No talking throughout the night.
Zhao Changhe spent half the time cultivating and the other half keeping an eye on his surroundings, without ever entering meditation. The source of this content ɪs noⅴelfire.net
Who knows how well Ms. Winged Fire Snake slept in the cave...
Heaven knows that Vermilion Bird didn’t cultivate or sleep either, her mind was fully occupied thinking about how to extract more insights from him and the cost of doing so, and finally, how best to kill off this alias...
It’s unknown whether it was Zhao Changhe’s anti-tracking methods at work or because Wang Daozhong and the Sword Lake assassin got beaten and sent back causing the second wave of assassination to not fully commence yet. Anyway, the night was surprisingly calm. As dawn was breaking, Zhao Changhe opened his eyes under the tree and first saw the young lady emerging from the cave, bending in such a way that her curves were like mountains clustering and waves surging angrily—utterly breathtaking.
That figure was really spicy.
Vermilion Bird had no idea what he was watching, but seeing him wake up, she instinctively smiled coyly, "Morning, dear brother~"
After she finished, she almost slapped herself, realizing how silly that coy smile was under the mask which totally obscured it, and wondered who she was smiling at.
Zhao Changhe, however, was amused by her call and untied Wuzhui’s reins, "Come on, brother will take you to buy masks."
Vermilion Bird naturally got on the horse, "I always feel that you’re taking me shopping in Sword Lake City because you didn’t enjoy it properly last time."
"Ha... Although that’s not the reason, how do you even know about that? Does everyone in Four Symbols Sect share inside news?"
"No," she retorted rigidly, "I just happened to hear about it because I was in the area at the time."
"So little snake sister had a destiny with me so early on, huh..."
"Who has a destiny with you? Get lost!"
Wuzhui sped off with a gallop, unable to listen anymore.
Zhao Changhe left Sword Lake City the day after the Start of Summer heading south to Yangzhou, and now just after the Start of Autumn, it had been exactly a season.
From Mystical Gate Fourth Layer, he had reached the Sixth Layer which he had just broken through not long ago, and it was indeterminately far from reaching the Seventh Layer. The pace was visibly twice as slow as the Early Stage, and who knows how much slower it would be after this...
The city hadn’t changed much, still bustling and as charming as ever. Only the distant lakeside had begun to turn a bit of autumn gold amid the lush greenery.
Not far into the city was the familiar Wanhua House, but now without Tang Wanzhuang.
Even Wu Weiyang seemed to be around Tang Buqi now.
Turning two streets was the guest house courtyard he had once shared with Han Wubing, where he had also stayed on the day of Start of Summer. Zhao Changhe nostalgically entered the guest house and called out, "Shopkeeper..."
"Oh, it’s you, sir?" The shopkeeper actually recognized him, "The courtyard you stayed in just happens to be vacant. Want the same one?"
Zhao Changhe was a bit surprised, "You still remember me after all this time?"
"Pff, with that startling knife, that majestic horse, and that handsome scar, how could I forget?" The shopkeeper chuckled squinting his eyes, "You must be Hidden Dragon, Zhao Changhe, right?"
"No no, I’m just dressed like him, it’s trendy." Zhao Changhe didn’t say much, simply smiling, "That room then, and please feed my horse."
"Alright then..." The shopkeeper didn’t care whether he was the real Zhao Changhe or not, his gaze flicked over to the quiet snake-faced woman standing beside, his heart skipping a beat, secretly thinking this was eerie.
Normal people would truly be startled by such an eerie snake face, clearly not a good person...
Zhao Changhe knew what the man was thinking, and just as he was about to dash off pulling Vermilion Bird’s hand, he ended up grabbing air. Vermilion Bird smiled nonchalantly, "Don’t create urgency here and take the chance to hold hands. I was wandering the Worldly Society when you weren’t even fully grown."
Zhao Changhe was caught between laughter and tears, "I didn’t even think that."
"So you just casually grab women’s hands? How proficient are you?"
"Alright, alright." Zhao Changhe murmured that this creature was indeed a demoness. Despite the sweet calls of dear brother, she was actually keeping her distance inwardly, never giving him a chance.
Due to his previous stroll through the arms shops, Zhao Changhe was relatively familiar with these one or two streets and quickly turned into a little store, smiling, "As I remembered correctly, this place sells these knick-knacks."
Vermilion Bird followed him in, peering around, and indeed, several masks were hanging on the wall.
The masks from her Four Symbols Sect emphasized "Divinity," mostly making one look fierce or eerie, while the masks here were more for little girls or children to play with, each one cuter and prettier than the next.
Vermilion Bird’s gaze landed on a little fox mask, thinking at least it looked slightly more mystical. But she heard Zhao Changhe say, "Shopkeeper, give me that one... yes yes, right there beside your right hand, two of them!"
Vermilion Bird watched in disbelief as the shopkeeper handed over two pig masks, Zhao Changhe took them, chuckling and flipping them over, grinning from ear to ear.
Vermilion Bird was speechless, "Are you teasing me? How can anyone show their face in public with such masks?"
"Hey, you’re here to find a mask that’s completely different from your Sect style, one that won’t make people think of your Sect. Of course, the cuter the better."
"But it can’t be a pig!"
"Why not?" Zhao Changhe said, "Look, even you couldn’t have imagined yourself as a pig..."
"Oh, I mean even you couldn’t have thought of choosing such a mask, so no one in the world would guess it, right?"
Vermilion Bird thought it made sense... then rejected him, "I’m not wearing it."
"Where did this tsundere attitude come from?" Zhao Changhe ignored her, put one on himself, and smiled as he leaned in towards her face, "Lululu~"
Vermilion Bird finally couldn’t hold back a laugh.
Zhao Changhe insisted as he stuffed the other pig face into her hands, "Just take this one, it’s not a big deal. I’m going to Sword Lake, we need to prioritize, right?"
Vermilion Bird may have been scolded more in these two days than in the past ten years. It was laughably absurd. Yet, she ended up not throwing away the pig face she held.
She just carried it behind her back, as if being seen with it would be embarrassing.
Zhao Changhe looked around and whispered, "Your snake face always attracts attention, better to change it sooner rather than later. Just duck into an alley and change quickly."
Vermilion Bird said, "Are you sure others are looking at my snake or at your pig?"
"Eh, maybe at my pig... no wait." Zhao Changhe turned around and clenched his fist, "Asking for a beating, aren’t you?"
"You can’t beat me!" Vermilion Bird laughed and darted into a back alley.
Zhao Changhe took a step forward, blocking the alley entrance, and turned his back to the alley.
Vermilion Bird stole a glance at his back, quickly removed her snake face, and put on the piglet.
The mask was soft and quite comfortable to wear, not as scratchy as she expected from a cheap product; her mood, forced to wear a pig face, somewhat improved.
She tucked the Winged Fire Snake mask back into her chest, looked up, and saw Zhao Changhe was still standing motionless with his back to her. Vermilion Bird suddenly remembered that day at Taiyi Sect when he stood in front of Wang Daozhong, his back slightly sweating, yet immovable as a mountain.
Why think about that? She had beaten Wang Dao noticeably twice now.
She’d beat him next time they met too.
But little did she know, Zhao Changhe’s eyes were full of astonishment at that moment.
In that instant when the snake face was replaced with the little pig, he saw the true face of this Winged Fire Snake lady.
Her eyebrows like willow branches, eyes like bright stars, skin as fine as jade, lips like painted red—standard descriptions, yet these were how Hua Xia scholars described such women because she wasn’t some ordinary sect fighter, but clearly a classic beauty... clearly a lady of a reputable family, you could almost believe she was Tang Wanzhuang’s sister.
Her true identity must be extraordinary.
The glance she stole before putting on the mask was playful, yet it couldn’t dilute her mature charm and that unmistakable sharpness. It was entirely subconscious, Zhao Changhe was sure she would have let you die without a burial place if you dared turn around then.
That one look told him she was really a killer from the Demon Sect, not Tang Wanzhuang or Yue Hongling.
But still... so beautiful.
Beautiful to the extent that he cursed the pig head for covering it too quickly, depriving him of another second.
"Hey, let’s go. What are you doing standing there like a log?" A pig head peeked out beside him.
Zhao Changhe turned his head to look at her, and thus two pigs faced each other.
The atmosphere quieted for a moment, then both suddenly laughed out loud.
Vermilion Bird’s mood bizarrely improved, feeling that the pig face had its merits after all.
So, leisurely swaying, she squeezed past him out of the alley, "Let’s go take a look at Sword Lake, it should be beautiful after the start of autumn."
PS: First day of April, asking for a monthly ticket~