NOVEL NEXT Ch. 4
Chapter 4: You Want Me to Eat This?
“You want me to eat this?”
Qiu Yuehan frowned at Lu Changyuan, and at the plain boiled noodles in the pot.
Lu Changyuan tossed two more sticks of firewood into the stove.
The crackling sound mingled with his calm tone: “There’s pickled radish in the cupboard.”
He had pickled it himself.
Crisp and crunchy.
Fragrant and delicious.
Qiu Yuehan drew in a deep breath, then finally nodded: “I’ll go get the pickled radish. Anything else?”
Lu Changyuan stayed silent for a moment, as if making a great sacrifice: “The eggs the villagers just sent… I’ll give them to you.”
The fairy did not look back, nor did she reply.
She had not eaten mortal food for a very long time.
She never thought that after all these years, her first meal would be this.
Plain boiled noodles.
He had not even added salt.
Did this man even know how to cook?
Creak.
Lu Changyuan and Qiu Yuehan turned their heads at the same time.
The wind outside blew the kitchen door open.
Beyond the door stood two trees. One was a pine tree, and the other… was also a pine tree.
Both looked as though the wind might snap them in half.
Lu Changyuan said calmly, “Looks like it’s going to rain. Fairy, would you mind closing the door?”
Qiu Yuehan cast him a glance: “Seems we won’t be able to eat the noodles.”
“But I’m very hungry.”
“Hungry or not, we still won’t be able to eat.”
Lu Changyuan slowly stood up, letting out a sigh: “They came for you, and now I won’t even get to eat.”
Qiu Yuehan inclined her head. In the firelight, her eyes shone, dazzlingly beautiful: “Yes, but you’re coming back to the Palace with me. So we’re in this together.”
“How much chance do we have?”
Qiu Yuehan paused: “Do you mean of winning, or of surviving?”
Lu Changyuan was slightly surprised.
In this condition, she still thought of winning?
“How much chance of winning?”
Qiu Yuehan shook her head: “Impossible to win.”
“At this time you’re still joking with me? Then how much chance of surviving?”
“Less than one in ten.”
Damn it.
Qiu Yuehan was gravely injured, and Lu Changyuan had not even set foot on the immortal path.
No matter how he looked at it, this was a dead end.
Yet the fairy remained calm: “You must have a way.”So your trump card—Is me?
Lu Changyuan glared: “Didn’t your master ever teach you that when you go out into the world, you should rely on yourself?”
From outside came a hoarse, rasping voice: “You two, have you finished talking? If you have, let’s be on our way.”
The surroundings suddenly filled with the stench of blood, which slowly thickened into a tangible blood mist.
Faintly within it, one could almost hear mourning cries.
Qiu Yuehan pressed her lips together: “They’re from the Blood Demon Palace.”
Blood Demon Palace?
Where did this sect come from?
“Demonic path?”
“Demonic path.” Qiu Yuehan suddenly drew her sword and slashed fiercely toward the doorway.
Lu Changyuan hadn’t expected it, nor had those outside.
The woman’s sword came without the slightest warning, and when she struck, it was with all her strength.
The sword-light swept across, cutting the two pine trees at the door clean in half, then pierced straight through the blood mist.
For a moment, heaven and earth seemed suddenly clear.
But it was only an illusion.
The blood mist had not dispersed completely, instead writhing in the air, on the verge of taking form again.
“That was my only sword strike.”
After a day’s recovery, Qiu Yuehan was still gravely wounded.
She could only unleash that one strike.
So the moment it was done, she wrapped an arm around Lu Changyuan’s waist and leapt out the window.
She dared not gamble.
If Lu Changyuan was killed by those of the Blood Demon Palace, she would likely not survive either.
“Head up the mountain.”
Without needing his reminder, Qiu Yuehan carried him as a streak of light, darting into the forested slopes.
“I won’t last long, at most a quarter of an hour. If you have a plan, speak quickly.”
Held tightly in her soft embrace, Lu Changyuan said helplessly: “I’m just a mortal. What plan could I have?”
Qiu Yuehan shot him a resentful look and sneered: “And yet when it came to dealing with me, you had plenty of tricks? Those demon marks—you raised your hand to threaten me without hesitation!”
Though she said so, without Lu Changyuan’s demon mark she truly would not have recovered enough to unleash that sword strike just now.
The two of them raced up the mountain, while behind them the blood mist spread thicker and thicker.
Wherever it passed, flowers withered and grass died, as though life itself was devoured.
Suddenly, Lu Changyuan said: “Two at the Fourth Realm. Nowhere near the Fifth.”
The seven realms of cultivation were divided into the lower four and the upper three.
Those two Blood Demon Palace cultivators had not yet reached the upper realms.
Qiu Yuehan said coldly: “I too am only Fourth Realm, Heavenly Authority Stage!”
But in truth, that was not so.
Qiu Yuehan was only one tribulation away from breaking through the lower realms and stepping into the upper three, becoming what mortals would call an immortal.
At her peak, even against both of those Blood Demon Palace cultivators at once, she would not falter.
Bang!
A massive bloody hand erupted from the soil, reaching straight for Qiu Yuehan’s leg.
Crack!
In an instant, Qiu Yuehan lost control of her speed, and with Lu Changyuan collided hard against a tree.
“Cough.”
The fairy’s black hair clung to her face. “If you have a way, speak quickly. Otherwise, both you and I will die here today.”
Her strength was exhausted, and the wound left by the Heart-Eating Monk throbbed, threatening to tear her body apart.
From the distance came the sound of rushing wind.
The two of the Blood Demon Palace would arrive any moment.
Lu Changyuan shook his head, his eyes clear again: “They’re coming awfully slowly.”
Qiu Yuehan nearly choked on her breath: “Enough nonsense! Do you or don’t you have a way?”
Then Lu Changyuan raised his gaze to the sky beyond the trees.
There was a white scar there.
In the cultivation world, that scar stretched across two domains, existing for over five thousand years.
“Lend me your sword.”
Qiu Yuehan’s breath caught. Then she tossed the sword to him.
It was the sword she had carried since the moment she drew spiritual energy into her body.
Yesterday, Lu Changyuan had already touched it.
So what if he touched it again?
Lu Changyuan caught the sword with ease.
Left hand forming a seal, right hand holding the sword behind him, he stood with a strange, indescribable air.
She had not guessed wrong.
This seemingly gentle and jade-like youth was in truth an old monster, harboring countless hidden means.
The fairy leaned against the tree, her white robes stained with dirt.
She looked fragile, but her words carried force: “If we make it back to the Palace alive, counting yesterday, that will make twice you’ve saved me.”
“Are you telling me you’re someone who repays kindness?”
Qiu Yuehan’s expression remained unchanged, neither admitting nor denying it: “Living is what matters most. Besides, my life now counts as yours. If it’s lost, it’s your loss too.”
Lu Changyuan twirled the sword, smiling faintly: “At a time like this, you’ll say anything to bribe me, won’t you?”
This fairy from the heavens—her words were even more straightforward than those of the women from the Pleasure Sect.
Who knew if she was truly a fairy, or a temptress?
The blood mist surged upon them.
From within it, two solid forms appeared, staring in puzzlement at Lu Changyuan: “A mere mortal?”
Lu Changyuan smiled: “A mere mortal.”
They exchanged a glance: “Kill him.”
The blood mist swept forward, rushing straight at Lu Changyuan.
The Blood Demon Palace’s Bone-Melting Technique—mortals who touched it would die instantly, not even their bones remaining. Yet Lu Changyuan stood unmoving, as though unaware, simply watching the mist.
Just as it was about to engulf him—
Rip!
A beam of light pierced through the blood mist.
It was another sword—a longsword, gentle as flowing water.
A voice spoke: “Senior Sister, I came late.”