Chapter 20: Who made my cat so dusty?

(twenty)

In the vast wilderness, on a deserted path, Li Shanglu followed his memory to find the way back to Ming Zhou Sect.

She didn't know why, but the way Helan Jin looked at her made her feel inexplicably uneasy. She always felt that if she didn't leave, she would die there.

There was something wrong with this person, but she couldn't really put her finger on what, so she decided to just leave. Even if Helan Jin was alright, he wouldn't rashly enter the demon cultivator's lair after seeing her take Xiao Huang away. At worst, she could just return those spirit stones to him.

Dark clouds gathered in the sky, which seemed to be a sign of a rain shower. It was rainy in the summer, but the overcast, hot and humid weather made Li Shanglu even more uneasy.

The little Huang beside her doesn't look safe at all. He is just a piece of wood that can walk. Can he really protect her?

His eyes fell on Xiao Huang's expressionless face, and Li Shanglu couldn't help but hold his forehead and thought, "It's better to rely on myself."

Soon, big raindrops really hit the ground. Li Shanglu didn't bring an umbrella, so he had to cover his head with his sleeves and hurried on in a distracted manner.

This stupid guy can't even help her shelter from the rain. Shen Changyi always does useless things.

She walked faster and faster, and couldn't wait to return to the warm and comfortable Shutong Pavilion, make a cup of Snow Bud Green Radish, and then get into bed to warm herself.

Suddenly, a hand blocked her way.

Li Shanglu looked at Xiao Huang beside him impatiently, "What are you doing?"

Xiao Huang said nothing, staring straight at the heavy rain and fog in front of him.

Li Shanglu frowned, followed his gaze, and his face suddenly turned pale.

Suddenly, several figures in black clothes appeared in front of them and walked towards them slowly.

"Run!" Li Shanglu turned around and wanted to run backwards, but his feet suddenly stopped and he was faced with a gloomy and grinning face.

His face was pale and his skin was too pale to look alive. His lips were wide open, revealing sharp teeth, and in his hand was a chilling blood-red scimitar.

She had never seen a demon cultivator in her life, but there was a voice in her heart saying that these people were demon cultivators, and if she didn't run, she would definitely die.

Li Shanglu subconsciously wanted to escape, but the other party smiled cruelly and raised the scimitar in his hand towards her.

I'll die, I'll definitely be killed... I'm so close, I can't escape...

Despair enveloped his heart, the shadow of the scimitar loomed over his head, and Li Shanglu subconsciously closed his eyes.

There was a sharp sound that pierced the air, like a sword being unsheathed, followed by the sticky sound of the blade piercing flesh and blood.

After a long time, the expected severe pain did not occur. She opened her eyes tremblingly, and saw a determined figure holding a long sword standing in front of her, with thick blood slowly dripping from the tip of the sword.

For a moment, the figure and Shen Changyi vaguely overlapped. Li Shanglu looked at him in shock, but saw its neatly torn cuffs.

The scimitar cut off its arm, and it blocked the fatal blow for her.

Xiao Huang turned around, as if to check if she was injured. After confirming that she was unharmed, he quickly withdrew his gaze. He silently raised his sword and faced the demon cultivators who were gradually approaching them.

"Be careful!" Seeing another demon cultivator rushing towards him with a sword drawn, Li Shanglu subconsciously warned him.

Xiao Huang reacted faster than her and attacked without hesitation before the demon cultivator got close.

Every one of those sword moves was what Shen Changyi had practiced in front of her. Although she had never watched them carefully, at this moment she inexplicably recalled all the scenes from that time.

"What's the point of practicing all this stuff? You don't really think you can kill demon cultivators, do you? Why not go out and do business? At least you can earn money to support your family."

"I'm warning you, if you practice those sword techniques in front of me again, I'll throw you out with that sword."

Shen Changyi never refuted her words, but just quietly carried his sword and went to a place far away from home to practice, not daring to get in her way again.

The rain was getting heavier, and the big, heavy raindrops hit my body, causing a slight pain.

There were more and more wounds on Xiao Huang's body. Even though Li Shanglu had no magic power, he could see that those demon cultivators were extraordinary and were definitely not ordinary little characters. What's more, there were about a dozen of them, and Xiao Huang was alone, and he had to protect her.

His clothes were soaked, and the rain and blood mixed together, almost dyeing Xiao Huang into a bloody corpse. Even if more demon cultivators pounced on him, he never retreated a single step.

I don’t know how much time passed, but there were more and more corpses on the ground and the heavy rain slowly stopped.

Until the land finally returned to silence, Xiao Huang stopped swinging his sword, plunged the sword into the muddy pool of blood, and fell into a long silence - it could no longer move.

Under the dim sky, Li Shanglu stood up tremblingly and picked up Xiao Huang's severed arms, calves... and half of his head bit by bit.

It's just a wooden dummy, she told herself in her heart.

Holding the half-broken head, Li Shanglu carefully tried to put it back on Xiao Huang's head, but it was wet and slippery due to the rain, and he couldn't put it back properly no matter how hard he tried.

It’s not the real Shen Changyi, she repeated in her heart again.

But when he saw that calm face that was exactly the same as Shen Changyi's, Li Shanglu's fingertips paused and tears suddenly rolled down his face.

He rested his forehead gently on its blood-stained chest and sobbed softly.

Xiao Huang couldn't understand her tears, so he just let her lean on him quietly. After hesitating for a while, he used his last bit of strength to stiffly raise his hand to shield her from the wind and rain.

Li Shanglu wiped his eyes, took the red rope that had been dyed dark, and tied it tightly in his palm.

It’s okay, Xiao Huang, let’s go home.

*

In the wilderness filled with the corpses of demonic cultivators, Helan Jin stared at the remains indifferently, with a hint of hostility gradually appearing in his eyes.

Just a wisp of soul, and all sixteen masters were killed.

Why does Heaven favor Shen Changyi so much, he is just a human being!

This time it was his mistake, as the incident happened by chance and he didn't have time to summon the demon general to deal with the wooden man, but they might not be so lucky next time.

Helan Jin became more and more upset. He felt that he should not have missed such a great opportunity.

"My Lord."

A demonic mist suddenly rose up beside him. A demon cultivator in a dark blue robe bowed and saluted. His voice was very calm, "This subordinate is late. Please punish me, my lord."

Helan Jin waved his hands in frustration and said in a deep voice, "This matter has nothing to do with you. The most urgent thing is to find a way to obtain that spirit."

With Shen Changyi's soul, perhaps he could...

"My Lord." His thoughts were suddenly interrupted, Helan Jin's face became even colder, and he turned to look at him.

The demon cultivator raised his eyes slightly and whispered, "My Lord, haven't you noticed that Shen Changyi seems to be very concerned about Li Shanglu?"

Upon hearing this, Helan Jin's expression paused slightly.

"Previously, we only found out that Shen Changyi had a mortal wife in Jiuliu Mountain, and we heard rumors that his wife treated Shen Changyi very badly and had many complaints. That's why we mistakenly thought that the two of them were just superficially in love, but inwardly they were not. What if Shen Changyi was deeply in love with Li Shanglu?"

The demon cultivator smiled and said, "It seems that Shen Changyi must care about her very much since he personally attached his spirit to the wooden figure today."

Helan Jin pondered for a moment, and the image of Li Shanglu appeared in his mind.

Well, as for her looks, she’s not a peerless beauty, but she’s pretty good.

Body shape...

He thought for a moment and rubbed the tip of his nose which was inexplicably hot. She had a pretty good figure.

Does Shen Changyi really like her?

If that's the case, it would be much more interesting...

He slowly came back to his senses and glanced at the demon cultivator beside him, "Draw your sword and severely injure me."

The demon cultivator's smile froze, and he coughed dryly and said, "Really?"

"Do you think I like to joke?" Helan Jin said indifferently.

Li Shanglu encountered sixteen expert demon cultivators, and the wooden figures were chopped into pieces, but he returned to the sect safely. Doesn't it mean that there is something wrong with him?

Hearing this, the demon cultivator drew the long sword from his waist without hesitation, lowered his eyes to look at him, and pulled up the corners of his lips, revealing an excited smile, "I have to obey the orders of my lord. I am sorry for the offense."

Helan Jin: "..."

I didn't see any reluctance from you.

*

Ming Zhou Zong, Shutong Pavilion.

Chen Changyi came out of the main hall, stroking the pure red and translucent jade storage ring on his fingertips.

Two thousand gold, three hundred silver notes, plus various valuable items, these were the rewards for eliminating the demon last time. He accepted them all. Shang Lu would definitely be happy to see them.

It rained a bit today. I don’t know if Shanglu got wet. But there are many shops in the city, so she should buy an umbrella. I’ll pick her up after dinner is ready.

On the way back, people frequently stopped him to talk. Some came to ask about his health, some to ask for his swordsmanship lessons, and some to bring him gifts. Shen Changyi responded to each one. Although he didn't say much, those disciples looked very happy.

This situation had never happened before. It seemed that since Shang Lu came to the sect, more and more people came to talk to him.

In the past, these disciples always looked at him from afar, staring at him with all kinds of strange eyes, which made Shen Changyi think that he looked scary.

It was already evening when he returned to Shutong Pavilion.

His arms were unknowingly filled with gifts. Shen Changyi carefully put away the gifts and sorted them out. Just as he was about to prepare to cook, he heard the door creak open.

He wiped his hands and came out of the kitchen with a simple and worn apron tied around his waist.

After seeing Li Shanglu's appearance clearly, Shen Changyi frowned suddenly and walked towards her.

"Phytolacca?"

Hearing his voice, Li Shanglu slowly raised his head, saw his concerned look, and saw that his body was not missing any limbs or bloodstained, and closed his eyes tiredly.

"What happened?"

He was soaked to the skin, his face was stained with blood and mud, his usually neatly tied black hair was now loose in strands, and his skinny body looked like it would fall down if the wind blew.

"What's wrong?"

Shen Changyi's tone was unusually anxious. He had never seen Li Shanglu in such a miserable state. She had always been clean, exquisite and beautiful, domineering and unwilling to be outdone. When did she fall into such a miserable state?

My heart seemed to be tightened by a big hand and I couldn't breathe.

It was not until he checked her whole body and found that the bloodstains did not come from her that he felt a little relieved.

Li Shanglu was silent for a moment, then turned sideways and looked at the motionless wooden figure behind the door.

The wooden man was completely broken. His only intact right hand was tightly grasping the sword, swinging it stiffly and slightly, as if he was still ready to face the enemy at any time.

After all, it only has a wisp of soul, and it is made of ordinary wood. At most, its cultivation level is at the Nascent Soul stage, and this is already the limit.

"Shen Changyi."

Shen Changyi was startled for a moment, and saw her slowly open her lips and whisper,

"broken."

Li Shanglu raised his head and looked at him, pursing his lips, "The demon cultivator beat Xiao Huang badly."

She couldn't fix it, so she dragged it all the way back; it was so heavy.

He stared at her for a long moment, then leaned over and hugged her. "I'm glad you're okay. I'll just throw it away next time."

"No, fix it for me." Li Shanglu didn't break free from his embrace. He just rubbed his eyes lightly where he couldn't see, and said in a hoarse voice, "It has to be exactly the same as before."

"Well," Shen Changyi gathered his arms and hugged her tighter, his voice very low, no emotion could be heard, "Are you hungry?"

In his arms, Li Shanglu's body temperature gradually recovered, and he realized belatedly that he was indeed hungry.

"Whatever you want to eat, I'll make it."

Li Shanglu came out of his arms and pursed his lips.

I was planning to eat something sour tonight...

I have no appetite again.

"Just do whatever you want."

Shen Changyi nodded meekly and led her to sit at the table. "Wait a moment."

After saying that, he tied the sword around his waist, turned around and was about to go out.

Li Shanglu was slightly stunned. "Where are we going?"

Shen Changyi paused slightly and said softly, "I'll go to the city to buy some vegetables and will be back in half an incense stick."

Just to get rid of the demon along the way.

Carefully and thoroughly search the area within a radius of fifty miles...

Clean it up thoroughly, leaving nothing behind.

The author has something to say:

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Chang Yi: No one has ever dared to bully Shang Lu like this (quietly furious)

Sixteen demon cultivators under the Nine Springs: No, buddy, she will just get a little wet in the rain, but we will lose our lives, okay?