THE VILLAIN's APPRENTICE ✔

18 🗡 Wealth and Power

"Da Xia, what's wrong?" Yong Jie wrapped an arm around the girl and lifted her chin up to look at him. "Tell me."

"Nothing," Da Xia mumbled and threw a glance at the group of ladies who were already in a distance. She wasn't mistaken. She heard the female lead's name although she didn't see her face.

However, the male and female lead weren't supposed to meet until the warrior reached North Mountain country. Perhaps this was just one of those events in the book where the two were in the same place at the same time but didn't cross paths. How she wished she didn't skim through the pages of the chapters meant for the City of Lanterns arc so she would know the answer.

It was odd. The way her heart drummed painfully inside her chest was extremely odd. Why was she feeling so lost and gloomy? She knew from the very beginning who the warrior would end up with, didn't she? Perhaps, aside from the fact that she didn't like the female lead for him, she was just probably being territorial due to the time she spent with the guy. Besides, it wasn't the female lead's time yet. Her encounter with the warrior should be at North Mountain country.

When Yong Jie was about to look at where she was staring, Da Xia immediately wrapped her arms around his body and gazed up at him. "Don't look, master," she said.

"Why not? What's the matter?"

"I don't want you to look at them," she responded in a serious tone. "They're all pretty."

"They're all pretty?" A wicked grin spread on his lips. "Then I must take a look."

"No!"

The warrior began to walk toward the direction where the group of sect ladies went to, but Da Xia stubbornly hugged his body and tried to stop his steps even though she just ended up being dragged along like a doll.

"Don't look!" she shrieked in panic. Did she inadvertently cause this shift of events? The two leads were not supposed to meet in the City of Lanterns yet!

Realizing that her master was still advancing forward even though she was already using all her strength to block him, Da Xia removed her arms around him and dashed in the opposite direction hoping that the guy would be curious as to where she was running to and would try to catch her. However, when she glanced back, she saw that the warrior was just laughing at her. And then, he resumed walking toward the direction of the group of maidens.

No! Da Xia abruptly stopped and turned around to follow the guy. What would she do if the two leads meet? They were still in South River country. There was a long way to go to North Mountain country where their first meeting was supposed to happen.

Those were her thoughts, but deep inside, an inexplicable fear was starting to settle in her heart. If the warrior would be able to meet the female lead in this city, would his attitude toward her change? Would their bond forged by their time together throughout their journey be easily discarded?

Remembering the Rose Petal guest sect tokens in their possession, Da Xia was reminded of the importance of the female lead. Even though the warrior declined to accept the token from Qian Ru, the guest sect tokens still found their way to Yong Jie's hands.

Da Xia traced her steps back and headed toward the warrior who was still striding toward the direction of the group of maidens. But her feet reflexively stopped when something hit the ground. It was a small pebble that was infused with qi. If not for her continuous martial arts training, it would've hit her foot.

Then, more pebbles were hurled at her in rapid succession, with a speed that was almost at par with how fast her master threw pebbles at her during their training. She was able to dodge them using the techniques taught to her by the warrior, but the pebbles just kept on coming.