There’s a reason for everything. Su Qingyue looked at the worried crowd, then at the two people sleeping soundly, and a bold guess surfaced in her mind.
“Why don’t we go to sleep too? We’ve been wasting away here for almost a whole day.”
“Alright.” Zuo Yixuan had always trusted Su Qingyue unconditionally.
As for Luo Chuan, he had no say in the matter. He followed the two, found a good spot, and after they set up an Isolation Formation together, he also began to sleep.
Ning Jinyu awoke within a dream to find herself in her modern-day room. It was warm and blissful. Her fat cat was even lying on the bed. She pinched her cheek—it hurt.
Could it be that everything that had happened before was just a dream she had?
She picked up the fat cat and said softly, “Xiao Juan, did you miss me?”
The black cat’s eyes suddenly turned fierce and sharp. Its golden pupils constricted, like those of a venomous snake.
Terrified, Ning Jinyu immediately let it go.
The scene abruptly changed.
It was a forest.
Ning Jinyu hid herself in a patch of tall grass, her heart pounding in horror. So, it was an illusion.
Where was Song Qingyan?
Song Qingyan had been searching for Ning Jinyu the entire time. After entering the illusion, he had encountered countless demonic beasts, his hands stained with blood as he cut a path through them.
He went from one illusion to the next in quick succession, but he had been in this forest the longest.
He found a lake and washed off the filth. The water’s reflection, however, showed him in a different form.
He was an exquisite and beautiful boy, his eyes listless, cold, and silent.
His sword had shrunk along with him.
He picked up his sword and headed back into the forest. It seemed he would have to kill every demonic beast to get to the next illusion.
Ning Jinyu wandered around in a large circle. She didn’t see Song Qingyan, but she ran into Su Qingyue instead.
The three of them must have been separated as well.
Su Qingyue was also surprised to see Ning Jinyu. “Fellow Daoist Ning, have you seen my senior and junior martial brothers?”
Ning Jinyu shook her head and said, “Song Qingyan and I were also separated.”
Su Qingyue sheathed her sword, sat down, and activated a Sound-Seeking Talisman, which located the sounds of a battle.
She spoke gently to the dazed-looking Ning Jinyu beside her. “It sounds like someone is over there. Would you like to go with me to check it out?”
Ning Jinyu nodded, a hint of warmth in her heart as she looked into Su Qingyue’s cool eyes.
“Okay, thank you.”
By the time the two of them arrived, the battle was already over. A small child was lying in a pool of blood.
Su Qingyue strode forward, but just as she was about to check on him, the child’s eyes snapped open. His gaze was as cold and sinister as a savage beast’s, sizing her up.
This child looked a little familiar.
Song Qingyan sat up and wiped the blood from his face. He looked at the girl behind Su Qingyue, who was curiously looking around, not sparing him a single glance.
He walked past Su Qingyue and went over to her.
Only then did Ning Jinyu’s gaze fall upon him. Why did this filthy, beautiful child look so familiar? And the sword in his hand also seemed like… seemed like Song Qingyan’s.
For a moment, she didn’t know whether to be concerned or to laugh. This was too amusing.
She crouched down, meeting his gaze at eye level, her own eyes sparkling with surprise. “Are you a little Song Qingyan?”
Su Qingyue, who was a short distance away, turned her head and watched their interaction, lost in thought.
Whether it was this child or that handsome man, neither was an ordinary person.
Having shrunk, Song Qingyan became even colder. He was displeased with his height but could only clutch the hem of Ning Jinyu’s skirt and ask in a cold voice, “Where did you go after you came in? I’ve been looking for you for a long time.”
Since it was a dream anyway, Ning Jinyu used her sleeve to wipe the blood from his face. His handsome features, now clean, looked rather saintly.
She comforted him in a sweet voice, “I was just hiding here in the forest. By the way, how did you get so small?”
“I don’t know. I only realized I’d shrunk when I looked at my reflection in the lake just now.”
“I see.”
“Senior Martial Sister!”
Luo Chuan and Zuo Yixuan came running over. It seemed Su Qingyue’s people had arrived as well.
The two of them glanced at Ning Jinyu and the boy, sizing them up, before standing by Su Qingyue’s side.
“Qing Yue, is that Fellow Daoist Song? How did he become a child?”
“Hahaha, serves him right,” Luo Chuan whispered, gloating.
Su Qingyue shot Luo Chuan a glare, then said to Zuo Yixuan, “Junior Martial Brother, watch your words. I don’t know what happened to Fellow Daoist Song either, but when I came over just now, it looked like he had just finished fighting a demonic beast.”
The more Ning Jinyu looked at the miniature version of Song Qingyan, the more she liked him. As an only child, she had always wanted a younger brother.
After bidding farewell to Su Qingyue and the others, she simply picked up the sullen-faced Song Qingyan. Although the child looked displeased, after flailing for a moment, he obediently wrapped his arms around her neck and leaned against her.
Song Qingyan buried his face in the crook of her neck, and his expression finally softened as he inhaled her sweet scent.
How improper for a grown man to be draped over a woman! But he was just a child now.
Being a child was great. He lowered his eyes to the snowy white expanse of the young woman’s chest. Only a child could lean so close without any reservations. So soft. An imperceptible flicker of pleasure flashed through his dark eyes.
“Song Qingyan, which way do you think we should go to get out of here?”
The boy’s gaze shifted away from her body, and he looked around, his ears turning red. The surroundings felt strangely familiar.
“Let’s head south. Follow that lake to its end.”
“Alright.”
The journey was peaceful.
At the end of the forest lay ruins, featuring an ancient castle-like structure reminiscent of a city in the sky.
At the entrance of the structure stood a large pillar, with a stone-carved giant dragon coiled around it.
Ning Jinyu put Song Qingyan down, a sense of unease creeping into her heart.
She was terrified, even just looking at the stone pillar from a distance.
Song Qingyan, however, was different. As he looked at that spot, the feeling in his heart grew stronger. It was as if he had been here before.
Without a word, he walked straight ahead. Not wanting to get separated from him, Ning Jinyu had no choice but to brace herself and chase after him.
Just as they reached the pillar at the gate, the giant dragon seemed to come to life. It opened its mouth and charged at Song Qingyan. In an instant, the little Song Qingyan vanished from the spot. Ning Jinyu collapsed to the ground, her eyes misty as she watched with a trembling body while the stone-carved dragon returned to its coiled position on the pillar.
Song Qingyan… he wasn’t eaten, was he?
Ning Jinyu stood up, raised her sword, and began hacking at the stone pillar, her voice soft and choked with sobs. “Give Song Qingyan back to me! You villain, give him back to me right now!”
The stone dragon watched the beautiful young woman’s frantic hacking, which felt like little more than a tickle. It had not intended to pay her any mind, but seeing her act bravely despite her fear, it asked curiously, “Who is that child to you? Why are you so worried?”
Ning Jinyu lowered her sword, her face pale. This stone dragon could talk?
“He… he is very important to me.”
The stone dragon looked at her fearful pupils, thought about the child’s identity, and rolled its eyes in amusement. “You want to find him, right? I’ll give you a hand, then. I hope you won’t regret it.”
Before Ning Jinyu could grasp its meaning, she was swept into another space by the giant dragon.
Where was this now?
Ning Jinyu found that she couldn’t move. A crushing weight, like a colossal object, was pressing down on her, making it so hard to breathe that she felt she would suffocate.