo glanced at Li Xuanjian and asked,
"Senior Brother… this is what you meant by 'strong'?"
"What, do you think Arthur isn't strong?" Li Xuanjian shot back.
"He is strong," Lin Luo replied, unable to help complaining, "but this is way too outrageous, isn't it?"
It seemed Arthur had misjudged Lin Luo earlier. He wasn't a taciturn person at all—rather, he was the restrained-on-the-outside, expressive-on-the-inside type. In front of strangers, he looked like a sealed bottle. Once familiar, his true nature emerged.
Li Xuanjian sighed.
"I didn't expect my little brother to be this strong either."
"Maybe this is what they call 'a true master hidden among the common folk,'" Lin Luo said with emotion.
Li Xuanjian nodded in agreement.
"Senior Brother," Lin Luo suddenly asked, "do you think he's really only fourteen?"
Li Xuanjian rolled his eyes.
"Don't ask. If that's what he says, then take it at face value. Don't try to speculate about the thoughts of great powers. Didn't you notice I keep calling him 'Little Qi' and he never objects? Maybe that's part of his cultivation."
In truth, Li Xuanjian also doubted Arthur's age. He suspected Arthur was some great expert reincarnating or rebuilding his cultivation—after all, judging from their letters over the years, Arthur's tone and mindset were far beyond that of a fourteen-year-old.
Li Xuanjian didn't believe it—but he was also perceptive enough to know better than to pry.
Since Arthur said he was fourteen, Li Xuanjian treated him as a fourteen-year-old junior brother.
And honestly, Li Xuanjian liked this way of interacting. It spared him the tension of facing a true great power.
On the way back to Chinatown, Li Xuanjian took the opportunity to pass on his experiences in dealing with people and the world.
He'd be returning home in a couple of days, so he wanted to look after his junior brother as much as possible before leaving.
Lin Luo listened carefully, committing every word to memory, and silently warning himself never again to judge people by appearances. There were countless people stronger than him—what right did he have to be arrogant?
As his mindset shifted, Lin Luo felt the bottleneck that had trapped him for years loosen ever so slightly.
Arthur, of course, had no idea about the two brothers' discussion. Even if he did, he wouldn't care much.
At that moment, he was talking with Hermione.
"Cousin, how did you even meet them?" Hermione asked curiously. "And why did you suddenly decide to go back to the Eastern lands?"
Even after confirming their relationship, Hermione still liked calling Arthur "Cousin." To her, it felt more intimate.
"Last summer, Ranni and I went to Chinatown for a stroll," Arthur explained. "That's when I met the older one of the two…."
He briefly described how he'd met Li Xuanjian, as well as his plan to return to the Eastern lands—partly for travel, partly to capture a few phoenixes.
After hearing his plans, Hermione's eyes lit up. She was filled with anticipation for the upcoming Eastern journey.
But she also caught another detail—Arthur and Ranni going shopping together.
Realizing she hadn't gone shopping alone with Arthur in a long time, Hermione decided to drag him out for a major shopping spree to buy travel supplies.
Once they reached the mall, Hermione grabbed anything she thought might be useful.
After all, her cousin had plenty of money—and with the Zen Garden, there was no worry about carrying too much.
In truth, most of what she picked up was completely unnecessary.
For example, she fell in love with an exquisitely made tent.
In reality, Arthur already had a luxury magical tent stored in his system space—bought in Diagon Alley and enchanted with the Undetectable Extension Charm. The interior was larger than a typical three-bedroom apartment.
Not to mention, with the Zen Garden, they'd never need to rough it outdoors unless they wanted to camp.
Still, seeing how excited Hermione was, Arthur indulged her shopping enthusiasm.
When passing through the cosmetics section, Arthur casually bought several bottles of sunscreen.
Summers in the Eastern lands were harsh, and the sun could be unforgiving. Hermione wasn't like him or Ranni—her skin wouldn't shrug off ultraviolet rays so easily.
She was still just a regular wizard—"regular wizard" meaning roughly on par with an experienced Hogwarts professor—so proper sun protection was necessary.
Though Muggle sunscreen wasn't particularly effective, Arthur could easily enhance it later using potion-making techniques.
If Snape ever found out Arthur was applying potions knowledge to sunscreen…
Well—he probably wouldn't say much. After all, potion-making existed to make life easier for wizards.
Harry's grandfather had invented magical hair potion and made his family rich overnight, after all.
That evening, Hermione told the Granger couple about her trip to the Eastern lands with Arthur.
They didn't object—only reminded her to be careful while traveling. With Arthur along, they weren't worried about accidents.
Instead, Arthur's habit of traveling every summer stirred their own desire to take a trip.
As dentists, they were high-income earners and could easily afford a spontaneous vacation.
So after Arthur and the others departed, the couple packed their luggage and went abroad themselves.
When Snape heard about this, he was speechless.
Arthur had asked him to look after the Grangers—only for the couple to go traveling abroad. His task instantly shifted from watching over people to watching over Arthur's house.
But that was a story for later.
Two days passed quickly.
Arthur brought Hermione and Ranni to the British airport, where Li Xuanjian and Lin Luo were already waiting.
Li Xuanjian had thoughtfully prepared three plane tickets for them. Lin Luo was there to see his senior brother off.
Strangely enough, the Granger couple trusted Arthur so much they didn't even come to the airport to send Hermione off.
After saying goodbye to Lin Luo, Li Xuanjian boarded the plane with Arthur and the two girls.
After more than ten hours of flight, the plane finally landed in the Sichuan–Chongqing region.
Once off the plane, Hermione complained,
"Flying really is too slow. When we go back, let's just teleport."
Arthur nodded.
Watching from the side, Li Xuanjian could only think, Good heavens.
If he remembered correctly, international Apparition was illegal, wasn't it?
And legality aside, long-distance Apparition carried extreme risk of splinching. Sichuan was over nine thousand kilometers from Britain.
Yet Hermione dared to say it, and Arthur dared to do it.
Still, recalling the teleportation powder Arthur had casually handed to Snape days ago, Li Xuanjian felt that this was probably trivial for Arthur.
As for being discovered by the British Ministry of Magic? That wasn't even worth worrying about. Arthur could block the Trace—what else was there to fear?
They had departed Britain around nine in the morning. After more than ten hours of travel and accounting for the time difference, it was around six in the morning locally.
None of them were ordinary people, so jet lag was a non-issue.
After grabbing a simple breakfast from a street stall, the four left the city and rode Arthur's flying carpet toward Mount Emei.
According to Li Xuanjian, the Mount Shu sect was located atop Mount Emei.
The term Mount Shu itself was interesting—it had multiple meanings.
It could refer to the collective mountains of the Sichuan region, or to the massive plateau mountain recognized by geologists as one of the world's largest "table mountains."
There was even another mountain named Mount Shu in a different province.
But none of those were their destination.
Their true destination lay within a hidden space atop Mount Emei—a cave heaven and blessed land, as Li Xuanjian called it—where the Mount Shu Sword Sect resided.
Mount Emei was often known as one of the Four Great Buddhist Mountains.
But historically, it had been a Daoist sacred site—an immortal mountain.
Many locations still retained their original names, such as Pure Yang Hall, Nine Elders' Cave, and Huayan Summit—once Daoist temples, later overtaken by Buddhism.
This historical shift was also why the Eastern cultivation world didn't hold Buddhism in particularly high regard.
If Buddhist monks hadn't fought alongside the nation during times of crisis and earned recognition from major Daoist sects, they might've been driven out decades ago.
Originally, Li Xuanjian planned to wait until they reached the foot of Mount Emei before flying on swords. Flying across several cities risked being seen by ordinary people.
Arthur solved that with a single large-scale Disillusionment Charm.
Li Xuanjian had to admit—wizard magic was sometimes incredibly practical.
He could also use invisibility talismans, but their duration simply couldn't compare to a Disillusionment Charm.
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