Chapter 110: Runaway

The wind rose across the Nine Prefectures.

Throughout the Nine Prefectures, it was incredibly rare for someone like Dong Shuye to betray their sect. This was because erasing the imprint of one's original sect required a massive amount of merit points, but Dong Shuye had no other choice.

The merit points he had painstakingly accumulated over several years were all spent. Bearing the identity and reputation of a traitor, with three of his spirit apertures shattered, his future seemed almost completely cut off. Dong Shuye was practically at the end of his rope.

And the source of all this was simply because that "crossing-the-mountain tiger" named Lu Ye had killed the young master of the Nine Stars Sect.

If not for that, the Nine Stars Sect would not have accepted the Declaration of War from the Profound Gate. If not for that, he would not have risked going after Lu Ye himself, and the Nine Stars Sect's base would not have been so easily breached.

Recalling that dead "crossing-the-mountain tiger," Dong Shuye was filled with rage, wishing he could dig up his corpse and chop it into a hundred pieces.

To die just like that—it was too easy for him!

Fortunately, Dong Shuye was not without options. He had accumulated some connections in the Spirit Creek Battlefield over the years. Even with his cultivation diminished, he was still at the sixth-level realm. Moreover, his sixth-level realm was almost stronger than that of any ordinary sixth-level cultivator, so finding an eighth or ninth-grade force to join was still possible.

But before that, he needed to get far away from the Nine Stars Sect's base. The sect must have already started searching for him.

"Lu Ye, are we leaving?" Yiyi asked in the room.

Lu Ye nodded. "It's time to go." He then turned to her. "You and Amber can stay."

"You wish to leave us behind!" Yiyi was a bit annoyed. "We said we'd start this journey together and end it together. Do you think Amber and I are a burden?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Lu Ye flicked her forehead. "Without Amber, I'd have died long ago."

Yiyi put her hand to her forehead, huffing, "So I'm the most useless one."

"You're very useful too."

"How am I useful?" Yiyi looked at him expectantly.

Lu Ye thought seriously for a moment. "When I rest, you're always on alert beside me, allowing me to sleep soundly."

"Oh." Yiyi lowered her head.

Lu Ye raised a hand and pinched her cheek. "Alright, we leave tomorrow. Go say goodbye to Lingyu."

After Yiyi left, Lu Ye stood there for a moment, thinking. He should also say goodbye to Hua Ci. He had left without a word last time, and regardless, she had saved him twice. Doing this repeatedly wasn't proper.

Walking out of the bamboo house and to the adjacent one, he gently knocked on the door.

Hua Ci opened the door. Seeing Lu Ye, she said cautiously, "What, are you trying to drug me again this time?"

"Don't you start!" Lu Ye couldn't help but glare at her. "I was fooled by you last time. You think I don't know?"

It had taken him several days to realize that Hua Ci, as a fifth-level medical cultivator proficient in pharmacology, wouldn't be so easily knocked out by a single pill. Even if the pill had such an effect, just smelling it shouldn't have such a strong effect.

So he had taken out the pink pill and smelled it himself.

Nothing happened! That's when he realized Hua Ci had played a trick on him.

"You found out..."

Lu Ye glared at her again, then got to the point. "I'm leaving tomorrow. I came to say goodbye and thank you for saving me twice."

Hua Ci blinked. "I'm a healer, you're a patient. You pay with spirit pills, I save you. It's only natural."

"Anyway, no matter what, I still have to thank you." Lu Ye said earnestly.

Hua Ci smiled. "Then I wish you a smooth journey and a splendid future."

"Thank you."

"Anything else?"

"Hmm? No."

"Then I'm going to rest."

The door closed. Only then did Lu Ye remember that he had forgotten to add her as a friend... He raised his hand to knock, then thought better of it and gave up. After this departure, there might not be another chance to meet again.

The next morning, Hua Ci went to the Tassel Market as usual, accompanied by Kong Niu.

She had already left by the time Lu Ye departed.

However, the young girl Ruan Lingyu came to see him off, tearfully bidding farewell to Yiyi. Even after Lu Ye had ridden Amber far away, when he looked back, he could still see her standing at the dilapidated mountain gate, vigorously waving.

Down the mountain, Amber began to gallop, the surrounding scenery rapidly receding. Yiyi was not in high spirits. In recent days, she had formed a deep friendship with Ruan Lingyu, and suddenly parting with her friend naturally made her reluctant.

Lu Ye didn't know how to comfort her, so he let her be, focusing on swallowing spirit pills and cultivating on the tiger's back.

He was just one step away from the Spirit Creek Fourth-Level Realm, and he estimated he would achieve it tomorrow.

It wasn't until they rested at night that Yiyi slowly recovered. She untied the storage bag from Amber's neck and pulled out a lot of medicinal powder and clean cotton cloth.

"Where did these come from?" Lu Ye asked curiously while eating roasted meat.

"Senior Sister Hua Ci gave them to me," Yiyi explained. "She said if you get injured again in the future, these medicines can be applied externally or taken internally."

The clean cotton cloths were undoubtedly for bandaging wounds.

Looking at these items, Lu Ye's heart was complex. While Hua Ci was a bit greedy and spoke pointedly, it was undeniable that she was a very kind-hearted person.

Knowing that Lu Ye often got into fights and was injured, she had prepared these things for him.

"Honestly..." Lu Ye pouted. If she had prepared these things for him, she should have just given them to him yesterday when they said goodbye, instead of saying nothing.

"Lu Ye, Lu Ye, is Senior Sister Hua Ci interested in you?" Yiyi asked with a curious expression. Amber, who was gnawing on a piece of meat, also lifted her head, her two tiger eyes staring intently.

"What nonsense are you talking about, child?" Lu Ye put the items away. He didn't believe he had such charm that he could captivate a woman like her with just a few simple encounters.

Hua Ci had treated many people; to her, he was just a slightly richer patient.

But to Lu Ye, the two life-saving favors were something to be remembered.

The Vagabond Society was actually a pretty good place. If Lu Ye wasn't headed to the Blood Jade Sect's base, staying there would undoubtedly be an excellent choice.

As he continued cultivating, Yiyi disappeared to some unknown place, returning stealthily and sneakily.

They continued their journey at dawn. Yiyi would occasionally disappear, and she would also take the storage bag Lu Ye had given her. When Lu Ye asked her what she was doing, she would just give a mysterious smile and refuse to tell him!

She and Amber had a special connection; as long as they weren't too far apart, they could sense each other, so Lu Ye wasn't worried about her getting lost.

"Yiyi, what's your surname?" On Amber's back, Yiyi was unusually quiet for a while, and Lu Ye asked.

"I don't remember," Yiyi shook her head. She remembered many things, but also forgot many.

"Is that so..." Lu Ye thought for a moment. "Everyone needs a surname. How about you take mine?"

"Take your surname?" Yiyi tilted her head, thought for a moment, then beamed. "Okay! You're Lu Yiye, and I'm Lu Yiyi. It sounds like we're a family!"

She suddenly jumped onto Amber's head, facing the rushing wind, and cupped her hands around her mouth, shouting, "My name is Lu Yiyi!"

In the empty wilderness, her voice carried far away...

New books: [List of book titles would go here if provided in the original context.]