Chapter 1196: Hellish

Proofreader: Papatonks

Huff~

It had been a week already yet no sign of the girls as Chu Qingcheng carried Zhuo Fan with ragged breath. Worry plagued her innocent heart, making her not stop for even a second all this time. Even for a Genesis Stage expert, the long travel took its toll. 

Zhuo Fan was feeling a bit guilty, wiping her sweaty brow, “Qingcheng, my leg is healed now. Let’s take a rest.”

“No, I’ve yet to catch up to my senior sisters. We can’t stop now. It will only make us lag further behind.” Chu Qingcheng was stubborn.

[You won’t ever catch them, not by taking the wrong way at least.]

Zhuo Fan sighed, “Qingcheng, what difference does it make if we can’t reach them? They’re faster than you anyway so there’s no way you can catch up. Aren’t you going to just meet up in Mist City? You’ll just see them there, so just take it easy.”

“But this is my first time outside the sect. How should I know where Mist City is?”

“Don’t you have me for something this simple? I’ll show you the way.”

“You?” Chu Qingcheng started, looking back, “Weren’t you out looking for herbs? Won’t I give you more trouble for guiding me all the way to Mist City?”

Zhuo Fan chuckled, “What does it matter? I’m just a drifter. We’ll just go to Mist City then you can drop me off on your way back.”

“Oh, then, thanks…” Qingcheng’s cheeks went pink thinking she would carry him back as well. Though her heart did not seem to mind it.

Zhuo Fan snickered, his breath tickling her ear, “You don’t want to carry me?”

Chu Qingcheng blushed harder, shaking her head.

“Would you carry me then?”

The guy was taking all the advantage he could from her back, making her flustered.

“Then hold me all my life, alright?”

Zhuo Fan spoke in an emotional and heavy tone. Chu Qingcheng shuddered, her mind blanking out as she stared deep in those black and tender eyes of his.

She just did not know where Zhuo Fan’s confession even came from to say something like that.

Zhuo Fan looked at her with nothing but love, leaned over and pecked her lips.

Dong!

Chu Qingcheng froze solid, her mind blown away. Feeling the strange yet familiar male scent, her heart raced. With one shudder they both fell to the ground.

Each left a two meter wide hole.

Chu Qingcheng crawled out of hers, panicky and blushing, looking over as Zhuo Fan held on the edge of his hole, “Y-you’re just toying with me again!”

“Yeah, sorry, I just can’t help it, he-he-he…”

Zhuo Fan scratched his head, yet showed no remorse as he smiled, “Since I took unfair advantage, why don’t you do the same? I’ll even let you kiss me for ten whole minutes. I won’t mind it one bit either, ha-ha.”

“Y-you’re so crude!”

Chu Qingcheng glared at him and walked out on him, “I’m ignoring you!”

“Qingcheng, don’t go. You don’t know the way so let me guide you.”

“I don’t need you. I can just ask someone, humph.”

Zhuo Fan snickered as he gestured for the way ahead. Chu Qingcheng had lost faith in this rascal, huffing and flying into the air in anger. 

Zhuo Fan scratched his head, “Too soon? Was I pushing things too hard? Ha-ha-ha, guess it’s not easy chasing girls. I just can’t understand how Qingcheng stood so loyal for ten years and endured so much bitterness. Guess I get what I deserve now, with me doing the chasing this time.”

Zhuo Fan sighed.

“Hmm, let’s see what I should use this time for our next meeting. Last time I was getting chewed by an eagle, so that’s out. I’m in the Bone Tempering Stage, so I can’t just go after her…” 

Whoosh~

Zhuo Fan was going through his bag of tricks to hook girls when black streaks flew overhead and darkened the sky.

Thanks to his meager cultivation, he was ignored by these powerhouses. 

Zhuo Fan, however, grew grave from their direction of flight, “How did they catch up so fast? Qingcheng is all alone so they should be looking after those broads instead, take their stuff and just leave. So why are they here again?” 

“Casting blame?”

Zhuo Fan vanished the next second, “Damn it, they even have an Emperor with them. I won’t be able to hide this time…”

Chu Qingcheng kept flying and cursing in anger, “Rotten, evil Zhuo Fan, you only know how to toy with me. Senior sister was right, there’s no trusting any man. They’re all evil!”

Boom!

A resounding boom echoed, followed by an unearthly pressure slamming into her and sending her crashing into the ground.

Rumble!

An even bigger explosion echoed as a crater half a mile wide sprouted, kicking up dust. Chu Qingcheng coughed blood and looked pale. 

Men in black landed in her sights, the leader being an old man, “Her? She doesn’t look like anything yet she killed two dozen people?”

“Clan Head, don’t let her cultivation fool you, she is a freak.” The ex-leader whispered in his ear. 

Chu Qingcheng strained her waned face, only to cough blood again, “Y-you again…”

“Girl, hand over the Purple Gold Glazed Cup, or I’ll give you a fate worse than death!”

“Purple Gold Glazed Cup?”

Chu Qingcheng looked confused, “I don’t have it, but I wouldn’t give Ruby Cloud Sect’s treasure even if I did…”

The old man scoffed, “Very well.”

Bam!

Chu Qingcheng was sent flying from a kick to the gut. She jerked and coughed more blood, mixed with her innards.

“How weak, just at Genesis Stage?”

The old man frowned, looking back in doubt, “Is she the same expert that had you scared out of your minds? I don’t see it.”

The man’s face twitched, hanging his head, “Clan Head, maybe she’s not herself today, up on bricks…” 

Pa!

The old man smacked him hard.

“You think it’s funny?”

The old man snorted. The other man lowered his head, cursing Chu Qingcheng to high heaven.

[Damn girl, where has all that fire gone? Give me something, even a tenth, so that I can prove to Clan Head my mission failed for a very good reason. As it is now, I’m only being rebutted.]

[There’s no way we can prove our failure now…]

“I’ll deal with you later.”

“Yes.”

The old man glared at him before turning to Chu Qingcheng. The ex-leader looked like a kicked puppy, on the verge of crying.

The old man reached the girl and raised his foot, “Lass, you killed my men, so I can’t let you go like the rest. Since you’re so obstinate, I’ll crack open that skull of yours before looking for the treasure on your body.” 

The old man stomped.

A mighty pressure fell on her face, heralding certain doom. 

Chu Qingcheng felt her weakened body growing heavy and her heart sinking.

[Am I going to die? There’s so many things I want to do. I don’t even know my purpose in life so how can I just…]

Boom!

Her eyes closed just as the old man stomped a huge crater in front of her a mile wide.

When the dust settled, the old man shook, his head whipping in another direction and shouting, “State who you are!”

“You don’t need to know it for where you’re going.”

A pitch-black figure appeared in the roaming dust, its voice eerie and chilling. Even these criminals used to getting their hands dirty felt their hearts seizing from the hellish feeling…