The Soaring Boy and the Noodle-Slurping Girl

Gurgle, gurgle.

Red oil boiled in the small copper pot, steam billowing as fragrance filled the entire cave.

A woman with her long hair loosely tied sat beside the pot, holding a large bowl and slurping thin noodles in great mouthfuls. At that very moment, a streak of silver lightning flew in from outside, and she immediately raised her wide eyes to look.

Startled.

When Chu Liang entered, this was the scene he saw.

It was a fairly small stone cave. Though hidden behind a waterfall, it was quite dry. Many glowing, misty jade stones were embedded in the walls, and with numerous air vents, the place was bright and airy.

There was little else in the cave. A table stood to one side, with a copper stove, hot pot, and small wine cups upon it, creating a most leisurely atmosphere. Beside the table was a white stone bed covered with soft cushions.

The breathtakingly beautiful woman had one foot on the ground and the other curled up on the bed. Her left arm wrapped around the knee she held against her chest, while she held her bowl and used chopsticks in her right hand to lift a great mouthful of noodles to slurp. When Chu Liang came in, surprise froze her for an instant, leaving the noodles hanging in midair.

Like the waterfall outside.

Her hair was simply tied behind her back, with several loose strands drifting over her ear. Her profile was flawless, as though traced in ink wash. Her features were crisp and cool in perfect measure, her skin seeming to glow with a soft light. Perhaps because the food was so spicy, her cheeks were flushed as well.

Judging by that long leg she had swung out, she ought to have been quite tall. Yet her frame was evenly proportioned, and beneath her plain white casual clothes, not a trace of excess flesh could be seen. Her graceful figure rose and fell like an unbroken range of mountains and waters.

A woman beautiful enough to transcend the mortal world—even if she was currently sitting with abandon, noodles dangling from her mouth and a somewhat blank look in her eyes—was still utterly stunning.

After taking everything in, Chu Liang's body was still in the air, leaping along with the White Ze cub.

The soaring boy and the noodle-slurping girl completed their first exchange of gazes in life.

Then.

Bang.

The White Ze cub landed. It seemed extremely excited; carrying Chu Liang, it ran straight to the woman's side and hopped happily around her.

Only then did the woman come back to her senses. She hastily slurped down a huge mouthful. "Sluuurp—"

After finishing that mouthful of noodles, she wiped her mouth before turning back around.

By then, Chu Liang had already patted the White Ze cub's neck to make it stop, then flipped down to the ground and straightened up.

The two exchanged a glance, both somewhat embarrassed.

Only the White Ze cub seemed utterly devoid of social awareness. Unable to sense the awkwardness between the two humans, it continued spinning gleefully in circles nearby.

"Sorry..." Chu Liang spoke first. "This White Ze suddenly made me climb on. Who knew it would suddenly bring me charging into this place and disturb you, miss?"

He truly had disturbed her. Surely no young woman would want someone to see her vigorously slurping noodles...

"It's fine..." The woman had been caught off guard as well. Seeing how polite Chu Liang was, she could hardly be rude in return.

But when she turned her eyes toward the White Ze cub, visible embarrassment and anger filled her gaze.

The White Ze cub, which had been hopping about, froze the instant she glared at it. Its expression stiffened too, its eyes darting around as though it were considering what it had done wrong.

Looking at the woman, Chu Liang suddenly asked, "Senior Sister, could you be Jiang..."

Throughout Shushan, whenever peerless beauty was mentioned, the first name that came to mind was naturally that one: Jiang Yue Bai, known as Fairy Jiang.

Chu Liang had once glimpsed Jiang Yue Bai from afar on Heavenly Peak. Her figure and appearance were exactly the same as the woman before him.

Only, Jiang Yue Bai had seemed cool and aloof then, ethereal as an immortal. It was difficult to connect her with the noodle-slurping girl before him, and he only remembered after taking several more looks.

"No!" The woman instantly raised her brows and loudly denied it.

Chu Liang blinked. But I haven't even said who it was yet...

"That shouldn't be possible!" "Why?" "This makes no sense!"

In the bushes, Shang Ziliang huddled together with his two crouching dragons and fledgling phoenixes, all three faces covered in question marks.

Though many days had already passed, they still remembered the cruel torment the White Ze cub had inflicted upon them that day.

They had merely walked a few steps on Pagoda Peak when a streak of silver lightning had charged out from the side and knocked them over. Then it stomped them, stomped them viciously, stomped without stopping...

It stomped until all three were sprawled on the ground, crying for their fathers and mothers. Only then did the White Ze cub hook them one by one with its horn, sending all three flying into the sky and hurling them off Pagoda Peak.

Yet they held no grudge.

After all, that was the legendary mountain-guarding divine beast, descendant of Shushan's guardian deity! And it would one day grow into a being that protected the Shushan Sect.

But...

You could beat us, but only beating us was going too far, wasn't it?

They had gone through so much trouble to lure Chu Liang here, and then... look at that pathetic, worthless way you were acting?!

Were you still a mountain-guarding divine beast with a violent temper?

When they saw the White Ze cub pounce on Chu Liang, the hearts of all three boiled with eager anticipation.

Who knew that, right after, they would see it rubbing against and licking Chu Liang? Every time it licked Chu Liang, Shang Ziliang felt as though it had stomped on his face again.

That alone would have been one thing...

It actually took the initiative to let Chu Liang ride it?

This was a divine beast!

The significance of a divine beast allowing someone to ride it was entirely different from an ordinary mount. Taken broadly, it could even be understood as bearing Shushan's very fortune.

Of course, a mere White Ze cub had not reached that level yet.

But it was still extremely difficult to accept.

"Sigh..." Shang Ziliang let out a long sigh. "What exactly is it?"

After pondering for a long time, Lackey A slowly said, "Boss, do you think it might be... because he's handsome?"

After thinking it over and over, this was the only possibility he could come up with.

Smack.

Shang Ziliang raised a hand and gave him a resounding slap. "Are you saying I'm not as handsome as him?"

"Of course not, it's just..." Lackey A covered his face and explained, "It's just possible that the White Ze doesn't like your type..."

Shang Ziliang turned his head irritably and looked at Lackey B. "What do you think?"

Lackey B scratched his head. "I'm hungry."

"To hell with you." Shang Ziliang kicked Lackey B to the ground.

Just as the three were racking their brains without finding an answer, they suddenly felt the sky above them darken as a massive black cloud enveloped the area overhead.

"Hm?" Shang Ziliang looked up and saw a patch of pitch-black cloud covered in savage scales descending straight toward them.

It seemed that some gigantic demonic beast was about to land.

"Pagoda Peak carries the lingering aura of the Demon-Suppressing Tower. No demonic beast has ever dared set foot here. What's going on?" Shang Ziliang wondered.

"Boss, shouldn't we stop thinking about that for now?" Lackey A said, staring up at the black cloud growing ever closer.

"Then what should we do?" Shang Ziliang asked.

"Hide first! What if it lands on us?" Lackey A said.

"Hmph. Ask it if it dares." Shang Ziliang gave a disdainful laugh. "In the entire Shushan Sect, whose mount would dare land on Shang Ziliang's hea—"

BOOM—

The forest trees were crushed flat, and the earth shook like mountains swaying.

It appeared to be a giant lizard seven or eight zhang long and more than two zhang tall. Yet it had a pair of imposing fleshy horns upon its brow, narrow wings on its back, and broad, dark scales marked with strange patterns.

It landed squarely on its backside, then moved with speed utterly mismatched with its cumbersome body, seeming to skim over the ground as it darted forward and vanished in the blink of an eye.

All that remained was a devastated crater it had flattened beneath itself, with human-shaped figures faintly buried inside.

One, two, three...