Traveling Together

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Zhou Heng paid no mind to Lin Fuxiang's thoughts. Immersed in the mysteries of the Heaven-Soaring Second Style, he lost track of time. By midnight, the Black Broken Sword in his Dantian trembled and released a great amount of energy.

He immediately sat cross-legged and used the Moon Shadow Heart Art to absorb the benefits. More than twenty minutes later, he opened his eyes.

At this rate, he could reach the peak of the Sixth Layer of Body Refining by year's end. But whether he could go one step further and break into the Bone Refining Realm in one stroke was hard to say. The higher one's cultivation, the greater the accumulation of True Essence Power required.

Lost in thought, he drifted off to sleep without realizing it.

Though he had gone to sleep later, he woke first. At daybreak, he got up, caught a wild rabbit, and started a fire to roast it. Before long, it turned golden brown, its fragrance wafting everywhere.

"So fragrant!" Lin Fuxiang walked over and, without the slightest ceremony, reached out to take it.

But just as her hand extended, Zhou Heng slapped a palm toward it! She hurriedly withdrew her slender hand and glared at him in annoyance. "What are you doing?"

"First, it's my food. If you want some, say please. Second, are you an idiot? It's so hot, and you're grabbing it with your bare hand?" Zhou Heng began with a solemn face, but by the last sentence, his face had broken into a smile.

Lin Fuxiang's wonderful early-morning mood was ruined completely!

Looking at Zhou Heng's sunny, handsome face, she found it brimming with an expression that begged to be punched. The sight of it made her blood boil!

She huffed. "Do you think I'll starve to death if I don't eat your food?"

Whoosh! She leaped away, her graceful figure quickly vanishing into the mountain forest. She was probably unwilling to admit defeat and had gone hunting herself.

Zhou Heng smiled, picked up the golden roasted rabbit, and began to eat.

As a Bone Refining Realm martial artist, Lin Fuxiang naturally had no trouble catching game. Before long, she returned smugly, carrying a wild rabbit in her left hand and two wild pheasants in her right. Her haul far surpassed Zhou Heng's.

After gutting them and washing them clean with snow water, she skewered the prey over the fire. But this young miss had not the slightest talent for such things. Once she put them over the flames, she ignored them, and the smell of burning soon rose up.

One, two, three—all of them were charred black, with no trace of what meat was supposed to look like.

Holding back a breath of frustration, Lin Fuxiang forced herself to search the charcoal for edible meat. Looking at the blackened thing in her hand, utterly impossible to identify, her pretty face twitched.

Zhou Heng could not hold it in any longer and burst out laughing.

"Watching a beautiful woman suffer right before your eyes—do you have even a shred of a man's bearing?" Lin Fuxiang raised her head and glared at Zhou Heng.

"If I had no bearing, I wouldn't have saved half this wild rabbit for you!" As if performing a magic trick, Zhou Heng produced a branch from behind his back. Half a roasted rabbit was skewered on it, golden and dripping with oil, utterly incomparable to the charcoal in Lin Fuxiang's hand.

"Don't worry, I tore it apart with my hands. There's no saliva on it," he added.

Who would have thought this brat knew how to care about someone!

Hmph, hmph. It seemed that no matter how rotten a bastard was, he could not withstand this young miss's charm!

Lin Fuxiang happily thought as she accepted the roasted rabbit. But after sweeping her beautiful eyes over it, anger surged up in her heart again—this roasted rabbit was missing all four legs, and the fattest, tastiest meat from its back had all been torn away. What remained was only the head, neck, and rear!

And this counted as half?

She truly wanted to smash the roasted rabbit into Zhou Heng's face. But hunger gnawed at her stomach, so she could only swallow her anger. She tore off strips of rabbit meat and ate while glaring at Zhou Heng, as if she were chewing his flesh.

"You're cursing me in your heart?" Zhou Heng casually asked.

"That's right!" Lin Fuxiang admitted it openly. But Young Miss Lin was a refined lady from a distinguished family and had not learned more than a few insults. Back and forth, it was only "bastard" and "detestable brat," so she could not be bothered to make a fool of herself by saying them aloud!

Now that she had let this brat know she was cursing him, that bastard would surely imagine all sorts of filthy words himself. It was the same as him cursing himself!

Ha ha, she really was clever!

Zhou Heng had no idea how bizarre this young miss's way of thinking was. After Lin Fuxiang finished eating, he nodded. "Let's go!"

The two wandered through the mountain forest again without any destination. Winter days were short, and night soon fell. They found another cave to stay in. Unwilling to let Zhou Heng look down on her, Lin Fuxiang took the initiative to handle hunting, while Zhou Heng was responsible for roasting and cooking.

Before they knew it, ten days had flashed by. They still had found nothing, but the New Year was drawing near.

"Miss Lin, let's call it here. If we don't go back now, we'll miss the New Year!" Zhou Heng had no desire to go mad with this young miss and miss the year-end festivities.

Lin Fuxiang looked thoroughly displeased. But if treasures could be found so easily, what would make them precious? What was hateful was that she had encountered a demonic beast some days ago. Though it had not been particularly valuable, it would at least have been presentable.

Yet over these ten days, they had not encountered a single demonic beast—not even a larger ferocious beast!

Was the brat beside her a star of misfortune?

When she had left, she had boasted that she would definitely gain something. If she returned empty-handed, would she not lose all face?

"Let's go another hour!" she said unwillingly.

"Just one hour?"

"This young miss guarantees it!"

"Fine!"

The two continued onward. The weather had been good these past few days, and snow in most places had completely melted. Yet in places untouched by sunlight, snow still lay thick, showing no sign of melting at all.

"Hm?" After walking for more than ten minutes, Zhou Heng stopped. The silent Black Broken Sword in his Dantian suddenly reacted, its broken blade pointing diagonally at the ground.

Underground... was there a treasure that could make the Black Sword react?

"Ma Heng, what's wrong?" Lin Fuxiang walked several steps before noticing Zhou Heng had not followed. She abruptly turned back.

Zhou Heng had not given his real name. This young miss clearly had a deep background, and he did not want to bring trouble upon himself.

"Nothing. Just a sudden impulse," he casually said.

A grown man having a sudden impulse? Lin Fuxiang felt like she was about to go mad.

Ignoring Zhou Heng, she strode ahead.

But Zhou Heng had other plans. As he walked, he examined his Dantian inwardly and observed the direction in which the Black Broken Sword pointed.

Diagonally downward, diagonally downward, diagonally downward—straight down!

The thing that had triggered the Black Broken Sword's reaction was directly beneath his feet!

Zhou Heng swept his gaze around, and his brows could not help but furrow.

—This was a stretch of continuous rocky ground. Digging a hole here would be nearly impossible.

"Hey, how long are you planning to loaf around?" Lin Fuxiang turned back and said.

Zhou Heng smiled and pointed toward a cave nearly a hundred meters away. "Let's check out that cave over there!"

"Huh?" Lin Fuxiang looked confused. "Why?"

Naturally, it was because digging here was impossible. They could check the cave, perhaps it extended beneath this spot.

Zhou Heng certainly would not say that outright. He made up an excuse. "Most demonic beasts live in caves. That cave looks huge—there might be a demonic beast inside!"

"Is that so?" Lin Fuxiang sometimes seemed rather innocent, but she was no fool. She looked at Zhou Heng suspiciously. "Then let's have a look!"

The two arrived at the cave entrance and saw that it was absurdly large, over twenty meters tall and more than thirty meters wide. Chilly gusts blew out from within, making the hairs on their bodies stand on end.

"Roaaar—"

A low roar came from within, like bells and drums sounding together. It echoed continuously through the cave, making Zhou Heng and Lin Fuxiang's ears ache.

Both immediately assumed guarded stances. A mass of shadow emerged from the cave, gradually revealing its true form: a gigantic beast over five meters long. It resembled a lion, yet had six legs and a disproportionately enormous head.

"Six-Legged Giant-Headed Beast!" Lin Fuxiang cried out softly. "An adult Six-Legged Giant-Headed Beast possesses the strength of the Ninth Layer of Body Refining. It must not be underestimated!"

Ninth Layer of Body Refining—adding the brute strength of a demonic beast itself, it was roughly comparable to a Blood Refining Realm martial artist.

Without the Black Broken Sword's reaction, Zhou Heng would not have wanted to provoke a demonic beast at the Ninth Layer of Body Refining. After all, he had yet to cross into the Bone Refining Realm. There was an enormous gap in strength between them.

But now, he was determined to obtain it!

He held his sword across his chest, battle intent surging wildly in his eyes. What gave him such powerful confidence was naturally the Heaven-Soaring Nine Styles.

"Roaar—" The Six-Legged Giant-Headed Beast unleashed an earth-shaking roar. This demonic beast was furious. Two audacious humans had dared to intrude upon its territory! Every demonic beast possessed a fierce sense of territory and regarded intruders as the greatest provocation.

Its six legs churned as it advanced on Zhou Heng and Lin Fuxiang. Its huge mouth split open, strings of saliva dripping down. Perfect—it had not eaten human flesh in a long time!

Bang!

All six legs of the Six-Legged Giant-Headed Beast exerted force at once, and its massive body instantly pounced forward like a howling gale, launching the first attack at Zhou Heng—in this demonic beast's eyes, the youth with the slightly weaker aura gave it a greater sense of danger.

Flying Cloud Steps!

Zhou Heng lightly darted aside, narrowly evading the Six-Legged Giant-Headed Beast's pounce. His longsword suddenly swung up as the First Form of Heaven-Soaring activated!

Heaven and earth seemed to freeze in an instant!

Zhou Heng swept out his sword, his heart empty and clear. His consciousness seemed to merge with the entire world as unfamiliar strands of power gathered from every direction and entered the blade, continually magnifying the might of this sword strike!

Splurt!

A brilliant spray of blood instantly burst from the Six-Legged Giant-Headed Beast's neck. The longsword had sunk nearly a foot into its flesh!

"Roaar—" The demonic beast let out a heaven-shaking, miserable shriek. Madness flared in its beastly eyes as it violently flung its neck. Under that tremendous force, Zhou Heng could no longer hold the hilt, and the sword flew from his hand!

The Six-Legged Giant-Headed Beast instantly swiped a claw at Zhou Heng. It wanted to kill this damned human!

What? It had taken a sword strike to a vital spot and still had not died?

Zhou Heng could not help but be shocked. No wonder demonic beasts were said to be terrifying—martial artists of the same rank were no match for them at all! Though he was only at the Sixth Layer of Body Refining, after merging with the power of heaven and earth, the strength of that sword strike was absolutely no weaker than that of a Bone Refining Realm expert!

Yet it still had failed to kill the Six-Legged Giant-Headed Beast. This showed just how formidable the demonic beast's defense was!