Chapter 12: Threat

Gu Qingluo embraced Su Chen.

She hugged him tight and with incredible force, as if she was worried he would leave again.

Su Chen couldn’t help but push her back a little so he could breathe.

Gu Qingluo was just about to speak when Su Chen grabbed her by the hand and said, “Come with me.”

He ran, dragging Gu Qingluo along with him.

The two of them ran extremely quickly. At the same time, a large group of people charged out of the Gu Clan’s residence. When they saw Gu Qingluo with Su Chen, they yelled, “Over there!”

They began to chase after the couple.

Because New Rain City had restrictions in place that forbade the use of flight, the two of them could only sprint as quickly as they could along the streets.

Su Chen sprinted away with Gu Qingluo, darting in and out of the alleyways. In the blink of an eye, they had taken many twists and turns. Su Chen finally stopped when he saw that there was no one behind them.

He turned around to gaze at Gu Qingluo, and Gu Qingluo stared at him as well.

The two of them stared at each other wordlessly.

Before they met, Su Chen felt like he had so many things that he wanted to say, but now that she was in front of him, he didn’t know what to say. The two of them just stared at each other in silence.

Then, Su Chen leaned in fiercely, and the two of them began to kiss passionately in public right at the street corner.

This kiss was long and sweet, deep and passionate. Neither of them knew how much time had passed before they separated, but when they did, they found that they were surrounded by quite the crowd.

Some of them were full of admiration, some were just there to see what the commotion was about, and some were watching with starry-eyed, innocent expressions - a few small girls were watching intently, incomparably excited.

When the two of them separated, the audience actually began to clap, cheering them on.

Of course, there were a few traditionally-minded people who shook their heads and sighed, “Public morals degenerate every day, and peoples’ consciences grow duller and duller. Such public flirtatious activity erodes morality,” before leaving.

Su Chen and Gu Qingluo burst out into laughter and hugged each other again.

Just as they were about to say something, they suddenly saw a group of their pursuers appear off in the distance.

Su Chen said, “It seems as if there are still some ghosts who insist on hanging around.”

Gu Qingluo frowned. “I’ll go deal with them.”

“Don’t.” Su Chen grabbed her. “I know you are a member of the Gu Clan, but Gu Feihong’s actions clearly indicate that he’s intent on burning bridges. Getting together with everyone else is more important. We will have plenty of time to exact revenge in the future.”

As he spoke, he dragged Gu Qingluo away yet again.

Gu Qingluo knew that Su Chen’s words were accurate. Now that the situation had devolved to this point, it was unlikely that Gu Feihong would let things remain this way, and it was equally unlikely that he would care much for his status at this point.

As she allowed Su Chen to drag her away, Gu Qingluo said, “New Rain City belongs to the Gu Clan. Wanting to shake them off won’t be easy.”

“Is that so?” Su Chen turned around and smiled. “I thought that New Rain City belonged to the Chu Clan.”

“......” Gu Qingluo paused for a moment. “You don’t need to say something like that. In terms of pure strength, no one is equal to the members of the Gu Clan. You should be aware of that, given your personality.”

“I know. Isn’t it just twelve old Emperor-level ancestors?” Su Chen chuckled. “Unfortunately, most of them are asleep under the ground.”

Gu Qingluo shot him a stare. “So you know about that as well.”

Even though the Gu Clan possessed twelve Emperor-level ancestors, most of them were asleep in the Ancestor Hall and would only awaken every three thousand years. There were only three people awake at one time, and they would be awake for one thousand years at a time before going back to sleep.

Only under these kinds of circumstances would the Gu Clan’s ancestors be able to break through the restrictions on lifespan and stay alive until now.

Su Chen chuckled. “It’s not really much of a secret. Over this way……”

Su Chen pulled Gu Qingluo into a nearby alleyway, then said, “Give me a bit of your blood.”

Gu Qingluo didn’t know why Su Chen wanted her blood, but since he wanted it, Gu Qingluo cut open her finger and squeezed out a few droplets of blood for him.

An instant later, Gu Qingluo saw a shocking scene emerge before her eyes - a brand new Su Chen and Gu Qingluo appeared right in front of her.

Next, Su Chen gestured at the two puppets, bestowing upon them a small sliver of his consciousness. They seemed to spring to life, suddenly charging out of the alleyway onto the larger streets. At the same time, Su Chen dragged Gu Qingluo deeper into the shadows.

Their pursuers just so happened to have caught up slightly. When they saw the human puppets, they yelled, “Over here.”

Gu Qingluo watched the people running past the dark alley, shocked. “Your arsenal has grown yet again.”

“Shh!” Su Chen motioned for her to be quiet.

Two more shadows came running in their direction. They were exceptionally fast; even though they were not flying, they moved as swiftly as the wind. They were obviously at the Light Shaking Realm.

“It’s the Ling Clan Brothers! That damned Gu Feihong!” Gu Qingluo cursed.

Su Chen gently placed a hand over her mouth. After all, there were still pursuers running by.

Gu Qingluo gazed at the close Su Chen. Darkness Origin Substance concealed the two of them, making it so that Gu Qingluo could sense Su Chen’s presence clearly even though she could not see his face. She could feel the heat radiating from him, and his calm and steady breathing.

She pulled Su Chen’s hand aside, then caressed Su Chen’s face as she leaned in.

Su Chen could sense Gu Qingluo’s passion, and he couldn’t help but relax ever so slightly.

He lowered his head as he leaned in as well. Their lips touched ever so slightly, allowing them to feel the tenderness and dampness of each others lips, as well as the undeniable flame of passion.

The two of them remained in such an embrace, kissing each other fiercely.

This time, no one else was around to see them.

Their kisses were even deeper, hotter, and more fervent than before.

Wave after wave of pursuers ran past the alleyway.

Suddenly, a voice spoke. “A bunch of worthless trash, every last one of them! They can’t even catch a single Su Chen. What a loss of face for the Gu Clan!”

It was Gu Feihong’s voice.

Both Su Chen and Gu Qingluo froze slightly.

“Young Master, don’t worry. We will definitely catch Su Chen. It’s just that Young Miss Qingluo is with him right now. If she fights back against us with full force, what should we do?” an old voice asked.

Gu Qingluo seemed to grow a bit more agitated when she heard this voice, and her passion also decreased correspondingly.

Su Chen knew that this person was definitely a powerful expert.

Su Chen could sense Gu Feihong’s footsteps, but not the footsteps of the elder who was speaking. This was a clear indication that the old man was at least at the Spirit Burning Realm. Even though Su Chen might not need to be afraid of this person if they did start to fight, that kind of person was not someone Su Chen could perceive so easily.

Gu Feihong’s figure appeared in the alleyway. “I have been extremely sincere with Gu Qingluo, but she seems to view my affection as dung and has trampled it underfoot. Since she is so unwilling, then she cannot blame me for not being a gentleman. After you catch her, send her to my room.”

Gu Qingluo was infuriated when she heard this. Thankfully, Su Chen was there to firmly keep her in place, allowing her to forcefully overcome her emotional urges.

The old man nearby said, “Miss Qingluo seems soft on the outside but is incredibly stubborn on the inside, and her will is like iron. You might not be able to subdue her even if you force things.”

Gu Feihong sighed, “If I can’t subdue her, then so be it. If I cannot ask for this to be eternal, then I can only enjoy it in the moment.”

“Then, what about the Ancestor’s side of things……?”

Gu Feihong impatiently said, “Fourth Grandmother will at most lecture me a little and order some punishment. Will she kill me? Gu Qingluo is still a member of another branch, and I am from the main branch. No matter how much the Ancestor likes Gu Qingluo, he cannot possibly fail to distinguish between an insider and an outsider, right? There will always be close and distant relatives. Don’t worry, I will bear the consequences.”

“I understand!” the old voie said.

As they spoke, they walked away, and Gu Qingluo began to stop trembling with rage. She breathed a long breath, then began to laugh. “Even though I could never see eye-to-eye with Gu Feihong, I was never able to figure out where the problem lay. If it weren’t for you creating such a ruckus, I probably never would have seen his true self.”

Su Chen chuckled, “You would not have followed him no matter whether or not you saw his true self.”

“You’re quite confident of that, aren’t you? It’s been two years since you last came to see me.” Gu Qingluo began to pull Su Chen’s ear. “And you aren’t that great yourself! You forced yourself onto me before as well, so that doesn’t set you much apart from Gu Feihong, now does it?”

“Hey, didn’t we leave that behind already?”

“I was suddenly reminded of it.”

Because of the stimulation from Gu Feihong, Gu Qingluo was reminded of the various things that had happened in the past. The anger in her heart had yet to subside, so she instead decided to take it out on Su Chen.

Su Chen became a target for her to vent her anger on. His ear was being pulled so hard that the pain was radiating throughout his body, but he didn’t dare resist. He could only chuckle, “I know I was wrong. Aren’t I here to see you now?”

“Hmph, it’s too late now! Tell me, did you start another illicit relationship when I wasn’t around?”

“Absolutely not!” Su Chen swore as he gestured at the sky.

“Really?” Gu Qingluo stared at him intently.

“I swear on it. Think about it - Ravager territory is so dangerous that I never had the time to even think about these things. Also, the Ravager women are really quite ugly. How could I take any interest in them?”

“So you mean that it wasn’t that you didn’t want to, but that you just simply didn’t have the time or energy to focus on those things and that there were no suitable targets for you?”

“Come on, that’s not it either. Isn’t it because I had you already?” Su Chen carefully coaxed as he continued to hug Gu Qingluo.

Even though he wasn’t a professional player, he understood that women needed to be coaxed and played along with, and that the right words needed to be said at the right time. He continued to play along with Gu Qingluo until her anger began to subside.

Once he saw that Gu Qingluo wasn’t angry with him anymore, Su Chen said, “This is not the place for us to talk. Let’s get out of here for now and find somewhere else where we can talk.”

“Ok!” Gu Qingluo nodded.

Su Chen brought Gu Qingluo out of the alley. “It’s not convenient to talk in the city. Let’s leave for now. Right, it should be fine for you to leave the city, right?”

Gu Qingluo replied, “As long as the Origin Beast Gu Clan doesn’t leave Empty Mountain Country, we can go wherever we want.”

“So will they know if you temporarily leave the country?”

“The Chu Clan has placed a special kind of imprint on every member of the Gu Clan, allowing them to pinpoint our location. No matter where the Gu Clan’s members are, the Gu Clan will be able to find out their position.”

“So if Gu Feihong wants to try and find you, he will need to go through the Chu Clan first?”

“That’s right. However, Gu Feihong does not have that much face. As long as the Gu Clan's members don't leave Empty Mountain, the Chu Clan won't come looking for me so easily."

"Then does the Gu Clan's Ancestor have that kind of face?"

Gu Qingluo fell silent.

Even though the Gu Clan was technically being imprisoned in Empty Mountain, because of how powerful they were, the Chu Clan gave the Gu Clan a certain amount of face as long as they didn't violate the initial terms of their agreement.

Upon seeing Gu Qingluo's expression, Su Chen understood. "So if they want to, they will be able to find you. Right?"

Gu Qingluo silently nodded.

"Then we had better hurry," Su Chen said.

"Hurry? For what?" Gu Qingluo asked in shock.

"Naturally, to deal with that bastard Gu Feihong."

Since Gu Qingluo couldn't leave Empty Mountain, and Gu Feihong was eyeing Gu Qingluo closely, he would find a way to entreat the Chu Clan for Gu Qingluo's location. As such, Gu Feihong's existence was a threat.

If it was a threat, then it needed to be dealt with!