Chapter 34: Like a smoke fairy

Ling Xiyue carried Luo Qingchen by the back of her collar with one hand, her figure transforming into a cyan and purple afterimage as she blurred through the dense forest.

Xiao Bai followed closely behind, his tongue lolling out and his four short legs churning frantically.

“Lady, cough… cough, cough… take this dog with you! Look at me, please, give a dog a hand! I can’t run anymore!”

In the sky above, a suffocating pressure crashed down.

The divine sense of a Nascent Soul old monster swept across the land, covering everything.

The surrounding trees were instantly coated in a thick layer of white frost.

That divine sense chased right behind them, scanning the area.

Dangling in mid-air, Luo Qingchen’s scalp went numb.

Her breath hitched as she stayed perfectly still, terrified of being detected.

Ling Xiyue carried her for dozens of miles before her speed finally slowed.

Finding a hollow tree, she ducked inside.

With a flick of her wrist, she dropped Luo Qingchen onto the ground.

Luo Qingchen didn’t even stop to catch her breath.

She scrambled up on all fours, her hands moving in a blur.

Several Array Flags flew out from her storage bag, planting themselves with precision into the corners of the tree hollow.

She formed a hand seal.

“Hide!”

“You bastard, wait! Don’t close the door yet!”

Xiao Bai skidded on his four legs, performing a sideways drift and power-slide.

He managed to slip inside just before the formation sealed shut.

“Wow, Luo-dog! You really would sell out your teammates!”

A transparent ripple shimmered outward, completely isolating the presence of the two people and the dog.

Once it was finished, Luo Qingchen slumped to the ground, panting heavily.

They were safe.

At least for now.

Ling Xiyue sheathed her Green Scale Sword.

She stood where she was, looking down at Luo Qingchen with a complex expression.

She didn’t draw her sword, nor did she speak.

She simply stared.

Luo Qingchen felt incredibly uncomfortable under that gaze.

This woman was usually ice-cold, and this current look felt bizarre.

Luo Qingchen simply sprawled out on the ground and spread her arms wide.

“Just say whatever you want to say.”

“Scold me if you want. Don’t bottle it up.”

“But let’s get one thing straight: once you’re done scolding me, you can’t hit me. I’ve got a frail body that isn’t built for beatings. Plus, I’m afraid of pain.”

Luo Qingchen looked like a dead pig that didn’t fear boiling water.

Ling Xiyue remained silent for a long time.

She eventually walked over and crouched in front of Luo Qingchen.

Her voice was low.

“Why did you come back?”

“You had already escaped.”

“My life shouldn’t have been important to you, right?”

In the cultivation world, it was the norm to abandon others when disaster struck.

 Betrayal and killing for treasure happened every day.

She couldn’t understand.

Given that Luo Qingchen had run off with all the supplies earlier—which was the expected behavior for a cultivator—why would she come back?

Why would this lying, greedy, death-fearing thief return to a situation where a Foundation Establishment cultivator faced certain death?

Luo Qingchen looked away, unable to meet Ling Xiyue’s eyes.

She scratched her hair irritably, turning her already messy ponytail into a bird’s nest.

“What do you mean ‘important’ or ‘not important’?”

“Maybe I just have a loose screw in my head, alright!”

“Just consider it an act of kindness from a stray who missed out on nine-year compulsory education.”

“I must have been cursed for eight lifetimes to run into a blockhead like you. Who would’ve thought a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator could get herself trapped in a single formation?”

Luo Qingchen grumbled, her tone full of impatience.

In reality, her heart was racing.

She had been confident she could handle the people outside, but this cold lady was unpredictable.

Luo Qingchen truly couldn’t grasp her temperament.

Ling Xiyue didn’t understand what “nine-year compulsory education” meant, but she understood the sentiment behind the words.

She stood up and turned her head away, no longer looking at Luo Qingchen.

Perhaps a person like this was the “true friend” she had been looking for.

“Thank you.”

The voice was very soft.

Luo Qingchen froze, thinking to herself, ‘Wait, has she gone stupid from too much cultivation? I sold her out and she’s thanking me? If I sell her again in the future, is she going to count the spirit stones for me while laughing about how rich we’ve become?’

To hide her embarrassment, Luo Qingchen scrambled up and clapped her hands loudly.

She couldn’t let her thoughts be detected; after all, she was mostly just talking big.

“Alright, alright!”

“Since our ‘two people and one dog’ squad is back together, we have to face facts. Everyone out there thinks we’ve looted the entire Secret Realm.”

“Those old monsters definitely won’t let us go.”

“Our priority is to get out of here. Once we’re out, the sky is the limit!”

Luo Qingchen rubbed her chin, beginning to analyze the situation.

“So many high-level cultivators came in from the outside, so something big must have happened at the entrance.”

“We can’t just wander around like headless flies.”

“We need to find an easy target and squeeze them for details about the entrance.”

“Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.”

Just as she finished speaking, Xiao Bai suddenly jumped up.

“Woof!”

The dog’s paws frantically clawed at Luo Qingchen’s pant leg, his face flushing red.

“Lord Dog’s legs nearly snapped from all that running!”

“For such a massive workplace injury, we must settle the accounts immediately!”

“You swiped so many storage bags just now, hand them over! And the loot from earlier in the Secret Realm is still on you. Spit it out!”

“Lord Dog wants his share, and the Eldest Senior Sister worked so hard, she deserves a share too! You have no credibility left; we can’t leave the goods with you!”

Xiao Bai was relentless, practically drooling.

Luo Qingchen rolled her eyes.

This damn dog never forgot about its stomach.

She grabbed Xiao Bai by the scruff of his neck and hoisted him up.

With her other hand, she precisely pinched his snout shut.

Xiao Bai’s protests were reduced to muffled “mrrphs.”

“Too noisy.”

Luo Qingchen reached into the Jade Slip storage space and pulled out a flashy-looking booklet.

She stuffed it directly into Xiao Bai’s paws.

“Read more, talk less!”

“Take this and go study it.”

Xiao Bai broke free from Luo Qingchen’s grip.

He looked down at the booklet with a look of utter disdain.

“What kind of trash book is—”

The next second, Xiao Bai’s eyes went wide.

His eyeballs nearly popped out of his head.

He began hopping in place with excitement, his tail wagging like a propeller.

“Woof! Woof woof woof!”

“The 100 Secrets of Fairy Ruyan Illustration!”

“The out-of-print edition from the Joyous Sect!”

“You… you’re giving something this precious to Lord Dog?”

It was said that with this book, one could achieve dual cultivation with Fairy Ruyan for one month!

It was a supreme treasure that countless male cultivators in the world dreamed of! Xiao Bai hugged the booklet tightly with his front paws, drool leaking onto the ground.

Ling Xiyue heard the commotion and turned around.

Her gaze fell upon the gaudy booklet.

On the cover, a very scantily clad female cultivator was striking a scandalous pose.

Ling Xiyue’s cold face instantly flushed bright red.

Even her fair neck was stained with a crimson hue.

She whipped her head around and glared at Luo Qingchen.

The look she gave was as if she were looking at a heinous pervert.

“You…”

“You are a woman! Why would you have such a filthy object?”

Ling Xiyue gritted her teeth.

Her Green Scale Sword hummed in its scabbard, ready to be drawn at any moment to strike down this female rogue.

Luo Qingchen held her hands out defensively, looking perfectly justified.

“I just dug that out from the pile of storage bags!”

“Who knows which old pervert it belonged to?”

“What’s the problem?”

“Do you think if I hadn’t looted their bags, they would have spared me?”

“They would’ve turned me into minced garlic the first chance they got!”

“This is called making the best use of resources and robbing the rich to help the poor!”

Luo Qingchen spoke with total conviction, showing not a hint of shame.

Ling Xiyue was left speechless.

She took several deep breaths to suppress the urge to draw her sword.

Right then, a flurry of footsteps suddenly echoed from outside the formation.

The sound of dry branches snapping was exceptionally clear in the silent forest.