The fact that villains had no sense of shame made things rather difficult.
Tian Luo watched as the villain emerged from the cave into the open and lifted his head, squinting at the sunlight. He didn’t say a single word. A smile lingered on his handsome yet gloomy face.
How should she put it?
That smile looked pretty terrifying under the sun.
It was the kind of expression that practically screamed, “I’m about to kill someone,” or “Enemies, if you know what’s good for you, offer up your necks voluntarily.”
He seemed completely unconcerned about the fact that he was stark naked.
Tian Luo desperately tugged at her own clothes and grabbed his thick black hair, which hung all the way to his ankles, trying to use it to cover him up a little.
After having his hair pulled, Lu Qizhi finally withdrew his gaze from the sky and looked at Tian Luo.
His eyes clearly asked:
“…?”
Tian Luo leaned closer and repeated herself.
“Um… do you maybe want to put some clothes on?”
Her entire face practically said, “Personally I don’t mind, but some people aren’t as open-minded as I am, and I’m worried they’ll think you’re a pervert.”
Lu Qizhi frowned and glanced down at himself.
His expression remained completely indifferent.
He couldn’t care less.
“Junior Sister, hurry and take him somewhere to get dressed!”
Only then did the group eating roasted meat nearby finally react. A crowd of perpetually single sword cultivators covered their eyes while urging her on, all thinking at once:
Oh dear, oh dear! Junior Sister is so young, yet she’s already with someone… oh dear!
Since Tian Luo had already called him “darling,” it was only natural that she should take her “darling” to get dressed.
In broad daylight, everything could be seen perfectly clearly.
Tian Luo stiffly led him behind a patch of black shrubs and handed him a set of Zixu Sword Sect disciple robes. She fixed her gaze firmly on the distance, not daring to look at the villain’s body.
But that accidental glimpse she’d gotten earlier had already left a deep and vivid impression on her young heart.
To summarize:
Fair skin.
Long legs.
Broad shoulders.
Slim waist.
Anything beyond that was too dangerous to summarize.
Inappropriate.
“Even though I charge money, you still haven’t paid me yet. And technically I’m your savior. So, about those Senior Brother and Senior Sister outside… I think you…”
Tian Luo was struggling to figure out how to persuade the villain not to start randomly killing people.
At the very least, not the Senior Brother and Senior Sister of Zixu Sword Sect.
But then she thought about it.
Why would he listen to her?
Then she looked up—
And saw the villain emerging from behind the shrubs, dressed in the standard all-black attire reserved for novel villains.
A bit of his chest remained exposed.
The fabric looked smooth and luxurious, definitely not something she could afford.
Actually…
No.
She probably could afford it now!
His hair had been gathered up with a simple wooden hairpin, making his appearance look much cleaner and sharper.
But wait.
Where had those clothes come from?
And where had that hairpin come from?
Lu Qizhi glanced at her, as though reading her thoughts.
His beautiful face remained gloomy.
“I just made them. I don’t wear other people’s clothes.”
Made them?
Tian Luo frowned and looked around thoughtfully before turning toward the nearby shrubs with black leaves.
Were those the raw materials?
The weaving quality was incredible!
She needed to collect some and sell them later!
After taking a few steps, Lu Qizhi noticed Tian Luo wasn’t following.
He turned around with a frown.
She was squatting beside the shrubs, gathering black mulberry leaves.
Lu Qizhi: “…”
“Only I can do that.”
His temper wasn’t great, and his tone became somewhat irritable.
Tian Luo immediately started gathering leaves even faster.
“Then let’s collect more! Once we’re out, you weave cloth and I’ll sell it. Rare goods command high prices! We’ll split the profits fifty-fifty. And don’t forget you still owe me ten thousand one hundred high-grade spirit stones!”
As long as you were alive, you needed money.
Since there was an opportunity to make money, she had to seize it!
Lu Qizhi: “.”
Expressionless, he simply waited.
As Tian Luo gathered leaves, she gradually moved farther away from him.
About ten meters.
Suddenly, the wound on Lu Qizhi’s chest—which had already healed more than halfway—seemed to tear open again.
A bloody hole reappeared.
The space there was empty, as though something had been taken from him.
Even if the skin on the outside appeared healed, empty was still empty.
The slightest touch would reveal the truth.
Lu Qizhi glanced down at it.
It seemed he couldn’t feel pain at all.
His expression didn’t change in the slightest.
But Tian Luo, who was busy collecting leaves, suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest.
Her body swayed.
In that instant, her face turned pale.
It felt as though countless hands were tearing at her heart.
Or as if someone were repeatedly kicking her chest, trying to rip her in half.
The pain was so intense she could barely breathe.
What’s going on?
Does being a ten-thousand-year-old ginseng spirit come with heart disease?
Lu Qizhi paused.
His face looked extremely impatient.
Yet he still took a step closer to her.
Tian Luo curled up, nearly dropping to her knees.
Then, without warning, the unbearable pain vanished.
Just like that.
No warning whatsoever.
What the heck is going on?
I need to ask the Senior Brother and Senior Sister later whether the cultivation world has illnesses like this!
Now that she apparently had a serious disease, she needed to earn even more money.
She’d heard medical cultivators charged outrageous prices.
There was no health insurance here.
No reimbursement.
Everything came out of your own pocket.
Tian Luo stripped the area clean of black mulberry leaves and turned around.
The villain was following behind her at neither too close nor too far a distance.
For some reason, her heart felt warm.
She was incredibly optimistic.
Look!
I really did acquire an incredibly powerful bodyguard!
“Finished yet?”
The villain frowned deeply.
His gloomy face looked as though dark energy was swirling around him.
He appeared moments away from killing someone.
“Finished, finished!”
Tian Luo hurriedly nodded and followed him.
As she walked, she thought about how to convince this bodyguard to stay by her side permanently.
How to naturally ask for more information about him.
And how to explain his identity to her Senior Brother and Senior Sister.
So troublesome!
She decided to start by getting closer to him.
“I noticed the hole in your chest heals pretty slowly. Want another jar of spirit brew?”
At the mention of that, Lu Qizhi’s expression became even darker.
Tian Luo had assumed he wouldn’t answer.
Unexpectedly, he did.
“Someone took something that belonged to me.”
His voice was exceedingly sinister.
Tian Luo immediately said,
“Then go take it back!”
Lu Qizhi turned his head and looked at her.
His golden eyes—
Wait.
When had they turned black?
His black eyes carried a faintly amused expression.
“If you knew who I was, you wouldn’t say that.”
Tian Luo: “…”
Crap.
Had she exposed herself?
Lu Qizhi continued,
“You don’t know who I am.”
An embarrassed expression appeared on Tian Luo’s face.
The kind people made when a lie had been exposed, leaving them too ashamed to explain and only able to lower their heads in silent admission.
The original novel never described any of this.
Not knowing was perfectly normal!
Framed by the fluffy fur of her bear-head hat, her little face looked both pitiful and adorable.
Over the past half month of desperately surviving as a ginseng spirit, this technique had become one of Tian Luo’s ultimate weapons.
Peak-level acting cute.
Lu Qizhi: “…”
He hadn’t scolded her.
He hadn’t killed anyone in front of her.
He hadn’t even tried to kill her.
So why was she making that expression?!
Lu Qizhi knitted his brows.
Just as he was about to lose his temper, the little ginseng spirit spoke first.
“Then what’s your name?”
He pressed his lips together and answered expressionlessly,
“Lu Qizhi.”
Lu Qizhi?
Tian Luo hurriedly searched her memory of the original novel.
Her memory wasn’t bad, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t recall seeing the name “Lu Qizhi.”
Still, she let out a small sigh of relief.
At least he wasn’t the biggest villain in the novel—
Patriarch Tan Gu.
She had actually suspected it.
The novel mentioned that Patriarch Tan Gu always wore black robes.
During the middle portion of the story, he gradually emerged as the male and female leads searched for the source of spiritual energy, clearing dungeons and overcoming trials.
It could be said that eight or nine out of every ten side arcs the protagonists experienced were somehow connected to Patriarch Tan Gu.
In the novel, Patriarch Tan Gu was vicious, deceitful, violent, and utterly unpredictable.
When he wanted someone dead, he killed them.
A textbook antisocial personality.
He could be chatting pleasantly over a meal and suddenly crush someone’s skull on a whim.
Apparently, he particularly enjoyed the sensation of brains bursting in his hand.
A complete psychopath.
And yet, he possessed an unbelievably handsome face.
The male lead Tian Yue was known as the Glory of Sword Cultivators—the most handsome man of his generation.
But Patriarch Tan Gu was even better-looking than Tian Yue.
Whenever he disguised himself as a refined and virtuous gentleman, women from eight hundred-year-old female cultivators to three-year-old little girls would blush and have their hearts race.
That reminded her—
If even the villain Lu Qizhi looked this good, just how beautiful was Patriarch Tan Gu supposed to be?
Honestly, she strongly suspected the cultivation world’s ranking for Most Handsome Man was rigged.
There was no way Tian Yue deserved first place.
The author had probably cheated for him.
“Since you can make clothes, could you turn yours white?”
They were about to reunite with the Senior Brother and Senior Sister.
Tian Luo made one tiny request before adding,
“I’ll even erase the extra hundred spirit stones from your debt. Let’s just say you owe me ten thousand high-grade spirit stones.”
White?
Lu Qizhi asked,
“You like this style?”
With a casual motion of his hand, the black robes filled with murderous aura transformed into elegant white robes that seemed almost immortal.
What kind of advanced magic was this?!
And actually, it wasn’t because she liked white.
He looked extremely handsome in black.
The problem was that black robes plus extraordinary beauty plus overwhelming presence added up to something that looked way too much like Patriarch Tan Gu.
She was worried other people might misunderstand.
“You look good in any color.”
At the appropriate moments, Tian Luo’s mouth was incredibly sweet.
If sweet talk could help her get paid, she didn’t mind speaking sweet words all day long.
The facts proved that villains liked hearing sweet words too.
After hearing her praise, Lu Qizhi smiled.
He became even better-looking.
The sort of beauty that could charm an entire crowd.
The two walked side by side out from behind the shrubs.
A group of sword cultivators immediately turned their gazes toward them like laser beams.
The combination was—
One fat bear.
One immortal beauty.
Nan Rong stood up and walked toward Tian Luo.
As she approached, she carefully examined Lu Qizhi with a frown.
As a Senior Sister, she couldn’t help finding the situation strange.
Where had this man come from?
“Junior Sister Luo, where have you been these past thirteen days? Ever since we entered the Bixi Secret Realm, we haven’t been able to find you.”
Her voice was gentle and full of concern.
Tian Luo was stunned.
What?
Thirteen days had passed?!
She’d only been gone for half an hour at most!
“Did you not realize it yourself?”
Observing Tian Luo’s expression, Nan Rong quickly deduced that she probably had no idea thirteen days had passed.
Perhaps her Junior Sister had triggered some hidden opportunity within the Bixi Secret Realm and entered a realm within a realm.
If that were the case, this man might be someone from that hidden realm.
Perhaps a senior trapped there long ago.
Or maybe some transformed demon beast.
Though she couldn’t detect any demonic aura.
Nan Rong’s imagination immediately ran wild.
Pulling Tian Luo aside, she quietly asked,
“And he is…?”
Tian Luo gave a half-truth.
“I accidentally ended up somewhere strange. I saw him trapped there, so I rescued him.”
Nan Rong understood instantly.
As expected.
A senior who had become trapped in the Bixi Secret Realm long ago.
“Thank you, Senior, for taking care of my little Junior Sister these past thirteen days.”
Nan Rong bowed toward Lu Qizhi.
Given Tian Luo’s cultivation level, surviving unharmed for thirteen days in the secret realm should have been impossible.
After all, aside from various demon beasts, there were also demonic creatures inside.
Tian Luo: “????”
No, Senior Sister, you’ve completely misunderstood!
If anyone had been taking care of someone, it was her taking care of him!
The shameless villain accepted the bow without hesitation.
Although he didn’t say anything and his expression remained indifferent, silence at times like this was practically confirmation.
“Senior Brother Tian and Senior Brother Su are still looking for you. But I’ve already notified them, so they should be back soon.”
Nan Rong reached out and touched Tian Luo’s cheek again.
The sensation was soft and smooth.
Unable to resist, she pinched it twice more.
The way she was acting almost made Tian Luo want to rest her chin directly in Nan Rong’s palm and let her pinch to her heart’s content.
But there was a problem.
Each time the Bixi Secret Realm opened, everyone would be expelled after half a month.
At most, she only had two days left.
“For the next few days, Junior Sister should stay with us. We’re planning to head north next. That’s the only area we haven’t explored yet.”
Nan Rong paid no attention to Lu Qizhi and simply linked arms with Tian Luo while speaking softly.
There weren’t many female cultivators in Zixu Sword Sect.
Nan Rong had never had an adorable little Junior Sister.
Now that Tian Luo had appeared—and happened to share the surname Tian—Nan Rong couldn’t help wanting to get closer to her.
As she spoke, she took out several items from her storage pouch.
“This is a string of merfolk pearls we found in Autumn Water Lake a few days ago. It provides a bit of defense when worn, though its greatest use is being beautiful. And this is a Fire Spirit Stone. Embedding it into a sword allows the sword qi to produce flames. It’s quite nice…”
Tian Luo looked at the Fire Spirit Stone that had been stuffed into her hand.
Then at the pink merfolk pearl bracelet now adorning her wrist.
Clinging to Nan Rong’s arm, she sweetly said,
“Senior Sister is so good to me! I love them all!”
Lu Qizhi had been standing nearby, seemingly lost in thought.
After hearing those words, his expressionless face shifted toward the items in Tian Luo’s hands.
They were all worthless trinkets.
“But Senior Sister, I don’t want to follow behind everyone and pick up leftovers. I want to become strong through my own efforts!”
Tian Luo raised her head and spoke seriously.
The main reason was that the north corresponded to the “Winter” region she’d identified.
It was freezing there.
And it was very far from the “Spring” region.
Flight wasn’t possible inside the secret realm.
A round trip could easily take two days.
Then she’d have no time left to search for the Nine-Qilin Armor.
In the original novel, that treasure wasn’t discovered until much later.
She was certain it was still there now.
After hearing her words, Nan Rong felt extremely gratified.
At that moment, Tian Yue and Su Miantang returned.
She waved toward them.
“Little Junior Sister is back!”
The two men’s instincts were sharp.
The first thing they noticed wasn’t Tian Luo.
It was the handsome man in white standing behind her.
His appearance seemed almost otherworldly.
And his cultivation was impossible to gauge.
The moment Tian Luo saw the slight frown on the male lead’s face, she knew trouble was brewing.
In novels, male protagonists were symbols of justice.
They naturally clashed with villains.
She immediately hurried back to Lu Qizhi’s side, standing in front of him while waving at Tian Yue and Su Miantang.
“Senior Brother Tian! Senior Brother Su!”
Her tone was completely natural.
As though she’d been their Junior Sister for years and shared a close relationship with them.
The cold and aloof Tian Yue was no match for extreme extroversion.
For a moment, he didn’t know what to say.
Su Miantang, however, spoke with complete seriousness.
“I almost thought Junior Sister had died. Seeing that you’re safe and sound, this Senior Brother can finally rest easy.”
After explaining the identity of the white-robed immortal-looking man to Tian Yue, Nan Rong also told him about Tian Luo’s desire to spend the next two days exploring on her own.
“Eldest Senior Brother, what do you think?”
Tian Yue was cold and merciless.
“No. What if something happens?”
Because he cultivated the Emotionless Sword Dao, the young man in green robes possessed a sharp and intimidating aura.
The atmosphere shifted the moment he spoke.
Stupid male lead!
Tian Luo cursed internally.
She was just about to righteously explain that although she was weak, she was a weakling with dreams, ambitions, and excellent survival instincts—
When the villain behind her, who had remained silent the entire time while radiating overwhelming boss-level energy, finally spoke.
“Her, I’ll take responsibility for.”