Peerless Bodyguard of a Stunning Beauty

Chapter 130: Chapter 107: Funny in Life, Bizarre in Death

Yellow Hair knelt on the ground, begging for mercy. ”Grandpa Zhao Rong, please forgive Big Fool and me! It was Wang Jingang who sent us to follow you.”

Looking at the two of them, Zhao Rong asked in confusion, ”When did you two get in here?”

Big Fool, also on his knees, pleaded, ”Grandpa Zhao Rong, we followed you in last night.”

Hearing this, Zhao Rong couldn’t help but gasp. He thought to himself, Does that mean they saw me and Tao Hua embracing last night?

He questioned them, ”Since you came in last night, why are you still here?”

Big Fool fumbled in his pocket and pulled out some intimate items he had stolen, saying with a strange expression, ”Grandpa Zhao Rong, we were on a mission. We didn’t dare go back without completing it.”

Yellow Hair also took out various contraceptive supplies from his pocket. ”Grandpa Zhao Rong, please forgive us! We didn’t do anything other than steal a few things.”

Just as they were begging for their lives, Tao Hua emerged from deeper within the cave.

”Zhao Rong,” she said in alarm, ”why do I feel the True Qi in this Cultivation Cave rapidly dissipating?”

At that moment, Zhao Rong also noticed the rich True Qi in the cave was gradually scattering.

Suddenly, Tao Hua spotted the source of the problem. A magical beast—a pangolin—had burrowed a tunnel from the mountaintop directly into the cave’s Qi Pool.

She gasped and shot a look at Yellow Hair and Big Fool. ”It must have been these two!” she said to Zhao Rong. ”They must have brought the magical beast pangolin into the Cultivation Cave. Otherwise, the True Qi wouldn’t be dissipating!”

The Cultivation Cave, due to its peculiar structure, was originally a sealed space. This was the only reason True Qi could gather there. But now, the magical beast pangolin had created a passage from the Qi Pool to the mountaintop, allowing all the accumulated True Qi to escape.

Tao Hua stepped forward and confronted the two. ”Did you bring that magical beast pangolin in here?”

”Grandmother Tao Hua, Grandpa Zhao Rong, please don’t kill me!” Yellow Hair cried in fear. ”It was Wang Jingang! He told us to bring it in.”

Big Fool also begged for mercy. ”Wang Jingang ordered us to bring the magical beast pangolin into the Cultivation Cave. Our mission was to have it tunnel a path to the mountaintop to release all the True Qi. It was to stop Grandpa Zhao Rong from cultivating so he couldn’t break through to level twenty!”

Hearing of Wang Jingang’s despicable plot, Tao Hua burned with anger. ”That Wang Jingang is absolute scum, resorting to such a low-down trick...” Her voice broke, and she began to cry.

”Brother Zhao Rong,” she sobbed, ”we were supposed to stay in this cave for forty-nine days of secluded cultivation. You would have definitely broken through to level twenty and defeated Mage Erzhen. But now the magical beast pangolin has ruined the Cultivation Cave! We don’t have another sacred place like this for cultivation. How are you supposed to level up? How will you break through to level twenty and fight Mage Erzhen?”

Seeing her in tears, Zhao Rong comforted her. ”Sister Tao Hua, don’t cry. Listen to me. Just because the Cultivation Cave is gone doesn’t mean I, Zhao Rong, can’t level up, right?”

While Zhao Rong was consoling Tao Hua, Yellow Hair and Big Fool saw their chance and bolted. Big Fool scrambled toward the deepest part of the cave, while Yellow Hair dashed for the entrance. Seeing them flee, Zhao Rong moved to give chase.

But Tao Hua held him back. ”Don’t bother chasing Big Fool. He’s gone to kill himself.”

She had barely finished speaking when Big Fool, still running, suddenly plunged into a bottomless abyss, dying instantly. Tao Hua knew that the deepest part of the cave was a dead end—what looked like a path was actually a fatal drop.

Seeing Big Fool fall to his death, Zhao Rong sighed. ”Ah, that Big Fool really lived up to his name. He’d rather fall to his death than let me give him a beating...”

With that, Zhao Rong prepared to chase after Yellow Hair.

But Tao Hua stopped him again. ”You don’t need to chase Yellow Hair, either. He’s taken the Snake Path.”

Just as she spoke, a bloodcurdling scream echoed from the second path. After a few more terrified cries, Yellow Hair, too, was dead.

Seeing one fall to his death and the other get eaten by snakes, Zhao Rong gasped. Big Fool, Yellow Hair, you lived a comedy and died a tragedy. Don’t blame me. You brought this on yourselves...

Tao Hua wiped her tears and looked at Zhao Rong. ”Brother Zhao Rong, since this Cultivation Cave is useless now, let’s leave.” She started walking along the first path toward the entrance.

Watching her go, Zhao Rong suddenly remembered her words from the previous night: ”Brother Zhao Rong, I’ve cultivated all day and I’m really tired. Let’s just wait until tomorrow night...”

He had finally waited until today, eagerly anticipating the night he could finally be with Tao Hua. How could their secluded cultivation suddenly be over?

Disappointed beyond measure, Zhao Rong trailed after her. ”Tao Hua, even if we can’t cultivate in the cave anymore, we could still sleep here for one more night, couldn’t we?”

Hearing this, Tao Hua smiled and turned to face him. ”Brother Zhao Rong, you misunderstood me. When I said I was too tired and that we should wait until tomorrow, I didn’t mean we would do... *that*... tomorrow. I meant that starting tomorrow, we would begin the practice of replenishing our Yin and Yang...”

Zhao Rong almost face-planted. Men truly are creatures who think with their lower half.

As he stumbled, Tao Hua gave him a mischievous glance and thought to herself, What a silly brother. He doesn’t understand a woman’s heart at all...

Soon, they were out of the cave. On the way down the mountain, Tao Hua’s mood soured again. ”Brother Zhao Rong, without the Cultivation Cave, how will you ever cultivate?”

Hearing her worry, Zhao Rong deliberately tried to cheer her up. ”Tao Hua, don’t worry. Who knows? Maybe after all that hard work last night, I’ve already broken through to level twenty.” He was only saying it to make her feel better. In truth, he had no idea if he had leveled up or not. Although he felt full of energy after his bath in the wooden tub, as if he had advanced, he couldn’t be sure.

Tao Hua glanced at him and shook her head faintly. ”Zhao Rong, reaching level twenty isn’t that easy. Even a deity couldn’t break through to level twenty after just one night of cultivation.” She didn’t bother trying to sense his True Qi level, convinced that it was impossible for him to have advanced in a single night.

However, as the two passed the testing cliff, an alarm suddenly blared.

In the True Martial Sect, it took an ordinary disciple three long, arduous years of training to break through to level twenty. Whenever a disciple succeeded, they would come to the testing cliff. Only if their True Qi had genuinely reached level twenty would it trigger the alarm, signaling that the disciple was ready to graduate from the sect.

Yet now, as Tao Hua and Zhao Rong passed by, the alarm was sounding.

Puzzled, Tao Hua looked at the loudly ringing device. ”I surpassed level twenty years ago. Why is it ringing now? This thing must be broken.”

She walked past the alarm, but it kept ringing. Looking back at Zhao Rong, who was standing right next to it, she chuckled. ”Well, this alarm is old and poorly maintained. It looks like it’s not accurate anymore.”

Just as she dismissed it, Zhao Rong walked past the alarm, and it fell silent.

Seeing it stop, Tao Hua was bewildered. ”Strange. Zhao Rong, was it you who triggered it, or was it me?”

Zhao Rong looked at her and said firmly, ”It must have been you.”

At his words, Tao Hua walked back to the alarm on the testing cliff. But to her surprise, it remained silent. She motioned for Zhao Rong to come over. With an indifferent expression and no hope whatsoever, Zhao Rong walked up to the device.

The moment he drew near, the alarm erupted with a deafening shriek that echoed to the heavens.

Tao Hua whipped her head around to stare at Zhao Rong, her jaw dropping in astonishment. ”Zhao Rong! It really was you! You triggered the alarm!”

Zhao Rong was stunned. ”That’s impossible,” he said in disbelief. ”I failed my alchemy the night before last, and I only cultivated for one night yesterday. How could I have possibly broken through to level twenty? Your level must have triggered it.”

Tao Hua moved closer and sensed the True Qi within his body. Suddenly, she went pale with shock. A look of joyous disbelief spread across her face as she congratulated him. ”Brother Zhao Rong, congratulations! Your True Qi has genuinely broken through to level twenty!”

Still finding it hard to believe, she added, ”Brother Zhao Rong, are we dreaming? You’ve only been a disciple of the True Martial Sect for three months, and you spent just one day in secluded cultivation yesterday, yet you’ve already broken through to level twenty? This is miraculous, incredible, utterly astonishing!”

As Tao Hua marveled, Zhao Rong himself couldn’t believe he had somehow broken through. To verify it, he walked over to a huge boulder. He lifted it with ease and hurled it several thousand meters away. Next, he threw a punch at a nearby slab of rock. The rock, as hard as iron, instantly shattered into dust.

Seeing his own strength had increased so dramatically, Zhao Rong finally confirmed it. He had truly broken through to level twenty.

Meanwhile, at the foot of the mountain in their first-year classroom, Liu Tianxiong was boasting in front of three beautiful young women.

”Beauty,” he said, looking at Miss Lili, ”let me tell you something. Even though Zhao Rong went to the Cultivation Cave to train, he could exhaust himself to death and still wouldn’t break through to level twenty. If you don’t believe me, just wait forty-nine days and test his True Qi level yourself...”

Just then, Wang Jingang walked over. ”Miss Lili,” he sneered, ”let me tell you the truth. I had someone bring a magical beast pangolin into the Cultivation Cave, and it has already destroyed the True Qi composition inside. That idiot Zhao Rong and Tao Hua are still in there cultivating. They’re complete morons...”

As Wang Jingang and Liu Tianxiong were gloating in front of the three beauties, Zhao Rong and Tao Hua arrived at the classroom door.