A New Exploration

Xiao Wu and Ning Rongrong fell asleep nestled in Cao De's arms, utterly, utterly exhausted.

As Ning Rongrong slept, her nose began to itch. She instinctively rubbed it and rolled over.

But her nose kept itching. Irritated, Ning Rongrong opened her eyes and saw Cao De playing with his hair.

"Cao De, why are you still awake? It's late. I'm going back to sleep." With that, Ning Rongrong immediately burrowed beneath the covers like a quail.

"I wanted to talk to you about something." Cao De gently stroked Ning Rongrong's hair.

"What is it?"

"Do you know about Xiao Wu's identity?" Cao De asked.

Ning Rongrong nodded. "Xiao Wu told me. She's a soul beast."

Cao De was a little surprised, but after a moment's thought, it made sense.

"So I want to ask you a favor. If anyone tries to capture Xiao Wu, I hope you'll ask the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect to escort her back to the Star Dou Great Forest," Cao De said, enunciating each word earnestly.

Ning Rongrong reached out and pinched Cao De's waist. "All you care about is Xiao Wu. What about me?"

Seeing Ning Rongrong's aggrieved expression, Cao De knew she was pretending, but his heart still ached, and he hurried to comfort her.

"You're important to me too. But I don't worry about you, because you can protect yourself very well. With you here, I can leave without worrying."

Cao De leaned close to Ning Rongrong's ear and gently blew against it.

Ning Rongrong shrank her neck back. "You certainly know what to say. Don't worry about Xiao Wu. I'll take very good care of her."

"Then thank you, Rongrong," Cao De said with a smile.

"No need to thank me. Bringing back fewer women this time would be the best thanks of all." Ning Rongrong pinched Cao De's cheek.

Cao De smiled without answering. Judging by his name alone, that would be very difficult.

Ning Rongrong covered her mouth and yawned.

"I'm too tired. I'm going to sleep. If you get an urge, deal with it yourself."

Cao De smiled helplessly. Looking at the two girls on either side of him, he too drifted into dreamland.

At the first faint light of dawn, Cao De opened his eyes and gently lifted Xiao Wu's and Ning Rongrong's arms and legs off his body.

He quietly gazed at them for a long time, then gently kissed each of their foreheads.

He got up and took a fresh set of clothes from the system space. As for last night's clothes, he had no idea which corner they had been tossed into.

Once dressed, Cao De looked at the two girls on the bed again, then quietly opened the door and left.

Not long after Cao De left, Ning Rongrong and Xiao Wu opened their eyes in unison. Neither showed the slightest trace of sleepiness.

"Brother... he's gone," Xiao Wu murmured softly.

"Yes," Ning Rongrong replied, and silence settled over them.

Ning Rongrong spoke again, breaking the silence. "We agreed to drain Cao De dry last night so he wouldn't go seducing other women. Xiao Wu, how did you give out after barely a few rounds?"

"You have the nerve to criticize me? You lasted the shortest! All enthusiasm and no skill, and you still have the nerve to talk!"

"Little Sister Xiao Wu, you're getting cocky." Ning Rongrong reached toward her.

"You were calling me big sister last night. Your exact words were, 'Sister Xiao Wu, hurry and help me!'" Xiao Wu imitated Ning Rongrong's voice.

Ning Rongrong struck without hesitation, and Xiao Wu cried out in surprise.

Sitting in the carriage, Cao De took out a folding fan and admired the scenery outside the window.

Unfortunately, there were no phones here. Otherwise, he could have taken pictures of these views and posted them to his Moments.

With a helpless sigh, Cao De summoned his martial soul, the Thousand-Blade Demon Sword, and slowly drew it. The patterns on its blade still flickered.

Looking at the Thousand-Blade Demon Sword reminded Cao De of the animated series he had watched before. Killer Seven really was cool.

"Only attack, never defend-the Thousand-Blade Demon Sword." Cao De recited the line with adolescent flair, recalling those battle scenes.

"If only I could wield the Thousand-Blade Demon Sword freely like Seven. I'd be so cool it'd kill people," Cao De murmured.

At present, the Thousand-Blade Demon Sword could only transform to attack when he used soul skills. The rest of the time, it remained in the form before him.

Cao De had always wanted to truly unleash the Thousand-Blade Demon Sword's potential, to wield the Demon Blade freely without relying on soul skills.

Perhaps I should try using it without soul skills, Cao De thought.

The scenery outside the window slowly slipped backward.

A woman holding a cat entered the view. She wore a white dress brighter than snow, her ink-black hair tied with a white ribbon. Her face was so exquisitely beautiful that no ornate words could describe it.

She was a delicate work of art crafted by heaven, breathtakingly beautiful.

Even Cao De, who had weathered great winds and waves, froze for an instant.

At the sight of such a beautiful woman, the coachman stopped driving. Without his whip urging it onward, the horse slowly wandered to the roadside and began grazing.

And so the carriage stopped by the road.

The woman covered her mouth with a soft laugh and slowly walked toward Cao De.

She sneered inwardly. Sure enough, men are all the same!

Cao De came back to his senses and quietly studied the beautiful woman.

The woman slowly approached the carriage window, pointed at her mouth, then waved her hand.

"You can't speak?" Cao De interpreted.

The woman nodded.

Then she gestured again, pointing ahead and then at herself.

"You want to ride in my carriage to somewhere up ahead?" Cao De guessed.

The woman nodded, then bent slightly in a bow.

"Sure," Cao De said with a smile.

During their exchange, the coachman also recovered his senses. He hurriedly moved aside to let the woman climb aboard.

His eyes filled with envy as he watched her enter the carriage.

Once inside, the woman sat quietly to one side and watched the scenery outside the window.

Cao De admired her for a while, then said nothing more. He closed his eyes and circulated the Great Sun Heart Method, slowly sensing his connection with the Thousand-Blade Demon Sword to test his earlier conjecture.

Looking at Cao De with his eyes closed, the woman's large eyes filled with confusion. She touched her cheek. There's nothing dirty on it, is there?

The carriage swayed, and the woman "accidentally" fell into the middle of it.

Hearing the noise, Cao De opened his eyes. His Infrared Laser Eyes had seen it perfectly clearly: the woman had fallen deliberately.

Is this a setup?

Cao De said nothing and simply watched her quietly.

Meow!

The Kitten in the woman's arms gently rubbed against her neck, comforting its mistress in its own way.

Just then, with an accidental movement, the kitten tugged down the clothing at the woman's neckline.

Snow-white skin was exposed to the air.

The sight was truly alluring.

Cao De took a veil from the system space and placed it on the little table. "Take this veil and find another line of work."

The woman stared blankly, her face filled with shock and bewilderment.

She had no idea how she got out of the carriage. She watched it slowly recede into the distance.

Inside the carriage, Cao De sighed.

Such a fairy-like girl, yet she's out selling herself! How sad, how lamentable.

Such people were pitiful, selling themselves for their livelihood, their families, or money. And they were tragic, having already lost their bottom line.

Cao De could only offer a word of advice.

The carriage continued swaying along and reached Barak City at noon the following day.

Cao De took out a few Gold Soul Coins and had the coachman change to a better horse. He would also take the opportunity to get some proper rest.

Barak City was already quite close to Spirit City, so soul masters could be seen everywhere.

Waving his folding fan, Cao De browsed the trinkets the roadside vendors were selling.

He casually picked up a hairpin and examined it. "This one's pretty nice."

"How much, boss?" Cao De asked.

"I've taken a fancy to that one too," a male voice rang out.

Cao De looked toward the voice and saw a white-haired man wearing a black mask, his arms folded across his chest.

A name immediately surfaced in Cao De's mind: Feng Xiaotian.

"I'll take that hairpin," Feng Xiaotian said again.

"But I've taken a fancy to it too," Cao De replied with a smile.

Feng Xiaotian narrowed his eyes. A lackey following behind him immediately blustered, "Do you know who our boss is?"

Feng Xiaotian raised a hand to silence his lackey, then calmly held up two fingers. "Boss, double the price."

The stallholder's eyes instantly lit up.

Cao De turned his head toward Feng Xiaotian. "Are you sure you want to pay double?"

Under Cao De's stare, Feng Xiaotian felt his heart tremble, and fear sprouted within him.

When Feng Xiaotian recovered, anger surged up. Being frightened by this pretty boy left him deeply displeased.

"Feng Xiaotian, could you stop being so unreasonable?" A woman in a red dress strode over on long legs.

"Boss, we don't want this hairpin," Huo Wu told the stallholder before turning to Cao De. "Sorry about that, young man."

Cao De smiled and waved his hand. "It's fine."

"Feng Xiaotian, I've told you so many times. I don't like you. Stop acting so childishly," Huo Wu said angrily.

Beside them, Cao De paid for the hairpin and stayed to watch the drama.

"Huo Wu, you don't have a boyfriend right now. Can't you give me a chance?" Feng Xiaotian said heatedly.

"I really don't like you. Even if I fell for him, I still wouldn't fall for you." Huo Wu pointed at a lame old man in the crowd.

Then she turned and stormed away, leaving Feng Xiaotian standing there with both fists clenched.

Finding the drama rather mediocre, Cao De turned to leave as well.

After walking some distance, he noticed something was wrong. Several people had been following him.

Judging by their auras, they were not particularly strong. Cao De entered the nearest alley and quietly waited for them.

"Kid, you were pretty impressive back there, weren't you? You even dared defy our boss." The speaker was the lackey who had stood behind Feng Xiaotian earlier.

"What does Feng Xiaotian want with me?" Cao De asked.

"It's not our boss who wants you. It's us. Our boss just gave me a dressing-down, and we're unhappy about it. So, heh." The man sneered.

Before he could even finish saying "Kid," Cao De had already made his move.

Cao De summoned his martial soul, the Thousand-Blade Demon Sword, but used no soul skills. He wanted to test his earlier idea and try relying solely on the sword itself.

Seeing that Cao De did not even have a soul ring, the man immediately laughed. "Trash! You don't even have a soul ring. What were you acting so tough for earlier?"

"I'll show you what a real soul skill is!" the man shouted.

"First soul skill, Heavy Club Strike!" An iron club appeared in the man's hand, its surface covered in frost, and he smashed it down toward Cao De's head.

Cao De drew his sword to meet the blow. The Demon Blade's edge struck the iron club with a crisp clang, and frost instantly spread over the Demon Blade as well.

"Trash, where's that aloof expression of yours now?"

Cao De ignored him completely. He continued circulating the Great Sun Heart Method, relentlessly controlling the Thousand-Blade Demon Sword to attack.