A human!
Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue were both stumped by the sudden appearance of this young boy.
However, the one who ended up posing a question first was not them, but the young boy himself. "Hmm? Who are you? I have never seen you guys around before."
Nanlan Qianxue was usually not one who cared to interact much with strangers, which was the reason why Nanqing Haowen had always complained that she was cold.
This time, however, she instinctively retracted her tail, keeping it well hidden under her clothes. She then turned to look at Lu Tianzi, unsure of what attitude she should treat the young boy with.
"We are travellers," Lu Tianzi gave a warm smile while replying to the young boy. "Are you alone?"
"No, my dad is coming too," the young boy answered frankly. "Are you here to fish as well?"
"We are not fishing," Lu Tianzi shook his head. "But we are tired from walking, so we are just taking a rest here."
"Dad, there are people here!" the young boy turned around shouted.
"What?" a reply came immediately. "Did your Uncle Bing come here as well?"
The bushes rustled, and a man stepped out from the bushes holding a fishing rod and a pail just like the young boy.
He looked relatively young, perhaps only in his late twenties. His face was clean shaven, and had a head of long black hair tied into a neat ponytail. He was only wearing a pair of pants, which showed off his entire upper body that was not exactly muscular. Still, he was at least lean and without any obvious fats.
"Eh?" the man revealed a look of surprise when he saw Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue.
Even though Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue were just sitting there, this look of surprise on the man's face quickly turned into one of wariness.
"Rui, stay behind me," the man beckoned his young child.
The young kid named Rui did as he was told, adorably scurrying over to stand behind the man. But even from there, he continued to stick his head out, watching curiously from behind his father.
"You are not from the village, are you?" the man asked while keeping his eyes on Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue.
Lu Tianzi shook his head in response. "Don't worry, we are just passing travellers who happened to be resting here for the moment. We mean no harm, and will be on our way soon enough."
"Travellers? That's a first."
The man seemed to relax a little upon hearing that they would be leaving soon. "Since that is the case, will we be disturbing your rest if we fish here?"
"Hmm?" Lu Tianzi was surprised. Despite the man's obvious wariness of them, he still wanted to fish at this spot?
But when he stretched out his perception, Lu Tianzi instantly understood the reason behind the man's choice.
It might just be a small river, but the number of fishes in this part of the river was actually relatively plentiful. If the father-son duo were to fish here, they should be able to return with quite the haul.
"Please go ahead," Lu Tianzi smiled politely.
"I won't stand on ceremony then!" the man seemed to be quite excited upon obtaining Lu Tianzi's agreement. "Rui, let's start!"
"Okay!" the young boy answered with a youthful grin.
With that, the father-son duo settled by the riverbank near Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue, skilfully setting up their fishing rods. It was obvious from their swift hand movements that this was not the first time they were doing this.
But while doing so, the man could not help but steal some glances at Lu Tianzi.
"Those are some nasty injuries," the man remarked, referring to the wounds on Lu Tianzi's body. "Did you encounter a wild beast?"
"You can say that," Lu Tianzi continued to remove the small scales embedded in his body. "But it's no big deal. I will recover soon enough."
"Wow, really? Did you manage to get away from the beast then? Or did you kill it? Are you a martial artist too?" Rui chimed in from the side.
Lu Tianzi shook his head. "I got lucky and ran away while it was distracted."
"Hahaha, that in itself is a huge accomplishment! Few in the village would be able to deal with a wild beast alone, much less someone as young as the two of you." the man laughed. "But no matter what, I still think that you should get those injuries looked at by a proper doctor. Tell you what, why don't you come back with us later? There is an amazing doctor back in the village! I am sure he can treat your wounds so that they will not become infected."
"Thank you for the kind gesture, but I really am fine," Lu Tianzi turned him down politely.
"Well, if you say so," the man did not insist, though the excitement in his voice clearly went down a notch. "I'm just asking out of goodwill. But if you are unwilling, then I won't force you."
The two groups of people went about their own things, and the father-son duo managed to catch quite a number of fishes as expected.
After a couple of hours, the father-son duo finally got to their feet.
"We will be leaving now, my apologies if we disturbed your rest," the man said before pointing in a certain direction. "If you ever change your mind, our village is in that direction. My name is Bing. Tell anyone there and they will lead you to me. If you do come, I will bring you to our doctor."
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"Thank you for the kind gesture," Lu Tianzi clasped his fists towards him in gratitude. "Farewell."
"Farewell then," Bing nodded before leading his son away.
After they left, Nanlan Qianxue who had been silent the whole time finally spoke.
"Are you worried about me?" Nanlan Qianxue asked. "Is that why you did not accept his invitation?"
She understood that as a demon, it would be dangerous for her to go to a place that was dominated by humans.
After all, they knew nothing about this village.
Though unlikely, if there was someone at the Origin Core realm, then things could get really ugly.
"Why do you think I would take him up on his offer if not for you?" Lu Tianzi asked in return. "Do you really think that I am a human?"
"Eh?" Nanlan Qianxue was stumped for a moment, unsure of what to say.
Indeed, after sensing the Spiritual Essence within Lu Tianzi, Nanlan Qianxue had started to believe that Lu Tianzi was indeed human. That was on top of the fact that he did not have a tail.
At the same time, Nanlan Qianxue could not help but recall the strange rumours that she had heard from others in Bluenight City.
After Lu Tianzi returned from subjugating the human city north of Bluenight City, there were people saying that he actually knew the humans staying there. Even though it had been a relationship of animosity, it did not change the fact that he had ties with them before entering Bluenight City.
But on the other hand, Lu Tianzi possessed the Slaughter Essence of demons as well.
Perhaps he was not a human after all?
No, that was not it.
Looking at the facts, coupled with how Lu Tianzi had been acting, chances were actually higher for Lu Tianzi to be a human than a demon. It was just her instincts telling her this, but a martial artist's instincts were usually quite strong to begin with.
"It is not a matter of what I think. You are a human," Nanlan Qianxue replied, now relatively sure of her deductions after thinking it through.
This time, it was Lu Tianzi's turn to be surprised.
He had been trying to confuse Nanlan Qianxue, so that she would continue to believe that he was a demon, perhaps just a demon who had a huge secret in him. He never expected Nanlan Qianxue to answer with such certainty.
Seeing the uncontrollable look of surprise on Lu Tianzi's face, Nanlan Qianxue was now sure of her deductions.
"Don't worry, I won't let anyone know about this matter," Nanlan Qianxue stood up resolutely. "Prior to getting your permission, I swear not to divulge any of your secrets or hint at it in any way. I will not harm you or act against you, or even attempt to influence any others to do so. I call upon Heaven's Will as my witness! Should I break the oath, my body shall disperse with the wind, and all of my cultivation shall belong to you instead."
Lu Tianzi widened his eyes in shock.
This… was Nanlan Qianxue making a Heaven's Oath?
Before Lu Tianzi could react further, Nanlan Qianxue bit on her tongue and spat out a drop of blood.
This drop of blood flew into the air above her and dispersed into a small cloud of blood mist, though only for a moment. This cloud of blood mist almost immediately reformed into the drop of blood, shooting back down towards Nanlan Qianxue and re-entering her by passing through her glabella.
There was no doubt about it.
Nanlan Qianxue had just sworn a Heaven's Oath.
"You…" Lu Tianzi was dumbfounded.
He never expected Nanlan Qianxue to be so sure of his identity as a human, much less that she would suddenly swear a Heaven's Oath to keep the secret!
"What's the matter? Am I wrong? I don't think I am though." Nanlan Qianxue shrugged with a grin, as though what she did was nothing special. "This way, at least you won't have to worry about me betraying you, and I won't have to worry about you trying to act all mysterious."
"You got me," Lu Tianzi admitted with a sigh, before letting out a slight laugh in disbelief. "I can't believe you just did that. But with all these restrictions placed upon yourself, are you not worried that I would act against you? If I ever do so, you will be powerless to resist."
"Well, considering how you showed up instead of leaving me to die earlier, I would think that it is safe for me to presume that you won't do that!" Nanlan Qianxue replied, referring to when she was being targeted by Chiren.
Lu Tianzi shook his head helplessly. "You know that this is a very risky move, don't you? Saving you earlier says nothing about whether I will act against you in the future."
"I guess I can only blame my own poor judgement if that really happens." Nanlan Qianxue obviously did not care too much about that. "I just want you to know that you have companions, and you don't have to bear everything alone."
Lu Tianzi was surprised by her words once again.
Companions?
He continued to stare at the beautiful countenance of Nanlan Qianxue, but his thoughts started tracing back to his past.
His parents had passed away while he was relatively young, killed by wild beasts while they were out hunting. Since they died out in the wilds, Lu Tianzi never even had the chance to see their corpses, and had to hear about the matter from the rest of the hunters who had witnessed the whole process.
Since then, Lu Tianzi had always strived to gain strength, hoping that he would be able to protect others and prevent a similar tragedy from happening to others in the future.
But this also meant that he had always differentiated himself from the rest of his peers, spending all his time working hard on cultivation instead of hanging out with others. Due to that, Lu Tianzi never had anyone whom he could truly call a friend.
In fact, after being betrayed by Hu Yuanbo and entering Bluenight City, Nanlan Qianxue and Nanqing Haowen were the first ones whom Lu Tianzi considered his friends.
But even then, he understood that their relationship was built upon a lie.
One day, when his façade was seen through, everything would change.
Or at least that was what he believed in… until now.
Despite having already guessed that he was human, Nanlan Qianxue had chosen to embrace his true identity, even going as far as swearing a Heaven's Oath to let him know that she would help to keep his secret.
A Heaven's Oath cannot be gone against.
Even if they fell out and became enemies in the future, Nanlan Qianxue would continue to be bound by this oath, never able to go against him.
That was a huge decision to make!
Lu Tianzi could not help but feel something stirring in his heart. He was genuinely touched by Nanlan Qianxue's actions this time.
Companions… eh?
Since Nanlan Qianxue had decided to place this much trust in him, Lu Tianzi naturally would not betray her trust!
"Since that is the case, let me introduce myself again," Lu Tianzi stood up as well, looking straight into Nanlan Qianxue's eyes.
"My real name is Lu Tianzi. And as you have guessed correctly, I was born a human."