By disclosing a heavenly secret, it would add more negative variables in its master"s future. Therefore, the Firmament Stone zipped its mouth as if it was mute to avoid any mistakes. It was afraid that Gu Xijiu would continue asking, so it tried to escape. "Master, I need to continue my isolated cultivation." However, before it shut itself down, it added advice for Gu Xijiu. "Master, follow your heart!"Gu Xijiu remained silent but took a deep breath. She had quite a number of scruples recently; she wanted to wait for Huang Tu to return as she did not want to fail him. Thus, subconsciously, she denied Shen Nianmo and only treated him as a target of her mission.
Indeed, she had a strange feeling for Shen Nianmo. She paid more attention to this kid and did not feel disgusted by his ambiguous actions. It would certainly be great if he were the reincarnation of Huang Tu; then, she would not feel guilty if she fell in love with him. But what if he was not? There would only be two outcomes- it was either she let Huang Tu down, or she hurt Shen Nianmo in the end. However, that was not what she wanted. Thus, she did not want to give any hope to Shen Nianmo before she could confirm.
Confusion hit Gu Xijiu hard over the last few days, but now, she had a clearer mind. One day, she would find out the truth! For now, she still had to complete her mission, and just go with the flow. The only thing she could do was not to give him any hope before she found the truth. Moreover, he was still very young; it was not appropriate for him to be involved in relations.h.i.+p matters yet. It seems that helping him to focus on his cultivation was a better idea.
Thus, Gu Xijiu would have to wait until he becomes a Mighty Immortal before she could make the next move.
"Master, I can smell the mussel! It was here four days ago..." Lu Wun ran over excitedly.
Gu Xijiu regained her consciousness and quickly leaped onto its back. "Great! Let"s find it!"
The mussel had a straightforward traveling route as it traveled in a straight line. Apparently, it knew exactly where to hunt the musk deer when it arrived here. Gu Xijiu and Lu Wu arrived in a valley as they searched for the mussel by following traces of its scent.
There was a lot of gra.s.s in the area, with a fragrance similar to orchids, and that was the favorite food of musk deers. In fact, the valley was named Musk Deer Valley as it was the habitat of many musk deers.
Gu Xijiu took a stroll around and found the tracks of the mussel. It had probably grilled a few musk deers somewhere nearby as she saw a grill rack. Since the mussel achieved level eight of spiritual power, it no longer consumed raw meats; it now preferred grilled meats. It had a strange habit of stacking the firewood in the shape of its sh.e.l.l when it needed to grill something! In fact, it had a feast there as three burnt spots were found at the scene.
It was here three days ago, and apparently, it was a fruitful trip. Logically, it should have returned to the General"s Residence with the preys; how did it go missing?
Lu Wu took a stroll and found something. "Master, someone had set a trap here!"
Gu Xijiu quickly checked on it and predicted that there were three people here and their Kung Fu was equivalent to a Senior Immortal or above. Based on her observation, the mussel, who was enjoying a big feast, was their target!
However, there was no sign of a battle. Therefore, the mussel had probably escaped as it knew that it was not strong enough to fight against them when it noticed the trap. It seemed to be extremely panicked as it only ran in a straight line into a deeper part of the forest.
Gu Xijiu frowned. She knew that the mussel was not easily scared when it encountered challenges; hence, it would not run in a straight line if it was attacked solely by three Senior Immortals. In fact, it would have probably tried its best to fight and only try to escape if it was not capable of winning the battle.
However, it escaped right away this time. Apparently, it knew that its the enemy was much stronger than itself!