Yu Xiaogang and Flender Arrive in Heaven Dou City! Zhu Zhuqing Is Still Riding Here

"Li... Li Zhexian..."

"Let... let me see you..."

Xue Qinghe's voice was hoarse and choked with emotion, trembling.

She carefully used her sleeve to wipe the mud and blood from Li Zhexian's face.

As that familiar face gradually emerged from beneath her sleeve.

She could no longer hold back and threw herself into Li Zhexian's arms.

"Hiss—"

Li Zhexian sucked in a breath.

Xue Qinghe had grabbed exactly where his wrist was fractured.

"Hm?!"

Xue Qinghe raised her head, tears still glistening in her eyes, and without another word pulled up Li Zhexian's tattered sleeve.

When she saw the horrifying dark-purple bruises stretching from his wrist to his forearm.

A chilling fury surged in her eyes.

"Zhao Wuji did this?"

Li Zhexian smoothed down his sleeve, covering the injury, and smiled.

"It's almost healed already."

"The next time I see him, I'll kill him."

Xue Qinghe looked at him and nodded lightly.

At that moment, Pufferfish and Snake Lance stepped forward, studying Li Zhexian with uncertainty and surprise.

"Li Zhexian, your aura..."

"Strange. You're clearly standing right in front of us, yet we can't sense your aura at all."

That was precisely why Li Zhexian had passed right by them earlier without being noticed.

Li Zhexian assumed they were merely the Crown Prince's guards and smiled casually.

"I was fortunate enough to obtain a Spirit Grass that can conceal my aura."

"Otherwise, it would have been difficult for me to escape Zhao Wuji."

Pufferfish and Snake Lance clicked their tongues in amazement.

"To survive Zhao Wuji's full-force pursuit."

"At your age, that's already an extraordinary feat."

Li Zhexian smiled but said nothing more.

Extraordinary?

A loss was a loss.

He would win it back someday.

"Let's go, Your Highness the Crown Prince."

Li Zhexian turned toward Xue Qinghe, whose eyes were still red around the rims.

Xue Qinghe nodded.

"There are still many people outside searching for you."

The two walked side by side to the edge of the forest.

But Xue Qinghe suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?"

Li Zhexian looked at her in confusion.

"Wait a moment."

Xue Qinghe raised a fingertip.

A wisp of pure Light Soul Power flowed from it, condensing before her into a smooth Soul Power Light Curtain as clear as a mirror.

Facing the light mirror.

She tidied the slightly disheveled strands of hair caused by her earlier agitation.

Then she took out a plain white handkerchief and wiped away the flecks of mud on her cheeks.

Only after finishing all this.

Did she notice Li Zhexian beside her shaking his head with a smile.

Against that mud-smeared face, his white teeth were especially dazzling.

"What... are you laughing at?"

Xue Qinghe checked herself in the mirror again, confirming that nothing was out of place.

Li Zhexian's smile deepened.

"I'm laughing at how much you care about your appearance."

"Look at me. I'm covered in mud and blood, practically dried into a shell, yet I never even thought to wipe myself off."

Xue Qinghe shot him an annoyed glare, though the tips of her ears reddened slightly.

"Isn't it all because of you? The mud on my face... wasn't it all from you?"

"If I went out looking like this, what would people think?"

Li Zhexian said helplessly.

"Well, you're clean now. Let's go..."

"What's the rush?"

Xue Qinghe stepped in front of Li Zhexian, picked up the plain white handkerchief again, and raised her hand to wipe the mud from his face.

"I've used this handkerchief already."

With her eyes lowered, she asked.

"You don't mind, do you?"

Li Zhexian looked at their reflections in the light mirror—Xue Qinghe's movements were gentle and focused, her expression holding a rare seriousness and tenderness.

His features gradually became clear beneath her careful wiping.

Li Zhexian smiled.

"What if I said I minded?"

"Then put up with it."

Without looking up, Xue Qinghe spoke with a slightly coquettish tone that allowed no argument.

Pufferfish and Snake Lance deliberately lagged several steps behind.

They watched the two people ahead, who were practically pressed together, from afar.

Pufferfish cast Snake Lance a sidelong glance, his gaze meaningful.

Weren't you the one who pounded your chest and promised there would definitely be no problem?

Snake Lance sighed silently.

Watching the tenderness on the Young Master's face as she wiped Li Zhexian's face.

Even he, Blood Butcher, whose hands were steeped in blood, felt as though something had gently smoothed over his heart, filling it with warmth.

He suddenly said in a low voice.

"The Young Master infiltrated Heaven Dou City alone when she was nine..."

"A little girl, alone amid the treachery of the deep palace—how much suffering and hardship must she have endured..."

"Only you and I, her brothers, have seen it and felt the pain in our hearts."

"But His Holiness the Pope..."

Pufferfish's expression suddenly stiffened.

Snake Lance continued as if speaking to himself.

"Based on what I know of His Holiness the Pope..."

"She would never be at ease without having her own eyes and informants around the Young Master. They must exist."

"Now that Li Zhexian has grown so close to the Young Master."

"He has likely already entered His Holiness the Pope's sight."

Pufferfish clenched his fists.

He knew that Pope's methods and temperament all too well.

Once she decided Li Zhexian might become an unpredictable factor that could affect Spirit Hall's grand plans, there was no telling how cold-blooded she would be.

"Li Zhexian went missing this time, and you and I both know what the Young Master's devastated state meant."

"If His Holiness the Pope truly makes a move against Li Zhexian..."

"I don't dare imagine how the Young Master will react."

Snake Lance's tone was heavy.

"We can only hope that His Holiness the Pope..."

"Still retains a trace of familial affection for the Young Master."

When Li Zhexian and Xue Qinghe emerged from the forest.

And appeared in the sight of the anxiously searching crowd.

After a brief silence, the crowd erupted in ecstatic cheers, and everyone surged toward them like a tide.

Dugu Yan froze for an instant before rushing over like a madwoman, tears scattering in her wake.

Without a care for anything else, she threw herself into Li Zhexian's arms, her voice filled with lingering fear.

"Li Zhexian..."

"Wuwu... you... you scared me to death..."

Ye Lingling also jogged up to Li Zhexian.

The girl instinctively raised her arms slightly, as though she wanted to hug him too.

But in the end, she timidly lowered them again.

She could only look silently at Li Zhexian with those clear blue eyes shimmering with tears and whisper.

"It's good that you're alright... It's good that you're alright..."

This scene fell into Ye Mother's eyes from afar.

And made her frown.

"Lingling, you're far too passive!"

"With such a good opportunity, if you don't take the initiative, when will it ever be your turn?"

On the other side, Dugu Bo saw that Li Zhexian was unharmed and smiled as he stroked his white beard. His figure then vanished abruptly.

The members of the Imperial Dou Team were delighted to see this as well.

Yufeng's reaction was the most intense.

A grown man actually covered his mouth and cried.

Osler's scalp went numb at the sight.

"Yufeng, damn it, what the hell are you crying for?!"

Yufeng glared at him and said through tears.

"My idol is fine. Such a touching scene, and I'm not allowed to cry a little?"

Unable to stand a grown man sniveling, Osler said to the Stone Brothers.

"Give Yufeng two punches for me!"

"Got it!"

After calming the wildly excited crowd.

Li Zhexian waved a hand and borrowed one hundred Gold coins from Xue Qinghe.

He laid out a grand feast at Shanxiangfang to treat these rare friends.

Meanwhile.

At the other end of Heaven Dou City.

Yu Xiaogang and Flender were sick with worry. The moment they left Soto City.

Flender unleashed his Martial Soul Avatar, the Four-Eyed Owl, and carried Yu Xiaogang as they flew rapidly toward Heaven Dou.

After traveling so relentlessly.

The two finally arrived a day later.

Liu Erlong, who had been waiting for them, took them to the village where Ma Hongjun was hiding.

When they saw Ma Hongjun lying on a bed, missing his right arm and his lower body, still unconscious.

Yu Xiaogang clenched his teeth hard, and a grim expression surfaced on his stiff face.

Flender, who had brought Ma Hongjun out of the village with his own hands, instantly had reddened eyes.

Meanwhile.

Zhu Zhuqing was still riding hard through dust and wind on the road to Heaven Dou City.

Sorry for the late update today.

There will be another chapter tonight. Thank you, dear readers~~