Setting off for the Wildlands

"Don't joke like that!"

Gu Sheng (Teng Qinghu) frowned. "Xiao Jun is only seven years old this year. I'm not enough of a beast to lay my hands on a little girl."

"Really not considering it?"

Chu Xin's smile deepened, the air thick with the scent of a fujoshi. "You could raise her! Like The Tale of Genji! Don't look at me like that; I'm very open-minded. I don't mind my teammates playing raising games."

"Raise her!"

Gu Sheng stood up, circling Chu Xin, his gaze making the little beauty who dared to beard the tiger's whiskers uneasy, backing her into the corner of the stone table.

He reached out, gently stroking Chu Xin's glossy black hair, and whispered hotly in her ear, "There's a more suitable candidate right here. Why would I go looking elsewhere?

Xin'er, I think you have a lot of potential!"

Gu Sheng reached out and pulled Chu Xin into his arms, pressing her delicate body tightly against his.

The masculine aura filled Chu Xin's nostrils. This girl, who had always been a good girl, had developed a strong interest in certain things after letting her wild side out. In a daze, she actually took the initiative to wrap her arms around his neck and offer a sweet kiss.

"Ah!"

A sudden scream broke the ambiguous atmosphere in the small courtyard, and Chu Xin, coming to her senses, quickly pushed Gu Sheng away.

"Xiao Jun!"

Gu Sheng turned his head, a little annoyed. A delicate and lovely little girl stood at the courtyard gate, covering her small face and looking at Gu Sheng and Chu Xin. But girl, you're peeking through your fingers so much, are you sure you're not spying!

"Brother Teng, I came to ask you to teach me boxing!"

Li Jun lowered her head, twisting the corners of her skirt with both hands, looking like a child who had done something wrong and was waiting for the teacher to punish her.

"Oh!"

Gu Sheng's eyelids twitched, and he pointed to the open space in the small courtyard. "Go warm up there first, and I'll be over in a bit." Teaching Li Jun to practice Inner Force was also a side quest.

Li Jun was born with blocked meridians, making it twice as difficult to cultivate Inner Force, and perhaps even impossible to open her meridians at all. However, Internal Martial Arts had unexpected effects on body refinement. Li Jun was still young, with a simple and innocent nature, yet she was also persevering. She still had a chance to master Internal Martial Arts and open her meridians.

If Li Jun could open her meridians and cultivate Inner Force, perhaps the Li family would not be exterminated in the future. This was also an attempt by Gu Sheng to reverse 'fate'. He wanted to see if there really was an invisible hand moving everything.

"Fate!"

Gu Sheng murmured, looking at Li Jun's back.

"Hey! What?"

Chu Xin looked at Gu Sheng, confused. "You perverted tiger, what did you just say?"

"Nothing."

Gu Sheng waved his hand, swung his arms from side to side to loosen up his body, and then walked towards Li Jun, who was warming up, with a sunny smile.

Nanman City, a large city within Wu'an County, Yang Province, was about the same size as Yicheng in Jiangning Prefecture. It was the city in Yang Province closest to the Wildlands. Thanks to the many special products of the Wildlands, Nanman City's development was much better than most cities in Wu'an County.

Nanman City was very prosperous, with a large number of transient people. Some martial artists who were not afraid to die and went to the Wildlands to explore, and some herbalists who went to the edge of the Wildlands to pick some herbs, gathered in Nanman City.

On the third floor of a restaurant outside the south gate of Nanman City, a table by the window was occupied by a young couple, both about sixteen or seventeen years old, attracting the attention of many people.

"Are we really going there?"

Chu Xin sat by the window, looking at the endless, dark expanse in the distance, and even the vaguely visible, towering peaks in the clouds and mist. That was the Wildlands!

"I definitely have to go. I have a reason why I must go. If you... you can stay in Nanman City and wait for me. Nanman City still has a Gui Yuan Sect stronghold. You are a Gui Yuan Sect disciple, and staying in the stronghold will at least guarantee your safety."

Gu Sheng took a bite of the lamb leg in his hand. The Wildlands were sparsely populated, and food depended on hunting, and there was no guarantee of being able to make a fire. Perhaps there wouldn't be a chance to eat cooked food for ten days or half a month, let alone eat something good. If he didn't eat more now, he would regret it when he got inside.

"Don't underestimate people. It's just the Wildlands! This young lady will risk her life to accompany you... just to go with you, so you don't have to be lonely without a companion."

Chu Xin wrinkled her delicate nose and let out a dissatisfied hum towards Gu Sheng.

"If you're going, eat your fill first. There's no such comfortable and peaceful environment and food in the Wildlands."

Gu Sheng tapped the rice bowl in front of Chu Xin with his chopsticks. There was still a little more than half of the rice left. "Now is not the time to lose weight. If you don't eat more, you might not have a good meal for ten days or half a month."

"Really... mumbling like a long-tongued..."

Chu Xin complained, but obediently picked up the rice bowl and started eating the meat dishes.

The two ate quickly. Before long, only some leftovers remained on the table. Gu Sheng called the waiter to pay the bill, and the two left the restaurant together. Just as the two were leaving, many of the gazes that had been fixed on them retracted, and the owners of these gazes paid the bill and left almost one after another.

Outside Nanman City, Gu Sheng was surrounded by a pile of corpses. These were all local snakes who had just wanted to harm them. Although he and Chu Xin didn't stay in the restaurant for long, they spent lavishly and were targeted by these people early on.

But what these people didn't know was that Gu Sheng had also targeted them. He needed Luck Points, a lot of Luck Points, but he wasn't a person who killed indiscriminately, and he couldn't do anything that would proactively start a massacre.

So, along the way, they had been using this method to fish for 'fish'. These guys who saw them showing off their wealth and thought about taking advantage of them were basically not good people. Most of them had done this kind of thing to outsiders more than once. These people were no different from the previous Er Gouzi and those bandits. Gu Sheng felt no psychological burden in killing them.

"Perverted tiger! Are you done yet!"

Chu Xin's coquettish voice came from a distance. This girl was still not very comfortable with bloody scenes, so she had hidden far away.

"Get lost!"

Gu Sheng took his foot off the shoulder of the person in front of him. This guy was one of the few coerced criminals in this group.

In this chaotic world, becoming a bandit was divided into two situations. One was that they actively became bandits for some reason. The other was that they were captured by bandits and forced to hand in a 'certificate of loyalty'. The one in front of him was the latter.

"Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!"

The ragged 'bandit' kowtowed twice, and then walked towards the other side of the official road without looking back. He was not going back to the dog-eat-dog Nanman City.

"This world!"

Gu Sheng sighed. The bandit he had let go was just an inconspicuous member of this era. There were many, many more like him who were unable to control themselves. Even more were those who could not control their own destiny... the weak.