"It’s true."
Fang Shuwen walked over to the campfire and gathered the various bottles and jars, putting them into his bag one by one.
"What is it? Miss, do you have some business for me?"
"...Can you protect me on the way to Cold Valley Town?"
Long Qingzhi looked at Fang Shuwen, her eyes filled with hope.
"Cold Valley Town?"
Fang Shuwen thought for a moment. He had seen it on the map earlier—Cold Valley Town was north of the Northern Domain.
It wasn’t too far from Sword God Palace, either.
But there was something Fang Shuwen didn’t understand.
"Besides this Young Master of the Castle from Snow Eagle Castle, Dugu Han, I’m sure there are plenty of others hunting you, right?"
"Yes..."
Long Qingzhi didn’t hide anything. She spoke slowly,
"Besides Dugu Han, there’s also the Manor Master of Celestial Lake Manor, Ouyang Ming; the Hall Master of Uncertain Hall, He Shidao; and the Valley Master of Residual Wind Valley, Jiang Wushu."
"As well as the Celestial Peak Strange Guest, Li Wuxin; the Red Dust Demon Monk, Jue Xiang; and the Master of the Heartless Order, Jiangshi Niang."
Fang Shuwen’s mouth twitched as he listened.
"I don’t know who any of those people are, but that’s certainly a lot of them."
"Under these circumstances, you’re not thinking about leaving the Northern Domain and heading to the Eastern Domain to hide."
"So why on earth are you going to Cold Valley Town?"
"Because..."
Long Qingzhi clenched her fists.
"Because I want revenge. I... I want to find a Technique that will allow me to cultivate with my Glazed Saint Body."
"Only Zhao Kuangtu in Cold Valley Town can help me."
"Zhao Kuangtu?"
Fang Shuwen’s head snapped up.
"The Zhao Clan of the Heaven-Cutting Saber?"
"That can’t be right. Shouldn’t he be at the Heaven-Slaying Sect? What’s he doing in Cold Valley Town?"
Long Qingzhi said with a sigh,
"You may not know this, sir, but twenty years ago, Zhao Kuangtu accidentally killed the woman he loved. He has since been in self-imposed exile in Cold Valley Town and hasn’t set foot in the Jianghu for over two decades."
"He has ties to the Long Family and owes my clan a great debt from long ago."
"With his help, I might be able to turn this Glazed Saint Body from a useless burden into a priceless treasure..."
Fang Shuwen was speechless for a long moment. ’The name "Heaven-Cutting Saber" and the idea of someone pining for a lost love... how do those two even go together?’
Still, it was a thought best left unsaid.
A trip to the Heaven-Slaying Sect had originally been part of his itinerary.
He had planned to go after visiting Sword God Palace, but it seemed that was no longer necessary.
This new route would take him to Cold Valley Town first, then Sword God Palace. He could get it all done in one go.
Then he looked at Long Qingzhi.
To be honest, the information she had just unintentionally revealed was worth his protection for a part of the journey. But that’s not how business was done.
So, Fang Shuwen asked,
"And how much silver do you plan to offer as payment for my protection, Miss?"
Hearing him ask this, Long Qingzhi first breathed a sigh of relief. Then, as if she had made up her mind, she took a dagger from her robes.
"On our journey, I will give you some of my blood every day."
"...That won’t be necessary!"
Fang Shuwen quickly waved his hands in refusal.
"I have absolutely no interest in your blood."
"But..."
Long Qingzhi froze. She remembered the day her family was annihilated. On the very first day her captors had her, they drained a bowl of her fresh blood. Several of them divided the bowl among themselves, mixing it with wine and drinking it down.
The greed on their faces was a stark contrast to the look of disgust on Fang Shuwen’s face now.
Her gaze toward Fang Shuwen was complex as she finally said,
"Besides my blood, I have nothing else of value... While the Long Family had a modest fortune, it has already been plundered and divided up by those people."
"Now, all I have left is myself and this dagger."
"I’ll take the dagger, then."
Fang Shuwen chose his payment without the slightest hesitation.
[Ding! New guard mission detected!]
[Protect Long Qingzhi and escort her to Cold Valley Town!]
[Accept mission?]
"Accept."
Fang Shuwen accepted it immediately.
He had actually wanted to pick up a few missions on his way from the Eastern Domain, but the conditions were never right.
The missions prepared for him by the Golden Bell Tower were either to help some rich bully fend off a righteous hero from the Jianghu, or to help someone cultivating a Demon Technique obstruct their pursuers from the orthodox sects.
Fang Shuwen had tossed every last one of them in the trash.
As for the ones involving Demonic Martial Arts, he wrote letters to the Seven Great Sects informing them of the cultivators’ hideouts.
Every one they caught was a win.
Besides those unsavory jobs, the other available missions either required a major detour or had nothing to do with the Northern Domain.
After much deliberation, Fang Shuwen had decided to just travel on his own.
He never expected that, just after arriving in the Northern Domain, a mission this convenient would fall right into his lap while he was eating a fish.
[Mission Accepted!]
[Current Mission: Protect Long Qingzhi and escort her to Cold Valley Town!]
[Ding! Congratulations, Host. For the duration of this mission, you have gained a 4x bonus to your Talent and comprehension. This effect will be automatically canceled if the mission is abandoned or completed.]
"Oh?"
Fang Shuwen was a little surprised.
"A four-times bonus?"
This was the first time he had ever received a full four-times attribute bonus from a mission.
’It seems Long Qingzhi really is in a world of trouble,’ he thought.
But it made sense. Dugu Han’s words had been harsh, but they were the truth.
If her constitution were ever exposed, the entire Jianghu would be out for her blood.
Thinking of this, Fang Shuwen suddenly grew curious.
"By the way, it’s hard to find a three-legged toad, but two-legged men are a dime a dozen."
"Have you never considered finding a man?"
"Once your Glazed Saint Body is gone, your problems would naturally disappear along with it."
Long Qingzhi didn’t seem offended by his words.
Perhaps in the past, she would have found his words unpleasant. But after the calamity that had befallen her, she had heard far, far uglier things.