Chapter 64
An incident that should have shaken the entire cultivation world ended in a bizarre way no one had anticipated.
Having successfully escaped the demonic cultivator’s “control” and recovered his “mind,” Elder He was ultimately taken away by disciples of the Jade Sect.
Xiao Xin and Li Shijie stood on either side of Yu Tai, their eyes red and swollen. Yu Tai looked at the several jade tokens in her hand, feeling rather speechless.
She was not blind. From the moment those Upper Realm elders arrived, their attitude toward Yu Tai had been steeped in contempt and condescension. Yet moments ago, their expressions had been so amiable that she wondered whether she had mistaken them for someone else.
The sight of them desperately presenting their kindest faces as they stuffed jade tokens bearing their respective sect emblems into Yu Tai’s hand was truly comical.
Xiao Xin’s voice was still choked with tears. “Sister Yu Tai, you mustn’t be fooled. Those rotten old men are all terrible. Come to the Zuiyin Sect. I promise I’ll protect you.”
It was no wonder those pretentious people were so anxious.
After today, Yu Tai’s name would be known throughout the world.
She could not possibly remain in the Middle Realm then. She would certainly go to the Upper Realm to pursue greater opportunities.
Yu Tai casually stuffed the jade tokens into her spatial pouch. While responding to Xiao Xin and patting the still-frightened, tearful Li Shijie, she turned and searched the area.
The sun was nearly setting, yet the number of cultivators in the square had only increased. They had all come to see Yu Tai.
Irritation rose inside her. She disliked crowded places.
Especially when she was the monkey everyone had come to gawk at.
The System: [Exactly! Did any of them buy a ticket before staring so freely?]
Yu Tai: [Shut up. Do you know where Shu Li is?]
At the mention of Shu Li’s name, the irritation in Yu Tai’s heart eased somewhat.
The intense and inexplicable urge to see someone had arrived like a flood. She had no idea how to process the emotion, so she could only follow her instincts for now.
The System fell silent for a moment. [Mm. Unless something unexpected happened, he should still be where you left him.]
Yu Tai sneered.
Whenever the System said “unless something unexpected happened,” something was guaranteed to have happened.
Sure enough, Shu Li was no longer in his original position.
Li Shijie and Xiao Xin followed behind Yu Tai. Xiao Xin asked whom she was searching for, and Li Shijie immediately said, “If you mean Junior Sister’s demon beast keeper, he probably already went home.”
Xiao Xin frowned imperceptibly.
*Sister Yu Tai has a demon beast keeper? How did I not know?*
As if saying *There’s plenty you don’t know*, Li Shijie continued, “Xia Mo should be with him. Nothing will happen.”
Her words made it sound as though the demon beast keeper was clearly more important than the demon beast.
The pressure around Yu Tai dropped even lower.
When she thought she might die at the demonic cultivator’s hands, she had admittedly hoped Shu Li would be smart enough to run.
But deep inside, that was not what she had wanted at all.
If she had not been enveloped by that mass of demonic qi, she would have wanted to drag Shu Li to death alongside her…
Hell was such a cold place. Surely the saintly male lead would not mind keeping her warm.
The System no longer knew whether it should warn her that this idea was dangerous.
After all, if the male lead died, this world would end as well.
In a sense, Yu Tai wanted to drag the entire world into death with her.
After finally escaping the crowd, Yu Tai did not hurry back to the cave dwelling.
Shu Li could not fly by sword, and there was no way he could return on foot alone.
With his walking speed, he should not have gone far.
But Yu Tai searched the entire area without finding any trace of Shu Li. Nor did she see Xia Mo’s eye-catching black-and-white coloring.
Could she have guessed wrong? Had Shu Li been kidnapped?
Yu Tai shook her head and quickly dismissed the thought. What nonsense was she imagining?
Why would anyone kidnap a demon beast keeper?
Besides, Shu Li had been standing far away in an isolated corner. Very few people would have noticed him.
Thinking as she hurried back, Yu Tai jumped down from her flying sword and landed.
From here, she could see everything in the arena clearly. She could even make out several cultivators who had bet on her and were now gleefully collecting their spirit stones.
Sudden intuition struck. Yu Tai turned, caught a flash of black and white before her, and then heard several familiar chirps.
She hurried over and saw Xia Mo racing toward her, as well as-
Her anxious steps stopped when she saw the sweet face of a girl she had met only once before.
The girl knelt on the ground, anxiously watching the unconscious man lying before her.
Large patches of blood stained the man’s clothes. Several wisps of black qi lingered around him, while his face was pale and his breathing weak.
Yu Tai’s heart abruptly tightened.
When the girl noticed someone approaching, she hurriedly looked up. The instant she saw Yu Tai, her expression froze.
“Yu Tai… Why is it you…?”
Yu Tai raised an eyebrow. “Why can’t it be me?”
Xia Mo stood at Yu Tai’s feet, baring its teeth at the girl opposite them. It plainly disliked her.
Yu Tai felt a trace of comfort.
She had not raised this heroine for nothing.
At her words, the girl visibly panicked and hurriedly waved her hands. “No… no. I was only surprised.”
Yu Tai ignored her, crouched, and examined Shu Li.
Seeing this, the girl timidly spoke. Her bright, pitiful eyes made her look especially delicate. “Do you know him?”
Yu Tai nodded somewhat coldly.
The girl released a breath of relief. “That’s wonderful. He was corroded by demonic qi, and his aura is extremely weak.”
“I don’t understand why he threw himself into that mass of demonic qi. Everyone else was desperate to avoid it. If I hadn’t held him back, it would have devoured him alive.”
Yu Tai’s fingertips trembled. She turned to the girl. “What did you say?”
Not understanding why Yu Tai was so astonished, the girl repeated herself. “Even when the demonic qi burned him, he didn’t care. He fought desperately to enter.”
“It was as though something inside was more precious to him than his own life…”
At this point, the girl’s voice abruptly stopped.
What had been inside the demonic qi?
A demonic cultivator and-
Looking at Yu Tai before her, the girl suddenly could not continue.
She seemed to understand what that precious thing had been.
Yu Tai lifted Shu Li onto her back and rose, looking down at the girl. Although a smile hung from her lips, her voice carried no emotion. “Thank you for telling me. I have one more question.”
The girl nodded blankly. “Please… ask.”
“When you first met him, what did you discuss?”
The girl thought back, then answered Yu Tai’s question without hesitation. “My family has forged weapons for generations. After he learned of my background that day, he asked me several questions about how to make a saber.”
As she remembered, the girl could not help recalling the warm brilliance that had filled the man’s eyes when some thought occurred to him.
“He said he wanted to give someone he liked a special gift.”