“Why… do you say that?”
Yanzhu was momentarily stunned, looking at her with some surprise, only to see genuine bewilderment on the young woman’s face.
So this person wasn’t angry because of that incident after all?
Her previous assumptions were completely overturned. Aside from surprise, she felt utterly blank.
Naturally, a new question popped into her head.
Then what was she angry about?
Before Yanzhu could figure it out, she noticed Song Qing, who had been waiting for an answer for a long time without receiving one, casting an inquiring gaze her way.
For the moment, she had no choice but to temporarily shelve her previous thoughts and just go along with the misunderstanding.
“I… you had to divide your attention to protect me when you encountered danger, and just now you even had to expend so much spiritual power because of me…”
Yanzhu lowered her gaze and smiled with heavy self-deprecation.
Someone like herwouldn’t anyone consider her a burden?
If she hadn’t happened to run into Song Qing, and then coincidentally saved her, she probably would have died foolishly somewhere without even knowing it.
Dead was dead, anyway she was completely useless.
Yanzhu’s body wasn’t cold, but her lips began to turn pale. She simply kept her head lowered as well, her expression completely hidden in the shadows, making it impossible for anyone to read.
“Anyway, I’m very sorry for causing you trouble…”
Yanzhu said in a sincere tone, because in her heart she truly felt that way.
Yet before her words could fade, another sentence cut straight in and interrupted her.
“No.”
The mere two syllables drifted into her ears. The voice was not loud, but to Yanzhu, it exploded like a thunderclap. She raised her head, her heartbeat skipping a beat.
The young woman’s expression was as calm as ever, those amber eyes filled with focus as she looked at her with utmost seriousness.
Yanzhu subconsciously and somewhat panically averted her gaze, her cheeks instantly dyed with a faint blush.
She slightly loosened her grip around the cat, trying to keep the little creature as far away from her chest as possible, where her heart was hammering fiercely, growing louder and louder by the second.
“I didn’t feel that you caused trouble.”
Yanzhu had never been able to discern much emotion from Song Qing’s words, and this time was no exception.
Yet, it seemed something was different.
She vaguely sensed it, though she simply didn’t have the time to search for the answer just yet.
The young woman’s voice was flat. Judging solely by her tone, she didn’t sound like she was comforting someone; rather, she sounded like she was discussing whether or not the weather would be good tomorrow.
Yanzhu’s throat began to tighten again. She understood her firmness.
It was a matter-of-fact firmness, needing no argument, a firmness that didn’t care about obstacles at all.
She was firmly conveyingI do not feel that you are a burden.
“You don’t need to think like that.”
Song Wenqing said.
Right at the moment when Yanzhu spoke, she had keenly sensed that something was slightly off with this person’s emotions.
She couldn’t clearly see the specific expression on her face, only noticing that she held her head slightly high, blinking at a frequency slightly higher than usual.
How strange. For some inexplicable reason, Song Wenqing felt that Yanzhu was very much like a small animal that had been hurt, yearning for warmth, yet timidly not daring to take a single step forward to get close to anyone.
She wasn’t very good at comforting people, so at that moment, driven purely by instinct to say something, she stewed over it for a moment and awkwardly blurted out two phrases.
Perhaps feeling that the effect wasn’t enough, after a pause, she stubbornly squeezed out another sentence.
Song Wenqing lowered her gaze slightly. The two of them were standing very close, and she could see her eyes, shaped like beautiful round apricots. A trace of red lingered at the corners of her eyes, and the vibrant color struck Song Wenqing’s heart, causing it to leap violently.
She stopped moving.
In order to take that trace of red fully into her view, she had unconsciously shortened the distance between them until the tips of their noses were almost touching. Only then did she finally snap out of it, realizing the impropriety of her current behavior.
“Apologies.”
She pulled her body back, retreating a few steps in sheer panic.
At a certain moment, Song Wenqing suddenly felt like a local bully harassing an innocent woman.
Yet Yanzhu was a woman, and so was she.
It didn’t matter much; at worst, it was just a bit presumptuous.
Song Wenqing consoled herself inwardly, but the impact of the moment before lingered, and no matter how she thought about it, she felt completely unsettled all over.
“It’s fine.”
The person who had been “harassed” spoke up, easily forgiving her presumptuous act.
Song Wenqing awkwardly reached out to rub the tips of her ears, which were burning slightly.
Yanzhu’s voice sounded somewhat different from usual, carrying a faint, hidden hint of crying, the tail end curling upward like a tiny hook.
So Song Wenqing asked her:
“Are you very sad right now?”
Instead, Yanzhu shook her head and said, “No, I’m very happy right now.”
“Thank you.”
It seemed she had inadvertently done a very good thing. The corners of Song Wenqing’s lips curled up slightly, and a faint joy welled up in her heart.
She didn’t know why she felt happy because of this, only realizing belatedly that it had seemed like a very long time since she last felt this happy.
With the matter temporarily brought to a close, the two of them continued walking back along the path.
Upon exiting the secret passage and returning to the dark chamber, Song Wenqing no longer followed the path she had taken on the way in. Instead, she chose another path she hadn’t walked before.
This alternative path was no easier to traverse than the incoming one.
In fact, each had its own distinct difficulties.
Inside a certain burial chamber
A water-formed giant standing about ten meters tall blocked their way. Its face lacked human features, possessing only two hollow pits serving as “eyes.”
A weapon made of watera massive battleaxeslashed straight down toward where they stood the moment the giant spotted the intruders.
Song Wenqing immediately summoned her spiritual sword, driving it to nimbly bypass the attack and pierce straight into the giant’s chest. Right in the center rested a blue crystal core the size of a pigeon’s egg.
Song Wenqing guessed that this spot was precisely the enemy’s weak point.
However, the instant the sword tip was about to touch the crystal, that seemingly solid object split apart like flowing current, revealing an opening for the sword to pass right through.
The giant’s chopping motion remained uninterrupted and unhindered, about to reach the top of their heads the very next moment.
With no other choice, Song Wenqing could only recall her Dharma artifact, hastily casting a protective light barrier in mid-air.
She narrowed her eyes slightly as she observed the monster.
A troublesome fellow indeed.
Water had too unique a form; anything frozen into ice wouldn’t be this difficult to deal with.
If she could turn it into ice…
Song Wenqing formed a plan in her mind. Only, executing this task would be somewhat strenuous; she didn’t currently possess enough spiritual power to reliably freeze a ten-meter-tall water giant solid.
If she possessed a mutated ice spiritual root, things would be much easier. Unfortunately, she possessed a metal spiritual root.
Song Wenqing tossed a few spiritual-replenishing pills into her mouth and began slowly maneuvering and sparring with the enemy.
“CrackCrackCrack”
The sound of something being gnawed echoed through the air as the water giant’s feet were frozen solid to the ground bit by bit.
It tried to move its legs, only to discover it could no longer control the rest of its body.
The blue crystal on its chest began to disintegrate into countless tiny droplets, waiting for the very next moment when the giant would abandon its massive body and split into a myriad of forms.
Song Wenqing pressed a talisman between two fingers and chanted incantations at lightning speed.
The chilling frost had already crept up to the giant’s upper body, but still, it wasn’t fast enough. She needed to add fuel to the fire.
As the talisman burned to ashes, frost began to sprout across the giant’s head.
Meanwhile, the blue ice crystals had nearly finished disintegrating, and the giant’s massive body began to burst apart. In the blink of an eye, it was about to explode into countless smaller bodies.
“Meow!”
Yanzhu’s arms emptied as the black cat leaped nimbly down and landed on the ground. When she looked over, the little creature’s figure had already darted out like lightning.
The cat suspended itself in mid-air, one green eye emitting a dazzling radiance.
“Meow!”
Like some sort of signal, time froze completely.
The Law of Time!
Song Wenqing looked on in astonishment, catching sight of the black cat suspended in the air like a divine entity.
Her vision recovered at that exact moment, the scenery becoming clear and sharp.
“Meow!”
The cat turned its head to look at her, letting out a cry of urge.
Too late to ponder further, Song Wenqing formed a sword finger with both hands and leaped into the air on tiptoe.
Massive ripples emanated from the disintegrating blue ice crystals, accompanied by a teeth-gritting screech. In merely the blink of an eye, the towering giant scattered away like flying dust.
Time resumed its motion, and the scenery in Song Wenqing’s field of vision blurred once again.
“Meow~”
Yanzhu crouched down slightly, smiling as she prepared to welcome the great hero running toward her.
Arriving a step faster than the cat was a hand.
A force grabbed the back of her collar. Yanzhu’s vision blurred, and before she could process what was happening, her entire body was yanked away.
A massive wave of dizziness washed over her. Yanzhu closed her eyes tightly, the final image etched into her mind being Song Qing flying toward her, reaching out to grab her arm.
“Yanzhu!”
It was the first time she heard her call her name with such desperate urgency.
Her consciousness sank into boundless darkness…