Chapter 77: Shameless behavior!
A small campfire crackled near the riverbank, its golden flames licking the damp evening air.
Kian stood beside the heat, stripping off his soaked robe without a trace of shame. He wrung the heavy fabric out to dry it.
A few paces away, just climbing out of the water, Xiao Cui sat on a flat stone with her hands slapped tightly over her face.
So shameless.
He was stripping naked now.
Her pale fingers spread just enough for her round eyes to peek through the gaps.
She stared at his broad chest, her heart doing erratic flips against her ribs.
He was carved like marble—defined shoulder blades, a lean waist, and a sharp, deep set of six-pack abs that tightened every time he moved.
’I think he trains a lot,’ she thought.
Then her eyes drifted lower.
The moment her gaze landed on the thick shadow beneath his waist, her cheeks burst into a violent scarlet.
"Eeeek!"
She slammed her hands back over her face, turning her head so fast her wet blonde hair whipped across her shoulders.
"Put some clothes on, you shameless pervert!"
He did exactly that, wearing his clothes back.
"Are you drying yourself or coming home wet like this?"
"I am not drying!"
"Sure," Kian said.
He scooped her off the flat stone into his arms before she could protest further.
Walking back toward the forest edge, Kian paused beside the resting bear. He tossed the silver fish he had caught straight into Bao Bao’s open jaws.
"Goodbye, Bao Bao," she said from his hand, waving at it. "We’ll be back."
The bear let out a low, satisfied grunt, champing down on the fresh fish as Kian activated Wind Step and leaped into the trees, carrying the wet, blushing lady home.
"Are you hungry?" he asked.
"Yes..."
Her stomach growled.
"I want something as well."
...
Meanwhile, deep inside the Jinguan Sect, the late night air hung heavy and tense.
Su Chen stood in the middle of his courtyard, his eyes burning with a cold, murderous light.
Five hours had passed, and Xiao Cui had not returned.
Su Chen’s jaw tightened until the bone clicked.
She was a simple mortal, but she was *his* servant, and someone in this wretched sect had dared to touch his property.
His body blurred, leaving a faint cloud of kicked-up dirt as he sped straight toward the Zhang family residence.
He kicked the heavy oak door off its hinges with a single, deafening crash, the wood splintering into a dozen sharp shards.
Zhang Wu sat calmly at the inner study table, chewing on a piece of dried meat while his uncle and the butler froze in sheer terror.
Su Chen stepped over the ruined doorframe, his white light sword manifesting in his hand with a sharp hum.
"Where is she?" Su Chen demanded, his voice dropping into a freezing, razor-sharp whisper. "If you took Xiao Cui, give her back. Otherwise, I will skin all three of you alive right now."
Zhang Baole and the butler exchanged a panicked, sweating look, well aware of Zhang Wu’s earlier intentions.
Did he do something after all?
What the fuck? When did this fatty become so capable?
Yet they stayed dead silent, terrified that speaking up would only seal their fates faster.
Zhang Wu didn’t even flinch, taking a slow bite of his food as Kian’s puppet thread subtly guided his speech.
He looked up at the reincarnated Soul Lord with a dull, indifferent glare.
"If you want to find her, go check where she went," Zhang Wu said flatly. "Why are you bothering us?"
Su Chen’s eyes narrowed, his white sword flickering with murderous intent, but he saw no lie on the fatty’s impassive face.
Disgusted, he turned on his heel and blurred out of the ruined doorway, leaving the shattered wood behind.
He sped through the dark corridors of the sect and descended into the outer market, his feet barely touching the cobblestones as he tracked her usual routine.
He didn’t know it, but he had been given a record.
Within minutes, he reached the narrow canal where the flower stalls stood silent and locked for the night.
Su Chen slammed his fist into the heavy wooden shutter of the shop, the impact rattling the entire storefront and waking the old merchant inside.
The old man scrambled out with a lantern, trembling as he faced the glowing, razor-sharp light sword aimed at his chest.
"A young girl came here earlier for honey-bells, or something, right?" Su Chen cold-voiced, the blade hovering an inch from the old man’s throat. "Where did she go?"
"A-A young cultivator took her!" the merchant stuttered, nearly dropping his lantern in terror. "He grabbed her hands, carried her off toward the eastern forest, and fled like the wind!"
"Wind?" Su Chen muttered.
He closed his eyes and summoned a tracking art, one he had learned in his past life. There was no one in this entire region who could hide their Qi signature from him.
Casting his spiritual perception over the cobblestones. A faint, lingering streak of disturbed air of Qi sparkled in his senses—the residue of a high-speed movement technique heading toward the outer district.
Su Chen shot forward like a white bolt, tracking the fading trail through the dark avenues. The spiritual resonance was fresh, leading him straight toward a brightly lit corner of the lower market.
He expected to find a hidden torture chamber, or at least a bound captive in an abandoned warehouse.
Instead, the trail ended at an open-air night food stall smelling of fried garlic and boiling chicken broth.
Su Chen stopped in the shadows, his light sword vanishing in sheer confusion.
What was going on?
Was the kidnapper here?
Was Xiao Cui here?
Was she tortured? Dead?
He walked slowly towards it, looking around.
And soon, he found her.
Xiao Cui sat on a high wooden bench, her cheeks stuffed full of steaming noodles as she giggled softly.
Beside her, a young man in dark robes wiped a drop of broth from her chin, making her face flush bright red beneath the paper lanterns.
"Hey, I know how to eat."
"So what?"
He chuckled.
She showed him her fangs playfully.