Blue Quest

By now, the little girl looked nothing like she had before.

Her braids hung in disarray, and her little face was deathly pale, almost entirely drained of color.

She seemed to have been beaten violently, and the skin exposed beneath her clothes was covered in purplish-blue welts and bloody whip marks.

Especially her eyes,

they held the despair of a heart that had suffered so much it had died.

The moment Gao Yunyi saw the little girl, his heart gave a sudden jolt for reasons he did not know, and his eyes narrowed instinctively.

"Young master... run... they... want to kill you..."

The moment the little girl sprawled across the bow saw Gao Yunyi, a glimmer of hope seemed to burst forth from the endless despair in her eyes.

With the last of her strength, she cried out to the figure in azure.

Kill me?

Who wants to kill me?

Gao Yunyi could not help feeling puzzled.

But soon,

he got his answer.

Several red dots on his minimap were rapidly approaching his position.

Red dots represented enemies.

The little girl was right. Someone had hostile intentions toward him and wanted to kill him.

The shadowy outlines of two fishing boats appeared in the distant mist, speeding toward the mudflat.

The sounds of oars and angry curses grew increasingly clear.

"Damn it, you bitch, you slipped out the moment we let our guard down. Just wait till I catch you. You'll see what I do to you."

"Run, go on, run! Even if you run to the ends of the earth, you won't escape the palm of our hands."

"Hahaha... so you really did run out to find your pretty boy. One look at him and you can tell he's a silver spear with a wax tip, all show and no substance. How could he compare to your grandpa here?"

"I was just wondering where to find this young master. Ten taels of silver in one go, how generous! He must have plenty of silver on him."

"Once I kill you, brat, I'll throw you into the lake to feed the fish. Even if someone comes looking later, we can pin it all on that dead Li Jiu. We'll say he saw the money, turned greedy, and decided to kill you, then fled to escape punishment. The dead can't testify, so who'll know your Grandpa Zhang did it?"

"Big brother, don't waste your breath on them. Let's kill this brat and drag the girl back. If Boss Gou finds out, we'll be in trouble."

"..."

Hearing the filthy words and murderous threats behind her, Xiao Ya's last hopes were dashed, and her heart turned to dead ashes.

She had rowed here with all her strength to warn the young master to flee, but she was still a step too late.

She did not want the young master to die.

The young master was his whole family's benefactor, and the light in his heart.

Her father was dead, and so was her mother. The only reason she had clung to her wretched life was to keep that light in her heart from going out.

"Young master, I'm sorry. Xiao Ya was useless and let you lose your life for nothing. If Xiao Ya can meet you again in her next life, she'll be your ox or your horse to repay your kindness."

But just as Xiao Ya was about to throw herself into the lake and take the road to the Yellow Springs ahead of the young master,

a streak of crimson light trailed a scorching tail of flame across her vision like a meteor.

The incomparably fierce Blazing Sun Sword Qi tore open the surface of the lake and swept the mist away. Then, before the stunned eyes of the shore patrolmen standing on the two fishing boats, it struck them with unstoppable force.

In an instant,

the lake water surged backward, the mist billowed, and the two fishing boats, together with the men aboard, were blasted to fragments like paper.

"Too noisy."

Gao Yunyi stood on the rock, his eyes as chilling as ice ten thousand years old.

When he looked at the Crane King again, there was no fight or pride left in its eyes, only a clear, innocent stupidity.

It was so frightened it nearly wet itself.

"Submit or... die."

Gao Yunyi seemed to have lost any desire to play with the Crane King. He simply looked at it coldly, the killing intent that had yet to dissipate from his body still sharp and undisguised.

Though the Crane King did not understand his words, it nodded frantically, terrified that a second's delay would see that incomparably fierce crimson Sword Qi slice it into a white-cut chicken.

Seeing that the Crane King had chosen to submit, Gao Yunyi did not tame it immediately. Instead, he leaped onto the Lian family's boat.

"Young master... are you an immortal?"

Xiao Ya looked up, gazing at Gao Yunyi in a daze.

Gao Yunyi neither admitted nor denied it, simply looking at her calmly.

Yet that calm gaze made Xiao Ya act like a frightened little beast. She kept pulling her disheveled, torn clothes together with both hands, trying to cover her exposed skin.

She did not want the young master to see her like this. She did not want her current appearance to dirty his eyes.

"Do you want me to help you get revenge?"

Seeing the little girl at a loss before him, Gao Yunyi spoke in an even tone.

Xiao Ya froze at his words.

Do I want revenge?

She did, desperately.

They had beaten her father to death and thrown her mother into the water to drown. Even she herself had been whipped like an animal.

But the ones who had destroyed her family were Scarface Gou and the Canglang Gang, people forever beyond her reach.

If the young master were an ordinary man, she would not dare dream of revenge.

But the young master was an immortal.

"I do. I want revenge."

Xiao Ya summoned the courage in her heart and spoke as loudly as she could.

"All right, I accept your quest."

[Quest: Avenge Xiao Ya.]

[Quest description: The Canglang Gang of Dingzhou City bullies merchants, dominates the markets, and preys on the people. They have destroyed Xiao Ya's family, outraging both gods and men and defying heavenly justice.]

[Quest requirement: Destroy the Canglang Gang.]

[Quest rewards: Experience: 300, item: ???]

[Accepted]

It was actually a Blue Quest.

In the game Immortal Journey, quests were divided into White Quests, Blue Quests, Red Quests, and Gold Quests.

His earlier bandit-suppression quest, for example, had been a White Quest. Blue Quests not only gave several times more experience than White Quests, but their item rewards were also more valuable.

Gao Yunyi glanced at the quest panel that had popped up and closed it, then raised his right hand toward the mudflat.

Blue light shone in Xiao Ya's eyes, slowly flowing and unfurling like a blue river of stars.

"How beautiful. I wish Father and Mother could see it."

Xiao Ya watched the dazzling river of stars flow past her, her eyes going blank for a moment.

But in the Crane King's eyes, the blue light surging toward it was the chain that bound it, the cage that confined it.

Once it wore this Blue Band, it would no longer be able to ride female cranes as it pleased, nor would it be free to soar through the sky.

But it... had no choice.

At the thought, sorrow welled up in the Crane King's heart, and sad tears flowed from its eyes.