Chapter 38 (2/2)

Kong Hou refocused and washed her hands clean. She smelled the clean fragrance on her fingers and smiled. “Thank you, Huan Zhong.”

“As long as you do not blame me for having you go kill the enemy while I watched coldly from the side.” Huan Zhong put away the gourd and sat down like Kong Hou. This was his first time sitting on a flying talisman with his feet hanging out. His posture was slightly stiff, his back straight. He did not seem relaxed but more like he was sitting tensely.

“I know you did it for my own good.” When she sparred with others of her sect, the shixiong and shijie were all careful and did not bear to have her wounded. But the outside enemies were different. They would not have mercy or be careful. They only wanted to kill her.

She was used to sparring with her shixiong and *shijie. When she just started fighting against the goatee-wearing cultivator, Kong Hou appeared to not be on the losing side. That was due to the many seals and talismans her elders had given her. Yet in reality, she lacked a strategy in her fighting, and her mental state was not practiced enough.

“The first time I killed an evil cultivator, I was older than you. For a long time, I did not like to smell blood.” Huan Zhong sorted around his storage bag and took out a hollow thumb-sized copper ball filled with fragrance. He put it into Kong Hou’s hand and said with a serious expression, “This is normal. After you encounter evil cultivators a few times, it will seem normal.”

The fragrance rolled around in the hollow copper ball, giving off a pleasing sound. The calming fragrance caused Kong Hou to relax her entire body. She tied the little ball at her waist and said with a laugh, “Huan Zhong, you really are not good at comforting people.”

Huan Zhong took out a crystal lamp from his sleeve. The crystal sleeve gave off golden light. Under the illumination of the crystal lamp, the bone-eating beast corpses turned to dust in a blink. Other than the people present, no one would know that a battle had occurred here.

Putting away the crystal lamp, Huan Zhong turned to look at Kong Hou. “Are you feeling better now?”

Kong Hou looked at the beautiful crystal lamp in his hand and nodded.

“You like this?” Huan Zhong put the lamp in front of her.

Kong Hou knew this was a powerful talisman. She shook her head and said, “Don’t give it to me. I’ll just look at it a few more times because it is beautiful. This is just like how one cannot resist looking more at flowers, moons and the stars—it is a body’s natural reaction.”

Huan Zhong was silent for a moment. He shook his head. “I do not understand.”

“That’s all right. You only need to know I do not want this lamp.” Kong Hou looked at the empty surroundings. “Elder Lin Hu, at this time… should have gone to the inn with the people of Cool Breeze Sect?”

The wounded were at the inn, but the two of them were chatting and burning bone-eating beast corpses here. This seemed slightly inappropriate.

“Lin Hu is reliable.” Huan Zhong saw a pile of accumulated snow on Kong Hou’s head. His left hand closest to Kong Hou felt an impulse to brush away the snow. But he still remembered the separation of male and female. He put his left hand on his knee and gripped it with his right hand.

“Elder Lin Hu is a man, Path Friend Ye Fei is a woman—some things may be inconvenient.” Thinking that a beauty may be slighted, Kong Hou could not stil still.

“Then we will return.” Huan Zhong stood and the feather started to move. Kong Hou looked as the corner of his robes danced in the air. She brushed away the hair falling onto her face, propped her face with one hand and smiled.

She spread her other clean hand. Kong Hou looked down and poked the hollow fragrance ball with a smile on the corner of her lips.

She had made a very good friend.

When they returned to the inn, Ye Fei and the others had been settled already with more members of Cool Breeze Sect. These disheveled people saw Kong Hou and Huan Zhong enter the door and gratefully stated their thanks. Huan Zhong looked at the sparkling swords at their waists with a cold expression.

Kong Hou talked her throat dry to persuade these member of Cool Breeze Sect who swore to serve them to go help the wounded. Then she turned and saw Huan Zhong sitting and idly and drinking tea. She immediately understood the benefits of being stoic.

Detecting Kong Hou looking at him, Huan Zhong put down his cup. “You are tired today. Rest first. Lin Hu and I will be here.”

“All right.” Kong Hou was tired in both mind and body. After having the inn deliver hot water for a bath, she fell into a deep sleep. This night, smelling the fragrance ball, she slept well without even having a dream. When she woke up the next morning, the sky was already light. The sunlight came through the gaps in the window and left behind sparkles of light in the room.

She pushed open the window. The snow had stopped, and the icicles hanging from the eaves reflected light beautifully. She yawned. After washing and dressing, she opened the door and saw Huan Zhong standing in the hallway.

“Huan Zhong?” Kong Hou walked next to Huan Zhong and looked down at the disciples of Cool Breeze Sect eating breakfast in the hall. After washing and putting on clean clothing, they looked much more energetic than yesterday.

“How was your sleep last night?” Huan Zhong handed her a spirit fruit.

Kong Hou took it and then took a bite. After swallowing, she said, “I had a very good sleep without even a dream.”

“That is good.” Huan Zhong saw the fragrance ball still hanging at her waist. His lips moved slightly. He covered his mouth and coughed.

“Sir, Miss.” Ye Fei came out of her room and saw Kong Hou and Huan Zhong standing next to each other. She went forward and bowed. “Thank you, Sir, for giving us medicine.” Shixiong had woken up in the middle of night. While he could not get up, he was not in any danger. Elder Lin Hu said that Shixiong‘s spirit platform had not been damaged, so his cultivation would be unaffected.

“How is Path Friend Hu?” Kong Hou smiled at Ye Fei.

Her friendly attitude put Ye Fei at ease. “Shixiong is much better. It was fortunate that Path Friends helped, otherwise…”

“Did we not agree yesterday to not be so polite?” Kong Hou interrupted Ye Fei. “Meeting means we have karma. Path Friend Ye, if you keep on being so courteous, I will feel embarrassed.”

Ye Fei smiled embarrassedly and did not mention the topic again. However, she noted this favor in her mind.

Lin Hu walked out of the room and in front of Huan Zhong. “I obtained some information from those two evil cultivators.”

Huan Zhong indicated for him to continue.

“They need to bring gifts to the celebration of a demonic sage’s Transcendental ceremony, so they are gathering spirit energy from the spirit platforms of orthodox cultivators to make pills.” Lin Hu’s usually calm voice carried some solemnity. “Another Transcendental on the side of the evil cultivators.”

In these years, because the ten major sects had managed the cultivation world well, the evil cultivators only dared to instigate minor conflicts. The most powerful evil cultivator in the most recent century was still in Splendid Cloud Sect’s jail. He would not have an opportunity to escape in this lifetime.

But now the evil cultivators came to kill and take people’s hearts, destroying people’s spirit platforms and taking their spirit energy to make pills. Were the evil cultivators getting restless again?

In the years that the cultivation world was at peace, the ordinary people lived unworried lives. Now that the evil cultivators appeared and seemed to be making major moves, the ones to suffer first were not orthodox cultivators like them, but those ordinary citizens with no ability to fight the evil cultivators.

Right now, only a few evil cultivators were doing evil. Without any proof, the cultivators of other sects would not believe them.

“Inform the sect of the matter using flying message seals. Have them tell the ten major sects. Even if they do not believe it, they can take precautions.” Huan Zhong was obsessed with the sword path and almost never interacted with people from other sects. The sect was more appropriate to handle something like this.

Kong Hou listened to the conversation between Huan Zhong and Lin Hu. She realized the matter was not so simple. But she was not a local of Lingyou World. In the years she had been in Lingyou World, she had always stayed in Splendid Cloud Sect and knew little about the cultivation world. She did not know how severe the matter was, but she could tell what had happened to the sect. Regardless of the matter or the place, it was better to be prepared early.

“Huan Zhong, I will also send a message back to my sect,” Kong Hou said. “I’m returning to my room.”

Ye Fei was shocked. These two benefactors could easily use flying message seals and they could have their sects message the ten major sects. They would not have ordinary identities. But if the two did not say, she would not ask. This was basic respect towards benefactors.

The flying message seals quickly left. When they ate lunch, Kong Hou found the dishes on the table were much more refined, and each dish gave off spirit energy. When she asked, she learned the disciples of Cool Breeze Sect had made them.

Eating the relatively delicious food, Kong Hou suspected that these disciples really had decided to serve her and Huan Zhong their entire lives.

“Huan Zhong…” When Kong Hou lent a hand to help, she had not planned to have them pay her back. So she felt embarrassed by this.

“Let them.” Huan Zhong did not understand other people’s emotions too well, but he could easily understand Kong Hou’s present expression. He said in a low voice, “The others will be anxious at having their lives saved. If they do this, they will be in a better mood. So let them.”

Kong Hou stilled and quickly understood. At certain times, Huan Zhong was more perceptive than she was.

After they finished eating, Kong Hou saw Ye Fei walk over with a conflicted expression. “Miss, this one has a very important question to ask Miss. Please, Miss, forgive this one for the offense.”

Did the other want to ask her identity?

Kong Hou nodded. “Please speak.”

“Please, Miss what kind of precious stone was inlaid on the sword Miss used yesterday? Why was the sword so beautiful?”

Kong Hou, “Ah?!”