Chapter 178 - 132: Young Master Lu, Don’t Pounce on Me

Chapter 178: Chapter 132: Young Master Lu, Don’t Pounce on Me

But to her surprise, Xue Yanluo flatly refused. He only told Mei Zhaozhao that his task concerned the Dragon Transformation Bone, but he rejected her request to be taken to the Inner Island.

His reason was simple: she would die.

Mei Zhaozhao had not yet entered the Fifth Realm. If she were discovered inside, the Grand Array would make escape uncertain. Her fate would likely be getting thrown into the Blood Prison to feed the insects.

Furthermore, the Inner Island was fraught with danger. Entering without a Token was a gamble with only a slim chance of survival.

KNOCK KNOCK.

Mei Zhaozhao said, "Come in."

Bai Wei walked in, carrying a small bowl of medicine.

"Young Master Brother, please hurry and drink this."

Only then did Xue Yanluo’s expression soften. He took the bowl and drained it in a single gulp.

"I don’t know much about the Dragon Transformation Bone myself. The Blood Demon Lord ordered me to handle it, but while I was gathering the materials, I got the feeling he’s plotting something big."

He had already told Mei Zhaozhao that the Blood Demon Lord wanted to revive the Dragon Bone.

"I didn’t come here for the Dragon Transformation Bone," she said. "I’m here to see who the next Blood Demon Young Master will be, besides you. The palace needs to confirm this."

"So you can confirm it and then send someone else to offer themselves to their bed?" Xue Yanluo sneered. "If that’s the case, you don’t even need to come to the island. Besides me, the position of Young Master will most likely go to my foolish younger sister."

"Xue Nichang?" Beneath her black hood, Mei Zhaozhao’s brow furrowed deeply. "The woman who’s been competing with you since childhood? The one who saw you switch to cultivating the Yin-Yang Dao and become even more beautiful than her, and has hated you to the bone ever since?"

Xue Yanluo said coldly, "If you can’t speak properly, then don’t speak at all!"

"Was I wrong?" Mei Zhaozhao added, "No, I still have to go to the Inner Island."

"To get yourself killed?"

The air fell silent for a moment.

Seeing Mei Zhaozhao stand there without a word, Xue Yanluo seemed to realize something. "You’re doing this on purpose?" he asked in disbelief.

"I don’t understand what you’re saying," she cooed.

Before Xue Yanluo could ask anything else, a loud noise suddenly echoed from the distance.

The three of them went to the window and looked up. ℴ

Bai Wei said timidly, "It looks like there’s a big yellow dog flying in the sky."

And indeed, there was.

"Don’t run! Stop running!"

A Cultivator was chasing after it.

Mei Zhaozhao said in disbelief, "The Qingluo Painting Palace? Why would a High Realm Cultivator from the Qingluo Painting Palace be here?"

"You’re asking me? How would I know."

Mei Zhaozhao adjusted her black robe. "I’m afraid it might be reinforcements called by one of your ’brothers’... I’ll go take a look."

She said she would take a look, but there was no way Mei Zhaozhao could match Zi Hua Master’s speed. Fortunately, she could at least head in the direction he came from and see if she could find anyone who knew what was going on.

Just as she reached the ground floor of that building, Mei Zhaozhao’s eyes went wide.

What did she see? A pair of real, live thighs!

Mei Zhaozhao racked her brain, trying to think of how to go up and greet them. Then, she turned her head and looked at the snow nearby.

It was still winter, and a pile of white snow was packed against the corner of the wall. Mei Zhaozhao made a snowball and, with a SWISH, threw it at Qiu Yuehan.

"Throwing snowballs now, are we?"

Lu Changyuan naturally recognized Mei Zhaozhao.

’The last time I had a snowball fight... that was over a thousand years ago,’ he recalled. He and the Sun and Moon Palace Master had been bored, tossing them around without using any Magical Power. In the end, he’d even stuffed some snow down the back of the Palace Master’s neck, making them shiver violently.

’Such a distant memory.’

"Young Master Lu, I’m so happy to see you."

A voice as pleasant as the gentle tinkling of a silver bell came from beneath the black robe.

Mei Zhaozhao came skipping over. "I wonder what brings Young Master Lu here this time?"

Lu Changyuan hadn’t wanted to get too involved with Mei Zhaozhao.

But on second thought, she had given him a copy of the *Yin Yang Harmony Origin Scripture*. ’That counts as a favor, and if I were to quantify it... a favor that could allow me to defeat both the Miao Yu Palace Master and the Nether Monarch by myself in the future is no small thing.’

Lu Changyuan had no choice but to say, "I’m here on some business."

Mei Zhaozhao sidled up to him. "What kind of business? Tell me, maybe I can help... Coincidentally, I have some business of my own. I’ll tell you about it later. Maybe you can help me, too."

’How very kind of you.’

Lu Changyuan couldn’t help himself. ’Why is the Hehuan Sect Saintess acting so sly and fawning, like a common sycophant?’

"So you’re Mei Zhaozhao?"

Qiu Yuehan remembered the name. Su Youwan had mentioned it, which had made her junior sister extremely hostile toward Mei Zhaozhao, but she herself felt no such animosity.

Not only that.

This was Qiu Yuehan’s first time meeting Mei Zhaozhao, but even on this first meeting, she felt... ’She looks so familiar.’

’I really want to go up and slap her a couple of times, just to knock her head askew.’

Although Mei Zhaozhao was shrouded in her black robe and Qiu Yuehan couldn’t see her face, she just had this inexplicable feeling of familiarity.

Mei Zhaozhao turned to face Qiu Yuehan, her tone innocent. "Are you Young Master Lu’s cultivation partner?"

Qiu Yuehan froze for a moment and didn’t answer.

Lu Changyuan cut their conversation short. "Alright, I’m here on business. I plan on taking a look inside the Blood Demon Palace."

"Well, what a coincidence! I’m also going into the Blood Demon Palace. Young Master Lu, the Blood Demon Palace is divided into an Inner and Outer Island. It’s not easy to get into the Inner Island; you can’t enter without credentials."

"And?"

Lu Changyuan crossed his arms, knowing Mei Zhaozhao wasn’t finished.

"I’ll help you get in, Young Master. I won’t care about what you do after that, as long as you remember to pull me out of any trouble."

Qiu Yuehan spoke up first. "Since this is a cooperative transaction, it’s not very appropriate for you to be hiding your face, is it?"

Mei Zhaozhao hesitated for a moment, but then she figured it would be fine and steeled herself.

"Follow me!"

Before long, she had led the two of them to the stilt house from before. Because it was an island, the houses here were not built on flat ground but on tall stilts to help with heat dissipation and rain drainage.

She pushed open the door.

Still inside the room, Bai Wei cried out in pleasant surprise, "Physician Lu!"

The thin and weak girl from the countryside still remembered the kind man who had always used medicine to treat her mother’s illness.

Lu Changyuan was slightly surprised; he hadn’t expected to see Bai Wei here. He then looked past her and saw the pale-faced Xue Yanluo, his Yin Yang Qi suppressed.

Lu Changyuan knew that Bai Wei was born with an exceptionally bitter Life Chart. People with such a chart were almost invariably "lone stars of calamity," fated to bring misfortune to those around them. For this Blood Demon Young Master to dare keep Bai Wei by his side, merely to suppress the backlash from his Yin-Yang Dao...

’He’s a ruthless one, indeed.’

Xue Yanluo watched Lu Changyuan with extreme vigilance, pulling Bai Wei behind him. There was even a hint of hostility in his eyes.

Mei Zhaozhao closed the door and said, "Young Master Lu is the help I invited. Xue Yanluo, you should know how strong he is."

"Hold on, hold on. No one’s explained to me what’s going on yet," Lu Changyuan couldn’t help but say.

"It’s because this Sister Mei wants to go to the Inner Island, but the Inner Island is too dangerous, and she might die if she goes! Young Master Brother won’t let her go, because it’s very dangerous to enter without a Disciple Token. Young Master Brother said there are big, man-eating fish in there!"

Lu Changyuan understood now. So that’s why they had roped him in as a bodyguard.

’This is actually quite convenient.’ He also needed to enter the Inner Island to find a way to the sealed-off other half of the Blood Demon. Having Xue Yanluo, the former Young Master, as a guide should save him a lot of trouble.

So Lu Changyuan nodded as well. "You have a way in?"

Xue Yanluo was silent for a moment before finally nodding.

Qiu Yuehan tugged on Lu Changyuan’s sleeve, but her eyes remained fixed on Mei Zhaozhao. "After all this talk, you still haven’t let us see your face."

Mei Zhaozhao stomped her foot. "I know, I know."

She motioned for the two of them to come into another room, then said with great seriousness, "I’m doing this to show my sincerity. So, if Young Master Lu seems a little... off in a moment, you must hold him back. Especially, don’t let him pounce on me."

Qiu Yuehan was perplexed. "What do you mean?"

Mei Zhaozhao gritted her teeth. "I’m afraid Young Master Lu won’t be able to control himself when he sees what I look like."

Lu Changyuan was a little speechless. "You’re certainly a bit overconfident."

’It’s not like I’m the type to pounce on every beautiful woman I see.’

But Qiu Yuehan said, "Why don’t you step outside?"

"What are you thinking!" Lu Changyuan was at a complete loss for words.