Even under the dense cover of night, Chu Mo still saw the fierce expression on the girl's face. He grimaced and retorted, "Who cares about your business anyway? We're on a wide-open road, each should mind their own business, I'm leaving!"
The girl was undeniably beautiful, but what of it? Chu Mo had seen plenty of beautiful girls growing up.
The well-bred daughters of Yanhuang City were all virtuous and gentle.
Even if just putting on a show...
The last thing he wanted was to provoke a wilful and headstrong young lady like this one.
"Hey, don't go!" The girl moved in a flash, blocking Chu Mo's path. Staring at him with her pitch black, watery eyes, she retorted, "You're incredibly rude! I'm a girl, can't you be more considerate?"
Chu Mo's forehead creased in exasperation. He stared at the girl and pleaded, "Please, miss, we don't know each other. Why do you go to all this trouble to bother me?"
At the same time, he secretly raised his estimation of how dangerous he thought this girl might be.
The way she suddenly appeared in front of him suggested she was more advanced than him, at least in discipline.
That's a move he's not capable of pulling off so far.
"It's so dark and scary in this deep mountain forest. Can you really abandon a pretty girl like me here?" The girl placed a hand on her hip, looking exasperated.
Chu Mo couldn't detect a hint of fear on her face.
"Why are you silent? Do you feel guilty? Humph, and you call yourself a man!" The girl refused to back down.
"Are you done yet..."
Chu Mo rolled his eyes, "Firstly, how did you, a girl, end up in this deep mountain forest?"
"Secondly, you are agile and can handle this forest effortlessly. What's there to be scared of?"
"Finally, I'm not a man. I'm a boy."
He looked at the girl in the blue skirt and added, "Take a good look, I am a boy!"
"Sister!"
"Sister? You're calling me your sister? Do I look that old?"
The girl reacted like a cat whose tail was stepped on, bristling with anger.
"You cheeky little brat! I'm only eleven. You're clearly older, why call me sister?" The girl fumed.
"Tsk..." Chu Mo was at a loss for words. He looked at the beautiful girl towering half a head above him. She was very attractive, with the right proportions.
He glanced at her chest and inwardly scoffed: Eleven? What the hell did she eat to grow like this? She thinks she can fool me, a literate man? No chance!
"So, you're younger than me? Then, little sister, enjoy your day. Excuse me." said Chu Mo.
"Who's your little sister?" The girl glared, then her brows furrowed, and her eyes showed a hint of confusion. She said to Chu Mo, "I can't find my family and I don't even remember who I am..."
The way she delivered her last sentence was reminiscent of the frailty one would expect from a little girl.
However, Chu Mo did not believe for a second that this girl was frail. Anyone else in his place probably wouldn't believe that a girl appearing suddenly in such a place could be a frail damsel in distress either.
"What's that got to do with me?" Chu Mo shot back, before chuckling to himself for echoing his master's speaking style. His master's influence on him was rubbing off! Once upon a time, he would have doubted this girl's story, but he wouldn't have said that out loud.
"Hmm, you're right. It has nothing to do with you." The girl sighed lightly, and her face fell. She put on a pitiful face, which was truly heartbreaking.
Still, Chu Mo remained unfazed, staring calmly at the girl.
Just as the girl was about to speak, her features shifted slightly.
"Forget it, I've things to attend to. We'll play another time!"
With that, she vanished instantly, leaving Chu Mo dumbstruck. He'd been quietly estimating her strength moments ago, and concluded it could not exceed his by a large margin.
If it came to a fight, he wouldn't be that much weaker.
However, her vanishing act was something he had only ever seen his master, the Demon Lord, pull off!
Could it be that this girl... was a power rivaling the Demon Lord himself?
How absurd was that?
Chu Mo shook his head, rejecting the thought.
His run-in with the girl had jolted him out of his sleepiness. Moving away from the scene, he decided to leave what was fast becoming a tricky situation.
After Chu Mo had been walking for a while, the girl in the blue skirt reappeared in the same spot. Looking perplexed, she patted her chest and muttered, "What a terrifying presence!"
"He could have killed me, but he didn't."
"Does he have a connection with the boy?"
"Did he sense that I bear no killing intent toward the boy?"
"This boy... he seems to be linked to my mission."
"But, who am I?"
"Where am I from?"
"Why am I here?"
The girl mumbled to herself, wearing a pained expression. She rubbed her forehead vigorously before complaining, "This feeling... it's not nice at all!"
With that, she glanced at the clear night sky through the dense tree canopy above her and started hurrying in the direction Chu Mo had left.
Long after the girl had departed, a figure arose out of the void.
The Demon Lord, the voice of calm amidst chaos, appeared in his black attire and cold, restrained demeanour. He watched the path that Chu Mo and the girl had taken, his face grave and solemn as he muttered, "What does the person from that world want from my disciple? Humph, if you have ill intentions, I will kill you to prevent future trouble!"
With that, the Demon Lord disappeared from sight.
All this, of course, was unknown to Chu Mo.
By the time the sky was bright and the sun was peaking over the tree tops, casting spots of light into the forest, Chu Mo had already covered more than two hundred miles.
At this moment, he was practicing one of the many memorization techniques the Demon Lord taught him.
"When a master teaches a disciple, they clarify the practice of wielding a sword, knife, fist, palm, and feet…"
"They usually guide with utmost care and ensure understanding…"
"My master is something else, teaching me an array of mnemonics but not telling me what they mean. I have to try each one, one at a time with the cultivation method..."
Chu Mo was mumbling with a bitter face. Along the way, for over 200 miles, he'd only figured out what one technique was.
It was a fist technique, with only three moves.
But the mnemonic was extremely long and very profound.
Originally, Chu Mo intended to cultivate a footwork technique. If he did so, his travel speed could at least double, and if the level of the footwork technique was high enough, his speed could increase several or even tens of times.
However, after practicing this longer mnemonic with his cultivation method, he realized it turned out to be a set of fist techniques.
He wasn't sure if it had a name. He guessed it had one, but the Demon Lord had never told him.
Despite this three-move technique consisting of only three moves, it could be evolved into countless variations, and was truly peerless.
Compared to the military long fist that Chu Mo had practiced since he was a child, this technique was leagues apart.
Therefore, aside from some initial complaints, Chu Mo became completely immersed in these three fist techniques.
As a result, a very interesting scene unfolded in this quiet jungle.
A teenager, about ten years old, was moving rapidly while constantly displaying some sort of gesture with both his arms, while murmuring words. At a glance, it was incredibly comical.
Those in the know would realize he was training; those who didn't might think he was a fool.
The young girl in the blue skirt who was following Chu Mo secretly thought so.
"This little brat talked back just now, how come it seems like he's losing his mind now?"
The young girl in the blue skirt frowned, following Chu Mo from a distance, watching his gestures. On her fair, flushed face, confusion was clear.
"Haha, I see, so that's how it is!"
"The energy rises in the elixir field, forms at Dubhe, boosts at the celestial pool..."
"It goes through the celestial spring, curving marsh, Qi gate, internal pass, big grave... labor palace."
"Finally, it gathers at lesser marsh, gate rush, middle rush, commercial sun, lesser business…"
"And punches out with spiral power..."
Suddenly, Chu Mo burst into laughter, startling the young girl in the blue skirt behind him.
Next, Chu Mo's figure flashed with extreme agility as he rushed towards a large tree.
When he was about ten feet away from the thick tree, Chu Mo launched himself into the air, throwing a fierce punch at the tree...
Bang!
With a muffled sound, Chu Mo crashed into the large tree.
Then, his body flattened against the sturdy trunk, sliding down slowly, until he lay unmoving on the ground.
The young girl in the blue skirt was stunned, her eyes wide and her mouth wide open.
After a while, she murmured, "Has he gone mad?"
Of course, Chu Mo hadn't gone mad. At the moment, he was at a loss for words. He had thought he had understood the intricacies of the fist technique, and was quite pleased with himself. He had wanted to test it out, but... well, this was the result.
This three-move fist technique was incredibly profound. Even with Chu Mo's extraordinary intellect and talent, it was impossible for him to fully grasp its essence in such a short time.
So, it turned into a tragedy.
Chu Mo laid there for quite some time before collecting himself.
He stood up, dusting off his clothes, and couldn't help but curse, "Master, you old ghost, what kind of shitty fist technique are you teaching?"
"Hiss... it hurts like hell!"
"You just gave the mnemonics and left it at that..."
"Is there any other master as irresponsible as you in this world?"
"I'm blaming you, what can you do?"
"Why don't you show up and hit me?"
The young girl in the blue skirt stared at the teenager some distance away, hands on hips, hopping around and cursing. She felt overwhelmed, had there ever been such a bizarre master and disciple relationship?
"The master just teaches the mnemonics, then just walks away, completely uninvolved."
"The disciple is so disrespectful to his master, dares to criticize at will?"
"If he were at my place, behaving like this, he would have definitely been expelled from the sect long ago..."
"To not be beaten to death would already be considered lucky!"
"Huh? Why would I say that? Where exactly is 'my place'?"
The young girl in the blue skirt frowned, thinking hard.
On the other side, Chu Mo had finished his cursing and began mumbling something again, making gestures as he walked.
Just like this, the young girl in the blue skirt followed Chu Mo for nine days and almost every day she saw the same scene.
At the same time, she also witnessed the stubbornness and perseverance of the young boy.
In the eyes of the young girl in the blue skirt, Chu Mo in front of her was simply a crazy kid.
He forced himself into new methods of torture every day.
If he wasn't slapping himself against a tree, he was throwing himself onto a cliff. Otherwise, he would jump into a waterfall, roaring against the raging currents.
In any case, he would not rest until he was beaten black and blue every day.
After every bout of torture, he would curse his irresponsible master, and then, after resting for a bit, he would energetically resume his self-inflicted torture.
The young girl in the blue skirt had never seen such a method of cultivation before. It truly opened her eyes.
Finally, on the evening of the ninth day, things took a turn.
Chu Mo got into trouble!
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Dear brothers and sisters passing by, a few recommendations would be appreciated, otherwise, our dear Chu Mo would be in big trouble...