A Strange and Mysterious Person

Chapter 4: A Strange and Mysterious Person

Ji Hongxue was so amused she laughed.

No matter how you looked at it, she was a renowned beauty in the Azure Kingdom, seen as a goddess capable of toppling nations by the populace.

And now An Bulang was saying she was only a three, and out of a hundred at that!

If it weren't for the fact that An Bulang was her savior, she would have already attacked him.

"Heh, is it my fault for being too ugly and forgetting to wear a veil? Did I hurt your eyes?" Ji Hongxue said with a forced smile.

"Not ugly, not ugly at all. You're quite pleasing to the eye," An Bulang said, realizing he had unintentionally provoked the noble princess again and quickly trying to remedy the situation.

Ji Hongxue twitched the corner of her mouth. Was he trying to comfort her by calling her "pleasing to the eye"?

In reality, it wasn't that An Bulang intentionally belittled her; he had simply spoken the truth.

His companions had always been fairies with terrifyingly high looks, which had unconsciously raised his aesthetic ceiling to an extreme. For instance, Han Yueling, who had come to break off their engagement earlier, possessed the innate Immortal Cold Dao Body, with skin like ice and jade, her own divine radiance, and dao charm like a lotus. She also had a Saint-grade Cold Spiritual Root, a once-in-100,000-years treasure, and ranked ninth on the Goddess Ranking, making her a top goddess among the Ten Great Holy Domains. If she developed well in the future, she could even contend for the top spot.

However, even then, she was only around an eighty in An Bulang's eyes.

Therefore, Ji Hongxue being a mere three was understandable.

"I have urgent matters to attend to right now. Daoist friend An Bulang, perhaps you could leave your contact information, and I will properly repay you another day," Ji Hongxue said again.

"I don't have any contact information..." An Bulang replied helplessly.

"Then where is your sect? I will definitely visit and express my gratitude," Ji Hongxue added.

"This..." An Bulang hesitated for a moment.

His home was the Immortal Emperor Palace in the Immortal Realm, the highest and most sacred place on the entire continent. If Ji Hongxue wanted to visit and express her gratitude, she would have to undergo tribulation to ascend first. This might be asking a bit too much of her...

"To be honest, I'm actually homeless."

"I have no forces to rely on, nor any wealth. The only thing I possess is the clothes on my back..." An Bulang sighed and shook his head.

Ji Hongxue was stunned.

She looked at the handsome young man with a bitter expression and instantly imagined the tragic experience of the young man being abandoned by a Great Cultivation Sect for committing a grave mistake, becoming a Sect Outcast, and ultimately losing everything...

This guess also perfectly explained why the young man, despite being so powerful, had descended from the sky in such a disheveled state and was so fixated on material possessions.

That's right, An Bulang was a Sect Outcast from a Great Cultivation Sect!

A pitiable person who had nothing!

"It's okay, it's all in the past now."

Ji Hongxue extended her fair, jade-like hand and patted An Bulang's shoulder, comforting him softly, "From now on, the Azure Royal Family will be your support. Even if you want to join other cultivation sects in the country, I can introduce you."

An Bulang was touched by Ji Hongxue's sincerity. He clasped her soft, jade-like hand in return and nodded, "Thank you!"

It was the first time Ji Hongxue had her hands held by a stranger. Her pretty face blushed, and she quickly withdrew her hand, saying, "Since you're homeless, why don't you accompany me for now? After I give you your reward, you can decide whether to stay or go."

An Bulang once again clasped Ji Hongxue's retracted, soft, fair, and jade-like hand, touched, "Okay!"

Ji Hongxue: "...I'm just a girl who's a three. Am I worth you taking advantage of like this?"

This was truly a misunderstanding of An Bulang.

Was that taking advantage?

He just liked to express his gratitude in this way.

After all, having a little rich girl to mooch off of for food and drinks – why wouldn't he?

Ji Hongxue personally buried all the dead soldiers and even stabbed the corpse of the Overlord Tiger several times with her dagger, leaving it to rot in the wilderness.

This woman, who appeared delicate and charming but was actually extremely resolute.

After finishing these tasks, she began her journey with An Bulang.

Along the way, Ji Hongxue was quite happy. She could tell that An Bulang was powerful and not ill-intentioned. With someone who could instantly kill a Heaven-grade assassin as her companion, her safety factor had increased to the maximum, and she felt incredibly secure.

"Ah... I can't believe I, a princess of a kingdom, have found a sense of security in a young man..." Ji Hongxue said with much emotion.

"Stop acting so old and stuffy. You're only three years older than me," An Bulang glanced at the woman beside him and shook his head.

Ji Hongxue raised her eyebrows and said coquettishly, "A woman three years older is like a golden brick. Being three years older than you makes me much more valuable."

An Bulang chuckled, "Fortunately, you're not thirty years older than me."

"What if I were thirty years older?" Ji Hongxue raised her eyebrows.

"A woman thirty years older brings you a kingdom," An Bulang said.

Ji Hongxue: "..."

"A woman three hundred years older gives you a golden core."

"A woman three thousand years older ascends to the ranks of immortals."

An Bulang was completely carried away, speaking to himself.

Ji Hongxue listened, somewhat bewildered. She thought to herself, why was this young man, who seemed to have a significant background, speaking like this, without any restraint?

It was precisely because of An Bulang's uninhibited nature that the two of them chatted back and forth, the atmosphere inexplicably becoming somewhat harmonious. They crossed mountains and traversed ridges together, heading towards Autumn Moon City, the third largest city in the Azure Kingdom.

Ji Hongxue wasn't the type of pampered princess who couldn't endure hardship. On the contrary, she took great care of An Bulang along the way and tolerated his eccentricities.

"Sister Hongxue, look at this huge forest ahead!"

"What about the forest?"

"These trees are so short! Haha!"

"..."

"Sister Hongxue, what is this grass?"

"This is called Monkey Peach Grass."

"Sister Hongxue, what is this flower?"

"This flower is quite common, it's called Wisteria Flower."

"Sister Hongxue, what is this cute animal?"

"Heavens! You've never even seen a wild boar?"

Along the way, An Bulang was like a curious baby, asking about everything. He asked questions that even children knew the answers to, making Ji Hongxue seriously suspect if he had cultivated in seclusion for so long that it had addled his brain, to the point where he didn't even recognize such ordinary creatures.

"Bu Lang, this is the second highest mountain in our Azure Empire, Flying Dragon Mountain!" Ji Hongxue pointed to a towering peak that pierced the clouds, saying proudly, as if wanting to give this bumpkin who had never seen the world a soul-shaking experience.

"Second highest mountain? It's so short?" An Bulang smacked his lips.

Ji Hongxue: "..."

"Sister Hongxue, I'm hungry," An Bulang said again.

"Okay... I'll go hunt for you," Ji Hongxue said helplessly.

Soon, Ji Hongxue caught a rabbit.

"Bunny is so cute, are we really going to eat it?" An Bulang couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy when he saw the struggling, adorable rabbit.

Ji Hongxue rolled her eyes and said grumpily, "A rabbit is only cute if it can be eaten. No one loves a rabbit that can't be eaten."

A moment later, the rabbit, roasted by Ji Hongxue herself, was fresh out of the fire.

The two squatted by the campfire, smelling the tempting aroma of the roast.

An Bulang took a bite: "It smells so good!"

Ji Hongxue sighed when she saw this, "I always feel like our roles have been swapped. It should have been the man who caught a rabbit and personally roasted it for me, and then I would have praised his cooking, saying I couldn't forget it. Now, why have I become the one roasting the rabbit?"

An Bulang ignored Ji Hongxue's melancholic complaints and took another bite of the rabbit leg, "Mmm... this wild game has a unique flavor! Let's catch more cute rabbits to roast and eat! No, you catch more rabbits to roast and eat together!"

"..." Ji Hongxue was so angry she almost smashed the roasted rabbit!!

This was going too far!

She was being treated as a barbecue chef by the Third Princess without any guilt!!

However, while Ji Hongxue was angry, she also felt a special sense of ease. Being with An Bulang made it easy to forget her identity, as if he simply didn't care who she was or what her status was.

This feeling, was it the feeling of friendship?

Thinking of this, the nineteen-year-old Third Princess felt inexplicably happy.

An Bulang, eating the roasted rabbit, was startled by Ji Hongxue's expression, which shifted from anger to sudden ease, almost dropping the rabbit leg.

What his mother said was true, a woman's face was like the sky in June, changing whenever it pleased!