Three days have already past and since then, my shoulder has gotten much better. Guozhi comes every day to talk, play, and entertain me but when he isn't here, I'm cultivating. If I plan on making a break for it, I need my strength.
What bothers me more though is... Guozhi has grown on me. Sure he's good looking and charming but he's also very attentive and caring. Over the last three days, he's worn down my walls a bit and I think I actually like him. Not in a romantic way but in a friend kind of way.
"You should be close to breaking through the next level," Guozhi says walking in and startling me. I look over to him and give him a weak smile as I ask "You've known I was cultivating all along?" Guozhi gives me a knowing smile as he lifts his hand up to me.
He opens his hand, revealing an orange. I take the orange with a smile and say "Thank you." He pulls the chair over and says "How could I not know? I can always help you if you'd like?" I stop peeling the orange to look back at him in surprise.
"You? You'd help me cultivate and get stronger?" I ask with suspicion. He chuckles at me and snatches the orange out of my hand. He begins peeling the orange for me as he says "Of course. I could also help you with Little Bun."
He pulls a slice of the orange off and holds it out to me. I look to the orange then back to him before slowly taking that orange slice. I narrow my eyes on him and ask "So if I were to get up and try to walk out of here... right now, would you let me go?"
His hands pause before resuming as he smiles and says "You and I both know that I wouldn't let you. I like you Bunny, a lot. I can't help but wonder if things would be different right now... If it was me you met first, instead of him."
I look into his dark eyes and wonder for a second myself. I sigh and look out the window as I say "I'm not sure either... All I know is that I like him." Guozhi watches me with dark eyes as he continues peeling the orange.
"Do you love him?" He asks in a low voice. I look back over to Guozhi and think. Do I love Bai Lei? I like him... I like him a lot but I don't know if I love him. "I don't know. Only time will tell." I say in honesty. Guozhi watches me for a few more moments before nodding and handing me the peeled orange.
"At least you're honest." He says standing up from the chair. He walks to the door but stops with his back to me. "If you want me to help you with your cultivation, let me know." He says softly before walking out.
I look down at the peeled orange as Little Bun crawls out from under the covers. His little eyes stare at me in question before looking to the orange. I smile and hand him the orange while saying "You can have it. I no longer want it."
~~~~~~~~~~
"Ren, over here," Zhen says standing at the edge of a large cliff. Ren quickly comes over and frowns at the ledge. Zhen smells the ground around the ledge before walking over and looking down below at the raging river. Fear and worry eat away at him as his mind races.
"She went over the cliff..." Zhen says causing Ren to nearly pull his hair out. He walks over and looks down with a large gulp. "She... would she... is she?" Ren asks with worry. Zhen lifts his nose into the air and takes a deep breath and says "I don't smell blood from her... just an unknown male. I think she jumped to get away. I believe she's okay..." Zhen says before mentally adding, She has to be.
Ren starts pacing back and forth by the ledge as he tries to put everything together. Clearly, she was held in the cave. The cave is made of special stone making it impossible for anyone in lower tiers of power to use their powers so she would have been powerless.
But the whole building and courtyard right outside of the cave had been completely destroyed. He found two bodies of dead men but he doesn't have time to figure out who they are. Not yet anyway. The one they were fighting was clearly stronger.
Zhen says there was a total of six different men... Ren continues to pace. How the hell did she get out of the cave? He saw the needles but... that wouldn't be enough! These men were much stronger!! Ren pulls at his hair as he turns to look at Zhen.
Zhen was busy smelling the breeze so he goes back to pacing. He needs to find Nova! "Stop pacing, it's distracting and if you keep pulling your hair like that, you"ll end up bald. I found her scent, let's hurry. I smell another man tracking her." Zhen says as he takes off running.
Ren feels like crying as he chases after the white fox. They need to find her before the other man does!!! After several hours, they stand at the bottom of a large waterfall with Ren's mouth hanging wide open. Zhen clenches his teeth as he stares at the thing.
"Did she really fall from there? With her current strength!?!" Ren asks in horror as he begins pulling his hair again. Zhen nods his head and begins looking around as he says "She's alive but she's hurt. I smell blood... a lot of blood."
Ren's head snaps over to Zhen with a look of impending doom as he says "No no no no... this isn't good, this isn't good!! We need to find her!" He pulls at his hair again before looking for tracks but Zhen already knows which way she went. All he has to do is follow the scent of her blood.