Chapter 10 : Chapter 10
Chapter 10: Did He Sell My Horse?
She looked around to the left and right, yet still could not find that magnificent black horse her grandfather had carefully raised for three years.
A bad feeling rose in her heart.
She suddenly turned around, glared at Chen Guan as he walked over, and demanded sharply, “Where is my horse? Where is that black horse?”
Chen Guan’s gaze settled on her, and he studied her thoughtfully for a moment.
When an ordinary person was dragged into the rule of an uncanny fiend, even if they did not die, they would usually forget everything they had experienced over the previous few days.
Yet this foolish girl had only forgotten the crucial stretch, and could still hop around in full vigor and glare at him in anger. That meant her constitution was somewhat unusual.
Especially now that she had eaten her fill, that faint queenly aura was beginning to emerge from her again. He had no idea whether that had been cultivated by that official uncle of hers.
Withdrawing his gaze, Chen Guan said expressionlessly, “I used it to trade for your life.”
“Trade for my life?” Luo Li froze. How did one use a horse to trade for a life?
She had just thought it through for a while and still could not figure out how such a trade would even work. She stared at Chen Guan for several more seconds, then asked suspiciously,
“Did you secretly sell my horse and come up with this rotten excuse afterward?!”
Chen Guan’s brow twitched sharply, and a fierce glint flashed through his eyes.
“You may look down on the profession of an escort, but you may not question the character of me, Chen Guan!”
The sudden force that erupted from him, along with that look as though he were about to devour someone whole, made Luo Li’s heart jolt in fright. She could not help taking a step back.
“Fine, fine. I won’t argue with you for now. I’ll deal with it once I see my little aunt!”
Too annoyed to keep speaking with Chen Guan, she looked around where she stood.
She came to Wangyue City often enough, so she quickly confirmed where she was.
Without wasting any more time, she swung up onto her horse and rode toward the residence where her little aunt lived, according to memory.
Chen Guan casually rested the horse-cleaving saber on his shoulder and followed behind at his own pace.
Luo Li glanced back at him, feeling somewhat puzzled.
She noticed that although his stride did not seem fast at all, no matter how much she urged her horse onward, he could always follow easily behind, keeping the distance neither too near nor too far.
But her mind was full of thoughts of how to get rid of him, so she did not dwell on it.
...
A short while later, Luo Li rode up to an imposing residence in the eastern part of the city.
Its vermilion-red gate was a full two zhang wide, and on either side of the entrance stood a lifelike stone carving.
That carving was majestic and fearsome, with a blue face and protruding fangs. It resembled neither lion nor dog, and was precisely what the common folk spoke of in their tales—a Dihou.
This Dihou was itself a kind of fiend, but an extremely unusual one—a terrestrial fiend.
For it fed upon fiends, and among vicious fiends, it was one of the most vicious of all.
Whether ordinary demon fiends, demonic fiends, or even those revolting yin fiends, so long as they fell into the grasp of a Dihou, it would devour them all the same.
Because of this, certain great households with sufficient means would find ways to procure a Stone-Womb Dihou and set it at their gates as a guardian spirit, using fiends to suppress fiends.
Of course, such a thing was not something an ordinary family could afford to display.
Chen Guan lifted his eyes and swept over it once, and he immediately understood.
No wonder that silly girl carried an innate aura of authority. This so-called little aunt of hers was clearly no ordinary person either.
Luo Li lightly swung down from her horse and, lifting her skirt, ran to the main gate. She raised a hand and gently knocked on the ring handle a few times.
Not long after, the gate opened with a creak.
A young maidservant poked her head out.
The moment she saw Luo Li outside, delight instantly bloomed across her little face. “Miss! You’ve arrived!”
“Xi’er, is my little aunt in?” Luo Li asked.
“Yes, yes, yes!” the maid called Xi’er nodded rapidly, then curiously glanced at Chen Guan behind Luo Li.
“Miss, this is...”
“Don’t bother with him for now!” Luo Li tossed out irritably, then took Xi’er by the hand and strode straight into the residence without looking back.
The corner of Chen Guan’s mouth twitched violently.
If they had not been in the city, and if not for the sake of the money, he would absolutely have slapped that little wretch and taught her what courtesy meant.
Even so, his gaze kept resting, intentionally or not, on the maid called Xi’er, and his brows unconsciously drew together.
Yet he said nothing. He simply started walking and followed at an unhurried distance, always keeping himself within ten meters of Luo Li.
If one was in the trade, one had to love the trade.
Of course, in his eyes, Luo Li was merely a quest item that happened to move, not his master.
Mainly because if the mission failed, he would lose two hundred Escort Points for nothing. And once this was over, finding another fat mission like this would not be easy.
As for what she wanted to do, that had nothing to do with him.
And as for wanting him to do anything for her, that was even less possible.
When they reached a courtyard, Chen Guan did not follow her inside. Instead, he wandered over to the cool pavilion by the entrance and sat down on his own, rubbing his rounded stomach. This was as good a time as any to let the meal settle.
...
Inside the main room of the courtyard, a beautiful woman whose charm had not faded with age sat at a table, slowly drinking a bowl of rice porridge.
Her name was Su Yue. She wore a light purple brocade dress, its hem embroidered with delicate hidden patterns. The close-fitting cut perfectly accentuated her already voluptuous figure.
Though she was a woman nearing forty, at this moment she looked more like a maiden in the bloom of youth. Time seemed to have left few traces upon her.
“Little Aunt!”
Hearing that cry, Su Yue immediately set down the jade bowl in her hand. Turning her head, she saw Luo Li running in quickly, her face full of grievance.
Su Yue rose at once, but instead of asking why she looked wronged, she asked in astonishment,
“Li’er? Why have you come to Wangyue City so soon?”
That single sentence lodged all the complaints Luo Li had prepared straight in her throat.
What did she mean... so soon?
Had Grandfather not already sent word ahead and arranged for me to come today?
Su Yue seemed not to notice the stunned look on her face at all. She quickly stepped forward, took hold of her, and examined her from head to toe.
Only after seeing that Luo Li was truly safe and sound did she finally let out a long breath of relief, pressing a hand to her chest.
“You frightened me to death. Thank goodness... thank goodness you’re all right.”
Luo Li was completely baffled by her reaction.
What was going on?
Could it be that Little Aunt had heard about the character of the escort outside who had brought her here, and was worried that she had suffered some grievance?
Seeing the puzzled look on Luo Li’s face, Su Yue grabbed her hand and pulled her aside, still visibly shaken.
“Li’er, you do not know this, but recently, an uncanny fiend called ‘Do Not Look Back’ has appeared outside Wangyue City!”
“Because of it, not a single outsider has been able to enter Wangyue City alive for a full half month!”
At that point, she paused, her voice trembling slightly.
“More than that... during this entire period, I have not heard of a single person who left Wangyue City and returned alive either!”
“Do Not Look Back?!”
Luo Li’s expression tightened as well when she heard that.
She naturally knew something of uncanny fiends. They were a kind of fiend far more terrifying than demons and monsters in this age.
Demons and monsters at least had physical bodies. They could be seen and touched, and their strength could vary. If one could not beat them, one could still flee.
But uncanny fiends were formless and intangible. They killed invisibly, and once one was dragged into their rule, one would be at their mercy until death.
And Do Not Look Back was one of the most widely known of all such strange tales.
The moment one turned back, all the qi and blood in one’s body would reverse its flow, and one’s soul would be dragged into that rule, forced to keep walking forward until the seas ran dry and the rocks decayed.
From childhood until now, Luo Li had never heard of anyone escaping alive from under the rule of Do Not Look Back.
Then she suddenly remembered what Chen Guan had said that morning—something about insisting on turning ba... insisting on courting death.
Did I run into it yesterday?
But when she thought it over carefully, she realized that the moment she woke up, she was already in Wangyue City, and in between that she had apparently fainted from hunger and known nothing at all.
Still, Chen Guan had not even dared fight a demon wolf. He hardly seemed like the sort of man who could escape Do Not Look Back.
Luo Li cast those thoughts aside. Seeing Su Yue’s face full of worry, she quickly forced out a smile and reassured her.
“Little Aunt, please don’t worry. Maybe I was just lucky and happened to miss it. Look, aren’t I standing here perfectly alive?”