The chivalrous spirit is fickle

"He told me a long time ago that when running for your life, don't think about how fast you can run, just make yourself inconspicuous."

“Just like a stone floating down a river, people will only look at the fish in the water, not the stone.”

As she spoke, a complex look flashed across the woman's eyes. She looked at the carriage approaching in the distance, and her voice suddenly became a little ethereal.

"He can fool others, but he can't fool me."

Chapter 3: Old Friends (Part 2)

"He can fool others, but he can't fool me."

The woman spoke softly, her eyes were dreamy, and her fair and clean face showed a little more gentleness. The man beside her frowned slightly when he saw this.

No one would be happy to see the woman they love with this expression thinking about someone else.

The carriage in front was approaching slowly. Seeing this, the woman held the Zen stick in her hand horizontally to block the carriage.

Seeing this, the coachman was about to curse a few words, but when he looked up at the woman's face, he swallowed all the curse words back and asked in a gentle voice.

"This...this girl, is there something that is stopping us?"

The woman had a calm expression, clear eyes and eyebrows, and spoke in a slow and steady voice.

"I'm looking for someone to get the people in the carriage down."

Hearing this, the driver, who had been kind-hearted at first, raised his eyebrows, looked a little unhappy, and his voice became a little higher.

"Girl, you are so rude. Do you know who is sitting in the carriage..."

Before the driver could finish his words, the woman swung the staff in her hand and smashed a large tree on the side of the road with one blow, causing wood chips to fly and the huge tree to fall down.

With a loud bang, the coachman opened his mouth in horror and swallowed the rest of his words. When he came to his senses, he quickly jumped off the carriage and stood aside obediently.

Because the intersection was narrow, the two carriages stopped, and the traffic behind them also stopped.

In the middle of the long line of carriages, Su Xue noticed that the carriage had stopped, stuck her head out of the window, and looked ahead in confusion.

"Strange, why did the carriage stop?"

After Shi Gu concealed his breath, he sat upright in the car, not daring to make any unnecessary movements.

Concealing his breath is what Shi Gu is best at, and it is also the first skill he learned. As long as he wants, no one can detect it.

But this is not enough, just covering up the breath is far from enough.

So, when the carriage stopped, Shi Gu took out a human skin mask and a Taoist robe from the package and put them on.

"master?"

Shen Yue looked at Shi Gu's movements and felt a little strange. While Shi Gu put on his Taoist robe, he spoke to Shen Yue and the others nervously.

"When someone comes later, you two should be more natural. Don't call me Master, call me Taoist Song."

"Remember, we just met by chance today. If she asks you anything, just say you know nothing."

"If she doesn't ask you, just pretend you are deaf and blind and don't react at all."

As he spoke, Shi Gu picked up the human skin mask, covered his face with it, and moved his fingers around, pressing the acupoints on his head. Then the human skin mask stuck tightly to Shi Gu's face.

In the blink of an eye, Shi Gu's handsome face changed into a different look. He had sharp eyebrows, bright eyes, and a face as white as jade. He was so handsome that he was almost too handsome.

However, Shen Yue and Su Xue on the side frowned, looking somewhat unhappy. They both felt a little awkward and secretly thought in their hearts that Shi Gu's original face was better looking.

The woman held a Zen stick in her hand and checked each of the stopped carriages one by one. She moved very quickly, but her eyes gradually showed some anxiety and her brows were slightly furrowed.

Soon, the woman came to the carriage where Shi Gu was. She lifted the curtain and looked inside the carriage. She first looked at Shen Yue and Su Xue. A hint of surprise flashed in her eyes, and then she looked at Shi Gu who was sitting in the back of the carriage.

Shi Gu was wearing a dark blue Taoist robe and a human skin mask, and his face was so handsome that it was hard to forget him once you saw him. However, when Shi Gu looked at the woman, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

As expected, it was Xiaojiu who came.

Xiaojiu's eyes wandered and finally fell on the dark blue Taoist robe on Shigu. She recognized this robe as she had seen it on Shigu a long time ago.

Suddenly, the light in Xiaojiu's eyes faded and became dim.

That person would not be so high-profile. He has many human skin masks, but he would never choose such a handsome human skin mask. He can naturally dress up as an old man, a woman, or an ordinary carriage driver.

But he would never play the role of a young, handsome Taoist priest. This was the principle he taught himself, especially the Taoist robe that Shi Gu had worn in front of her. In Xiaojiu's eyes, it was like a secret code that both of them knew.

I know you're looking for me, but I'm not here.

Xiaojiu looked gloomy, with drooping eyebrows and blinking long eyelashes, leaving only loss.

Seeing this, the man next to her seemed to feel distressed and wanted to step forward to help, but Xiaojiu avoided the man and prevented him from touching her.

After a moment, Xiaojiu raised his head, looked at Shigu in the carriage, and asked softly.

"Master, can I talk to you?"

Shi Gu's expression remained unchanged, but his heart skipped a beat when he heard that. He subconsciously wanted to refuse, but Xiao Jiu would not let him refuse and got into the carriage directly.

Xiaojiu leaned against the car, lowered the curtain, and isolated the handsome man outside the car.

"Master, please listen to a story from me."

Hearing this, Shi Gu became flustered. The more he spoke, the more mistakes he made, especially since the girl in front of him was quite familiar with his words and actions. If he was not careful, she would most likely see through his flaws.

But now that things had come to this, Shigu could only force himself to remain calm and put on a kind smile, but when his eyes swept over Xiaojiu's ground-length hair, he couldn't help but be slightly distracted.

Has Xiaojiu's hair grown so long already?

After Xiaojiu sat down, he did not look at Shigu, but took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and spoke softly.

“It’s a long story.”

"I grew up in a nunnery. There were only me and my master in the nunnery."

It didn't make sense no matter how you thought about it that Xiaojiu told his story so suddenly, and it seemed a bit forced, but Shigu guessed what Xiaojiu was planning.

After all, it was me who taught Xiaojiu those sinister ideas.

"I have been practicing a strange technique since I was a child. That technique won't help me improve my realm, but it can turn my blood into gold. My master supervises my practice every day, and whenever I ask about it..."

"The master told me that there was a monster hiding under the nunnery, and that technique was practiced for that monster. I never believed it and just thought she was trying to scare me."

"But when I was ten years old, my master died, and the monster really crawled out from underground."

Xiaojiu's voice was as flat as water, as if she was talking about something that had nothing to do with her. She didn't look at anyone in the car, but just talked to herself, as if she wanted to remember everything again in her mind.

"It was a long time later that I learned from that person that my master was the monster. She was about to enter the monster transformation realm, but she was not completely sure."

"And I am the ginseng fruit that Master keeps by her side. If she fails to transform into a demon, I will be her tonic. Eating it will extend her life."

"The so-called technique is to make me more delicious and more effective."

"The monster locked me in a cage. She transformed into my master's appearance again, lured passers-by into the nunnery, and ate them one by one."

"He was very hungry and never seemed to be full. He would stare at me and drool every day."

"I always remember that the master likes to save his favorite food for last."

"So I also know that when there are no more living people around here, I will be the one to be eaten."

"Every day and every night, I could see the monster chewing human flesh with big mouthfuls, and the bones piled up like a small mountain next to me."

Xiaojiu clenched his hands quietly, his knuckles turned white as if he remembered the scene at that time, and his voice became a little softer.

"I was terrified, but there was nothing I could do."

"I can only think silently in my heart, hoping that someone will appear. I don't ask him to kill the monster, I just ask him to save me."

"One day, when I woke up, I found myself lying in the arms of a man. He was not the monster, and what I saw was no longer the nunnery full of bones."

"Later I heard that on that day, the monster in the nunnery was dismembered and its head was chopped into four pieces, leaving no complete body."

At this point, Xiaojiu's voice became somewhat gentle, as if all the fear and despair had dissipated in an instant.

"I was only ten years old at the time and didn't understand anything, but I also knew that the man in front of me was my savior."

"I think my life belongs to him."

"Perhaps because he felt sorry for me, that man took me with him, but he was a fool and treated me as a boy."

"It's not his fault that he made a mistake. I was dirty, skinny, ugly, and bald at the time. I really looked more like a man."

"So, he prepared a monk's robe for me. I didn't care at the time. I just wanted to repay the favor. It was okay to be treated as a monk."

"I regretted this for many years."

"I followed him to many places, walked through the southern mountains and stepped on the northern waters. I was hunted down with him and I also offended many important people with him."

"He doesn't look like a gentleman. He knew I was a Buddhist, but he taught me to drink and eat meat, and even wanted to take me to a brothel."

"I have always wanted to repay the favor, but in the end, I am the one who is taken care of in every possible way."

"For six years, I stayed by his side as his follower. He modified the techniques that my master taught me so that I could practice them."

"Later, as I grew up, my thoughts gradually changed."

"When I see him talking to other women, I don't like it and I get angry, but I can't stop him."

"So, I don't want to wear a monk's robe anymore, and I don't want to shave my head anymore. I want to keep my hair long. I want him to look at me more. I want him to look at me only."

"I want him to know that I am a woman and I want to be with him forever."

Xiaojiu still had her eyes closed, but the loneliness and longing in her tone could no longer be hidden. She bit her teeth lightly and smiled bitterly.

"I was the one who wanted to repay the favor, but in the end, I wanted more."

"I shouldn't do this, but I can't help myself."

"I may have scared him, and he ran away from me, but even before he ran away, he still found a way out for me."

"Wuqing Temple is the escape route he found for me. He also left me this Zen staff to ensure that I will have no worries in the martial arts world."

“But my heart can no longer calm down, and I cannot enter Buddhism.”

"I have not escaped any of greed, anger, and ignorance."

Having said this, Xiaojiu finally slowly opened her eyes. She turned her head slightly and looked at the blue Taoist robe that Shigu was wearing. Her eyes were dim, as if there were countless threads of longing entangled in her eyes.

"Master, if you meet him."

"Please tell him. If he doesn't see me for a day, I will tell this story to someone every day."

"Until this story spreads throughout the world and everyone knows my relationship with him."

"If he doesn't come looking for me by then, I will be killed by his enemies."

After saying that, Xiao Jiu looked at Shi Gu deeply, which made Shi Gu feel a little numb.

Why didn't he realize that Xiaojiu would be such a ruthless character?

Shi Gu smiled awkwardly, shook his head in a serious manner, and tried to persuade him earnestly.

"This...this girl, why do you have to be so persistent? As long as there is fate, you and that person will meet again one day."

"It's better to let go of your worries and look at the world again. Maybe you will have a different understanding."

Upon hearing this, Xiaojiu smiled helplessly. Her figure was like an orchid, and this bitter smile was like the gentle movement of an orchid, emitting a gorgeous autumn glow.

"Master, you are joking. There will never be another person in this world who treats me as well as he does."

Xiaojiu seemed to remember something, raised her white fingers and pointed at the handsome man waiting outside the carriage.

"The man outside the carriage is Shen Zhui from the Yulin League. He is also considered a leading figure of the younger generation in the martial arts world."

"He likes me and treats me very well."

"But if he met me when I was little, the dirty, skinny little monk-like kid, would he even look at me?"

"He might save me, but he will never keep me by his side for a day."

"He only likes my appearance, but he still pretends to be affectionate and insists on coming here with me. All these things make me feel disgusted."

"But his identity is special, so I can't hit him. Otherwise, he would be a useless person now."

When Shi Gu heard this, his brows twitched and he subconsciously wanted to reach out to support his forehead, but then he came to his senses and forced his right hand down.

He remembered that besides being overly stubborn, Xiaojiu also had a rather sharp tongue.

Xiaojiu did not notice Shigu's abnormality. She slowly stood up, bowed slightly to Shigu, and was about to leave.

Shi Gu looked at Xiao Jiu's lonely appearance and couldn't bear it, so he asked.

"Girl, if you meet that person, what will you do?"