"Senior, can you help me rescue my Master and the others?"
Though Chu Feng didn't know the other party's identity, he still hurried to ask.
If the Nine Souls Holy Clan's Clan Master had looked like he was grasping at a lifeline when he saw Chu Feng earlier, then right now, Chu Feng seeing the figure before him was essentially the same as grasping at a lifeline.
"I cannot help you directly."
"But I can point you the way. Whether you can rescue them or not will depend on your own efforts."
The mysterious hooded figure said.
These words gave Chu Feng a slight sense of anticlimax. He had expected the other party to step in personally, only to learn it would simply be guidance. Still, Chu Feng was deeply grateful.
After all, he truly had no leads at the moment. If this person could tell him where his Master and the others were being held, that alone would be an enormous help to Chu Feng.
"Then please, Senior, tell me where my Master and the others are currently imprisoned."
Chu Feng asked.
"Even if I told you where they're held, you wouldn't be able to rescue them."
But who would have thought — the hooded figure simply shook their head.
That made Chu Feng realize he had misunderstood what the other party meant. The "guidance" they spoke of wasn't telling him where the old Daoist priest and the others were locked up.
It meant something else entirely.
"Then, Senior, what do you mean by 'pointing the way'?" Chu Feng asked.
"Sima Xiangtu has the Dao Alchemy Immortal Sect backing him. You should already know this, correct?" the hooded figure asked.
"I do," Chu Feng said.
"The ones who came from the Dao Alchemy Immortal Sect are more than a single person. If you want to rescue people from Sima Xiangtu's hands, your only option is to find a point of leverage among the Dao Alchemy Immortal Sect's people."
"And as it happens, I know that a young master of the Dao Alchemy Immortal Sect is somewhere in the Nine Souls Heavenly River, enjoying himself."
"That young master is the biological son of the leader of the group that came to the Nine Souls Heavenly River. If you can capture him and use him to threaten Sima Xiangtu, I believe Sima Xiangtu wouldn't dare refuse to release the hostages."
The hooded figure said.
"Senior, where is this person you speak of?" Chu Feng asked.
"Everything you need is right here."
"I've pointed the way. But whether you can pull it off — that depends on you."
The hooded figure's hand emerged from the sleeve, and a scroll now rested in their palm.
They handed the scroll to Chu Feng, and he quickly accepted it.
Unrolling it, he found not only a marked location but also a portrait — the face of a plain-looking man with an unmistakably sinister air, and beside it, a name.
Jiang Kongping.
Clearly, this Jiang Kongping was the young master of the Dao Alchemy Immortal Sect.
"Thank you—"
Chu Feng tucked the scroll away and looked up to bow in gratitude, only to discover that the hooded figure had already vanished.