Chapter 4687 — Watch Your Step

"Hmph. I truly don't know where you get your confidence. Fine, I won't argue with you anymore—I won't dock your share, all right? Now hurry up and go!" Huo Yudie said as she slowly climbed to her feet.

Having been limp and sprawled there for so long, her body was somewhat unaccustomed to standing; before she had even steadied herself she staggered, but luckily Wei Zhao was right beside her and reached out to catch her in his arms. Huo Yudie let out a small cry, instinctively clutching at his arm, and then let herself tumble into his embrace.

With soft, warm flesh in his arms, Wei Zhao's eyebrows arched of their own accord and the corners of his mouth curved into a faintly amused arc. Say what you would—this girl's body was rather springy.

Ah! Huo Yudie gave a sudden sharp cry and hurriedly fled from his arms, her face flushed scarlet so that she dared not look at anyone; head down, she simply pressed on, walking as fast as she could.

"Hey, be careful—don't go getting bitten by some strange thing like another Eight-Legged Kache Insect!" Seeing this, Wei Zhao hurried after her. It was the middle of the night, and they had only the faint starlight overhead to make out their surroundings—and in a place this treacherous, too. He himself would be fine, but for Huo Yudie it was still very dangerous.

Only then did Huo Yudie slow her pace, though she still did not dare turn back to look at Wei Zhao. Her shyness was not purely because he had held her just now; it was the masculine scent that had rushed to her nose, making her body go weak and soft by instinct, and bringing that earlier scene unbidden into her mind.

Wei Zhao had said it was the normal process of drawing out the poison, but she could not help worrying that she might go through it all over again—and if that happened, she really would have no face left to show anyone.

What on earth was this girl up to now? Behind her, Wei Zhao shook his head in exasperation and hurried to catch up, deliberately spreading his divine sense as he did, lest another accident of that sort occur; a few more episodes like it and all their time would be wasted.

The two walked one behind the other. Up ahead, Huo Yudie kept her head down and said nothing; behind her, Wei Zhao had no idea what to say either, so he simply kept his mouth shut. And so, in the silence, the atmosphere inexplicably turned somewhat ambiguous.

Wei Zhao did not mind much—at most he could admire the graceful figure of the girl ahead of him—but Huo Yudie had clearly grown rather constrained and unnatural.

For some reason, the image of Wei Zhao lying over her earlier kept surfacing in her mind without warning. Especially that most embarrassing scene of all—the mere thought of it set her whole body burning, and Huo Yudie felt as though even her ears were about to catch fire. It was simply too shameful!

Granted, from beginning to end only she and Wei Zhao had been involved, and no one else would ever know; and granted, there had been a perfectly legitimate reason—drawing out the poison. Even so, it left Huo Yudie, the ice-cold snow lotus in everyone's eyes, deeply mortified.

And it was precisely for this reason that even simply facing Wei Zhao now left her feeling less than confident. Her manner of speaking was no longer as free and forthright as before; in its place was a bashful awkwardness, the bearing of a small, demure woman—one that even she herself found utterly unfamiliar.

Such a thing would have been unimaginable before. She was the ice-cold snow lotus! Any man, no matter how outstanding, would only find himself drawn to her against his will in her presence, and she had always regarded them with disdain. How could she now be like this, with a man's shadow filling her mind?

The two pressed on through that strange silence. Wei Zhao said nothing about it; putting himself in her shoes, it was only natural that a girl like Huo Yudie would be this shy after such an experience—unless she were a shameless woman like Murong Zhen or Situ Qian, who treated such things as everyday fare.

But to let the silence drag on like this was stifling beyond bearing. In truth it was not only Wei Zhao who felt so; Huo Yudie's longing to break that peculiar silence far exceeded his own, for otherwise she really would sink into her shyness and die of sheer embarrassment.

It was only that for the moment she simply could not think of a topic. Deep in her heart there was even a vague hope that Wei Zhao might bring up some small matter for the two of them to bicker over, because that would not only dispel this awkward heaviness but—she genuinely felt—trading a few jabs with a fellow like Wei Zhao was actually rather enjoyable.

But this was only Huo Yudie's idle fancy. She and Wei Zhao had, after all, only just met for the first time; neither could claim any real understanding of the other, and in this awkward atmosphere especially, neither she nor Wei Zhao could easily find a suitable topic to divert their attention.

Ambiguity ferments; in an atmosphere like this one especially, that ambiguous feeling keeps surging up from the depths of the mind. It is the instinctive yearning of any normal person for something beautiful—unless the heart is dead, the thoughts will drift that way of their own accord. Such was Huo Yudie at this moment; she felt as though she were already beyond saving...

Every so often, as they walked, Huo Yudie would contrive to steal a glance back at Wei Zhao, then immediately whip her head around like a thief. Yet these furtive moves she imagined to be so subtle were caught by Wei Zhao clear as day, and he could not help but laugh to himself. This girl really was rather interesting!

The whole way was like this—a subtle, peculiar state—and so the two walked the entire night. Unlike the danger-fraught night he had expected, the road proved not nearly so perilous as Wei Zhao had imagined.

After all, by all reason many fierce creatures were nocturnal, lying low by day and coming out at night, so night ought to have been the most dangerous time of all. Yet in fact it was just the opposite: they met with no misadventure whatsoever that night. Wei Zhao could not help but wonder—could it be because this was a desert?

The night passed without incident, until just before dawn, when Wei Zhao, walking behind, suddenly moved. With a faint dragon's cry, a streak of five-element killing intent abruptly swept over the head of Huo Yudie ahead of him.

"Ah!" Huo Yudie cried out in alarm, thinking Wei Zhao meant to do something to her. She hurriedly turned to look at him and, for some inexplicable reason, said with a red face, "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean, what am I doing?" Wei Zhao gave her an odd look and pointed ahead of her. "See for yourself. You're supposed to be a Nascent Soul consummate expert—would it kill you to watch where you're walking..."

Huo Yudie turned around in bewilderment, and only then did she see that not far in front of her lay an unknown creature the size of a washbasin. At first glance it looked like some kind of flying insect, its whole body stained as if with blood and radiating a dreadful, unfathomable malevolence. One look and anyone could tell it was not to be trifled with. (To be continued) R466