“Brother Chen, what about this spirit demon?”
Yan Huaichen glanced at the small spirit demon in his hand, which had only a hundred years of cultivation, and his cold gaze subsequently landed on Luo Qi.
Even though she was trapped in the Frost Ice Array, her face still bore its usual composed and leisurely expression, without a hint of panic.
It was hard to tell if it was because the Frost Ice Array simply couldn’t hold her, or if she was certain that the few of them wouldn’t kill her.
Seeing Luo Qi’s indifferent expression, Yan Huaichen felt it was inexplicably eyesore. He irritably tightened his grip on the small spirit demon.
“The runaway spirit demon is not at the bottom of the cliff at all.”
He stared at Luo Qi, his tone chillingly cold.
Luo Qi spread her hands, her expression candid. “I only said earlier that the spirit demon’s scent was here. I didn’t say it was still here waiting for you to catch it.”
“You!” Yi Ze tightened his grip on the sharp blade in his hand, wanting to rush over, but he was stopped just in time by Ting Bai.
Ting Bai glanced at Yan Huaichen and gave Yi Ze a look.
Brother Chen hadn’t spoken yet. If he really hurt her, wouldn’t that be seeking death?
After tossing and turning for so long, the sky had gradually turned dark.
Luo Qi looked up at the sky and turned to walk in a certain direction on foot.
At the same time, she said, “Spirit demons are better at hiding at night, which isn’t conducive to catching them. Let’s find a place to rest for the night and continue tomorrow morning.”
Ting Bai and the others all looked at Yan Huaichen, waiting for his command.
However, they saw their young master staring darkly at the girl’s retreating back without saying a word.
Just as she was about to reach the edge of the Frost Ice Array, where its killing power was strongest, Yan Huaichen struck out a beam of green light, shattering the array directly.
Seeing his Frost Ice Array turn into fragments with his own eyes, Yi Ze thought with lingering fear that it was a good thing Ting Bai had stopped him just now.
If he had really done something to that woman, he estimated that the one meeting this end now would have been him.
***
As the moon climbed above the treetops, Ting Bai and the others sat in a circle. In the center, a bonfire crackled and popped occasionally, with several wild rabbits roasting on a spit.
The aroma of rabbit meat wafted around with the night breeze.
Decades of meters away from Ting Bai and the others, Luo Qi and Xiao Bai sat side-by-side leaning against an ancient tree.
Smelling the drifting scent of meat, Xiao Bai unprofessionally swallowed its saliva and boredly pawed at the fallen leaves on the ground with its claws.
“Master… do you want to eat something?”
Hearing this, Luo Qi opened her eyes and glanced at it.
Then, she fished out a Spirit Stone from her Sumeru Space and tossed it to Xiao Bai.
Xiao Bai reached out a paw to catch it and directly bit into it.
Pure and dense Spiritual Qi flowed straight into its internal organs.
The little fellow took a comfortable deep breath.
After one Spirit Stone went down, the Spiritual Qi in its body was replenished, but the hunger in its belly remained.
The little fellow wagged its tail, secretly peeking at Ting Bai and the others who were sharing the rabbit meat over there.
Xiao Bai thought to itself for a while, then suggested in a clear voice:
“Master, I think there must be a lot of delicious food here. There’s nothing to do just sitting here dryly. Why don’t we go for a walk?”
Luo Qi understood Xiao Bai’s meaning. With their cultivation levels restricted by the Minor World, they were now no different from ordinary people; they needed food and sleep.
Yi Ze had just torn off a rabbit leg when he saw out of the corner of his eye that Luo Qi was heading in the opposite direction.
He nudged Ting Bai with his elbow and asked in a low voice, “Should we send someone to follow?”
Ting Bai looked around at the terrain, which was nothing but trees and cliffs, and then looked in Luo Qi’s direction. She was already three or four hundred meters away from them.
“No need to follow for now,” Ting Bai said. “She won’t be able to run away.”
Luo Qi walked further and further away. The several young men in black ate their rabbit meat, talking and laughing, but their eyes were always watching Luo Qi’s movements.
It was unclear who brought the topic to Luo Qi first.
“In all these years, we’ve traveled to so many places, but I’ve really never seen a woman as beautiful as her.”
Another person recalled how Luo Qi had easily broken their barrier, casually turned a leaf into a bed, and flown through the air by riding the wind (Yifeng), and suddenly said:
“Don’t you think she looks a lot like the ‘God’ from the legends?”
“God?” Yi Ze sneered. “Setting aside the fact that gods don’t even exist in this world, even if they did…”
His voice suddenly paused. A few seconds later, he spoke again, but this time the ease and laughter were gone from his voice, replaced only by a frigid killing intent.
“Even if they did, we and that so-called ‘God’ would always be as incompatible as water and fire.”
Just as he finished speaking, Yan Huaichen, covered in a heavy scent of blood, appeared in the darkness.
His face was cold and wild, his thin lips tightly pursed, and his entire being radiated an aura that warned others not to approach.
Ting Bai and the others quickly stood up and handed the largest rabbit, which had been roasted and left untouched, to Yan Huaichen.
“Brother Chen, have something to eat?”
Yan Huaichen didn’t take it. He scanned the surroundings, didn’t see Luo Qi, and asked, “Where is she?”
Ting Bai and Yi Ze exchanged a glance and replied, “She probably went to catch some wild game.”
Only then did Yan Huaichen glance at the golden, enticing roasted rabbit meat.
“I’m not hungry. Bring it to them.”
After saying that, he added another sentence: “Lest she starves to death before she can lead us to that spirit demon.”
Ting Bai: “…”
Yi Ze: “…”
The rest of the brothers who had gone through life and death together: “…”
Ting Bai lowered his head and silently looked at the roasted rabbit in his hand. For a moment, his mind was filled with complex emotions.
—Brother Chen, if you want to give that girl food, just say so. There’s no need to… make such a blatant excuse to cover it up.
Yan Huaichen threw a freshly extracted spirit demon core to Ting Bai.
Ting Bai scrambled to catch it. Looking at the few demon cores in his palm that emitted a clear, moonlight-like glow, he asked with a solemn expression:
“Brother Chen, can she really lead us to find the spirit demon?”
The others were also curious about this question.
Yan Huaichen sat against a tree trunk with one knee bent, taking a swig from a jar of strong liquor.
“It’s hard to say for now, but she can indeed sense the spirit demon’s aura.”
***
On the other side.
Luo Qi and Xiao Bai took a turn through the woods. They didn’t catch much game, but they did pick a large pile of fruit.
The flesh of the fruit contained a trace of Spiritual Qi. Although it was far inferior to the Spirit Fruits of the Divine Realm, it was crisp and sweet.
In this godforsaken forest, being able to find this was truly not bad.
By the time Luo Qi and Xiao Bai returned, Yan Huaichen’s group was nowhere to be seen, leaving only a bonfire that was about to burn out.
Luo Qi let out a yawn and squeezed her aching shoulders and back.
A watery mist swirled in her beautiful eyes, and her exquisite face was full of fatigue.
Xiao Bai hopped twice on the spot. Seeing that those people had really left, it directly flopped onto its back and rolled twice on the ground, completely disregarding its image.
“Master, they seem to have left. In that case… are we back to being free? We don’t have to help them find the spirit demon anymore?”
The little fellow’s tone was excited.
Luo Qi glanced at it and reached out to rub its snow-white belly. “If that’s really the case, I guess Master has given us a ‘cheat’ from the Divine Realm.”
Xiao Bai: “…”
Luo Qi formed a seal with her fingertips and set up a protective barrier.
“Let’s just make do here for the night.”
Xiao Bai scrambled into the barrier using all four paws, still muttering, “At least that old man has some conscience and remembers that you, Master, are his only disciple.”
At this moment, Divine Lord Cangchen, who was being “mentioned” by his disciple and the spirit beast, was miserably forced into seclusion to recover from his injuries.
At this very moment, let alone giving Luo Qi a “cheat,” he didn’t even know where his precious disciple was.