Chapter 375: This Sure is Fate
Probably because Yue Ying had released the knot in his heart, student Nangong Huang recently seemed to especially like sticking with Yue Ying. Though, he would always be abused by Yue Ying’s words and be shamed for his actions. Furthermore, whenever she wasn’t looking, he would be quietly be beaten up.
Nangong Huang however still continued to press forward and seek abuse. If not because she wasn’t aware how perverse the suppression of a God race’s bloodline was, Zhu Yao would have thought that he was trying to make Yue Ying gay. Though Yue Ying looked like he was becoming more and more irritated, his expressions seemed to have grown livelier, harbouring more human-like characteristics. Seeing that the two of them were tearing each other through their words, Zhu Yao was not in the position to step in either. Because whenever she tried to interrupt, Nangong Huang’s treatment would instead become even more intense. After a long while, she then grew lazy and no longer bothered them. Though, the true homosexual friend of student Nangong grew dissatisfied. Occasionally, he would send her resentful and complaining eyes.
Uh… Student Little Teal, why are you looking at me? This doesn’t concern me at all, flips table! Yue Ying is the one who stepped in between the two of you, and even without him, with how one of you being a flower demon and him being a demonic beast, there’s no future for you two with different races, alright?
Eh, why did she feel something was strange here?
“Have you truly decided to forgive him?” Her hand warmed, as long and slender fingers slowly interlocked with hers.
Turning her head around, Zhu Yao looked at her master and nodded. “Mn. After actually thinking about it, I too hold responsibility for Yue Ying turning out that way. When I picked him up back then, I didn’t know he was Shao Bai. Also, given his identity back then, he would have gotten trouble with Celestial Indus Sect. I thought that by leaving him in Ancient Hill Sect, I would be giving him a home. Also, I believed that with Little Radish’s sincere care, it was the best arrangement for him. I never expected that it instead drove him to becoming a Devil.”
“Life is unpredictable.” Yu Yan solemnly said. “You hold too many mysteries, and your methods have always been extremely dangerous. If you had decided to leave him by your side back then, he might have died long ago. How then could he have the chance to become a Devil?”
“But…”
“Yu Yao.” He reached out to hold onto her waist and stroke her head. With a long sigh, he said. “You can’t possibly do everything perfectly. In regards to the things that you do, I believe that even when it comes to your master… you wouldn’t be willing to bring me along, right?”
Zhu Yao stiffened.
“You’re afraid, aren’t you?” Yu Yan continued. “You’re not afraid of your constant deaths and resurrections, but you’re afraid of any harm that comes our way. You’re worried that we might… encounter misfortune, and then unable to resurrect like you, right?”
“Master…”
“Your master doesn’t blame you.” Yu Yan sighed, and then hugged her a little tighter. “You’ve already done really well. With the responsibility of saving lives resting on one’s shoulders, who else would have the confidence of doing better? That’s why even though I’ve always been furious at you acting on your own… I’ve never ever blamed you.”
Zhu Yao was silent as she tightened her arms around the person in front of her. Breathing in the slightly cold air emitted from his body, she raised her head a moment later. With a slightly trembling voice, she said. “That’s why, master. Nothing must ever happen to you. Nothing. Otherwise… I don’t know what I will do?”
Yu Yan lowered his head and pecked her forehead. With a gentle voice, he said. “Mn, your master will accompany you always.”
“Hey! That’s enough from the both of you.” Zhonggu Lu rolled his eyes with scorn. The two of them suddenly hugged each other while walking. Did they forget that was still a spectator here?
“The both of them are about to fight again. Are you sure you’re not going to stop them?” He pointed at the two people in front.
Zhu Yao turned to look, and saw that Yue Ying’s face had already turned as dark as the bottom of a pot. He was taking steps forward with a furious face. Student Nangong was currently hugging his thigh tightly. As he was dragged on the ground, he cried out. “Don’t! Daoist Yue, why are you so violent? You must treat me a little gentler, ah… it hurts!”
Spectators: “…”
Just how the hell did he spout out such yaoi-like lines? Don’t think because you’re Nangong Huang, you can act so raunchy, hey! Yue Ying is still a child!
“Yue Ying, come back.” Zhu Yao hurriedly waved him over, preventing him from being led astray.
Yue Ying’s irritation instantly dissipated quite a bit as he obediently walked back. Before that, he did not forget to give Nangong Huang on the ground a kick, along with a chilling glare.
Nangong Huang did not feel hurt or displeased, clearly, he had already gotten used to it. Patting off the dirt on his clothes, he then began to pick up the morals that he dropped on the ground.
“And what happened to the two of you?” Zhu Yao pulled Yue Ying to the back and questioned him sternly.
Yue Ying’s face was still dark as he desperately glared at Nangong Cheng at the side. His eyes were filled with: I will kill you, I will you kill you, I will kill you.
“Dongfang girly, this time it’s not my fault.” Nangong Cheng said with a bitter look. “Daoist Yue wanted to hold onto a Nascent Divided Pearl no matter what and head out alone to scout the way forward. This place is too dangerous, so I decided to stop him.”
“What!?” Zhonggu Lu became anxious when he heard it as well, and he said with a furious look. “That’s simply too preposterous. We have limited amount of Nascent Divided Pearls in the first place. We have only walked for two days, and we don’t have a surplus of them to waste. Rejected!”
Yu Yan slightly frowned as well. Indeed! They were not lost right now either, so there was no need to waste Nascent Divided Pearls to head out for an investigation. Even if Yue Ying was irritated with Nangong Cheng’s pestering, bringing such a request up was indeed too much.
In an instant, everyone faintly carried criticizing eyes.
Yue Ying did not refute and simply lowered his head. His expression was unclear, but he was tightly clenching his hands. The emotions that he had been beginning to gain in these few days, were slowly beginning to turn back into a deathly calm.
Zhu Yao’s heart sank and immediately pulled up Yue Ying’s hands. “Yue Ying, tell us. Just what happened earlier?”
Before he could speak, Zhonggu Lu furiously said. “Didn’t Nangong say it earlier? He wanted to steal…”
“Shut up!” Zhu Yao glared at him. “I’m asking Yue Ying, not you. Why is a single puppy trying to interrupt?”
“Uh…” Why did he feel as though his knee was shot with an arrow?
“Yue Ying, tell me. What happened just now? What were you thinking?” Zhu Yao continued to ask.
Yue Ying stiffened, the hands which were held by hers were trembling a little. After a moment, he slowly raised his head. However, he no longer carried that furious expression. His brows were slightly furrowed, his lips curved downwards, and even his tone changed. “Big sis…”
He lightly called out, as though he was being heavily wronged. She had never seen him like this, and for some reason, her heart began to melt.
“Take your time.”
His expression only maintained for a second, and immediately after, it reverted back to his former blank look. Even his tone had reverted back to being monotonous. “I realized that I can sense the surrounding back figures, and they might not have any influence on me. Also, as we moved forward, the shadows had actually been decreasing. I feel that in two days at the very most, they will completely disappear. I just wanted to ascertain just how far we have to go in order to shake off those shadows, and so I wanted to first head out to investigate.”
“You’re saying that these shadows aren’t found everywhere?” Zhonggu Lu was stunned. “Great! In that case, we can arrive at a safe place before our Nascent Divided Pearls run out.”
“Daoist Yue, why didn’t you say so earlier!” Nangong Cheng came squeezing in. “Since you can sense those shadows, we have some form of hope now.”
Zhu Yao pulled Yue Ying back, and activated her debt-settling mode. “Who was the one that said he was being nonsensical and preposterous earlier?”
The Yellow and Teal group stiffened, and they carried embarrassed faces. “Haah. It’s my fault, I’m sorry, Daoist Yue.” Nangong Cheng was rather magnanimous, as he scratched his head and showed an apologetic look.
“I’m sorry.” Zhonggu Lu immediately followed up. “I was too anxious earlier, and though… Haah, it’s all Little Huang’s fault for speaking nonsense!”
“Eh?” Nangong Cheng was shot twice consecutively. Why was he taking full responsibility for this now? Even for his good homosexual friend, he shouldn’t shoot like that! Also, who’s Little Huang?
Zhu Yao turned to glance at Yue Ying. Seeing that he was carrying his usual expression and cold eyes, looking as if he disliked jokes and conversations, Zhu Yao heaved a sigh of relief. The current Yue Ying was like a child who was overly sensitive. She was truly afraid that because of this matter, he would lose the courage to interact with others.
However the fact that these terrifying shadows had a limited activity range had ignited the confidence of the squad. Just as Nangong Cheng planned on restarting a discussion how they should move forward from here, a sharp scream suddenly interrupted him.
The noise came from nearby, and it belonged to a woman as well. In these silent and dark space, it was especially horrifying. A bad feeling suddenly surged within Zhu Yao. The scream came so suddenly, so it definitely was ominous. Just as they were planning to make a detour…
A stream of hurried sprinting noises could be heard from in front of them. In the next moment, a few dishevelled figures was running over to them. There were a total of four people, and they each was running, limping with a messy pace. They seemed to be composed of three men and one woman.
They initially had panicky and fatigued looks, but when they saw Zhu Yao’s group, the instantly came charging over filled with excitement. They stopped outside their barrier and desperately knocked on it. “Save us, save us! I beg you all, save me!”
Only then did Zhu Yao have a good look of their faces. It sure was a coincidence. It was actually Mary Sue Mei Xue who fooled Nangong Cheng and Zhonggu Lu on the second floor. This sure was fate!
“It’s you!” Nangong Cheng naturally recognized her as well, and angrily charged forward.
“You…” Mei Xue was stunned as well, and only then did she recognize Nangong Cheng. In an instant, her face was filled with a pleasant surprise. “Daoist Nangong, it’s you! That’s great! Those shadows are closing in, Daoist Nangong please open the barrier and save us.”
Nangong Cheng coldly laughed. “You lot schemed us before, and we have yet to settle the score for that. Yet you still dare to show your face in front of us!”
Mei Xue was stunned as something flashed within her eyes. Immediately after, she recovered herself and tears instantly flowed out. There was no cooldown to her acting skills at all. “Daoist Nangong, could you possibly have a misunderstanding? I can explain! Did something happen after we split up? After we split up, we were really worried of you two as well, and we even returned to search for you two, but… but we simply couldn’t find you. Mei Xue understands that we have let you two down, and in these few days, I have also found it hard to swallow down my food because of that incident. Now that we’re in a crisis, if you don’t let us in, we will immediately lose our lives here.”
From the nonsense that she was spouting, most likely, she was still unaware that they had already figured out the secret behind the Extermination Formation. Nangong Cheng’s face had already turned green from anger, as he turned back to look at the rest.
Zhu Yao shrugged. “This doesn’t concern me. This is your issue, decide on your own.”
After saying that, she pulled her master and Yue Ying. They then took a few steps back and turned around.
She looked as if she did not want to step in at all, but she could not help but speak with a suppressed voice. “Yue Ying, there’s something I want to ask you.”