Chapter 91: Not A Fruitless Journey

  It's settled, like an oath!

  Zuo Xiao Yao could hear the sincerity in Gu Yan's words, but to her, these were not important. What was important was that she had successfully recovered her spiritual power, and this trip had not been in vain. With her current strength, as long as she was careful, she should be able to ensure her own safety.

  Gu Yun finished eating the two fruits quickly, and Zuo Xiao Yao took out a piece of silk "Young Master Gu, prepare yourself mentally, we can go out soon, don't panic!"

  As soon as the words fell, Zuo Xiao Yao used her spiritual power to sweep up Guan Ying and quickly fled in the direction they came from, not giving anyone a chance to ask about the doubts in their hearts.

  Back to this time, the sunny and beautiful cliff top, looking at the lush forest around, not only made me feel like I was in a dream again, but also made Zuo Xiaoyao, who had been through hardships at the bottom of the cliff, breathe a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the hard work finally paid off.

  The spiritual energy in the Kalos Forest is quite abundant, and it's clearly denser than the areas she's been to in the modern cultivation world. Zuo Xiao Yao couldn't help but wonder if Qin Xiao and Qin Lian were also here, would they choose to stay in this otherworldly realm to cultivate? After all, such an environment would be a rare and excellent resource for cultivation in the modern world, provided they didn't have any attachments to the modern world.

  For Zuo Xiao Yao, whether it was the modern Xianxia world or the modern city, or this otherworld that had never been polluted by industrial technology, as long as she possessed the Purple Yuan Boundary and wouldn't mysteriously lose her connection to it like before, being able to freely enter and exit didn't make much of a difference. In any case, she still preferred cultivating in the Purple Yuan Boundary.

  He was roasted over a pile of fire, and the wild game that had been hastily brought back was being cooked. His hair was disheveled, and his excellent quality clothes were tattered, looking quite wretched. This was far from the cold and noble image he had before. Zuo Xiao Yao turned the rabbit in her hand and asked, "What does Master Gu plan to do next? This place is not far from where we fell."

  He was holding a wooden stick with the front end sharpened, planning to string up a processed wild chicken on it. Upon hearing her words, Yan Nan's hand paused for a moment before responding, "Before we were ambushed, the Zi Sheng fruit still needed several days to ripen. Although I'm not sure how long we've been staying at the bottom of the cliff, if they waited, it's possible they haven't left yet. Let's go take a look later."

  During his speech, Zuo Xiao Yao first handed him the rabbit that she had already strung up in her hand. She took over the pheasant that was pierced by Guan Yan Nan with several holes but no one inserted it into the right place. After applying various seasonings inside, her mind moved slightly, and she took out a large lotus leaf from her storage bag to wrap it up.

  He then drew out his long sword again in the midst of the suspicious gaze of the lonely goose, dug a hole under the fire pit and buried the wrapped mountain chicken inside, ignoring the helpless look in the eyes of the sword owner. After doing all this, Zuo Xiao Yao took out a handkerchief to wipe her hands and said "That's also true, they might still be guarding the original place now, but according to my observation, this premise should be that you didn't have such an unexpected move, right? But now, do they still have the mind to stay there?"

  Knowing that she was telling the truth, a bitter smile spread across his lips. After a moment of contemplation, Gu Yan Nan replied in a low voice, "I was originally the third prince of Feng Yun Country. Three years ago, my father suddenly fell ill and his health has been deteriorating ever since. Now, the court is in chaos, with various regional officials doing as they please. My brothers are all engaged in open and secret struggles for power, completely disregarding the ambitions of the new emperor of Feng Yun Country!"

  His identity and background, Zuo Xiao Yao had already made some guesses in her heart. At this time, when Gu Yan Nan mentioned it calmly, she didn't feel surprised. "So to say, the one who needs the Purple Sacred Fruit to save their life is not only you, but also your father, the Emperor."

  "To be honest, the reason I decided to take this trip was mainly for my father's sake. So even if I fell off a cliff and didn't survive, with my previous instructions, they would still try their best to bring back the Zi Sheng Guo, and as for me, it was just an unexpected injury on the way that made me need help."

  Whether it was an accident or not, and whether it had anything to do with her, Zuo Xiao Yao didn't ask any more questions. As the person involved, Gu Yan South probably knew the truth about the 'accident'. "We'll just show up like this, I'm sure they'll be shocked!"

  Seeing Zuo Xiaoyao intentionally diverting the topic, Gu Yan's mouth curved up slightly as he cooperated, "It should be, and we might even gain some unexpected benefits from it."

  It turned out that they gained a lot, a team of twenty or thirty people, except for the two who ambushed them that night, found the team still waiting for the Zi Sheng fruit to ripen at the original location where they fell off the cliff. After analyzing the results through Zuo Xiao Yao and Gu Yan Nan's observation of the group's words and deeds hidden nearby, it was found that there were actually five people with ulterior motives. Even so, who dares to confirm whether everyone else is clear or not? After all, human hearts are hard to measure!

  She swept a glance at Gu Yan, whose right hand was tightly gripping the hilt of his sword, with bulging veins revealing his turbulent emotions. However, his face maintained its usual icy composure. Xue Xi Yao let out a silent sigh in her heart - indeed, no matter which world it was, or where the most concentrated power and wealth resided, things were always complicated; be it the people, or the matters at hand.

  "But Zuo Xiao Yao was uninterested in all of these. 'It seems that you have quite a few enemies!'"

  "Since I was young, I have always had this self-awareness... thank you!"

  Not without a hint of self-mockery in his response, he suddenly realized the meaning behind Zuo Xiao Yao's words. Ah, his enemies had always been there and never few in number. What was there to be disheartened about now? At this, Gu Yan sincerely thanked him.

  She never asked her where she went and what she did after parting with him at the foot of the cliff, what the light source was, why it suddenly disappeared, and so on. She also never asked how she managed to "take things out of thin air". After returning to the top of the cliff, she also didn't ask her what means she used to make him fly with his belongings. Zuo XiaoYao was very satisfied with Gu Yun Nan's tactfulness and cleverness. These were all questions that would have put her in a difficult position, but they must have left deep doubts in her mind.

  Three days later, the Zi Sheng fruit was almost ripening at a visible speed, turning more and more purple-black in color. The elegant young man, Shangguan Hong, looked extremely tense, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on those few Zi Sheng fruits, fearing that someone would snatch them away.

  Just as the nine Purple Sacred Fruits were about to turn completely purple-black, Upper Official Hong was waiting to reach out and pick them, but his eyes widened in disbelief. The nine fruits suddenly flew towards their backs as if they had a consciousness of their own. At the same time, three hands stretched out almost simultaneously towards the Purple Sacred Fruit tree.

  Look at the still spotless white long gown on the left, Xiao Yao, and the man standing a distance away from them with tattered clothes. Although he looks quite disheveled, but from his body exudes an aura of being a superior, Lone Swan Nan. The scene that had witnessed three battles suddenly fell silent.

  Because the purple sacred fruit in front of him suddenly disappeared, and seeing that several people's hands stretched longer than his own, Xiang Gong Hong's face changed, almost instinctively standing up to look around, and those two people who seemed to appear out of thin air naturally also entered his line of sight. Suddenly, he asked the inner voice of everyone present in a tone that was somewhat unbelievable: "Yan Nan? Is it really you?"

  After narrowly escaping death, Lonely Goose was extremely excited to see his old friend again. Although he had been hiding in the woods with Zuo Xiao for three days, the feeling of being face-to-face was just as great. "Yes, I've worried Zi Li!"

  Everyone was excited, but they were all still in control. After taking a deep breath, Shangguan Hong looked up at the sky and said, "Indeed, heaven has eyes and protected the young master's safe return! Ziliang welcomes the young master back safely!"

  "Welcome back safely!"

  As Shangguan Hong loudly shouted out the last sentence, the other people on the scene, even though most of them had not yet reacted to the sudden appearance of Gu Yan, also followed suit and knelt down, shouting loudly, with most of their voices filled with joy, the originally somewhat desolate morale suddenly surged, causing those who heard it to unconsciously become excited.

  When the crowd stood up under the guidance of Gu Yan, Zuo Xiao Yao had already put the nine purple yuan fruits into the jade box and handed it to him, saying "Now that you have fulfilled your wish, it can be said that this trip is not in vain. As for what's next, I'm sure you have your own plans in mind. I still need to stay in the Kaluo Forest for a while, after which I will come looking for you to fulfill my original promise. Take care!"

  "Xiao Yao, you're fine too, that's great! Five days ago, we saw you and Gongzi fall down together, and we were all worried to death. I even wanted to go down and look for you, but Big Brother and the others said that Fenglei Cliff is very dangerous, and if you fell from there, it would be impossible to survive. We didn't expect that you both actually came back safely! If only we had known earlier, we should have sent someone to search for you!"

  Upon hearing Zheng Ning's unbridled and candid words, Zheng Wen cleared his throat a few times but didn't dare to directly intervene. After Zheng Ning stopped speaking, he hastily chimed in, "Young Master and Xiao brothers are blessed with good fortune, naturally they can turn bad luck into good, congratulations to both of you!"

  "Thank you for your concern, I was lucky to escape this time. The Kalos Forest is indeed full of dangers, and one must be cautious when entering it. You all should also take care!"

  It's nice to be cared about, Zuo Xiao Yao smiled back, and not only did she have a good impression of the five Zheng brothers, but Gu Yan Nan also seemed to feel the same way, completely ignoring Zheng Ning's words "Thank you all, this time when we return, there will definitely be a generous reward!"

  As for how to deal with those who have already shown their ulterior motives, it's not up to Zuo Xiao Yao to worry about. After parting ways with the group of people including Gu Yan, she resumed her journey of exploring the Kalos Forest alone once again, able to freely enter and exit the Violet Realm at will, which was quite convenient, rendering the jade boxes she had prepared earlier useless.

  After cultivation, whenever she came across any relatively precious medicinal materials, she insisted on transplanting them directly into the medicinal field outside the Purple Boundary Empty Bamboo Courtyard. The bountiful harvest made Zuo Xiaoyao's mood extremely good!