Shen Ruochu stuffed everything Gu Chengxing handed her into her mouth without care.
She did not know what she had just eaten, nor what it tasted like.
She only knew that she had to live. Live until the day she killed Gu Chengxing.
She was only seven years old, still young, still full of childlike innocence.
But the annihilation of her entire family overnight was a blow beyond words.
Her innocence was gone in a single day. All that remained was coldness and hatred.
The small Shen Ruochu curled up, sitting in front of the greatest enemy of her life.
She refused to look at Gu Chengxing.
If she did, she feared she would not be able to suppress the urge to bite him to death.
Though young, she knew her strength was pitifully weak. She could not cause even the slightest harm to the so-called “young prodigy” before her.
Since she had already survived, struggling pointlessly would achieve nothing.
It was better to wait. Wait for the day she could truly tear flesh from Gu Chengxing’s body. Truly… take her revenge.
Gu Chengxing… Gu… Cheng… Xing…
Gu… Cheng… Xing…
Gu…
These three characters were etched deeply into Shen Ruochu’s heart.
She would never forget this name for the rest of her life.
From this moment on, the only purpose of her life was to kill him.
Kill the demon who destroyed her family.
Hatred clouded her thoughts. Gradually, Shen Ruochu lost consciousness and fell into sleep.
In the final moment before she drifted off, one last thought flashed through her mind.
Why…
Why didn’t you kill me too…
Why did you choose to torture me instead…
Why…
Why…
Gu Chengxing had no idea of the frozen storm within Shen Ruochu’s heart.
At this moment, he was only thinking about how to return to the Azure Cloud Sword Sect.
The Azure Cloud Sword Sect was located 5,000 kilometers east of the Great Zhou’s border, atop Azure Cloud Mountain.
Although he was fast and could travel about 500 kilometers in a day at full speed, he was carrying a small burden at his side, which made things inconvenient.
After some thought, Gu Chengxing took out a pale blue flute from his spatial ring.
This flute was called the Spirit-Summoning Flute, a high-grade spiritual weapon. When played, it could summon the Azure Cloud Sword Sect’s guardian beasts, the immortal cranes.
The immortal crane and the sword were the two signature symbols of the Azure Cloud Sword Sect.
Since its founding, the sect had raised an entire clan of immortal cranes. Over time, some of them chose to become mounts for the sect’s disciples.
The Spirit-Summoning Flute was used to call these crane mounts.
He blew gently, and the flute’s melody rang out melodiously.
Spiritual energy surged. Pale white mist began to flow from the flute’s holes.
After a while, the mist gradually took on a faint blue hue, appearing extremely mystical.
It was Gu Chengxing’s first time using this item, and he found it rather astonishing. He did not understand the principle behind it.
A mere high-grade spiritual weapon could transmit information across 5,000 kilometers with precise accuracy.
The blue hue in the mist deepened until it began to turn purple, spreading to cover about 1 cubic meter of space. Only then did Gu Chengxing stop playing.
When the mist shifted from white to blue, it meant that a crane had accepted his “riding request.”
When the blue deepened to purple, it meant this was an “urgent riding request.”
In simple terms, Gu Chengxing would pay more compensation, and the cranes would provide superior service.
After the corresponding crane accepted the task, Gu Chengxing would pay the agreed reward in installments.
At the same time, a special message was transmitted from the Spirit-Summoning Flute.
[Mission: From Stormcrest County of the Great Zhou Empire to Azure Cloud Sword Sect (coordinates attached), total distance: 5,000 kilometers.]
[Status: Top-tier Crane Rider 007 has accepted your riding request and has departed. Estimated arrival time at pickup location: 12 hours. Please refrain from moving during this period. Thank you for your cooperation.]
[Total reward required: 10 medium-grade spiritual stones.]
[Reminder: The mission may be canceled within 15 minutes. If canceled after 15 minutes, 10% of the total reward must still be paid. Refusal to pay will result in being placed on the Crane Riding Hall blacklist and refusal of future services. Thank you again for your cooperation.]
“Goodness… this is so advanced?” Gu Chengxing clicked his tongue in amazement.
“So user-friendly. Feels like food delivery.”
Immortal cranes…
Strictly speaking, the immortal crane clan of Azure Cloud Province could also be considered disciples of the Azure Cloud Sword Sect.
They even had official status.
Thinking further, Gu Chengxing sighed faintly.
In the original novel, when his Heavenly Demon Physique was exposed in the future, the immortal crane clan would also be implicated and slaughtered brutally, until only a few scattered survivors remained, nearly extinct.
…
Night fell. The full moon rose. A gentle breeze brushed through the forest.
Clear moonlight poured down softly. The ashes of the campfire gradually faded.
Gu Chengxing’s state of mind slowly calmed.
But when he looked at Shen Ruochu curled up in front of him, sleeping alone, that calm grew more complicated and harder to control.
Thinking back on everything that had happened in the past two days, it all felt surreal.
“It’s only been two days, but it feels like half a month has passed…”
After a while, Gu Chengxing could not help but speak.
“System…”
[Ding!]
“Do I still have a chance to go home?”
[The day Ruochu becomes Empress is the day you return home.]
“So I have to wait until the end of the main plotline and let Shen Ruochu kill me?”
[If nothing unexpected happens, yes. Or perhaps earlier.]
Hearing the system’s answer, Gu Chengxing gave a bitter smile.
If the system had said that dying would allow him to return to reality, he would have split his own throat in two and held it out before Shen Ruochu for her to finish the job.
That way, little Ruochu would achieve revenge, and he would go home. A perfect ending for both.
But there were no ifs.
Only reality.
Moved by a sudden impulse, Gu Chengxing crouched down and gently rubbed Shen Ruochu’s small head as she curled into herself.
Even in sleep, she looked pained. The blow she had suffered was too great. It might follow her for the rest of her life.
He murmured softly, “You’ve suffered too much, little one.”
“You can’t kill me yet. You’ll have to wait a bit longer…”
“During this time, I’ll try to treat you a little better. Only try, because I’m not feeling great either. Let’s endure this together…”
Gu Chengxing withdrew his hand and cleared his mind.
He sat cross-legged and began circulating the Azure Cloud Art, absorbing spiritual energy from heaven and earth to nourish himself.
At the same time, he guided part of the refined spiritual energy into Shen Ruochu’s body, nurturing her fragile young frame.
Shen Ruochu shifted slightly, as if sensing something.
The tightly furrowed brows she even wore in sleep visibly relaxed a little.
Feeling the change, Gu Chengxing felt slightly better. Only slightly.
He admitted it. He was simply a soft-hearted person with decent acting skills. He could not bear to see such things, especially when they happened right before his eyes, even if he knew this was only a novel’s world, false and not real.
But when he read novels, he always treated the world within them as real.
If so, who could say she was fake?
People often say that outsiders see the clearest. But are you and I truly outsiders?
Perhaps from the moment our eyes met, we were already part of the game. A participant who merely believes himself to be an observer.
Little Ruochu…
May you no longer grieve in your dreams.
May the future grant you your wish.