Relying on others is worse than relying on oneself. Xie Jinwen ignored the awkward Ling Xiao and withdrew her gaze.
At the earthen grave, the small white snake formed from Grandma had already slithered away, taking the set of clothes with it.
Now that Grandma was gone, Xie Jinwen turned and left immediately.
Behind Jiguang Mountain, there was a hidden hot spring. It stayed warm year-round and was extremely secluded. It was Xie Jinwen’s exclusive bathing spot and also her place of recovery.
Because of saving Ling Xiao, she had expended a considerable amount of energy and needed to replenish it quickly.
In another mountain forest, Zhang Cui’er was walking deeper into the woods with a wooden stick in her hand, swinging it idly as she went.
She had just returned home to wash off the filth on her body, and the more she thought about it, the more unwilling she became. She couldn’t just let Xie Jinwen off like this.
She had heard that Xie Jinwen had run out of the village clutching some clothes like a madwoman, so she must have gone to the hot spring. That was why Zhang Cui’er came over.
She had already planned it. She would secretly steal Xie Jinwen’s clothes. Then Xie Jinwen would either have to stay in the water forever or return to the village naked. After that, she would gather people to block her at the village entrance…
Heh.
That scene of Xie Jinwen naked would definitely be spectacular.
Who would still propose to someone like that at the coming adulthood ceremony? Even Ling Xiao would surely come to despise her.
The more Zhang Cui’er thought about it, the more pleased she became, completely unaware that a figure was quietly following behind her.
“Coo coo—”
Bird calls echoed through the forest, eerie and unsettling. The rustling of leaves sounded less like wind and more like someone breathing softly against the trees.
Zhang Cui’er swallowed nervously. “Is this forest really this big? Why am I still not out?”
She tightened her grip on the wooden stick. The fallen leaves beneath her feet were thick and unstable, swallowing her footsteps completely.
Turning past an old crooked pine, she suddenly stopped.
She had just passed this tree.
Panic began to rise in her heart, but she forced herself to calm down. “No, no, I must have remembered wrong.”
To be safe, she carved several marks into the old pine with her stick, then quickly moved forward again.
The wind picked up again. This time she heard it clearly—among the rustling leaves was a faint, chilling laugh. Not human. Sharp and thin, like something crawling up from the ground.
“Ah!”
Zhang Cui’er screamed and fell to the ground. The wooden stick flew away. She struggled up, only to see the same crooked pine again—still marked with her scratches.
A ghost wall.
“Coo coo—”
The bird calls suddenly closed in. A gray shadow shot down from the branches toward her.
Terrified out of her mind, she grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at the thing without even looking, then ran in the opposite direction.
But the “coo coo” sound followed her relentlessly.
“Help! Holy Saintess, save me! Save me!”
“Aaah!”
Her scream cut off abruptly.
The gray shadow landed on her.
“Evil people naturally meet their match. Serves you right. Coo~”
Behind Jiguang Mountain, beside the hidden hot spring pool.
Xie Jinwen cleared away the vines covering the pool entrance. Without removing her clothes, she stepped directly into the water and descended more than ten meters to the bottom, absorbing the earth vein energy.
After about three or four minutes, a figure suddenly appeared at the water’s surface, peeking around cautiously.
Xie Jinwen swam up from the bottom and broke the surface, startling Ling Xiao into stepping back.
“Ah!”
Ling Xiao was genuinely uncomfortable. He had lived twenty-six years with strict discipline. While he had occasionally trained shirtless among men, this was different—Xie Jinwen was a girl.
His sense of embarrassment and concern were in conflict.
Seeing her dive into the water and disappear, he had followed anxiously, fearing she might be trying to drown herself.
But then…
“I seriously suspect this crash made you stupid. Clumsy, dull, just plain stupid.”
Xie Jinwen grabbed his ankle and dragged him into the pool.
The deep water immediately pulled Ling Xiao downward. He sank rapidly, barely reacting.
She released him and instead grabbed his hand. He stared at her in confusion.
She had no time to explain and pulled him down with her, letting him sense the energy at the bottom.
Less than three minutes later, Ling Xiao reached his breath-holding limit. In discomfort, he looked upward, instinctively seeking air.
Xie Jinwen pushed him upward. He shot to the surface, gasping heavily, then immediately dove back down again to face her.
His confusion had lessened.
It seemed he had realized staying at the bottom was beneficial.
Ling Xiao’s breath-holding limit was about three minutes. He repeated the cycle of surfacing and diving back down, and after about half an hour, they finally ended the unusual hot spring session together.
Ling Xiao’s skin looked slightly pale and wrinkled from soaking. Meanwhile, Xie Jinwen showed no such effects—only a strand of white hair had turned black again. Her skin looked even more delicate and fair. When she emerged, heat vapor rose from her body; once it dissipated, her hair and clothes were completely dry. Clean, refined, almost immortal-like.
The soaked Ling Xiao stared. “Are you a fairy? You didn’t breathe for half an hour underwater, and your clothes dried instantly.”
Xie Jinwen replied calmly, “I was breathing, just not in the same way as you. As for the clothes, just a small trick.”
Ling Xiao’s eyes lit up. “Can you dry me too?”
Xie Jinwen asked, “Can I ride on your shoulders down the mountain?”
She was too lazy to walk. Normally she would use beasts or vines to descend, but since Ling Xiao was available, there was no need to waste energy.
Ling Xiao nodded, then hesitated, ears reddening. “Isn’t that a bit too intimate?”
His embarrassment surfaced again.
“You’re quite particular about propriety,” Xie Jinwen said, giving him a thumbs-up.
Then she summoned a wild boar nearby using her technique. Just as she was about to mount it, Ling Xiao quickly said, “You… you should ride me instead. The boar smells a bit.”
He was already used to Xie Jinwen’s strange abilities and wasn’t surprised anymore.
Xie Jinwen dismissed the boar and gestured at him. “Turn around.”
Ling Xiao complied. When her fingers touched his back, he trembled slightly—his ears turning even redder.