Chapter 24

“Huihui? What’s wrong with you?”

Cheng Hui shook his head, indicating he was fine. Whether to log off or not was another matter. Cheng Hui grew up with his grandmother, and under her influence, he learned to distinguish between the importance and urgency of things.

For instance… the most important thing right now was to deal with the aftermath of this situation.

He glanced at Lin Qingyang, who looked concerned, and his mouth twitched. Why did it feel like a kid was calmer than him? He rubbed his chin. Could it be that he was making a fuss over nothing?

He looked at the ground for a body… oh, there was no body on the ground, so maybe there really wasn’t anything to be afraid of.

He still had some doubts in his heart and looked at Lin Qingyang with a strange gaze.

Lin Qingyang, being very perceptive, immediately noticed something was off and quickly realized he might have exposed something.

He pouted and threw himself into Cheng Hui’s arms, whimpering, “Huihui, it’s a bit scary.”

Cheng Hui: … Are you a sloth? Why is your reaction so slow?

“Huihui! Am I being useless like this?” Lin Qingyang, in Cheng Hui’s arms, lifted his head, his eyes filled with tears, looking as if he was about to cry.

Cheng Hui: … Please, start your performance.

Lin Qingyang pressed his face against Cheng Hui’s chest and said softly, “My family used to be a cultivation family, living in a remote place with scarce resources. To compete for resources, the family often fought with others. The elders even took us to see it, with blood all over the ground. It was really scary.”

Cheng Hui’s expression changed slightly, and images of family elders forcing the younger generation to face the harsh world to grow up quickly flashed in his mind.

He sighed silently, feeling sorry for the kid.

He raised his stiff hand, wanting to pat his head to comfort him, but Lin Qingyang caught it and placed it on his face, gently stroking it.

The sensation at his fingertips was delicate and warm, and the feeling of being cherished came rushing in.

Cheng Hui felt a bit guilty. Was he being overly suspicious?

In ancient times, two villages could have deadly fights over water, let alone in the harsh cultivation world?

An eight-year-old boy wasn’t that young. He might have seen more deadly fights than Cheng Hui himself.

“Ah, ah…” Although he couldn’t speak, Cheng Hui sincerely apologized.

Perhaps sensing his apology, Lin Qingyang opened his previously closed eyes, and his clear eyes were filled with Cheng Hui’s reflection.

Cheng Hui suddenly felt a bit flustered. Being hit by such a beautiful face at close range made him feel all sorts of wrong, his heart suddenly racing as if he was sick.

Especially since his hand was still on Lin Qingyang’s face, and with their posture, it looked like an old pervert was taking advantage of a good-looking boy.

Cheng Hui: …

Wake up! Three years minimum, death penalty at most!

Cheng Hui was completely stiff, mentally slapping himself a few times.

What was he doing! Didn’t he despise those perverts who liked kids the most? Just a moment ago, he actually thought Lin Qingyang was cute and wanted to…

No! You don’t want to!

You didn’t think of anything! Your mind is blank!

Ahhhhh! Stop thinking about it!!!!!

“Huihui?”

Lin Qingyang looked at Cheng Hui in confusion.

Was it an illusion? Why did he feel like Cheng Hui’s ears were turning red? And the temperature of his hand was rising rapidly.

“Are you feeling unwell?” Lin Qingyang quickly reached out to touch his forehead, but Cheng Hui dodged it.

Lin Qingyang’s expression changed for a second before returning to normal. Taking advantage of Cheng Hui’s limited mobility, he simply pressed his forehead against Cheng Hui’s.

Cheng Hui was once again struck by the beauty and was dumbfounded.

“Strange? Why is the temperature rising? Huihui, are you really okay?” Lin Qingyang asked, not quite reassured.

Cheng Hui shook his head vigorously, trying hard to lean back tactically.

He really wanted to tell Lin Qingyang, don’t come any closer. As long as we keep our distance, I’ll be fine!

“Go… back.”

Lin Qingyang didn’t want to push Cheng Hui too hard. He knew very well that Cheng Hui didn’t have those kinds of feelings for him, and his current body was only eight years old, so he couldn’t do anything even if he wanted to.

His recent goal was to make Cheng Hui realize that he wasn’t Cheng Hui’s brother but his fiancé.

He didn’t want what should be a well-developed romance to turn into a depressing kinship… not even friendship!

Thinking about such things, Lin Qingyang felt inexplicably uncomfortable, his chest particularly stuffy, as if someone had once rejected him with such a reason.

Shaking his head to discard such ridiculous thoughts, Cheng Hui was his fiancé, not some brother!

There weren’t many traces to deal with on the scene. The bronze-armored corpse was trapped in place by Lin Qingyang’s array. Without the master’s command, it was just an ordinary zombie.

It would instinctively seek out human blood, but isolated by the array, without the scent of humans, it would mostly lie underground and sleep.

Now that their master, the man in blue, was dead, the two refined corpses returned to being just corpses. If someone else skilled in corpse refining took over, they might still be useful. But Lin Qingyang wasn’t going to leave such evidence, so he straightforwardly destroyed the corpses.

After roughly cleaning up the scene, ensuring no traces of themselves were left, Lin Qingyang finally took Cheng Hui away.

On the way out, he was still mumbling about looking for more magic fish gold. Cheng Hui, reminded by him, suddenly remembered, wait… he seemed to have already awakened his talent, and he actually forgot during the fight???

“Ah, ah!” Cheng Hui tugged on Lin Qingyang’s sleeve.

“Hmm?”

Lin Qingyang stopped and looked at him.

Cheng Hui found a relatively open spot on the ground. His talent was fire-breathing, and setting a fire in the woods could cause a forest fire, which wouldn’t be good.

He prepared himself, feeling a bit nervous under Lin Qingyang’s gaze.

He opened his mouth, recalling where the flame was hidden, and guided it out with spiritual power.

A tiny flame flew out of his mouth, and Cheng Hui was dumbfounded looking at it.

Wasn’t it… much bigger when he was in the space? It even burned Xiao Tong’s hair, so why was it so small now?

Did it shrink?

The tiny flame wobbled, only the size of a fingernail, as if a gust of wind could extinguish it.

What happened to the awesome talent? What was he supposed to do with this? Light cigarettes for people?

Cheng Hui silently found a corner to squat in, feeling utterly defeated.

It seemed like things couldn’t get any worse.

Lin Qingyang, finding Cheng Hui’s dejected look amusing, thought he was just too cute like this.

He pulled him up and gently patted his back, “It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s normal for the first talent to be unsatisfactory. Besides, your talent isn’t that bad; it’s quite good.”

Cheng Hui looked at him gloomily. What’s good about it?

Lin Qingyang looked at the slowly flying little flame and couldn’t bring himself to lie with his eyes closed, so he forced himself to say, “At least it’s cute.”

Cheng Hui: …

So when I fight people in the future, I’ll just spit out a little flame and cutely burn them to death?

Cheng Hui felt defeated again.

Lin Qingyang felt a bit awkward. His skills in comforting people weren’t great, and he was more adept at sowing discord due to the environment.

He rubbed his nose, feeling helpless about the little flame still slowly flying towards a big tree.

How should he comfort his fiancé’s hurt feelings? Waiting online, quite urgent…

Boom—

A loud explosion startled both of them.

They looked in shock at the tree, which had been the target of the little flame. It was now burning and, in a very short time, turned into charred wood.

Strangely, the other plants around the tree weren’t affected at all, as if the tree wasn’t in the same world as them.

“Red Lotus Karma Fire…” Lin Qingyang was utterly stunned.

This kind of fire with unique spatial attributes, as far as he knew, was only the Red Lotus Karma Fire.

Cheng Hui’s ears perked up immediately.

What? What? What Red Lotus Karma Fire? It sounds pretty awesome…

Lin Qingyang couldn’t believe his eyes as he stared at the tree that had been completely burned to ashes. As the tree turned to dust, the blazing fire disappeared.

It was as if the barrier of the world had been opened, and a large amount of ash flew out from where the tree had been, covering the surrounding plants with a layer of black.

Cheng Hui was also stunned by the power of the fire, his mouth slightly open, unable to speak.

At this moment, the little person inside him was shouting at the top of his lungs: Awesome!!!!!!

“Ah! Ah!” Cheng Hui excitedly grabbed Lin Qingyang’s hand, repeatedly pointing at the tree.

Lin Qingyang could feel his excitement and helplessly comforted him, “Yes, yes, it’s very powerful. Your talent is super powerful!”

Cheng Hui’s eyes sparkled, feeling incredibly proud, hands on his hips.

Unfortunately, his limbs weren’t very coordinated, and with nowhere to vent his excitement, he entered the space, rushed into the villa, and hugged the sleeping Xiao Tong, giving him a good squeeze.

After venting, he quickly left the space, leaving Xiao Tong with a head of messy hair, looking bewildered, not knowing what had happened.

When Cheng Hui came out, he was basically calm, looking as composed as before.

Remembering his previous behavior, he felt a bit embarrassed and gave Lin Qingyang a big smile.

Lin Qingyang, infected by his good mood, couldn’t help but smile too. After laughing for a while, he suddenly remembered that since Cheng Hui’s talent had been awakened, shouldn’t he start refining corpses?

“Ah?” Cheng Hui wasn’t entirely sure if his talent was given by Xiao Tong or activated by the magic fish gold. Comparatively, he thought the former was more likely.

He thought for a moment and felt that refining now shouldn’t be a problem. Their goal in finding the magic fish gold was to activate the talent, and since the goal was achieved, there was no point in overthinking it. Just start.

Lin Qingyang pondered for a moment, having similar thoughts to Cheng Hui. It was just the right time to return to the Thirteen Peaks and avoid some trouble, so the two of them left the back mountain and returned to their small courtyard, ready to start refining corpses for the first time.