Chapter 53

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Chapter 53: You Need My Protection Too!

True mages never look back at explosions, they just trigger one and quickly flee the scene to avoid getting beaten up.

The night wind was cool like water, blowing away all the sweat from the tense moments earlier.

Wen Yun threw off her large fur hat, causing her hair to scatter in the rustling wind, with a constant smile at the corners of her eyes and lips.

She held onto Ye Shubai’s waist tightly, listening to the distant roar of the mountains and sea behind them, elegantly reciting a poem:

"With the bright moon above, Wen Yun waved her magic wand."

The sentence before was fine, but the one after almost made Ye Shubai choke.

Wen Yun, who was feeling poetic, pondered for a moment and continued, "May I ask whose home is the fastest to flee? My sword spirit is the strongest."

Ye Shubai, "…"

Where did she learn all these strange things from? If he kept listening, he feared he would never remember the original sentence.

Although he didn’t have much spiritual power to use at the moment, he could still manage to make the flying sword go faster.

And so, after another gust of cold wind, the flying sword suddenly accelerated, racing against the night wind.

Wen Yun, whose flying skills were already clumsy, couldn’t even stand steadily. She didn’t care about reciting those messy offbeat poems anymore, and quickly reached out to tightly hold onto his sturdy waist.

"Slow down, slow down, I’m getting dizzy from the sword!"

"You praised my speed earlier, how could I let you down."

Ye Shubai spoke seriously as usual, but sometimes being too serious made people feel like he was intentionally being cryptic.

Wen Yun always thought quickly, especially when facing Ye Shubai.

After all, he was like a big brother to her in a way, so normally he wouldn’t go against her like this and say something ambiguous on purpose.

Something’s not quite right about this man.

She held onto his waist tightly, while observing his expression by leaning her neck.

From Wen Yun’s point of view, she could only catch a glimpse of his half-profile, long eyelashes, straight nose, and slightly pursed lips…

She belatedly asked, "You seem upset, don’t you?"

Ye Shubai naturally denied it, he just silently controlled the sword to fly forward, and suddenly dropped two magic crystals on the way past the inn.

In the night sky, those two magic crystals shone brightly, yet contained a strong mysterious power, piercing through the roof from above, and then directly smashing into the corner of the animal pen.

Two magic wolves curled up together sleeping, when suddenly their neck chains broke with a snap.

Confused, they lifted their heads and caught a familiar scent drifting by. Without thinking, they leaped out of their pen and chased after it.

The demon cultivators had captured and tamed many wild animal mounts. Now, with trouble in the west part of the city, everyone rushed there to find out what was happening. The east side of the city was strangely empty, giving these two black wolves a rare chance to run freely on the streets.

So, they ran towards the east, stepping on soft rugs, jumping over wooden fences, rushing past the high walls of the black stone fort, and finally gazing at the dense forest.

Having followed humans for so long, this was the first time they entered their original birthplace without anyone leading them.

Feeling both eager and fearful, the threat of being tamed as young wolves kept them from acting recklessly.

Suddenly, two plump spirit chickens fell from the sky, crashing straight into the dense woods. The voice of the girl who loved to rub their ears sounded cheerful—

"Go back now, don’t let me catch you again!"

After releasing the two mounts that had been working for days and giving two ascending chickens as a reward, Wen Yun and Ye Shubai fled quickly towards Yimin Village without any worries.

Of course, halfway through, Wen Yun couldn’t help but ask directly—

"Ye Shubai, why aren’t you happy?"

"I am not."

"Oh, if Ye Shubai is not unhappy, then why is Ye Xiaobai not happy?"

"…"

"Come on, smile, you great master, Wen Yun Archmage is trying to cheer you up."

Ye Shubai stayed silent, all the way until they reached the familiar dense forest, and after making sure no one was following them, he turned around and looked quietly at Wen Yun, remaining silent.

The cool and gentle moonlight filtered through the leaves, falling on his shoulder, casting a shadow on his face making it hard to distinguish, his snow-like clothes appearing even more desolate and lonely under the moonlight.

Wen Yun looked at him with some confusion, ever since she had known Ye Shubai, he had always been this emotionless and cold person, as if nothing in the world could stir a reaction from him, too serious and dull. Until she escaped from his hundred-year memories, perhaps out of nostalgia for their old acquaintance, he, though still looked like an unattainable immortal, finally had some worldly emotions swirling in the depths of his eyes.

For example, she can tell whether he is happy or not, and sometimes he would chat with her about some meaningless trivial things.

But now, he looked like the person she first met, walking alone in the snow, with only himself in the whole world.

As remote and cold as the eternal snow on the far-off mountains.

Wen Yun was not one to keep things to herself, she straightforwardly said, "If there’s anything that upsets you, just tell me, I can make it better."

If not, then don’t be upset.

Of course, that last sentence must never be said.

Ye Shubai calmly said, "I’m fine."

With that, he took a step forward, opened his hands towards Wen Yun, revealing two things he had been holding inside.

One was a satin box, the other was… that small piece of dragon bone.

After returning these two things to Wen Yun, he calmly said, "Let’s go, it’s inconvenient now. When we return to Four Continents, I will help him heal. You must be patient."

Ye Shubai realized that the wand spirit was severely injured, and he understood the law of life and death. He should be able to heal it with the Power of Rules, but his current cultivation level is limited, and he cannot use it.

He tried to dismiss the strange emotions in his heart and turned towards the entrance of Yimin Village.

However, Wen Yun hurriedly grabbed his wrist and said, "Wait!"

She couldn’t wait even for a moment, clearly concerned about the wand spirit. Although she never mentioned where she came from, it was obvious that the wand spirit was her long-term companion.

While he was just a passerby that they coincidentally met.

Ye Shubai lowered his gaze, his thick eyelashes trembling, casting a shadow over his eyelids.

Somehow, a faint piercing sensation suddenly arose at the tip of his heart, making him feel unfamiliar and uncomfortable.

He hesitantly said, "Alright, then I will…"

"Give me your hand now!" Wen Yun grabbed his hand and held it up to the moonlight to examine his palm.

Earlier, she sensed that the poor little fire dragon was extremely agitated while perched on the sword. In her spiritual awareness, it was howling and roaring wildly. As expected, its flames leaked out, burning Ye Shubai’s palm!

Wen Yun had a soul imprint with the dragon bone wand, so no matter how the fire dragon breathed fire or bit her, she wouldn’t get hurt. But Ye Shubai was different. Despite his exceptional cultivation, ordinary attacks couldn’t harm him at all, but this was the flame of a divine dragon!

This unlucky dragon is one of the bloodlines left by the gods in the human world!

Wen Yun carefully blew on the blister on Ye Shubai’s palm, then rummaged through the space bag and finally pulled out a large water container.

Ye Shubai found this thing familiar, "Is this spiritual spring water?"

Without looking up, she scooped up a ladle of water and poured it onto Ye Shubai’s hand, nodding, "Yes, this is Brother Bao Pilong’s water container."

Being pulled by her like this, he awkwardly shifted back, "Don’t worry about it."

"How can I not worry? Such beautiful hands got burned by this unlucky thing. If the master doesn’t care for you, who will?"

Clearly, the word "unlucky thing" upset the little dragon, making her look even angrier in front of an old love, which in turn angered a certain dragon. As a result, the spiritual imprint left by the dragon bone wand in Wen Yun’s sea of divine sense scolded and raged helplessly.

Wen Yun retaliated by tapping the dragon bone and showing her authority, saying, "Bad thing, if you bully my sword spirit again, you will be completely out of favor!"

Ye Shubai, who was originally pulling back his hand, stood calmly in place, letting Wen Yun carefully bandage his wound. When she asked him softly if it still hurt, he slightly shifted his gaze uncomfortably and replied, "It’s okay."

So the dragon bone was heartlessly tapped once again.

The sea of divine sense in Wen Yun’s mind began to wildly echo the roar of the evil dragon.

For some reason, after helping Ye Shubai bandage his wound, his originally low spirits seemed to have improved again.

Thinking it over, Wen Yun reckoned that Ye Shubai’s bad mood might be because he was hurt by Little Hong the dragon?

Unlucky thing, someone saves you and you still burn them!

With these thoughts in mind, as they made their way back to Yimin Village, the dragon bone was tapped twice more.

Little Dragon: From the current situation, it seems like I am out of favor.

The entrance to Yimin Village was as hidden as ever, with Wen Yun’s magic and spiritual arrays around it undamaged and well-preserved.

Seeing this scene, she breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It looks like the two kids, Blackstone and A’xiu, are really good. They actually caught that demon cultivator."

As they talked, she and Ye Shubai had already approached the ancient tree. Just as they crushed a fallen leaf, a sharp sound rang out like thunder.

"Enemy attack!"

Then, another voice of a young boy resounded.

"Demon cultivator, face my sword. Death is like the wind, always by my side!"

As the voices faded, two young troublemakers jumped out of the bushes with sticks in hand, seeming ready to fight to the end.

Wen Yun, "…"

Where did you learn these strange lines?

Holding a naughty child in one hand, they discovered that the visitors were actually two Immortal Masters.

Their faces lit up with joy, shouting excitedly, "Immortal Masters! It’s really you, you’re back!"

The child’s excitement quickly spread to Wen Yun, who smiled and rubbed the head of the black stone, saying, "Why are you both still outside late at night? Didn’t I tell you not to wander?"

"We didn’t wander!" The two children skillfully cleared the hidden entrance to the village, leading the way for Wen Yun and them. With excitement, they explained, "Our Master asked us to take turns guarding outside, watching for any demon cultivators trying to enter."

Wen Yun’s attention was quickly captured. "Who is this Master you mentioned?"

"Oops, I forgot to tell you, Immortal Master," he chuckled. "The man A’xiu and I caught earlier, he’s not a demon cultivator, he’s also an Immortal Master. He even took us as his disciples, saying he would teach us to be unrivaled sword cultivators!"

Before he finished speaking, A’xiu had already dashed forward like a monkey, excitedly shouting towards Yimin Village, "Master, we’ve brought back an Immortal Master!"

In a moment, a tall figure quickly ran towards them.

Shen Xinghai took a deep breath as he looked at each other, his eyes filled with excitement. Finally, he placed his sword on the ground, bowed respectfully.

"Brother Ye, Sister Wen, meeting old friends in a foreign land, what a joy!"

After speaking, he glanced behind the two, his expression gradually turned serious as he raised his sword again.

"I heard from A’xiu that you went to Cold Abyss City to rescue Brother Zhu and Senior Brother who were captured by demon cultivators. The situation was so terrifying that even you couldn’t handle it? Quickly inform me of the enemy’s situation, I will go with you to rescue Senior Brother!"

Young man, you may have misunderstood something.

We originally intended to rescue you, but unexpectedly you appeared in our camp instead of with the enemy!

Where did you come from anyway?

Wen Yun felt something stuck in her throat, unable to speak for a long time, could only stare at Shen Xinghai with a strange look.

It was her mistake to underestimate Brother Shen.

He had a special aura as a skilled sword fighter that made him safe from being captured by evil cultivators, unlike Zhu Erchong and Bao Pilong who seemed like easy targets.

In the end, she turned to A’xiu with difficulty, trembling as she asked, "Is that the evil cultivator you captured before?"

A’xiu blushed slightly, then nodded with shame and corrected, "Actually, we are disciples of our Immortal Master."

Shen Xinghai admitted, "These two young ones are brave and clever, so I have taken them as my disciples. After we return to our sect, I will report this and ask for official status tokens."

Ye Shubai, who had been silent all along, suddenly touched his space bag at his waist and threw two tokens to Shen Xinghai.

He calmly said, "Engrave their names on these yourself."

As the highest-ranking member of the sect, it was normal for Shen Xinghai to carry blank tokens for accepting new disciples at any time.

Shen Xinghai, puzzled, looked at the tokens and was surprised that even The Tenth Peak dared to forge them. Boldly, he began engraving the names for the two.

They were all happy, except Wen Yun who was feeling conflicted.

She pulled A’xiu aside secretly and asked quietly, "Child, did you smash the scroll in front of your master back then?"

A’xiu’s face turned even redder as he admitted guiltily, "I did."

Wen Yun asked again, "How many times did you smash it?"

Seeing Martial Brother Shen’s lively appearance now, I guess they probably only smashed it once or twice, right? Otherwise, he would have lost limbs and broken bones by now.

A’xiu hung his head in shame and whispered, "I smashed it over twenty times."

Oh, over twenty times, not too many, almost the same amount she left behind when she left.

So, all her magic scrolls… ended up blasting her own people in the end?

More importantly, why hasn’t he died from being blasted so badly?

*

Wen Yun learned the essence of escaping and knew that running away in the dark was the best choice.

So, after being told they could go back home tonight, the villagers of Yimin Village began preparing to leave under the command of Grandma A’hua.

Even though this was their homeland, the longing for their native land was deeply engraved in their souls. After a brief moment of reluctance, everyone started packing their belongings. They didn’t have much to bring, but almost everyone put their ancestors’ ashes into clay jars, wanting to take them back.

In the warm glow of the fire, the moving shadows of people were reflected on the walls of the underground cave, revealing an unprecedented yearning for life here.

Wen Yun smiled slightly at this scene, but when her gaze fell back on Shen Xinghai’s face, she couldn’t help but feel curious.

"Martial Brother Shen, how did you come here?"

Among the few, his cultivation level was the lowest. How did he cross the ocean to get here?

"That day, I got separated from you all in the black fog and lost my way in the Dark Heaven Secret Realm. I was then chased by several giant pythons."

Wen Yun thought to herself, indeed, Martial Brother Shen, whenever he enters a secret realm, he is bound to face trials.

"The black python was very stubborn, and I accidentally fell into a mirror-like pool in a life-threatening situation."

Here comes the turning point when facing difficulties!

Shen Xinghai looked serious and continued, "I fell into a deep sea, the water was very heavy and lacked magical power. I couldn’t control my sword, let alone swim to the shore."

Wen Yun commented, "As expected, after the turning point, there comes a setback!"

"As I was about to sink into the sea, a piece of driftwood suddenly floated towards me. I floated on it for almost a month before finally reaching the shore here."

"… " Wen Yun remained silent for a moment, looking at Ye Shubai with complexity, "If I’m not mistaken, the outer sea is extremely dangerous, with deep dark waters that have almost no buoyancy. It’s said even a leaf can’t float on it?"

"Yes, the outer sea is full of fierce monsters and hidden reefs. Unless one has special magical treasures or high cultivation, it’s impossible to cross it."

Wen Yun nodded to Shen Xinghai with a sigh, "Martial Brother Shen, surviving for almost half a month drifting on the outer sea and being hit by magic scrolls over twenty times without dying is no longer surprising."

Shen Xinghai looked determined, holding his sword, "That’s natural, we cultivators determine our own fate, how can we not challenge fate?"

"…"

This familiar way of speaking.

She knew who taught A’xiu that line just now.

*

The villagers of Yimin Village didn’t have much to bring, but there were many elderly and children, so it took a while for them to leave.

Many elderly people who had difficulty walking hadn’t been out of the cave for several years. They first looked up at the crescent moon in the sky with confusion, then knelt down and devoutly kowtowed to the ancient tree.

"Ancestors, we are going home!"

Wen Yun didn’t rush them, but during this pause, she cast a agility spell on everyone. The dense forest was difficult to traverse, the adults were fine, but if they relied solely on this group of people, it would probably take until tomorrow to reach the beach.

After kowtowing, everyone silently walked through the dense forest.

Shen Xinghai walked in the front leading the way, while Wen Yun and Ye Shubai walked at the back guarding.

The ordinary people’s walking speed couldn’t match up to the sword cultivator’s. After two hours, the group still hadn’t left the dense forest.

At that moment, Wen Yun’s heart became heavier.

She gazed into the direction of Cold Abyss City from afar and then handed the jade box to Ye Shubai, whispering, "You lead them to race towards the open sea with all your strength, I will come later."

Ye Shubai wasn’t lacking in insight compared to her. Naturally, he also sensed a very strong aura approaching from afar towards them. If he wasn’t mistaken, it was the Lord of the Cold Abyss City at the Transmigration Stage.

While they were initially led westward, demon cultivators had a variety of talents, and it was possible that someone skilled in tracking might discover their trail.

He tossed the jade box containing the magic boat to Shen Xinghai, then drew his wooden sword, his demeanor colder and more aloof than the moonlight.

"Go, they need you to protect them."

She was a person of great wisdom, knowing well what decisions were the most rational.

Besides, he had already gotten used to being the one who stays behind.

Ye Shubai took one last deep look at Wen Yun, then leaped into the air and soared westward under the moonlight!

However, in the next moment.

Wen Yun, who was running towards the flying sword, hugged his waist tightly and buried her head behind his back to shield from the wind.

The girl’s clear voice brushed past his ear, as unreasonable as ever –

"But you also need my protection!"