"All right. When the time comes, I'll be there to do your heavy lifting, Miss Nuo."
At those words, the tension in Nuo Tao's face melted away, and the light in her eyes shone brighter than the sunshine on the snow.
"Hmph, at least you know what's good for you!"
She gave an imperious little snort, then turned her back and waved vigorously, her voice trembling with a touch of cheer:
"Go on, get going! Next time we meet, I'll be a mighty third-realm expert. Then I'll look out for you!"
Gu Chengming smiled and lingered no longer, turning to board the flying boat.
With the rumble of its formation, the enormous flying boat slowly rose into the sky, broke through the clouds, and sailed toward the southern horizon.
Nuo Tao kept her back to the flying boat until its rumbling had faded completely into the wind. Only then did she slowly turn around.
Gazing at the empty sky, the girl sniffed, her nose red from the cold, and muttered softly:
"Idiot... who wants you to do heavy lifting?"
Above the flying boat, the sea of clouds churned.
As they climbed higher, Luoxue Pass below gradually shrank to a black dot, while the Demon Territory farther north became a vast expanse of white.
With the Demon Territory furling its banners and silencing its drums, this bitterly cold land had finally welcomed a peace it had not known for nearly a century.
And many years later, when those aging rogue cultivators gathered around their stoves and boasted to the younger generation about their experiences, one name always came up.
The young man who always carried a sword on his back and wore a gentle smile, yet could blast an evil cultivator to death with one punch and cut down a