THNWO 20

Chapter 120

The wrist was tightly grasped, unable to be pulled away.

Fang Chaozhou met Xue Danrong’s gaze, feeling inexplicably guilty for a moment, but then he felt he had no reason to be guilty. Meeting Li Zhū was a complete coincidence, and he even warned Li Zhū not to follow him anymore.

Furthermore, there was no intimacy between him and Li Zhū, so what exactly did Xue Danrong smell?

Fang Chaozhou switched hands to hold the teacup and said casually, “What strange smell? Is it the smell of medicine?”

Five years ago, Xue Danrong met Li Zhū in the underground demon realm. Now that Xue Danrong had become a demon, if he found out about Li Zhū’s existence, who knows what he might do. Xue Danrong’s body wasn’t well, and although Li Zhū was foolish and didn’t have particularly high cultivation, he had several high-level demonic cultivators protecting him. Moreover, Fang Chaozhou didn’t want any complications.

He just wanted to coax Xue Danrong back to focus on healing as soon as possible.

Every extra day delayed meant more danger. If one day he couldn’t coax Xue Danrong anymore, then things might really get out of hand.

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Since the incident when Xue Danrong came to him in the middle of the night, thereafter Fang Chaozhou began sleeping with Xue Danrong on the same bed. Due to the busy daytime affairs, Fang Chaozhou could often sleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. But tonight, he suddenly woke up in the middle of the night.

His consciousness not yet fully awake, he first turned his head to look at the other side of the bed. With just one glance, he found himself alone in the bed.

Fang Chaozhou immediately sat up, reaching out to touch the mattress beside him. It was cold, as if no one had slept on it at all. In that instant, many unsettling thoughts crossed Fang Chaozhou’s mind. Hastily throwing off the covers, he didn’t even bother putting on his outer robe, stepped into his shoes, and rushed out of the room.

Brown Chicken and Golden-winged Bird were sleeping in the outer room. Golden-winged Bird was much more alert than Brown Chicken, but at this moment, both were sleeping soundly. Fang Chaozhou realized not only had Brown Chicken fallen under a sleep spell, but even Golden-winged Bird was affected.

This spell must have been cast by Xue Danrong.

Where could he have gone?

Fang Chaozhou suddenly thought of Li Zhu, but then he felt it was unlikely. He had only briefly met Li Zhu, could Xue Danrong really know that the person he met was Li Zhu? Even if Xue Danrong knew, could he really find Li Zhu?

Regardless of whether Xue Danrong had gone to find Li Zhu, his priority was to find Xue Danrong. But this wasn’t Zhi Chun Island; people couldn’t be found just by using a locating spell.

The street during midnight was silent. Fang Chaozhou searched all the way and finally felt a spiritual fluctuation outside an inn in the southern part of the city. He paused, looking towards the second floor of the inn.

His heart skipped a beat, and he immediately flew up to the rooftop. As soon as he flew up, he sensed that the inn was shielded by a barrier. However, this barrier couldn’t contain the spiritual energy inside.

Normally, Fang Chaozhou wouldn’t casually break through someone else’s barrier. But he was genuinely afraid that the person inside the barrier was Xue Danrong. So he attempted to forcibly break the barrier. As soon as he broke through the barrier, a sword light flashed before his eyes.

Fang Chaozhou involuntarily closed his eyes. When he reopened them, he saw several people standing in the backyard of the inn. Li Zhu was among them, and opposite them stood a young man in black clothes.

The young man in black clothes had disheveled hair, and his snow-white face gleamed like jade under the moonlight. He held a sword in his right hand, lightly tapping the ground. Unlike the disheveled appearance of the others, his expression was even somewhat carefree. The phoenix eyes under his black eyebrows carried a hint of killing intent, and the vermilion mark between his eyebrows added to the aura of menace.

Upon seeing the young man in black clothes, Fang Chaozhou directly exclaimed, “Junior Brother!”

This exclamation drew everyone’s attention to Fang Chaozhou. Li Zhu, in his panic, saw Fang Chaozhou and for some reason felt like he had seen a savior. He believed Fang Chaozhou wouldn’t let Xue Danrong kill him.

“Brother, Xue Danrong wants to kill me! I didn’t provoke him.”

He truly believed he hadn’t provoked Xue Danrong. He hadn’t even kidnapped Fang Chaozhou; he had only kidnapped a doctor from a clinic, asked a few questions, and then released him. Who knew Xue Danrong would be more like a demon than him, coming to kill him in the middle of the night?

The young man in black clothes also heard Fang Chaozhou’s voice. Apart from that, he heard Li Zhu’s voice. The killing intent in his eyes grew stronger, and the Broken Water Sword carried boundless anger as it headed towards Li Zhu. Several demon cultivators who stood in front of Li Zhu immediately cast spells to block, but they were still forced back several steps by the powerful sword technique, coughing up blood, with the next move already approaching.

When Li Zhu saw the sword appearing in front of his throat, his legs went weak, and he directly sat down on the ground. In this lifetime, he had gotten into quite a few troubles, but there had always been someone to cover for him or protect him. He had never been so close to death.

The demon cultivators his father had sent to protect him were all knocked to the ground and couldn’t even stand up.

Li Zhu stared blankly at the sword. When the sword light flashed across his eyes, he couldn’t help but close them in fear.

But the expected pain did not come.

Xue Danrong glanced at the person blocking him, his tone extremely cold, “Brother wants to protect him?”

“Not really,” Fang Chaozhou denied decisively. “I think what Junior Brother is doing is very right. But your body is not yet fully recovered. Leave dealing with Li Zhu to me.”

As Li Zhu heard Fang Chaozhou’s voice suddenly, he quickly opened his eyes. However, he had not yet recovered from the immense panic, and his legs were still weak, unable to stand up at all.

After Fang Chaozhou finished speaking, he went to take the sword from Xue Danrong’s hand. “Junior Brother, you go wait on the side for me. I’ll be done very soon.”

Xue Danrong looked at Fang Chaozhou, seeming to ponder whether Fang Chaozhou’s words were true or false. Just as Fang Chaozhou was about to touch his sword, he took a step back. “Brother, don’t deceive me. You’re just afraid I’ll kill him.” A light laugh escaped his lips, but there was no smile in his eyes. “If Brother insists on stopping me, then I’ll have to kill you first.”

After he finished speaking, he stared intensely at Fang Chaozhou, wanting to see his reaction. When he saw Fang Chaozhou’s eyes flicker with conflicting emotions, he couldn’t help but grit his teeth. But in the next moment, he heard Fang Chaozhou say, “Do you really have to kill him? Can’t you just severely injure him? I think keeping him alive would be better. Sooner or later, the Dark Soul Sect will collapse. If you kill him, and Li Yiyi finds another successor, the Dark Soul Sect probably won’t fall.”

Xue Danrong hadn’t expected Fang Chaozhou to say such words. He was stunned for a moment, and Fang Chaozhou seized the opportunity, “Killing him will only benefit the Dark Soul Sect. Maybe if Li Zhu dies, Li Yiyi will even thank you. By then, the Dark Soul Sect might even hold a three-day celebration.” He turned to look at Li Zhu on the ground. “Junior Brother, look at him. He was so frightened by just one move from you, he can’t even stand up. Keeping him alive would be better, wouldn’t it?”

Following Fang Chaozhou’s gaze, Xue Danrong looked at Li Zhu, his gaze shifting from his face to his lower body. After a moment of silence, he spoke, “Brother is right.”

A stick of incense later.

Li Zhu was finally rescued from the tree where he had been hung upside down. Prior to this, he had been hanging from the tree, his fair face now swollen, with one eye even swollen shut.

The demon cultivators expected to be met with anger upon rescuing him, but to their surprise, Li Zhu remained unusually quiet. He softly called out, “Deputy Head.”

Li Zhu’s expression was still somewhat dazed. Upon hearing “Deputy Head,” his eyes sluggishly turned, and then he forcefully pushed away the demon cultivator supporting him, but in doing so, he stumbled and fell to the ground.

Several demon cultivators, unsure whether to help or not, hesitated. Then, they heard a muffled cry.

The crying quickly escalated into loud sobbing.

The demon cultivators panicked and wanted to help Li Zhu up, but as soon as they touched him, Li Zhu grabbed nearby mud and threw it at them, shouting, “Go away! Get out of here!”

The demon cultivators, fearing they might upset Li Zhu, could only retreat with forced smiles. They didn’t retreat far, just stood in the darkness, guarding their young deputy head.

Meanwhile, Li Zhu, left in place, cried for a while before finally gritting his teeth and climbing up from the ground. He wiped his tears with his sleeve, but ended up getting mud on his sleeve, which not only made it dirty but also hurt.

The young man’s pride was always strong. Li Zhu’s throat emitted a sobbing sound as he grabbed his still damp trousers, looking towards the demon cultivators in the darkness. “I want to go home.”

Under the moonlight, two shadows stood side by side, slender and elongated. Xue Danrong looked at the juxtaposed shadows and suddenly stopped walking. Fang Chaozhou, beside him, also halted. He turned to the person beside him. “Are you cold? Let me give you back your outer robe.”

At this moment, Fang Chaozhou was wearing Xue Danrong’s black outer robe. He had left in a hurry, forgetting to put on his outer robe and even leaving his storage ring behind. He had intended to use magic to return directly, but Xue Danrong insisted on walking back.

It was chilly in late autumn, especially in the middle of the night.

Xue Danrong held Fang Chaozhou’s hand. “I’m not cold.” His expression was somewhat strange, with hints of stubbornness and disappointment in his eyes. “I just want to ask Brother, is Brother only accompanying me out of sympathy? Does Brother… not like me at all?”