The mountain ahead was still as high as the beginning, and the sunlight was dazzling as it had always been. There were immense trees in front of Ronghua. She sighed and wondered when she would finish this journey.
Ronghua had been in this mountain for two days. During this time, she had to take care of not only herself but also a new-added burden, who even carried two strips of iron chain on his hands and feet.
A three-day trip was delayed to six days as she agreed to take him with her.
The point was that the iron chains were not normal ones. They were made of the hardest dark iron and were impossible to unlock without a particular skill. They were widely used by the masters to prevent drug slaves from escaping.
If her spiritual instrument were still here, she could cut it apart easily. However, after her fan was taken away, all her useful weapons were gone. She had no choice but to walk step by step with him, slowly and hard.
Now Rongnuan had washed all the blood and dirt away and changed to new clothes, which were made by Ronghua with colorful-cloud yamamai silk last night.
He looked pretty good after he got himself clean. It proved that fine clothes were necessary for humans to have a good appearance. She sewed the colorful-cloud silk to a sapphire blue robe, smooth like jade brocade. The dark belt tied around his waist was found in her space. She did not know why she had articles for men in her space, and it matched her taste very well.
His hair was flowing in the wind in a charming way, his eyes were dark and peaceful like antique ponds, and his body was strong and full of power. He was trained well as a drug slave by his former master.
She had not noticed his fit physique at that time, and now she was finally aware of his handsome and gentle look. He could attract a lot of girls if he appeared at the public!
What was more important was that he had all the living skills!
Firstly, Ronghua never combed her hair up to different styles by herself. It was troublesome to her, and she did not know how to do it, so she just let her hair swing behind her back all the time. However, on the second day she saved Rongnuan, he combed her hair to a simple and elegant shape because he might not bear her hair in a mess. He did have talented hands.
Secondly, Ronghua could not cook because she did not have to eat. She could directly solve her hunger with an elixir. But for an ordinary human like Rongnuan, he could not use this method as he did not have the cultivation to digest the elixir. Hence Ronghua took on the task of hunting the food. Even if she insisted that she did not need the food to survive, she still enjoyed the delicious meals made by Rongnuan very much.
Last but not least, Ronghua did not have much patience. Rongnuan walked at a very low speed and needed to have a rest regularly because of having no cultivation, while Ronghua was in a hurry. The time they spent in this mountain was extended owing to him, so Ronghua would become angry from time to time. Each time she stared at him and was going to blame him, he would look at her with an innocent expression, and then Ronghua’s anger might go.
Ronghua was tired of endless walking and sat down. Rongnuan understood her feeling and squatted in front of her.
Ronghua felt strange about his behavior, “What are you doing? Do you feel hurt somewhere?”
He just said, “I can carry you.”
Ronghua asked with surprise, “Carry me?” He answered firmly, “Yes!” Ronghua was entertained. She glanced at the chains on his hands and feet and japed, “Come on. We won’t get out of this mountain after a fortnight in this way.”
Ronghua did not move; neither did he. He did not even speak. Ronghua knew her words were not kind, so she did not say more. She turned to tear a big fan leaf to block the sunlight. As soon as she got the leaf, Rongnuan moved and pulled her, and then she was on his back.
Ronghua had no expression to reflect her astonishment for his actions. They had the glowing sun above, he had heavy chains on him, and the road was tough. How did he get the courage and strength to carry her? He should not have been ordered to do such physical work even when he was a drug slave.
Ronghua stared at his back of the head with amazement. It was very hot. The clothes were thin and were attached to the body as they were sweating. Ronghua’s clothes were always light-colored, so her snow-white skin could be seen through the cloth.
“Don’t you feel hot?” Ronghua leaned over to his ear and asked. Perhaps his ears were sensitive, Rongnuan showed slight evidence to avoid her mouth unconsciously, “No, I don’t. I will carry you out of here.”
Ronghua raised her head and used her hands to hold the big fan leave above them, sheltering him from the sunlight.
The leaf could not only block the light but also could be used for refrigeration. Being supported with Ronghua’s spiritual power, the fan spread ice fog around them, driving the hot air away.
Ronghua looked at his side face, “Why did your master discard you?”
He answered with a rhetorical question, “Would you eat expired food?”
Well, this was not a good metaphor. “Then why are you here? It’s not the same as the place where your master would live. Or did he bring you to this place to cast you off?”
Was it necessary to go that far to desert a drug slave?
“… No,” he mumbled, “I came here alone.”
“For what? The herbs?”
She could not come up with any other reason for coming here, except for this.
Nonetheless, he stopped talking again.
Ronghua did not know how to continue.
She thought he might want to try in this way to be forgiven and accepted by his master again.
“I was born as a drug slave,” he said. He had never talked about that before.
“I was soaked in various medicinal materials every day. He never cared about how I would be affected and never asked whether I felt hurt or not.”
Ronghua felt sad for him. Had he been suffering this since childhood?
“Sometimes, I resisted. Then they beat me for punishment. I escaped once, and they beat me harder after they caught me back. I was put on these chains at last and could never run away.”
That’s the bare truth. Drug slaves were slaves and had no human rights.
“I was not cultivated. If I did not test the drug for them, then…” Rongnuan did not finish his sentence, but Ronghua completed in her mind, “Then he would have no food.” This was the most simple but useful torment for ordinaries.
“Owing to this, I wanted to become stronger, so I did alchemy secretly. I tried to take elixirs to cultivate, but I was caught. Hence they took away my drugs and all the things I could use and kicked me out.”
“Does it hurt?”
“What?” He stopped. Ronghua thought he did not hear her clearly, so she repeated, “They must have beaten you after that. Does it hurt?”
He understood her question this time, “… It hurts, but I’m used to it.”
It was terrible to get used to pain.
“Are you desired to be stronger?”
Ronghua discovered the voice in his heart. “Yes, I’m desperate for strength!” He was firm and stubborn. Ronghua replied calmly, “I give you a chance to become powerful.”
He paused and turned his head fiercely and asked with excitement, “Really?” It all happened of a sudden, and then they found their faces were so close. The distance between their lips was no more than half an inch. It was quite embarrassing.
Ronghua turned her head to one side stiffly. Rongnuan had no reaction to this. He turned back his head and continued walking.
After a while, Ronghua restarted the conversation, “There should have some herbs for alchemy in this mountain.”
Rongnuan stopped, “I’m not sure. People seldom come here.” Ronghua instructed, “Let me down. We go to search for the herbs.”
Rongnuan put her back to the ground. The clothes were dried during this time and were not very transparent now. Ronghua indeed had a good figure. Even a person like Rongnuan, who did not care about beauties, thought she had a great shape. However, Ronghua never focused on this thing.
Ronghua took one of his hands and used a litter spiritual power to examine his body. Rongnuan observed her face in the meanwhile. She still maintained a gentle and mild expression without any change.
Later, Ronghua stopped and looked up at the sky to estimate the time of the day. They still had some time. “I checked your body just now. You have never cultivated or formed a Golden Pellet, but your Dantian was impaired. Considering your condition, you shall take the soul-restoring pill first, and then use the pith-rebuilding pill to reshape your fundamental physical quality.”
He stared at Ronghua, blankly, “Soul-restoring pill? What was that?”
“Huh?” He did not know this before?
Ronghua looked at him in surprise, “Haven’t you heard it before?”
He lowered his head with melancholy, “Am I so ignorant?”
How did he think that way? Ronghua was speechless. It was fine to know nothing about that pill, and there was no need to depreciate himself for that. There might be a few people in this world who knew how to make the soul-restoring pill.
He had a bitter smile, “I have never heard about it.” Ronghua rubbed his hair like soothing a pet, “Never mind. I know, and that’s enough.”
Ronghua led him to walk and search, wondering if here had the materials she needed.
He dragged the heavy chains and followed, “What materials do we need?”
“The pith-rebuilding pill is simple to refine, but the prescription for the soul-restoring pill is complicated. The Sun Herb, the demon emperor, the Flower of Void, the Violet Lotus, the Xueyan Herb, the Briarwood Herb, the Nightmare Cirrus, the Imperial Bloodweed, the Flower of Midnight Dew, the Golem’s blood, the Sliver-leaf Chrysanthemum, the Fire-root Herb, the gold bodhi fruit, the Ice-lid Herb, and the Nine-lotus Ginseng. Each one is rare to see.”
It was the first time for Rongnuan to saw a worried face on Ronghua, and he felt guilty. He bowed his head, “If they were hard to find, then…”
“No way!” Ronghua knew the remaining part he was to say and interrupted immediately, “I did not say we cannot find them. I haven’t given up yet. How can you quit earlier than me? You want to be like this the whole life?”
Rongnuan did not expect that Ronghua had a strong persistence for this. He just mentioned his wish inadvertently. Then she attached great importance to it for him.
The sky turned dark soon. Ronghua did not find a suitable place to rest, so she snapped her fingers and lit a fire to see the road. Rongnuan asked, “Shall we keep searching at night?”
Ronghua glanced at his tired face, “Are you tired?” Rongnuan denied, “No!”
A stubborn boy.
Nonetheless, Ronghua did not comment on that and just persuaded, “Let’s slow down. We can search as we are walking. Some herbs could only be found at night.”
Rongnuan knew that she was comforting him. How was it possible that the herb could only be discovered in the evening?
“Well, let’s go!”
Ronghua was walking ahead of him. She suddenly stopped and looked back at him. Struggling for a while, she walked back to hold his hand to walk abreast. Rongnuan never expected she would do this. She was not as indifferent as she looked.
“Ronghua!” He suddenly called her, while Ronghua kept walking and asked, “What?”
A question was hidden in his mind for a long time, “Have you… ever doubt my identity? Aren’t you afraid that I lied to you?”
Ronghua just looked at the road ahead, but an insuppressible smiled appeared on her face, “Cheat me? A person like you?”
Rongnuan was chocked by her refutation and failed to debate with her. Ronghua continued, “I would not help you if you lied to me. Understand?”
“Besides, the people who dared to cheat me have ceased to exist a long time ago.”
Rongnuan was at a loss for words. Was she threatening him? She implied that the cost would be huge for the lie, but he still asked at last, “What if I did?”
Ronghua became mute, which made him regretted asking. Then Ronghua dragged him into her arms all at once and threw out a fireball. Next, he heard a roar from the beast.
“If you dared, that would be your ending.”
He got up slowly from Ronghua’s hug and looked back. A lone wolf was lying on the ground. Blood was spraying from its abdomen.
It was really cruel!