“Hey! Wake up!”
“Wake up quickly!”
“Stop trying to scam me, little one. I didn’t even do anything to you!”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You really know how to frame someone…”
“How many days has it been since you slept… You look so pretty. I’m already sick of looking at the faces of those old geezers up there…”
“Ah, this wine is delicious! I’m glad I buried it!”
“Who knows where the little brat ran off to. They still won’t come see me… Hiss, could they be dead?”
“That shouldn’t be right. If they died, I would have known…”
“Whatever, I’ll go back to Nanzhou in a couple of days to take a look… Let me just sort out what’s in front of me first…”
So noisy.
Who is chattering on and on?
Yan Zhu furrowed her brow in great dissatisfaction. She opened her eyes, first catching sight of a face, staying like that in a daze, staring at it for a long time.
“Ah… Hiss!”
The exclamation was cut short by a wave of pain.
The corners of Yan Zhu’s eyes were slightly red. The tears caused by drowsiness mixed with the tears induced by pain, swirling in her eye sockets.
She blinked awkwardly, and the crystal water droplets were shaken off, sliding down her cheek to the corner of her lips.
“…You’re getting worse and worse at framing people!”
“I didn’t do anything to you. You crying… has nothing to do with me… Fine, my fault, my fault, don’t cry, don’t cry, oh!”
That face leaned closer, and a handkerchief scented with fragrance gently wiped away the tear stains on her face.
Yan Zhu looked at this person, her mind going blank for a split second.
She even doubted whether she was dreaming.
Yet the pain of her head hitting the stone was so sharp and real.
“Jun Lin?”
Yan Zhu hesitated, calling out in a soft voice.
“It’s me.”
The woman seemed to let out a sigh of relief, and she stuffed the handkerchief back into her side sleeve.
“How… How is it you? Where is Song Qing?!”
Yan Zhu frowned. She clearly remembered staying together with Song Qing and the cat, and that human and cat had even fought side by side against a monster.
How could she be seeing Jun Lin now?
Didn’t this fellow leave quite freely a long time ago?
Questions piled up layer upon layer, and her brow furrowed deeper and deeper.
A slightly cool fingertip tapped gently on her forehead, and a breeze carrying the fresh fragrance of grass and trees rushed against the tip of her nose.
“Don’t wear such a bitter and deeply resentful expression. What, you woke up to see me, and you’re not satisfied?”
“Don’t rush to speak. Think carefully, think if you missed anything.”
Yan Zhu instinctively frowned, only to have her brow smoothed out once again by the other’s fingertip.
She didn’t mind this person’s touch and focused on recalling what happened before she lost consciousness.
“Yan Zhu !”
An urgent cry echoed in the depths of her memory.
And then… Song Qing.
Song Qing, who was no longer calm; Song Qing, who ran towards her in disarray; Song Qing, who wanted to grab her hand but missed by just a single step…
That was right. While watching the battle, a force had grabbed her collar.
Yan Zhu looked around, finding that this seemed to be a cave again, and she was lying on a stone bed.
The “bed” was tightly pressed against the stone wall. The space was narrow, and a slight tilt of her head upward would cause her to hit the sharp rocks.
Just now, she had hurried to get up without paying attention, causing the top of her skull to strike the rock above. That spot was still throbbing with pain from time to time.
Yan Zhu reached out to rub it, feeling a slightly swollen bump right where it hurt.
“This body of yours…”
“Quite interesting.”
Seeing her gaze turn toward her, Jun Lin continued, “Generally, ordinary people without cultivation even those with special physiques and innate Dao foundations will inevitably bleed when suddenly striking that rock…”
“Yet you look like you don’t have any major issues.”
Yan Zhu looked at her strangely, thinking to herself that the human brain is naturally extremely tough.
Her internal criticism came to an abrupt halt after she carefully observed the stone.
Looking at the triangular-shaped rock with flat edges and a sharp tail like a sharp weapon, Yan Zhu widened her eyes in astonishment.
She casually picked up a pebble from the ground and threw it forward, only to see the pebble which was only the size of a human finger shatter into even smaller pieces upon impact.
Her perception was subverted once again, and Yan Zhu shifted her inquiring gaze to Jun Lin, who was drinking “water” straight from a gourd.
Casually wiping the moisture from the corner of her mouth with her wide sleeve, Jun Lin raised her eyes slightly and said very lazily, “I don’t know what kind of stone it is either, but I often see artifact refiners use it to forge magic tools.”
“It shouldn’t be any precious material… Generally, the low-grade spiritual swords that disciples of major sects each hold one of are cast from it.”
“Now, do you know I was right? Your body is somewhat strange.”
She stretched out in a huge lazy yawn, her voice sounding slightly fatigued.
“However, for now, even I can’t probe it.”
Yan Zhu’s intuition told her that the woman in front of her was far more powerful than the vast majority of people in this world. Having heard this, although she was still curious about what mystery her body was hiding, she had no choice but to put it aside for the moment.
“Then let’s talk about something you should be able to answer for me.”
“Oh?”
The other party seemed to grow interested, her gaze landing back on her face.
“Little one, you’ve got some nerve.”
She simply said that, then opened her mouth to drink another sip of “water.”
You can’t afford to lack nerve when facing you!
Yan Zhu thought to herself, hiding her trembling hand inside her sleeve. She stepped down from the stone bed and sat on a relatively clean rock opposite Jun Lin. Now, the two of them looked somewhat on equal footing.
“For instance, why did you bring me here?”
She asked straight to the point.
“Mhm…” The replying voice was very muffled, obviously squeezed temporarily out of the bridge of her nose as an evasion while she was drinking “water.”
“Well asked!”
Jun Lin swallowed the wine in her mouth. The only thing about this body that satisfied her was that it could “never get drunk.”
Then, a long silence followed without any follow-up.
Yan Zhu was teased to the point of extreme frustration and couldn’t help pressing further: “So why is it?!”
Jun Lin merely smiled and gave no answer.
A breath choked in Yan Zhu’s chest, almost failing to come back up. Just as she grew anxious and was about to stand up, the other party spoke.
“Well asked, but you… on what grounds do you expect me to answer you?”
The surroundings fell into a prolonged silence.
Yan Zhu looked at the woman in front of her who was enjoying her wine to her heart’s content, pursing her lips as countless thoughts flashed through her mind one by one.
“There is nothing on me that you want, otherwise you wouldn’t have needed to leave so cleanly back then, and besides, you gave me the flute…”
“So your target is actually… not me.”
Yan Zhu’s voice was somewhat hoarse.
“You suddenly coming to take me away must mean you remembered, discovered, or got some information from someone… Your goal can only be achieved by taking me away…”
Jun Lin smiled noncommittally.
The surroundings fell into silence once again.
Yan Zhu sat quietly for a while, feeling that her heart was an absolute mess and unable to calm down. So she let out a breath and walked toward the cave entrance to check out the external environment.
The howling wind blew straight onto her face.
The color drained completely from Yan Zhu’s face, her legs turned weak, and she almost collapsed to the ground.
Outside was an altitude of ten thousand meters.
This cave was located on the side of a mountain’s waist.
Looking forward, another mountain peak was hidden in the mist, with a tall pine tree extending sideways from it.
Yan Zhu caught sight of a huge bird’s nest perched on the tree branches. Seemingly sensing danger, a fierce glare was cast directly upon her. A large bird of an unrecognizable breed spread its wings in a protective posture and let out a threatening roar at her.
Yan Zhu didn’t dare look any longer, and before retreating back into the cave, she couldn’t help lowering her gaze for a quick glance.
Sea-like clouds and mists rolled and surged, making it impossible to see any scenery below, evoking a sense of awe and fear.
Her heart beat violently and rapidly, as if it was about to jump out of her chest.
Yan Zhu sat back down in her previous spot with a pale little face, lowering her gaze without uttering a word.
Am I going to be trapped… and die here?
Although she had always felt that living had little meaning and dying was unnecessary, remaining indifferent to life or death, she still didn’t want to choose this kind of death.
Chaotic thoughts raced through her mind.
For some reason, Yan Zhu thought of Song Qing. She sparked a bit of hope, only to hear a voice refute it.
“Why? Do you think she will definitely come to save you?”
“Leaving aside whether she knows your location, even if she did know, would she definitely come? You two don’t have much of a friendship.”
“Do you want to bring trouble to her again?”
“You owe too much already, Yan Zhu.”
Yan Zhu bit down hard on her lower lip, desperately inhaling to try and calm her emotions.
“So pretty.”
Words accompanied by a smile reached her ears, directly interrupting her train of thought.
Yan Zhu raised her eyes in a daze, meeting Jun Lin’s smiling eyes.
She was staring at her, her expression extremely focused, like someone admiring a blooming flower.
“What are you… talking about?!”
Yan Zhu thought she had misheard.
“I said, you really are so pretty.”
Jun Lin repeated it with great patience.
Yan Zhu didn’t know what to say, feeling only that the world had become psychedelic. She closed her mouth and stopped speaking.
“Hey… little one…”
Naturally, Jun Lin had to tease her further.
Yan Zhu turned her face away in embarrassment and annoyance, thinking to herself that no matter what this person said, she would no longer pay attention.
“Actually, it’s not impossible to tell you why I brought you here.”
Yan Zhu turned back, her gaze fixed firmly on her.
“It just requires…” The smile on the corner of Jun Lin’s mouth widened a bit, “You call me ‘older sister’ and act spoiled while begging me, then I’ll tell you.”
Yan Zhu began to suspect once again whether she had misheard any of the content. When she met the other’s intensely burning gaze, she realized she might have actually said that.
Yan Zhu felt as if everything went black before her eyes.
“In your dreams!”
The words squeezed out from between her teeth.
Seemingly anticipating this kind of reaction from her, Jun Lin wasn’t angry at all; on the contrary, she laughed quite heartily.
“Little doll, I’m really growing more and more interested in you.”
“However, don’t be in such a hurry to refuse…”
Just as she reached this point, she abruptly stopped.
Yan Zhu saw that a surprise too late to be concealed flashed across Jun Lin’s face, followed by an unreadable, complex look in the other’s eyes.
“I didn’t expect… she cares about you this much.”
Immediately afterward, as if responding to these words, a gust of wind blew into the cave opening.
Just as Yan Zhu was about to turn around and look, she was pulled into an embrace by a burst of force. Her vision was blocked by fabric, and the fresh fragrance of grass and trees drilled into the tip of her nose.
Perhaps to prevent her from moving around randomly, the arm Jun Lin had wrapped around her waist tightened a bit.
“Let her go.”
An extremely familiar voice entered her ears, and Yan Zhu paused slightly, widening her eyes in disbelief.
At that moment, she truly thought she was still dreaming.
“Meow! Meow! Meow!!!”
The black cat cried out in a babyish voice, its pitch intentionally suppressed, sounding very strange like immature naivety mixed with a bit of a put-on, feigned hoarseness.
Yan Zhu was amused to the point of laughing softly.
They really came.
Realizing this, she suddenly felt like laughing out loud.
Yet she merely turned her face quietly, fixing her gaze on the human and cat standing at the cave entrance.
“I didn’t expect her to be this important to you.”
Even Jun Lin couldn’t help being surprised. These two weren’t in the kind of romantic relationship she had imagined; most likely, they were Dao companions.
Same-sex Dao companions were not rare in the cultivation world, and Jun Lin was only slightly surprised by this. What truly astonished her was something else.
How could a cultivator seek a mortal as a Dao companion?
The question temporarily had no answer.
The masked young woman opposite had already attacked with her sword in hand.
Jun Lin’s mouth curved slightly upward, finally stirring a bit of interest.
Seeing the sword tip thrusting toward her, her figure didn’t move in the slightest. She merely raised her hand slightly and gave a seemingly casual wave.
Song Wenqing’s movement paused for a fraction of a second, her body overturned by the immense force. She hurriedly used her sword to brace firmly against the ground to prevent herself from retreating too far.
“Interesting little girl, even if you aren’t the person I’m looking for, I’m happy to play with you.”
Jun Lin raised her hand once again.
Only this time, her arm only reached halfway up.
Yan Zhu was holding a piece of paulownia wood against her neck.
A trace of appreciation flashed through Jun Lin’s eyes; she hadn’t even noticed when Yan Zhu had started plotting this.
Yet, that was all.
Jun Lin thought to herself as she lowered her gaze slightly, only to see a shallow wound being sliced across her neck.
The pain arrived fashionably late.