“Ah?”
Zhu Qiu looked stunned after hearing the method proposed by the Sword Spirit.
“Sword Spirit, wouldn’t that be a bit… awkward? I feel like sleeping while hugging myself is really strange.”
Because the Sword Spirit looked exactly like her, except for being entirely golden, Zhu Qiu found the idea unsettling.
If the Sword Spirit had any other appearance, Zhu Qiu might have rejected the idea immediately.
“Hmph! Then do whatever you want! Just freeze to death for all I care.”
The Sword Spirit grew angry and dove straight back into the Holy Sword.
Left with no choice, Zhu Qiu returned to her curled-up position.
This was her most stubborn method of resisting the chilling wind.
However, the cold wind gave her no quarter.
As the night deepened, the wind in the forest only grew stronger and more frigid.
Not far away, a Tyrannosaurus hiding behind a massive tree made its preparations.
It could sense that this little loli had already fallen asleep.
Now, all it had to do was sneak closer, ever so quietly, and snap her neck with one bite to enjoy a hearty meal.
The Green-skinned Tyrannosaurus wore a look of cunning in its eyes.
Inside the snakeskin bag, the Little Princess was secretly wiping away tears.
“Wooo…”
‘If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn’t have come out. It would have been better to stay in the Dragon Race Imperial Palace.’
At least there, she had a warm bed, blankets, and pillows.
She wouldn’t be in this primeval forest where even sleeping was an issue.
“Wooo… Zhu Xiaxia, where are you? Wooo…”
“Zhu Qiu, what did you just say?!”
The Sword Spirit had heard everything.
Her own Holy Sword Wielder was actually thinking about that Evil Dragon who had turned her into a Dragon Loli just because she was cold?
“What kind of joke was this?”
“Was this still the steadfast and unyielding Human Sword Saint?”
‘I cannot accept this!’
“Wooo… Sword Spirit, I’m so scared. I don’t want to be here. I just want to go home. Wooo…”
“You…”
The Sword Spirit looked at Zhu Qiu’s pitiful state and felt her heart soften.
She could leave the scolding for later.
Zhu Qiu was miserable right now, and as her Sword Spirit, she should be giving her encouragement!
“Don’t be afraid. I’ll teach you a method.”
“Wooo… what method could there be? I’m about to freeze to death.”
“Oh, hush. It’s a good method. Get out of the snakeskin bag first, and I’ll tell you.”
The Sword Spirit flew out of the snakeskin bag and manifested into the form of a Dragon Loli.
Clutching the Holy Sword, she closed her eyes and felt the Holy Light Energy within her body.
In the next second, a powerful burst of Holy Light exploded outward, illuminating the entire forest as if it were broad daylight.
Following the flash, the forest seemed to fall under a state of frozen time.
The strange noises ceased, and the distant cold wind stopped blowing.
“Come out quickly. I’ve handled everything.”
The Sword Spirit opened the snakeskin bag, but Zhu Qiu was still huddled inside.
Left with no other option, she picked up the entire bag and dumped the hiding Zhu Qiu out.
“Wooo… I want to go home…”
“Stop crying! Look around. Are you still scared?”
The Sword Spirit used her tail to wipe the tears from the corners of Zhu Qiu’s eyes and helped her up.
Zhu Qiu looked at the scene before her, which was now as bright as day.
She wasn’t as frightened as before, and her thumping heart gradually returned to a normal rhythm.
“Sword Spirit, you’re so kind. Woo…”
However, when she happened to glance toward a tree, she saw a single green eye staring at her from behind it.
“!”
“What was that?”
Suddenly, the Green-skinned Tyrannosaurus hiding behind the tree charged out without hesitation.
The Tyrannosaurus had originally planned to wait until Zhu Qiu was asleep to eat her, but it hadn’t expected to be discovered.
Now, it had no choice but to rush out for a life-or-death struggle or flee like a coward and starve to death.
“Roar!”
“Wah, wah, wah, wah!”
Zhu Qiu was so terrified that she hoisted the Sword Spirit onto her shoulder and bolted.
Her tiny body exploded with immense power in that moment.
Feeling her perspective shift suddenly, the Sword Spirit quickly questioned her, “What are you doing? Put me down!”
“There’s a Tyrannosaurus chasing us! Run faster, or we’re dead!”
‘A Tyrannosaurus? Where did a Tyrannosaurus come from?’
The Sword Spirit looked up and saw a massive, blood-red maw wide open, prepared to bite off her little loli head.
“Wah, wah, wah, wah! Zhu Qiu, run faster! I’m going to be eaten!”
But as luck would have it, a stone appeared under Zhu Qiu’s feet, and she tripped.
“Kyaa!”
The two little lolis lost their center of gravity and tumbled to the ground together.
The Tyrannosaurus not only missed its bite but, due to its massive size and momentum, couldn’t stop in time.
It slammed headfirst into the tree in front of it.
“Roar…”
The Tyrannosaurus’s strength was surprisingly great.
It snapped the tree in half and then turned around as if nothing had happened, preparing to charge the two little lolis again.
“Wah, wah, wah, wah! Zhu Qiu, get up! The Tyrannosaurus… it—it—it—it’s coming again!”
But Zhu Qiu seemed to have knocked herself unconscious.
No matter how much the Sword Spirit shook her, her body remained motionless.
She couldn’t worry about it anymore.
The Sword Spirit mimicked Zhu Qiu’s earlier action, hoisting the girl onto her shoulder and running.
“Roar!”
The Tyrannosaurus was fast, but the Sword Spirit refused to be outdone.
She managed to maintain a slight distance from the beast, though she couldn’t lose it entirely.
One spirit and one dragon chased each other like this for the entire night, right until dawn.
Because the Tyrannosaurus hadn’t eaten for a long time and had run such a great distance, its eyes were now glazed and its expression dazed.
“Roar…”
It used the last bit of its strength to let out a final roar toward the sky, expressing its unwilling frustration, before collapsing heavily.
It finally died in the middle of the forest.
At that moment, the unconscious Zhu Qiu finally woke up.
“Ooh… where is this?”
As soon as Zhu Qiu opened her eyes, she saw the Green-skinned Tyrannosaurus lying on the ground.
“Wah, wah, wah, wah! Why is the Tyrannosaurus still here? Sword Spirit, run!”
Saying this, Zhu Qiu wriggled free from the Sword Spirit’s grasp, hoisted the spirit onto her shoulder, and started running again.
“Stop running! Put me down! The Tyrannosaurus is already dead!”
The Sword Spirit’s little face was flushed red, though not from embarrassment—it was from anger.
“What?”
Zhu Qiu stopped and put the Sword Spirit down.
The two of them approached the dead Tyrannosaurus one step at a time.
Looking at the green creature before her, Zhu Qiu gave the Tyrannosaurus’s belly a kick just to be sure.
After confirming it wasn’t going to come back to life, she let out a sigh of relief.
“Phew… that scared me to death.”
“You have the nerve to say that!”
The Sword Spirit loli stood with her hands on her hips, looking at Zhu Qiu indignantly.
“If you hadn’t suddenly passed out, I wouldn’t have had to run for an entire night!”
“Eh? Did the Sword Spirit carry me and run for a whole night?”
“Yes! Otherwise, you would have been eaten ages ago. If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t have bothered! Hmph!”
“Then… thank you, Sword Spirit!”
Zhu Qiu gave the Sword Spirit a big hug.
“Hmph…”
The Sword Spirit hugged her back awkwardly.
Her little face was still flushed, but her anger had already dissipated.
After a while, Zhu Qiu spoke up.
“Sword Spirit, do you think I should still go back?”
“What kind of question is that? Of course you have to go back! You belong to the Human Race, not the Dragon Race. Do you really want to return to that Dragon Race Imperial Palace with that Evil Dragon?”
Hearing Zhu Qiu speak like that again, the Sword Spirit truly worried that she might one day turn into one of those stupid Dragon Race lolis who just gave up and slept whenever they encountered difficulty.
Zhu Qiu’s eyes wavered as she quickly answered.
“It’s not like that. Listen to my explanation…”