Chapter 67
The deep middle part of the forest is a mysterious place for those who try to venture in it. Rare plants that cause hallucinations and toxic pollens which can melt one's bones are everywhere. In this part of the forest inside a cave lays in a soft bed is a woman.
Her beautiful face is like that of a fairy with her jade white skin and curvy figure. But right now her closed eyes had an expression of feeling a little discomfort as her eyelashes slowly flutter.
"Ugh… Uhmm…" a low and seductive moan which can tug on one's heartstrings unconsciously escaped her mouth.
The woman's beauty may look like that of an immortal fairy but her body does not emit any aura, which signifies that she is just a mere mortal, this beautiful and enchanting woman lying in the bed is Phoenix.
She opens her eyes and slowly looks around and found herself inside a cave with moonstones around it serving as its light.
"What happened?... ah!" Phoenix thought as then suddenly her memory cleared up.
As she remembers what happened her face immediately turns red like a tomato. Suddenly recalls when she was about to be hit by that wind blade, a person suddenly blocks it and they were sent flying to the sky. It is unclear as to where they were, but she suddenly feels her body crashes into the ground. Luckily the man protected her or else she would have been turned into paste.
Then when she opens her eyes she saw the man with the white mask not moving as he seems to be unconscious. She slowly stood up and found that the place they were seems to be thick with lush forest trees and wild shrubberies.
"This is already in the middle part of the forest. This is dangerous; I need to get out of here." She said to herself as she suddenly feels fear creeping slowly in her heart.
Luckily for her, the exoskeleton was not damaged but her headgear seems to be not working anymore. So without a choice, she stood up, then she remembers the man that saved her. And without a choice, she lifted him up and they immediately moved. Judging from the direction of their crash, she estimated the location of the border. Not long later she suddenly feels a big but soft palm touching her shoulder.
"Stop! There is a beast that way." The man said in a weak voice.
"Hey, are you okay?" Phoenix immediately asks with a hint of joy in her face.
She knows that the man is a cultivator and in the gold core realm, so if he is able to move then they can get out of this place.
"I'm still unable to use my cultivation, I think I have injured my dantian. It will take me some time to recover" He replied while his head is already drooping.
"Okay, guide me as I can't use my headgear." She said to the man.
"Your what?…" the man asked still in a weak but surprised voice.
"Never mind, I'll carry you just guide me okay?" she repeated as she started to move.
The man used his spiritual sense and luckily his sense is strong and can reach up to 2 kilometers, making their journey a little bit easy.
Half a day later the man is now able to move his body as his injuries are almost healed. That time they were resting near a cliff, and they can now see the boundary of the forest.
"Luckily we didn't enter too deep or else we'll never be able to get out of there," Phoenix said while she eats some hardtacks.
"You're different from the mortals that I've known. You're… daring and bolder." The man said while sitting on the ground in a lotus position and slowly recovering his Qi.
"You seem to know a lot of mortals? I didn't expect a cultivator like you to be associated with mortal servants." Phoenix asks with a little sarcasm in her voice.
"Well, you see in my clan we… Look out!" the man said but suddenly he dove towards Phoenix shielding her petite body.
CRASH!!!
The man was hit and was flung to a tree, and then a lizard-like beast's tail suddenly became visible in Phoenix's eyes.
"Level 4 beast!" she said with her eyes almost bulging out.
With a quick movement, she jumped sideways and immediately dashed towards the beast's head. And since she didn't have any aura the beast didn't mind her as it thinks of her as a tiny ant. But when she is directly above its head, she takes out the already cracked sword hilt and she dropped towards its neck.
Phoenix didn't activate the energy blade yet as she didn't want to startle the beast. But when she was about to land on its neck she shifted her body to fall on the side and immediately activated the energy blade. She can feel something deep in her head feels like being sucked, then the blade easily penetrated the neck of the unsuspecting beast.
Her body slides down the side taking half of the beast's neck with that slice. The blade's energy was not able to stop the blood from flowing as it immediately gushed out. When she got down the ground the beast also feels with a wide gaping wound cutting the beast neck in half. If she didn't hit the backbone of the lizard it could have still moved but the penetration of the energy blade started from the backbone itself so its movement was then and there immediately stopped.
Phoenix is now drenching in the lizard's blood, but her feeling is joyous. It seems that she was able to kill a level 4 beast by herself.
"She… she is too amazing." The man said in his mind as he was dumbfounded looking at the woman.
The heart of the man right now is beating too fast as he looks at Phoenix's action which is almost like in slow motion. Then a word suddenly escaped his mouth.
"Beautiful…"
Phoenix accidentally heard this as right now she is walking towards the man. This made her pause in her steps as she didn't expect the cultivator to say that to her. Then her face began to blush, and she felt a little bashful.
"Are… Are you okay?" she asked.
"Ahhh… Yes… Yes of course. How about you? Are you fine?" the man replied deep but inside his mask, his face is already red in shame.
Seeing that the woman in front of him is fine the man heaves a sigh of relief at the same time feel a little ashamed. He is the cultivator and yet she was the one who saved him. As a man, this hurt his pride a little, but the woman in front of him is truly an amazing woman which made him feel elated.
"Sigh… We've… we've been traveling for half a day now and I haven't introduced myself. My name is Xi Jung from the Jung Dragon Clan and you are?" the man said as he walks towards Phoenix while cupping his hands.
This made Phoenix stunned for a moment. The man is a cultivator yet he lowered himself to her and introduced himself like they are equal. This made her have a bit of a good feeling towards the man.
"My code… I mean, I am Phoenix. Nice to meet you, Master Xi Jung." Phoenix said in a calm tone.
"Phoenix… a fiery free bird. I like that name." Xi Jung said.
Then he slowly takes off his mask and showed her a smile. But upon doing this, Phoenix's heart almost fell out of her chest. The man was very handsome, and his looks are almost comparable or even better than her master. With a peach blossom eyes, a perfectly molded nose, and red thin lips. The man's appearance is like a Deity which descended from the heavens.
Unknown to her, the man is really contented with her gaze towards his face. He really likes the way she looks at him, and right now he wishes that she would always look at him with those beautiful sparkling eyes.
But then, since Phoenix has great control over her emotion, she immediately recovers from her trance and fixed her expression towards him. This time she didn't dare look him in the eye.
"Since you are fine now, we need to go. We have a long way ahead of us." Phoenix said indifferently as she turns around.
With a frown Xi Jung, puts his mask back on, but he is already contented to have a talk with Phoenix for a while.
When her back is turned she patted her chest and a smile crept on her face. The two continue traveling after taking the level 4 beast corpse, then as they are nearing the border of the middle and the outer part of the forest, Xi Jung immediately signaled for her to stop.
"What is it?" Phoenix immediately asked.
"I think we are being hunted." Xi Jung said as he felt a strong spiritual sense lock into him.
"Run! We need to run!" Xi Jung hurriedly said as he grabs Phoenix's soft hands.
The two dashed from tree to tree as they ran as fast as they could. Then, Phoenix became scared as she can actually see a large black cat chasing after them. It clawed and threw ice bolts towards them as it got closer. With the evasion technique, she learned she effortlessly evaded each ice bolts and claw of the beast. While Xi Jung uses his shield artifact which seems to effectively block each ice bolts.
As the chasing continues Xi Jung noticed a ravine which seems to be free from any beast. So without any hesitation, the two enters it and Phoenix actually saw the cat stopped outside and didn't enter, instead, it gathers a huge amount of energy from its mouth and threw it towards Phoenix.
Upon seeing this, her face turned pale. She is once again unable to defend herself with this attack. Even evasion is impossible as she already on the air after a jump. But then again the figure of the man caught the energy ball through his shield which immediately broke. Then seeing that being hit is inevitable, he decided to turn around and hug Phoenix, letting the energy ball hit his back.
Phoenix's emotion right now is chaotic as she truly did not understand the action of Xi Jung. She is just a mere mortal for him, why sacrifice his own safety? With this, she could not control herself anymore and ask.
"Why did you save me again? I… I'm just a mere mortal?"
"I don't know? It's just that… My body would immediately act on its own. Arrggghhh… This… this is my first time feeling this way. So, I don't know." He answered although feeling some pain on his back he still smiled kindly towards her.
Then he slowly fell towards Phoenix who caught him in her embrace. She then looks for a place where she could heal the wound on his back. She immediately took out a green pill from her med kit pouch and put it in Xi Jung's mouth. After a few seconds, the injury he received was healed. Seeing this she heaves a sigh of relief, she then helped him to lay flat on the ground as she laid his head on her lap. Her emotion right now is too complicated as beside her master and her mother Xi Jung is the only other human who showed her kindness and affection.
She is not an idiot and she knows that this handsome man actually likes her. But she is just concerned as their statuses are not equal. Since Xi Jung is unconscious and her curiosity and interest got over her, she slowly removes the mask covering his face.
There she can clearly see his handsome face, and it seems that she could not help herself as she slowly caresses his face.
"Ugh… Arrgghhh… We… we have to getaway… from… this... place…" Xi Jung's voice broke Phoenix's action as if she was caught red-handed and a blush appears on her face.
"D… Dream… Bud… we have to… get… away." Xi Jung said as if he is trying to fight against something.
"But… Okay…" she hesitantly said as she slowly carried him towards the exit of the valley near a hollowed tree stump.
She is still afraid to get out of the valley as the big black cat beast might still be lurking in the area. So she decided to stay inside the tree stump. Unknown to her, Xi Jung's eyes are slowly turning red as his hand started to tremble.
"Phoenix, you… you have to leave me. I… I can't control myself. I… I… don't want to ravage you. So please… leave me now." Xi Jung said as she looks at her with contrasting emotion from deep lust and begging.
"This… this is dangerous… you were poisoned? If… If I leave you, you'll die. But…" Phoenix didn't leave immediately as she is fighting within herself to help the man who always saves her or to help herself. The poison is an aphrodisiac as she also noticed the strong smell, although it didn't have any effect on her by some reason still it is really dangerous for Xi Jung if he couldn't find a release.
These conflicting emotions are taking a toll on her mind when suddenly Xi Jung curled like a ball. This time she knows that he can't hold on anymore.
"Sigh… What am I hesitating for? I already know his feelings for me. And if not for him, I would have been dead many times already. At least this way I could help him." Phoenix said to herself as she gritted her teeth.
She immediately took off her shirt and camouflage pants as she didn't want it to be torn by Xi Jung. Then she hugged him from behind where she suddenly feel the heat coming from his body. Xi Jung's body suddenly trembled feeling the soft skin behind him. Though his consciousness is fading back and forth he knows that the woman he likes is ready to sacrifice herself for his sake.
He immediately turns around and gave Phoenix a deep kiss making her blush and feel like melting. As a woman, she also admires handsome guys, not only handsome but also kind and willing to save her in any situation. Although he might or might not remember this but for her first time to have a guy like him is already fine.
Then not long later, Phoenix's muffled moans can be heard combined with Xi Jung's groans. But later on, both can't control themselves as the moaning and groaning grew louder and louder and the sound of flesh hitting together go faster and faster.
It took them almost half a day before both stopped. Actually, the effect of the Dream Bud plant has already subsided after an hour as they were already away from the range of the buds.
But both of them just followed their natural instinct and didn't care for anything and just gave themselves to each other.
As Xi Jung affectionately hugged her from behind after that hot and passionate act, he slowly whispered something that she never expected and would never forget.
"I… I think I've fallen in love with you."