The middle-aged coachman attacked again.
The two demonic beasts wanted to cry, but had no tears.
This fellow was clearly no match for them, yet they simply could not fight back.
They could only take the beating.
It was too stifling.
They had never felt so stifled before.
The middle-aged coachman, on the other hand, found it exhilarating.
He was only at the early Core Formation stage, yet he was grinding two middle Core Formation stage demonic beasts into the dirt.
It felt incredible!
Before long, the wolf demon and bear demon were vomiting blood from the beating, screaming incessantly.
Damao yawned on the carriage.
The oppressive might weighing down on the two demonic beasts instantly vanished.
Noticing this, the bear demon and wolf demon scrambled up and fled into the distance without looking back.
They dared not stay here any longer.
If that oppressive might appeared again, the two of them would truly lose their lives here.
"To think these people had a demon king protecting them! We nearly met our end!"
"That demon king must have shown mercy, or neither of us could have escaped."
The bear demon and wolf demon ran astonishingly fast.
In the blink of an eye, they had vanished without a trace.
The middle-aged coachman did not pursue them.
He quickly returned to the carriage.
"Young miss, I've driven off those two demonic beasts."
The young gentleman was still shaken. "They won't come back, will they?"
The middle-aged coachman shook his head.
"They probably won't."
The young gentleman breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's good."
The middle-aged coachman hesitated.
"Young miss, I feel that an expert was secretly helping us."
The young gentleman froze.
"Why do you say that?"
The middle-aged coachman said, "Both those demonic beasts actually had higher cultivation than me. By all rights, I would have struggled against even one of them. There was no way I could have defeated both."
"But just now, those two demonic beasts seemed to be suppressed by some sort of power. They let me attack them without fighting back."
"Otherwise, I would have been no match for them."
Hearing this, the young gentleman also thought it made sense.
But the question was, what expert was helping them?
They had not hired any expert to protect them in secret on this journey.
Could it be...?
The middle-aged coachman and the young gentleman simultaneously looked toward Ye Qingyun, who was hiding inside the carriage, trembling.
"Could it be him?"
Both began to entertain that possibility.
Among them, Ye Qingyun was the only one whose background they did not know.
But the young gentleman soon dismissed the idea.
He's just a mortal without the slightest cultivation. There's no way he's some expert.
That was what the young gentleman thought.
But the middle-aged coachman did not agree.
He stared at Ye Qingyun, hoping to discern some clues.
Yet no matter how carefully he observed him, he could find no trace of an expert in Ye Qingyun.
Am I overthinking things?
The middle-aged coachman wondered to himself.
"What are you looking at me for?"
Ye Qingyun looked suspicious.
"Nothing."
The young gentleman shook her head.
The middle-aged coachman said nothing more either.
He resumed driving, whipping the horses on to leave this place.
Inside the carriage.
The young gentleman kept glancing at Ye Qingyun from time to time.
Her scrutiny made Ye Qingyun very uncomfortable.
"What's your name?"
Only now did the young gentleman remember that she did not even seem to know Ye Qingyun's name.
"Ye Qingyun."
The young gentleman froze. "Are you from the Ye Clan?"
Ye Qingyun looked utterly bewildered.
"The Ye Clan? What Ye Clan?"
The young gentleman saw that Ye Qingyun did not seem to be playing dumb. Besides, if he belonged to the Ye Clan, he would not have been completely without cultivation.
"Never mind."
The young gentleman brushed it off.
Ye Qingyun was speechless.
So mysterious and strange.
What was she playing at?
"Your surname is Xiao?"
He took the initiative to ask.
"Yes, my name is Xiao Shi."
"Vanish? That name doesn't sound very auspicious."
Ye Qingyun remarked.
Xiao Shi's face darkened.
"Not 'vanish.' Xiao Shi. Shi as in poetry."
"Oh, right."
Xiao Shi rolled her eyes.
Ye Qingyun stroked the rabbit in his arms.
"Uh, why don't you just let me go? I'm only an ordinary person. I'm no use to you."
Xiao Shi gave a soft huff.
"What do you mean, no use? You can tell me stories."
Ye Qingyun smiled wryly. "How about I write down The Legend of the Condor Heroes for you to read at your leisure, and then you let me go?"
Hearing this, Xiao Shi thought that would work too.
Although she was willful, she could still judge what was appropriate.
She had forcibly taken Ye Qingyun along all this way and made him tell her stories for so long. That was about enough.
Taking him any farther really would be going too far.
"Then write it down."
"Will do."
Ye Qingyun immediately began writing.
There was paper and a brush in the carriage. Although it was a writing brush, Ye Qingyun had long since developed excellent calligraphy under the system's brutal training.
Whether running script, regular script, or cursive script, he could handle them all with ease.
He could casually reach the level of a calligraphy grandmaster.
At first, Xiao Shi paid little attention.
But when she glanced over and saw Ye Qingyun's writing, she froze.
Ye Qingyun's characters were free-flowing and graceful. Every character was so perfect that a single glance was pleasing.
Watching Ye Qingyun wield the brush was sheer enjoyment as well.
"Your handwriting is actually this good?"
Xiao Shi exclaimed in surprise.
Ye Qingyun smiled faintly.
"It's all right. So-so."
So-so?
Xiao Shi looked at those vigorous, powerful characters that still retained an elegant delicacy.
If this was so-so, then her own writing could only be described as a dog's scrawl.
He wrote for an entire night.
Only then did Ye Qingyun finish writing The Legend of the Condor Heroes.
Of course.
To save time, Ye Qingyun had distilled it down to the main content. That was the only reason he could finish it in one night.
"Finally done."
Ye Qingyun rubbed his slightly sore, numb wrist and handed the dozen-odd pages he had written to Xiao Shi.
"Oh, right. Let me add an illustration for you."
Ye Qingyun then painted a picture.
It depicted Guo Jing drawing his bow to shoot a great condor.
Naturally, this painting was also exquisitely accomplished.
Like his calligraphy, Ye Qingyun's painting skills had been honed through the system's torment.
The painting left Xiao Shi dumbfounded.
It was as though a hero had truly appeared before her, standing in the desert wastes with a treasured bow in hand, drawing an arrow to shoot two condors with a single shot.
Such a powerful impact, such a lifelike shock.
For a time, Xiao Shi was completely captivated by the painting. She involuntarily became immersed in it and forgot everything else.
"Ahem."
Ye Qingyun coughed.
Xiao Shi continued staring fixedly at the painting.
"Hey, Miss Xiao."
Ye Qingyun called to remind her.
Only then did Xiao Shi seem to awaken from a dream.
She looked blankly at Ye Qingyun.
"What is it?"
"I'll be taking my leave."
Ye Qingyun said.
"Oh, stop the carriage."
Xiao Shi called out.
The carriage stopped.
Ye Qingyun immediately climbed out with the rabbit in his arms, and Damao jumped down after him.
Xiao Shi poked her head out of the carriage.
"May we meet again if fate allows."
Ye Qingyun smiled and nodded.
The carriage continued onward.
Ye Qingyun let out a long breath.
He was finally free.
But then he looked around.
He was bewildered all over again.
Where the hell am I?