87 Two Sides Of The Same Coin

"Hehe, I really admire how honest you are with someone you just met, however, was that training truly necessary?" The girl who has yet to introduce herself laughed while she was walking in front of Meng.

Just a few minutes ago, Meng was planning to leave but it looked like the girl wanted to talk to someone for a bit so she offered to lead him out of the mountains and somehow they started talking but it was more like an interrogation since the girl had too many questions. Meng didn't even hide the fact that he is from the Blue Wind Empire which made the girl tenser around him.

"Necessary...It depends on what you mean by necessary. We all do things that others might treat as unnecessary...For example, love...Tell me, little sister, is that necessary?" Meng asked with an amused smile since he found this girl quite amusing not to mention he could feel that she was special. Even if he wouldn't have felt that, he could still tell just by her being alone in this area and how well she knows the surroundings.

"Eh?! W-Well, I think love is necessary if you want to be happy and c-continue your lineage..." The girl blushed slightly before she replied a bit timidly, showing that she was very inexperienced when it came to such subjects.

"That is a very wonderful opinion you have there but also very naive...However you aren't right, you can both be happy and continue your lineage without feeling the love. What I did there...walking through a snowstorm for the whole month without the aid of profound strength...I did that to strengthen my resolve and also to forget about the outside world. I always strived for improvement in my life because the feeling of improvement always fulfilled me even if that feeling was just in my mind." Meng gently smiled at the girl after hearing her words.

"Hehe, why are you so cynical, mysterious big brother?" The girl asked while glancing back at Meng with a light sweet smile that would be capable of melting any man's heart.

"I apologize for turning the mood gloomy but I never meant to tell that "love" is unnecessary. By the way, why are we suddenly going deeper into the mountains?" Meng asked.

"Please don't worry, we will be going through the Phoenix Perching Valley...You might not have the phoenix bloodline but you have something different so you should be capable of ignoring the Great Phoenix Formation. May I ask the mysterious big brother how did he obtain it?" The girl replied with a smile before she asked with a slightly cautious look in her eyes.

"Ah, that...I offered to help her by restoring her body." Meng replied casually while looking around for any signs of formation.

"Eeh?! Really?! W-Wait, "her"?" The girl stopped walking and turned around at Meng with a shocked expression which made her look completely adorable.

'Does she look beautiful even while wearing any type of expression? It's not like I want to try to anger her but I bet even the most twisted and evil expression would make her have a special type of charm.' Meng found out that this girl's beauty was far more dangerous than Xia Qingyue's.

"Her name is Su Zhu, it's the name that I chose for her...And since you could feel her presence since the beginning, I guess it won't hurt...Su Zhu, if you can..." Meng said and within a few seconds...

"...When will you understand that I am not some sort of pet you can call out and off?" The girl heard a slightly miserable voice behind her and when she turned around, her eyes widened when she saw a small figure of Phoenix flapping its wings in front of her in its spiritual form.

"Yet you still like to be spoiled" Meng retorted in a low tone.

"Ah!" The girl quickly bowed to Su Zhu in her spiritual form without saying anything.

"Greetings Complete Inheritor of the other half of my residual soul~" Su Zhu said with an amused voice.

"Let's continue, you can talk while we are on our way, I don't really want to be caught by anyone from your sect, after all, I still have some matters to attend to at the Divine Phoenix City and I would like to settle them without any outside disturbances." Meng felt how Su Zhu was giving him a proud look when the girl immediately bowed out of respect. He could even tell what she was meaning to tell him with that look..."See? Why can't you be more like this sensible and gentle girl?"

Meng only had one answer to that: 'I don't worship gods, not while they look like a bird that just caught on fire'

'?! Hey! I can hear your thoughts when you are staring at me like that!' Unexpectedly, Meng didn't bother to hide those thoughts which made Su Zhu snap back at him.

While those two were arguing through their thoughts, the girl was having a small talk with Su Zhu while leading Meng without being aware of what those two are doing.

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"This is it, I shouldn't go any farther but you can easily reach the Divine Phoenix City if you will keep going this way, just please be careful not to get caught by the people from my sect." The girl said with a shy smile.

"Alright, thank you for showing me the way even though you didn't have to. I can see why you are...forget it."

"Please don't mention it! You have shown me something I normally wouldn't be able to see. This was also my first time talking to someone outside my sect, however, I wasn't nervous at all because the mysterious big brother is easy to talk to~" The girl waved her fair small hand as if she hasn't done anything worth mentioning before replying with a wide happy smile.

'...Now I understand...She is probably the type of beauty I am the weakest against...I can't care any less about some cold beauty or some super seductive women, I have either been trained against such or I have no interest in women who are too prideful. But this girl is too naive and innocent, this is the first time I am seeing this type of beauty in this world, the only one who comes close to her from who I have met so far would be Xiao Lingxi' Meng thought while staring at the girl's happy innocent smile that would be capable of tempting any kind of men, however, there wasn't an ounce of impure thoughts in his mind.

Instead of being tempted by her beauty, he felt more a need to protect her innocence and naivety that he has seen for the first time he arrived in this world.

"Ah! By the way, may I ask why would you want to travel to the Divine Phoenix City." After talking to Su Zhu for a little while, the girl had no ounce of suspicion towards Meng but she was a bit curious and maybe also slightly reluctant to let this accidental and odd meeting end.

"Mainly Black Moon Merchant Guild but also to familiarize with the city. You could say that I am an unshackled traveler who wants to see everything this world has to offer, princess." Meng said with a light smile.

"*gasp* You knew...?" The girl revealed a slightly surprised expression while covering her mouth with her small hand which caused Meng's eyebrow to rise.

"Well, I would be lying if I said that I wasn't suspecting little sister of being someone important but what I just said was more of a moniker. I didn't expect this "princess" to be the real princess. I apologize for any possible discourtesy towards Your Highness." Meng replied with a slightly amused tone before extending his left leg slightly forward, putting his right hand to his heart, lightly bowing to the girl.

"Wha-? Please stop!" The girl couldn't let anyone who has the residual soul of divine phoenix following him to bow to her. She wanted to straighten him with her own hands but she quickly stopped when she was about to touch Meng's shoulders before retracting her hands to herself.

"As you command, Your Highness" Meng straightened himself but no matter how seriously he said those words, he couldn't hide the smirk on his face which was his fatal mistake.

"Y-You...You are making fun of me, aren't you?!" The girl blushed slightly as she started pouting her lips in a dissatisfied manner, however, after a while she recovered and started giggling out of nowhere.

'I was too much into it that I forgot about this world's culture and performed a bow I saw in historical films...Welp, there was no harm in doing that.'

*Giggle* " Still, what kind of bow was that?"

"Was it too discourteous?" Meng asked with a slightly forced smile, trying to dodge the question.

"Eh? No, no...It had its own elegance and it also looked quite sincere, hehe." The girl quickly waved her hands to deny his words before she started to lightly laugh while covering his mouth, once again giving birth to a completely innocent and beautiful sight.

'...I better leave already.' Meng thought why did he even bother to tease this girl whom he might never meet again.

'What is this feeling? Why do I want him to stay a bit longer...? Why do I want to talk to him a bit longer...? Why is it so hard to just say goodbye? We will probably meet each other again if he intends on staying at the Divine Phoenix City for some time...So why?' The girl thought, confused by her own emotions and thoughts while staring into Meng's questioning eyes.