Chapter 47 : Chapter 47

Chapter 47: What Exactly Is This Girl’s Identity?

Granny Huai turned around. A trace of pleading showed in her clouded eyes as she said to Chen Guan, “Young friend, this child’s mother happened to be injured a few days ago by that passing host of Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes. She is now hanging by a thread.”

“I was wondering... could young friend take it along as well?”

With a sigh, she continued, “Its name is Little Flower. In this Huai Blossom Hollow of mine, apart from Xiao Lü and Xiao Cong, it is the only young flower spirit to have awakened intelligence.”

Chen Guan fell silent for a moment, but in the end he still nodded.

One was one, two were two. One more now was merely a matter of convenience.

Standing to one side, Luo Li listened with a face full of confusion.

Wh-what did this mean?

They were going to take these little demon spirits along on the road?

Would that not mean they would pester her to death the whole way?

Seeing that Chen Guan had agreed, Granny Huai went over and explained it to Little Flower.

At once, longing and envy appeared on Little Flower’s face. Yet the moment it thought of its mother, who was slowly withering and needed caring for, the light in its expression quickly dimmed again.

In the end, it still shook its head dejectedly and looked at its two little companions with great reluctance.

“Sister Xiao Lü, Brother Xiao Cong, once my mother gets better, I’ll ask her to bring me to see you, all right?”

Xiao Cong and Xiao Lü tried to persuade it again, but the little flower seemed absolutely determined, shaking its head as fast as a windmill.

“Mother can’t do without Little Flower. Once Mother gets better, I’ll come find you, all right?”

Seeing this, Granny Huai could only let out a helpless sigh. Turning back to Chen Guan, she said, “In that case... young friend, you should go first. This old woman... will think of some other way.”

Chen Guan said nothing.

He knew perfectly well that for little demon spirits of the plant kind, leaving the land where they had taken root was already an extremely difficult thing.

All the more so with Little Flower’s mother still here. With that attachment in its heart, its roots could never truly be pulled free.

Even if it were forcibly taken away and did not wither to death on the road, it would still be very difficult for it to adapt to the climate of another land.

For beings like them, such “movement” was no less than a trial of life and death.

Only a tree spirit with the tenacious vitality of a locust tree could manage it. For them, changing places was equivalent to transplanting. As long as they could adapt to the local climate, they would soon live again.

“Take care, Senior.”

Chen Guan cupped his fists toward the old woman, then glanced at the still-bewildered Luo Li beside him and barked in a low voice, “Move!”

Granny Huai turned and brought out a basket woven from bamboo strips from inside the house, then solemnly placed it in Xiao Cong and Xiao Lü’s hands.

“Take this to your Auntie Peach Blossom.”

“Remember, once you get there, you must be obedient. You must not be as naughty there as you are at home, and you absolutely must not stir up trouble, understand?”

“Waaah... Grandma...”

The two little ones could no longer hold back. They threw themselves into Granny Huai’s arms, crying so hard they could barely catch their breath.

Yet amid that sorrowful parting, Granny Huai’s expression suddenly changed, and she cried out sharply, “Go! Quickly!”

Almost at the same instant, Chen Guan also sensed a sharp killing intent slowly drawing near!

Those people were probably coming for him.

He did not pause for even a moment. Grabbing Luo Li by the arm, he immediately sped toward the courtyard gate.

Very soon, they arrived once more at the edge of the little island where they had first come ashore.

Chen Guan had just been about to step into the water when Xiao Cong ran over, wiped away his tears, and said in a muffled voice,

“Brother, take my boat.”

As soon as he said that, Xiao Cong’s body twisted violently.

Crack, crack, crack!

The branches on his body began to twitch and grow wildly. His arms and legs twisted together like braided rope, coiling and intertwining without cease, until in the blink of an eye they had formed a huge, oddly shaped basket-like cradle with four legs.

Luo Li stared in astonishment and stammered,

“Th-this is a vine... boat?”

The “cradle” slid directly into the water and floated there steadily.

Xiao Lü jumped aboard and waved to them.

“Brother, Sister, come up! My brother is really fast! We used to play like this in the water all the time!”

Chen Guan nodded.

It seemed that bringing these two little ones along was not entirely without use.

Of course, he also understood that this was likely another sign that Granny Huai did not wish to incur too much karma with him.

Without hesitation, he brought Luo Li aboard this peculiar vine boat.

The moment the two of them had found their footing, the basket-boat shot forward like an arrow from the string, carrying them away from that hidden paradise and racing across the broad water!

“Wow! It’s so fast!”

Seated on the boat, watching the scenery on both banks fly backward, Luo Li could not help marveling aloud.

Chen Guan looked at the utterly carefree excitement on her face, and the more he looked, the angrier he became. The more he thought about it, the more cheated he felt.

Twenty taels!

For a mere twenty taels of silver, he had dragged himself into a pit this deep!

He had originally thought this girl was, at most, the illegitimate daughter of some high local official. Now it seemed he had still been too naive.

For all he knew, she might be that old emperor of Great Zhou’s illegitimate daughter!

Otherwise, why would even a Demon King of the Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes’ level dispatch five thousand troops to hunt her down?

The Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty was a colossal power capable of standing toe-to-toe with the entire Ten Directions Marsh.

Otherwise, with the strength of the Demon Kings within the marsh, a single beast tide would have been enough to flatten it.

For a dynasty to stand at the edge of the Ten Directions Marsh and keep the monsters and fiends there from daring to cross the line, it naturally had to possess a strength beyond imagination.

Great Zhou was like this. Great Yun beyond it was the same.

They were both “Heaven” pressing down on the heads of countless common people.

And he, for the sake of a mere twenty taels, had agreed to sell his life to “Heaven”?

A loss!

A loss all the way back to his grandmother’s house!

Luo Li noticed that Chen Guan’s face had darkened like the bottom of a pot and curiously edged closer.

“Brother Chen, what’s wrong with you?”

Chen Guan only glanced at her and snapped irritably,

“I feel like I’ve taken a catastrophic loss!”

“A catastrophic loss?!” Luo Li froze, unable to make sense of what he meant.

She looked at him again, but he clearly had no intention of explaining further.

Instead, she turned to look at the little tree spirit beside her and could not help asking curiously,

“Brother Chen, are these two little ones only seeing us off for a stretch, or are they coming along with us?”

“And you said you were going to help remove the mark on me. Has it been removed?”

She threw out several questions in one breath.

“It’s only been suppressed for now,” Chen Guan replied crossly.

“Oh.” Luo Li nodded at first, then suddenly froze. “Ah? Suppressed? When did that happen?”

A thought suddenly came to her.

That strange odor which had clung to her all this time... seemed to have disappeared already?

Could it have happened when they entered Huai Blossom Hollow?

The tension and fear that had accompanied her all this way vanished without a trace.

Once her mood lightened, even those two little tree spirits beside her looked much more pleasing to the eye.

So she immediately leaned over and began chattering away to them, asking one thing after another.

Chen Guan stood alone at the bow, the Horse-Cleaving Saber resting on his shoulder, letting the breeze brush across his face. The more the wind blew, the darker his face became.

“Damn it... the more I think about it, the more I feel like I’ve lost out.”

And deep in his heart, he had the vague feeling that this escort mission... was probably only just beginning.

On the boat, Xiao Lü’s two glossy black eyes kept sweeping over the scenery around them.

This was the first time the two of them had ever left Huai Blossom Hollow, and at this moment everything they saw felt fresh and novel.

Meanwhile, Luo Li had completely transformed into a chatterbox, asking question after question.

“Xiao Lü, do you usually eat food?”