Translator: Tim Editor: Tehrn

  “Elder Brother Ye, the tent is a bit shabby, but it’s ready. At night Xiang Fang and I will be responsible for night duties. How about you go in and have a rest first?” Guo Qi came out and said.

  Ye Mo smiled and said, “No need, you can leave the night guard duty to me; I like it outside at night. By the way, Brother Guo, you’re older than me, so just call me Ye Mo from now on.” Ye Mo felt that Guo Qi was a good person and valued team spirit, which made him want to be friends with him. He didn’t like those heartless people.

  “Okay, then I won’t be too polite to you. However, you don’t need to call me Brother Guo as well, the people in the army call me Da Qi, you can also call me that too. It’s my honor to know you as a friend— No, I mean brother. What do you think, Brother Ye?” Guo Qi was a frank person and didn’t hesitate.

  Ye Mo nodded and said, “This is great.”

  Thinking that Ye Mo was roasting rabbits in the forest leisurely, Guo Qi didn’t insist. After all these days, he indeed was tired and went to rest with Fang Wei.

  Inside the tent, Lu Lin looked at the contemplative Chi Wanqing and asked, “Wanqing, what do you think of this Ye Mo?”

  “Huh……” Chi Wanqing who was still immersed in her own thought was caught off guard. But after her surprised exclamation, she quickly caught on and remained silent for a while before saying, “I think Brother Ye is a good person, he’s really powerful and has some kind of…… kind of……”

  Chi Wanqing repeated that for a long time but still didn’t finish articulating the words: “some kind of feeling I long for.”

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  “Wanqing, you’ve come to the military for about three years and, of course, I know why you came, but when women get older they need to find some place to belong to, yet you’ve never shown a good face to any men in the military. Three years ago, you were trying to avoid your father trying to marry you, or perhaps it was due to your mother; however, it has been three years already. Are you really prepared to be like this for your entire life? Sometimes, when fortune comes, you must not reject it,” Lu Lin sighed.

  After a few moments, she continued, “That year, I just finished high school and was 19 years old, at the prime of my youth. I just started work at the state literacy department where I met him. He was a handsome man. Not just me, but the other girls in our department liked him.

  “However, he was really nice to me; he asked me out multiple times and, half a year later, he even proposed to me. At that time, I was just 19-years-old, and I didn’t know what to do when a 27-year-old man proposed to me. Although I liked him very much, I could only tell him I was still so young and asked him to wait. Half a year later, on my 20th birthday, he proposed to me once again. I still wanted to wait because I really felt I was still young and didn’t dare to form a family.

  “However, from that day on, I never saw him again. He had left. I waited for another year but still haven’t heard any news of him. At that time, I thought, as long as he appeared, I was willing to marry him immediately. However, he never appeared again, and I no longer had the will of working there again, so I came to the military.

  “Wanqing, sometimes, there is only one chance. If you lose it, there will be no more. There’s no wrong in trusting me. I’ve seen all sorts of people in the military, Ye Mo doesn’t seem like a sly person. His eyes aren’t dodgy, he’s just a little poor.

  “With your family wealth, would you really care if he was wealthy or poor? Besides, there is the adage of not looking down on a youth who is poor. I think that if you really liked wealthy families, you wouldn’t have rejected your family’s will that time and came to the military,” Lu Lin sighed contemplatively as if remembering what happened those years ago.

  “Sister Lin, my feelings toward Brother Ye aren’t what you say it is, my feelings are…… sigh, I don’t know how to explain it…… I’ll go check on Brother Ye,” after saying that, Chi Wanqing was preparing to walk out of the tent.

  “Hm, Wanqing, you can walk on your leg now?” Lu Lin pointed at Chi Wanqing’s leg and said in surprise.

  “Yes, actually after Brother Ye treated me, it wasn’t long before I could walk. It was just that it would hurt after some time……” speaking up to here, Chi Wanqing seemed to have thought of something and didn’t dare to continue speaking as she rushed outside. She suddenly felt a burning sensation on her face as though she had been caught out.

  Seeing Chi Wanqing running out of the tent, Lu Lin seemed to be lost in thought. Wanqing looked like herself all those years ago, but Ye Mo didn’t seem like the man she met at all.

  At this moment, Ye Mo was sitting on a rock not far away, contemplating. He was using his spirit sense to make out the map he saw today. Ye Mo had thought of the lines on the map countless times. Gathered with the words Chi Wanqing helped him interpret today, it was indeed the Taklimakan desert.

  Although he hadn’t been there yet, he had analyzed the map of China closely and roughly knew the main regions. However, he really had no idea where the Ku lake was…… and even what that Holy door was supposed to be.

  He knew clearly about the Purple Heart Vine. It was a spirit wood that was used in many of the pills used during the Chi Gathering State. Although it didn’t have strict growth conditions, it would definitely not grow in the desert because the most important condition for the growth of these types of spirit wood was water.

  The Taklimakan Desert was the biggest desert in China, and its average yearly precipitation was less that 100mm; during the worst years, there were barely a few millimeters of water. Although Ye Mo was deep in thought, he knew immediately when Chi Wanqing came out. He smiled and thought that even though the girl looked cold, she seemed to be growing on him.

  Just when Chi Wanqing didn’t know how to speak to Ye Mo, she saw him turning around, smiling at her, which relieved her as she quickly walked up to him. However, when Chi Wanqing walked behind Ye Mo, her face suddenly changed; a gray snake with a pair of eyes that flashed green lights was actually charging toward Ye Mo from behind him.

  “Not good!” Chi Wanqing heard that triangular-headed snakes were poisonous; however, this snake was not only triangular-headed but a sharp triangular. Without even thinking, Chi Wanqing jumped toward Ye Mo’s back.

  The moment the green-eyed, triangular-headed snake attacked, Ye Mo felt it. If Chi Wanqing didn’t charge over, he had a way to avoid it, but now if he wanted to drag Chi Wanqing out of the way too, that would be impossible.

  The green-eyed snake almost arrived at the same time as Chi Wanqing. She was just behind Ye Mo, while this green-eyed snake came from a few meters away, yet they would arrive at the same time. From this, it could be seen how fast this snake was. The gray snake accurately bit Chi Wanqing’s back which shocked Ye Mo, but he wasn’t too worried as he thought that he could cure a poisonous snake bite.

  He turned and carried Chi Wanqing in his arms. Ye Mo saw the green-eyed snake posed not far away, wanting to attack a second time and appeared to be targeting him this time. Anger surge up in Ye Mo as he raised his hand and three metal nails flew out.

  “Slip, Slip.” Unfortunately, none of the nails managed to pierce the snake’s head; two of them glided off from its skin, and only one managed to scratch out a bloody gash. The green-eyed snake seemed to recognize that this person wasn’t easy to mess with and slithered away, disappearing almost immediately.

  “Not good! This wasn’t just a simple snake,” Ye Mo realized it as Chi Wanqing’s face had already become gray.

  “Such intense poison……” Ye Mo knew things were growing dire.

  At this moment, Lu Lin and Guo Qi were already coming his way. Seeing the situation, they all knew that a venomous snake had bitten Chi Wanqing.