Zi Di quietly opened the tent and made her way in.
The narrow tent was dusky.
The body double was lying down and sleeping.
Zi Di softly called “your Lordship”, but the body double didn’t react, he was sleeping very soundly.
Zi Di’s heart exclaimed: “He fought lustily last night, adventured through the forest, chased down the remaining magic beasts, and completely squeezed out his strength and stamina. He couldn’t support himself, therefore he sank into a deep sleep after returning. However, it would be too reckless to not treat his wounds.”
Zi Di prudently came to the body double’s side, knelt to the ground, and slowly moved the body double’s clothes with her fingers.
By the time Zi Di began taking off his clothes, her movements had become very steady.
Her heart constantly encouraged her: “Zi Di, summon your courage, you can do it!”
“He could brave death, yet you find this impossible?”
“In any case you’ve done this before in the monkey tail brown bear’s cave.”
“This isn’t the first time!”
“But you must do it as soon as possible, the longer you procrastinate, the higher the chance of being discovered.”
“Most of all you cannot let Zhen Jin find out about this, otherwise unforeseen consequences will occur!”
One effort later, Zi Di’s face was soaked with sweat, and she panted heavily.
The body double was in a deep sleep and had a rigid body, it was very strenuous for Zi Di to move him.
At the same time, the arduous task also made her feel happy and excited, as well as the thrill of acting behind Zhen Jin’s back.
“Eh?” After a comprehensive examination of the body double, Zi Di was surprised.
The body double had no injuries, although his skin was covered in blood and looked dreadful, his body was in great condition.
Zi Di blinked repeatedly and blankly stared.
She suddenly realized why the body double refused her treatment, immediately appealed to everyone, and led Zong Ge and the others in a pursuit.
“Could it be that he was never wounded?”
“Indeed, according to the others, he hadn’t sustained visible wounds in his prior fights. Afterwards when the camp caught fire, no one saw any of his fights.
“In this way, his battle strength is so powerful after beastification that he didn’t even lose a single hair. However, this disagrees with common sense, therefore he pretended to be injured?”
“Hmph, he cheated me well!”
Zi Di bit her teeth and relaxed her heart.
Looking at the body double still sleeping like a baby, Zi Di suddenly had the urge to bite his cheek.
“So, you had a brave plan.”
“You were always certain, therefore you pursued the blue dog fox wolf and the magic beast corps.”
“You appealed to the others to follow you, in fact the more there were, the more suspicious you thought you could cast off? After all, if you did this by yourself, the people would be skeptical.”
“You are a scoundrel to make me so worried!”
Zi Di pointed at the body double’s bare chest and bit her teeth. Eventually with an itching heart, she suddenly bent over and leaned near his face.
But she didn’t bite him, rather she gave him a superficial kiss.
After doing this, she felt herself burning up.
“What is happening to me?!” She subconsciously covered her cheeks and felt boiling steam coming from her ears.
Her heart frantically jumped about, and excitement and happiness attacked, causing her head to sink into some kind of wonderful dizziness.
She gradually calmed down throughout the day after leaving the body double’s tent.
“Did I fasten his clothes’ buttons?”
Zi Di discovered she didn’t remember anything, during that time her mood had been too chaotic.
She wanted to verify this, however at that time, someone approached her.
“I should button him up.” Zi Di hesitated like a thief with a guilty conscience for a while before hastily leaving.
Nightfall, next to some bonfires.
Everyone ate dinner while cordially discussing the body double.
The people no longer treated him like a templar knight, but a divine scion knight!
Cang Xu speculated even more: “Looking back now, it’s not at all strange.
“Lord Zhen Jin himself is an outstanding cultivator, his innate talent is outstanding.”
“He has a noble bloodline, is a templar knight, and offers all of his conviction towards Emperor Sheng Ming.”
“These already make him one in ten thousand, however what is more praiseworthy, is his scrupulous abiding of knightly morality. He uproots the strong, supports the weak, upholds virtue, condemns evil, attends to the small and weak, and even if he has to sacrifice his life, he shall never violate the templar knight doctrine.”
“He is an fearless hero, is impartial, is willing to accept any person, and views everyone as his comrade. From these traits, one can make out his expansive vision as well as his merciful and benevolent nature.”
“Don’t tell me such a person shouldn’t receive godly concern?”
Continuing, Cang Xu mentioned the empire’s invasion of the Wilderness Continent and the politics that were sure to separate divine scion knights from the rest.
Zi Di felt weird listening to these things.
The body double was obviously a beastified person, yet he became a divine scion knight. That was excessive! Cang Xu’s unreasonable words came from not knowing the truth and essentially feeling——hey, that makes sense!
Zi Di’s heart was both happy and concerned.
She was happy that the body double was popular with the people and acknowledged by them. She was worried that if the truth was exposed, everyone would have a massive drop in mentality, when that happened, it would be difficult to respond.
The body double woke up and made his way out of the tent.
Zi Di guiltily tucked in her head, however the body double acted natural, allowing her heart to relax and guess to herself: “It seems I did button his clothes, I merely forgot about it. He shouldn’t have discovered my visit.”
The body double mingled with the crowd and received everyone’s warm praise.
But the body double chose to be the first to cheer for Zong Ge, Tripleblade, and Lan Zao by name.
The crowd excitedly followed the body double in a roaring jubilation.
The ambience was as warm as the bonfires.
In the crowd Zi Di gazed at the shouting body double with a flickering state of mind: “He is a true knight, and an excellent leader!”
The next day, everyone dissected the blue dog fox wolf.
“If this wolf corpse does not have much value, I wish to offer as a sacrifice to my master, the grand Emperor Sheng Ming.” After the dissection, the body double wanted to take the wolf corpse away.
The atmosphere in the tent immediately turned solemn.
“Of course!” After reacting, Cang Xu was the first to reply.
Zong Ge also agreed: “Templar knight, this is your spoil of war.”
Zi Di’s thoughts suddenly moved, making a connection to the times the body double asked for bear blood, secretly embezzled bat monkey corpses, and asked Zong Ge’s group for bear meat.
“Now it is a wolf corpse……hold on, could it be that only after the body double eats a part of a magic beast, can he obtain a corresponding beastification?
“Is this growth or stimulation? Does it stimulate his original abilities?”
“He is War Merchant’s magnum opus, and these magic beasts were also created by War Merchant. Perhaps all of War Merchant’s beast transformations were concentrated in his body? After stimulation, his abilities will be aroused?”
“At the time, he fought the monkey tail brown bear to the death, but even when he died, he didn’t beastify. However, when facing the blade spider, he transformed a monkey tail brown bear’s claws. Maybe……it was from the bear blood I imbued his body with in the cave?”
“He analyzed everything. It's no wonder that after leaving the cave, he repeatedly made insinuations to me and inquired about what happened then.”
With thoughts overflowing in her mind, Zi Di supported the body double’s decisions without the slightest hesitation: “Our survival and victory was all thanks to Emperor Sheng Ming’s protection, we indeed should sacrifice to him!”
Under the body double’s command, the exploration team left the forest and hurried to the beach where the larger group was at.
During the journey, they passed through the territory of many beast groups. These blade spiders, monkey tail brown bears, and other beasts all mysteriously disappeared.
Most of the people guessed that there was a blue dog fox wolf commanding a magic beast corps somewhere. It was constantly tailing them and incorporating the surrounding beast groups into its troops.
Zi Di was the only one that gradually guessed the truth.
“It was you, body double.”
“If it were a growing magic beast corps, it is impossible with our increased scouts to not detect a single trace of it.”
“Every night you patrol alone. You were the one who disposed of these obstacles and allowed us to gather spider webs without losing a single hair. You annihilated all of the monkey tail brown bears and mined with your bear claws.”
“You undertook so many things, and secretly paid a price that exceeds the imagination of the others! All of us benefit because of you, however no one knows, not even you are aware of it!”
Zi Di felt the body double’s bitterness and grievances, for this reason, she also felt respect and pride for him.
Under the body double’s leadership, although the exploration team suffered pressure and difficult trek, they lost few people and had an extraordinarily smooth journey.
They gathered many supplies and gradually entered the rainforest.
Xi Suo swore himself to the body double and stopped making things difficult for Zong Ge.
Zong Ge also acknowledged his allegiance for the time being.
The entire exploration team was like a harmonious and integrated whole.
But Zi Di’s private worries were never reduced, instead they increased as time went on.
“I am Zhen Jin! He is a forgery!!” A sleeping Zi Di suddenly heard Hei Juan yelling in her tent.
“No!” Zi Di crawled out at once, ran out, and saw the body double surrounded by everyone. He was tied to a cross with piles of firewood around him.
“Stop!” Zi Di shouted.
But at the next moment, Hei Juan ruthlessly laughed and tossed a torch. The torch fell and immediately ignited the firewood.
A raging inferno burned.
The body double’s cries made Zi Di sprint.
Zi Di subconsciously ran into the fire, and in spite of everything, the flames near her extinguished.
The crowd was stupefied.
Soon after, ice extended from Zi Di’s shadow, and a broken corpse slowly rose from it.
“Father!” Zi Di was astonished.
“My……daughter……sorry, your father came……to protect you!” Zi Di’s dead father charged into the crowd.
Everyone was alarmed and furious.
Hei Juan pointed at Zi Di and screeched: “Undead! You are a necromancer, kill her now, burn her to death!”
Zi Di’s father was quickly chopped into eight pieces by everyone.
The flames ignited again, burning Zi Di’s body, clothes, and hair.
In her desperation, Zi Di still decided to run to the body double’s side.
As she hugged him, the body double constantly apologized: “Sorry, I am not your knight, I am so sorry!”
Then the body double transformed, he beastified a bear head, bear claws, and long bat wings.
Hei Juan laughed heartily: “Did you see that? You believe me now don’t you, he isn’t a divine scion knight, he is just a monster.”
“No, he isn't!” Zi Di’s angrily hissed her denial.
But everyone bellowed: “Burn him, burn him! He attracted the beast groups.”
“Burn this cheating couple to death!”
“We were deceived by those two!”
In the flames, the body double cried with incomparable disappointment: “As it turns out, I am actually a monster, not Zhen Jin. Zi Di, why did you deceive me, why did you deceive me?”
“No! No!!” Zi Di suddenly woke up as her upper body abruptly rose.
The tent was dusky, and the camp was peaceful.
“Another nightmare……” Zi Di gasped for breath for a long time and gradually slowed her pulse.
“I shouldn’t avoid this again! I should tell the body double the entire truth.”
“Apart from this, I also need to do some things for him.”
Zi Di found a potion bottle in her handbag.
The potion was oily and pitch-black. If one shook it, an attentive watcher could also see vicious red hues in the blackness.
She didn’t just obtain the body double from War Merchant.
This beastification potion was also given to her.
Looking at this potion, Zi Di hesitated again.
She had hesitated many times before.
But this time, she finally made a firm resolution: “Compared to you, the others aren’t as important, isn’t that so?”
Notes
Zi Di would rather poison everyone else to keep the status quo instead of accepting if she doesn’t do something drastic, like talking to the man she likes, everything will go wrong and her romantic tale will come to a sudden end. It is hard to make decisions, it is after all, something 866 is constantly learning to do throughout Book 1. She has many ideas and schemes, yet she never carries the majority of them out, for something always seems to bar her from taking that final step.