The Demon Venerable Is Delicate and Charming (GL) Chapter 52

One hour of walking had already drained their strength. The sunlight clung to them like a shadow and bit down hard. They had already traveled for a full day, and now they were sweating badly. Some people’s legs had begun to ache and go weak, but the sand underfoot was like an oven. There was no way to rest on it.
Their throats were bitter and dry. Their lips were already showing signs of cracking. Almost everyone’s cheeks were flushed red. Sweat often blurred their eyes, and the burning pain tormented their nerves.
Seeing this, Wen Si immediately stopped. He looked around but could not find any place to settle, so he could only have them lay clothes on the sand and rest as best they could.
“If you are sleepy, sleep. Do not force yourself to stay awake,” Wen Si said helplessly as he watched them hold clothes over their heads to block the sun while still nodding off.
“I cannot sleep, Senior Brother Wen. It is too hot. I am thirsty, sleepy, and my legs are shaking.”
“Yes. This awful place. If we had known, we should have rested for one night before coming in.”
“Exactly. Now we cannot rest at all.”
Complaints suddenly rose. Many people in this group were children of wealthy clans. One could tell they had been raised gently. Their hands were smooth, without a single scar.
“And you are not afraid that while you sleep, you will suddenly end up inside the desert anyway?” The one who spoke was the female cultivator Li Lingjiang recognized. Her words carried thorns. At this moment, using inner force made her condition a little better than theirs.
Someone clicked his tongue hard and became angry. “Liu Ying, what do you mean? Ever since we entered the sect, you have looked down on everyone. Who are you looking down on?”
Liu Ying smiled sweetly. “You.”
She gave a cold snort. Her voice was not very loud. “I wonder who it was yesterday, dragging the person beside him down as a shield. Now you are alive as if nothing happened. If I were you…”
Liu Ying deliberately drew out the end of her words, then made the last part heavy and fierce. “I would not dare sleep for the rest of my life.”
Her face still carried the marks Li Lingjiang had drawn out before. She sat with a few people she was close to. Liu Ying was jealous, but she had never done anything as cruel as harming a fellow disciple. Her strength was average, and she had never used it to pressure anyone.
Who would have thought these people would do such things the moment they entered the sect? Her position at the time had been good. She had climbed out of the mud without much effort, so she had clearly seen someone use another person’s body to escape.
“You…!” The person facing her was choked speechless. Facts were stronger than excuses. A companion beside him saw this and forced him to sit, then comfortingly fanned him. “Do not lower yourself to her level.”
Seeing him lose, Liu Ying curved her lips proudly and bumped her friend. “See that? That is how you deal with these people. They have a bit of money and really think they are above others. In this situation, money is useless!”
Her companions all gave her approving gestures. “I have disliked them for a long time. I do not know what the sect master and the others were thinking.”
Liu Ying snorted. “Who knows? Anyway, once they get the magic artifact, they should leave, right? None of them have any talent for cultivation. They probably thought coming here meant walking into treasure, not death.”
This whole conversation was not lowered at all. Wen Si frowned. He strode between them and pointed warningly at both sides. “What are you arguing for? All of you be quiet. Is it not hot enough?”
Liu Ying and the other person turned their heads away at the same time. Neither was willing to back down.
Wen Si took off his outer robe with one hand and loosened his collar a little, revealing a lean chest. Sweat dripped down and landed on the sand, where it was quickly absorbed. He looked down, his gaze unreadable.
The four people who had been watching the show silently withdrew the hands propping up their chins. Wings stretched from Wuzhi’s back, then he casually hid them. At this moment, they were fanning in a steady rhythm, so he was still somewhat cool. He craned his neck to look a few times. “This Yin Wu really is good to My Lord. Look, she even prepared a bamboo hat.”
Wuzhi reached out and poked Ling Xin.
“I asked her. Yin Wu said nothing we imagined could have happened, so stop talking nonsense.” Ling Xin expressionlessly pushed his hand away.
Wuzhi raised a brow. “You actually asked? Then… did they kiss?”
“Nonsense. Of course they did not!” At the mention of this topic, Ling Xin remembered where the rumor had come from. He turned and asked, “Qi San, did you truly see My Lord and Yin Wu kiss?”
Qi San paused. His tone was still certain. “From my angle, they really did kiss.”
Ling Xin choked, then cursed under his breath. “I was too reckless.”
“It is fine. There will always be times like this. Try to accept it.” Wuzhi sounded as if he was patiently guiding Ling Xin, but his eyes were full of laughter.
Qi San’s hands were folded together. His head was lowered, and he no longer joined the conversation. He breathed out deeply. Under the cover of the black robe, there was not the slightest sweat on his face.
“Can I rest here?” Shen Duoyi’s voice suddenly rang out. Qi San raised his eyes, swept a vague glance over him, then looked away.
Feng Luan made an “ah” sound. His nose twitched as he sniffed. He hurriedly stood and sat down beside Ling Xin. His voice stretched out a little. “You can.”
Shen Duoyi’s face darkened. “I am not some terrifying beast. Why hide so fast? If that side were not so noisy, I would not have come over.”
“I am not looking down on you. I just do not really accept sitting with outsiders.” Feng Luan bent his legs and hugged his knees. The rabbit ears on both sides wiped away his sweat. The feeling of having lost so much fur still made him uncomfortable.
Rabbits loved cleanliness too. If one looked carefully, one could see Feng Luan was far cleaner than the others. He had already changed clothes in the past few days, only the colors were similar, so most people had not noticed.
“Then I was rude.” Shen Duoyi cupped his fists. His temper came fast and left fast. Once he knew he had spoken poorly, he could admit it easily.
He opened his clothes wide. His exposed chest and lower stomach had a frightening scar. He touched it without much care, then asked Qi San in a testing way, “I have noticed you for a long time, fellow cultivator. Are you not hot under that black robe? The sun is so strong.”
Qi San did not move. “No.”
Shen Duoyi did not mind his attitude. “I have admired you all for a long time. Your strength should be far more than what you have shown, right? You must still have hidden skills.”
Wuzhi turned to look at him. Smiling, he hid meaning in his words. “How can you tell? Every time, we spend a great deal of effort.”
“Who would believe that?” Shen Duoyi did not hear the deeper meaning. He waved carelessly and directly patted Qi San’s shoulder. “Every time I watch you deal with things, you do not seem to make many moves. You do not even have a weapon.”
Feng Luan noticed the movement and quietly added, “It would be stranger if he had one.”
Qi San finally gave Shen Duoyi a look. He answered, “Not comfortable.”
“Tsk. Why do you speak one word at a time? You are not mute. Why act like you swallowed bitter lotus?” Shen Duoyi was most annoyed by this way of speaking.
Qi San: “…”
Wuzhi and Ling Xin both turned away to hold back laughter, wishing they could give Shen Duoyi a thumbs-up.
“This is how I speak. If you do not want to hear it, you can stop listening.” Qi San’s tone was still flat, but it was clearly much faster.
Shen Duoyi looked at him strangely. “You are a grown man. Why are you so easy to anger?”
Qi San said, “I am not angry.”
Shen Duoyi said, “Right, right. I believe you.”
“…”
Wuzhi truly could not hold it in anymore. He applauded Shen Duoyi and praised him from the heart. “Brilliant. Truly brilliant.”
Ling Xin and Feng Luan agreed in unison. “Exactly. We will learn from you next time.”
“What?” Shen Duoyi did not understand. He loved martial arts, and his personality was direct. He had always looked down on that group, or perhaps disdained mixing with them. The senior and junior brothers who had hidden their identities with him also did not really want to talk to him. Their usual judgment of him was, “No brains, stubborn to the end.” He heard it and let it pass.
Now that he had finally found someone who seemed unfathomably strong and quiet, he naturally wanted to talk to him more than to the others, even if they did not know each other.
Shen Duoyi still wanted to keep chatting, but Qi San interrupted him directly. He turned his head. The eyes exposed under the robe seemed to hold an anger that could not be wiped away. “You are noisy. Shut up.”
As soon as he finished, Shen Duoyi actually fell silent for a while. A moment later, he could not help speaking again. “Fellow cultivator, did you notice what happened in the forest before?”
Qi San ignored him.
Shen Duoyi talked to himself. “It truly angered me. It was the first time I saw someone casually step on another person’s body to survive. If there had been no other choice, that would be one thing. But both people clearly could have lived. He was only afraid of losing out, and when asked why he did it, he said with a straight face, ‘I wanted to live.’ It was disgusting.”
“Get used to it…” Qi San pinched the bridge of his nose and took a moment to add a sentence.
The exchange on this side and the argument earlier were almost completely unconcealed. Shen Duoyi was plainly speaking at certain people. No one dared step forward to tell him to stop. Even Wen Si wanted to stop him several times, only to lose the will halfway.
A man listened from the side. His expression was nervous, and his face was pale as he stared ahead. He held a handful of sand and kept rubbing it. His lips trembled without him noticing. As he remembered what he had done not long ago, a chill spread through his heart.
“It will not come for me. Senior Brother Wen said that since it already happened, I should not dwell on it.”
“If he has family, that is good. Once I get out, I will make it up to them. His life will not be wasted for nothing.”
“I did not do it on purpose. In the end, we still have to fight each other. What strength could a fortune-teller have?”
The man muttered to himself, breathing deeply again and again to persuade himself.
“Zhou Du.”
A pair of hands suddenly patted his shoulders. Zhou Du was so frightened his eyes went blank, and cold sweat hung on his face.
He stiffly turned his neck and saw Li Lingjiang crouching on one knee behind him, her veil lifted. He stammered, “Is… something wrong?”
Li Lingjiang’s gaze did not feel heavy, but it slowly swept from his face downward like a knife slicing him bit by bit. Her voice was gentle. “Nothing. I only learned your name and saw that you seemed unwell, so I came to check.”
“I wanted to ask…” There was no strong attack in her words. “What do you mean by fight each other?”