"Yan'er, change your clothes, alright?" The man in embroidered robes sighed, then turned towards Gu Ruoyun, "Miss, my name is Lu Shaochen. This is my junior sister, Murong Yan. May I know how I should address you?"

Gu Ruoyun's tone remained calm and she replied steadily, "You can call me Gu Ruoyun. As for this one..."

She paused for a while before continuing, "I don't know who he is."

"What?!"

Ye Nuo jumped to his feet immediately and responded with indignation, "Please, you're my bodyguard! Besides, we've been traveling together for three days and three nights yet you still haven't learned my name. Damned woman, how could you be so cruel? My name is Ye Nuo, remember it!"

After his hooting, he then whispered, "If it weren't for me leading the way, would you have reached this place? You would actually abandon your benefactor upon achieving your goal... By claiming that you don't know me."

"And three days later, we're back to where we've started."

Gu Ruoyun replied steadily, "Indeed. If it wasn't for you leading the way, I wouldn't have wandered around in circles for three days only to end up right where we started."

At that time, it was Ye Nuo who had solemnly vowed that he would definitely lead her out of this forest. In the end, they've traveled for three days only to end up in the place where they had first met...

And if it were not for the fact that she was unfamiliar with the area, she would never have allowed a ten-year-old child to lead the way.

Swish!

Ye Nuo blushed immediately and stayed silent for half a day.

Actually, one could not really put all the blame on him. He, who had never walked out of the house on his own, could not possibly be good with directions. He had initally thought that he would remember the way but in the end, they had wandered around in circles for three whole days...

"If you don't mind, Miss, we can travel together. I can lead you out of this place." Lu Shaochen's eyes sparkled and a friendly smile appeared on his handsome face.

Murong Yan has never liked it whenever her senior brother smiled at another woman. However, once she remembered that it was Gu Ruoyun who had saved her life, she forced herself to suppress her feeligns of unhappiness.

"Alright." Gu Ruoyun nodded her head after a momentary pause for thought.

After all, this was probably the only way for her to get out of this place...

...

They managed to get out of the forest and reached Black Rock City soon after. This was also Murong Yan's family's home.

Along the way, Gu Ruoyun has managed to carve out a rough idea of the terrain in the Banished Lands.

Besides the fugitives, there were native citizens of the Banished Lands as well. These people were the descendants of the cultivators who had escaped into this land. Of course, the laws of the jungle were heavily applied in a place like this.

Only those with great power would have the right to survive. The weaker ones would be swallowed by the strong, anytime! Anyone who wished to survive would have to cultivate like their life depended on it! Because of this principle, the Banished Lands has produced many strong cultivators.

Based on Lu Shaochen's information, Gu Ruoyun has found out that the most powerful force in the Banished Lands was the Ye family. According to him, the power of the Ye family's Master was a complete secret. No one knew his rank at all.

Many have assumed that the Ye family's Master has long surpassed the rank of Martial Honor and had attained the next rank.

But these were only assumptions, there was no concrete proof.

However, there was little room for criticism. The Master of the Ye family has long held the position of the number one cultivator in the Banished Lands!

As for Murong Yan and Lu Shaochen, they had journeyed into the forest in order to find a healing remedy for the ailing old Master Murong. Who would have known that they would meet with such an incident...