The boy’s freckled face showed no expression at all. What was visible, however, was a weight that did not match his apparent age.
It was unclear whether he had even heard what Zhan Ri Fei had just said.
But in the end, he was still too young. His face could not entirely mask his eyes, and his eyes, in turn, could not conceal his heart.
—His eyes were full of wariness. Was his heart also filled with vigilance?
Only now did Zhan Ri Fei notice the boy’s eyes. Though they were narrow and small, they unexpectedly appeared somewhat captivating on his thin face. When he looked into the boy’s eyes, he felt the same thing that Huo Xiao Di had once described—contradiction.
At this moment, those eyes were both guarded yet faintly indifferent, as though a trace of apathy lurked beneath the surface.
However, Zhan Ri Fei was not Huo Xiao Di. Looking into those eyes, a thought stirred in his mind, and he ultimately left unsaid what he had been about to say.
Zhan Ri Fei’s gaze remained calm, but the boy unexpectedly shivered. Under Zhan Ri Fei’s scrutiny, he felt as though he had been stripped bare, with his innermost secrets laid bare under those piercing black eyes. No matter how much he struggled, he could not escape the penetrating gaze that seemed to see through everything.
Turning his head, the boy fixed his gaze on the darkness beyond the fine drizzle, as though it interested him.
—Could his heart already be burdened with too many secrets?
—Since he had escaped the clutches of Han Shui Palace, and Zhan Ri Fei now lacked even the strength to stand, why hadn’t he left yet? Whom was he waiting for?
Zhan Ri Fei pressed on a few acupoints on his body to stop the bleeding on his back. As he guided his inner energy, he pondered what to do about the boy.
—The wound on his back seemed to have something embedded in it. Whenever his inner energy surged, it was immediately blocked, unable to flow smoothly. Han Shui Palace’s ultimate artifact of the past century truly held secrets beyond comprehension. His disrupted energy made him uncertain how much strength he would have left if he faced another formidable enemy. Could he protect the boy at all?
For no particular reason, he suddenly wished that Huo Xiao Di would arrive quickly.
Huo Xiao Di always seemed to have a way of handling situations like this.
And as if thinking of someone summoned them, Huo Xiao Di appeared.
Though the person himself hadn’t yet arrived, his clear and vibrant voice preceded him.
—“I really didn’t expect the Hua brothers to become so useless.”
—“The Black Demon Fox of Xiang Yang Prefecture is moving so slowly this time it’s more like a Black Snail. But if it’s rebranded as the ‘Ever-Changing Black Snail,’ Xiao Shao would probably be livid.”
Gently and softly, the “Cao Cao” [cunning historical figure] in yellow robes was now standing before them.
Zhan Ri Fei looked up, and just as he expected, the first thing he saw was naturally Huo Xiao Di’s bright, lively “rabbit teeth,” followed by his round, exuberant face that resembled a delighted version of Cao Cao’s.
Huo Xiao Di, full of pride, pursed his lips in a way that made him look like a little fox that had just stolen eight chickens.
As soon as he entered the forest, his eyes immediately landed on the two figures—one seated, one standing—within the woods.
Two people he was familiar with.
Then, his gaze shifted to Zhan Ri Fei’s face, and his heart sank.
—Zhan Ri Fei’s face, under the dusky twilight, had turned deathly pale. Faint traces of blood still lingered on his face and body, diluted by the light drizzle, which continued to soak through his black outer robe.
His hand still gripped his sword, though it was sheathed.
The sheath was worn and ancient, but as soon as the legendary blade “Zhanlu” entered it, all its brilliance and aura withdrew, vanishing completely. No one could have guessed that this weathered sheath housed a peerless weapon of the world.
—In all the time Huo Xiao Di had known Zhan Ri Fei, he had never really paid attention to his sword.
What hadn’t changed was his smile. Yet, even this smile carried a trace of fatigue upon seeing him.
Huo Xiao Di frowned.
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