Chapter 68
The moment Yu Tai accepted the book, she sensed an ominous aura emanating from it.
Though she didn’t know exactly what they had done, the book had undoubtedly been tampered with.
Li Shijie’s bloodless lips trembled as tears welled in her eyes.
“Junior Sister… I’m sorry… I never wanted to hurt you. If I refused, he would kill me… I… I had no way to resist him.” As she spoke, she covered her face and burst into tears.
Yu Tai watched her coldly before abruptly asking, “What did you do to this book?”
At Yu Tai’s question, Li Shijie stopped crying and answered with an ashen expression, “It’s poison.”
Remembering the sect leader’s instructions, she shuddered and continued fearfully, “He ordered me to poison you, then use the antidote to control you and force you to obey… Once you entered a sect in the Upper Realm, you would be made to secure benefits for the Qingshan Sword Sect.”
Yu Tai sneered.
She had known it.
After hearing her decision, how could Jiang Wenyi possibly have remained inactive?
So this was the move he had been saving for her.
Yu Tai tossed Li Shijie’s medical text into her spatial pouch and lifted her sharp chin with cold indifference. “Goodbye, Senior Sister Li.”
Li Shijie couldn’t believe Yu Tai had simply accepted the book. She called after her haltingly, “Junior… Sister.”
Yu Tai didn’t turn around. She merely waved a hand.
Li Shijie had treated her fairly well. By accepting the medical text, Yu Tai was preserving her life.
But from this moment on, whether Li Shijie lived or died had nothing to do with her.
Shu Li glanced back at Li Shijie, who was sitting on the ground with despair written all over her face.
She had only wanted to survive. There was nothing wrong with that. What surprised him was that Yu Tai had actually spared her life.
The entrance to the Upper Realm was a teleportation formation.
Anyone who possessed a specific jade token could pass through it.
Rather conveniently, if the jade token bore a sect’s unique emblem, the formation would teleport its holder directly into the corresponding sect.
Without such an emblem, the destination would be random.
The jade token Yu Tai used had belonged to the wandering cultivator whose body the illusion beast had half devoured.
They still had no idea where the object Shu Li sought was located. If they joined a sect, who knew how long it would be before they were allowed to leave? It would place far too many restrictions on them.
They were better off remaining free and unfettered wandering cultivators. It would also reduce the risk of exposing their identities.
With that thought, Yu Tai bent down and placed the jade token into the formation, then casually pulled Shu Li over. Xia Mo and the illusion beast were both waiting quietly inside the demon-beast pouch, ready to be summoned at any time.
After a burst of dazzling white light, the two people within the formation vanished.
When the wave of dizziness passed, Yu Tai could clearly sense the violent distortions around her, along with the rapid change in temperature.
She opened her eyes and was momentarily dazzled by the endless white before her.
A snowy mountain?
The cold was bitter enough to pierce the bone. Without hesitation, she surrounded herself with spiritual qi, then took a heavy cloak out of her spatial pouch and tossed it at the person beside her. “Put this on.”
Shu Li obediently wrapped himself in the cloak. Yu Tai took his hand and sent an unending stream of warmth into his body.
“Let’s leave this place first,” Yu Tai said with a frown.
What rotten luck. Of all the places a random teleportation could have sent them, it had dropped them somewhere awful like this.
“No.” Shu Li gently shook his head.
“My sword is here,” he said softly, narrowing his eyes as if sensing something.
Yu Tai raised an eyebrow.
Fine. She took back what she had said.
The protagonist was the protagonist, after all. Even a random teleportation could send him directly to his intended destination.
“Where?”
Shu Li casually pointed in one direction.
Vast expanses of white surrounded them, every view looking much the same. Yu Tai couldn’t distinguish one direction from another and could only follow the one Shu Li had indicated.
Movement came from the demon-beast pouch. Yu Tai opened it, and Xia Mo instantly leaped out.
Having lived in the Lower Realm all his life, this was the first time Xia Mo had ever seen snow.
His face immediately filled with astonishment. “Yu Tai, it’s so white!”
Yu Tai held on to him to prevent the intensely curious panda from running off and explained, “This is snow.”
With one hand held by Yu Tai, Xia Mo used the other to scoop up a clump from the ground. Its icy touch amazed him. “It’s so cold.”
“Yu Tai, look! White mist comes out when I talk.” Xia Mo breathed out excitedly, watching the cloud of white vapor rapidly form and just as quickly disappear.
“Mm-hmm. You’re amazing,” Yu Tai said with a nod.
Holding Shu Li’s hand with one hand and Xia Mo’s with the other, Yu Tai led the three of them through the snowy mountains.
She didn’t dare travel by flying sword. The Upper Realm was fraught with danger, far beyond anything in the Middle Realm. Until she understood this place, she couldn’t afford to act rashly.
Especially not with her entire household in tow.
Sure enough, the various strange demon beasts they encountered along the way were remarkably powerful.
Any one of them, if tossed into the Lower Realm, would probably cause an enormous commotion.
What surprised Yu Tai most in their encounters with those demon beasts was Xia Mo’s excellent performance.
Ever since he took human form, his strength seemed to have risen another level. Even when facing demon beasts stronger than himself, he showed no fear. The longer he fought, the fiercer he became, grinding down his opponents until they died.
Xia Mo wasn’t afraid of being injured.
Yu Tai was behind him, after all. No matter how severe his injuries were, one of the candy-like pills she took out of her spatial pouch would heal him instantly.
Completely unaware of what the little spendthrift was thinking, Yu Tai watched the snow that had begun falling at some point and felt a vague sense of unease.
Shu Li spoke calmly beside her. “An avalanche is coming.”
Yu Tai’s expression changed at once.
Shaking her hand lightly, Shu Li pointed toward a crevice higher up the mountain. “Go there and raise a barrier with your spiritual power.”
He remained exceptionally calm in the face of the natural disaster, as though he felt no fear whatsoever.
Yu Tai’s brief panic immediately subsided. She called out to Xia Mo, who was still slowly toying with his prey nearby, urging him to hurry.
The moment he heard Yu Tai, Xia Mo decisively killed the white fox before him, which had only a single breath left. After digging out its inner core, he turned and headed back to her.
The crevice Shu Li had chosen was in an excellent position, and it seemed just large enough for three people.
“You go in first.” Yu Tai pushed Shu Li into the innermost spot, then pulled Xia Mo over.
But Xia Mo planted his feet and refused to move.
Yu Tai looked at him in confusion. “What’s wrong?”
Xia Mo pouted. “I don’t want to go inside. I want to stay on the outside.”
“Shu Li said boys are supposed to protect girls.” He looked at Yu Tai with determination.
Yu Tai studied him for a moment before her lips curved into a smile. “That’s right. Yet Shu Li, the person who taught you that, is lying safely in the very back and letting me protect him, isn’t he?”
System: […Are you allergic to romance?]
The person in question smiled without a trace of shame. “Mm.”
In the end, Yu Tai still couldn’t outstubborn the headstrong panda.
And so, the three of them ended up arranged like this-
Shu Li stood in the innermost position with Yu Tai enclosed in his arms, while Xia Mo clung tightly to her from the outside, resting his head on her shoulder just as he had when he was still a beast.
A barrier of spiritual power enveloped the three of them, shutting out the boundless snow and bone-eroding cold.