Chapter 462: If You Trust Me, I Wont Betray You

Chapter 462: If You Trust Me, I Won't Betray You

When daylight fully broke, the two mischievous lovebirds came out of the guesthouse, both looking refreshed. They had even carefully disguised themselves as the protectors from the previous day.

As soon as they stepped outside, they saw several young girls kneeling in a row by the wall, hands on their heads, sniffling pitifully.

Zhao Changhe found it amusing. “What are you doing?”

The girls mumbled, “Bringing you your breakfast.”

Zhao Changhe then noticed that each girl had a small basket balanced on her head, filled with various pastries.

“That’s very kind of you,” Zhao Changhe said, taking a pastry and handing it to Yue Hongling behind him. “What a cute custom for delivering food we have here...”

“What custom?” one of the girls sniffled. “We’re being punished by the saintess. She’s taking out her personal grievances on us.”

Yue Hongling glared at Zhao Changhe as if to say, “Stop pretending you understand their customs.” Fortunately, the girls did not think much of it; otherwise, that one sentence would have given them away.

Embarrassed, Zhao Changhe lowered his head and quietly took a bite of the pastry without saying a word.

But as soon as he took that bite, he nearly spat it out.

He had assumed it was one of the famous local flower cakes[1]—on the outside, it looked the part. But the moment he bit into it, he found that it was full of deep-fried insects, making his scalp tingle.

Yue Hongling’s scalp tingled too, and she almost threw the pastry she was holding.

The girl in front of them, however, kept speaking through her sniffles: “Wah, this fried grasshopper was supposed to be mine... Wah, it smells so good...”

Zhao Changhe and Yue Hongling froze mid-motion, realizing it was not Sisi playing a prank but the pastries were actually a cherished delicacy.

Yue Hongling, without missing a beat, calmly handed the pastry back to the girl. “Then you eat it. How could we take your food?”

“The saintess forbade us from having breakfast...”

“Don’t worry, we’ll go plead with her.”

And with that, the two dashed off, with Zhao Changhe still holding the half-bitten pastry in his hand, hesitating the entire way. “To be fair... it’s actually kind of tasty...”

Yue Hongling snapped, “Oh, so because Sisi gave it to you, it tastes amazing, huh? One day, she’ll give you gu, and let’s see if that kills you!”

“No, really, it’s pretty tasty...”

“Get lost! And don’t kiss me after eating that!”

Sisi shook her head. “I don’t know, but probably at least the third layer of the Profound Mysteries, right? For ordinary curses, I think the second layer, the level those on the Ranking of Earth are at, should be enough.”

Zhao Changhe said, “That means that they’re still beyond what we can ignore for now. Are there ways to counter them?”

“There are. For example, when you were at Erhai, I saw you resisting a weakening curse. You were slowly dispelling it yourself. And yesterday’s blood curse failed because it was met with your strong mastery over blood and qi. However, your self-dispelling is inefficient. You did not fully remove it during the battle,” Sisi said, resting her chin on her hand. “We have medicines that can prevent curses, at least for a few days. But the question is, would you dare to take them?”

Zhao Changhe asked, “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Curses can be broken, but once a gu insect fully integrates with your body, there’s no undoing it. If you try to remove it, you’ll end up crippled,” Sisi said with a charming smile. “Master, would you dare to eat something with unknown origins, given to you by Sisi?”

Zhao Changhe looked down at the bug-filled pastry in his hand and suddenly felt a chill.

“This is Miaojiang,” Sisi said, her smile fading. “This is how Miaojiang is, and the Spirit Tribe is even worse. Are you still thinking about visiting the Spirit Tribe?”

Zhao Changhe looked into her eyes, then down at the pastry again, before suddenly taking a big bite and grinning. “If you dare to give it, I dare to eat it.”

Sisi watched Zhao Changhe as he ate the pastry, her eyes clouding over with a misty, unreadable expression.

After he had finished the entire pastry, she finally said softly, “The preventive medicine has already entered your system. For the next seven days, you will be immune to curses.”

Yue Hongling frowned, wanting to caution Zhao Changhe to be more careful, but in the end, she said nothing. In this situation, what else could they do but trust Sisi? Refusing to trust her would only make things harder for them.

One person ate the medicine while the other did not—this way, if something went wrong, at least one of them would be able to take care of the other

Sisi stood up, stretching lazily, then bent down and whispered in Yue Hongling’s ear, “Don’t worry about your little lover... I’ve already wronged him once before, and I don’t intend to do it again. Since he dares to trust me, I won’t betray him.”.

Yue Hongling smiled slightly. “I hope so.”

“Saintess, saintess!” A young girl came running over from outside. “The Dao Tribe’s chief sent word that Lei Zhentang has invited us to a banquet in Dali. They want to know what we think.”

“A bloody banquet, I suppose, eh? It’s even more dangerous than yesterday. Only an idiot would go to Dali to die,” Sisi sneered. “Tell them to come here for the meeting. With two leading tribes gathered here, don’t we have the right to host?”

The girl nodded and ran back to deliver the message.

Sisi turned to Zhao Changhe and Yue Hongling. “Are your injuries healed? They have figures on the Ranking of Earth, and there are two of them. If we can’t dominate this first meeting, all our efforts so far will have been for nothing.”

The couple’s expressions grew serious.

Two Ranking of Earth figures... Lei Zhentang’s power combined with his mastery of witchcraft and gu arts was one thing, but the real problem was Shi Wuding. If he showed up...

Being among the top on the Ranking of Earth placed him on par with figures such as Vermillion Bird, Black Tortoise, and Tang Wanzhuang. Could the two of them handle that?

1. The cake specifically mentioned here is the Yunnan flower cake (鲜花饼). It is a flaky pastry with edible Yunnan roses inside. ☜