To his surprise, the Scruffy Old Man pointed at Xiang Lan'er, "This young lass, I've seen her at the Graceful Cloud Pavilion too. Seems she's in cahoots with that Madame. Young man, you're quite brave for daring to stand against the demonic path at such a young age. Not bad, not bad; I quite admire you. Having a hard time striking her because she's pretty? Here, let me."
He waved his hand, signaling for Xiang Lan'er to be sent over.
Graceful Cloud Pavilion? Xiang Lan'er was nervous and puzzled.
She couldn't possibly forget this scruffy old face if it had appeared at the pavilion.
Shi Chun was filled with joy inside.
It seemed the old man hadn't heard their previous conversation.
He immediately squeezed out a fawning smile and said, "Senior, you're mistaken. I am a gentleman, appreciating beauty without indulging. Keeping her around is to uncover her background deeply, to dig out the roots, not for anything else. She's of more use alive than dead."
The Scruffy Old Man took another swig of wine, waved his hand indifferently, "Fine, dig your roots. I'll go check on the other one. Don't let her escape."
With that said, he flashed into the woods, and he started shouting, "Really ran away? Trying to escape? It's not that easy."
His figure flickered in the mist before disappearing.
Shi Chun immediately withdrew the big knife from Xiang Lan'er's neck, slapping the blade on the face of the fallen Wu Jinliang, "Jinliang, Jinliang."
He kept the short blade on Xiang Lan'er, remaining vigilant.
It would have been better if he didn't slap Wu Jinliang’s face.
After two slaps, Wu Jinliang started snoring, a soft little snore, sleeping quite soundly.
Heh, Shi Chun found it funny.
In such a tense situation, his heart nearly gave out, and this guy fell asleep?
There was no time to dawdle.
He immediately kicked Wu Jinliang twice.
"Huh?" Wu Jinliang woke suddenly, as if realizing something.
He quickly leaped up, pulling along the broadsword and glancing around, "Brother Chun, where's that Madame?"
Shi Chun replied, "Less talking, pick up the money tickets and let’s go."
Hearing about the money, Wu Jinliang's eyes scanned around and he quickly spotted his target, rapidly collecting the scattered banknotes from the ground.
During this time, Shi Chun held Xiang Lan'er hostage, cautiously scanning the surroundings, afraid it might be a trick by the demonic path to save her.
Xiang Lan'er cooperated this time, not uttering a word even when she could talk, letting Shi Chun handle her.
Seeing Wu Jinliang tidy up the ground and about to check the masked corpse pinned to a tree, Shi Chun immediately cursed, "No time, carry Bian Weikang, and let's go."
Though unsure of the situation, Wu Jinliang knew there must be a reason if Big Boss said it like that.
He quickly abandoned it, flashed over to pick up Bian Weikang, and followed behind Shi Chun, running wildly.
The two dashed madly through the forest.
For Shi Chun, there was no choice but to run.
The old man made it clear he wanted to eliminate demons, and he was a demon.
If Feng Chi got caught and exposed him, what then? Fleeing was the safest option.
They ran and ran until they could run no more, unsure of how far they had gotten, only that they ran until they couldn’t move another step.
"Brother Chun, I can't anymore, let’s rest, we need to rest first. I truly can’t run anymore."
Regardless of whether Shi Chun agreed or not, Wu Jinliang dropped the broadsword and Bian Weikang, collapsing on the ground panting heavily, his clothes soaked in sweat.
It couldn't be helped; his broadsword alone was as heavy as two or three people, not to mention carrying Bian Weikang, it really was exhausting.
During the run, Shi Chun wanted to lessen his burden, asking to switch carrying Bian Weikang, but Wu Jinliang wanted the lighter one, offering to carry Xiang Lan'er.
Alright, Shi Chun immediately understood what he was thinking and decided not to be kind-hearted, having him continue carrying Bian Weikang.
It wasn't that Shi Chun was inconsiderate of his brother, but rather that this woman couldn't be given to Wu Jinliang to play with casually.
If she got angry, everything would be over.
Panting, Shi Chun also put down Xiang Lan'er, walked over to Wu Jinliang, sat down, and patted his stomach, "The money, count it."
Talking about money, no matter how tired, Wu Jinliang got energized, took several deep breaths, struggled to sit up, and while still panting like a dog, he pulled out the banknotes from his pocket.
Shi Chun snatched them over, pressing him back to the ground to rest, but Wu Jinliang, ever diligent, insisted on sitting up to count money with him.
Neither of them had ever seen these kinds of notes before, but they could see the fancy patterns with writing indicating five thousand units of Sandalwood Gold each, totaling four, meaning twenty thousand gold in all.
These two inexperienced individuals hadn't considered that Cen Futong would use these for the transaction.
They thought the fifty thousand gold seen outside the Graceful Cloud Pavilion were all physical coins.
If today's accident hadn’t happened, they might not have distinguished real from fake banknotes in a normal transaction.
Lucky for them, Feng Chi found these, and she surely knows their value, having shown no reservations.
They must be real.
And that's fine, it's certainly less hassle than hauling a pile of Sandalwood Gold.
The problem was how to divide it.
Shi Chun glanced at Wu Jinliang, who was looking expectantly at him.
By their prior agreement, giving Wu Jinliang two thousand gold was already pretty generous, but the notes were all valued at five thousand each.
He took one out and said to Wu Jinliang, "Use this to settle debts."
Wu Jinliang understood his meaning, paying back that debt to Miss Miao seemed suitable, nodding repeatedly.
Shi Chun took out a second note, "Half of this goes to them."
Wu Jinliang knew who "them" referred to.
Old Dong and the others, all expenses and help promised to be settled with a thousand each, made two thousand five rather reasonable, so he nodded in agreement.
The final two notes were split, one each between Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang.
Wu Jinliang couldn’t believe his ears, suddenly full of energy, asking, "A whole five thousand just for me?"
He had only put in six hundred gold, so this was more than a sevenfold return, completely unreal to him.
Shi Chun asked, "Fair enough?"
Had he not realized he was on the demonic side, he wouldn’t have split the money like this.
It wasn’t stinginess, simply that as Big Boss, rewards must be meted out wisely.
Wu Jinliang's doubts outside the Graceful Cloud Pavilion, initially holding tight onto his funds, required a lesson of their own.
Giving this much now was purely compensation for the guilt of misleading Wu Jinliang.
Wu Jinliang burst into a wide grin, "Fair, fair, Big Boss is the best, I'll follow you till death."
He kissed the note a few times, full of contentment, then tucked it securely away and patted his chest, feeling he could run another thirty thousand miles.
Shi Chun was also putting money into his pouch.
Watching from her resting spot against a tree, Xiang Lan'er eyed the two clutching their newfound wealth like treasure, showing disdain as she once again spoke, "Release the restraint on me, and I promise no past grievances will remain."
She’d said similar words multiple times after being carried away.
For her, the experience was rather humiliating.
Shi Chun had exhausted himself trying various ways to carry her, going from one shoulder to the other, holding in his arms, on his back, at one point almost cradling her waist or even sitting her on his lap, trying every possible carry and manner of touching.
When their faces were close, the sensation of their necks brushing was imprinted on her mind, remembered for the body heat and the sense of his breath.
Simply put, every part that could be touched permissible or not by social standards was mistakenly explored by Shi Chun.
Xiang Lan'er voiced no complaints because deep down she knew he was just tired, changing it up for comfort, and she already knew he was fleeing to protect her life.
He truly did save her.
The old man sought her life, and this one had means to spare her, a completely unexpected outcome.
Indeed, he could have ended her right there, claiming credit with the old man, then shifted blame onto him while still making his way to Wukang Mountain.
But he didn’t.
He really spared her life.
From the start, she ruled out the possibility that the old man and Shi Chun were putting on a show together, excluding it based on keen, albeit unmentionable, senses.
With their bodies so close, she noticed Shi Chun's physical reaction when the old man reappeared, confirming that wasn’t theatrics.
Intense bodily proximity provided a kind of understanding she couldn't have reached otherwise, internally confirming the old man's shock wasn’t staged.
He’d saved her, and in doing so, amidst unintended friction… what could she say?
The whole time, she could only keep asking to be let go, which Shi Chun, very sensibly, refused to heed.
It wasn’t hard to understand why releasing her was out of the question.
She naturally empathized, and awkwardness faded, she gradually found herself adapting.
Before things occurred, she would have claimed any man touching her like so would be a dead man.
Post-incident, she never expected to find herself adapting so quickly to being handled as such.
No more beating around the bush, Shi Chun glanced back at her then disregarded her.
Releasing her was impossible.
Wu Jinliang glanced back briefly as well, finally seeing chance to ask Shi Chun amidst this flight, "So, Brother Chun, what’s the deal? Why the rush, nearly killed me running, breath not even back yet."
Shi Chun thought a moment then answered, "We set our foot in filth; those girls at the Graceful Cloud Pavilion are with the demonic path."
"What? Demonic path?" Wu Jinliang whipped around, reanalyzing Xiang Lan'er in disbelief.
"The demonic aura attracted a passing Scruffy Old Man who hunts down demon cultivators. He chased off Feng Chi; when he pursued her, I woke you and we fled."
Shi Chun’s explanation was quite simple.
Wu Jinliang clapped in disappointment, "Shame not seeing experts battle. But why did we run if he’s ridding evil?"
Xiang Lan'er had figured it out; this big guy didn’t know his partner was with demon practitioners.
Facing cautious Shi Chun again, she spoke, "Release me, I'll take you into Wukang Mountain!"
(End of Chapter)