Chapter Twenty-One: The Handsome Man

April’s sky was thick with yellow sand, a tawny haze shrouding everything in sight.

Listless and weary, Su Li nestled in Shen Luo’s embrace. After several days of relentless travel, she came to a conclusion that was both helpless and a little absurd: she suffered from motion sickness caused by beasts.

Of course, she would never admit to something so embarrassing.

Suppressing the churning of her stomach, she forced herself to appear calm. Fortunately, her furry feline face betrayed nothing.

Beneath her was their mount: a fully grown demon beast that looked part tiger, part lion. Known as the Sky Lion, it could travel a thousand miles in a day and was much coveted by cultivators. However, the Sky Lion’s vicious temperament meant that few could tame it, making it a symbol of a beast tamer’s prowess.

The Sky Lion raced across the endless plains, the only sound in Su Li’s ears was the rush of the wind. Perhaps the monotony of the landscape even silenced the usually boisterous Azure Bird, which for once was quiet.

By dusk, the wind across the plains had grown fiercer, the dust storms raging ever more violently.

Guided by Tiger Soul, they found shelter behind a windbreak hill and set up camp.

Su Li sprawled across Shen Luo’s wide cloak, chewing on dried spiritual fish while watching him deftly build a fire and roast fresh fish.

As the aroma of roasted fish drifted through the air, it lured Tiger Soul from his stone talisman.

Lately, Tiger Soul would shrink to the size of an ordinary white tiger demon pet, restraining his formidable aura to run around with the Azure Bird, causing trouble and thrashing the local demon beasts until they fled in panic, only to return by the latter half of the night.

Now, the two beasts were plotting their next mischief.

Suddenly, Su Li spoke. “Wait a moment.”

Both beasts raised their heads to look at her.

“Tonight, I’ll go out with Tiger Soul. The silly bird stays behind,” Su Li explained. “We’ll enter Mount Qi tomorrow, but I have a bad feeling. I want to scout ahead under cover of night.”

The Azure Bird protested feebly, “Sister Tuan, I want to go too.”

Su Li ignored it and asked Tiger Soul, “Do you have any defensive treasures? The silly bird’s just a burden—I can’t trust it.”

Offended, the Azure Bird sulked off to the side.

Tiger Soul thought for a moment and conjured a spirit pearl out of thin air. “If you’re in danger, this will form a shield of spiritual energy. Unless someone at the Nascent Soul stage attacks, it won’t be broken.”

The pearl rolled lazily to Su Li’s feet. She pressed it down with a paw, feeling a gentle surge of spiritual energy flow into her body.

Anything bestowed by Tiger Soul was sure to be extraordinary.

Soon, the fifth-grade red-tailed carp was roasted to perfection.

When Shen Luo turned around, he noticed something amiss with the three demon beasts, especially the Azure Bird, whose discontent he could keenly sense through their pact.

“What’s wrong with Fengxi?” he asked Tiger Soul, though his gaze lingered on Su Li.

Su Li glared at the silly bird, then leapt into the young man’s arms, at the same time slipping the spirit pearl into his clothes. Her paw brushed against the hot roasted fish in Shen Luo’s hand, burning her slightly, so she quickly withdrew it. With her round, dark red feline eyes, she gazed up at him, blinking expectantly.

Shen Luo’s heart instantly softened. He lifted the white beast, nuzzling her fur with his chin before she could bristle, then settled her back in his arms and tore off a piece of fish to hold to her lips.

Su Li was instantly soothed.

One human and one beast enjoyed their warm meal together.

Elsewhere, the Azure Bird grew even more dejected and said pitifully to Tiger Soul, “I want my master to feed me too.”

Tiger Soul’s eyes glinted with mischief, and he swept the bird away with a flick of his tail.

The Azure Bird tumbled across the ground several times before stopping, only to find itself eye to eye with Su Li’s dark red feline gaze. Its heart skipped a beat. With a gulp, it looked back for the culprit, but the tiger had already vanished.

In the latter half of the night, the gale finally subsided. The sky was clear, the crescent moon sharp as a hook, and stars scattered everywhere.

From Shen Luo’s arms, a furry head emerged. The white beast darted her gaze around, then slipped quietly from his embrace.

Su Li woke the Azure Bird, then climbed onto Tiger Soul’s back, heading toward Mount Qi under the cover of dusk.

As soon as the two beasts departed, the young man, who should have been asleep, opened his eyes.

The Azure Bird was startled and quickly shut its eyes, playing dead without moving.

Shen Luo stared a long while in the direction Su Li had gone before looking away. He retrieved the spirit pearl from his clothes. Its surface was etched with fiery cloud patterns, marking it as an eighth-grade artifact.

He clenched his fist suddenly, feeling a dull ache—Su Li was keeping secrets from him, and it stung.

The plains were silent at night. Tiger Soul moved swiftly, and soon they saw the looming shadow of mountains ahead.

Inside Mount Qi, all was deathly silent, an oppressive aura permeating the air and making any demon beast uneasy. The deeper they went, the heavier this discomfort grew.

Ahead lay a great gorge that split the mountain in two. Judging from the cliff faces, it seemed the work of human hands.

It was clear a fierce battle had taken place here; the canyon reeked of thick, cloying blood.

Suddenly, a weak cry echoed up from the depths.

The two beasts held their breath.

“Ah…”

This time, the sound was even clearer.

Su Li said to Tiger Soul, “Let’s go down and take a look.”

The gorge wasn’t too deep. Using jutting rocks as footholds, Tiger Soul carefully climbed down.

Once on the canyon floor, they saw by moonlight that it was a vast slaughterfield, littered with both cultivators and fierce beasts—a sight to chill the blood.

The cry was close. The two beasts crept forward, and soon found a blood-soaked figure struggling to crawl out from beneath a beast’s corpse.

Hearing footsteps, the person looked up and saw a majestic white tiger standing before him. His eyes rolled back, and he promptly fainted.

Tiger Soul blinked innocently.

Su Li leapt from the tiger’s back, landing on an unidentifiable corpse. She approached and examined the man, staring at his sleeve for a long moment before remembering.

Wasn’t this an inner disciple of the renowned Celestial Nine Heavens Sect?

Given the commotion in Mount Qi’s secret realm, Su Li had already guessed the great sects would intervene. As for this man—it was a gift sent straight from the heavens.

She told Tiger Soul, “Save him. He’ll be of great use.”

Tiger Soul glanced at the man, then hooked his claw into his collar and dragged him out, flipping him over several times with clear disdain, but found nothing unusual about him.

The canyon was deathly still, especially under the moonlight, a cold chill seeping from the stones and trees.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed Su Li’s foot.

Her heart skipped several beats.

She lashed out with a claw, and the hand recoiled in pain.

Trying to steady her racing heart, Su Li looked over—and found a man.

To be precise, a very handsome man.

His features were exquisitely carved, his skin fair, his gaze luminous as the sun and moon—stunningly beautiful, beyond compare.

All at once, he opened his eyes.