Miss Fairy, Please Hear Me Out

Once the hunt was over, the two returned one after the other to the cave they had carved out with a sword.

After placing the specially prepared medicinal grass at the cave entrance to stop the smell of blood from spreading, Xu Yuan began preparing the ingredients, while Ran Qingmo sat quietly to the side and watched him. After all, even cultivation would produce source qi fluctuations.

As he processed the ingredients, Xu Yuan said in a low voice, “We probably only need another two or three days before we can get out.”

As the days he and Ran Qingmo spent wandering through the Myriad Ascents Mountain Range passed one by one, the number of times they could sense Tian Yan’s source qi fluctuations had gradually decreased.

From seven times in the first three days, to once every two days now.

The Myriad Ascents Mountain Range were simply too vast.

In the first few days, it was because Tian Yan’s search area had been relatively small. But as time slowly passed and Xu Yuan and Ran Qingmo gradually moved farther away from the teleportation array’s exit, the area Tian Yan had to search naturally grew larger as well.

He and the iceberg of a woman should soon be out of that washboard Saintess’s tracking range.

“Oh.” Her answer was as short as ever.

Xu Yuan had also gotten used to her few words. While coating the meat with seasoning, he continued talking to himself. “The Myriad Ascents Mountain Range is strange too. Why are there so many demonic beasts around here? When I came last time, I didn’t see nearly this many.”

Ran Qingmo thought for a moment, then shook her head. “Mhm... I don’t know either.”

Xu Yuan glanced at her, a little amused. “I wasn’t asking you.”

“Then who were you asking?”

“I was just muttering to myself.” Xu Yuan coughed lightly. As he used his sword to skin the wild boar, he said in a low voice, “I remember you had a map of the Myriad Ascents Mountain Range before, didn’t you?”

“I used to,” Ran Qingmo said.

“And now?” Xu Yuan had a faint bad feeling.

“I threw it away.”

“Why would you throw it away?”

“Because it wouldn’t fit in my travel pouch.” Ran Qingmo gave him a slightly puzzled look, as if wondering why this needed explaining.

Xu Yuan sighed. In silence, he peeled off the entire hide and set it aside. Then he made a decision. “After we keep heading northwest and completely shake off Tian Yan, we’ll turn east and head back to the Great Flame Empire. There are so many demonic beasts around here. Who knows if the Ancient Abyss is up to something again.”

Ran Qingmo’s dark brows furrowed slightly. “You suspect someone from the Ancient Abyss is going to make a move against you again?”

Xu Yuan shook his head. “Because of what happened with Ji Qingyue, Xu Changge went to the Ancient Abyss and killed the eldest princess of the snake demon clan. Since he was able to come back without a scratch, those old monsters in the Ancient Abyss probably compromised. In the short term, they shouldn’t dare come after me. What I’m worried about is being caught in the crossfire. No matter how you put it, the Myriad Ascents Mountain Range can be considered half of the Ancient Abyss’s private backyard.”

“Oh.” Ran Qingmo nodded, half understanding and half not. “Then what do you think is happening?”

Xu Yuan smiled faintly and shook his head. “No idea. We haven’t seen any high rank demonic beasts for now. It’s all low rank ones wandering around here.”

As he spoke, he glanced outside through the cave entrance and sighed. “I wonder if some ruthless big demon might show up and force Tian Yan away. Having her circling over our heads every day is exhausting. It was just a dream. Does she really have to be this angry?”

Hearing this, Ran Qingmo hesitated slightly, then asked in a low voice, “Um... Xu Yuan, could Tian Yan calculate our location?”

Xu Yuan shook his head. “No. She can’t calculate it. I’m an unknown variable. There’s no way she can divine anything about me.”

Ran Qingmo shook her head. “That’s not what I mean. I mean, could she derive my location?”

Xu Yuan paused, but then denied it as well. “Still unlikely. The Heaven Deriving Art can’t just derive other people however she pleases. Even if she only wants to find someone’s location, she still needs a lot of preparation beforehand.”

“Oh.” Ran Qingmo nodded, but then she asked softly, “Um... in the dream, did anything happen between you two?”

Xu Yuan looked up at her in some surprise, only to meet her eyes, clear and deep as a secluded pool. After a second of silence, he smiled. “Nothing much. I just lived together with Tian Yan in the illusion for more than ten years.”

“More than ten years?”

“Mhm.”

“Oh.” After saying that, Ran Qingmo stopped talking and silently took out her black sword.

Just as Xu Yuan was wondering what she was doing, the blade suddenly left its sheath and traced a dazzling flourish through the air. Then Ran Qingmo laid it across her lap, lowered her eyes, and quietly began wiping and maintaining it with great care.

Xu Yuan stared at her downcast face for several breaths. After failing to see even the slightest emotion, he shook his head lightly.

Good swords all needed maintenance. It was normal for Ran Qingmo to do this.

In silence, time trickled by.

The fragrance of meat gradually filled the cave. Along with the sizzling crackle of oil, chunks of iron-skinned porcupine meat, streaked with fat and lean, roasted over the campfire until juices bubbled and dripped.

Although in the illusion, with their high cultivation, they had not needed to eat, if life lost all its little rituals, what difference was there between that and being dead?

After fleeing for his life in the illusion for more than ten years, Xu Yuan had spent more than half that time in the wilderness. Thanks to that, his skill at cooking demonic beast game had improved by a lot.

Ran Qingmo unconsciously stopped wiping her blade. Her beautiful eyes fixed on the roasting meat, and she lightly pursed her red lips.

Over the month or so since they had left Stillwater, this iceberg of a woman had also been reshaped by him. She could go without eating, sure. But why bother?

Xu Yuan took a small amount of seasoning from his Sumeru Ring and sprinkled it over the meat as oil splattered from it. After turning it over a few more times, he took out one skewer and handed it to the big ice block, whose eyes had practically been waiting holes through it.

“Here.”

Ran Qingmo blinked, silently reached out to take it, held the bamboo skewer in one hand, cupped her other hand beneath it, gently blew on it twice, then under Xu Yuan’s gaze opened her little mouth and began eating in small bites.

Her mouth was soon shiny with oil.

Xu Yuan casually handed her a handkerchief and smiled softly. “Eat slowly.”

“Okay.” Ran Qingmo pursed the oil on her red lips. Her cold, untouched-by-the-world face gained a few traces of softness. She wanted to reach out and take it, but then realized both her hands were greasy, so she hesitated and looked at the brocade handkerchief.

Xu Yuan smiled faintly. “I’ll help you.”

Under her quiet gaze, he reached forward very naturally and wiped the oil from the corner of her mouth.

As their eyes met, a pleasant female voice, smiling, suddenly came from beside them. “You two seem to be enjoying yourselves. I want some too.”

Before the words had even finished, a cold gleam formed from the blade swept past Xu Yuan without the slightest warning, slashing straight toward the direction of the voice.

“Stop.”

The word fell, and the blade froze in place.

Inside the cave, apart from the crackling of the campfire, everything sank into silence.

Only then did Xu Yuan react to the sudden change before him and turn his eyes to the side.

There, within the swaying glow of the campfire, an incomparably beautiful young girl stood barefoot beside him, quietly looking down at him from above.