Gu Ning looked at the timid little rice dumpling flattened against the ground and could not make up her mind. When she had been fighting the thing a moment ago, she had distinctly felt no living presence in it at all.
"A sect-guardian spirit beast? Then what were you doing inside that puppet, piloting a mecha?"
The little rice dumpling's round eyes rolled, and an ingratiating look came over its face.
"That's... that's because I can produce the spiritual energy that drives the puppet. I'm the power source."
"The puppet attacks any intruder on its own, and I only have the faintest sliver of awareness in there..."
Seeing the doubt in Gu Ning's eyes, it hurriedly stuck out a small paw and pointed at its own chest.
"If you don't believe me, Fairy, search me! This dog swears to heaven!"
Gu Ning put her sword away and probed the little rice dumpling.
"Nothing but very dense spiritual energy. Otherwise no great difference from an ordinary spirit beast."
Probe finished, Gu Ning rubbed her chin and looked at the little rice dumpling trembling as it waited to hear its fate, and for the moment had no idea what to do with it.
She knew nothing whatsoever about anything that happened in this secret realm in the original book, and this doggo that had come shooting out of nowhere...
While Gu Ning was thinking it over, Yu Ruo's voice came from behind her.
"Senior Sister, since it says it is a sect-guardian spirit beast, it must know the layout here."
Yu Ruo came forward from her side and looked the little rice dumpling over carefully.
"Though keeping a dog that can do nothing but talk as your sect-guardian spirit beast? They had rather particular taste."
"Yes, yes, yes! The fairy in purple is absolutely right!"
The second half of that was genuinely hard to listen to, but to go on living it could only swallow the insult.
The little rice dumpling clutched at her like a drowning creature at a straw, wagging its tail and agreeing.
"Ever since the sect was destroyed eighteen years ago, I saw with my own eyes the sect master and a group of people fussing over something and sealing it away in this secret realm."
"It has to be something tremendously precious. And besides that puppet there are other mechanisms and demon beasts, and I know those inside out!"
Its will to live was overflowing.
Gu Ning very much did not want to take Yu Ruo's suggestion, because it was taking Yu Ruo's suggestion that had got her ambushed by Tao Yao in the first place...
But as things stood, exploring alone would be no better than blind men groping an elephant, with danger on every side.
Having someone... some dog scout ahead would be no bad thing. Except.
Looking at the little rice dumpling begging to be adopted, Gu Ning could not shake the feeling that something was off.
But she nodded all the same and agreed.
The little rice dumpling went limp with relief.
"But I am going to set a ward on you, to keep you from running."
"Rest easy. Once we are safely out, I will naturally lift it and give you back your freedom."
So saying, she put out a slender finger and planted the ward on it.
"From now on your name is Dumpling."
Gu Ning clapped her hands to signal that the technique was complete, and that she had given it a name into the bargain.
Dumpling's nose twitched as it sniffed at itself, and everything felt exactly as before.
But hearing Gu Ning name it without so much as asking, the corner of its mouth still twitched a few times, and it grumbled under its breath.
"How could you give this young lady such a tacky name..."
"Mm?"
Gu Ning frowned faintly.
At that killing look from Gu Ning, a shiver ran through Dumpling and it hurried to make itself agreeable, terrified of being chopped up like tofu the way her roommate had been.
"Who says this name is bad? This name is fantastic, I'll use this name my whole life, all right?"
A dog under another's roof has to bow its head.
Gu Ning looked at this little thing whose hide was thicker than a wall and had no words for it.
If she did not still need it as a guide dog, she would probably have plucked it bald, cursing her all day long as it was.
"In that case, tell us how things stand here."
Hearing its master's summons, Dumpling stood up straight, not daring to slack.
"This place is mostly two areas, the storage area and the alchemy area. The rest is undeveloped, and dangerous past telling."
As it spoke a look of real fear came over Dumpling.
Once, a Golden Core demon beast had broken in here.
It had beaten the puppet half to death, and though the puppet won in the end, the thing had nearly drained Dumpling's spiritual power dry and left it a withered little husk of a dog.
It had no wish to experience that again.
Which brought it to the thought that Gu Ning had taken the wretched thing apart and freed it from a life as a power bank.
Not bad, actually?
Gu Ning looked down at Dumpling wagging its tail nearly hot enough to smoke and wondered what mischief it was cooking up now.
"Then where is this place you say the legacy is hidden?"
Gu Ning's only goal was to open the treasure chest and leave. Everything else could go hang.
An entire sect's legacy would surely be a rich one, and it might well hold an answer to her physique.
Dumpling surfaced from its ruminations on the life of a dog and answered at once.
"In the main pill chamber, in the alchemy area."
"I saw with my own eyes that they refined a pill of five brilliant colors, but by then the enemy was already at the gate, so all they could do was seal the place up."
"And the storage area has plenty of good things too. Formulas, weapons..."
Seeing that it was about to run on forever, Gu Ning cut it off.
"Then take us to the main pill chamber."
"R-right away!"
Dumpling was clearly not finished, but it stopped all the same and trotted off ahead to lead the way.
Gu Ning stepped forward, and noticed with some surprise that Yu Ruo was still standing where she was.
"Yu Ruo?"
At Gu Ning's call, Yu Ruo came back from wherever she had gone.
Realizing she had forgotten herself, she gave a small smile.
"Forgive me, Senior Sister. Something came to mind just now and I drifted. Since Dumpling is leading, let us set out."
Gu Ning narrowed her eyes, but let nothing show, and only answered coolly.
"So long as nothing is wrong."
Even so, the doubts in Gu Ning's mind had only grown.
Yu Ruo had been elsewhere in spirit from the moment Dumpling appeared. Was there more to this than she was saying?
Yu Ruo let out a small sigh, put that smiling face back on, and walked toward Gu Ning.
Feeling the person beside her drawing close, that nameless sensation began to stir again, and her dantian jumped.
Gu Ning's whole body reacted.
She pulled away from Yu Ruo as though fleeing, as if terrified of being touched.
"Has Junior Sister forgotten that she is not to come near me?"
Yu Ruo genuinely had not expected Gu Ning to be so sensitive, and had thought her affection had climbed a fair way.
Instead, one small step closer and the woman hissed at her like a cat.
Although.
Looking at the pale, cold face with its faint wash of pink, and hearing that urgent little rebuke.
Didn't that look rather like flirting?
Yu Ruo's heart itched, but she pressed the restlessness down and put on an apologetic face.
"I forgot Senior Sister's instruction for a moment. I will be careful next time."
That said, Yu Ruo drifted back a few light steps and opened the distance again.
Gu Ning gave her one hard look and could hardly say anything more.
The view shifted to where Dumpling had gone.
And Dumpling, seeing that the two of them still had not caught up and assuming it had been abandoned there, came hurrying back.
Only to find the pair of them wrapped in a decidedly suggestive atmosphere, whereupon it lifted a paw and scratched its fluffy dog head.
"Nani the hell?"