Chapter 52 : Chapter 52

Chapter 52: Senluo Hall

Luo Li looked at the woman with wary eyes.

This woman’s aura was on a completely different level from Luo Tong and the others before. She was far more dangerous than they had ever been, because she was a beautiful viper, a deadly kind of beauty.

The woman in red swept her gaze over the group. She glanced at the Scarlet Flame Scale Ox standing to the side, then let her eyes settle on Chen Guan, giggling softly as she said,“Young gentleman, when Senluo Hall handles business, idle bystanders may leave, and we’ll let bygones be bygones.”

Chen Guan paused for a moment. “What kind of thing is Senluo Hall?”

He had just been about to ask further when a low, muffled voice suddenly came from the distance.

“Understood!”

Everyone turned their heads.

To their astonishment, it was the great fiend, the Scarlet Flame Scale Ox. It dipped its massive head, turned around, and bolted.

Kicking up a cloud of dust, it vanished in an instant.

The black-clad men were startled. “Th-that was actually a yaoguai?”

Luo Li was also taken aback. She truly had not expected that this ox was not some fiendish demon.

It was a yaoguai. The difference between fiendish demons and great demons was that one could speak human words, while the other was savage by nature.

The woman in red immediately put away her air of arrogance.

Subduing a Demon King was not something an ordinary person could accomplish.

Her honeyed gaze lingered over Chen Guan as she covered her mouth and laughed softly. “You do have some skill, young gentleman.”

The woman in red paused, then pointed at the middle-aged man in black standing beside her. “But his words are my words.”

“This escort job—how much did the employer pay you? Just name your price. This humble one will pay you double. How about it?”

Hearing this, Luo Li’s heart clenched again.

After all, she had only paid Chen Guan twenty taels!

And with beauty added on top of that, this might just be a critical hit.

Chen Guan had originally wanted to ask about this so-called Senluo Hall, but seeing how they bullied the weak and feared the strong, he instantly lost interest.

Then his gaze landed on the flower blooming brightly in the red-robed woman’s hair, and his brows drew together at once.

He had wanted to ask why they were after Luo Li, but the moment he saw that little red flower, he suddenly lost interest in that as well.

“Little Flower!”

Suddenly, Xiao Lü and Xiao Cong stumbled out from the cave entrance.

Chen Guan extended an arm and stopped the two little spirits.

“Brother Chen! That’s Little Flower! That’s Little Flower!”

Xiao Lü and Xiao Cong pointed at the flower on the red-robed woman’s head, crying out at the top of their lungs despite their weakened state.

The two of them had grown up together with Little Flower. They knew each other’s aura intimately.

The little red flower tucked into that woman’s hair was their good friend, that odd little flower. There was absolutely no mistake.

Yet no matter how hard they tried, they could never have imagined that only a few days after parting, their next reunion would take this form.

“Little Flower?!”

The moment Luo Li heard that name, her heart gave a violent shudder.

She stared at the little flower on the demonically alluring woman’s head, still fresh with dew, bright red and lovely.

In her mind, she could not help but see again that somewhat shy little flower whose laughter had been brighter than sunlight.

She remembered that innocent, lively little flower spirit who had played and frolicked with Xiao Lü and Xiao Cong.

She remembered how it had longed for the world outside, yet had still resolutely chosen to stay behind in order to care for its mother, who was on the verge of withering away...

A sharp, indescribable ache surged into Luo Li’s heart, and her eyes instantly turned wet.

A human life was a life.

A demon life... was also a life.

That little flower spirit who had said before they parted, “Once my mother gets better, I’ll come find you,” had indeed found its friends—but in this way.

“Hehe...”

The woman in red suddenly laughed again, her whole body trembling with mirth, as though she had just witnessed something wonderfully amusing.

She slowly lifted a slender jade hand and plucked the blood-stained little red flower from her hair, twirling it lightly at her fingertips.

“So that odd little flower... was called Little Flower?”

There was a morbid delight in her voice.

“A few days ago, it came crying to this humble one, saying it wanted to see the world outside. This humble one has always been soft-hearted, so I agreed right away.”

“Well then, no need to thank me. I’ve brought it right before its friends.”

As she spoke, the woman in red flicked her wrist, and the little red flower turned into a streak of crimson light, drifting lightly toward Xiao Lü and Xiao Cong.

Chen Guan’s eyes sharpened. He moved like lightning, reaching out and catching the little flower steadily in his palm.

He did not even spare the flower a glance. He merely turned his palm slightly, and a stream of pure true qi surged from it, instantly wrapping the blossom completely.

With a faint hiss, an extremely subtle wisp of black vapor rose from the petals and dispersed into the air.

Only after doing all that did he gently place the flower, now somewhat dimmed, into the tear-streaked hands of Xiao Lü and Xiao Cong.

When the woman in red saw Chen Guan’s smooth, flowing response, the seductive smile on her face stiffened slightly. Her delicate brows drew together, and a trace of caution appeared in her eyes.

Because she had coated that little flower with a poison she had personally refined with great care: Soul-Eroding Powder.

This poison was colorless and odorless. Once it touched the skin, a person could turn into a puddle of putrid slime in an instant. Even with immortals present, it would still be too late to save them.

Yet the man before her had not only recognized at a glance that the flower was poisoned, but had caught it unharmed and dissolved the poison so casually...

She realized that she had met a real opponent.

Still, when she saw that Chen Guan was alone, much of the wariness in her eyes faded again.

Xiao Lü and Xiao Cong held the little red flower that had lost all life and stood there dumbly, tears running down their faces.

After a while, Xiao Lü seemed to think of something. It suddenly lifted its head and grabbed Chen Guan’s sleeve, its voice trembling as it asked, “Big Brother... my grandmother... my grandmother, she wasn’t also...”

“She’s fine. Your grandmother is doing very well.”

Chen Guan reached out and gently patted the wooden heads of the two little ones, a remarkably warm smile appearing on his face.

“Take Little Flower back into the cave and wait there for Big Brother. Big Brother has a few things he needs to discuss... properly... with this older sister here.”

“Mm!”

Though Xiao Lü and Xiao Cong were heartsick with grief, they obeyed Chen Guan completely.

They nodded obediently, then, cradling the withered Little Flower, walked toward the cave one step at a time, looking back over their shoulders as they went.

Chen Guan glanced at the silent, pale-faced Luo Li behind him.

The more he looked, the angrier he became. The more he thought about it, the more cheated he felt.

Taking on this escort had been a loss all the way back to his grandmother’s house!

This Senluo Hall and those deathsworn were not on the same side at all. They came from another entirely different faction.

“Well then? Young gentleman, have you thought it over yet?”

Seeing that Chen Guan was still silent after so long, the woman in red began twisting her snake-like waist again and spoke in a voice soft enough to melt the bones of any man alive.

“If twice the price isn’t enough, then three times, five times, even ten times is possible.”

When she saw that Chen Guan was still staring at her with that dead man’s face, refusing to say a word, the woman in red found it rather dull and spoke again.

“What? Don’t tell me that little girl gave you a mountain of gold?”

“Even if it were a mountain of gold, this humble one could afford it.”

At last, Chen Guan reacted. He curled his lips into a half-smile.

“She wasn’t that generous. She only paid twenty taels as the deposit.”

“Twenty taels?!”

The moment those words fell, not only the woman in red, but even the black-clad men around her, all froze.

For a mere twenty taels of silver, you’re risking your life for her?

Are you insane?