The Frail Body

The rain curtain grew sparse, and the silence of the deep mountain Buddhist hall remained just as it had been when Xu Yuan and his companion departed; the pools of blood from the corpses before the door had already congealed.

Suddenly, Two figures descended from the sky, landing upon the clearing stained red by the blood left behind by the corpses.

A man and a woman, both dressed in tight-fitting martial attire, bearing a striking resemblance to the dozens of uniformly clad corpses on the ground.

Black fabric with red trim, the backs of their robes embroidered with a hideous Coiled Dragon in gold thread.

Black martial boots stepped into the blood that had begun to congeal, emitting a sound of viscous liquid shifting.

The man had a face full of stubble and a sword strapped to his back. His frivolous eyes scanned the surrounding carnage, and he covered his nose, shaking his head lightly:

"Tsk tsk tsk, how miserable. It seems the person who abducted the Third Young Master is no simple character."

The woman had a cold, stern expression, her long hair reaching her waist and tied into a high ponytail that swayed behind her. Her waist was slender, and her chest was full, tightly wrapped in her form-fitting attire. Her eyes swept over the corpses on the ground:

"Can you tell who did this?"

Walking among the corpses as if strolling through a courtyard, the man stared at the bodies and shook his head casually, his voice carrying a hint of intrigue:

"How could one tell? It's all ordinary Sword Qi slashes; they didn't even use any sword techniques."

The woman lowered her eyes slightly, scanning the positions of the corpses on the ground, and said softly:

"They were in a formation."

The man nodded:

"I know. Hmm, the slashes on these people aren't deep; they were just enough to kill, and it all happened in an instant."

An instant?

Hearing this, the woman frowned and looked at the man: "Could you do it?"

The man raised a hand to rub the back of his head, glancing at the woman, and said with a mocking smile:

"In your eyes, am I really that pathetic?"

After a pause, The man shook his head again, raised a finger to point at a corpse leaning against a dry well by the Buddhist hall clearing, and said with narrowed, smiling eyes:

"But you're right, I truly couldn't do it. At least, I couldn't manage a death like that of Zhou Yuan."

As the words fell, the woman focused her gaze.

The corpse by the dry well was a middle-aged man with a thick beard; through his clothes, one could vaguely see the knotted, explosive muscles beneath. However, his sleeves were now empty, both forearms having been severed at the root, and the fatal wound was a fine sword mark across his throat.

The scene before his death was clear at a glance.

A strand of Sword Qi had shot out from the main entrance. As the anchor of the formation, the middle-aged man had tried to block it with his hands, but the Sword Qi had shattered his protective aura, severed his arms, and the remaining energy had precisely slit his throat.

Not a single ounce of extra effort had been wasted.

"I could kill him with one sword strike, but for a martial arts expert like Zhou Yuan, I couldn't be that precise."

As he spoke, the man feigned holding a sword, chuckling as he gestured twice in the air toward the corpse:

"If I were the one to strike, his head would have fallen straight off."

After finishing, The man sighed slightly, glancing into the pitch-black interior of the Buddhist hall, his eyes deep:

"And that Spirit Buddha inside—without using 'Source Qi,' I couldn't cut it down in one strike."

As he spoke, a hint of gravity appeared in the man's eyes:

"That person might be stronger than me."

The woman remained silent.

The man lazily rubbed his messy hair and sighed:

"Because of the Third Young Master's affair, the Eldest Young Master has already traveled from the Imperial Capital to Jingjiang City. Many people have already died in the city; you should go back and report to him first. The person who did this is very likely a Grandmaster."

The woman stared at the man and asked:

"And you?"

The man raised a hand to touch his stubbled chin and grinned:

"Naturally, I will continue the pursuit. Even a Grandmaster can't move fast while carrying the Third Young Master. I'll leave marks for you along the way. Make sure to return quickly; otherwise, by the time you catch up, I might already be a corpse~"

Having said that, The man patted the woman on the shoulder and, without waiting for a response, leaped into the air, vanishing from the blood-stained clearing before the Buddhist hall.

The woman stood in place for a long time, eventually turning into a blur and speeding off in the opposite direction of the man's departure.

Two days later.

The rain had long since ceased, and sunlight pierced through the clouds, casting a golden glow. Several rays of light shone through the treetops into the forest, which was filled with the scent of fragrant grass and fresh soil.

"Hah... huff... hah..."

Xu Yuan stood with his hands on his hips, leaning against a towering tree, and struggled to spit out two words:

"Rest. Let's rest."

The woman in black walking in front turned her head at these words, cast a glance at Xu Yuan's pale, sickly, yet handsome face, and stopped without a word, sitting down on the ground to close her eyes and recuperate.

Xu Yuan plopped straight onto the ground, gasping for air with sweat pouring down his face.

He had never imagined that a person's body could be this frail, nor had he imagined that this body would be his own.

Even on flat ground, after walking only a few kilometers, his legs began to tremble uncontrollably, his steady breathing turned ragged, and a burning sensation began to spread through his chest.

On any stretch of road, if it lasted even a little while, he would start to feel a dull ache deep in his lower back.

Over the past two days, Xu Yuan sometimes truly felt that if Ran Qingmo hadn't captured the original owner this time, it might not have taken more than a few years for the original owner to die in a woman's bed.

Not only did he lack self-restraint, but he also didn't exercise at all.

And what was most fatal was that this body would occasionally experience a restless sensation similar to a nicotine craving, but several times more intense.

This made Xu Yuan almost certain that this Third Young Master definitely had a drug habit.

Transmigration had not reset his body to factory settings; instead, this unlucky fellow, Xu Yuan, had inherited every single one of its flaws intact.

The series of ailments stemming from this weak physique also meant that their progress through the forest of the Wanxing Mountain Range was at a snail's pace.

During the break, Xu Yuan's breathing gradually calmed down, and he looked at the woman in black resting with her eyes closed across from him.

Sunlight filtered through the treetops into the forest, casting dappled light that illuminated her fair skin.

Watching her, Xu Yuan suddenly spoke up:

"Miss Ran, at our current speed, it might take another month to reach Heaven Gate Mountain."

"I know." Ran Qingmo kept her eyes closed, her voice indifferent.

Xu Yuan pondered for a moment and said softly, "If it takes this long, we could be caught up with at any time."

"..." Ran Qingmo did not reply, simply opening her eyes to look at him quietly.

Xu Yuan smiled, feeling slightly awkward.

He certainly knew that all these issues were because of this body of his, but every time they stopped, it was only after he had pushed his body to its physiological limit; it was just unfortunate that his body's limit was so low.

After a pause, Xu Yuan hesitated slightly and offered a suggestion:

"So, could you... perhaps catch a demonic beast? Um, for me to ride."

After deliberating for a long time, Xu Yuan finally voiced this suggestion.

There was a risk, but it was minimal.

If the demonic beast had any issues, given Ran Qingmo's strength, she could easily silence it before it could make a move.

Ran Qingmo thought for a moment, gave a slight nod, and stood up with her sword. She stood in place for two seconds, then glanced toward a certain direction, and her figure vanished in an instant.

While Xu Yuan was still stunned, a massive tiger's roar echoed from a thousand meters away.

"ROAR!!!!"

Then came a dull thud.

"BANG!"

"ROAR!!!!"

"BANG!"

"Awoo."

"BANG!"

"Whimper."