Yun Shu had almost forgotten about them. He cast a glance in their direction and said, "I don't need your loyalty. Also, I have no idea if she has decided to forgive you all!"
The slender man was the fastest to react. He hurriedly crawled over to Su Lingwen and kept hitting his head against the ground. "Senior Sister Su, please forgive us! I was totally blind for being so rude to you! Please forgive me! Please! If you're still angry, beat me as hard as you can!"
The rest of the men followed his lead, and they also started to kowtow to apologize. Su Lingwen didn't even want to look at them, however.
"Fu*k off!" she said simply.
Seeing her disregard, those men didn't know what to do.
"Didn't you hear what she said? Fu*k off. Right now!" Yun Shu walked to their front and said coldly.
After exchanging some looks with each other, they had no choice but to leave in great pain. Besides, they could only crawl their way back. If they had not been cultivators, they would have all passed out due to the torment.
After they left, Yun Shu walked to Su Lingwen and asked gently, "Are you hurt?"
Su Lingwen shook her head in response. Yun Shu felt more relaxed as he continued, "They called you Senior Sister?"
She looked at him and retorted, "You have a problem with that?"
Yun Shu scratched his head. "Senior, how old are you, may I ask?"
He was cautious, fearing that he might make her angry.
"Seventeen," answered Su Lingwen succinctly.
"What?!" Yun Shu almost jumped up in fright.
He had thought Su Lingwen was a senior in the sect, even believing that she was over a hundred years old!
However, it turned out that she was only seventeen!
"But I kept calling you Senior…"
"I didn't ask you to," said Su Lingwen.
"Couldn't you just correct me?" Yun Shu was quite speechless.
"I don't like talking to people. Also, it doesn't really matter." Su Lingwen shook her head.
Yun Shu opened his eyes wide. "But that's important to me! I became your junior for no reason!"
Su Lingwen curled her lips and said, "Is it that important to you? I can call you Senior Yun, Uncle Yun, or Elder brother Yun if you want."
Yun Shu hurriedly waved his hands, "Forget about it. Just call me Yun Shu."
Su Lingwen snorted and looked away. After a while, she said, "Thanks."
"That's nothing." Yun Shu grinned.
Su Lingwen continued to appreciate his efforts. "You're the first person who has treated me so well these years. I should say thank you at the very least."
Feeling sorry for her, Yun Shu's heart softened. "Senior Sister Su—"
"You can just call me by name," interrupted Su Lingwen.
Yun Shu murmured her name under his breath and said, "Calling your full name feels a bit awkward, though."
"Then skip the surname."
"Lingwen… Right!" It took Yun Shu a while to get used to the name as he repeated it a few times.
"You want to ask me something?" asked Su Lingwen in a low voice.
Yun Shu weighed his words carefully and finally opened his mouth. "I can tell that you know how to fight, and you can even do it better than me. Why didn't you fight back?"
Su Lingwen remained silent for a while and then finally answered, "I can't move my legs. They were some distance away from me. I could do nothing."
"Your legs couldn't move? Why?" Yun Shu was slightly shocked.
"You have golden pupils. Take a look on your own," said Su Lingwen as if it was not a big deal.
Yun Shu nodded, used his ability as instructed, and looked at Su Lingwen's legs.
The meridians in her calves were extremely thin as though they had suffered from meridian necrosis.
Then Yun Shu looked up and found that the meridians in her thighs were also relatively weak and partially incomplete.
Yun Shu moved his gaze up until he sensed a violent killing intent aimed at him.
"Where are you looking at?!" she asked, grinding her teeth.
Yun Shu was a bit embarrassed. "I was trying to find a solution…"
That was undoubtedly true. He never saw her moving. So, this was the reason…
"Lingwen, no wonder you look like this…" said Yun Shu.
Su Lingwen didn't feel offended at all, just nodding. "It's very time-consuming and exhausting to wash myself, but I've got used to it."
Yun Shu shook his head. "It's not okay. You're a young lady and should take good care of yourself."
Su Lingwen rolled her eyes. "Then what should I do? Are you gonna help me?"
"Sure!" Yun Shu nodded earnestly.
There it came again: the sharp killing intent from Su Lingwen, overwhelming him.
"I mean, I can take you to the lake." Yun Shu hurriedly clarified himself.
"The last time you came here was a month ago. You giving up already?" Su Lingwen asked.
"No, that's not correct. I wasn't being lazy."
"Then what's the reason?" Su Lingwen kept pestering him.
Yun Shu chuckled. "I'll take you to the lake and explain it to you there. Sounds good?"
Su Lingwen stared at Yun Shu for a while, thinking, and finally nodded. "Okay."
"A month ago…" Yun Shu carried Su Lingwen on his back and headed to the lake, his voice ringing out.
After they left, the two elderly men walked out from behind an old tree.
"That boy is truly a genius, you see? It's just been one month!" Old Du grinned at Old He.
"Surprising, indeed. But what makes me feel more shocked is that Lingwen permitted him to carry her on his back. This has never happened before," said Old He.
Old Du didn't realize it until Old He mentioned it.
"Can't believe… Lingwen let him carry her on his back…" Old Du murmured.
"What should we do? If they're too close to each other, there'll be trouble!" Old He frowned.
Old Du thought to himself for a while and eventually shook his head. "I don't think it's that serious. Let's wait and see first."
At this time, in a small lake thirty miles away in the west to the square, Yun Shu dropped Su Lingwen on the shore. However, he didn't want to leave her alone here, not knowing what to do for a moment.
"You just wait here." Su Lingwen could tell Yun Shu's awkwardness.
"Is that okay?" Yun Shu quickly asked.
"It doesn't matter. You have golden pupils. If you want to see, there's nothing I can do," said Su Lingwen.
Yun Shu forced a smile on his face.
Yun Shu turned his back on her and heard the water splashing. He felt a bit uncomfortable with the silence, so he started talking to her, "Lingwen, how long have you been in this place?"
Su Lingwen didn't answer immediately. After a while, she said, "Maybe eight or nine years."
"That's so long… How much longer do you have to stay here, then?" Yun Shu asked.
"Two hundred years," said Su Lingwen.
Yun Shu was so shocked that he turned around. "Two hundred years?!"
Immediately after, he sensed the raging killing intent.
Yun Shu hurriedly turned his back to Su Lingwen, following it with a couple of dry coughs. "What… What did you do?"
The splashing sound gradually stopped, and the area turned silent. Su Lingwen hesitated in giving a reply.