章 37: Gaya as bodyguard

Early morning mist began to clear as the sun rose, casting shades of orange and pink onto a thin layer of clouds. The lively chirping of early birds filled the air.

"Brother Ghost should have woken up by now. I need to hurry."

At this moment, a pair of legs rushed forward hurriedly in the direction of the lone house on the mountain.

It was Jack, the disciple who had helped settle Michael and Gaya the previous day. Usually, Jack would feel tired if he ran from his room to the core disciple house, but today he felt energetic. The number one genius of his generation now belonged to the Sunrise sect, which had greatly boosted their reputation among the other sects.

"Why is the door still closed?"

Arriving at Michael's house, Jack halted his steps to catch his breath and wondered as he looked at the closed doors.

Knock knock!

Jack knocked on the door, but he was careful not to make too much noise to avoid disturbing Ghost's cultivation.

"Brother Ghost."

There was no reply from inside as Jack knocked again, this time with slightly more force.

"Brother Ghost."

"Who the fuck is there?"

Jack almost jumped back when an annoyed voice responded from inside.

"Huh?!"

A few seconds after his brain processed the voice, he realized it sounded feminine and nothing like Ghost.

"Brother Ghost?"

"I must have misheard it," he thought.

Thud!

"Go away!"

Jack heard the same annoyed voice again, and this time, the voice sounded even more irritated as he heard something heavy, like a stone, hitting the door.

"Who is there?!"

Panic and uncertainty gripped Jack's core. He clenched his fists and shouted loudly.

"You idiot, I'm gonna beat your ass for disturbing my sleep!"

Jack quickly stepped back from the door as it opened, revealing a black-haired girl staring at him furiously.

He had no idea how the girl had gotten in or who she was. All he knew was that Ghost had come alone, yet there was a girl inside his house.

"Who... are... you?"

The girl didn't answer him but just glared at him while tying her ruffled hair into a ponytail. Nevertheless, he could tell that the girl was annoyed. He subconsciously relaxed, thinking that the girl was just a commoner and not a cultivator.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Wait... what? You!" Jack couldn't believe what he had just heard. He never thought a delicately beautiful girl like this would have such a foul mouth.

For a moment, he had no response as the girl walked towards him.

"Cat got your tongue? Why did you wake me up this early, you little brat?"

Jack was still in shock when Gaya flicked his forehead to make him talk.

"Who are you? What are you doing in Brother Ghost's room?" After a few seconds, Jack was able to speak these words while furrowing his brow.

"Me? I'm your Brother Ghost's mentor, you ignorant fool."

"Hahahaha."

However, Jack couldn't help but burst into laughter when he heard the girl. She spoke those words with a straight face and didn't even bat an eye while telling such a huge lie. She was shameless beyond words.

How could a mortal girl who was at the Arch-Sensing stage teach a genius like Ghost? The Arch energy in her body was too weak, and even some newborn babies would have more Arch energy inside their bodies than her.

"What the fuck?!" Gaya didn't expect such a reaction from this boy. She knew that she had blatantly lied, but he didn't have to rub it in her face like this.

"You? A mentor for Brother Ghost? Hahaha, AH!" His laughter suddenly turned into a scream as he felt a sharp pain across his rear end.

He turned to see the girl holding a long stick in her hand and swinging it at him with full force. Before he could react, he received another painful blow.

Chit!

"Damn! Stop! AH!"

For a girl who had no Arch energy, or rather, too little energy, her movements were surprisingly quick and swift.

In a matter of seconds, his rear end suffered five or six strikes, and he started to desperately clutch his butt, disregarding his pride as a man in front of a beautiful girl.

"Stop it! Ouch, ouch!"

Gaya wasn't going to stop beating his rear end, no matter how loudly he shouted.

"Don't make me hit you!"

His eyes were already welling up, and his butt had turned red, but he was taught never to hit a girl, especially not a mortal girl like her, unless it was a serious battle or tournament.

"Hit me, and I'll make Ghost rip your throat out."

"At least, AH! Tell me... who you... are!"

Since he didn't want to take any chances by hitting her, Jack did the next best thing: he dodged and ran away from the reach of her stick.

"I told you, I'm his mentor."

"But?"

"What's going on here?!"

Just as Gaya was chasing Jack around with the stick in her hand, Elder Mark arrived on the scene.

"Jack, what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Jack shouted, feeling extremely wronged. This girl kept attacking him with the stick for no reason, and he considered himself the victim in this situation. Yet, Elder Mark asked him what he did.

"Teacher, I didn't do anything. I came to bring Brother Ghost to the assembly hall, but instead of Brother Ghost, I saw this mortal girl coming out of the house."

"Mortal? How dare you?!" She shouted in anger but didn't attempt to attack Jack, who was hiding behind Elder Mark.

"Girl, who are you?"

"I'm Ghost's friend."

"Friend?! You said..."

"Let the girl speak, Jack."

Jack quickly shut his mouth, still angry and shocked at the honest expression on her face while talking to Elder Mark.

"Where is Ghost?"

Elder Mark, however, didn't seem to care about Jack's protest as he asked Gaya.

"He's attempting to break through. He asked me not to let anyone disturb him, but Jack tried to do exactly that."

"She's lying!"

"Breakthrough? This soon!"

Elder Mark's brows nearly touched his head upon hearing Gaya's explanation, momentarily forgetting about the ruckus between her and Jack a moment ago.

"Yes."

But soon, Elder Mark's shock turned to panic as he tried to rush into the house.

"Hey! Stop."

Gaya jumped in front of him, preventing Elder Mark from taking any further steps.

"Girl, move aside. If he tries to prematurely break through, it will hinder his cultivation in the future. He must first strengthen his cultivation base."

Even after hearing Elder Mark, Gaya didn't budge an inch. She put both her hands on her hips and said firmly, "I don't care about that. He asked me to guard him while he's cultivating, and that's what I'm going to do. Besides, that freak wouldn't have entered into the breakthrough process if he wasn't sure about this. Leave him be."

"What do you, a mortal girl, know about cultivation? Move, or I'll move you," threatened Elder Mark, who made an attempt to step forward.

Gaya angrily drew the knife that Michael had given her and retorted, "Who the fuck are you talking to? I know more about cultivation than you, old fart!"