Having dressed, Xuan Yue started to walk towards Ah Dai and the Yan Shi brothers. Their gazes simultaneously landed on her. Xuan Yue’s long blue hair draped over her shoulders, with occasional droplets running down, making her look as alluring as a lotus freshly erged from water. Her white dress highlighted her pureness, giving off an invulnerable aura. However, her usually bright eyes now looked bewildered.
Seeing Xuan Yue walking towards him, Ah Dai’s face turned scarlet. He stamred, "Yue Yue, Yue Yue I ... I didn’t see anything." His stuttering only exposed his obvious lie.
Xuan Yue stared at Ah Dai. Her chest was heaving rapidly. Suddenly, she squatted down and started sobbing loudly.
Startled, Ah Dai turned to Yan Shi and Yan Li for help, but the brothers exchanged a glance and conveniently looked away, unconcerned about his predicant.
Watching Xuan Yue’s heart-wrenching sobs, Ah Dai couldn’t bear it. Reluctantly, he moved closer to her, whispering, "Yue Yue, you... you can hit , scold . It’s all my fault. Please stop crying."
Xuan Yue lifted her head and looked at Ah Dai’s red, flustered face. Seeing the ripped clothes he wore, she felt a pang of sympathy. Choking back tears, she said, "How could you... look at girls’ bodies and... touch them..."
With a bitter smile, Ah Dai said, "I... I really didn’t an to."
Xuan Yue wiped her face and said grumpily, "I don’t care. You bullied , and you’ll have to make up for it."
Seeing that Xuan Yue had stopped crying, Ah Dai heaved a sigh of relief and hastily agreed, "I’ll make up for it, I will." Anyway, he owed Xuan Yue so much already. The more debt, the less worry. And besides, aside from himself, he didn’t have much else to offer her.
Standing up, Xuan Yue glared at Yan Shi and Yan Li, who were trying to hold back their laughter, and said sharply, "What are you laughing at? What’s so funny about this? Keep laughing and I won’t feed you dinner."
Yan Shi and Yan Li were quick to suppress their laughter, saying in unison, "No, we’re not laughing anymore."
Actually, Xuan Yue wasn’t angry at Ah Dai, her tears were just a manifestation of a young girl’s embarrassnt. Every ti she thought of that humiliating mont, her heart pounded and her glances towards Ah Dai grew stranger.
"Let’s get going. We should hit the road. Or do you all want to rest forever?" Xuan Yue said, unenthused.
Yan Li was quick to stand up. Grabbing his axe, he said, "I’ll lead the way." Yan Shi was not far behind him, saying, "I’ll scout out the terrain." And with that, they both bolted off.
Stamring, Ah Dai asked, "Yue Yue, should I ... carry you?"
Xuan Yue retorted, "Of course, you should. With such a difficult path, do you want to leave behind?"
"Oh." Ah Dai carefully moved closer to Xuan Yue, patting the ground beside him for her to sit. Once she settled, she hugged his neck and reclined on his back. The contact was electrifying for both of them, and they simultaneously tensed up. Xuan Yue could feel the warmth radiating from Ah Dai’s back and his beating heart. In contrast, Ah Dai only felt the cool softness of Xuan Yue’s petite figure, and the allure of her bewitching curls soaked with water droplets. After an awkward silence that stretched out for a while, it was Xuan Yue who finally broke it, "Let’s go." Her voice was soft, low, and carried a hint of shyness.
It was only then that Ah Dai snapped back to reality. He quickly tried to clear his mind, lifted Xuan Yue’s legs, and followed in the direction where Yan Shi and Yan Li disappeared.
When the moon replaced the sun, illuminating the silent, dark terrain, the quartet had already ventured deep into the Tian Gang Mountain Range.
Clearly dissatisfied, Xuan Yue asked, "Where is this Tian Gang Sword Sect, anyway? We’ve been walking all day and there’s still no sign of it. Brother Yan Shi, you said Tian Gang Mountain is the tallest peak in the Tian Gang Mountain Range. However, all the mountains here are so high that they all look the sa. How are we supposed to find the right one?"
With a troubled smile, Yan Shi replied, "This is my first ti here, too. I wouldn’t know. All I know is what our teacher Xi Wen told us. But the Tian Gang Mountain Range is gigantic, and we’re surrounded by peaks blocking our view. It’s normal that we can’t find the main peak, Tian Gang Mountain. Let’s rest for the night and continue our search in daylight."
Unbeknownst to them, there were secret trails within the Tian Gang Mountain Range, constructed by the Tian Gang Sword Sect. These trails would lead directly to Tian Gang Mountain, a secret known only to its disciples.
Curling her lips, Xuan Yue said, "Well then, let’s rest. It was quite hot during the day, but it’s surprisingly cold now." Being in the mountains, where the air was heavy with moisture, did them no favors. This, coupled with the high altitude, ant that while the days were warm, the nights were chilly. Ah Dai and the others, with their years of martial arts training and robust health, didn’t notice the change much. However, Xuan Yue did.
Ah Dai quickly took off his coat and put it on Xuan Yue. His mage’s robe, damaged long ago during their ti with the Ya Lian tribe, had been replaced by a simple cotton outfit he’d brought from Stone Pond Town. Xuan Yue glanced shyly at Ah Dai, her heart fluttering.
Yan Shi suggested, "The mountains are cold, especially at night. Let’s start a fire in an open area, that should warm us up. We just need to endure tonight. We’ll find Tian Gang Mountain, no matter what, tomorrow."
Knitting his brow, Yan Li said, "Boss, there are trees everywhere in this mountain. If we start a fire, won’t we burn the entire mountain down? The Tian Gang Sword Sect would never forgive us!"
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