The Solitary Eight all frowned when they heard what she said.

Solitary Wind said, “Lady Saint, our objective right now is to capture Zu An, not to deal with Mosquito Daoist.”

The cultivation of Mosquito Daoist was just too high. A few of them were seriously injured already, and they did not relish the prospect of facing her again. They were not willing to engage Mosquito Daoist in yet another fight unless absolutely necessary.

Qiu Honglei shook her head. “If you leave now in pursuit of Zu An, Mosquito Daoist will be the one to benefit in the end.”

Solitary Metal wasn’t convinced. “Even if we defeat Mosquito Daoist, we’ll lose Zu An. Wouldn’t all our efforts be for nothing, then? It’s better if we leave right now.”

They were clearly unwilling to fight Mosquito Daoist again. Earlier on, Solitary Metal had been furious that his good friend Solitary Ice had been sucked dry, and was all ready to avenge him. Unfortunately, the fight outside the inn had been too awful, and left them all with a lingering sense of dread.

Qiu Honglei grunted in displeasure. “Then what about my Empress Lantern? She wants to steal that too. Are you guys going to just let that happen?”

The Solitary Eight looked at each other in dismay. They knew that the Empress Lantern was something given to her by the sect master. There was no way the sect master would forgive them if they just looked on while it was stolen.

“But we’ll be blamed if we let Zu An get away as well…” Solitary Lightning said. Even though she looked like a brute, she wasn’t stupid.

Qiu Honglei cut her off. “I will take responsibility for everything when we face the sect master!”

Seeing her take this stance, there wasn’t much else the Solitary Eight could say. They knuckled down and resumed their battle with Mosquito Daoist. Even though they had lost some of their companions, with the seventh ranked Chu Chuyan on their side, their overall strength was still relatively the same as before.

Chu Chuyan secretly sent Qiu Honglei a voice transmission. “Thanks!”

She was obviously aware that Qiu Honglei was doing all of this for her and Zu An.

Qiu Honglei replied, “Big sis saved my life earlier.”

She immediately regretted calling her ‘big sis’ as soon as the words left her mouth. She had already divorced Zu An—why did she still have to call her big sis?

Chu Chuyan was momentarily stunned, and an odd smile touched the corners of her lips.

Unlike them, Mosquito Daoist was incredibly furious. She had let those idiots from the Devil Sect talk among themselves in hopes that they would give up on fighting her, allowing her to deal with Chu Chuyan alone. Who could have expected that they would end up working together?

“All of you can go to hell!” Killing intent surged within Mosquito Daoist as she charged straight at them.

...

Elsewhere, Zu An and Pei Mianman supported each other as they ran through the forest. The two of them were both seriously injured, and it was even a struggle to maintain an upright stance as they leaned against each other.

After a while, though, the regenerative properties of Zu An’s Primordial Origin Sutra began to take effect, and he recovered at a much faster rate than Pei Mianman. Eventually, he was the one shouldering most of her weight.

In a remote part of the woods, Zu An sat down, still carrying Pei Mianman. He gave her another Soul Return Pill.

Pei Mianman also took this chance to regulate her breathing, and a faint trace of color finally returned to her face a while later.

“How do you feel?” Zu An asked, clearly worried.

“Much better. Your pills are indeed amazing,” Pei Mianman sighed, clearly impressed. “Right, you’ve given me medicine, but what about you?”

She hadn’t seen Zu An take any medicine of his own, so she immediately became worried.

“I’m fine. Can’t you see that I’m already much better?” As he spoke Zu An flexed his arm, showing off his current condition.

Pei Mianman wasn’t reassured. She traced her fingers slowly across his skin to examine his wounds. She could sense that the horrifying injuries that he’d sustained earlier were already starting to heal, and her mouth fell open completely. “Your body’s regenerative properties are really astonishing!”

Zu An swallowed with difficulty. “Please don’t touch me like that…”

He was carrying her in his arms right now, and her thin dress was unable to keep in any of her body heat. Her soft, supple body was pressed against his, and his nostrils were filled with her intoxicating fragrance. It was enough to turn any man into a beast!

“We’re already so close. What’s the harm in a little touching?” Pei Mianman couldn’t help but tease him. “Have you really recovered…”

In the middle of her sentence, a trace of redness suddenly appeared on her face, and she bolted out of his arms. “No, you don’t have to reply. I know you’re fine.”

Zu An wanted to cry. How is this my fault?! What kind of man won’t have such a reaction with such a ravishing beauty in their arms?

Pei Mianman stood next to him, her face completely red. An awkward silence fell across them. Zu An tried to alleviate the embarrassment by asking, “Why did you insist that I leave?”

His heart was full of worry for Chu Chuyan. Mosquito Daoist was just too strong. A single mistake could end up costing her her life.

“Are you worried about Chuyan?” Pei Mianman seemed to have read his thoughts. “Don’t worry, help is on the way,” she reassured him.

“Who’ll show up to help her?” Zu An immediately asked. He seemed to remember Chu Chuyan mentioning it as well. Did a few ridiculous simps follow her all the way there?

“Look at how nervous you are! It’s not what you’re thinking.” Pei Mianman rolled her eyes. “We ran into a new contingent of troops dispatched by the capital. The leader is the Chief Commander of the Embroidered Envoy, Zhuxie Chixin…”

She gave him a rough summary of what had happened.

Zu An’s expression grew strange when he learned that Sang Qian had been turned into a desiccated corpse. He sighed and said, “Even though I really wanted to kill him myself for ruining your plan to rescue me from the inn, I can’t help but feel uncomfortable knowing that he met such a tragic end.”

Even though he hadn’t seen Sang Qian’s death with his own eyes, he had seen how Solitary Ice had died. That sight alone had sent a chill down his spine.

“Don’t tell me you’re worrying about someone else’s wife?” Pei Mianman snorted. “Take my advice and don’t worry about Zheng Dan. Both her and the Sang family have been detained by court officials and taken back to the capital first.”

Zu An was a bit disappointed to hear this, but he still said, “That’s probably for the best. At least it’s better than following me around and putting herself in danger.”

Now that the emperor had sent out a larger force to escort them, the ones who wanted the Sang clan dead wouldn’t dare get their way. Zheng Dan’s safety would thus be ensured as well.

“So you guys made me leave because you didn’t want me to run into Zhuxie Chixin? Won’t he put the blame on you two then?” Zu An immediately noticed this problem.

Pei Mianman shook her head. “It’s all right. Your safety is more important. There is no way His Majesty can use this matter as an excuse to bring down both the Chu clan and Pei clan.”

Zu An was incredibly moved to realize that they had done all of this for him. He held her hand and said, “Big Manman, thank you guys so much!”

Pei Mianman’s face turned red, and she quickly pulled her hand away. “You can say whatever you want, but don’t just grab my hand out of nowhere.”

“You didn’t seem to mind when I carried and hugged you earlier,” Zu An mumbled.

“What did you say?” Pei Mianman replied playfully.

Zu An chuckled. “Nothing.”

Out of nowhere came a derisive snort. “Oh, look at you pair of adulterers! Your wife is out there risking life and limb for your sake, while you’re having the time of your life with another woman! Also, young miss, your best friend didn’t put her husband in your hands just so you could have your way with him.”

Zu An and Pei Mianman turned around immediately, and saw a familiar figure not too far away.

“You’re back again? Will you ever be satisfied?!” Zu An felt a huge headache coming on. This Mosquito Daoist haunted them like a bloody spirit! How long had she been pursuing him?

This time, though, her clothes were in tatters, and she was riddled with injuries. He could tell that she wasn’t in great condition.

“What happened to Chuyan?” Zu An looked behind her. Unfortunately, he didn’t see anyone else.

“Dead, of course.” Mosquito Daoist snorted, a hint of joy appearing on her face.

“Dead?” Zu An felt as though a bomb had gone off in his mind. It was hard for him just to keep his feet under him.

Right at that moment, a dazzling streak of light flashed through the sky, descending towards them at great speed like a blazing meteorite.