Gu Hanshan was not upset. He faintly smiled, then left with Gu Yunxi.
Bright and early the next day, there appeared in the sky over Taixu Sect, a phoenix tail warship. The vessel was gigantic, stretching 100 zhang long, and looked terrifically impressive.
Gu Feng was struck speechless. Truly tyrannical! On the warship, many people had already gathered. Each and every one of the disciples sat on the ground: some fooling around and flirting, some drinking wine and gossiping, and some even playing mahjong. It was quite lively!
Gu Feng’s unperturbed expression developed a few cracks. Come on, can’t you people put at least a little effort toward improving yourselves?
Remaining silent, Gu Feng took Su Mujin to search for a corner they could sit in while quietly meditating and cultivating. The hidden realm was far away and it would take at least ten days for this warship to reach it.
Not long after, the warship soared straight up into the sky. Gu Feng opened his eyes to gaze down below, and could see the faint rise and fall of mountain ranges mingled with the gleam of dueling spells between disciples. Slowly, Taixu Sect transformed into a distant black dot and disappeared from sight.
How many people would return home safely from this trip? Gu Feng looked at the expanse of lively faces all around him, and felt an indescribable melancholy.
“Gege, what’s wrong? It’s the first time you’ve flown on a ship, are you uncomfortable?”
Gu Feng’s spirit returned. He saw Su Mujin looking at him with worry written across his face. His heart stirred, and he suddenly opened his mouth to ask, “Will you leave me?”
Su Mujin didn’t immediately answer, as he looked at Gu Feng with an unclear import.
Gu Feng actually regretted asking as soon as he had said it. Why did I ask that? These melancholy thoughts were really unlike him. His mood lifted a little, and he started to say, “Just now, I . . .”
“I won’t. Gege previously said that I was brought back to protect him. Xiao Jin will always remember that.” Su Mujin abruptly spoke, cutting Gu Feng’s words short. Finishing his speech, he looked like he was recalling something, and he suddenly laughed.
Gu Feng knew with a glance what Su Mujin had remembered. Recollecting he himself had told Su Mujin to protect him, Gu Feng found it a bit humorous. Teased like this by Su Mujin, his mood recovered.
“Lfs! Pa’r yffc obgfnfg rlcmf P ijra rjk sbe, yea atf akb bo sbe ibbx jr joofmalbcjaf jr fnfg. Kgeis j ofja kbgats bo mfifygjalbc.” Lej Tjc rja cfjgys, klat j rmbki bc tfg ojmf jr rtf rqbxf. Vtf tjv kjamtfv atf fcalgf lcafgjmalbc yfakffc atf akb pera cbk.
“Naturally, we xiongdi are fond of one another!” Gu Feng looked proud of himself as he spoke. It was obvious that he had completely forgotten his excuse for rejecting Hua Yan five years ago.
Hua Yen’s face grew dark. She found Gu Feng’s smiling face completely infuriating.
Su Mujin blushed in embarrassment. Gege is really obtuse about this kind of thing. My path to courting a husband will surely continue to be impossible for the foreseeable future.
Hua Yan’s attention shifted, and she suddenly cried out in a loud voice: “Everyone come quickly, Gu Shixiong is over here!”
After Hua Yan shouted that sentence, Su Mujin secretly said what a mess, the ‘chivalrous and daring’ Gu Feng now has a heap of female fans. Sure enough, a wave of pretty lady cultivators surged over.
Gu Feng was somewhat baffled. What are so many people coming over here for?
“Shixiong, can you explain to us how to form a core?
“Shixiong, during a fight, what are some essential skills to conserve one’s spiritual force?
“Shixiong, I ran into some difficult problems with cultivating, can you help me solve them?”
Surrounded by the women who were all talking at once, Gu Feng found himself wanting to resolve their questions, and explain things. The sudden attention was a bit bewildering, however, everybody wass capable of making great efforts to progress! Gu Feng felt very gratified.
Gu Feng began to smile as he answered everyone’s questions. As he answered and answered, Gu Feng’s smiling expression began to collapse.
No matter how obtuse he was, he still began to feel something was amiss. How was it possible for golden core stage cultivators not to have learned the knack for controlling their internal fire? I fear they have ulterior motives!
Gu Feng stroked his chin, looking around at the smiling and graceful women cultivators. He suddenly felt that he was like a little sheep, and the women with gleaming eyes all around him were a pack of hungry wolves. Heavens, who would come save him?
Clearly it was impossible for the heavens to hear Gu Feng’s silent cry, but Su Mujin heard it.
“Gege, I’m hungry, can you go get Xiao Jin something to eat?” Su Mujin deliberately leaned in and spoke next to Gu Feng’s ear, his lips nearly glued to Gu Feng’s earlobe. This action was entirely ambiguous.
“No problem! Sorry, ladies and gentlemen, my didi is hungry and I must go grab him something to eat.” Gu Feng immediately stood up and ran off. At this critical moment, his didi was still so reliable. Gu Feng was so affected he shed tears within his heart.
“Have you not begun bigu? You don’t actually need to eat, do you?” One of the women asked, perplexed.
Su Mujin’s eyes shone. Fellow Daoist, I’m so glad you asked.
A blush slowly climbed up Su Mujin’s cheeks, and he seemed abashed as he said, “Actually, I’m just selfish and want to eat Gege’s home cooking. Gege always spoils me.”
After speaking, Su Mujin smiled sweetly, looking exactly like a little wife being doted on by her husband.
“Could it be you two are…that?” One of the women felt something was off, and showed an incredulous expression.
Those words uttered, the crowd of women began to catch on, confusion and incredulity showing on their faces. Reluctantly, a few hearts still held out, only for Su Mujin to completely smash all their hopes the next moment.
Su Mujin looked entirely bashful at first, nodding with his head lowered. But then, as if recalling something, he took on a melancholy look and said, “Yes, we’re exactly like that. But, Gege doesn’t want too many people to know about it. He’s worried I’ll be censured. I hope everyone can keep our secret.”
“Excellent, now all you women can join me in being heartbroken. You can’t get what you want, and you can’t say anything, so everyone disperse!” As the chief culprit, Hua Yan’s mood had considerably improved. The result was very good — being heartbroken by oneself was not as good as multitudes being heartbroken along with you.
The women’s faces looked utterly wretched as they departed. In one fell swoop they had lost two handsome men. Who would fail to understand the heartache?
When Gu Feng returned, he saw the area had already been vacated of those women, leaving only Su Mujin who looked at him with his limpid gaze. Did he want to be praised for doing Gu Feng a favor?
“Xiao Jin, you are truly amazing. Fortunately I have you, otherwise Gege wouldn’t have any idea of how to escape from that predicament.” Gu Feng’s face held traces of fear from the previous event as he spoke, earnestly praising Su Mujin.
“I don’t mind helping you out, but Gege really is too popular!” Su Mujin fluttered his eyes, with a totally innocent expression.
“Don’t bring it up, I never imagined women could be so terrifying. That said, how did you manage to get rid of them?” Gu Feng was a little curious so he asked.
“Sigh, as soon as they saw Gege leave, they scattered.” Su Mujin had a stiff smile, and suddenly felt a little bit guilty.
Gu Feng looked at Su Mujin dubiously, but didn’t say anything in the end. Didi is an adult, he’s starting to have his own secrets. This awareness of Gu Feng’s was quite accurate. However, even if I am the elder brother, I have no right to pry. Thinking this, Gu Feng’s mood fell. Forget it, it’s not important. Cultivate!
The following days were tranquil. The giant phoenix tail ship flew through the sky for more than ten days, before slowly descending at last. Gu Feng’s spirits rose, and he stood up to look down over the landscape.
Below, yellow sand stretched to the horizon. It was a barren landscape as far as the eye could see, except for a rift suspended in the air. This rift was covered in a layer of white light which maintained a perimeter of several hundred thousand zhang. Inside the rift, mountain peaks and exquisite buildings could be faintly made out. This micro world was presumably the hidden realm of spiritual ruins.
The ship finally landed near a gap in the white light, where four impressive demigod stage cultivators were standing guard. Each of them possessed incredible power. The gap in the light barrier only existed because of the combined efforts of these top cultivators to open it, but they were able to keep it open for just a year. In other words, if one couldn’t make it out within a year’s time, one would be stuck inside forever.
For this trip to the spiritual ruins, besides Healing Heart Peak which did not come along, all the remaining peak leaders were present. Sword Soul Peak was led by precisely that remarkable person who five years prior had entered the limelight during the new disciple acceptance ceremony — Xiao Chen. As always, he carried a single sword. From head to toe, he emanated a frighteningly imposing aura, so much so that nobody dared to approach him. His sword qi emanated a threat of being sliced to death, leading to a radius of three zhang being maintained around his person.
Outstanding people come not alone but in pairs. Another person also stood isolated in a three zhang bubble — Ling YunXuan — the leader of Battle Spirit Peak. He was dressed entirely in snowy white, and the atmosphere surrounding him was even chillier. If one approached him, one feared they would immediately be frozen into ice cubes.
Those two are truly well matched, Gu Feng silently mused.