Chapter 293

Chapter 293: The Domineering Sect Lord Does Not Understand Love
The Brown Bear held the bamboo slip in its paws and sniffed it again and again. After it memorized the scent on it, it lowered its head and started to circle through the forest.

Yu Zhao followed behind it, her face serious.

Relying only on people to search for Han Xin Lan was a bit too hard, which was why she had thought of asking a demonic beast for help.

But if even a Brown Bear famous for its nose could not find Han Xin Lan’s trail, then she really had no other ideas left.

Luckily, the Brown Bear’s reputation for hunting down prey was not for nothing. After circling the mountains for two days, it finally caught a faint trace of Han Xin Lan’s scent in the air.

It followed the scent all the way, and in the end, it stopped outside the gates of South Wind City.

The Brown Bear stood upright on its back legs. Its thick bear paw pointed straight at the city gate. “The person you want to find went into the city,” it said.

Yu Zhao raised her brows. “Are you sure?”

The Brown Bear let out a muffled roar from its throat. Its tone held clear displeasure at being doubted. “Of course. My nose has never been wrong.”

Yu Zhao looked at the busy, crowded South Wind City, and a thoughtful look appeared on her face.

She, Mo Ci, Jing Nan, and the others had all believed that Han Xin Lan had met with an accident on the road. But the Brown Bear was saying that Han Xin Lan’s scent was inside the city.

If Han Xin Lan had safely reached South Wind City, why did she not go to the Tu Clan right away?

And who would be so bold as to dare make a move against a disciple of Hundred Flowers Valley inside a city full of cultivators?

“Can you come in with me and keep searching for her trail?” Yu Zhao asked.

When it heard Yu Zhao’s question, the Brown Bear shook its huge head like a rattle drum.

“No, no,” it said. “This old bear is not going onto the Human Race’s turf!”

The only reason the Brown Bear was willing to help was because Yu Zhao had bravely saved the little younglings before. But if it had to go deal with cultivators, it was absolutely unwilling.

“I cannot help you any further,” the Brown Bear said, “but I know who can.”

Yu Zhao looked at it in confusion.

The Brown Bear chuckled and stomped its paw on the ground. “Boss Hua!” it roared.

The deep roar drifted away on the wind.

Just as the sound was fading, another low roar sounded from far away, as if in answer.

Then Yu Zhao saw a sleek, shiny, strong-bodied spotted leopard racing toward them.

With that plump, powerful build and the faint, barely visible crack between its brows, it was hard for Yu Zhao to pretend she did not recognize it.

“Hua Tu, why are you here?” she asked.

The Three Eyed Leopard, Tu, slowed down as it neared Yu Zhao. Its heavy pads stepped lightly on the soft leaves, and it landed without a sound.

“I heard you ran into trouble,” it said, baring its big teeth so that it was hard to tell if it was happy or angry.

“So?” Yu Zhao said.

“So I came to help you,” Hua Tu said.

He sounded completely justified, even a bit wronged.

He really did mean well, after all.

Yu Zhao looked at him with doubt.

She had never once heard from Xiao You that Hua Tu had a kind, helpful side.

No, that was not right. She could not remember hearing anything good about Hua Tu at all. Everything had been complaints.

“Do not let those little fox cubs influence you,” Hua Tu said. “I was just playing around with them. I was not bullying them.”

Hua Tu had never felt that his interactions with the little fox cubs were bullying. In his eyes, he was clearly building bonds with them and training their ability to survive in the forest. When they grew up, they would understand how hard he had worked.

Yu Zhao only half believed him.

“The old bear is not willing to go into South Wind City,” Hua Tu said. “Only I can go in with you. My nose is not as good as his, but it is good enough.”

Hua Tu had been waiting in secret for two days, all for this moment.

To gain Yu Zhao’s trust, he even transformed into human form and shamelessly posed and twisted in front of her.

“How about it?” he said. “Do I look very much like a human? I definitely will not give myself away.”

A vein throbbed on Yu Zhao’s forehead.

The Brown Bear, however, cheered from the side. “Boss Hua, amazing! At a glance you are a person! You look more human than humans!”

“Hahaha, right?” Hua Tu laughed, hands on his hips, showing a mouthful of large white teeth.

Yu Zhao could not bear it anymore. She took out a Daoist robe that some unlucky cultivator had left behind in her storage space and threw it in Hua Tu’s face.

“Have you ever seen a proper cultivator walking around the streets in leopard print clothes?” she snapped. “Hurry up and take them off!”

“Oh…”

Hua Tu answered weakly. In just a few quick movements, he took the clothes off, revealing himself completely without holding anything back.

[Yu Zhao was speechless.]

She had to admit, once Hua Tu took human form, his outer shell was very presentable.

His features were sharp and deep. The corners of his mouth curled up, showing a canine tooth with a hint of sharpness. His waist was narrow, his shoulders broad, and his robe hung open at the chest, revealing a large stretch of solid muscle.

Hua Tu was not used to dressing like this. From time to time, he wanted to tug at his clothes or rub his ears.

Yu Zhao gave him a once-over from head to toe.

There was nothing wrong with Hua Tu’s outfit at all, but for some reason, she could not shake a strange feeling when she looked at him.

She thought about it for a while but still could not figure it out, so she decided not to worry about it for now. After saying goodbye to the Brown Bear, she started discussing the matter of entering the city and searching for Han Xin Lan with Hua Tu.

“You already know the general situation,” she said. “Right now, the most important thing is to confirm Han Xin Lan’s location.”

For now, they only knew that Han Xin Lan had entered the city. They did not know if she was still inside.

“Give me the jade slip,” Hua Tu said.

He took the jade slip, sniffed it again to deepen his memory of the scent, and then went back into South Wind City with Yu Zhao.

South Wind City was not one of the most prosperous cities in the cultivation world, but the number of cultivators who came and went every day was not small, not to mention those who lived in the city.

All kinds of mixed auras were gathered together, and filtering them out was a huge task.

Hua Tu had been excited and full of energy at first. But in just a few days, his face turned haggard and there were dark circles under his eyes. Even though Yu Zhao felt sorry for him and opened a top room for him to rest in, he still could not recover his strength quickly.

So, after the listless, exhausted Hua Tu and the heroic, valiant Yu Zhao went in and out together for a few days, a romantic rumor began to spread in South Wind City.

The main characters of this rumor were a strong, overbearing female sect lord and her sturdy, handsome, yet delicate little husband.

After a few more days, stories about the female sect lord and her delicate little husband began to be performed in restaurants and teahouses. The tales spread like wildfire through every street and alley of South Wind City.

Yu Zhao and Hua Tu were so busy searching for Han Xin Lan that they did not notice at first. By the time they found out that the popular story everyone was talking about was based on them, the plot had developed to the point where the delicate little husband ran away while pregnant, and the ruthless sect lord was filled with regret.

[Yu Zhao: Come on, whoever wrote this story, step out here. I will let you taste what true regret feels like.]

Hua Tu, on the other hand, was completely fascinated, suddenly brimming with energy. “Yu Zhao, you humans are pretty interesting,” he said. “At least we would never come up with such fun little stories.”

Yu Zhao said: “Hehe.”

“I am going to remember them,” Hua Tu said. “When I go back to the Demon Race, I will tell these stories to everyone.”

Yu Zhao said: “There is… no need for that.”

“There is, there is,” Hua Tu said. “It is so interesting.”

In the end, because Hua Tu was too caught up in the dramatic plot and delayed serious business, Yu Zhao used force to suppress him and dragged him away.

As soon as the two of them left, a serialized storybook based on them came out fresh from the presses.

This volume told the story of how the domineering sect lord did not understand love, and how the poor delicate husband could only let his tears fall.