Chen Zhu was a disciple of the Wufang Sect.
At this moment, he was bound like a caterpillar, desperately winking and making faces at Er Sheng. As soon as Er Sheng pulled down the cloth covering his mouth, Chen Zhu lowered his voice and urgently said, “This ship is full of demons! Quick, escape!”
Er Sheng blinked at him for a long while before sighing helplessly, “If only you’d told me this before I boarded the ship.”
Chen Zhu froze. “You… you were captured too?”
Er Sheng scratched his head. “I suppose so… Aren’t you a cultivator? Why did you get caught?”
The question made Chen Zhu’s face alternate between green and white. He grumbled for a while before saying, “Didn’t you have someone powerful by your side? Yet you still got caught! Useless!” His tone was quite disdainful. Er Sheng had never been one to back down easily. Her previous docile behavior in front of Chang Yuan was only because it was Chang Yuan, and her respect for the immortal cultivators was because they had saved her life. In the current situation, Er Sheng’s heart was already full of grievances, and after being shouted at by Chen Zhu, she naturally wouldn’t swallow her anger. She viciously pulled Chen Zhu’s hair and said, “If Chang Yuan were here, he would have dealt with these fellows already!”
Chen Zhu wailed pitifully as his hair was pulled, and being bound, he couldn’t resist. He could only glare hatefully at Er Sheng. “You wretched girl! Do you want to die?”
“You’re still being fierce!” Er Sheng released Chen Zhu’s hair and pinched a small portion of his eyebrow between her fingers.
“What are you doing, what are you doing…” Chen Zhu hurriedly tried to back away. Er Sheng pursed her lips and, with a sinister smile, plucked out that small bunch of eyebrow hair, then blew it away in front of Chen Zhu’s eyes. Chen Zhu watched in disbelief as his eyebrow hairs scattered in the wind. “Ah… you dead girl, you… you dare…”
“I heard people say on the road that a phoenix without feathers is no better than a chicken. Today I want to see if a plucked boy is any better than a girl.” Er Sheng smiled with great pleasure. “Feel free to make more threats, you’ve got plenty of hair left anyway.”
Chen Zhu was grinding his teeth in hatred, but he indeed stopped making threats: “Help me untie these ropes, and we’ll find a chance to escape.”
“You won’t hit me.”
“I wouldn’t bother dealing with a girl like you!” Hearing this promise, Er Sheng finally started helping him with the ropes, but after fiddling for quite a while without success, Chen Zhu could barely contain his impatience and said, “Hurry up!”
“I can’t untie it!” Er Sheng was also anxiously sweating. “There’s no knot in this rope, I can’t find where to untie it.”
Hearing this, Chen Zhu sighed: “Forget it, forget it. I thought you knew some magic.”
“No, don’t move, I can help you untie it.” Er Sheng was determined now. She drew out a Scale Sword, and its black blade carried a cold aura as it passed by Chen Zhu’s cheek. Chen Zhu felt his whole body loosen as the ropes binding him were all cut and fell to the ground.
He stared blankly at the sword in Er Sheng’s hand, touching his neck somewhat fearfully: “What is… that?”
“It’s the token of love Chang Yuan gave me!” Er Sheng announced very proudly.
“Your couple’s tastes are… unique.”
Er Sheng turned around twice in the dark cabin, then looked outside through the ship’s window and asked: “What kind of demons are on this ship, and why are they recruiting disciples under Wufang’s banner?”
“Recruiting disciples?” Chen Zhu gave a cold laugh. “Would demons be so kind-hearted? They’re just gathering these people to offer as sacrificial offerings to a great demon at sea.”
“Sacrificial offerings… will they be eaten?”
“Of course, they won’t even spit out the bones.”
Er Sheng froze: “Chen Zhu, let’s escape quickly.”
“If it were that easy, I would have run long ago!” Chen Zhu frowned and said, “The other demons aren’t the problem, the main issue is that most bewitching demon! His demonic power is unfathomable.”
Chen Zhu had come down the mountain just to gather information. Recently, there had been people recruiting disciples under Wufang’s name, and since it concerned the sect’s reputation, the Immortal Lord naturally took it very seriously and sent Chen Zhu down the mountain to investigate. Who would have thought the opponent would be so formidable? He had barely uncovered anything before being discovered. Chen Zhu only remembered looking at that extremely beautiful demon once before waking up tied up in a sack.
“What should we do then?” Er Sheng sat on the ground with furrowed brows. “If we’re going to be eaten, I’d rather become that demon’s disciple.”
“Disciple?” Chen Zhu glanced at Er Sheng. “Don’t tell me you came here hoping to become a disciple of Wufang?”
“Is that not allowed?”
“Forget about it, Wufang won’t accept you.” Chen Zhu said coolly. “First, you’re too old. Second, you’ve been married before. Third, after the zombie incident, the Immortal Lord gave us all a good scolding and decreed that Wufang would not accept new disciples for ten years, letting the masters focus on teaching the current disciples. So, don’t get your hopes up.”
After hearing this, Er Sheng was quiet for a long time. Chen Zhu saw her lips move slightly, and listening carefully, he faintly heard her say, “Then what about Chang Yuan.”
Chen Zhu didn’t know what had happened between these two after they fell into that deep pool, nor was he interested in knowing. His only concern now was finding an opportunity to slip away from this ship, and then figure out how to bring his master here to save this shipful of children.
The two sat in silence in the cabin for a long time. The light coming through the small window changed from bright to dim, finally spreading into a cool moonlit white. Just as night had fallen and Chen Zhu was thinking that now was the time to run, suddenly the cabin shook violently. Chen Zhu was startled and immediately stood up to walk to the window. Looking out, he exclaimed, “Not good, they’re setting sail! Once we’re at sea, we won’t be able to escape even if we want to!”
Chen Zhu paced back and forth, his thoughts in chaos. Should they run now? Take a gamble on luck – with good fortune, they might escape to freedom, but if caught… they’d probably be killed outright.
While he was still pondering, there was suddenly a loud “bang!” He saw Er Sheng kick down the cabin door like a warrior and walk straight out. Chen Zhu was shocked and hurried to pull her back: “Have you gone mad…” He turned to look outside the cabin, where the sailors on deck were equally shocked, staring at Er Sheng.
The black sword in her hand gave off a faint blue light in the moonlight, its chilling aura keeping people from daring to approach.
“I want to see Beauty Kong.”
So she said.
By this time, the ship had begun slowly sailing toward the endless sea. Beauty Kong, wearing clothes of various bright colors, was reclining in the main hall. Below stood about a hundred children. After his subordinate finished delivering the message to him, he waved his hand to let these children return to their respective rooms to rest.
He gave a long sigh: “Boring, truly boring.”
“My Lord!” A thin man hurriedly entered the hall, hastily bowing to him, and said, “That little girl, along with that Wufang boy, is demanding to see you.”
“Hmm.” The beauty raised an eyebrow. “A little girl says she wants to see me, and you come to report it? You think this… lord is so cheap?”
“Please forgive me, my lord! It’s just that the sword in that little girl’s hand… its aura is too terrifying, your servant, your servant had no choice…”
The beauty pondered for a moment, then asked: “Have any handsome men come?”
“…No.”
“Then bring the little girl over.” The beauty waved for that person to withdraw while reaching behind the chair for a mirror, touching his face and saying, “Even though I gave such a powerful sword, yet for so long no one has come seeking me… When she said there was someone more beautiful than me in this world, could she have been lying?” The beauty looked in the mirror for a while longer, frowning in deep thought, “Indeed, such words were a lie.”
Soon after, the thin man brought Er Sheng and Chen Zhu.
Upon seeing Beauty Kong, Chen Zhu’s brows were tightly furrowed, his whole body unconsciously tense, his wariness obvious at a glance.
In contrast, Er Sheng looked him up and down a few times and said: “Does your offer to take me as a disciple still stand?”
These words startled everyone in the hall. Chen Zhu stared at Er Sheng in disbelief: “Disciple? You want to be this demon’s disciple?”
Beauty Kong casually waved his hand, and Chen Zhu felt his knees go weak, falling to the ground with a thud, unable to stand no matter how he struggled. Only then did the beauty smile at Er Sheng: “I’ve always been one to keep my word, but as I said before, I’ll only take you as my disciple after comparing beauty with your husband.”
Chen Zhu shouted: “Taking a demon as your master is no different from accepting a bandit as your father! Even if we die here today, we must never do something so disgraceful!”
The beauty’s eyes narrowed slightly: “How noisy.”
Killing intent suddenly pervaded the entire hall. Even someone as slow to sense danger as Er Sheng knew something was wrong. She stepped in front of Chen Zhu to shield him, and in her panic, made up an excuse: “My… my husband has been out pursuing flowers and willows lately! He probably doesn’t have time to come compare beauty with you.”
If Chang Yuan were here and heard these words, he would probably feel wrongly accused.
But at this moment, there was no one to give Er Sheng a reproachful and silently grieving look, so she naturally lied with abandon.
The beauty reclined against the backrest, quite interested as he stroked his chin: “You’re quite generous.”
“I trust him.”
Trust that he can bring back seventeen or eighteen concubines? The beauty remained silent.
Er Sheng’s eyes rolled around, and another plan formed in her mind: “My husband’s return date is unknown, and I’m not young anymore when it comes to cultivation. If you want to take me as your disciple sooner… why not go look for him? I might be able to provide some clues.”
“Hehe, little girl, trying to trick me into helping you find someone?” The beauty thought for a moment and said, “That’s fine, I’m also curious about what kind of person your husband is.”
Er Sheng’s eyes lit up: “Then let’s go now.”
“Finding someone isn’t urgent, but this ship must reach its destination on time.” The beauty waved his hand. “If you came to find me just for this, you can withdraw now. Little girl, your schemes aren’t enough.”
As the others were about to come forward to take Er Sheng and Chen Zhu away, Er Sheng suddenly gripped her sword and shouted: “Wait! There’s something more important!”
The others were startled by the Scale Sword and trembled, looking somewhat helplessly toward Beauty Kong. The beauty raised an eyebrow: “Speak.”
“I’m… hungry…” Er Sheng rubbed her stomach, looking somewhat embarrassed. After seeing the bewildered looks from those around her, she became fierce again, “Don’t think I haven’t seen through your plot! If you want to starve me until I can’t even walk, then you won’t have to worry about me running away! You’re too sinister!”
Chen Zhu lay on the ground playing dead. Beauty Kong was stunned before breaking into loud laughter.
Er Sheng was embarrassed and angry: “I’ve been obediently staying in that little dark room waiting for a whole day! And you didn’t even stuff a single bun in there for me!”
“Buns…” The beauty couldn’t stop laughing. “Go get her a basket of buns and send them to her little dark room.”
Sent back to the cabin, Er Sheng hugged a basket of large white buns, eating until she nearly choked. Chen Zhu sat cross-legged to one side, his gaze almost dying from shame falling on Er Sheng’s face as if he wanted to bore a hole through her head.
“Do you know how to write the characters for ‘shame’!”
“No…” Er Sheng was telling the truth, but Chen Zhu was so angry he could spit blood.
“You kicked down the door like a hero, but came back with a basket of buns like a bear! Well done! You’re something!” Chen Zhu pointed at the dismantled cabin door, trembling with anger. He raged, “Look what you’ve done! The ship has sailed, the door is kicked in, and we might as well be two pieces of dried meat waiting to be dried by the sea breeze!”
Er Sheng wiped her mouth and helplessly spread her hands: “That’s not something I could have stopped anyway.”
“You stinking girl, I’ll teach you a lesson today!” Chen Zhu finally couldn’t contain the impulse in his heart and pounced forward to grab Er Sheng’s collar. Er Sheng was no pushover, immediately spraying his face full of bun crumbs. Chen Zhu’s rage blazed higher, and he moved to twist Er Sheng’s arm.
If this were the Er Sheng of before, she would have been beaten down by him long ago, but Er Sheng had learned quite a few moves from Chang Yuan. While she couldn’t handle someone of Beauty Kong’s level, dealing with a half-trained person like Chen Zhu was still manageable. She immediately twisted her body to dodge Chen Zhu’s grabbing hand, then dove down to attack his lower body. Chen Zhu leaped up and kicked at Er Sheng’s head, but suddenly remembered that this girl seemed to be not very skilled, and this kick might cause serious harm.
But before he could retract his move, Er Sheng mercilessly slapped away his leg with one palm, while her other hand went straight for Chen Zhu’s chest. Chen Zhu hurriedly stepped back twice, and seeing he was about to take a direct hit, he quickly turned sideways to dodge. However, Er Sheng couldn’t stop her momentum and pounced forward, one claw pulling open Chen Zhu’s clothes, revealing his white chest with a “swish.”
“Oh my.” Er Sheng stopped her move and scratched her head, quite embarrassed as she said, “Mother used to tell me that you shouldn’t randomly strip boys’ clothes. Sorry, I didn’t think you’d be so easy to beat.”
“You… you…” Chen Zhu was so angry his face turned from blue to white, no longer showing any trace of that carefree youth from their first meeting.
“Hey, Chen Zhu, on your chest…”
“You dare to look!”
“Uh…” Er Sheng moved her gaze away. “But there’s something on your chest…”
“What I have is none of your business!”
“But that seems to be…”
“Ah!” Chen Zhu saw the mark on his chest and was startled. “The mark the Immortal Lord left me…”
“Are we saved?”