Chapter 102

Chapter 102: Elder Sister, Save Me!
The hot-tempered boy was cursing up a storm when, from the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw Yu Zhao appear in the cave. He panicked so much he almost bit his own tongue and started coughing in a mess.

“Cough! Cough! Cough!”

He grabbed the iron bars that were holding him and coughed for his life, eyes wide as he stared hard at Yu Zhao.

After a while, a faint blush quietly crept up from the back of his ears and slowly spread outward.

The mysterious man looked at him in confusion and asked: “How can you be so careless that you choke yourself?”

His feelings toward this boy, who was competing with him for Master Zi Wei’s favor, were very mixed. He both pitied and envied him. Seeing the boy cough until his eyes watered, he could not help asking with concern.

The hot-tempered boy still could not speak. The anger and unwillingness on his face twisted into an even more complicated emotion.

So this was what the young woman who saved him looked like.

[So this is what the young woman who saved me looks like.]

[Then I guess I could think about it… After all, people always say if someone saves your life, and you have no way to repay them, you can only give yourself to them.]

[But Mother also said a son has to be reserved. I can’t let a woman coax me away so easily.]

The hot-tempered boy tried hard to keep his face cold and distant, but his eyes would not listen to him. They kept sneaking glances at Yu Zhao.

[Why is she still not talking to me first?]

[Is she waiting for me to give in?]

[If I speak now, will I look too eager?]

He was so tangled up inside he could die from it.

Even the slow-witted mysterious man noticed there was something wrong with the boy’s gaze.

He suddenly spun around to look behind him, his expression changing sharply as he shouted: “Who are you?”

The hot-tempered boy’s face changed too.

“What is your relationship with Master Zi Wei?” Yu Zhao did not answer. She asked a question in return.

The moment the mysterious man heard the words “Master Zi Wei,” he knew at once that their connection had been exposed. Without thinking, he turned and ran toward another passage.

“Get back here!”

The gap in strength between them was far too big. Yu Zhao did not even need to use any Illusion Art. With just a move of her Divine Sense, she froze the mysterious man in place.

With a thump, the mysterious man dropped to his knees. He begged: “Senior, spare me! I have never done anything that defies heaven or reason. Please, Senior, forgive me!”

“Let… you are talking nonsense! You helped an evil person! You worked with others to lock me up! Elder Sister, you must not let him go!”

The hot-tempered boy, hearing this, forgot all about his shame. He jumped up and yelled, his long black hair swinging wildly behind him.

“I am innocent! I… I was forced!” the mysterious man shouted, trying to defend himself.

Yu Zhao raised an eyebrow.

“Elder Sister?”

[This boy sure gets close fast.]

“Tell me your name and your relationship with Master Zi Wei honestly,” she said. “If you do, I might consider letting you go.”

“I will talk! I will talk!” he said in a rush. “My name is Ma Cheng Cai. I am a rogue cultivator from Nanming City. Seven years ago, I met Zi Wei by chance. We developed feelings for each other, so we decided to dual cultivate.

“Zi Wei is a sect master, so it is hard for her to leave the sect. So at night, I sneak into Clear Breeze Sect to meet her in secret. Other than that, I really have never done any other bad things!”

Ma Cheng Cai was willing to help Master Zi Wei lure handsome young men not only because of the difference in their cultivation levels and his habit of clinging to the powerful. It was also because his nature was weak, and he could not stand being threatened.

Yu Zhao had not even made a move, and he had already spilled everything.

The truth was almost the same as Yu Zhao had guessed. Now she held a huge piece of leverage over Master Zi Wei. Instead of feeling pleased, she started to hesitate about whether or not she should tell the others in Clear Breeze Sect.

As sect master, Master Zi Wei knew the rules and still broke them. She even locked an innocent man in a cave. Every single one of these things broke Clear Breeze Sect’s biggest taboos.

But Yu Zhao had only met the people of Clear Breeze Sect once. She had no way to be sure what they would do if she told them this.

Would they punish Master Zi Wei, or blame her for meddling?

Yu Zhao could not decide right away. Her gaze slid toward the hot-tempered boy in the cage, her eyes full of curiosity.

The boy’s dark, shiny eyes stared at Yu Zhao. His long lashes blinked and he said: “Elder Sister, I am Ji Han Zhou, a disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect. I am not with him. Please, Elder Sister, save me.”

Yu Zhao was a little surprised by how obedient he suddenly was. Her brows drew together slightly.

“Ji Han Zhou?”

That name sounded familiar.

Just as Yu Zhao tried to remember where she had heard it, a rumbling sound shook the air. The ground under her feet suddenly trembled hard, cracks split open in the rock walls, and big chunks of dust and grit fell from above.

Yu Zhao’s pupils shrank.

This cave was about to collapse!

She turned and flew toward the entrance of the cave.

At that moment, the cage holding Ji Han Zhou cracked apart in the shaking. Ji Han Zhou did not say a word. He rushed out and sprinted after Yu Zhao down the passage.

Still kneeling on the ground, Ma Cheng Cai froze for a moment. He was just about to cry, “Senior, save me,” when he suddenly realized he could move again.

He scrambled to his feet and ran after Yu Zhao as fast as he could.

Halfway through her flight, Yu Zhao realized that the hole she had used to enter the cave was now completely blocked. Huge rocks were still crashing down nonstop.

She could not keep going that way.

She spread out all of her Divine Sense. Very soon she found another passage, but that way was also sealed shut by giant stones.

A flash of cold light passed through her eyes.

Someone was trying to bury them alive here.

“Elder Sister, hide behind me. I will go ahead and scout!” Ji Han Zhou had also sensed the danger. He struggled to rush in front of her, but Yu Zhao grabbed him and held him back.

He stared at her in confusion and anxiety.

Yu Zhao let out a light laugh and said: “Younger Brother, I do not need you to open the way for me. Watch closely. I am only teaching you once.”

In Ji Han Zhou’s stunned gaze, Yu Zhao raised one hand and formed a Spirit Power shield. With the other hand, she flicked out dozens of Spirit Talismans.

The yellow Spirit Talismans floated in the air, drifting down like a rain of yellow paper.

“Explode!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Several Spirit Talismans went off at the same time. A world-destroying force burst out inside the cave. Countless rocks were crushed to dust by the violent shockwave.

Whoosh.

As smoke and dust filled the air, a faint shadow flashed past like thunder. Riding the gap opened by the blast, it shot straight up into the sky.

Feeling the bright sunlight and the fresh air, both Yu Zhao and Ji Han Zhou were hit by a wave of joy at having survived a great disaster.

“Elder Sister, we escaped!” Ji Han Zhou shouted in excitement.

Yu Zhao did not answer. Her eyes were fixed on the figure standing under the shade of a tree. She spoke slowly, word by word: “Master Zi Wei, it really is you.”

Master Zi Wei stepped out from the shadows into the light, her expression cold and gloomy: “Yu Zhao, I knew you would ruin my plans.”

“Back then, did you have anything to do with Shui Qing Yue’s death?” Yu Zhao asked.

“You want to know?” Master Zi Wei snorted. “Hmph. In your next life.”

Around the cave and all through the tunnels, Master Zi Wei had set up nearly a hundred Formation Array Arts. Not long after Yu Zhao entered the cave, she had already sensed that an outsider had broken in.

Ma Cheng Cai and Ji Han Zhou’s existence could never be exposed to outsiders.

So she had simply chosen to blow up the entire mountain.

She had not expected Yu Zhao to escape with Ji Han Zhou even in that situation.

Since things had come to this point, she would have to deal with the two of them herself.