Chapter 172 Matter Of Heart
"Before answering your question, Ling'er, let me ask you the same question first. What will you have done, if something unexpected happened to me today?", Zhan Chen looked towards Ling'er.
"Young master, I....", Ling'er stuttered as she had never thought of such a possibility. As for something happening to her young master, she couldn't even think about such a possibility.
Zhan Chen need not hear her response from her mouth. He had the Heart peering art. So, he could somehow know what she was feeling at this time.
"Come here", Zhan Chen beckoned to Ling'er. Ling'er was always obedient. So, she walked towards Zhan Chen while looking at the gazes following her.
She felt somehow awkward after seeing so many gazes. A blush appeared on her face as she thought how embarassing it was to be seen by so many people at a time.
Zhan Chen pulled her to his embrace after she reached near him. Ling'er could feel the warmth of Zhan Chen's body.
Zhan Chen didn't release her immediately as he wanted to calm her heart for a moment. As for the gazes of the crowd, he didn't care anyway.
"Now let's come to your question", Zhan Chen spoke after releasing Ling'er from his embrace.
"Young master, I don't need an answer anymore...", Ling'er murmured as she couldn't bear so many gazes towards them. She was always a shy girl and the question she had asked was only a whim of her. But what she had never thought that, it would attract so many attention.
"Before you asked the question, I have never thought about it but now I am clear about it", Zhan Chen spoke.
"As for something happening to you in some minor faceoffs with magical beasts, that wouldn't have happened in the first place under my watch", Zhan Chen spoke with a confident tone in his voice.
"But if such a probability came true then I would have killed every beast my eyes could see at that moment", Zhan Chen spoke with a cold look on his face.
"Forget about beasts, no one is allowed to harm my precious Ling'er in this world. If anyone dare to harm you then I vow that I will make that person disappear from the face of the world".
"Even hundred deaths are not enough to compensate if anything happens to you", Zhan Chen spoke as he looked towards Ling'er tenderly.
He didn't say whether he would miss or her not but everyone could feel his emotion after hearing his reply. Even Shen Ruyan's eyes became slightly moist after hearing Zhan Chen's reply.
"Wu.wu", Ling'er started to cry as she couldn't hold her tear anymore. The emotion of her youngmaster towards her was more than what she had expected. It was too much love for an ordinary girl like her.
Su'er came to stop her but she was also doing her best not to cry. Zhan Chen felt helpless as he saw tear in both of the girls eyes. Su'er and Ling'er left without looking towards him but the attention of the crowd still remain focused on him even after both of the girls had left.
"What a young man!", elder Yang shook his head as he was also left stunned by such a display of emotion.
'It is better to warn everyone in the clan to not mess with these two maids of Ruyan. Otherwise, no one knows what will fall upon us if we anger the madnen of Zhan clan', elder Yang thought to himself.
The disturbance was brief but Zhan Chen wouldn't mind such disturbance if the cause was one of his women. He focused his attention on elder Tong again after sending Ling'er back.
Elder Tong was looking around himself after Zhan Chen said him to wait. He had not gone too far. So, his slight deviation didn't create any difficulty for Zhan Chen.
Zhan Chen started to guide him again as he processed all the information he had got from the sixth tier bear. He was still connected with his bear pet and with it's help, it was easy to guide elder Tong.
'Rock pythons, Armoured bears, Shadow leopards! The inside of the Shredded mountain range is really colourful with all sorts of magical beasts', Zhan Chen thought to himself.
The Shredded mountain range was too big and even his pet bear had not covered one fourth of the entire mountain range. But it had idea about the route which went through it's territory. So, Zhan Chen did not face much problem in determining the route.
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"Brother Tong, are you sure? There so many magical beasts in this area. Would not they made a commotion if we go through their territories?", elder Yang sent a mental message to elder Tong.
"Brother Yang, you have to beleive me. This the safest route where we can avoid clashes with sixth stage magical beasts", Elder Tong replied.
Elder Yang didn't know why elder Tong was so confident. But, he still decided to beleive in him. The situation in the Shredded mountain range was tense for some reason. So, he wanted to step out of the Shredded mountain range as soon as possible.
Actually, situation was far more critical than what elder Yang had perceived. The entire Shredded mountain range was turning more chaotic with each passing minutes.
But it didn't affect the Shen clan group as Zhan Chen was with them. Zhan Chen chose a path where they could avoid the detection of sixth tier magical beasts.
There were numerous fifth tier and fourth tier magical beasts in their path. But, Zhan Chen managed to subdue their leaders before time. So, they didn't cause any ruckus when they saw the experts of Shen clan.
Their journey through the Shredded mountain range became extremely smooth as Zhan Chen kept manipulating the leaders of the magical beasts.
"Elder Tong, you have done well", elder Yang spoke after they covered half of their path without any major incident.
"It took me four hours to find out a route for our travel. Fortunately, I have succeeded but we should not relax yet. We need to keep traveling", elder Tong replied.
Elder Yang nodded his head and became silent once again. Elder Tong led the Shen clan group as he kept crossing one area after another.
Zhan Chen could tell that Li Shu, Kai Min, Ling'er and Su'er were feeling tired but he was also helpless in this matter. If they didn't cross the Shredded mountain range now, then it may caught the attention of the seventh tier beast lord. That would be truly problematic if the beast lord laid her eyes on them.
The darkness of the night faded as the morning sun greeted the eyes of everyone from the Shen clan group. A feeling of relief rose in the heart of Shen clan warriors as they bathed in the light of morning sun.
"Elder, should we stop now? We are already near the border of Shredded mountain range", one of the Shen clan expert looked towards elder Tong.
"Not yet. We will be in trouble if any of the sixth tier magical beast catches upto us", elder Tong replied.
His words quashed the hopes of all the shen clan warriors. They ordered their horned lions to follow elder Tong as they traveled nonstop towards the border of Shredded mountain range.
Few hours passed and finally a long plain came to the view of everyone from Shen clan.
"We are finally out", a Shen clan warrior shouted with excitement as he urged his horned lion to move faster. Elder Tong also increased the pace of his mount as he galloped down the mountainous path.
"Sister, we have done this. We have crossed the Shredded mountain range and now we are at central land", Li Shu looked towards Li Yan with excitement.
A smile crept into the lips of Li Yan as she looked at the plain which was just below the mountain. She threw a look at Zhan Chen and a look of resolve appeared in her eyes.
"I will prove myself in the grand sect competition", she thought to herself.
"Young miss, shall we stop?", a Shen clan expert looked towards Shen Ruyan. Other experts of Shen clan also looked towards Shen Ruyan as all of them expected her to agree to their request.
Shen Ruyan felt a dilemma as she couldn't make a decision without consulting the sixth stage experts.
"Stop making trouble. We have already come so far. So, what is some mere distance? We will take rest after we travel to the nearby town", elder Tong turned his head to chide everyone.
Shen Ruyan gave a thankful look to elder Tong as he made her escape from the pestering of Shen clan warriors. She threw a look at Zhan Chen who was traveling behind her. Then, she urged her spirit deer to move as she followed behind the warriors of her clan.
Unbestknown to all of them, someone was cursing their entire group after they left the Shredded mountain range.
She was a female warrior who was using a strange looking mask to cover her face. "Damn, those Shen clan bastards. How dare they run away despite bringing two old geezers with them", she cursed while hiding inside an inconspicuous cave.