Journey to Gulan City

"Ning'er..."

Ye Ziyun looked at Xiao Ning'er's face, then at Nie Li lying on the bed with his eyes closed.

They had been husband and wife in their previous life, which was also why Nie Li had always loved her.

But Xiao Ning'er liked Nie Li too, while she herself had developed feelings for him without any memories of their previous life. That was the most awkward part.

Right now, she merely had feelings for Nie Li, but the previous life shown on the Sky Screen had tangled her heart into knots.

Nie Li: ...

I'm asleep. I can't let anything slip.

I'm asleep. I absolutely can't let them know I'm already awake.

At last, unable to bear the awkward atmosphere, Ye Ziyun and Xiao Ning'er left his room one after the other.

Nie Li immediately sprang out of bed and opened the window.

Each of them lived in a small two-story building.

From the second floor, Nie Li watched Ye Ziyun and Xiao Ning'er's retreating figures.

"Ugh, what kind of mess is this?"

Things with Zi Yun are still moving too slowly, but Ning'er has already...

Matters of the heart really are a headache.

Forget it. I should cultivate instead.

I'll try to break through to bronze two-star tomorrow.

On the third day.

Everyone had finished preparing and gathered in the courtyard.

Nie Li took out several lumps of mud, except these were white.

"Everyone, we need to keep this trip under wraps, so changing our faces a little is essential."

Nie Li pressed a lump of cloud mud onto his face and kneaded and rubbed it. Soon, a fairly ordinary face appeared before everyone.

"Oh? This looks fun!"

Lu Piao immediately grabbed a lump, but he clearly had never used it before. The face he smeared into shape could best be described by one word: ugly.

Du Ze and the others couldn't help laughing.

"Hey! Nie Li, help me fix this! There's no way I'm going out with a face this ugly!"

With a smile, Nie Li gave it a few pinches, shaping it into an ordinary face.

Ye Ziyun and the others also got to work, fashioning faces that would vanish into a crowd on any street.

Their hair needed changing too, including Ye Ziyun's purple hair and Nie Li's orange hair. He had mixed several herbs into a dye that could turn their hair black.

With a slight change of clothes as well, perfect-who could recognize them now?

"Let's go!"

Lu Piao shouted and took the lead.

Ye Xiu stood atop the wall of the City Lord's Mansion.

A middle-aged man suddenly appeared beside him, dressed in a brocade robe and possessing a distinguished bearing.

"Lord Ye Xiu."

This was an elder sent by Chen Zhenglong, the Head of the Sacred Nether Family. His name was Chen Fei, and he was a black gold three-star Demon Spirit Master.

"This time, the two of us will accompany these children to Gulan City."

Chen Fei looked at Nie Li among the group. "So that's Nie Li? He really does think things through and handle everything thoroughly."

"All right, let's follow them."

Once they left Glory City, everyone began playing around.

After all, the wilderness was full of excitement. What youngster had never dreamed of going out on an adventure?

They even raced one another, picking up speed as they hurtled through towering trees and rugged terrain.

They traveled for over a dozen hours straight. At a normal pace, the journey to Gulan City would have taken at least five or six days, but they covered two days' distance in just one. At this rate, they would only need three or four days to reach Gulan City.

That night, they all pitched their tents.

One for each person.

Nie Li and Du Ze returned to camp.

"Don't worry. Du Ze and I have explored several kilometers around here. There shouldn't be any danger, and I've scattered beast-repelling powder too. Demon beasts below silver rank won't come here."

"Good! Traveling all day has worn me out."

Lu Piao yawned, went straight back to his tent, and fell fast asleep.

Even so, keeping watch at night was absolutely essential.

Nie Li would take the first half of the night.

Du Ze would take the second.

Nie Li climbed a large tree whose thick trunk offered enough room for him to lie down.

"Nie Li."

A clear, lovely voice rang out.

Nie Li tilted his head slightly, his hands still tucked beneath it.

It was Ye Ziyun.

"Zi Yun? What's wrong?"

Ye Ziyun sat beside Nie Li. She couldn't sleep, and with her bronze three-star cultivation, missing a night's sleep was no big deal.

"You and I, in our previous life, really..."

Ye Ziyun felt a little shy. After all, things like marriage were far too distant for a thirteen-year-old girl like her, weren't they?

"Yes. But speaking of my previous life, if Glory City hadn't been destroyed, someone of my standing could never have been with you."

Who was Nie Li?

A worthless son of the declining Heavenly Marks Family.

Who was Ye Ziyun? The City Lord's daughter, a darling of the heavens.

"Was Glory City really destroyed?"

Nie Li's eyes dimmed too. "Yes. A beast tide numbering in the hundreds of millions. Even Lord Ye Mo died in battle. Du Ze, Lu Piao, and Chen Linjian all fell one after another. Under your leadership, the survivors fled toward the eastern side of the Sacred Ancestor Mountain Range. As we fled, demon beasts continued to threaten us, and people kept dying. But having someone we loved by our side brought a little warmth to that dangerous road whose end we couldn't see."

Nie Li looked at Ye Ziyun, his eyes filled with indescribable tenderness.

Ye Ziyun asked, "Then what happened?"

"After that... happiness was so fleeting. By the time I looked back, life and death had already separated us."

Even though he had endured so many battles of life and death in his previous life, Nie Li still couldn't keep his emotions off his face whenever he remembered his loved ones dying right before his eyes.

Especially that bastard, the Sacred Emperor. At the Spring of Life, he had snuffed out the souls of Nie Li's loved ones one by one, right in front of him, when they could have been resurrected. If Nie Li didn't fight with his life on the line, who would?

Unfortunately for his enemy, he had something on him that could turn back the clock.

That also proved one thing: when fighting the final boss, always remember to reload your save.

Watching the two tears brimming in Nie Li's eyes, Ye Ziyun couldn't help aching for him.

"Thousands of people. Thousands of us escaped Glory City together, and in the end, I was the only one who survived."

Only heaven knew how utterly shattered Nie Li had felt back then.

"Then how did you come back? Was it that book that appeared at the beginning of the Sky Screen?"

Ye Ziyun held Nie Li's hand. She was rather softhearted, and as a girl, she was always gentler and more compassionate toward friends and ordinary people alike.

Yet this was the first time she had taken Nie Li's hand of her own accord.

"After leaving the Sacred Ancestor Mountain Range, I explored all sorts of places and found the Book of Time and Space Spirit in the Desert Divine Palace in the Endless Desert. In the end, I fought a fellow called the Sacred Emperor. I didn't win. They ganged up on me."