Chapter 12
She dared not move. She dared not even breathe. She was frozen to the spot, her heart pounding in her chest: duh-duhn, duh-duhn. Deep, heavy breaths sounded near her ears. The hairs on her arms stood to attention as a militia of chills marched down her spine.
Cherry Lao felt like melting as Shin Jiao moved close and held her hand. His masculine scent made her senses go crazy. It was the first time she had felt this way toward the opposite sex. Her face turned beet red, and she looked down to hide her embarrassment.
She had always acted cold and aloof toward others, but that was because of their malicious intentions.
The first time she met Shin Jiao, she thought he was the same as all the other men. But after experiencing his sincerity and the way he took care of her, the frozen heart she had kept for a long time thawed. Now, it was beating like crazy for the handsome young man holding her hand.
"Cherry… I… I think… your… hands… are really more beautiful than mine," Shin Jiao said with a wide grin.
BOOM!!!
Everything seemed to crash down. She was stupefied, and her heart almost exploded, not with joy or excitement, but with annoyance. Her mind went blank, and then anger and irritation blazed in her eyes as the temperature of the entire cave began to drop. She quickly raised her head to berate the shameless man.
"You! You!... Hmph…" Cherry Lao was about to lash out when a pair of soft, wet lips suddenly covered hers.
It was all too sudden. Shin Jiao was actually kissing her. This made her heart almost skip a beat, and she wanted to melt in his arms. The anger swelling deep inside her was instantly doused.
But then, she remembered that she shouldn't be doing this. Her precious first kiss should be given to the man she truly loved, but she couldn't remember if she had ever been in love with someone before. Her mind was in turmoil.
Shin Jiao noticed her daze and didn't deepen the kiss. He didn't want her to assume he was a lecherous man trying to take advantage of an innocent woman. When their lips parted, Cherry felt like something was wrong and was a little disappointed.
"It was not enough," she thought, and she unconsciously moved forward. But she suddenly regained her composure and held back the impulse to kiss him back.
"This is how I feel… No matter what your decision is, I will support you, okay?" Shin Jiao whispered close to her.
"Umm…" Cherry Lao nodded, her face blushing.
She then leaned on his chest with a happy and satisfied smile.
Feeling happy and shy at the same time, Cherry Lao couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes. She felt awkward and shy looking at the man who had stolen her first kiss.
"Cherry, you said you wanted to return to your sect. When do you plan to go?" Shin Jiao said, trying to break the awkwardness between them.
"Ah… Umm… I don't know... What?... I mean… sooner?... Maybe?" Cherry Lao said incoherently, her mind suddenly in a mess.
Shin Jiao chuckled and slowly brushed her long, silky hair.
"Do you want another kiss?... I don't mind," Shin Jiao teased, seeing that she was still muddle-headed.
"You… you're shameless. You… you already stole my first kiss... Humph," Cherry Lao replied, feeling a little annoyed as his words woke her from her stupor.
She didn't want to look at Shin Jiao, so she just grumpily looked away.
"Alright, I'm sorry, hey… Look at me," Shin Jiao said as he once again held her hand.
He gently held her chin and lifted her head to face him. The blush on Cherry Lao's face made her look more charming and beautiful. Shin Jiao almost couldn't help himself from giving her another kiss, but he held back. He needed her to be more proactive so their relationship could be a give-and-take.
"We're okay now, right?" Shin Jiao asked with gentleness.
She just nodded in reply, still feeling a bit shy.
"Shin... I'm… I'm sorry for my selfishness. I know that you wanted to stay in this forest because of your unique physique, and I know that once you return to civilization, you will be faced with great troubles and more problems. But because of me, you are willing to leave. For that, I am truly grateful," Cherry Lao said sincerely after gaining her composure.
"Huh, what is she saying? Pfft! Now I get it. She thinks I'm staying in this forest because I'm hiding from the outside world. Well, that would also work," Shin Jiao thought, not planning to correct her idea about him.
As their eyes met, no more words were needed. She knew that Shin Jiao would always be there for her, and she was thankful for that.
"Rest now. We'll leave early tomorrow morning," Shin Jiao said as he stood up.
"Shin, can I ask you a question? Your ring… is it a spatial ring?" she asked with a curious gaze.
"Oh, this? Well… um..." Shin Jiao felt a little pressure with the question. He hadn't expected her to ask this.
He could, of course, make up some random story again or just keep his mouth shut. He knew she wouldn't pry too deeply, but if she did, it would break their trust. She had already opened up her heart and told him about her past and personal stories.
However, sometimes it's better not to know anything, as it would only cause more trouble.
Seeing the conflicting feelings in Shin Jiao's eyes, Cherry Lao knew she had asked too much.
"I'm sorry. If you can't tell me, it's okay. I understand there are some things that you can't talk about."
"Cherry, it's not that I don't want to tell you. It's just that I don't know what this is myself. All I know is that it can carry things, like a storage item used by cultivators, that's it. This was actually given to me by my grandfather; it's our family heirloom. He tasked me to protect it and never divulge it to other people. Here, you can try and see for yourself," Shin Jiao explained and gave her the ring.
She felt a little hesitant, but her curiosity won out. She accepted the ring and scrutinized it. She even sent her spiritual energy to check the ring, but nothing happened. It was just a piece of jade, nothing more, but she knew it was more than that. Without any result, she just gave it back to Shin Jiao.
"Alright, rest now. Good night!" Shin Jiao said as he stood up from the bed.
"Good night!" Cherry Lao replied, still afraid to look at him. But deep in her heart, she was expecting something. When Shin Jiao returned to the floor mat beside the bed where he usually slept, she felt a little disappointed.
...
The next day…
The morning sun was slowly rising on the eastern horizon, coloring the sky with a golden hue. Within the forest, two figures stood in front of the small cave, a look of melancholy in their eyes.
"Well, goodbye, Senior Gubu. Thank you for the gift of knowledge you have bestowed upon me," Shin Jiao thought as he cupped his hands and bowed.
"Thank you, little cave. Thank you for the wonderful memories," Cherry Lao thought with a grateful heart.
Then the two walked south. Cherry Lao had a rough idea of the direction of the nearest town, so Shin Jiao just followed behind her.
Their destination was the town of Dis, the closest town on the way to the city of Yi. According to Cherry Lao, the town of Dis was a large town where a lot of cultivators gathered for supplies. It was also ruled by five great families, who formed a council that acted as judges for the town. Because they were united and strong, the town of Dis was very prosperous. It also acted as a fortress against any strong beasts coming from the Daemon forest.
The Lotus Sect, which she belonged to, was located far on the eastern side of the City of Yi, in a mountain range bordering the Yi and San Empires.
While traveling, they began to talk more about themselves, which made them become closer.
Sometimes they would hunt beasts or fly using Cherry Lao's spiritual force, as she didn't have any flying swords yet. When Shin Jiao saw this, he planned to buy her a flying sword when they arrived in town.
Mostly on their travels, Shin Jiao would carry her on his back since his stamina lasted longer than her spiritual energy. They would jump from tree to tree, almost like flying. This once again dumbfounded Cherry Lao as to what Shin Jiao could do. What he was doing was executing a martial arts technique called light body movement.
Since Shin Jiao could do this leisurely, she could just relax and lie in his embrace and cuddle like a spoiled princess.
A week later…
After another day of traveling, Cherry Lao made a hole in the middle of a large tree trunk. This was easy for her as a Gold Core realm cultivator. They both stayed there for the night. After dinner, due to exhaustion, Cherry Lao immediately fell asleep. Shin Jiao, as usual, set up some protective array formations: a basic shield formation and an outer layer of camouflage formations.
After setting up the formations, he could relax and lie beside Cherry Lao.
"Are you already asleep?" Shin Jiao asked in a low voice when he felt she was unsettled.
"I can't sleep. I guess I'm used to always having a bath before sleeping. It's been two days since we last took one," she murmured.
"Well, it can't be helped, as there are no rivers or streams in this area. How about we try to find a stream or a river first thing tomorrow?"
"Umm… okay."
"Well, you worry too much. You actually don't smell that bad," Shin Jiao teased.
"You… pervert," Cherry Lao glared, but her eyes didn't show any anger.
"Sigh… I really don't know what to do with you. Sometimes you like me teasing you, sometimes you don't. What am I to do with you?"
"Hehe... Why? Do you not like me anymore?" Cherry Lao said coquettishly.
"Ah… Well… what do you think?" Shin Jiao said, looking at her with his "evil" eyes.
"Hey, okay! Let's sleep now. Good night, Shin Jiao!" she said, averting her eyes and turning around.
The darkness of the night was like a blanket that made them fall asleep just after a short while.
In her sleep, Cherry Lao dreamed of flying in the air on her very own flying sword, traversing the sky and the endless sea. But then she suddenly heard a clicking sound, which disturbed her wonderful dream.
Cherry Lao felt that she was suddenly lifted up, and then she felt like she was flying in the air. The whooshing sound and the cold air on her skin jolted her awake.
"Ugh… What… Is this a dream?" she muttered as she slowly opened her eyes.
Then a handsome face greeted her sight. She saw the glowing golden light of the sun slowly tracing the contours of his face. She felt like she was looking at a perfect sculpture of a deity. But her thought was suddenly interrupted by his arrogant voice.
"Have you seen enough?" Shin Jiao said with a smile.
"Uh, huh…" Cherry Lao unconsciously nodded.
"Oh, crap. Why am I out of my mind this early in the morning? This is… wait a minute… Why are we moving?" she said to herself as she suddenly noticed that she was being carried by Shin Jiao.
"Shin, why are we running?" Cherry Lao asked in confusion.
"We have a little problem, look behind you," Shin Jiao said calmly.
When Cherry Lao's gaze went behind Shin Jiao, she almost fell out of his arms in fright. Her body shuddered involuntarily and cold sweat trickled down her spine.
She saw a countless number of big ant-like creatures. Each ant was around three feet long and their bodies were made of a stone-like carapace.
Seeing this, she already knew what those creatures were: the deadly and destructive Rock Ants.
These creatures normally didn't cause havoc in the forest. They only caused this kind of commotion every time a colony changed their queen, which happened once every ten years. This was usually followed by massive casualties of both plants and beasts in the forest, and then a massive beast tide would occur. It was known that no one had ever escaped these ferocious creatures' territory.
Although they were only Second- and Third-level beasts at most, their numbers were huge. Even an infant Soul Realm cultivator would lose their life if they faced these creatures.
The Rock Ants on the ground didn't cause much of a worry for Cherry Lao. What made her truly afraid was the growing and fast-approaching shadow above them—the flying Rock Ants. No matter how fast they ran, the flying Rock Ants would still be able to catch up.
"Shin… We… We can't outrun them. These creatures are called Rock Ants. As long as we are in their territory's range, we are dead, especially those flying ones," Cherry Lao said with fear clearly written all over her beautiful face.
Though she was a strong and brave woman, looking at the countless crawling creatures made the hair on her back stand on end and cold shivers run down her spine.
On the other hand, Shin Jiao just took a quick glance behind him and immediately increased his speed.
He was also a little at a loss about what to do but maintained a calm facade so that Cherry Lao would not panic. While they were running, he was rummaging through his mind for possible ways to escape this situation. In his inventory, he had a lot of things, but he didn't know if any of them could be used in this situation.
"Damn, if I had known that I would face a mob of hundreds and thousands of ants, I would have created something for crowd control…" he thought.
"Wait a minute… Oh, right… I can do that," Shin Jiao suddenly had an idea.
While moving frantically from tree to tree, he took a glance at Cherry Lao, who had a worried look on her face. When he saw the hopelessness in her eyes, his heart suddenly felt worried. But as he felt her grip on his arms, his mind became resolute.
"Cherry, I have a plan. But it would take a little bit of time, about five minutes. I would be relying on your help with this. Would that be okay?" Shin Jiao said calmly.
"Wait, what are you planning to do?" Cherry Lao said worriedly.
"Don't worry… Do you trust me?" A confident voice coming from him made her feel a bit of comfort in this dire situation.
She just nodded in confirmation.