XIAO SHUXIANG'S
292 - Big Dipper City
Due to the death of Saka Daksha-seal who reined in the two Little Blue Flames Xiao Shuxiang was released. They then floated to where Hu Li was leaning.
Not long after, the owner of the two blue flames came in a state of dirty clothes with both hands covered in thick blood.
"Hu Li, how are you?" Xiao Shuxiang walked up to Hu Li, he saw his friend with a slightly pale face, and seemed to still endure the pain.
"This.. I'm getting better.."
"Don't lie to me, that person's attack was no ordinary attack. You might be able to die if he attacks you with all his might,"
Hu Li did not deny his Master's remark, were it not for the robber wanting to harass him.. He may have been killed since.
Xiao Shuxiang took out a jar of Arak Anak Linglung from inside his Semesta Bracelet, he then cleaned his hands of the thick blood by wearing the wine.
After his hands cleared, Xiao Shuxiang began to remove Hu Li's clothes and check the condition of his friend's chest.
!!
He gasped when he saw the former palm of the robber earlier on Hu Li's chest, the color was reddish blue.
"If this attack is as powerful as possible, then not only your bones are crushed, but also your heart and lungs will explode, Hu Li. This is a terrible move.." Xiao Shuxiang clucked softly, he then tried to slowly drain his Qi to reopen Hu Li's bloodstream.
".. You amazed me because you were still able to hold on until I came back,"
"Young Master Xiao, since the first time I decided to be loyal to you.. It was then that I set myself that I'd just die at your hands,"
Hearing his friend's so serious remark, made Xiao Shuxiang smile. He then gently rubbed Hu Li's head and thanked her for accepting herself as 'Master'.
"It's still dark, we'd better rest here. The journey will continue after dawn, you better get some sleep.." Xiao Shuxiang patted Hu Li's shoulder gently, he then stood up and stepped up with one of his Little Blue Flames followed.
Xiao Shuxiang started to lower his horse mount when he knew the position of the rope from the net that was trapping the 5,000 gold piece of the beast.
After the two horses were taken down, Xiao Shuxiang went back to search and retrieved the valuables from the companions of Saka Daksa. He inserted the Shadow-Splitting Sword of the warriors into his Universal Bracelet.
"I was surprised by these robbers, they only had a few gold pieces. The token looks worthless too, haah.. This is why I was lazy to rummage through the bodies of both warriors and cultivators,"
Xiao Shuxiang cursed several times. The swordsmen's belongings are always the same, namely swords, tokens, and little pieces of gold.
It was rare for a swordsman to carry more than ten pieces of gold with him.. Moreover, carrying an heirloom book, it was truly the rarest and hard to find.
"The only cultivator who always brought a world with him was you, Young Master." Hu Li's voice started to sound normal, yet he still remained leaning against a tree.
Xiao Shuxiang thought for a moment of Hu Li's words before nodding his head. He had a world inside his Semestal Bracelet, Hu Li explained discussing about the inheritance.
"You're right, whoever killed me.. He'll get a lot of priceless treasures,"
Xiao Shuxiang pulled the reins of his two horses and walked towards Hu Li. He told the horse to sleep, they as much as possible gather energy to be able to continue the journey later.
"Young Master..? When did you take Miss Qing Yan out, I was worried that the nameless baby was killed by her,"
"I have forgotten," Xiao Shuxiang immediately shook his hand which directly took Xiao Qing Yan out from within his Universal Bracelet.
The ten-year-old looked extremely angry at Xiao Shuxiang. He was ready to fight with all his might, but the red-clothed youth in front of him instead made himself carry this little monster and sent it to a strange world.
"Take this thing back, and be thankful that I didn't slash its head,"
Xiao Shuxiang replaced Xiao Qing Yan in the crimson haired baby, he then invited Xiao Qing Yan to rest together.
They apparently only had five hours until dawn. Although the Forest of Silent Land is difficult to penetrate the sunlight, but compared to the night-time atmosphere in the forest in the morning is slightly better.
Xiao Shuxiang and his friends went back on their way. They now do not need a small blue fire as a street light.
!!
Xiao Shuxiang flinched as the baby boy held her wriggling uneasily before crying.
She was actually happy because the baby was finally able to cry for the first time, but over time the crying began to interfere with her hearing.
"Young Master Xiao, it looks like the baby is hungry.."
!!
Xiao Qing Yan was startled when he heard Hu Li's remark, "Does he want to eat humans?"
"Miss Qing Yan, the baby only drinks milk,"
Hu Li gave Xiao Qing Yan a brief explanation and asked her not to feel fear, ".. Before Miss Qing Yan was this big.. You were once a baby like that. Young Master Xiao also used to be a baby, then as time went on.. He grew up to be a grown-up young man. Didn't I ever explain it to you..?"
Xiao Shuxiang did not hear the conversation between Hu Li and Xiao Qing Yan, he was more busy coping so that the baby held him stopped crying.
In addition to wine and its viscous black liquid that inhabits the Universal Bracelet.. Xiao Shuxiang had no other drink, let alone milk.
".. There's no way I'm giving this baby wine, is there?" Xiao Shuxiang muttered, calling Hu Li and asking her friend to find her an animal that can breastfeed.
".. But you don't go too far. This forest is dense, and we don't know if there are any other robbers in this forest or not, so be careful and even find nothing.. You guys should get back here,"
"Okay, Young Master."
Hu Li was riding a horse with Xiao Qing Yan and O Zhan.. Started to spur his horse faster than Xiao Shuxiang's. They are looking for a female animal that can breastfeed.
Xiao Shuxiang continued the journey while trying to calm the baby in her arms by telling the baby that Hu Li would be back soon.
".. You hold it in a moment, Hu Li will bring you some food. Don't cry, you're scaring me.."
Hu Li and Xiao Qing Yan had only returned after two hours had passed. They found only a baby rabbit, a tiger and a male wolf. The rabbit they saw was not captured by Hu Li, because he saw the rabbit's offspring quite a lot.
"Young Master.. Sorry, we came without a result"
!!
Hu Li's eyes were rounded when he saw his Young Master Xiao's right index finger instead in the mouth of the dark red-haired baby boy. He immediately rebuked his Master and asked what his Master was doing.
"You don't see? You guys took too long and my ears buzzed and kept hearing her cries.."
"But Young Master, what did you give the baby..?"
Xiao Shuxiang simply smiled meaningfully in response to Hu Li's question.
!!
Hu Li and Xiao Qing Yan were startled as they watched Xiao Shuxiang's index finger let out a fresh red liquid. Both of them instantly realized that the red-clothed young man in front of them was feeding the baby with something he shouldn't have.
"Are you out of your mind?!" Xiao Qing Yan looked pale as he snapped at Xiao Shuxiang, he was sure the man in front of him had already lost his mind.
"Don't make that innocent baby like you. Stop it right now Young Master," Hu Li also seemed to be in disbelief at what he saw.
"Alright," Xiao Shuxiang pulled her index finger, but the next second the baby was carried by her and she started crying again.
"Show me, he's hungry Hu Li.." Xiao Shuxiang put his finger back into the mouth of the baby he was carrying. He asked the horse he was riding not to walk too fast.
Xiao Qing Yan's face still looked pale, he felt that the red-clothed young man riding the horse was much worse than a monster like Tomoaki Maeno.
"Young Master Xiao, are you aware of what you're doing? You can kill him, sir,"
"Hu Li, you take it easy. Inside this baby's body is my golden fire, he won't die.." Xiao Shuxiang watched the face of the little baby who was sucking on his index finger.
".. You're lucky, there's no human being I treat this well, so be grateful.. Understood?"
Hu Li felt his head ache when he noticed the manner of his Young Master Xiao. He hoped that the baby boy would not become a bloodthirsty human like his Master.
The fresh red liquid that was none other than Xiao Shuxiang's blood actually had a distinctive taste in addition to its intoxicating aroma and could make the Demonic Beast craze to want to obtain it. The baby in his cradle was clearly the luckiest human being.
The journey inside the Silent Land Forest took six days. In that time they met some wild animals such as wolves and bears.
Xiao Qing Yan was assigned to face the beasts as one of his forms of training so as not to become a burden to Xiao Shuxiang later on.
The bear that Xiao Qing Yan was fighting happened to be female, though, and the beast was used to be the mother of milk for the babies carried by Xiao Shuxiang as well as being their guide to the exit of the Forest of Silent Land.
Xiao Shuxiang and his companions only really came out after it was dark again. They arrived before the gate of a city called the Big Dipper Star, one of the largest cities in the Middle Sky Empire.
"The big gate.." Xiao Shuxiang muttered, he and Hu Li stared at each other before spurting their horses slowly towards the gatekeeper.
"Since setting foot into this Continent.. I can't absorb Qi at all, even this place is worse than we've been through, Mister.."
"Hu Li.." Xiao Shuxiang's voice sounded softly, ".. The Middle Continent was different from the Eastern Continent. The location of the Qi density in this place is extremely rare, so as much as possible you should save Qi while fighting.."
Hu Li nodded slowly. He and his Young Master began to greet the gatekeeper politely and at the same time ask for permission to enter the city.
The two guards apparently understood the language of the residents of the Eastern Continent. One of them said that the Big Dipper City was always open to the public and without the need to pay any taxes.
The nine-meter-high and eight-meter-wide gate began to be opened to be passed by Xiao Shuxiang and his friends.
!!
They were immediately greeted with the beauty of the city that was so neatly arranged, clean, and beautiful with a variety of glowing insects that arrived.
In addition to the lanterns, Bintang Biduk City was illuminated with torches made of bamboo. There are many stretches of cloth that seem to cover the sky, but it actually makes this city more shining.
Xiao Shuxiang and his friends could see the storied wooden buildings, the various trees along the side of the road, and the people passing by.
"Young Master, do you know the location of the Sky Pagoda Sect?"
"From the map I remember, the Sky Sword Sect is in this city. But before we get there, we have to take care of this baby first.."
Hu Li frowned when he heard his Young Master Xiao say. He immediately regained consciousness and then invited his Master to buy some baby supplies, and one of them was milk.
"Not that.." Xiao Shuxiang stared at Hu Li for a moment before returning to speak. The meaning of the saying 'Take care of the baby'.. Nothing but to give this baby he was carrying to someone else.
".. There will be a lot of trouble if I take him to the Sky Pagoda Sect. Ling Lang Tian might just accuse me of having children and being married. This baby can tarnish my bachelor's title,"
Hu Li now understood why his Young Master did not name the dark red-haired baby boy. Her master wanted to leave the baby in her arms without regret.
Giving the baby a name would make him have a bond, and Xiao Shuxiang obviously did not want to bond with this baby that he did not know his mother's name.
"Where do you want to leave that?" Xiao Qing Yan lowered his voice yet could still be heard by Xiao Shuxiang.
"We're looking for a merchant's carriage,"
Hu Li could not help his Master's wishes, he actually disagreed with the decision his Young Master had taken, but after better thought.. That's not a bad idea.
Circumstances would be horrendous if Xiao Shuxiang arrived at the Sky Pagoda Sect by holding a baby. Although Hu Li lied by saying the baby held by his master was his baby.. Still no one will believe. This was because he was a Demonic Beast in the form of a fox.
".. My master will definitely be stamped as someone who is married. This can ruin the meaning of Miss Ling's 'Protective Guardian.." Hu Li exhaled softly, himself then said he would support all of his Young Master Xiao's decisions.
***
