Venerated Venomous Consort

Di Fuyi said nothing more. There were so many kinds of poisonous creatures lingering around in the swamp. The sudden emergence of the beast did not surprise him. Fortunately, the incident was finally over.

Yun Qingluo’s Kung Fu was the worst among them all. She was taking the lead before, but Di Fuyi decided that she should walk in the middle of the line in order to prevent the same incident from happening. She promptly agreed to him. Nevertheless, the two escorts from the palace continued to stay by her side to protect her.

Di Fuyi, along with Gu Xijiu, took turns to take the lead while Zhu Duqing remained as the last man in the line. Gu Xijiu could understand why Di Fuyi wanted to lead, but she did not quite know why he had to take her together with him.

She was just as weak, with only a year left to spare if she did not find the cure. It would not be so appropriate for her to take the lead, would it? In fact, she was not allowed to use her spiritual power at the moment to prevent worsening her situation. It would be better to avoid using her power at all in order to prevent the toxins in her body from reacting again.

Furthermore, even though she had agreed to take the lead with him, she did understand why he had to keep holding her hand. She tried to suppress the urge to question him but failed. “I think we should keep a distance from one another. If anything happens unexpectedly, at least one of us may survive the attack.”

Di Fuyi was holding her left hand and did it so naturally. “You are good at teleporting. If there really is any unexpected event, I believe that we can immediately teleport to safety,” he swiftly replied.

Gu Xijiu did not argue with him, so both of them continued the journey. If they chose to teleport away in times of danger and left the rest of the people to die, it would not be entirely inappropriate. However, she recalled how Di Fuyi risked his life just to get Yun Qingluo to safety. The past incident was really a close call.

“If I had not reached out to you in time, would you end up in the beast’s stomach?”

Di Fuyi gave her a firm nod. “Yes.”

Gu Xijiu was surprised by his response. “Were you trying to get yourself killed?” She demanded furiously.

“You have been pushing me away. I certainly have thought about killing myself,” he said calmly while staring at her.

Gu Xijiu did not know what to say. She knew that if she had not been able to pull him out in time, he would find another alternative and fight his way out alive by stabbing the creature right in his stomach. He had a protective barrier around his body, so the gastric acid would not do him any harm. He knew how to control his breath and survive without the need for air. There was certainly enough time for him to slash the creature’s stomach open. However, it was unavoidable that he would get his entire body stained in the blood of the beast.

Gu Xijiu had been trying to keep him away, and yet he would not stop flirting with her. He even tried to act cute and look pitiful in order to get her attention. The worst thing about it was that she seemed to be quite comfortable with him. Her cold, cold heart started to burn with a sense of desire.

She recalled that Di Fuyi told her that he had already put their past behind him and that he never wanted to see her again. What was all this about, then? The man was, without a doubt, a drama king. There was no way she could tell what he was really up to.

Meanwhile, the team continued to explore the poisonous swamp by following Yun Qingluo’s guidance. To their surprise, they managed to find an underground tunnel, hidden beneath rows of bright red bushes. They proceeded into the tunnel, only to realize that it was actually a very deep passage with twists and turns that left them no clue about the final destination.

“This is a shortcut,” Yun Qingluo said. “I used the passage to go into the depths of the swamp. At the end of the tunnel, there is a hall that is connected to the nest of the Silver Ring Crocodiles. It has been years since I last came here, so I am not sure if the place is still well intact. You may choose to take the path or not.”

The team was rather uncertain but believed that the passage would be helpful.