Forest of Broken Corpses (2)

Speaking of Rong Jian, she was always a virgin in relationships. Perhaps because of what happened in her childhood combined with the fact that her first few boyfriends turned out to be scum, she didn't really have any serious romantic relationships after she graduated college. She more or less accepted that as a price for her genius and didn't try again. She also had to admit, she held a small hope that she would also fall in love like in the fictional love stories. But in the end, fiction was fiction and she died without ever being engaged. Now that she was all of a sudden, she really didn't know what she should do. Not to mention the order of things were a bit jumbled compared to the time and place she originated form, 21st century Earth. She also did not really have any romantic feelings towards Rong Jian that could be attributed as love. She was interested in him, but it wasn't love. She thought it was better to just spend time together. Perhaps then, she would develop some feelings for him.

'Sigh. Relationships are so complicated. What a pain... Gods of romance, why can't you just let me fall in love like in those cheesy love stories? I know I always complain about it being cheesy, but even I want to experience real love that doesn't involve being hurt, just once. Just once in my two lifetimes. Why can't I have this?' Shen Tianyu thought to herself as she internally shed tears of frustration. 'Ahh... But with my past experiences, even if the Gods of roamnce told me they were giving me a Fairy Tale happy love story for all my troubles, I still wouldn't believe it so easily, huh... My first boyfriend mooched off me and broke up with me as soon as he found a richer thigh to hug, the second one cheated on me within days of us starting out, the third one kept me as a mistress and took my money to buy gifts for his girlfriend, the fourth one... almost started a domestically abusive relationship and tried to kill me when I broke up with him... Maybe I just have bad taste in men... Actually, is that contagious? It feels like all my friends eventually developed bad taste for men?'

After resting for half an incense stick's time, Shen Tianyu jumped down from her branch. "Has your spiritual power come back?"

"Wifey, my spiritual power hasn't come back, I need a kiss to replenish it." Rong Jian leaned towards her.

Shen Tianyu karate chopped his head. "Stop playing. Even if it hasn't replenished you'll be fine." She turned away from him and walked towards the Forest of Broken Corpses.

Rong Jian rubbed his head as he got up. "Aiyah, wifey is so violent. How could you hit your fiancee like this? What if my head caved in and I became deformed?"

"That won't happen. How can your head cave in from being hit by someone weaker than you? Don't underestimate your body, your bones are the hardest part of your body, especially your skull."

"There's another part that can be hard." Rong Jian said to the back of her head and winked.

"If you don't shut up, we can test how strong it really is when I kick it." Shen Tianyu replied with embarrassed anger in her voice without looking back.

"Aiyah, wifey, how could you? You won't be able to enjoy me if you do that."

Shen Tianyu ignored him, a vein pulsing on her forehead as she entered the Forest of Broken Corpses, followed closely by a whining Rong Jian.

As soon as they entered the forest, they were assaulted by a rotting stench. They looked down and found the forest ground littered with corpses in varying stages of decay. Some even had plants or mushrooms growing out of them.

"Ewww. This is disgusting." Shen Tianyu covered her nose to try to block out the stench, but it was of no use. The two continued walking forward, Shen Tianyu with a twisted face and Rong Jian completely unruffled, as if this was a common sight to him. They soon saw a medium-sized mound of corpses to the left. Growing out of the top corpses on the mound were two types medicinal herbs. One had skulls under the leaves, making it look like the skulls were the fruit of the plant. The other type had holes in the leaves that looked strangely similar to mouths, wide open, as if they were screaming.

Shen Tianyu let out a delighted laugh behind her hand. "Haha. Look, look, Rong Jian!" She pointed at the herbs with her other hands. "There are Skull herbs and Ghost herbs growing here! This is great! And so many of them, this is a great haul! I really didn't make the wrong decision to come to this forest!" Shen Tianyu ran up to the mound of corpses and gagged. "It smells so bad." She groaned.

"Then why did you run up there?" Rong Jian asked in exasperation as he walked up to her.

"I was excited about the herbs. But it really stinks." She pouted. "Can you help pick them for me?" She pleaded with him.

"Why? Weren't you excited for the herbs?"

"But it stinks. And, you've been walking through just fine. I think you'll be fine picking the herbs."

"Alright, alright. I'll pick them for you." Rong Jian smiled and jumped to the top of the mound. He then started to pick the herbs enveloping his hands in spiritual power, being careful not to damage the roots. After all, if the roots were damaged, the power of the herbs would also decline. He put all the herbs into his magic pouch at his hip and leapt down when he was done. "I'm surprised a courtesan can recognize the Skull and Ghost herbs." He commented.

"Do you really think I am an ordinary courtesan?" Shen Tianyu replied back with a question.

Rong Jian just smiled and followed behind her. He knew she was no rodinary courtesan, how could an ordinary courtesan command their employer and call them by name? He also knew that though she didn't tell him anything, she was willingly showing him big hints at her real identity.