The Invincible Bodyguard Starting by Escorting the Doomsday Imperial Princess Chapter 56 : Chapter 56

Chapter 56: Peach Blossom Hollow!

“No. Your grandmother is fine.”

Chen Guan reached out and gently rubbed the withered wooden heads of the two little tree spirits.

“She has so urgent matters to deal with at the mont and can’t get away. Once she finishes dealing with this stretch of trouble, she’ll definitely co looking for you.”

“Wuu...”

The two little ones lowered their heads, biting their wooden lips as tears dripped down one after another.

The demon race was born with innate spiritual resonance, and their sensitivity toward blood-related kin far surpassed that of humans.

In truth, as early as one day ago, they had already sensed that the thread of bloodline connection linking them to their grandmother had abruptly vanished.

At first, they did not understand what it ant.

But after seeing Little Flower worn on soone’s head, how could they possibly fail to understand?

Chen Guan knew that such clumsy lies could not fool them.

Yet, to his surprise,

the two little tree spirits did not expose him, nor did they burst into wailing sobs.

Instead, they raised the backs of their hands, wiped away their tears, and identical looks of grim resolve appeared on their little wooden faces.

“Mm! Then we’ll live properly... If Grandmother doesn’t co find us, then we’ll go find her!”

Alas.

Chen Guan sighed inwardly.

Because he could already see the seeds of hatred quietly beginning to sprout in those two little ones’ eyes.

“Humans kill demons, seize their essence, and refine dicine. Demons eat humans raw and drink their blood.”

“What a tangled ss of debts.”

“As for imperial power and the world, that has nothing to do with .”

Chen Guan forcibly suppressed that unnecessary sentint and stopped thinking about it.

“I’m an Escort Master. I only care about delivering the goods and making my money.”

He shook off the jumble of thoughts in his head, and without looking at the little red flower that was about to wither away in their hands, he rely lifted his chin at the two little ones.

“Pack up. We leave imdiately.”

“Mm!”

Xiao Lü and Xiao Cong nodded.

Their dry arms twisted and folded, the wood grain on their skin cracking audibly as they curled into an exquisite little square box in the blink of an eye.

Then they carefully placed the scorched and withered little red flower inside and stored it close to themselves.

Chen Guan drew a deep breath and walked out of the dim cave.

The sun outside was blazing.

Luo Li had already piled all the waterskins together and was wiping the half-dried blood from them with a rag.

As soon as she saw Chen Guan erge, she hurriedly reported, “Brother Chen, I collected fifteen waterskins in total.”

“That’s enough.”

Chen Guan walked over and weighed them in his hand, hearing the water slosh inside.

With these supplies, the two little ones would have just enough to hold on until they entered the Mist-Shrouded Forest.

The Scarlet Fla Scale Ox had already carved the words “A wise man submits to circumstances” into its very bones.

The instant it heard Chen Guan’s footsteps, it imdiately lowered its head and assud a posture of respectful welco.

Chen Guan fastened the waterskins at his waist, lifted the Horse-Cleaving Saber, grabbed Xiao Cong and Xiao Lü, and with a light tap of his toes, landed atop the ox’s back.

Seeing this, Luo Li hurriedly scrambled up as well and clutched tightly at the hard scales on the ox’s back.

“Sit tight, all you honored sirs!”

The Scarlet Fla Scale Ox gave a rough-voiced warning.

Then it suddenly exerted force, drove forward on its four pillar-like legs, kicked up a gale of sand, and charged madly into the distance.

To be fair, once this creature cast aside its dignity and wholeheartedly devoted itself to being a mount, its professional ability truly was impeccable.

Not only was it twice as fast as before, it was so steady that even the water inside the skins barely sloshed.

Chen Guan simply stood there atop the ox’s back, letting the scorching wind whip his sleeves until they fluttered wildly.

This Senluo Hall was the first mysterious religious force he had encountered that existed independently of imperial authority.

There were indeed plenty of mysterious religious forces in this world.

But those self-important cultivators had always occupied so famous mountain or ancient sacred site, priding themselves on detachnt from worldly affairs and tranquil non-action. They rarely appeared in public, and most of the world scarcely even knew such religious powers existed.

Moreover, they never took the initiative to wade into the muddy waters of imperial power struggles.

Yet wasn’t Luo Li supposed to be the illegitimate daughter of that old emperor in Shangjing City of Great Zhou?

How had she managed to drag in a mysterious force like this as well?

“Looks like Great Zhou is far more chaotic than it appears...”

Chen Guan furrowed his brows.

And judging from that old demoness in red’s thods just now, Granny Huai had likely already been killed before Little Flower ever t with disaster.

If that had not been the case, then with Granny Huai’s fiercely protective nature, even if she had to fight until her soul was utterly scattered, she would never have stood by and watched soone pluck Little Flower off and absorb its demonic qi.

Much less allow it to be worn atop that old demoness’s head in blatant display.

Most crucial of all was this: who exactly had killed that old demoness?

“How did the demon spirits get dragged into this too?”

Only then did Chen Guan fully realize it.

This escort mission did not rely involve deathsworn assassins. It also involved mysterious religious sects, fiendish beings, and even demon spirits willing to die.

“Are the Great Zhou imperial family’s entanglents really this tangled?”

Seated in front, Luo Li kept sneaking glances backward at Chen Guan from the corner of her eye.

The mont she saw his face darkening little by little until it resembled the bottom of a soot-black pot, alarm imdiately rose in her heart. She quickly turned her head away and unconsciously began scratching at the scales on the ox’s back with her fingers.

She had originally thought Chen Guan would fly into a thunderous rage and press a saber to her neck again to demand more money.

She had even prepared herself to hand over every last bit of her private savings.

Yet the Scarlet Fla Scale Ox thundered over black sand all the way until dusk sared the horizon.

And not once did Chen Guan utter so much as a single word.

It was not that Chen Guan did not want to ask for more money.

It was just that no matter how much he added, he would still have to complete the mission before the Escort Points could be settled.

He feared that if, sowhere along the road, yet another utterly hair-raising background erged, then when the ti ca he might find the whole thing far too troubleso and want to abandon the job. But by then, if he looked at that gigantic figure for the payout after having increased it too many tis, he would no longer be able to bring himself to give it up.

...

Night gradually fell.

In the unique environnt of Blackfla River, it beca pitch-black to the point where one could not see one’s hand before one’s face.

Fortunately, after this long day of mad travel, they had already left the central region of Blackfla River behind. Though the surrounding heat was still scorching, it was no longer so intense that they could not put their feet on the ground.

Chen Guan checked the map.

They were now less than two hundred li away from the Mist-Shrouded Forest.

As for the environnt within the Mist-Shrouded Forest and the degree of its danger, Chen Guan knew absolutely nothing.

“Stop. We rest for the night.”

Chen Guan brought the Scarlet Fla Scale Ox to a halt and found a relatively dry, well-ventilated cave at the edge of Blackfla River.

In an unknown environnt like this, they had to restore themselves to peak condition first. Only then could they make a single, decisive push into the place tomorrow and avoid any unnecessary complications.

After resting through the night, the group once more leaped onto the Scarlet Fla Scale Ox’s back and, facing the newborn dawn, continued onward.

Not long afterward,

the scorching blackened ground beneath them gradually disappeared, and in its place there began to appear sparse patches of strange purple-black weeds.

The farther they went, the denser those purple-black weeds beca, and pale white mist started to gather above them. The air, too, lost its forr searing heat and began to grow damp.

Yet that dampness was mixed with a kind of indescribable clammy stench that made one’s chest turn sour after only a few breaths.

“Brother Chen, do you know where Peach Blossom Hollow is located inside the Mist-Shrouded Forest?” Luo Li, seated in front, turned around curiously to ask.

“Right in the center.”

Chen Guan had studied the system map countless tis already.

The Mist-Shrouded Forest was even larger than the whole of Blackfla River, almost perfectly circular in shape. The Peach Blossom Hollow that Granny Huai had spoken of happened to lie exactly at its center.

At that mont, Chen Guan noticed that the wind blowing toward them had weakened.

He lowered his eyes and saw that the Scarlet Fla Scale Ox beneath them had sohow slowed its pace without him noticing.

Its massive head swayed from side to side, and its great copper-bell eyes darted left and right suspiciously, as though afraid so unknown terror might leap out of the purple-black grass and sink its teeth into it.

“What’s wrong, old ox? Feeling itchy for a beating?” Chen Guan let out a chilly remark.

The Scarlet Fla Scale Ox shivered violently and hastily replied in an aggrieved voice, “M-Master, it’s not that this old ox is slacking off. If we go any farther... we’ll be entering Peach Blossom Hollow, one of the Ten Great Forbidden Lands within the Ten Directions Marsh!”