The trio passed through a small town. Zuo Wuyou and Yang Kai waited hidden outside while Liu Ji went in. Moments later, he emerged driving a horse-drawn carriage.
All three were at the Zhenyuan Realm. In theory, they could fly through the air.
However, doing so would drain their strength far too quickly and wouldn't last long. On top of that, Zuo Wuyou and Liu Ji were still recovering from their injuries, so a carriage was naturally the best option for travel at a time like this.
Once they reunited, Liu Ji gave Zuo Wuyou a slight nod. "All arranged, Brother Zuo."
Zuo Wuyou acknowledged him and turned to Yang Kai. "Please, Saint, climb aboard."
Yang Kai went with the flow and promptly got into the carriage with Zuo Wuyou.
Liu Ji resumed driving, and the carriage jolted away from the small town.
Inside, Yang Kai asked, "Where are we headed now?"
"Dawn City!" Zuo Wuyou replied.
Yang Kai understood.
Based on the intelligence Yan Peng had previously disclosed, Dawn City was the very foundation of the Church of Divine Light, brimming with powerful cultivators. The entire upper echelon of the Church was gathered there.
Now that the Saint had been revealed, the top priority was delivering him to Dawn City!
Though the name itself stirred a strange sense of warmth in Yang Kai's heart, bringing back memories of his days in the Ink Battlefield, fighting side by side with his squadmates.
To this day, many of those familiar names and faces had already faded into the river of history…
Dawn City was no short distance away. At their current pace, even traveling day and night, it would take five or six days to arrive.
That much time meant this journey would likely be anything but peaceful.
Zuo Wuyou clearly knew this as well and had already seized the opportunity to focus on healing.
Not long after the trio left the small town, a streak of blood-colored light shot into it. Moments later, the same light burst out and resolved into the figure of the red-robed woman. She hovered in the air, gazing in the direction the carriage had departed, and let out a soft, cold hum. "The legendary Saint… I wonder how he tastes?"
With that murmur, she dissolved back into a blood-red streak of light and pursued them.
The small town behind her had fallen into deathly silence…
Half a day later, Yang Kai, inside the carriage, suddenly heard strange noises. Zuo Wuyou, who had been meditating, was startled as well. He quickly opened his eyes, pulled back the curtain, and asked, "What's going on?"
Once he looked, he saw the truth. By the roadside ahead, a burly man had forced a woman to the ground. Leering with a depraved laugh, he was tearing at her clothes.
A large expanse of pale skin was already exposed. The woman screamed desperately for help, but her cries only seemed to inflame the brute's savagery.
"Brother Zuo…" Liu Ji's face twisted with distress. He was a compassionate man by nature, and the Church of Divine Light's teachings included the principle of aiding the weak against the strong. Seeing such an atrocity, he could hardly remain unmoved.
But a sharp look of wariness flashed across Zuo Wuyou's face, and he barked, "Keep driving!"
Liu Ji gritted his teeth and urged the carriage past at speed.
Under normal circumstances, the two of them would never have turned a blind eye to something like this. But right now, there was only one priority—escort the Saint to Dawn City. Everything else was secondary.
As the carriage passed, the burly man had paused his movements, eyeing Liu Ji warily. It was only after the carriage moved on that he let out a breath of relief.
The woman pinned beneath him shrieked, "Help! Someone, please save me!"
The brute slapped her across the face and snarled, "Nobody's coming to save you. Accept your fate!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than his body jolted. He looked down to find that a spear tip had, somehow, pierced clean through his torso.
His eyes went wide, and all the strength drained from him in an instant.
Yang Kai flicked his spear, tossing the brute aside, then smiled and extended a hand toward the pale, terrified woman. "Miss, you're safe now."
The woman clearly hadn't processed what had just happened. It wasn't until she saw the corpse beside her that she truly broke down, throwing herself into Yang Kai's arms and sobbing.
A short while later, Yang Kai sat upright inside the carriage with a warm, soft figure cradled in his arms. The woman, presumably still too shaken by what she had endured, clung tightly to his neck and refused to let go, hanging off him like an octopus.
Zuo Wuyou didn't know where to look. The woman's clothes were in tatters, and all that exposed snow-white skin was frankly blinding.
"My Lord, what are you…" Zuo Wuyou struggled for words. He had never expected the Saint to suddenly leap from the carriage and play the hero rescuing the damsel in distress.
That said, he had to admit the woman was quite striking. Even with her hair disheveled and her face smudged with grime, nothing could hide her beauty. If anything, it only amplified her pitiable air, making anyone who looked upon her feel a pang of sympathy.
In these chaotic times, a woman with such looks would easily attract unwanted attention.
With a stranger present, Zuo Wuyou couldn't very well address Yang Kai as "Saint," so he settled on "My Lord."
Yang Kai chuckled. "When you see injustice on the road and draw your blade, you're simply doing your duty. If we can't be bothered to help when it's right in front of us, what's the point of cultivation? Besides, there's plenty of room in here—one more person won't make a difference."
Zuo Wuyou could only say, "As the Saint says."