chapter 37

“What about Luo Mei and…?”

“Relax. They have extraordinary capability. Unless the Ghost King comes out personally, catching them will be difficult.” He took a sip of the slightly chilled tea and found that the taste was not to his liking so he set the cup down.

Fengguang’s finger twirled the ribbon from her robes. She hesitated before she asked, “When we get to the Guangliu Desert, will you really set me free?”

“Of course. The Guangliu Desert is my territory. I’m only keeping you around to guarantee my safety back to my country. There’s no use for you even if I keep you beyond that.”

She let out a heavy sigh of relief and smiled. “You can’t go back on your word.”

“Yes, I did say it.” The corner of Xuean’s mouth curved upwards to a familiar angle.

This girl is pretty smart but sadly, she doesn’t learn. Didn’t I say you can’t trust a man’s word?

They travelled along the river and left the City of Tong. It didn’t take long before they reached the border. The surrounding area became colder and the river narrowed. The yellowing water reeds nearby were covered in a layer of frost.

Fengguang’s skin was sensitive and could feel the air gradually dry up, causing her to feel uncomfortable. Suddenly, the boat trembled and because she wasn’t sitting properly, she fell forward. Coincidentally, she fell into someone’s embrace and his strong masculine scent overwhelmed her. Her cheeks colored with a sunset glow.

She tried to retreat but ended up meeting his gaze when she looked up. Their eyes locked towards one another. She forgot to react and her body against his chest was softness against hardness. Even though he was wearing a plain male’s face mask, when she looked into his eyes, she felt weak and fell back into his embrace.

Xuean placed his arm around her waist and felt himself going mad. This woman who had seen his terrifying face actually had… affection in her eyes when she looked at him. And the scent coming from her body seemed to bewitch him.

“I-I’m sorry…” She murmured as she retreated to her seat and then distanced even further from him.

His eyes glittered and he laughed gently. “It’s nothing. No need to apologize.”

Her head was lowered as though she wanted to bury her head into her chest.

“Customers, we’ve reached the destination,” the boatman called out. They had just reached the shore.

Fengguang immediately dashed off once she heard him. The atmosphere in the boat was simply too awkward.

Xuean deeply felt as though he caused fear to others like a wolf or a tiger would. However, he was in a good mood which he would never admit to. After calming down for a second, he got off the boat. The young lady who had just been in his arms, was now mesmerized by the large landscape of the cold desert.

The boatman said, “The boat can only travel up to here. Customers, you must travel the rest of the way by foot.”

Xuean nodded. “Hm, you can go back now.”

“Yes, take care, customers.” The boatman steered back to whence he came and quickly disappeared into the distance.

Fengguang cocked her head as she said, “I never imagined that Dawei had so many underlings.”

“There’s more than what you can even imagine.” He teared off the human face mask he was wearing and threw it to the side.

After watching him expose his face, she curiously asked, “Don’t you need to constantly keep the mask on?”

“We crossed the border, I don’t need it anymore.” He took out a white silver mask out of nowhere and covered the flawed half of his face, showing only the handsome side.

Fengguang didn’t ask him why he wore the mask but instead, she asked, “How did you end up getting burned like this?”