12 Forest (V)
How to repay him
"What a pity," Xie Changyan shook the wine jug in his hand and walked towards her, "I wanted to let you taste the sweetness of the river water, but I didn't expect you to wake up."
"Xie An?"
Why is he here again?
"What do you mean?" Li Jintang supported herself on the ground with both hands, her body limp and her head aching. She put one hand on her forehead and hesitated to speak: "Where am I?"
"You ran really fast just now," Xie Changyan curled his lips and praised her for no reason, "and then you fell to the ground, and I couldn't wake you up no matter how hard I tried."
He raised his hand and pointed backwards, saying helplessly, "There's nothing I can do. I can only let them endure the pain of being unconscious for the time being."
Li Jintang was shocked when he heard this, and saw several townspeople lying in a mess not far behind him, their chests heaving, and they were still breathing.
"Did I just faint?"
"Not really. There was a fog just now. Your cultivation level is not high enough, so you were probably affected by it and fell into an illusion."
His words were clearly a mockery of himself, but Li Jintang only felt happy, and the heaviness in his chest disappeared instantly.
There was no old man in white at all, and my sister wasn't dead...
As long as her parents and elder sister are all well, she would be willing to stay here for a few more days.
The young man stood before her, his eyes lowered, surveying something. Suddenly, he chuckled softly, "I just saved you. Have you figured out how to repay me?"
The Book of Destiny struggled to poke its head out from under his arm, and Yu Shaonian called out anxiously after his voice trailed off, "You little brat, you're driving me crazy, you know? I've called you so many times, but you didn't even wake up."
"I'm sorry," Li Jintang whispered, though she didn't know why she was apologizing. She gently placed the fortune book on the ground and looked up at the boy: "You saved me?"
He turned away and said casually, "Look, is there anyone else here?"
Li Jintang looked around and found that they were indeed alone. She pondered for a moment, shook her head, and said honestly, "I didn't expect that." After a pause, she added, "Thank you very much."
After she said this, she felt her headache ease a little, so she stood up with the help of the tree trunk and turned around to look for the rest of the people.
"Just a thank you?"
Li Jintang paused, looked at the person still standing there, thought for a long time, and said hesitantly: "What do you want?"
She had saved his life before, and now he had saved hers, so wasn't that fair? But this man insisted on agreeing to one condition of hers, and now he was asking for something in return. How strange!
"Then what should I do?" Xie Changyan took a few steps forward and walked past her nonchalantly, "You'll have to keep the debt for now."
After leaving the person behind, he still found it funny.
What can you expect from a girl with the same low level of cultivation?
Hearing hurried footsteps behind him, he knew that the girl was following him. He didn't even turn his head and didn't even slow down his pace.
He suddenly chuckled, and his behavior just now was explained - every time he saw her choking look, he felt particularly good.
Li Jintang followed him two steps away and asked as he walked, "Where should we find them?"
Seeing that he didn't answer, she lowered her head and pursed her lips, but felt a little embarrassed.
The fortune teller suddenly snorted and said, "Don't ask him, kid. Just look at me."
"What do you have?" Li Jintang was suspicious and turned his head to look. He saw a faint blue light above the page. When he looked closely, he found that it was a relatively complete map.
"Go quietly," the destiny book said again, "don't let that kid follow you."
Li Jintang was delighted to see that he could actually conjure up a map, but upon hearing his words, he felt both amused and helpless: "Why?"
The Fate Book then angrily lashed out at her: "He was just mocking you, didn't you hear that? It's a good thing I don't have arms, or I would have beaten him to a pulp."
Unexpectedly, a book that has become a fairy is still so childish. Li Jintang opened her mouth and was about to say something else when she suddenly heard a cry not far away. Then she saw the girl using the hilt of the sword to push away the scattered branches and hurriedly ran towards her.
"How did you disappear while running? I was so worried." Qiuyan held her hand and looked her up and down carefully. "Are you hurt anywhere?"
"No," Li Jintang chuckled and said, "Even if I get hurt accidentally, I can heal myself."
"What's more," she said, turning to look at the people beside her, "Xie An and I are together, and those people are no match for him."
Xie Changyan paused when he heard this, and glanced at her, wondering what he was thinking.
"That's good," Qiuyan's gaze lingered on her anxiously, "You'll have to follow closely next time."
In a short while, Qu Lingfei and Nangong Xiu arrived one after another. They gathered together and took a look at the spread-out map, all of them very happy.
Unexpectedly, they came here by accident while trying to avoid being chased by the townspeople, but this place turned out to be one of the only ways to Huidu.
While the townspeople on the ground were still asleep, the few of them followed the route on the map and groped their way through the woods.
"Is this forest really that big?" After walking for an unknown amount of time, Qiu Yan paused and looked at Nangong Xiu suspiciously, "Why do I feel like I'm going in circles? Is your map accurate?"
Nangong Xiu's face darkened, but since the other person was a girl, he didn't want to argue and just said, "There's no way out of the woods on the map. If you don't trust me, you can leave on your own."
"you……"
"If you don't know any other way, why not follow me?" Li Jintang said, fearing they might start arguing. Her words drew several glances. She glanced down at the glowing blue fortune-telling scroll clinging to her hand. After a moment's hesitation, she said, "I've been to this forest before. If you trust me..."
She had never been here before, but in order to prevent others from knowing the existence of the fortune book, she had to lie.
It was her first time telling a lie, and she felt a little guilty, so she didn't dare to look up and meet everyone's gaze.
"Of course I trust them," Qiuyan said, choking back a bit. She put her arm around her and said deliberately, "Sister Atang is much more reliable. Just lead the way, I'll follow you. As for them, there's no need to worry about them anymore."
Li Jintang nodded, looked at the map carefully, and pointed to a small path that branched off to the left: "Go this way."
In the end, they did not separate and the three of them only stayed for a moment and then quickly followed.
This time, the path seemed much brighter. As Li Jintang walked, he listened to the people around him praising him endlessly: "Atang, I didn't realize you had such a photographic memory before. You've only been here once, and you're so familiar with this route."
Li Jintang raised his hand to touch his nose and evaded the question by saying "hmm" a few times.
She still felt strange.
This forest has such a terrifying thing as an illusion, why is it so quiet now?
The more she thought about it, the more she felt something was wrong. She stopped and the others stopped as well.
Qiuyan turned her head and asked curiously, "Did we take the wrong path?"
Li Jintang lowered his head to look at the map, pursed his lips, and hesitated before speaking: "It should be correct, but...something seems a little off."
"It's not quite right." The young man behind her suddenly spoke. She was stunned for a moment, turned around and met his eyes.
The girl opened her mouth and was about to ask "What's wrong" when her shoulder was suddenly hit by the hilt of the sword and pushed aside.
She staggered back a few steps, and before she could recover, a dark shadow suddenly fell from the sky, only a few inches away from her, and the falling mud soaked her skirt.
The black shadow that descended from the sky was now twisted on the ground, with its head and tail almost tangled together.
Xie Changyan drew his sword from its sheath with a swish. In just a moment, black blood spurted out. The snake twisted a few times and died immediately.
The snake had black and white stripes on its body and a red crown on its head. After it died, it stuck out its long tongue and stretched it straight to the girl's feet.
"it……"
Li Jintang was stunned, but couldn't say anything else.
Just now, if he had reacted a little slower, then now, now...
Her heartbeat quickened suddenly, and she dared not think any further. Suddenly, she heard the young man's voice slowly say, "Miss Li, why don't you stay away? If the snake comes back to life, Xie won't be able to save you in time."
Li Jintang came to her senses after hearing this, and hurriedly tried to jump a few steps away from the snake. Unexpectedly, her feet touched the snake's body in a panic. She suddenly felt nauseous and almost fell down.
Qiuyan quickly supported her, her face showing concern: "Atang, what's wrong?"
After she stood firm, she felt her heart pounding. She reached out a hand and held the other person's hand tightly as if seeking comfort. Her face was pale and her voice was trembling: "No, it's okay."
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. It's already dead." Qiuyan soothed in a gentle voice.
Before Li Jintang could catch his breath, he heard a hissing sound all around him. Behind the bushes, several red crowns appeared from the gaps between the dense branches and leaves.
Qu Lingfei drew his sword and leaped to the side, shouting, "There's a swarm of snakes! Everyone, get out of the way!"
Before he could finish his words, the snakes gathered together and surrounded them in a circle like a rushing stream.
Li Jintang's hands trembled as he reached for the dagger at his waist. Suddenly, he heard the fortune teller call out urgently, "Silly boy, there are so many snakes here. How can you kill them all with your knife?"
She was stunned and asked in a daze, "What should I do?"
Even if I have to die, I shouldn't die at the hands of these disgusting things.
When he thought about how his body would be taken away by these snakes for unknown purposes after his death, a thick cloud of fear suddenly enveloped his heart.
"Can I still let you die?" The Book of Destiny seemed to read her thoughts and cursed, "Listen carefully, you will use..."
"There's no way to kill them all," Xie Changyan raised his sword and chopped down two flying red-crowned snakes, black blood splattering on the tree trunk. "Either rush out directly or wait to die."
"Thank you, brother. That's easy for you to say." Qu Lingfei raised his sword and stabbed it, the tip of the sword piercing the snake's belly. He took a moment to look back and said, "These guys are too fast, and there are too many of them. We won't be able to escape for more than a quarter of an hour before they catch up again."
The young man lowered his hand, and drops of blood flowed down from the tip of the sword. He hesitated for a moment, and finally slowly raised his hand, and a faint green light condensed at his fingertips.
If I act now, my identity will be exposed. Even though the snake group will be destroyed, I will become enemies with this group of people.
But so what? Xie Changyan’s fingertips trembled, and he curled his lips lightly - then kill them all. Anyone who stands in his way must die at his hands.
What's more, those two men were carrying the black jade. Wouldn't it be great to kill them and take the black jade and the map for yourself?
Thinking of this, he was about to raise his hand to release his spiritual power when he suddenly felt a tightness on his waist. He frowned suddenly and immediately swung his sword.
"I……"
The tip of the sword stopped two inches away from the girl.
He was stunned, and under her astonished gaze, he deviated from the sword and deflected the snake demon that jumped out from behind him.
【Author’s words】
Next chapter will be updated on Friday [heart]
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