86: Picked up ten million spirit crystals

The night passed quickly.

Leng Yue was still groggily asleep when she suddenly felt her body float up.

She rubbed her eyes and found that Cao Bu had already placed her on his back and was walking out of the cave.

The early morning sunlight filtered through the cave entrance, making her fair and delicate skin clearly visible.

Another five days passed.

Cao Bu walked out of the forest carrying the newly awakened Leng Yue on his back.

Seeing a Spirit Crystal by his feet, he bent down to pick it up again.

"We've reached Sword Province. I didn't expect us to already be on the border of Star Province and Sword Province; our luck is really good."

He stowed the Spirit Crystal away with a smile.

Leng Yue lay on his back, regaining her senses, and stared at the storage ring on his hand with a strange look: "How is your luck so good? You encountered a Spirit Crystal Mine a few days ago, and adding what you've picked up from the ground these days, how much is the total?"

Cao Bu continued walking forward, his tone indifferent: "Guess."

Leng Yue thought for a moment, her tone a bit uncertain: "You got seven million from the Spirit Crystal Mine, plus those picked up on the road—picking up tens of thousands a day, that's hundreds of thousands in ten days—it should be around eight million?"

Cao Bu shook his head, his side profile facing her, as he calmly uttered a few words: "Ten million."

Leng Yue's voice suddenly rose, filled with disbelief: "How is that possible? It's only been ten days, how could there be ten million? Did you miscalculate?"

Cao Bu explained: "While you were asleep just now, I encountered another small Spirit Crystal Mine, which had about two million inside."

"Adding the hundreds of thousands picked up on the road these days, it's roughly ten million in total."

Leng Yue sucked in a breath of cold air.

In just ten short days, picking up ten million Spirit Crystals for nothing—this luck was simply incredible.

"Why didn't you have such good luck before?" Leng Yue frowned and pressed for an answer.

She suddenly realized something, her tone carrying a hint of joy: "Could it be that being with me brings you good luck? It seems we really are a match made in heaven!"

Cao Bu felt speechless. Just as he was about to retort, his foot suddenly stepped on something.

He looked down; a blue hairpin was lying on the ground.

"What is this?" He bent down and picked up the hairpin.

Leng Yue leaned in to look, her eyes widening in surprise: "This is actually an immortal sacred artifact! How is this possible? It's one thing to pick up Spirit Crystals, but you can even pick up an immortal sacred artifact."

Cao Bu had already known the Rank of the hairpin through the System; he was just intentionally pretending to be ignorant.

His eyes darted around as an idea immediately struck him: "This hairpin is quite pretty; Xiao Yu should like it, right?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, a hand reached over and snatched the hairpin directly from his hand.

Leng Yue's voice came from the left: "I like this hairpin too, just give it to me."

Without waiting for Cao Bu to agree, she had already tucked the hairpin into her hair bun.

Cao Bu frowned, his tone carrying a bit of dissatisfaction: "It's just an immortal sacred artifact; to you, it's no different from trash. Why are you snatching it?"

Currently, Leng Yue's inheritance progress had reached 4%, with 5% being the maximum. He was still short by the final 1%, so he had to put in a bit more effort.

If he could pull off a 'hero saving the beauty' scenario, perhaps he could make Leng Yue completely sincere toward him.

At that time, Leng Yue would be like Su Li, one hundred percent loyal to him.

However, unlike Su Li's loyalty, Leng Yue would become his most faithful 'simp,' standing by his side no matter what.

Even if he said he was the one who defiled Gu Lingshuang, Leng Yue probably wouldn't believe it.

Even if she believed it, she might think that Gu Lingshuang seduced him into making a mistake, eventually pushing all the blame onto Gu Lingshuang and saying he was just innocent.

In short, at that time, Leng Yue's thoughts would become exceptionally outrageous.

And all those outrageous thoughts would ultimately be for the sake of pleasing and defending him.

Just as this thought flashed through Cao Bu's mind, a gruff voice came from ahead: "This road was opened by me, this tree was planted by me! If you want to pass through, leave your toll behind!"

Cao Bu and Leng Yue looked up to see more than twenty people standing opposite them. Leading them was a one-eyed man, carrying a three-meter-long greatsword, exuding a bandit aura.

The one-eyed man scanned Cao Bu before his gaze finally landed on Leng Yue on his back. An undisguised lust appeared on his face as he licked his lips, his tone greasy:

"Kid, you're quite lucky, carrying such a beauty on your back."

"How about this: hand over the wealth on your person and the woman on your back, and we brothers will let you pass."

"If you don't agree, don't blame us for being impolite and letting you die here in the wilderness with no one to even collect your body!"

Leng Yue's heart tightened, and her legs subconsciously squeezed Cao Bu's waist.

She currently couldn't use her cultivation at all; she was no different from an ordinary person and couldn't even protect herself.

However, she could still discern the cultivation of these people and quickly warned: "They are all in the Heavenly Bridge Realm. The lowest is at the third level of the Heavenly Bridge, and the strongest one, that one-eyed man, is at the ninth level."

"Cao Bu, what should we do? You seem to only be at the first level of the Heavenly Bridge Realm?"

"Even the one with the lowest cultivation here could easily kill you. I'm afraid we're in trouble this time."

Cao Bu pretended to swallow nervously and asked: "Can you really not use even a sliver of strength? Even just one move?"

Leng Yue shook her head, her tone helpless: "Once I take action, the poison in my leg will rapidly spread throughout my body, and I will surely die within moments."

Cao Bu gritted his teeth, fished out a Fourth-Rank Speed Talisman from his storage ring, and slapped it onto his leg. He turned his face to Leng Yue and said: "Hold me tight!"

After saying that, he kicked off and flew out in the direction of the Gu Clan.

Seeing this, the one-eyed man was exasperated: "Damn it, you dare to ignore me? Brothers, after them!"

Immediately following that, such a scene appeared over the wasteland: more than twenty people chasing after Cao Bu.

Leng Yue looked at the people closely pursuing them and frowned: "Don't you have any offensive Talismans on you that can kill them?"

Cao Bu charged forward with all his might, shaking his head: "I rarely went out before, so I didn't prepare those."

He didn't have any?

How was that possible!

Su Li had another identity, which was that of a Talisman Master.

In these hundred years, the Talismans Su Li prepared for him were not few, and at the very least, they were Eighth-Rank Talismans comparable to the World King level.

In the Spirit Realm, the Ranks of Artifact Refiners, Alchemists, and Talisman Masters correspond to the twelve cultivation Realms, divided into Ranks one to twelve.

Usually, Rank twelve is not called a Rank Twelve Talisman Master, but a talisman emperor.

Below that are Ranks one to eleven, though some people start calling them Talisman King, Talisman Sovereign, Talisman Venerable, Pseudo-Talisman Emperor, and talisman emperor from Rank seven onwards; the naming is a mess, but the meanings are similar.

Su Li was a Pseudo-Talisman Emperor.

Leng Yue stared at the people behind them, her face full of worry.

With the support of the Fourth-Rank Speed Talisman, Cao Bu's speed was at most comparable to the Peak of the Heavenly Bridge Realm, but the opposing side happened to have a leader at the Peak of the Heavenly Bridge Realm.

Once the Talisman lost its effect, they would surely be caught.

In the blink of an eye, another five days passed.

Leng Yue had fallen into a deep sleep again a few hours ago, and the one-eyed man and his lackeys behind them still hadn't given up on chasing Cao Bu.

Suddenly, the speed Talisman on Cao Bu's leg lost its effect, and his speed slowed down all at once.

Immediately after, a loud roar came from behind: "Greatsword Slash!"

Cao Bu looked with his peripheral vision and saw that the one-eyed man had already rushed behind him, raising his sword to strike at Leng Yue's back.

Just then, Leng Yue seemed about to wake up from her deep sleep, moving groggily.

Cao Bu's heart stirred; if 'hero saving the beauty' wasn't possible, this 'emasculated version of self-harm for sympathy' was also good.

Immediately, he pulled Leng Yue from his back into his arms with a backhand, using his own back to forcefully take that sword strike.

At the same time.

Leng Yue slowly opened her eyes and happened to see this sword strike coming down, shouting in desperation: "Cao Bu, quick, dodge!"