Chapter 13

Only when that dark figure finally vanished from sight did Jiang Yu drag her gaze back.
Her lashes trembled. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and she didn’t even bother to wipe it away. Lifting her skirt, she headed back in a hurry. She needed to prepare for going down the mountain.
For now, Shen Anzhi could suppress his urge to kill her in exchange for the Yihui Pill , but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t run into other dangers along the way.
Over the past few days, while frantically cramming from various texts, she’d picked up scattered hints: when those five had gone to mock Shen Anzhi that day, the person they’d hit had only been an illusion, an avatar formed from a formation he’d left behind.
As for their bruised faces, they guessed some disciple who couldn’t stand them had jumped them in the dark.
Chin in hand, Jiang Yu listened to them chatter as they walked by, describing their mysterious assailant in vivid detail. Almost without thinking, she rubbed the back of her neck. A chill erupted across her pale skin.
Fast, precise, ruthless, no mercy. The image of a certain someone flashed through her mind.
Still, given how hated they currently were in Crane Sect, anyone could become a suspect.
Her gaze drifted back down to the tiny characters on the page. She’d heard that Gu Shuyu had gone into seclusion and wouldn’t leave the sect for seven days. Deep down, Jiang Yu would’ve preferred Gu Shuyu to come along to keep Shen Anzhi in check, but this was her mission. If she meddled too much with the original plot, she didn’t know what chaos might follow.
It took three days of swallowing knowledge whole before she finished everything the original had once read. She summoned all the panicked energy of last-minute exam prep and threw herself into readying for the journey.
They would set off for Zezhou ahead of the others, just the two of them.
When Shen Anzhi arrived, arms folded, the sect gates were almost deserted.
He leaned against the immortal stone beside the entrance, the one engraved with the sect’s name. The mountain wind tugged at his hair, lifting the faint red at the tips. His gaze swept lazily over the scene, and stopped on a flash of bright scarlet at the center of a small group.
Jiang Yu’s crimson robe cinched neatly at her waist, highlighting her slender figure. Her hair was pinned up in a butterfly bun as she tilted her head, listening to someone speak, apricot eyes crinkled like crescent moons.
That bright smile almost hurt his eyes.
He looked away, thick lashes lowering to hide the complicated emotions that rose up uninvited, yet the brilliant sweep of red kept flickering at the edge of his vision anyway.
He let out a soft, cold snort under his breath, pushing down the restless feeling in his chest, only to find his gaze drifting back to that patch of color.
Perhaps he shouldn’t let her get close to anyone else. After all, her top priority was supposed to be finding herbs for him.
These past few days, aside from cramming her head full of knowledge, Jiang Yu had been working quietly on… public relations. She’d tracked down Luo Wubai and the others, asked who they’d picked fights with in the past, and then delivered a few expensive magic tools as peace offerings.
She knew this wouldn’t truly change anything. But whenever she remembered the original ending, where the original Jiang Yu stood alone as everyone kicked her while she was down, it was hard not to feel the pressure.
After reassuring her little gang and answering their questions, she spotted Shen Anzhi approaching and waved with a smile. “Junior Brother, you’re here.” She jogged to meet him. “We can head out now.”
Shen Anzhi’s gaze swept past her to the five boys behind her, then lowered to meet her eyes. He stepped closer, bending slightly as his voice dropped. “Let’s go.”
From Luo Wubai and the others’ perspective, this level of proximity was downright terrifying.
They nearly wanted to drag Shen Anzhi aside on the spot and order him to stay at least three steps away from their Senior Sister.
Jiang Yu hurried to match his stride and handed him a storage ring. “Traveling outside… we’ll probably get bumped and bruised. I prepared some Spirit-Replenishing Pills and a few useful magic tools.”
Shen Anzhi glanced briefly inside, then arched a brow at her. “Senior Sister planning to move your whole house in here?”
“Of course I’m taking everything I might need,” Jiang Yu replied, lifting her chin, utterly justified. “Just in case.”
She was terrified of triggering some “plot correction” and getting tossed back where she started. After all, you never knew which would arrive first, tomorrow, or disaster.
Shen Anzhi’s gaze drifted forward again. The corners of his lips curved slightly.
Like a little scarlet songbird.
Jiang Yu raised her wrist, the red cord at her pale arm bearing a silver bell etched with butterfly patterns. Light gleamed across its surface as Liu Anyuan’s spirit crane burst forth, landing with its head held high.
Riding the crane would save them plenty of time. Jiang Yu had a simple philosophy: if she could sit, she would never choose to stand.
She clutched her book and forced herself to chew through the knowledge of various herbs until the words made her dizzy. Even she wanted to throw the book off the crane sometimes, never mind the original.
The crane’s wings shimmered with a protective formation that shielded them from wind and rain. Jiang Yu glanced sideways at Shen Anzhi’s profile. One arm served as his pillow, long body stretched out along the crane’s feathers, as relaxed as if he were lying in a snow-white cloak.
His hair tangled with the crane’s feathers. Long lashes cast small shadows across his cheeks. He slept deeply, untroubled.
Her stomach growled.
When was he going to wake up and acknowledge that she was on the verge of starving to death?
Unable to stand it, she walked over on light feet and spoke softly. “We haven’t eaten all day.”
He didn’t move.
She almost laughed out of sheer exasperation.
Soft light from the formation made his skin look even paler. This black-hearted lotus, who’d threatened her last night with a coin at her throat demanding absolute honesty, now slept like a glass statue, serene, harmless, devoid of any edge.
She ended up squatting beside him, reaching out to poke the back of his hand with her finger, one tap at a time. “Junior Brother, you might not be hungry but I am. I don’t want to eat dry, shriveled rations again.”
His lashes twitched. The curl of his little finger grazed the silver bell at her wrist, making it chime softly. He opened his eyes at last, gaze meeting her bright, upturned one. Tilting his head lazily, he asked in a low voice, “So Senior Sister no longer practices fasting?”
“I don’t,” she admitted.
He didn’t press.
Murmuring a spell under his breath, he guided the crane down. It landed outside a city gate.
Jiang Yu tipped her head back to look up at the towering walls before they walked in side by side. The market beyond the gates bustled with people. Stalls, colors, goods, there was so much that her eyes hurt trying to take it all in.
Meanwhile Shen Anzhi, at her side, showed not the slightest hint of interest. He simply kept pace with her, half a step away.
She wasn’t tall. When the crowd surged, shoulders knocked into her. One particularly hurried passerby hit her so hard she staggered backward, stumbling sideways. Instinctively, she grabbed the nearest arm to steady herself and crashed into him.
The boy’s shoulder was lean but firm, and she smacked her nose so hard it went red. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. She hissed softly.
In the motion, her collar shifted slightly, revealing a glimpse of skin. Her palm, separated only by thin black fabric, felt the solid, wiry muscle beneath. Her gaze slid down the pale line of his collarbone,
Just as she was about to spring away, her vision caught, for a heartbeat, on a jagged streak of dark red beneath his collar. A vicious old scar flared into view and vanished again beneath the black.
Shen Anzhi arched a brow, lifting his hand to tug his collar straight. His dark pupils fixed on her, lips stretching into a faint, indifferent arc. “Does Senior Sister like what she sees that much?”
“Sorry,” Jiang Yu said quickly, dropping her hand. Heat crawled up her cheeks. His body temperature felt too high, forcing her to retreat a few steps.
She turned her head and spotted a three-story restaurant. Grabbing at the chance to change the subject, she said, “Let’s eat there.”
Once inside, she ordered the house specialties from the waiter. She had barely taken a sip of tea when, within a meter of her hair, a dark iron hammer wreathed in faint light came hurtling through the air.
Wooden splinters exploded in every direction, only to freeze half a meter before reaching her.
A flick of his fingers. The coin arced through the air.
A shimmering transparent barrier flared into being around the two of them. Everyone else in the area, however, was not so lucky, one blow sent them flying.