Chapter 25 I wanted to help her one last time, within my power...
In the end, the two still traveled together.
It wasn't that Gu Xiaozhu didn't refuse, but rather that this person seemed to stick to his own set of logic and wouldn't listen to anything others said.
Moreover, he followed Gu Xiaozhu wherever she went, and every time she asked, Teng Shao would brush it off with the phrase "I still owe a life."
Honestly, Gu Xiaozhu really didn't believe that this excuse was Teng Shao's true thought.
After all, he was a demonic cultivator at heart, and demonic cultivators are basically driven by their own interests, so why would they help others for no reason?
In fact, Gu Xiaozhu's guess was correct.
Teng Shao wanted to travel with this mortal girl for one reason: he had never really met such overly kind-hearted people before. After all, he had mostly lived in the Demon Realm, and even when he left the Demon Realm to go to the Immortal Cultivation World, he had never met this kind of person.
On the other hand, and most importantly.
Anyone with eyes could see that this girl had a lot of good stuff. If he followed her, he could take advantage of her kindness and get free healing pills and talismans.
The advantages outweighed the disadvantages, so he naturally followed his own heart.
… …
For the past two days, Gu Xiaozhu and Teng Shao have basically been living a life of hiding and running. Moreover, it seems that there are some skilled trackers among those demonic cultivators, as they are discovered not long after they hide in a certain place.
This forced them to frequently change their hiding places.
Fortunately, apart from those demonic cultivators, they haven't encountered any attacks from creatures in the secret realm.
Moreover, the system has been releasing a "escape from pursuit" mission whenever it has a spare moment these past two days. It always releases the mission after the fact, which is obviously for the purpose of distributing rewards, but it has to go through the process.
Moreover, in the past two days, she discovered that she wasn't the only unlucky one in the secret realm; there were others who had also fallen into the crevice and accidentally ended up there, though it seemed that most of them were cultivators. Every time Teng Shao saw these people from afar, he would pull her away to avoid them.
She could understand. After all, they were still being hunted, and Teng Shao didn't have any magical artifacts to conceal his demonic power. Once he used his magic, his identity as a demonic cultivator would be exposed. At that point, it wouldn't just be those men in black chasing him, but also these cultivators who had accidentally fallen in.
"System, when will the secret realm finally open?"
In the woods at night, Gu Xiaozhu sat by a big tree, poking at the burning firewood in front of her with a stick.
With Teng Shao's help, a concealment array had already been set up around the area, so the beam of fire in the woods would not be detected.
However, due to the need to hide and evade in the past two days, those formations have even developed new methods.
She could draw the array pattern on the ground with a stick beforehand, and then have Teng Shao connect the magic power along the outlined lines according to her instructions. The array effect would be much better than the previous simple array made of spirit stones.
Just one more day! The secret realm will open tomorrow, then we'll hurry and meet up with Jiang Zhihe to get that fragment!
Gu Xiaozhu nodded subconsciously, then realized, "Oh right, there's also the mission. I almost forgot."
It's alright, I can't do this mission for the next couple of days anyway, so my safety comes first.
"Sasha."
A rustling sound came from the grass on the right, along with a faint floral fragrance. Gu Xiaozhu jumped up and quickly hid next to Teng Shao.
Teng Shao, who had been dozing, opened his eyes. His eyelids were lowered, and the two silver crescent blades at his waist were about to be drawn.
"Cough cough..." A slightly disheveled figure emerged from the bushes, picking leaves stuck in his hair.
She was a woman in a white dress, with her black hair cascading down like a waterfall. Her slender hands gently rested on a nearby tree, and her stunningly beautiful face was adorned with half-shedding tears, making her look incredibly pitiful.
Gu Xiaozhu was stunned.
The reason is simple: the woman was simply too beautiful.
In all her life, this is the first time she has ever seen someone so beautiful!
The woman also saw the two of them, paused for a moment, and then cautiously said, "You are also..."
Before she could finish speaking, a curved blade was placed across her neck, its blade slightly concave, leaving a glaring red line across her fair skin.
"Who are you?"
Teng Shao held up his curved sword and said coldly.
The woman's face turned pale instantly, and she answered in a trembling voice, "My name is A Cui, and I live in Changjiang City."
As she spoke, her eyes quickly reddened, and tears streamed down her face: "Young...Young Master, let's talk things out..."
Faced with this scene, Teng Shao did not put down the knife in his hand. His brows were still furrowed, and his eyes were fixed on the woman in front of him, as if he were judging something.
Gu Xiaozhu glanced at Teng Shao, then at A Cui who was still crying, and finally decided to step forward and smooth things over:
“Um… let’s talk this out, let’s talk this out…” She carefully reached out and grabbed Teng Shao’s arm that was holding the knife, slowly moving it away. “She doesn’t seem like a bad person. We can talk things out first.”
Seeing his arm being moved away little by little by the girl, Teng Shao did not stop her, but simply shifted his gaze from A Cui to Gu Xiaozhu.
After moving her arm away, Gu Xiaozhu patted it gently, as if she were comforting a child. Then she looked at the still-shaken A Cui beside her and handed her a porcelain jade bottle.
"Miss Acui, this is medicine for wounds." She looked at Acui, whose eyes were filled with tears, and her tone softened unconsciously. "I'm sorry, Miss Acui, my friend is a bit too wary. I hope you won't take offense."
Teng Shao, standing beside him, frowned in displeasure: "Why did you say that..."
But before he could finish speaking, Gu Xiaozhu gently patted him twice, causing him to pause and ultimately shut his mouth.
Ah Cui accepted the porcelain bottle, and her tears gradually stopped, leaving only her red eyes to prove that she had cried.
"Thank you... Also, you can just call me A-Cui."
She opened the bottle and applied a little of the ointment to the wound on her neck with her finger, a soft groan escaping her lips.
“I…I can understand this young master,” A Cui said softly. “After all, this strange place is really dangerous, so it’s good to be cautious.”
Gu Xiaozhu: "When did you come in?"
Ah Cui: "I arrived here yesterday. I was walking on the road when I suddenly found myself in this strange place."
Teng Shao sneered at this moment: "According to you, you came yesterday. How did you, a mere mortal, manage to survive until now?"
He looked Ah Cui up and down again: "She doesn't even have a single injury on her body."
Ah Cui bit her lip and whispered, "I... I haven't been here long, and I've already met two immortals traveling together."
"The two immortals were kind-hearted and willing to take me with them. It is thanks to them that I was able to survive."
Teng Shao: "So why are you all alone now?"
A-Cui gripped the side of her skirt, her shoulders trembling slightly, her whole body appearing pale and fragile: "Those...those two immortals, they actually...they actually wanted to defile me..."
"I was unwilling, so I took advantage of the two immortals' inattention and ran away."
She raised her head, looked at the black-clad youth opposite her, her eyes slightly lowered, appearing extremely pitiful: "Later... I met you, young master, and this kind-hearted girl."
"May I ask... your name, sir?"
Teng Shao did not answer her, but instead crossed his arms and lowered his eyes, as if he was thinking about something.
Gu Xiaozhu glanced at him and smiled awkwardly, "Um... his name is Teng Shao, and my name is Gu Xiaozhu."
Upon hearing this, A Cui turned her gaze to the approaching girl. For some reason, Gu Xiaozhu felt that there was a hint of scrutiny in her eyes.
But the feeling quickly disappeared, as if it were just her imagination.
A smile appeared on A Cui's face: "Thank you for telling me, Xiao Zhu."
Gu Xiaozhu: "..."
Okay, hearing this name for the second time, it doesn't seem so hard to accept now?
Teng Shao then spoke up: "You can leave now."
This was said to A Cui.
Upon hearing this, A Cui's eyes widened, her delicate face filled with disbelief.
Teng Shao raised an eyebrow slightly and said sarcastically, "What, you think we'll keep you here? You're dreaming."
Ah Cui pouted slightly, then put on a pitiful expression: "Young Master Teng, you look like a powerful immortal, please, I beg you to take me in!"
"I will repay your kindness, please..."
Upon seeing this, Teng Shao frowned. He took a step back uncomfortably and said coldly, "Why should I carry such a burden like you?"
"Besides, I'm not some... immortal you're talking about."
Ah Cui: "But..."
As soon as she spoke, a cold glint of light grazed her cheek, and Ah Cui's expression froze. A line of blood slowly appeared on her fair cheek.
Teng Shao sheathed his scimitar, his eyes filled with intense killing intent: "Get lost."
A-Cui stared at him blankly, her eyes filled with disbelief. Her eyes immediately reddened, and tears began to flow again.
But she only trembled and sobbed once before turning around to leave.
Gu Xiaozhu: "Wait a minute!"
Ah Cui snapped out of her daze and looked at Gu Xiaozhu with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
The almond-haired girl took out a talisman covered with intricate runes: "This is a Heart Protection Talisman, which can help you withstand one instance of damage from a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator."
As she spoke, she affixed the talisman to the back of A Cui's hand. After activating it with a spirit stone, the talisman flashed slightly and then disappeared into the back of A Cui's hand.
Ah Cui's eyes flickered, but the hope in them vanished completely with Gu Xiaozhu's next words.
"Sorry, we can't take you with us."
"To be honest, it's much more dangerous for you to come with us than to go alone. So... take care."
Ah Cui glanced at her, then gently stroked the back of her hand, before turning and leaving without a word.
"Tch, I thought you were going to ask me to keep her here." Teng Shao's voice sounded from behind.
Gu Xiaozhu turned around, her expression strange: "Why do you think that?"
Teng Shao: "Aren't you the kind of person who's overly kind-hearted?"
Otherwise, why would she have saved him, and then, feeling guilty, gave him a whole bunch of things when she let him leave?
Gu Xiaozhu choked.
Her expression was somewhat helpless. She walked back to the tree and sat down. Looking at the firelight, she said, "First of all, you have clearly expressed that you don't want her to follow us. Moreover, we are currently being hunted. If she follows us, it will not only be dangerous, but she will also cause you a lot of trouble."
"However... she was, after all, an innocent person who fell into the secret realm... cough, a pitiful person, so I can't just let her fend for herself."
Teng Shao raised an eyebrow: "So you gave her the heart-protecting talisman?"
Gu Xiaozhu nodded: "That's all I could do to help her within my capabilities."
"Tch, unnecessary." Teng Shao muttered under his breath.
Gu Xiaozhu didn't hear clearly: "What did you just say?"
Teng Shao raised his head, looked at the bewildered girl opposite him, and said, word by word:
I said—
"It's time to sleep. You should get some rest."
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