Translated by: iris.knight

  "Urgh……" Gu Qingyu remained motionless, her eyes squeezed shut. Blood trickled out from the corners of her mouth. Finally, she let go and dropped to the ground with a silent thud.

  "No……" Gu Qingyu watched as the sky grew further and further away. She reached towards the sky, hoping that maybe if she stretched just a bit more, she could reach it and escape.

  Snap! Someone grabbed her hand and then she was pulled into an embrace. There was a warm, familiar smell of cologne.

  "Jia Qizhe……" Gu Qingyu whispered his name.

  "I'm here." Jia Qizhe's calming voice brushed against her ear, along with bits of rage that had escaped. Gu Qingyu smiled and closed her eyes gently. Jia Qizhe flapped his wings and hovered in the air. He held Gu Qingyu with one hand and conjured his sword in the other. Unlike in the past, his sword is fully blue.

  "Ghost Howl?" Xuan Di smiled, he was amused. "After all this time, I can finally find someone who can truly rival me."

  "Oh yeah?" Jia Qizhe scoffed. "It's just a pity that I don't intend to fight you." He wrapped his arm tightly around Gu Qingyu. A flute whistled through the air, and a crack appeared in Xuan Di's barrier.

  "I will come for your head." Jia Qizhe used his sword to widen the rift in the barrier, and he flew out.

  Xuan Di stood rooted to the ground as he watched Jia Qizhe's departure. "I will be waiting."

  Jia Qizhe landed as soon as he got out of the barrier and arrived at that forest. Mo Bai slowly put away his flute.

  "I'll leave her in your hands." Jia Qizhe, with Gu Qingyu in his arms, approached Mo Bai. "Thank you for your help today."

  "I would help her even without you." Mo Bai's voice was as gentle as before, but with a touch of coldness, it was a little unreal. He took Gu Qingyu and placed her on a stone. Then pale green energy surrounded him, herbs bobbed and floated amidst the green energy. The gas-like energy gradually melted into Gu Qingyu, and the blood on the corners of her lips gradually faded. Gu Qingyu coughed slightly, she was finally out of danger. Gu Qingyu opened her eyes with a flutter. Jia Qizhe and Mo Bai were standing in front of her, their eyes full of worry.

  "It's okay." Gu Qingyu gave them a faint smile. "All in all, I'm still too weak."

  "It's not your fault." Jia Qizhe suddenly leaned down and gently hugged Gu Qingyu. "It's mine, I failed to protect you."

  Gu Qingyu patted Jia Qizhe on the back, then she turned to Mo Bai. "Thank you. And sorry. All of you must be so worried."

  "What a silly thing to say." Mo Bai smiled slightly, his smile filled with the warm glow of the sun. "Go and gather with everyone, otherwise everyone would panic soon."

  Panic? What the hell. As long as she is not alone with Jia Qizhe.

  "Um." Gu Qingyu nodded and looked up at the dwindling daylight. "How long has it been?"

  "A day." Jia Qizhe picked up Gu Qingyu and ran. The sun was setting. Mo Bai closed his eyes gently and followed.

  Soon, they arrived at the rendezvous point. Qi Yichen and others had been waiting there for a long time. Their eyes lit up when they saw Gu Qingyu.

  "Xiao Yu!" Xiao Qi rushed over first and wrapped Gu Qingyu in a tight hug. "I was so worried!"

  "I'm fine now, aren't I? Don't worry." Gu Qingyu patted Xiao Qi's head.

  "Boss……" Qi Wan showed up with tear streaks on his face and a string of snot, he cried into Gu Qingyu's sleeve. "I thought I would never see you again……"

  Both Jia Qizhe and Mo Bai gave Qi Wan a threatening look. Yet, Gu Qingyu hugged Qi Wan gently, and slowly patted his back. "It's alright, I'm back." Because aside from the exaggerated expression, she saw how Qi Wan's hand trembled. He was trying to ease the atmosphere and avoid putting stress on her.

  Qi Wan took a moment, then closed his eyes gently, and wiped his tears. "Yep!"

  Qi Yichen also rushed over. "Brother Zhu~"

  "Not you." Gu Qingyu slapped him without mercy.

  "We're both people, why did I get a slap instead?" Qi Yichen shuffled towards Qi Wan with tears in his eyes. "Please, Young Brother Qi, tell me your secrets……"

  "We should be rid of shame! It's simple, you're not shameless enough." Qi Wan shook his head in disgust.

  Gu Qingyu also shook her head in defeat. With Qi Wan around, Qi Yichen will definitely become more and more shameless. Oh, he was such a good scholar, where did his original elegant temperament go? What in the world happened to it?

  "We should resume our journey. Although, it would be wise to make camp soon." Murong Zuoyu glanced at the surrounding trees. "Many monsters and demons prowl the forest at night."

  "You're right," Gu Qingyu turned to Murong Zuoyu. "Brother Murong, you are the best among us. So, I suggest we try to negotiate with the Emperor of Beiying first, would you do the honour?"

  "……Very well." Murong Zuoyu hesitated, then agreed. The best? What she doesn't know is that none of these people around her are worse than Murong Zuoyu.

  Suddenly, a rustle came from behind them.

  "Monsters?" Qi Wan looked behind, and saw a pair of scarlet eyes stared back at him "Um…… our luck is really not that good……"

  "Yeah, yeah." Jia Qizhe responded idly and a blue light shot out from his hand. At the same time, green light flickered in Mo Bai's hand. That pair of eyes went out instantly.

  "Come, tonight's dinner is a barbeque." Xie Zang walked towards the grass with a look of excitement. A flame was burning on his hand.

  I guess this is what it's like to have an overpowered party……

  Soon, they found a place to make camp. The bonfire was lit, and the barbeque began.

  The monsters and demons around the area seemed to have caught the smell of grilled meat and headed towards them. However, Qi Yichen was not joking about his barrier. So they spent a normally-horrifying evening in peace and quiet.

  The next day

  Drip. A cold drop of morning dew woke Gu Qingyu.

  She turned over and tried to roll back to sleep. Hold on, the bed was stiffer than she remembered. Oh yeah, she was sleeping on a tree. Wait, a tree!

  "Ah!"

  Boom!

  Thud!

  Jia Qizhe, who was sitting under the tree, jerked awake. He stared whoever that had fallen onto him with bleary eyes.

  "I-I-I'm sorry!" Gu Qingyu got up immediately, but her legs had fallen asleep while she curled up on the tree, and she fell over again.

  "Idiot" Jia Qizhe supported Gu Qingyu. He slowly got up, and let her regain her balance. "Are you hurt?"

  "No……" Gu Qingyu looked at Jia Qizhe. Shouldn't this be the other way around?

  The commotion had woken the rest of the party. Gu Qingyu looked at everyone apologetically. "Since we're all up, let's eat something……"

  "These fruits are good." Xiao Qi took out some light green fruits from her cloth bag. "We can have these for breakfast."

  After Mo Bai confirmed that it was not poisonous, everyone divided the fruits and ate.

  "Well, this one tastes good!" Gu Qingyu nodded as she ate with relish. She would even smack her lips every now and then.

  Qi Yichen looked at Gu Qingyu in shock and finally turned and asked Qi Wan, who was next to him. "Isn't she the third lady in the Gu Family? Why does it seem like she's never had anything like this before?"

  Qi Wan shrugged. "I don't know, poor thing." This sigh made Qi Yichen tug his lips. Poor thing?

  After breakfast, the party resumed their journey.

  "Are we going directly to the palace?" Gu Qingyu asked curiously.

  "I'm afraid to find a place to settle first." Qi Yichen thought for a moment. "If the Emperor of Beiying refuses, we must think of an escape and plan ahead. Moreover, we just arrived in Beiying and we must find a way to reach the Imperial City. Let's go to the nearest city first to take a break and buy a horse. It's not going to work if we just keep walking."

  "Wow, that's a good idea!" Gu Qingyu applauded. Because Qi Yichen's proposal was affirmed by Gu Qingyu, everyone went together to the nearby city.

  Finally, before noon, they arrived at the border city of Beiying. The party entered the city gates and everyone was curiously watching this group of foreigners.

  "Let's have a meal and buy a few horses first." Gu Qingyu suggested eagerly.

  "Well, that's fine." Qi Wan nodded. "Come with me."

  "Hold on," Gu Qingyu paused, then opened her mouth in shock. "Don't tell me you have a place here too!"

  "Of course." Qi Wan battered his eyes at Gu Qingyu, his voice was more charming than ever. "Have you found that you have fallen in love with me deeply and uncontrollably?"

  "Hah? Are you in heat?" Gu Qingyu swung her fist towards Qi Wan.

  Jia Qizhe and Mo Bai were ahead of her. Qi Wan has been KO-ed. Qi Yichen glanced sympathetically at Qi Wan. This was the reason he carefully chose not to try to provoke Gu Qingyu.

  Xie Zang, on the other hand, was not intimidated at all. "Kitten, who kidnapped you?"

  This sentence actually asked many people's questions. They avoided it yesterday as they did not want to trigger any potential trauma, but she seemed fine right then. And frankly, she would not be Gu Qingyu if she was frightened.

  "Murong…… Qize." Gu Qingyu thought for a moment, and said, "And someone else who was really powerful."

  Murong Zuoyu's eyes immediately turned into bone-chilling cold. Murong Qize? Very good, it seems that he has been kind for too long recently.

  "Someone else who was really powerful?" Xie Zang probed.

  "Well, I don't know who he is." Gu Qingyu chose to conceal the Emperor's identity. "He only said that he wanted to destroy the Lifeblood Jewel of Destiny."