The Invincible Bodyguard Starting by Escorting the Doomsday Imperial Princess Chapter 43 : Chapter 43

Chapter 43: Two Little Tree Spirits

Luo Li also noticed the transford scenery ahead.

She imdiately sprang to her feet on the little boat, spread her arms, and took a deep breath. At once, an intoxicated expression appeared on her face.

“Wow, it slls amazing!”

The breeze brushed past, lifting the hair at her temples and stirring her slightly oversized clothes, making her look like a fairy maiden about to ride the wind away, so beautiful that she seed almost unreal.

Suddenly, the little boat beneath her gave a violent jolt, and her whole body pitched forward uncontrollably with the montum!

“Ah!”

Just as she thought she was about to plunge headfirst into the muddy shallows ahead, she suddenly felt warmth around her waist as a strong hand caught her and pulled her back.

Turning her head, she saw that it was Chen Guan.

Yet Luo Li did not react like an ordinary young girl, shyly shoving him away and calling him a rogue.

Instead, as though she had seized upon a once-in-a-lifeti opportunity, she deliberately wriggled in his arms and even pressed herself more snugly against his broad chest.

Seeing that, Chen Guan pushed her away at once and said irritably,

“I’m a respectable handso man. That won’t work on .”

“You...!”

Luo Li stamped her foot in anger, turned her head away, and rolled her eyes sulkily.

“Hmph! Completely unromantic!”

The corner of Chen Guan’s mouth twitched.

He realized that this little girl was trying to catch a wolf with empty hands—using honey traps to win him over so she could avoid paying that sky-high escort fee.

Dream on.

“Brother Chen, what do we do now? It looks like the little boat won’t move anymore.”

Luo Li craned her neck and looked down at the raft beneath them.

Chen Guan was examining it as well.

This little boat, already battered from hard use, had beco lodged squarely on a large rock jutting above the water. A huge crack had split open across the bottom.

It had already fallen apart and been patched together several tis. Now it was beyond repair.

“What else can we do? Get down. We’ll wade.”

“Ah! B-but what if a little demon cos out and bites ?”

Luo Li put on a nervous, frightened expression and deliberately edged closer to him again.

Chen Guan truly could not be bothered with her anymore.

After shoving her aside, he was the first to jump down, landing directly in the knee-deep muddy water.

“This is only a reed marsh, not so deep sea. If a little demon cos over, are your eyes blind? Can’t you see it?”

Luo Li rolled her eyes cutely, then could only helplessly lift her skirt and follow his lead, stepping into the icy mud.

Chen Guan had co to realize that this little girl truly no longer treated him like an outsider. Her boldness was growing by the day, and she had no regard whatsoever for the reserve a girl her age ought to have.

More than that, she even seed to have quite a few tricks for dealing with n.

It was only because it was him. If it had been any other man with a weaker will, he likely would have already been played in circles by her antics.

Splash, splash!

Thus the two of them waded onward, one before the other, stepping through the soft mud beneath their feet while admiring the beautiful flower clusters around them, moving slowly toward the source of the fragrance ahead.

The farther they went, the lovelier the scenery beca. More and more flower beds appeared around them, and the floral scent grew ever thicker.

At a glance, it looked like a carefully tended paradise hidden away from the mortal world.

While appreciating the rare beauty of the place, Chen Guan quietly heightened his vigilance.

Because though this sea of flowers looked peaceful and harmonious, demonic qi filled the heavens.

Cheep, cheep, cheep!

Suddenly, a disturbance sounded from a flower bed in the distance, and then a sunflower poked its head out.

That sunflower was only about the size of a palm, but in the very center of its flower disk there was a pair of round, darting eyes that stared unblinkingly at Chen Guan and Luo Li in naked curiosity.

Luo Li gave a start and instinctively grabbed Chen Guan’s arm.

After waiting for a mont, and seeing that the flower spirit showed no intention of harming them, Luo Li patted her chest and let out a long breath of relief.

Her courage rose imdiately, and she cautiously waved at the sunflower.

The sunflower wobbled its flower disk in return and let out a few soft little chirping sounds, as though answering her greeting.

Chen Guan tugged her along and kept moving forward.

They had barely gone a few more steps when a crisp trumpet-like sound rang out ahead.

Then a string of bright, multicolored trumpet flowers wriggled out from the nearby grass and gently wound themselves around Luo Li’s pale ankle.

“Oh!”

Luo Li jumped in fright again, but then she quickly realized that the trumpet flowers ant no harm. They were only curious, and were lightly tickling the soles of her feet with their soft petals.

“Ahahaha!”

The ticklish sensation made her laugh so hard she nearly lost her footing, her whole body trembling with laughter.

After amusing themselves enough, the trumpet flowers soon retreated back into the grass.

Chen Guan glanced at her.

To be honest, compared with that cold, distant deanor she had worn before, he actually felt that this lively, carefree side of her was more real, more grounded.

He just did not know why she had suddenly begun showing him the way she was truly ant to be.

As they continued onward, more and more little flower spirits appeared.

But all of them were rely flowers and grasses that had only just begun to develop so rudintary intelligence. They did not possess the ability to communicate with humans.

Chen Guan had originally wanted to find a “person” to ask for directions, but looking at the situation, he could only give up on that idea.

Thus the two of them wandered on aimlessly toward the deeper parts of the flower sea.

Very soon, a stretch of higher ground ca into view.

Upon that rise stood a gigantic locust tree. Beneath its canopy, birds sang and flowers blood, green shade pooled in layers, and through the foliage one could vaguely make out the outline of a small courtyard.

Could this be Granny Huai’s dwelling?

Chen Guan muttered inwardly, then grabbed hold of Luo Li, who was still busy playing with the flowers and grasses, and quickened his pace toward that patch of land ahead.

From a distance, the rise had not seed large.

But only when they drew near did they realize it was no rise at all. It was an enormous locust tree rooted at the center of the flower sea, its gnarled roots spreading outward and coiling together into a piece of land.

Upon that patch of land, flowers and grasses grew in clusters, and green trees cast their shade.

Luo Li looked up at the towering tree, and her curiosity surged at once. She was just about to run over and get a closer look.

But the mont she took a step forward, Chen Guan yanked her back.

“Can you show a little manners first?”

He shot her a glare, then simply stood where he was and waited quietly.

Very soon, two green figures darted out from the trees ahead.

When the two of them focused their eyes and looked more closely, they discovered that they were actually two “trees”!

The two tree creatures were shaped vaguely like humans, with two arms and two legs, though their bodies were covered in bark.

At the center of each trunk, in the gray-brown wood, were two glossy black eyes, staring at them in wide curiosity.

Before Chen Guan could speak, the two tree figures spoke first, one in a male voice and the other in a female voice.

“Are you... here to see Granny Huai?”

“Uh...!”

Luo Li stared with her mouth hanging open, utterly astonished.

These tree spirits... could actually talk?

She had read plenty of accounts about spirits in books before, but this was the first ti she had ever seen a tree spirit that could speak human language.

Chen Guan, by contrast, remained far calr. Cupping his fists toward the two tree figures, he said,

“My na is Chen Guan. The two of us have co specifically to pay a visit to Granny Huai.”