Chapter 516 – Lin (3.5k)
After parting ways with the Snow Guards, Su Jiu chose a longer route, taking about two hours to circle around to another side, stopping at a mountain peak to look into the distance.
“As expected, the entire city is using formations. The current goal is still to find traces of the Ice Sky Vulture.”
The silhouette of a city appeared beyond the towering mountains, brightly lit. A colossal city-guarding formation flickered with transparent white light. Although the outline was visible, the actual distance to the city was still several thousand meters.
She didn’t rush to approach but began discussing with Bairnis what to do next. Bairnis, with her arms crossed, her pale blue pupils looking towards the city, narrowed them slightly and said softly:
“Miss, it seems to be in a truce period over there, but I can sense very strong auras. It’s highly likely that’s the War God level demon.”
Upon hearing this, Su Jiu’s brow furrowed slightly, and she also said softly, “If it’s a truce period… then we shouldn’t get too close to it. If we attract the attention of that War God level demon, it’s very likely to cause unnecessary trouble.”
“If you need to travel in this area, Miss, you should reveal your Blood Clan identity.”
Bairnis turned around, her gaze falling on the hair covering Su Jiu’s ears. She tilted her head up slightly, used her index finger to lift a strand of hair, and gently tapped Su Jiu’s tender white earlobe.
“After all, demons can communicate with each other. At the very least, it can guarantee that if Miss is caught by that War God demon, she won’t die immediately— alright.”
“I need to go back and study. This butterfly hairpin that Miss gave me seems to be quite extraordinary…”
Under Su Jiu’s gaze, she let out a light laugh and turned into a stream of white light, entering the Spiritual Space, much like someone who flirts and then leaves without taking responsibility.
Su Jiu pouted, tied up her hair, revealing her slightly reddish pointed ears. Her eyes emitted a faint blood-red glow, as if she were a demon transforming, but since she was already half-demon, it was normal.
“So many humans… and even some from the Adventurer’s Guild.”
Having done this, Su Jiu immediately spread her Mental Power again, moving through the forest as she began searching for the Ice Sky Vulture’s tracks.
She discovered quite a few ordinary people or people from the Adventurer’s Guild hiding among them. Her brow furrowed slightly at first, but after a moment of thought, she understood.
These people were likely planning to ambush the demons, creating a pincer movement with the official forces within the city. However, unexpectedly, the demons’ strength far surpassed that of the humans, so they simply used concealment formations to feign absence—
After all, they had no obligation to participate in the battle, and their true intention was to pick up the spoils.
During this time, she brushed past several people from the Adventurer’s Guild. Those people looked at her ears and assumed she was using an avatar, so they didn’t pay much attention.
Moreover, Su Jiu’s External Qi was surging, and its quality was very dense. Adventurers whose strength was generally around the War General level dared not make any rash moves.
Taking a swig from her hip flask to replenish her energy, Su Jiu scanned her surroundings again. It was pitch dark. She breathed a sigh of relief and was preparing to move forward when she heard a commotion ahead:
“You said you’d take me into the city, but this is the direction of the deep forest. What are you trying to do?”
The voice was very clear, even carrying a hint of a strange aversion. Although faint, it was definitely a girl’s voice.
“What’s going on? Judging by the voice, it seems to be a little girl.”
Frowning, Su Jiu covered her mouth with her scarf, slowed her pace, and walked towards the sound. This was a special situation, not like the deep mountains where private disputes were settled. If it were private disputes in the deep mountains, she would definitely not join the fun.
“Rustle…”
Pushing aside the leaves, she discovered a girl in Snow Guard attire being surrounded by a group of people in adventurer attire. The girl’s face had an inexplicable delicate beauty, leaning towards Eastern aesthetics, like a porcelain doll. Her long hair trailed behind her, touching the snow.
“What do you want? Little sister, you Snow Guards don’t usually have this attitude when you capture us. Big brother will take you to play games.”
Facing her, the leader was a young man with a green snake pattern tattooed on his face. His eyes darted around, scanning the girl’s face, and he sported a lewd smile.
“Shameless things.”
The girl replied coldly, her face unmoved. Her light purple eyes revealed disgust. She looked at the other onlookers, only to find that both men and women wore the smiles of people watching a show.
“Is she… is it my illusion? She seems a bit like the person in that phone picture, but it shouldn’t be the same person. If it were the Vulture herself, she would have killed those people by now.”
Su Jiu regretted not taking a picture of that lock screen photo to compare. For now, she should intervene and help this Bronze level Snow Guard, seeing if she could obtain local information.
The other party’s strength seemed to be only at the Warrior Class, as she was concealing her cultivation. Her Mental Power should at least be higher than her own.
“Tie her up for this young master!”
The young man with the snake pattern on his face seemed even more excited after being insulted. He casually waved his hand at his subordinates.
“Heh heh, I didn’t expect to encounter a cop in a place like this. And this cop is quite a good looker.”
“Young Master’s taste is truly excellent.”
Several adventurers, with malicious smiles, approached the girl, their words filled with crude jokes, as if they didn’t regard her as a threat.
Sensing that those who had seen her were all avoiding her, the girl turned her head to look at the young man. The disgust in her eyes turned into calmness, appearing resigned to her fate in the eyes of others.
“Alas, she’s finished.”
“A Bronze level Snow Guard. Even in peacetime, if this Young Master were to defile her, there probably wouldn’t be any punishment.”
“If she’s still alive after this, we can go up and help her.”
The ordinary people and those from the Adventurer’s Guild wore expressions of watching a spectacle. They dared not easily offend the young man with the snake pattern, as he was a Half-King level expert, and his father was the president of the local Adventurer’s Guild.
Just as everyone watched the adventurers cautiously surround the girl, the girl lowered her head slightly, her lips curling into a somewhat cruel smile…
“Isn’t it a bit too much for so many of you to bully one little girl?”
The moment she bent her fingers, she felt the light in front of her turn dark as a figure blocked her way. A faint scent of wine, accompanied by snowflakes, drifted into her nose, smelling inexplicably pleasant.
However, there was also a familiar scent on him— a scent that made her feel nauseous…
Those people, seeing Su Jiu appear from nowhere, stopped and looked at her with some apprehension.
“Who are you? In this Lov city, there’s almost no Battle King that I don’t recognize.”
The young man with the snake avatar on his face sized up Su Jiu, realizing he couldn’t see through her cultivation at all. Instantly, a faint smile appeared on his face, replaced by a hint of solemnity.
“An unknown person. Please leave, everyone.”
Su Jiu replied indifferently. She stomped her foot, and her External Qi surged outwards. The pressure of a Battle King immediately appeared, shaking off quite a bit of snow from the trees.
Although Su Jiu’s apparent cultivation was only that of a Half-King, her actual oppressive presence was not inferior to that of an Intermediate Battle King, and was even stronger.
Those who had surrounded them were all shaken to the ground. The young man with the snake pattern on his face retreated two steps before waving his hand to dissipate the External Qi. He wasn’t about to let the prey he was about to get slip away, so he threatened, “My father is the Guild Master of the Adventurer’s Guild, a High-Rank Battle King— is this Battle King really going to intervene to help a Bronze Snow Guard?”
He emphasized the words “Battle King” to warn Su Jiu that she was just an ordinary Battle King and shouldn’t meddle.
“Don’t leave, die!”
Su Jiu looked at him calmly, only uttering three words. She slightly raised her finger and then pressed it forward slowly without any hesitation. Just as everyone was confused by her action.
Suddenly, the next moment, a giant finger appeared in mid-air. As it pressed down, the surrounding air let out an explosive sound as if trying to escape…
“Hurry and leave!”
Sensing the power of the finger, the young man hurriedly waved his hand. After leaving, he cast a deep glance at Su Jiu, as if trying to engrave both of their appearances into his memory.
Watching the Adventurer’s Guild members leave, Su Jiu removed the [Cloud Piercer] and turned around to examine the thinly dressed girl. Upon closer inspection, she was indeed a beauty.
Noticing that the girl was still looking down, she gently patted the snow-covered head, dusting off the snow, and asked with a smile, “Would you like to find a place to rest?”
When patting the girl’s head, Su Jiu could feel her body stiffen, seemingly unaccustomed to being touched.
“Mmm.”
The girl responded with a muffled sound. She had actually planned to enter the city soon, but facing Su Jiu who had just helped her, she didn’t know how to refuse.
“There’s a large tree hollow up ahead, likely left by a Battle General level demon like a tree honey bear. Let’s go there and warm ourselves by the fire.”
After receiving a reply, Su Jiu didn’t blame her for being aloof. Instead, she grabbed the girl’s wrist and walked in the direction from which she had come.
After all, it was inevitable for a young girl to be flustered when encountering such a situation.
The two soon arrived near the large tree hollow. Su Jiu led her into the hollow, then set up a formation, piled up some dry firewood, and snapped her fingers to ignite an ordinary flame.
Feeling the warmth from the orange-yellow flame, the girl silently moved her long Green Silk to the front and began to carefully pull off the branches and snow stuck to it.
She planned to rest for a day.
“You can tie them up, that way they won’t always be dragging on the ground.”
Observing the other party’s actions, Su Jiu took out two hair ties from her ring and handed them over with a smile.
The former looked at the handed-over hair ties, remained silent for a while, but did not take them. She could only blink her eyes and quietly look at Su Jiu.
Su Jiu was somewhat at a loss with this adopted girl and then asked with confusion, “What’s wrong?”
“I… I don’t know how to tie them.”
The girl pursed her slightly dark lips, a barely perceptible blush appearing on her face, and she quickly lowered her head to deal with her hair.
“Ah?”
This was the first time Su Jiu had experienced such a situation. She never expected there to be girls at her level— not knowing how to tie their hair. However, fortunately, she had learned a few tricks from Bai Qianyu, so she wasn’t too clumsy.
“Alright then, I’ll help you with it…”
“No need!”
Su Jiu immediately stood up and went behind the girl with the hair ties, but the girl carefully dodged to the side, leaving Su Jiu even more speechless…
“Since you don’t want it, then do it yourself. I’ll prepare some food.”
Resigning herself to the situation, she then took out a iron pot and some demon meat from her storage ring, along with various seasonings. She hadn’t eaten such hot food in a long time and had almost forgotten the joy of human meals.
While preparing the meat, Su Jiu smiled and asked in Bear Language, “What’s your name? Why are you wandering alone in the deep mountains?”
This girl was very different. Normal people, especially those of lower levels, would involuntarily show reverence, but she— showed none.
The girl was stunned by the question. The image of that repulsive figure nagging her flashed through her mind. After a long silence, she slowly said:
“Lin.”
