posting this then dipping til wednesday bc i have an ungodly amount of assignments and exams
Cheng Nuo was stunned and didn’t react at all. He mechanically repeated, “you’re leaving?”
Bai Rui said “mn”, his eyes still fixed on his face, as if he wanted to keep his appearance firmly in mind.
Cheng Nuo’s lips moved a few times, but he didn’t know what to say. His chest was also uncomfortably stuffy. After a while, he asked with difficulty, “you… where are you going?”
Bai Rui paused for a moment before saying, “Somewhere to become stronger.”
There was another silence, and Cheng Nuo’s hand trembled uncontrollably. He clenched his palms tightly and hid them in his sleeves. It took him a long time before he spit out a few words with all his strength: “Then you take care of yourself too.”
He lowered his eyes and avoided Bai Rui’s eyes. He didn’t dare to ask him why he was leaving, but the guilt still surged up in his heart, and his eyes were hot.
His waist suddenly tightened, and the refreshing familiar scent suddenly surrounded Cheng Nuo – Bai Rui hugged him awkwardly and whispered in his ear, “My leaving has nothing to do with you, so don’t be sad. Goodbye.”
When he regained his senses, there was no trace of Bai Rui, leaving only the lingering touch around his waist and his scent in the air.
Cheng Nuo’s stiff shoulder loosened, and a weak smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.
He had no reason or position to retain Bai Rui, nor did he have the face to say anything about remembering their communication link.
Bai Rui said that leaving had nothing to do with himself, really?
Will we meet again? I hope that when I see him again in the future, Bai Rui has met someone who is good to him
Cheng Nuo leaned weakly against a tree and slowly closed his eyes until a burst of applause interrupted his thoughts. He opened his eyes in astonishment and saw two people come out behind a tree in the distance.
The applauding man was a handsome 15- or 16-year-old boy, with phoenix eyes and silver-blue hair that looked familiar. He wore an apricot yellow robe with silver and white silk threads outlining the pattern of the Zhi Lan flower… it was Bai Zhi!
As soon as Cheng Nuo’s pupils contracted, he immediately restrained his emotions and tried to maintain his composure while looking at each other. Just now, had these two people been hiding nearby?
When he turned his gaze to the person beside Bai Zhi, it was even more silly. The man looked about 20 years old, cold and dignified, slender, and had the same golden pupils as Bai Rui. However, his hair color was similar to Bai Zhi’s, long silver hair that in the sunlight reflected a slight blue color, unlike Bai Rui’s pure silver. His style of clothes was also quite strange.
Bai Zhi’s appearance was three or four points similar to Bai Rui, but this person’s appearance was six or seven points similar to Bai Rui.
Cheng Nuo became nervous when he remembered the tense stance between Bai Zhi and Bai Rui when they were in the slums, as well as the extremely vicious words of Bai Zhi when he left – tell that cheap slave named Cheng Nuo, sooner or later I will cut out his heart and make wine to drink!
Bai Zhi’s tactics, compared to Li Yue, are definitely not far behind ah!
Bai Zhi looked at the young man and said with a smile, “Bai Rui’s expression just now was really wonderful!”
Cheng Nuo held his breath nervously. Although Bai Rui never mentioned his origins, he could know from his childhood experience that Bai Zhi was Bai Rui’s brother, so this person should also be Bai Rui’s brother? Most importantly, was his relationship with Bai Rui as bad as Bai Rui and Bai Zhi’s?
Bai Rui’s eyes were often calm, but this young man’s golden eyes were very sharp and cold as ice. Cheng Nuo only felt that those eyes turned on him and he could not help but shudder, his heart going up and down.
The young man walked towards him slowly, and an overwhelming pressure swept over him. Cheng Nuo’s body couldn’t move at all. The aura of this person was actually stronger than that of Lian Yu! There was a sharp pain in his head, he gasped in pain, and he half knelt on the ground before he knew it.
“Excuse me… Who is your excellency?” Cheng Nuo desperately raised his head and supported the ground with both hands, making himself look less embarrassed.
The young man’s voice was very cold. Instead of answering his questions, he said in a contemptuous tone, “so weak.”
Cheng Nuo felt that the pressure was heavier. His throat was fishy and he immediately spewed out a mouthful of blood and fainted.
Bai Zhi looked at the unconscious Cheng Nuo with a smile. Over the years, this treacherous street scoundrel hadn’t changed much. He recognized it at a glance.
He said with a smile, “I’m just an ordinary person. Brother, what should I do with this cheap slave?”
Bai Mu opened the magical beast bag, and a giant bird with long tail feathers darted out of it with a shriek of excitement that was truly shocking.
He tossed Cheng Nuo up easily, and he jumped up, too, and said to Bai Zhi with a straight face, “you go to Bai Rui and tell him to return to Snow City* within a month, otherwise this person will be thrown into the sealed land.”
(* 雪城: this is xuěchéng¸ but I’m not sure if I should keep it as Xue City or just Snow City…)
Bai Zhi was stunned, and a gust of wind had already soared into the air, making him unable to open his eyes. He could only secretly say bad luck in his heart.
More than ten days ago, the news of Bai Rui came from Lian Yu, the young master of the Ming Palace. His heart was mixed. When he was forced to sign a contract and leave, he was constantly thinking how to retaliate in the future.
That time he left Snow City without permission and lost the ice snake. When he went back, he was severely reprimanded and locked up in the ice room for a month. He was nearly killed, but he could not tell the truth at all.
He wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to get rid of Bai Rui, but unexpectedly, Bai Mu actually came to the mountain personally! However, Bai Mu had been arranging a shielding formation, and he quietly followed the two of them from the restaurant without showing up. He didn’t know what he was thinking.
But he also wondered, how could Bai Rui show such deep feelings to that weak little ragtag*? Hehe, you’re really friends?
(* the wording used here is actually 贱民 meaning, a person of social status below the level of common people.)
But it’s better this way, there’s a lot of fun to be had!
Bai Zhi sneered a few times and quickly chased in one direction, wondering in his heart how to tell Bai Rui the good news.
Cheng Nuo confusedly opened his eyes, vaguely saw wisps of clouds running quickly behind him, and the whistling wind in his ears, and for a moment thought he was dreaming.
But the dull pain coming from his chest soon woke him up and he immediately recalled what happened before he fainted. He also remained motionless, his eyes turned and quickly scanned around and soon concluded – he was in the sky!
The flying bird-like magical beast that carried him was huge, with a wide back, and stable flight. Cheng Nuo gritted his teeth. Had he been captured? But his hands and feet were not bound, and his storage bag was also well placed on his waist, so it could be seen that his captor him paid no attention to him in the slightest.
The voice he heard before said in the same cold tone, “since you’re awake, heal yourself.”
Cheng Nuo was surprised. He had disguised his breathing and didn’t move his hands and feet. How did this man know he was awake?
He just sat up on his legs, took out two pills of wound medicine, and slowly operated the elemental energy in his body to make his stagnant internal breathing flow faster.
The young man from before sat in front of him with his back to him. His long silver blue hair was blown away by the wind, and his back was straight. He really looked like Bai Rui.
However, Bai Zhi was not there.
Cheng Nuo was in a trance for a while. He took a deep breath and said calmly, “what’s your purpose in capturing me? Where are you taking me?”
Bai Mu’s head didn’t turn, but he said faintly: ” Do not make a sound on the way, or else, I’ll cut off your tongue.”
Cheng Nuo chilled for a moment. Fuck. Why were all of Bai Rui’s family members unreasonable? No wonder Bai Rui’s character was also very problematic when he was a child, probably forced to leave his home by these abnormal people…
He didn’t recognize this magical beast, but it could be judged that it was a high-level magical beast no lower than level 7. It had been flying for several hours without stopping, and its speed was not affected at all.
He couldn’t hold it anymore and said, “this great warrior, I want to go the lavatory.” This cannot be blamed on him, perhaps the other party did not eat, drink or go to the lavatory, but he was a normal person.
Fortunately, Bai Mu didn’t cut his tongue, but let the magical beast fly down along a river and coldly said to him: “Bai Mu.”
Cheng Nuo was stunned. Then he realized that he said his name. He walked far away from the river, squatting in the grass looking at the back of Bai Mu secretly pondering, if he ran away now, how sure can he be of success?
When Bai Zhi found Bai Rui, he wanted to kill him. Obviously, Bai Mu and Bai Zhi were working together to lure Bai Rui through him. How could he let them achieve their wish! And Liu Guang would return in a few days, wouldn’t he be anxious to see him missing?
He secretly touched his storage bag, which contained several small vials filled with a powerful drug. He failed to carry out his last mission, and these days he was equipped with this powerful drug to prevent that type of helpless situation.
But the strength of this man seemed stronger than Bai Zhi’s.
His heart was pounding nervously. Should he take a chance?
“You dawdle a while longer and I’ll gouge your eyes out.” Bai Mu’s voice was still unhurried, with eyes growing behind his back.
Cheng Nuo was startled and hurried over. Disciples with a high level of cultivation could use their divine sense to observe their surroundings. He hadn’t yet cultivated it and wasn’t confident. For the time being, it was better not to act rashly.
The magical beast’s flight trajectory was always north. It didn’t stop until late at night. After an hour’s rest, it continued to go on the road.
Cheng Nuo smiled bitterly. The speed of the magical beast was so fast that even Bai Rui wouldn’t be able to catch up with it.
Naturally, he didn’t want Bai Rui to come, he already owed Bai Rui enough! Let Bai Rui take any more risks for him, and he would be even more unable to pay them off.
Along the way, Bai Mu always maintained a sitting posture and remained motionless, without speaking or resting. Cheng Nuo gritted his teeth secretly at him, closed his eyes and lay on the back of the beast. He had to conserve his energy and find the right opportunity to fight!
At noon on the next day, Bai Mu unexpectedly took the initiative to let the Warcraft land by a lake to have a rest. However, Cheng Nuo was speechless when he saw what Bai Mu was up to. He was really Bai Rui’s brother! Although this person’s character was very problematic, his degree of cleanliness was on par with Bai Rui.
Bai Mu carried a bathing bucket with him and coldly banished Cheng Nuo away. After gathering some cool lake water, he (Bai Mu) began to undress and bathe.
Here in the wilderness of the mountains, Cheng Nuo was really hoping that a crowd of people would suddenly appear to watch ah.
The magical beast landed on the tree leisurely eating fruit. Cheng Nuo took a deep breath, climbed up the tree, slowly approaching it, and quietly applied that colorless and tasteless powerful drug to the shell of the fruit. Even if Bai Mu paid attention to this side with his divine sense, he should not be able to see it.
He didn’t know whether these drugs would be effective on high-level magical beasts, but he could only try.
The magical beast gradually ate there, Cheng Nuo held his breath and watched as it ripped the piece of fruit off and swallowed it in three or two bites. He hid on the side and waited patiently. After another while, the magical beast’s eyelids drooped and tucked its head under its wings, apparently asleep.