Chapter 4708 — Any Clothes?

Huo Yudie could hardly wait to jump in, but then she turned her head and caught sight of Wei Zhao. Her pretty face flushed at once, and she said bashfully, "You… you're not allowed to peek!"

"I'll just stand guard right here, all right? I won't look even if you beat me to death." Wei Zhao spread his hands and turned around, putting his back against the boulder. With the rock in the way, he couldn't see anything even if he wanted to.

"Not look even if beaten to death? Am I really that unappealing…" Huo Yudie grumbled under her breath, rather displeased.

Pfft! Wei Zhao was caught between laughter and tears. What on earth was with this girl—did she want him to look or not?

After muttering a few more words to herself, Huo Yudie saw that Wei Zhao truly seemed unmoved. Only then did she turn and walk toward the spring, her expression suggesting she was somewhat relieved and somewhat disappointed—no telling what was going through her head.

But before she could actually step in, a commotion broke out in the distance. Some other trial participants who had come in later had discovered the spring as well, and one after another they drifted over, drawn toward it despite themselves.

Huo Yudie, who had been overjoyed a moment ago, was suddenly on the verge of tears. Most of these people were male cultivators, and she was a girl—with so many arriving all at once, how was she supposed to bathe?

Just leave? She had finally found such a clear spring, and it would break her heart to give it up. But stay, and there was no way to bathe here. For the moment Huo Yudie was caught between a rock and a hard place, and could only look pitifully toward Wei Zhao.

Wei Zhao smiled slightly at the sight. He gave her a reassuring look, then turned a sharp gaze on the noisy latecomers and said coolly, "I've claimed this spot."

At these words, everyone looked at one another, then without a second thought turned and left—without hesitation, and not one of them dragging his feet.

Of course—the spring was pleasant enough, but weighed against one's life, what was a little pleasure worth?

Wei Zhao was that kind of fiend; he could send even a peak early-stage Xuan Sheng expert flying with a single slap, and killing the likes of them was no more than a flick of his finger. Who would dare provoke such a ruthless man?

In the blink of an eye, the whole bunch scattered as if fleeing for their lives. Watching this, Huo Yudie pressed her lips together and smiled; seeing Wei Zhao so domineering, she felt inexplicably delighted.

Though she was one of the Twin Beauties of Chenjiao, she was utterly different from Yao Jiali; she was by no means a domineering person herself. Still, it felt rather nice to enjoy that domineering feeling now and then—especially at a moment like this.

"Go on and wash. I'll keep watch here; no one will dare come over," Wei Zhao said mildly. The boulder at his back could not fully screen the whole spring, but it covered most of it, and there was a hollow in behind. Huo Yudie could hide herself in there, and then she would have no need to worry about being seen at all.

"Oh." Huo Yudie nodded, cheeks red, and at once waded through the shallow water, tiptoeing around behind the rock.

Wei Zhao, meanwhile, stood there with his arms folded like a door god. The other trial participants who arrived one after another took one look from afar and, without needing to be told, did not dare approach. From a ruthless man like this, one kept as far away as possible—on no account provoke him, or you would not have lives enough to lose.

Even the occasional bold one who wanted to come closer for a look was frozen in place by a single glance from Wei Zhao, then turned and ran as if fleeing for his life, not daring to harbor the slightest thought.

This was exactly the effect Wei Zhao wanted. He had no patience to waste on these irrelevant people. While standing guard for Huo Yudie outside, he simply sat down and cultivated. Women always took forever to bathe, after all—no telling how long the wait would be—and so long as he kept his divine sense extended at all times, he need not worry about any unexpected trouble.

How long passed thus, he did not know. As he sat in meditation, he suddenly heard Huo Yudie calling his name and asked, "What is it?"

"Do you… do you have any clothes…?" Huo Yudie asked hesitantly.

"Clothes? What clothes?" Wei Zhao was puzzled.

"Oh, it's just—my clothes are washed but not dry yet, so I'm asking if you have anything I could wear!" There was a hint of coquettishness in Huo Yudie's tone; when she realized it, her cheeks flushed faintly. Apart from her master, who was both teacher and mother to her, she had never spoken to an outsider in such a voice.

Wei Zhao was speechless at this, shaking his head with a helpless, rueful laugh. "Out in these barren mountains, where am I supposed to find clothes for you? Dry them yourself with true qi."

"I…" Huo Yudie hesitated, then said weakly, "This is the Million-Year Canyon, you know. I can't afford to waste my strength on a thing like this. I saw you pull out pastries from nowhere, so I thought I'd ask whether you have any clothes from the secular world…"

"Hm? What kind of logic is that?" Wei Zhao was struck dumb by the question. If he could produce pastries, then he could produce clothes—and clothes from the secular world at that. This girl's reasoning truly soared off into the heavens, as untraceable as an antelope hanging by its horns.

But on second thought, she had a point. Clothes of Yunjie Island's ancient style for women, he of course did not have—but clothes from the secular world, he actually did!

Before setting out from the secular world, Wu Chengtian had prepared a huge pile of things for him, among them new clothes for the beauties he was close to on Yunjie Island, in every style imaginable. There was enough to open a women's clothing shop.

Wei Zhao roughly considered the figures of the various women. After mulling it over, he concluded that although this girl's figure was a little more voluptuous than Tianchan's, they were about the same size. So he rummaged through the jade pendant's space for a while and finally produced a denim tracksuit.

"I actually do have something you could wear—but how am I supposed to give it to you?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Why don't you toss it over?" Huo Yudie suggested from inside.

"Toss it over? Won't it land in the water?" Wei Zhao shook his head, speechless.

"Uh… then how about…" Huo Yudie was clearly hesitant and torn, but finally gritted her teeth and said, "Then how about you come over and set it down at the edge?"

"Me, come over?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. Was this girl so open that she'd let him in while she bathed?

That didn't seem like her. From these past few days of contact, though she was rather hard to pin down, and though they had shared that awkward, ambiguous encounter before, his overall impression was that she was fairly conservative—her sense of propriety between men and women might not be dearer to her than life itself, but it was certainly not something she took lightly.

"Mm, I'll duck under the water, so you won't be able to see anything…" Huo Yudie said shyly, her voice low. It was fortunate that Wei Zhao had exceptional hearing, or he truly would not have caught what she said. (To be continued)