Chapter 12
She daren't move, She daren't even breathe, She's frozen to the spot. She can feel her heart pounding in her chest...duh-duhn, duh-duhn. Deep heavy breaths sounded near her ears. The hairs on her arms stand to attention, as a militia of chills march down her spine.
Cherry Lao, felt like melting as Shin Jiao move really close and held her hand. His masculine scent is making her senses go crazy. It was her first time feeling this way towards the opposite sex. Then her face became beet red, and she tried to hide by looking down.
She always acted cold and aloof towards others, but that is due to them harboring malicious intentions towards her.
The first time she met Shin Jiao, she actually thought that he is the same as those other men, but upon seeing and experiencing his sincere heart and the way he took care of her, the frozen heart she kept for a long time was towed, and now it is beating like crazy towards the handsome young man in front of her currently holding her hands.
"Cherry… I… I think… your… hands… are really beautiful than mine." Shin Jiao said with a wide grin on his face.
BOOM!!!
It was as if everything went crashing down, she was stupefied and her heart almost exploded not with joy or excitement but with annoyance. Her mind went blank as she didn't know what happened. Then anger and irritation can be seen in her eyes and the temperature of the whole cave started to drop. She quickly raised her head to berate the shameless man.
"You! You!... Hmph…" Cherry Lao was about to lash out in anger when a pair of soft wet lips suddenly covered hers.
It was all too sudden, Shin Jiao is actually kissing her. This made her heart almost skipped a beat. As she wanted to melt in his arms. The anger that was swelling deep inside her was suddenly doused.
But then, she remembers that she should not be doing this. Her precious first kiss should be given to the man she truly loves, but then she can't remember if she truly has been in love with someone before. Her mind was in turmoil.
Shin Jiao noticed that she was in a daze so he didn't deepen the kiss. He didn't want her to assume that he is some lecherous man trying to take advantage of an innocent woman. When their lips parted, Cherry felt like there is something wrong and felt a little disappointed.
It was not enough, she shouted in her mind. So she unconsciously moved forward, but then suddenly regained herself and held back her impulse to kiss back.
"This is how I feel… No matter what your decision is, I will support you, okay?" Shin Jiao whispered close to her.
"Umm…" Cherry Lao nods her head with her face blushing.
She then leaned on his chest with a happy and satisfied smile.
She felt really happy and shy at the same time, Cherry Lao couldn't raise her head and meet his eyes. She felt awkward and shy to look at the man who stole her first kiss.
"Cherry, you said that you wanted to return to your sect. When do you plan to go?" Shin Jiao said to break the awkwardness between them.
"Ah… Umm… I don't know... What?... I mean… sooner?... Maybe?" Cherry Lao said incoherently as her mind was suddenly in a mess.
Shin Jiao chuckled and slowly brushes her long silky hair.
"Do you want another kiss?... I don't mind." Shin Jiao teased seeing that she is still feeling muddle-headed.
"You… you're shameless. You… you already stole my first kiss... Humph." Cherry Lao replied feeling a little annoyed as his words woke her up from her stupor.
She didn't want to look at Shin Jiao so she just grumpily looks away.
"Alright, I'm sorry, hey… Look at me." Shin Jiao said as he once again held her hand.
He stretched one of his hand then held her chin gently and lifted her head to face him. The blush on Cherry Lao's face made her look more charming and beautiful. Shin Jiao almost couldn't help himself from giving her another kiss. But he held himself back, he needs her to be more proactive so that it would be a give and take thingy between them.
"Were okay now right?" Shin Jiao said with gentleness.
She just nodded in reply, as she still felt a bit shy.
"Shin... I'm… I'm sorry for my selfishness. I know that you wanted to stay in this forest because of your unique physique. And I know that once you come back to civilization, you will be faced with great troubles and more problems. But because of me, you are willing to leave. For that, I am truly grateful." Sincerely said Cherry Lao after gaining her composure.
"Huh, what is she saying? Pfft! Now I get it. She thinks I'm staying in this forest because I'm hiding from the world outside. Well, that would also work." Shin Jiao thought as he didn't plan to correct her idea about him.
As their eyes met no words can be said anymore between them. She knows that Shin Jiao will always be there for her and she is thankful for that.
"Rest now. We'll leave early tomorrow morning." Shin Jiao said as he stood up.
"Shin, can I ask you a question? Your ring… is it a spatial ring?" she asked with a curious gaze.
"Oh, this? Well… um..." Shin Jiao felt a little pressure with the situation as he didn't expect her to ask this question.
But of course, he can still make some random stories again or just shut his mouth. He knows that she won't pry into this matter too deeply. But if she did, it will break their trust with one another. Plus she already opened up her heart to him and told him about her past and personal stories.
However, sometimes it's better to not know anything as it would only cause more trouble.
Seeing the conflicting feelings in Shin Jiao's eyes, Cherry Lao knows that she asked too much.
"I'm sorry. If you cannot tell me it's okay. I understand that there are some things that you cannot say."
"Cherry, it's not that I don't want to tell you. It's just that I myself don't know what this is. All I know is that it can carry things like a storage thing used by cultivators, that's it. This is actually given to me by my grandfather, it's our family heirloom. And he tasked me to protect it and never divulge it to other people. Here you can try and see for yourself." Shin Jiao explained and gave her the ring.
She felt a little hesitant, but because of her curiosity, she accepted the ring and scrutinized it. She even sent her spiritual energy to check the ring but nothing happened. It's just a piece of jade nothing more, but of course, she knows that it's more than that. Without any result, she just gave it back to Shin Jiao.
"Alright, rest now. Good night!" Shin Jiao said as he stood up from the bed.
"Good night!" Cherry Lao replied still afraid to look at him. But deep in her heart, she is expecting something, but when Shin Jiao returns to the floor mat beside the bed where he usually sleeps, she didn't know why but she felt a little disappointed.
The next day…
The morning sun is slowly rising on the eastern horizon, as the whole sky is slowly being colored in a golden hue. Within the forest, two figures are standing in front of the small cave, a look of melancholy is in their eyes.
"Well, goodbye senior Gubu. Thank you for the gift of knowledge you have bestowed upon me." Shin Jiao thought as he cupped his hands and bowed.
"Thank you little cave. Thank you for the wonderful memories." Cherry Lao thought with a grateful heart.
Then the two walk towards the south. Cherry Lao had a rough idea as to where the direction of the nearest town is, so Shin Jiao just followed behind her.
Their destination is the town of Dis, which is the closest town going to the city of Yi. According to Cherry Lao, the town of Dis is a big town. It is where a lot of cultivators gather and get their supplies. It is also a town ruled by 5 great families, they form a ruling body and acted as a council and the judges of the town. As they are always united and strong it makes the town of Dis very prosperous and besides that, it also acts as a fortress against any strong beasts coming from the Daemon forest.
The Lotus Sect which she belongs to is located far on the eastern side of the City of Yi, in a mountain range bordering the Yi and San Empire.
While traveling, they began to talk more about themselves which made them become closer to each other.
Sometimes they would hunt some beast or fly using Cherry Lao's spiritual force, as she didn't have any flying swords yet. When Shin Jiao saw this, he plans to buy her a flying sword when they arrive in the town.
Mostly in their travels, Shin Jiao would carry her on his back, as his stamina can last longer than her spiritual energy, and they would jump from tree to tree, almost like flying. This made Cherry Lao once again dumbfounded as to what Shin Jiao could do. What he is doing right now is the execution of a martial arts technique called light body movement.
Since Shin Jiao can do this leisurely, she could just relax and lay on his embrace and cuddle like a spoiled princess.
A week later…
After another day of traveling, Cherry Lao made a hole in the middle of a large tree trunk, this is easy for her as a gold core realm cultivator. Then both of them stayed there for the night. After dinner due to exhaustion, Cherry Lao immediately went asleep, while Shin Jiao, as usual, sets up some protective array formations. A basic shield formation and an outer layer of camouflage formations.
After setting up the formations, he can now relax and went to lie beside Cherry Lao.
"Are you already asleep?" Shin Jiao asked in a low voice when he feels that she is unsettled.
"I can't sleep. I guess I'm used to always having a bath before sleeping. It's been two days since we last took one." She murmured.
"Well, it can't be helped as there are no rivers or streams in this area. How about we try to find a stream of water or a river first thing tomorrow."
"Umm… okay."
"Well, you worry too much. Actually, you don't smell that bad." Shin Jiao teased.
"You… pervert." Cherry Lao glared, but her eyes didn't show any anger in them.
"Sigh… I really don't know what to do with you. Sometimes you like me teasing you, sometimes you don't. What am I to do with you?"
"Hehe... Why? Do you not like me anymore?" Cherry Lao said coquettishly.
"Ah… Well… what do you think?" Shin Jiao said looking at her with his evil eyes.
"Hey, Okay! Let's sleep now. Good night, Shin Jiao!" she said averting his eyes and turning around.
The darkness of the night is like a blanket that made them fell asleep just after a short while.
In her sleep, Cherry Lao dreamed of flying in the air in her very own flying sword, where she traverses the sky and the endless sea. But then she suddenly heard some clicking sound which disturbed her wonderful dream.
Cherry Lao felt that she was suddenly lifted up and then she felt like flying in the air. The whooshing sound and the cold air in her skin made her jolted from her sleepiness.
"Ugh… What… Is this a dream?" she muttered as she opens her eyes slowly.
Then a handsome face greeted her sight. In front of her eyes, she saw the glowing golden light of the sun slowly traces the contours of his face. She felt like she is looking at a perfect sculpture of a deity. But her thought was suddenly interrupted by his arrogant voice.
"Have you seen enough?" Shin Jiao's said with a smile.
"Uh, huh…" Cherry Lao unconsciously nodded.
"Oh, crap. Why am I out of my mind this early in the morning? This is… wait a minute… Why are we moving?" she said to herself as she suddenly noticed that she is being carried by Shin Jiao.
"Shin, why are we running?" Cherry Lao asked in confusion.
"We have a little problem, look behind." Shin Jiao said calmly.
When Cherry Lao's gazed went behind Shin Jiao, she almost fell out of his arms in fright. Her body shuddered involuntarily and cold sweat trickle down her spine.
In her view, she could see the countless number of big ant-like creatures. Each ant is around 3 feet long and their body is made of a stone-like carapace.
Seeing this, she already knows what those creatures are, the deadly and destructive Rock Ants.
These creatures normally don't cause havoc in the forest, they would only cause this kind of commotion every time a colony changes their queen. And that would be once every 10 years. This is usually followed by massive casualties of both plants and beasts in the forest, then a massive beast tide would occur. It is known that no one has ever escaped these ferocious creature's territory.
Although they are only 2nd level and 3rd level beasts at most, yet their numbers are huge. Even an infant soul realm cultivator would lose their lives if they are to face these creatures.
The Rock Ants on the ground don't cause much of a worry for Cherry Lao, what made her truly afraid was the growing and fast approaching shadow above them, those are the flying Rock Ants. No matter how fast they run, the flying Rock Ants would still be able to catch up to them.
"Shin… We… We can't outrun them. These creatures are called Rock Ants. As long as we are in their territory's range, we are dead. Especially those flying ones." Cherry Lao said with fear clearly written all over her beautiful face.
Though she is a strong and brave woman, yet looking at the countless crawling creatures makes the hair on her back stand in erect and cold shivers run down her spine.
On the other hand, Shin Jiao just took a quick glance behind him and immediately increased his speed.
He is also a little at loss on what to do but maintained a calm facade so that Cherry Lao would not panic. While they were running, he is rummaging through his mind for possible ways to escape this situation. In his inventory, he has a lot of things but he didn't know if any of those can be used in this situation.
"Damn, if I have known that I would face a mob of hundreds and thousands of ants I would have created something for crowd control…" He thought.
"Wait a minute… Oh right… I can do that." Shin Jiao suddenly had an idea.
While moving frantically from tree to tree, he took a glance at Cherry Lao who had a worried look on her face. When he saw the hopelessness in her eyes his heart suddenly felt worried. But, as he feels her grip on his arms, his mind became resolute.
"Cherry, I have a plan but. It would take a little bit of time, about 5 minutes. I would be relying on your help with this. Would that be okay?" Shin Jiao said calmly.
"Wait, what are you planning to do?" Cherry Lao said worriedly.
"Don't worry… Do you trust me?" a confident voice coming from him made her feel a bit of comfort in this dire situation.
She just nods in confirmation.