“What has Junior Brother Zhao done to make you so angry, Junior Sister Li?” Ji Xin asked.

　　“It’s nothing.” Li Ruolan shook her head.

　　“Has he been harassing you!” There was a slight change in Ji Xin’s expression.

　　Li Ruolan rolled her eyes at him.

　　Zhou Jinchun chuckled and said, “No way, I’m sure Junior Brother Zhao isn’t that kind of person.”

　　Ji Xin muttered, “One may know a person for a long time without understanding his true nature. Senior Brother Zhou, how can you know for sure that he’s not that kind of person? Junior Sister Li is so beautiful. Any man can be tempted by her beauty, especially Junior Brother Zhao. I’m sure he has feelings for Junior Sister Li too!”

　　“Haha!” Zhou Jinchun burst out laughing. “Junior Brother Ji, you only have eyes for Junior Sister Li, as if no other woman in the world can compare with her beauty. Truthfully speaking, although Junior Sister Li is pretty, it doesn’t necessarily mean that every man will fall for her!”

　　“Does Senior Brother Zhou not have feelings for her then?” Ji Xin asked with a frown.

　　Zhou Jinchun shook his head and replied, “I like Junior Sister Lu more.”

　　“You…” Ji Xin scoffed. “What’s there to like about Junior Sister Lu? She has such a bad temper!”

　　“That’s exactly what I like about her. She’s not pretentious and conceited at all. Instead, she’s sincere and pure of heart!” Zhou Jinchun replied.

　　Li Ruolan cast him a sidelong glance.

　　Zhou Jinchun hurriedly waved his hand and laughed. “Sorry, sorry, Junior Sister Li. I didn’t mean to offend you. Of course, no man would despise a girl like you, but unlike what Junior Brother Ji has said, not all men would fall for Junior Sister Li either!”

　　“In any case, I’m sure Junior Brother Zhao likes Junior Sister Li!” Ji Xin said. “Nonetheless, it’s good that he knows his place.”

　　Li Ruolan found his words rather harsh.

　　After all, Junior Brother Zhao had risked his life to rescue Senior Brother Ji. In fact, this had happened not just once. However, Senior Brother Ji did not hesitate to speak about Junior Brother Zhao in such a demeaning way. This was not how he should be treating someone who had saved his life.

　　Zhou Jinchun said, “If Junior Brother Zhao has feelings for Junior Sister Li, then you’ll have to be careful, Junior Brother Ji!”

　　“Why should I be careful!” Ji Xin burst out laughing. “Senior Brother Zhou, do you really believe that any girl could possibly fall for Junior Brother Zhao?”

　　“There’s nothing bad about Junior Brother Zhao. Although he isn’t good-looking, he has impressive martial arts skills and a promising future ahead of him. He’ll certainly be more successful than us in the long run. He has the potential to become an Altar Leader and even a Priest, so he can make a girl feel very secure,” Zhou Jinchun said. “Isn’t that right, Junior Sister Li?”

　　Li Ruolan replied impatiently, “Wrong. No girl will ever like him!”

　　“Hehe…” Zhou Jinchun shook his head and laughed.

　　A smile appeared on Ji Xin’s face too.

　　Li Ruolan scoffed and muttered, “He’s ugly and bad-tempered. No girl can ever tolerate him. Let’s go. I don’t feel like talking about him anymore. We should hurry on with our journey!”

　　“You’re right. Let’s make a move!” The three of them quickly carried on with their journey.

　　…

　　They traveled continuously for two days and two nights. Every day, they would rest for only two hours. However, instead of taking one long break, they took several short ones that amounted to two hours each day. Most of the time, they were traveling swiftly by performing the light-body technique.

　　Since they were all Grandmasters, their boundless inner energy was sufficient enough for them to travel continuously by using this method.

　　On the evening of the second day, they stopped to get some rest in a forest.

　　The three of them seemed weary from the constant traveling. Li Ruolan’s complexion looked slightly pale.

　　“If we keep up this speed, we should be able to arrive at the city around this time tomorrow!” Zhou Jinchun was sitting on a tree branch while observing the sky. “Let’s get more rest tonight and revitalize ourselves. The closer we get to Falling Autumn City, the more dangerous our journey will be. It’s very likely that we’ll encounter more enemies after this. If we have to fight in our current state, we won’t be able to unleash our full power!”

　　“It seems like we have managed to outrun those people from Royal Blade Palace,” Ji Xin said and smiled while sighing in relief. “Perhaps we’ll be able to reach Falling Autumn City earlier than expected!”

　　“That’s very possible. While our light-body technique isn’t top-notch, our speed is fast enough,” Zhou Jinchun replied with a grin.

　　Li Ruolan shook her head. She had covered her gorgeous face with a veil, but her bright eyes had a cold gleam. “They’ll try to stop us!”

　　“Junior Sister Li, don’t say such discouraging words,” Ji Xin said.

　　Li Ruolan replied, “They’re using the Golden Eagle as their method of communication. Can the Golden Eagle not compete with us in terms of speed?”

　　“Ah…” Ji Xin shook his head.

　　Zhou Jinchun smiled and said, “The Golden Eagle is pretty fast, but maybe their reaction won’t be as fast, so by the time they send more people over to attack us, we might’ve arrived at Falling Autumn City already.”

　　Li Ruolan glanced at him but did not try to argue further. They would be fooling themselves if they kept leaving things to chance and trusting in luck. Sooner or later, they would still have to go up against Royal Blade Palace.

　　She frowned and said, “If we run into them again, don’t worry about me. Just try your best to escape.”

　　“Junior Sister Li!” Ji Xin replied with discontent. “How can we possibly abandon you!”

　　Li Ruolan shook her head and said, “Without you guys around, I’ll be able to find a way to escape on my own. In fact, the most important thing here is the medicinal drugs. If we fail to deliver these drugs to the city, we’ll all become sinners!”

　　Zhou Jinchun and Ji Xin felt their faces heating up.

　　As men, they were both inferior to Li Ruolan in terms of their martial arts skills. This caused them to feel very embarrassed.

　　Nonetheless, when they recalled that the Saint was also a woman, they were able to cast aside their feelings of embarrassment.

　　“You’re really capable of getting away?” Ji Xin asked.

　　Li Ruolan replied, “If I can’t get away, I still have Zhao Dahe!”

　　Ji Xin asked, “Hasn’t Junior Brother Zhao left already?”

　　Li Ruolan shook her head. “I’m sure he’s been following us.”

　　“If Junior Brother Zhao is still around, then we have nothing to fear.” Zhou Jinchun laughed. “In that case, we can stop worrying now. We have Junior Brother Zhao anyway. He won’t let us get killed.”

　　Ji Xin smiled.

　　“Junior Brother Zhao, just come out and join us,” Zhou Jinchun said while grinning.

　　Their surroundings remained still and quiet. Chu Li did not appear.

　　“Has Junior Brother Zhao really been following us?” Ji Xin asked.

　　He blushed a little as he wondered if Junior Brother Zhao had heard what he had said earlier.

　　They heard the sound of clothes fluttering in the wind and turned their gaze to where the sound was coming from. Then, they hurriedly rose to their feet and unsheathed their swords.

　　Two elderly men in gray clothing suddenly appeared and charged toward the patrols. Flashes of dazzling light streaked across the evening sky as two shining blades came slashing toward them.

　　One of the blades was aimed at Zhou Jinchun while the other was coming at Ji Xin. The elderly men paid no attention to Li Ruolan.

　　Judging by the silk handkerchief around her shoulder, they could tell that Li Ruolan had been injured. Furthermore, since she was unable to unsheathe her sword, it was obvious that she had run out of strength to fight. Therefore, they intended to ignore her for now and take care of the two guys first.

　　“Ding, ding, ding, ding…” As their blades and swords collided with one another, the noise of their fighting broke the silence and scared off the birds in the forest.

　　The tired birds that had returned to the forest to rest took off and flew away, disappearing in an instant. The sound of swords and blades clashing continued to echo through the forest.

　　Li Ruolan turned around and left at once.

　　The two elderly men paid no attention to her and pressed on with their brutal attacks.

　　Zhou Jinchun and Ji Xin soon fell into a disadvantageous situation. They felt like two small trees in a violent storm that could be snapped in half at any moment but was still stubbornly persevering through the storm.

　　Ji Xin cried out, “Junior Sister Li, hurry up and leave. We’ll hold them off!”

　　Zhou Jinchun sighed to himself. Ji Xin should not have shouted that.

　　The elderly man who had been attacking Ji Xin suddenly withdrew his blade and started going after Li Ruolan.

　　Li Ruolan’s light-body technique could not compare with the elderly man. Instantly, his blade flashed brightly as it came at Li Ruolan’s back.

　　Li Ruolan jerked aside as though she had eyes on her back and swiftly dodged the attack.

　　The flash of the blade suddenly vanished as the blade changed its direction abruptly and slashed horizontally toward Li Ruolan at a faster speed. The blade technique of Royal Blade Palace was quite unique. When the blade changed its direction, it had managed to retain its destructive force and had even become much more powerful.

　　Li Ruolan suddenly increased her speed and avoided the blade just in time.

　　The blade flashed brightly again as it came at Li Ruolan at a faster speed. The elderly man had caught up to Li Ruolan and was about to cut her in half with his blade.

　　Li Ruolan swiftly swayed to the side and dodged the blade again.

　　The blade changed its direction and slashed horizontally toward her once more at an incredible speed.

　　Li Ruolan felt like she had reached her limit and would not be able to avoid his attacks anymore, so she had to draw her sword with her left hand.

　　The destructive force of his blade had been increasing with every strike and kept on growing like a rolling snowball. The worst possible response to such a blade technique was to try to avoid it. She should have drawn her sword earlier to fight back, but unfortunately, since her right shoulder had been injured, she could not even unleash half of the destructive power of her sword technique.

　　“Ding…” A cold flash of light appeared and collided with the blade.

　　The elderly man wielding the blade glided backward and warily turned his gaze to the deeper parts of the forest.