Chapter 6 She instinctively grabbed the boy's sleeve. "We..."

“We need to go to Lingyong City first, where there is a teleportation array that leads directly to the Valley of the Immortal Healer,” Wu Jiangxue said.

Lingyong City?

Gu Xiaozhu did have some recollection of this.

In her setting, the mortal realm is currently under the rule of the Dayan Dynasty. In addition to the main city of the dynasty, there are also some relatively prosperous cities that are equipped with large teleportation arrays.

Each of these magic arrays corresponds to several sects and factions. For example, the teleportation array in Lingyong City corresponds to the Medicine Immortal Valley and the Talisman Array Sect, as well as some scattered small sects.

The magic array can be activated with spirit stones, facilitating the movement of cultivators between different places. Therefore, the proportion of cultivators in these cities is much higher than in other smaller cities.

Lingyong City is one of them.

However, in the original storyline, the male protagonist, Jiang Zhihe, did indeed go to a city with his companions. At that time, they had accepted a mission from their sect, which stated that there was a murderous phantom demon in the city, and the sect's cultivators needed to assist in its capture.

What was the name of that city again...?

[Host, in the original storyline, the city where the phantom demon murders occurred was Jade City. It's a small city with few cultivators, which is why it needed the assistance of sect cultivators.]

Hearing the system's words, Gu Xiaozhu breathed a slight sigh of relief.

As long as it's not Lingyong City, it's fine.

[Don't worry, host, you're not currently in a plot point, so there's no major danger!]

At this moment, Jiang Zhihe clicked his tongue regretfully and said, "Sigh, if my spirit boat hadn't broken down a few days ago and hadn't been repaired yet, we could have just taken the spirit boat over there."

He then turned to look at Wu Jiangxue: "Hey, Fellow Daoist Wu, as the senior sister of the Immortal Healer Valley, you must not be short of spirit stones, right? So..."

Wu Jiangxue rolled her eyes: "Although I am not short of spirit stones, I am not rich enough to carry a spirit boat with me."

Jiang Zhihe sighed in disappointment.

He then patted his scabbard, and the longsword inside hummed as if in response.

Immediately afterward, a streak of light flew out, and a long, pure silver sword floated in front of Jiang Zhihe. He nimbly leaped onto it, then turned to Wu Jiangxue and said:

"Fellow Daoist Wu, your flying technique is quite good, isn't it?"

Wu Jiangxue glanced at Gu Xiaozhu beside her, understood, and then smiled and said, "Of course."

Gu Xiaozhu realized that they were taking care of her.

Not wanting to trouble others, she was about to refuse when the system spoke first:

[Host, you are currently more than forty kilometers away from Lingyong City. Even if you walk non-stop, it will take at least five hours, um... ten hours.]

Gu Xiaozhu: "..."

She swallowed back the refusal that was on the tip of her tongue.

Just then, Jiang Zhihe reached out his hand to her: "Xiaozhu, come here?"

When Gu Xiaozhu first heard the name "Xiaozhu", she was stunned for a moment before she realized what it meant.

She looked at the boy in front of her, and finally reached out her hand.

She glanced at the long sword floating in the air, its entire body silvery-white, with faint, mysterious patterns on its blade, which shimmered with a silvery-white light under the sunlight.

If I remember correctly, the name of this sword is "Hongying".

Following the boy's force, she carefully stepped onto the flying sword.

As soon as she stepped on it, she felt an invisible force enveloping her and helping to stabilize her swaying body.

She looked up suddenly, and Jiang Zhihe turned around to look at her at that moment.

Jiang Zhihe glanced at the somewhat uneasy girl on the flying sword, then at her tightly clenched hands, and gently comforted her, "Don't be afraid, I'm very steady on the sword. Besides, I've also set up a protective shield for you with my spiritual power, so you don't have to worry about losing your footing or falling."

Gu Xiaozhu then realized that the icy cold power she had just felt was Jiang Zhihe's spiritual power!

But she seemed a little strange.

If I remember correctly, in her setting, the male protagonist Jiang Zhihe has a top-grade fire spirit root, right? How come his spiritual power is icy cold?

Unable to find a solution, she decided to ask the system.

"System, besides his identity changing, has Jiang Zhihe changed in any other way? For example... his spiritual root?" she asked in her mind.

[Hiss... I really hadn't thought about that. Wait a moment, host, let me take a look.]

[...]

[Host, you are truly a prophet.]

Gu Xiaozhu: "?"

[The male protagonist, Jiang Zhihe, originally possessed a top-grade fire elemental root, but for some reason, it has transformed into a top-grade ice elemental root!]

Gu Xiaozhu: "???"

It's one thing for their identity to change, but how come their spiritual roots have changed too, and are even completely opposite to their original ones?!

Just as Gu Xiaozhu was communicating with the system, Jiang Zhihe, seeing that Gu Xiaozhu didn't answer, assumed she was still afraid, and so he very understandingly said:

"It's okay. If you're still scared, you don't have to let go. I don't mind at all!"

These words brought Gu Xiaozhu back to her senses. She then realized that she hadn't let go of Jiang Zhihe's hand yet, and was even holding it quite tightly because of nervousness.

Gu Xiaozhu: "!!!"

She immediately withdrew her hand as if she had been electrocuted.

" ……Excuse me."

Jiang Zhihe looked at his now empty hand, the warmth fading away, and a hint of regret appeared in his eyes.

"It's nothing," he replied.

"Shall we set off then?" Jiang Zhihe asked.

Seeing that the two had finally finished speaking, Wu Jiangxue nodded, made a hand seal, and her body was filled with wood-attribute spiritual energy as she used the flying technique.

The moment the flying sword floated up, Gu Xiaozhu was startled and instinctively grabbed the hem of the boy's clothes in front of her.

A wrinkle was instantly created on the smooth clothes, and Jiang Zhihe, who was standing in front, immediately felt the movement of the person behind him.

A barely perceptible smile played on his lips as he spoke, “It’s alright. If you’re scared or nervous, you can just grab my clothes.”

He paused, a hint of amusement in his voice: "Of course, if that's not enough, you can just hug my waist, I don't mind at all~"

Gu Xiaozhu froze for a moment, but in the end she still gripped the clothes of the person in front of her tightly and said in a muffled voice, "No, no, I'll just hold onto your clothes."

Then a lazy voice came from in front: "Okay, okay, everything is up to you!"

The three of them were not far apart, so Wu Jiangxue, who was standing nearby, could naturally hear their conversation.

She thought about the unified evaluation of this young master of the Joyful Union Sect by cultivators from various sects on the Spirit Network—

Helpful and well-liked.

But I always felt that he had a kind of subtle distance from most people.

She glanced at Jiang Zhihe, who was standing in front of her, grinning from ear to ear, his face practically creased with laughter, and silently rolled her eyes.

...A sense of distance, huh.

Flying is always faster than walking. What would normally take five hours on foot was compressed into less than half an hour.

Along the way, Gu Xiaozhu could only see the scenery rushing by, leaving only a fleeting afterimage in her vision.

Furthermore, although Jiang Zhihe's sword speed was fast, his spiritual power always enveloped Gu Xiaozhu, not only helping her stabilize her body but also blocking most of the wind. The young man's long black ponytail flew freely in the air, just like his spirited appearance.

Soon, the three arrived near Lingyong City. They stopped about 500 meters from the city gate and then slowly landed on the ground.

After the two of them stepped onto the ground, the silver-white sword trembled slightly, then transformed into a stream of light and returned to the scabbard at Jiang Zhihe's waist.

“Flying is prohibited within a 500-meter radius outside Lingyong City. So we’ll have to walk the rest of the way,” Wu Jiangxue explained.

Gu Xiaozhu was certainly aware of this setting.

Because of the large proportion of cultivators in Lingyong City, to avoid accidents such as "mid-air crashes," no flying activities are allowed within Lingyong City and its 500-meter radius. Those caught will be fined spirit stones.

However, as an ordinary mortal, she shouldn't know about this matter, so to avoid suspicion, she pretended to understand and nodded.

So the three of them headed towards Lingyong City.

On the way, Gu Xiaozhu seemed to have thought of something and fell a few steps behind. She changed from walking alongside Jiang Zhihe to walking alongside Wu Jiangxue.

Wu Jiangxue noticed this as well, and a look of doubt appeared on her face: "Miss Gu, is there something you need?"

Gu Xiaozhu rummaged through her storage bracelet and finally pulled out a plump, red fruit, which she then handed to the tall, white-clad girl beside her.

Although Wu Jiangxue was a little confused, she still accepted the fruit, and then heard the hesitant voice of the girl beside her:

"Um...would you like some fruit?"

Seeing that Wu Jiangxue seemed a little confused, Gu Xiaozhu continued, "You haven't said a word the whole way, so I was wondering if my arrival was the reason you were being overlooked..."

Wu Jiangxue understood what the girl meant. Looking at the ordinary fruit in her hand, she suddenly smiled: "So you're saying... this is an apology?"

Gu Xiaozhu nodded, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "I'm sorry, I don't really have anything valuable on me. This fruit is the reddest one among the fruits the villagers gave me. Of course, if you want more, I can give you some more..."

Looking at the slightly apologetic face of the girl beside her, Wu Jiangxue felt a surge of warmth in her heart.

She didn't say a word the whole way, mainly because she didn't understand why Jiang Zhihe would go to such lengths to bring a strange girl to the Valley of Healing Immortals.

She actually felt it was unnecessary, since there were better options, but Jiang Zhihe's attitude was very firm, so she had no choice but to agree. After all, Gu Xiaozhu was indeed a "patient" at the moment, and as a medical cultivator, it was her duty to treat the injured.

But she was still somewhat depressed inside.

At that moment, she suddenly felt that this girl might be different from the others.

"I didn't say anything, actually just because I'm not talkative. Besides, I'm not very familiar with Fellow Daoist Jiang, so I didn't feel ignored at all." Wu Jiangxue decided to go along with Gu Xiaozhu's words.

She looked at the fruit in her hand again and added, "Well, I'm not in a bad mood, so you don't need to apologize."

Gu Xiaozhu was somewhat surprised: "I thought you... were friends."

Therefore, she felt that the sudden appearance of a stranger in the lives of close friends would inevitably cause dissatisfaction on the other side.

At this moment, Jiang Zhihe chimed in, "No, Fellow Daoist Wu and I just temporarily got together because we took on the same mission. Strictly speaking, we can't really be considered friends."

Gu Xiaozhu: Ah? Is that so?

“However…” Wu Jiangxue drew out her words slightly, then took a bite of the rosy fruit in her hand, “The fruit is very sweet, I like it very much, thank you.”

Seeing that Wu Jiangxue didn't seem to mind, Gu Xiaozhu felt happy.

"Hey—"

A drawn-out, melancholic voice rang out from ahead.

Jiang Zhihe turned around at some point, facing the two of them, or more precisely, facing Gu Xiaozhu.

"Why did Xiaozhu only give fruit to Fellow Daoist Jiang, but not to me?"

Seeing this, Gu Xiaozhu quickly took out another fruit and handed it to the boy in front of her.

Jiang Zhihe then accepted it with satisfaction.

Wu Jiangxue looked at the fruit in her hand that she had already taken a bite out of, and then remembered what Gu Xiaozhu had said to her earlier. A sly smile appeared in her eyes.

She brandished the plump, red fruit in her hand, her words carrying a deliberate hint of provocation:

"It's a pity that Miss Gu has already given me the reddest fruit, so I can only take the second best."

As expected, Jiang Zhihe's smile froze, and then his gaze turned to Wu Jiangxue with a deep, unsettling look:

“Fellow Daoist Jiang, if you don’t speak, no one will think you’re mute.”

Seeing that the atmosphere between the two was gradually becoming tense, Gu Xiaozhu quickly tried to smooth things over.

She didn't know where the courage came from, but she grabbed Jiang Zhihe's hand and even patted it gently, as if coaxing a child.

"It's alright, it's alright. Your fruit... um, it's the second reddest I've ever had! And it's very sweet too!"

In her haste to smooth things over, she naturally didn't realize that the hand she was holding was incredibly stiff, or that the boy's ears, hidden in his hair, were gradually turning red.

Jiang Zhihe took a deep breath to calm his wildly beating heart and said somewhat dryly, "Hmm, okay. I suddenly feel... well, the second rosy complexion is not bad either."

Gu Xiaozhu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She glanced at the hand she had impulsively grabbed, paused, and then casually let go.

Wu Jiangxue stood to the side, eating fruit and watching the commotion.

Hmm, as a Golden Core cultivator who had practiced abstaining from grains for many years, she actually felt full for the first time.

What was that word again?

Oh right,

This is truly a feast for the eyes!