Next day Shen Xiao woke early and coninued moving forward. He even got Red badge buy the middle of the day and now only golden badge was left to be found. he had few skirmishes with other disciples but it was'nt anything he could not handle.
He found few precious herbs that he plucked carefully to plant in his realm. It was a very lucky day for him untill now and he hoped to finds the last badge that requires to complete the test.
He was climbing a mountain when he heard a shout, he saw a graceful looking young lady looking towards him. He immediately reconiged her as Tang Mei, he was happy in his heart to meet the lady but he was still wary of her because he can sense she was strong and he has already declined her invitation to join the her faction.
"Shen Xiao, its nice to meet you here." she said politely and i finally saw few other disciples beside her that were not visible earlier due to the cliff.
"Its Fairy Mei, i didn't hope to meet you this early in test." Shen Xiao greeted her. He was good at talking afytter all he has been living in one of the strongest family's of the east and seen politics up close.
"Haven't you found some friends. You are all alone, it is good to travel in a group to gather more benifts."
"Ah, i met few but they didn't appreciate my company so i had to get rid of them, they thought i was easy to bully due to my low cultivation." he relplied and groups expression changed at my words.
"Ah it is a pity that they couldn't see you strenght and acted foolishly" she said and i just smiled.
"how about you join us we found 'Profound Azure tree' there are some fruits on it but it is guarded by a tier 4 demonic beast. So i was gathering people of my faction to fight it, With you here we are already 4 people and we can divide accordingly." She said and my expression brightened
"Sure why not, i wouldn't want miss such a chance to get that fruit." he immediately agreed but the two people behind her were not happy to take me with them but they didn't say any thing to Tang Mei.
He could tell that both of them liked her but she wasn't giving attention to them but she repeatedly tried to invite me in her faction, that made them extremely jealous of me.
We moved forward towards the tree and i asked her "Why did you asked me yesterday to join your faction? When my cultivation is this low?"
"Your cultivation might be low but your strength is very strong and my senses never lies" she said
"It is good to hear such praise from a beauty." he replied and she smiled mischievously
"Did you get into trouble because of that?" she asked while already knowing the answer
"It is just i can sense some hatered from Chang Li and Qi Yun, not that i care what they feel but it is such a hassle." he replied
"I knew you are strong but you should be careful of them in future. Better yet join my faction and they wouldn't dare to play games with you." she said
"Well i think they might try to kill me if i did that." He replied shaking his head
They slowly reached the to the point where they can see the tree guarded by demonic horned tiger. It has quite a strong attack power and speed. It was a lot stronger then the Iron-shell bull.
Its strenght could be compared to early core formation expert. Tang Mei was at Eigth stage of Qi Manifestation and other two were at seventh.
One of them said "Shouldn't we gather some more people" he wasn't confident in fighting it.
Tang Mei looked at me and asked "What do you think?"
"I think we are enough." he replied
"Bastard, with your cultivation you relly act arrogant. If some happened to sister Mei." he was about to speak more when i gripped his throat in the blink of an eye and he choked
"If you speak like that again, i will kill you and i don't like to play stupid games as you." Shen Xiao said threw him on the ground.
The man was terrified as he was not able to do anything against Shen Xiao even with his high cultivation. He looked at Tang Mei but she didn't say anything to stop Shen Xiao because it was clearly his mistake.
He got up and left the area followed by the his other friend. "Leave behind the badges of my faction." Tang Mei spoke to them.
They didn't say anything as they placed the badges and left. "I lost two strong members of the my faction. How are you going to compensate." she asked
Even Shen Xiao was surprised by her decision because he didn't think she would expell them from her group.
"Its not my mistake that they cn't control their emotions and speak carelessly. I could have killed him if he wasn't from your group, you should check their character before taking them into a group." he said
"I can't look into someone's heart, i will know in few days after interacting with them and then i will start the purge. I don't want useless or arrogant fools that ring nothing but trouble." she said dismissively
"I didn't know you were this decisive" he concluded.
"What do you think then?" she asked
"Well, i don't have my own opinion of you yet, i heard that Fairy Tang Mei is a gentle like breeze and always respects others." he replied
"I cultivate wind if it can be calm and gentle as breeze, it can also turn into violent tornado or sharp like blades." she said proudly
"This is also an interesting way to put it." he said
"Now that you know about me, it is your turn tell about yourself." she said