Volume One, Chapter 154: Warm as a Little Sun

Page (1/3)

Lu Jinyuan wore a foul expression. His solemn look of distaste revealed a whole new world to Qin Yu: who would have thought such an interesting expression could ever appear on Lu Jinyuan’s face?

The muscles in her face moved ever so slightly.

It was an almost imperceptible motion, but Lu Jinyuan noticed it all the same.

Had Qin Yu just smiled?

When he tried to look more closely, Qin Yu’s enlarged features, which had been hovering near him, slowly moved closer.

Lu Jinyuan held his breath, and the tips of his ears grew hot against his will.

He felt an inexplicable sense of anticipation, though he had no idea what he was expecting.

Qin Yu merely bent down, smiled, and patted him on the head. “Good boy!”

Her tone was exactly like someone coaxing a child.

And she performed the gesture with practiced ease.

How could she not be practiced? This was how Qin Yu usually patted Mu Ling.

Meanwhile, the man who had been eagerly anticipating something romantic happening now wore a face blacker than the bottom of a cooking pot.

He irritably pushed away Qin Yu’s hand as it stroked his hair and protested, “I’m not a child.”

For some reason, although Lu Jinyuan looked fierce, Qin Yu felt as though she were watching a burly man throw a childish tantrum.

She smiled and humored him. “Yes, yes, yes.”

Lu Jinyuan felt she was brushing him off, which only made him angrier.

After this back-and-forth, Lu Jinyuan temporarily forgot all about tearing Old Third Jia apart with his bare hands.

At that moment, Qin Yu produced a stack of talisman papers from somewhere.

Lu Jinyuan took them and flipped through the stack. Among them was a warding talisman he recognized, along with seven others, each different from the rest and all unfamiliar to him.

Qin Yu explained, “Aside from the warding talisman, I drew some heart-cleansing talismans for you as well. Burn one every night before bed. They’ll help cleanse the foul energy clinging to your body.”

Something in Lu Jinyuan’s heart softened completely, and that faint stir of emotion was magnified without limit.

Qin Yu was always like this. Without making a fuss, she prepared everything in advance, giving others a sense of security and making them trust her without even realizing it.

When Qin Yu saw that he had not moved for a long while, she raised an eyebrow. “You don’t want them? Then I’ll take them back.”

She made as if to retrieve the talismans.

Lu Jinyuan stuffed the entire stack into his pocket before she could.

He moved so quickly that he looked as though he feared Qin Yu might snatch them back.

Qin Yu glanced at the bulging pocket and was thoroughly puzzled.

Still, she said nothing and turned to leave.

She had taken only two steps when a voice came from behind her. “Where are you going?”

Worried about her injuries, Lu Jinyuan asked.

“The matter of the mountain god hasn’t been resolved yet.”

Qin Yu narrowed her eyes.

What Lu Jinyuan had torn apart was not the mountain god at all, but merely an illusion.

The real mountain god was still somewhere out there, hiding and enjoying its freedom.

Lu Jinyuan shook the undried stream water from his hand and blurted out, “I’m coming with you.”

Qin Yu stood in the light and looked at him sidelong, lifting her chin.

Her expression clearly asked: Not disgusted anymore?

Lu Jinyuan immediately understood what she meant. His expression darkened. “Go on ahead. I’m going to change my clothes.”

Although his car had been wrecked, the spare clothes in the trunk should still be wearable.

Qin Yu nodded, then suddenly remembered something. “Where’s Xing Qiao? I remember she came with us. How come I haven’t seen her at all?”

Lu Jinyuan’s expression turned strange.

He had been so focused on Qin Yu that, if she had not reminded him, he would have forgotten Xing Qiao existed.

Qin Yu guessed what had happened. “You didn’t lose her, did you?”

Page (1/3)

Page (2/3)

Lu Jinyuan nodded honestly.

Qin Yu was about to say something, but the words that reached her lips changed into, “Forget it! That woman values her life too much. She’s probably hiding in some safe corner, watching the show.”

Lu Jinyuan believed Qin Yu completely. Since she had said that, the guilt in his heart eased somewhat.

“Once we deal with the mountain god, we’ll go look for her together.”

“All right.”

—

Following her memory, Qin Yu arrived at the mouth of the cave. Mu Ling floated behind her, but he looked to be in terrible shape, practically a ghostly wreck.

“Little Yu, can’t you think of some way to get Lu Jinyuan to leave? With him hanging around you like this, I’m the one who suffers!”

If Mu Ling had been capable of crying, he would definitely have squeezed out a couple of tears.

Qin Yu looked at him sympathetically. “But he hasn’t done anything wrong. Wouldn’t it be rather inappropriate for me to chase him away?”

“So you’re just going to watch me suffer? Doesn’t that make your conscience hurt?”

Qin Yu gently patted his head and comforted him with a perfectly serious expression. “Mu Ling, you’re the most capable and most worry-free assistant I have. A little hardship like this is nothing to you. It’s merely a drop in the bucket, right?”

As she spoke, Qin Yu even winked at him.

The barrage of praise immediately sent Mu Ling soaring. He puffed out his chest, his face radiating the declaration, I’m reliable! “Of course!”

Qin Yu smiled and snapped her fingers. Spiritual energy transformed into a microphone in her hand.

“Most reliable Mu Ling, please tell us our slogan!”

She held the microphone up to him.

Qin Yu’s words had stirred Mu Ling’s blood. “Brave Mu Ling! Fear no hardship!”

Mu Ling snapped his fingers again and pointed at the cave entrance. “Go!”

Mu Ling’s little black hand pointed in the same direction, following her lead. His voice was brimming with fighting spirit. “Go, go, go!”

Qin Yu stifled a laugh, then casually added, “You could have avoided being afraid in the first place. Why don’t you just take your thing back?”

It was as though cold water had been poured over Mu Ling. He wilted at once. “Forget it. I’d rather keep suffering like this!”

Qin Yu truly could not understand what had happened to make Mu Ling so determined—to endure this torment rather than take back the thing that belonged to him.

She did not want to pressure him, so she merely said, “You know perfectly well that taking it back sooner would benefit you.”

Whenever Qin Yu mentioned the matter, Mu Ling pretended to be dead.

There was nothing Qin Yu could do about him. She could only repeat her usual advice. “If you run into any difficulties, don’t keep them bottled up. Tell me. As long as it doesn’t violate the laws of Heaven, I’ll stand by you.”

Something flickered faintly in Mu Ling’s eyes. He answered evasively, “Let’s talk about it after we deal with the mountain god.”

Seeing that he had finally relented, Qin Yu was sincerely happy for him.

“Then it’s settled! Once I deal with this mountain god, you’ll tell me the whole story from beginning to end!”

Mu Ling was just about to take it back when Qin Yu had already started forward.

He tried to follow, but halfway there, he suddenly smacked into the ground.

He had not needed to think twice to know what had happened: Lu Jinyuan must have caught up.

Mu Ling was furious.

But anger was one thing; he had no intention of being crushed motionless by the baleful aura surrounding Lu Jinyuan. He immediately slipped into his inner space to take refuge.

—

Lu Jinyuan hurried over and happened to see Qin Yu’s back as she entered the cave.

Qin Yu sensed the fluctuations of baleful energy behind her and deliberately paused for a moment at the entrance.

The two exchanged a knowing look, each offering the other a reassuring expression.

The cave was quiet, yet it also felt strangely comforting.

Qin Yu burned a talisman paper. The little flame drifted along beside them, illuminating the pitch-black cave.

Deep within, water dripped incessantly. Drip, drip, drip—the sound was especially clear in the silent cavern.

Qin Yu had been bound in a sack and thrown inside, so she had never seen how she had reached the enormous cauldron at the cave’s center.

She closed her eyes and used the spiritual energy within her to sense what had happened then.

Page (2/3)

Page (3/3)

Following the guidance of her spiritual energy, she stopped before an utterly ordinary section of the cave wall.

Lu Jinyuan had followed close behind. Seeing Qin Yu stop, he stepped forward and inspected the rock face.

Knock, knock, knock.

He rapped on the wall with his knuckles. The mountain returned a solid, unmistakable echo.

He turned and shook his head at Qin Yu. “It’s solid.”

Qin Yu stepped forward as well and pressed her palm against the wall.

After a moment, she gave a disdainful smile.

So that was how it was!

“Step back a little.”

At her words, Lu Jinyuan immediately retreated half a meter.

Qin Yu pressed the index and middle fingers of her right hand together. With her left hand, she reached into the small bag she carried and took out a blank talisman paper.

Using her finger as a brush and spiritual energy as ink, she began to draw upon the paper.

The golden spiritual energy turned cinnabar red the moment it touched the talisman.

On closer inspection, one could see flashes of radiant light flowing through the red strokes.

When she finished, Qin Yu withdrew her hand and pressed the talisman against the wall.

Her crimson lips moved as she chanted an incantation to activate it.

With her other hand, she drew a protective barrier in front of herself and Lu Jinyuan.

The talisman grew redder and redder until it exploded together with the section of mountain wall before them.

Hard fragments of stone shot outward like flowers scattered from the heavens. Some of the larger shards even pierced straight through the opposite side of the cave.

Fortunately, the protective barrier kept Lu Jinyuan and Qin Yu unharmed.

From the blasted opening in the wall, a faint light seeped through.

Qin Yu had just raised her foot to step inside when Lu Jinyuan moved in front of her.

“Let me go first.”

Qin Yu actually wanted to tell him: Even if you go in first and something happens, won’t I still have to deal with it?

But she decided not to say it, if only to preserve Lu Jinyuan’s dignity. Instead, she let him take the lead.

—

The wall had been blasted open by brute force, and dust continued to sift down.

The moment Lu Jinyuan entered, the dust filled his nose and eyes. Tears sprang involuntarily to his eyes, and his throat—

He did not dare make a sound. Covering his mouth with a hollow fist, he suppressed his cough as much as he could.

Suddenly, he felt a warm sensation against his back.

At the same time, his suffocating discomfort eased considerably.

He did not need to turn around to know it had to be Qin Yu.

The warmth behind him was just like Qin Yu herself—warm as a little sun.

Being protected by a woman might have been embarrassing if anyone else knew, but Lu Jinyuan did not resent it. Qin Yu was powerful and confident, and she had the ability to protect others.

If anything, Lu Jinyuan hoped that Qin Yu would never have a day when she needed someone else’s protection.

The two walked on, one in front of the other.

It was not particularly dark inside. Every few meters, a small luminous pearl had been embedded in the wall.

The surfaces of those pearls appeared to have been deliberately altered, so the light they emitted was just bright enough for human eyes to see comfortably.

Under that dim illumination, skeletal remains lined the entire path.

Lu Jinyuan felt something sticky beneath his soles, but the light was too faint for him to determine what it was.

Page (3/3)