Chapter 9

After the girl finished speaking those almost coquettish words, the surrounding air suddenly fell into silence.

Outside the cave, snowflakes fluttered down, and a fierce wind howled.

Yu Tao looked up and met the sudden deepening gaze of the young man’s light golden eyes. Her awareness returned, and her sluggish mind gradually began to process what had happened.

What… what did she just say?

She asked if Senior Brother could carry her?

When she looked down again, she realized that her hand was still gripping his sleeve. In a panic, Yu Tao quickly retracted her hand and hid it behind her back.

A textbook example of trying to deceive herself by burying her head in the sand.

Feeling embarrassed, she lowered her head and stammered, “I’m sorry, Senior Brother. My mind wasn’t very clear just now. Please forget I said that. I can walk on my own.”

“You…”

Yu Li seemed like he wanted to say something but paused, then frowned and looked at her. “Are you sure you can walk?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Yu Tao nodded.

She braced herself against the stone wall and slowly stood up. Her legs had already stiffened, and she couldn’t feel them properly—they were numb and heavy.

She tried to take a step forward. It was fine, she let out a sigh of relief. She took a second step, then a third, but suddenly her balance wavered, and her body uncontrollably fell toward the snow.

“……!!”

A gentle surge of spiritual power suddenly grasped the back of her collar, pulling her backward to steady her, and then dissipated once she was stable.

The voice behind her was calm: “Junior Sister likes snow?”

“……”

There was no way to brush this off now. Yu Tao bit her lip and, after a moment’s hesitation, softly said, “Well… just now, I thought Little Senior Brother might find it troublesome, so I said I could manage on my own.”

“It is troublesome.” A cold voice let out a soft hum.

As expected. Yu Tao lowered her head.

“However, seeing that you really can’t walk, and since you were the one who asked first,”

The young man suddenly turned his head, his long lashes casting a shadow over the emotions in his eyes. The words from his mouth grew softer as he spoke.

“…I suppose it’s not impossible.”

Yu Tao froze, raising her head: …Huh?

The young man, dressed in white like snow, his figure slender like bamboo, walked over and half-squatted in front of her.

From Yu Tao’s angle, she could clearly see the pale skin at the back of his ears and his fingers lightly clenched on his knees.

Yu Tao hesitated but didn’t say the words, “Actually, it’s not necessary, Senior Brother. If I wait a little while, I’ll be able to walk on my own.”

Some private feelings she couldn’t express made her close her eyes, ignoring everything. She leaned forward and loosely wrapped her arm around the young man’s neck.

After a brief moment of hesitation, the young man steadily lifted the girl onto his back and walked out.

His expression remained calm as usual, but the tips of his ears, hidden beneath his black hair, had a faint blush.

There was a pleasant scent on Senior Brother, something between pine and fir, though Yu Tao couldn’t distinguish it precisely. She just knew it was a light, woodsy fragrance mixed with a crisp, clean snow scent, which made it easy for her to relax.

Moreover, he felt very warm. His thin spring robes couldn’t block the heat, and Yu Tao, who had been shivering from the cold, almost uncontrollably wanted to get closer to him, to absorb some warmth.

However, she still didn’t dare to do so. She only buried her face in his shoulder and lightly exhaled.

The girl on his back seemed like an ice block just pulled out of an icy cave, with no warmth in her breath.

Yu Li slightly furrowed his brows.

Once one’s cultivation reaches a certain level, their sensitivity to the weather weakens significantly. The cold was nothing for him, but it was far beyond what Yu Tao could endure.

Not to mention, Yu Tao had been in this frozen environment for three or four hours.

The Void Realm contained thousands of different scene maps, and without knowing which map Yu Tao was on, they could only search each one. That’s why it took so long to find them.

Having originally planned to head straight back, Yu Li paused for a moment before turning and heading deeper into the snow-covered mountains with the girl on his back.

“Little Senior Brother, where are we going? Aren’t we going back?”

Yu Tao noticed that he hadn’t taken out the teleportation jade but was instead walking deeper into the snowy region, and she asked, puzzled.

Yu Li’s expression remained calm: “The teleportation jade is with Hua Lian.”

Yu Tao blinked: “But Second Senior Brother already left… Why aren’t we going back together?”

“Teleportation jade can only transport two people at most at a time.”

Yu Tao understood now. Given that the situation with Classmate Zhu was serious, they had sent her back first, and now they were likely heading to a teleportation array located 300 miles away.

She had no complaints about this.

On the contrary, she was happy to have more time with Yu Li.

“Little Senior Brother, did you and Second Senior Brother come because you saw the message I left?” she asked.

“Mm.”

Yu Li slowly used his spiritual power to transmit warmth. “The Spirit Summoning technique you left captured the demonic energy residue of that demon cultivator. Gu Yu has already taken people to investigate.”

Yu Tao smiled softly, relaxing. “I’m glad it worked. I was worried he might have seen through my trick and cleared the real message. If that happened, both I and Classmate Zhu would have been in trouble.”

Yu Li remained silent.

In a situation with such a large disparity in cultivation levels, either calling for help or confronting the demon cultivator directly would lead to unbearable difficulty.

Although the protective spells he sealed in the jade bell would alert him as soon as triggered, that demon cultivator used poison, and there could be other poisons on him. Anything could happen before Yu Li could arrive.

Yet, she had done well—not only saving the person, but also capturing the demon cultivator’s demonic spirit.

However…

“Senior Brother, with the demonic spirit, we should be able to find the culprit soon, right?”

“Mm.”

Everyone’s spiritual power is unique and special, and demon cultivators are no exception.

She let out a weak smile, her voice faint: “That’s great. Classmate Zhu will be so happy when she finds out.”

…Idiot.

Yu Li slightly lowered his eyes, focusing on others and never considering herself.

She had yet to build her foundation, unlike Zhu Mingyu. Without the body tempered by spiritual energy, her body had been invaded by such cold energy. Even if she returned now, she would undoubtedly suffer from aftereffects, which would hinder her future cultivation.

She wrapped her delicate white arms tighter around herself, her long black hair cascading down her shoulder. Her face buried in his shoulder, the young girl’s voice muffled as she softly murmured by his ear.

“Senior Brother, I’m so…”

Yu Li’s body stiffened.

…So?

His eyelids twitching suddenly, his breath halting for a moment, silently waiting for the girl’s next words. But to his surprise, Yu Tao stopped there, as if she had been cut off.

He couldn’t help but ask, “What did you say? I didn’t catch that.”

The girl rubbed her cheek against his warm shoulder, like a little animal, giving a soft hum. “Mm… I really want to sleep…”

Yu Li: “…”

So she’s just sleepy.

The miasma scent indeed made people weak and incredibly drowsy, but when he found her, she had been staring at the flames in the fire, completely unable to tell she had been affected by the miasma.

The snowstorm in the snowy land continued, and the young man carried the girl, walking on the soft snow. His spiritual power shielded them from the fierce wind and snow, leaving behind a small, peaceful space.

The sound of breathing was gentle in his ears. Yu Li turned his head and saw that the girl had fallen asleep, leaning against his shoulder. Her eyes were closed, but she seemed to be sleeping restlessly, her eyelashes fluttering slightly.

He wondered what serious thing she might be dreaming about.

Suddenly, the girl furrowed her brows and muttered in her sleep, sounding a little anxious, “Mmm, kitty, please stop scratching me… I’ll make you some dried fish to eat…”

“Mmm, you’re so good… your belly is so soft… let me touch your tail some more…”

Yu Li: ?

Was he such an easygoing person in her dreams?

—

When Yu Tao woke up, she didn’t see the familiar minimalist ceiling of her home. Instead, she was lying by a stone edge, looking at a pile of rocks. She froze for a moment.

Her mind went blank for two or three seconds before she recalled what had happened.

So… was this the hot spring?

Yu Tao looked down, raised her hand, and felt the warm spring water flowing over her body. The warmth seeped into her bones, an indescribable comfort.

The water wasn’t deep, just enough to cover her shoulders.

She looked around. The surrounding light was dim, with only the faint moonlight.

Clearly, it was nighttime, and besides the sulfur smell of the spring water, she could faintly smell the scent of pine branches and cold wood lingering in the air— the scent of Yu Li.

Yu Tao still felt a bit dizzy and wasn’t sure how long she had slept, nor how long she had been soaking in the hot spring water.

After thinking for a moment, she called out, “Little Senior Brother?”

Yu Li probably wouldn’t have left her alone in the hot spring, perhaps he was waiting nearby.

As expected, after she called out, the young man’s cold voice came from behind a nearby rock.

“Good, now just relax and soak.”

Yu Tao instinctively nodded obediently, but then realized he couldn’t see her, so she quickly corrected herself and spoke aloud, “Okay!”

“Little Senior Brother, how long have I been asleep?”

“Today is March 27th.”

Yu Tao’s eyes widened in surprise. The day she arrived was still March 25th, so she had slept for two days and two nights?

What kind of time-warping spell was this?!

The young man’s voice was cool as he continued, “The poison of the miasma, along with not having slept well for half a month, and yet you only slept for two days. You should consider yourself lucky.”

Hearing this, for some reason, Yu Tao felt a bit guilty. “Lucky for what?”

Yu Li lowered his eyelashes.

His previous Liuli Mirror had shattered in the Mohe, and after returning, Hua Lian had used special techniques to reforge a new one to ensure he wouldn’t lose contact again. It was only completed the day before and handed to him.

However, because of Yu Tao’s situation, he hadn’t had the chance to reconnect to the Spirit Network yet.

For the past two days, while Yu Tao had been sleeping, Yu Li had nothing to do, so he opened the Liuli Mirror.

The first new message that popped up was from Shishu Lin Lin.

【Your little junior sister has hit her rebellious phase recently and wants to fight someone. Are you going to do anything about it?】

At first, he didn’t believe it. Yu Tao wasn’t that kind of person.

But then Lin Lin sent the message with full confidence, even swearing by the little remaining hair on his head, assuring that he had indeed seen the two of them at odds, sparking some tension.

Yu Li then exchanged messages with Lin Lin, and he also learned that Yu Tao had been sleeping poorly every day for the past half month.

No wonder she often dozed off while practicing at the Training Platform during this period.

In the end, the conversation concluded with Lin Lin’s message: 【If there’s a conflict between you two, just figure it out. You should really try to talk to your junior sister.】

Yu Li replied simply: 【Mm, I will.】

Yu Li, leaning against the rock with his arms crossed, said in a neutral tone, “Of course, it’s lucky that you woke up today. Tomorrow, you’ll still have time to go back to Qingdeng Peak and fight someone.”

Yu Tao blinked in confusion. “Fight?”

“I’m not going to fight anyone,” she replied. “I’m going to Qingdeng Peak tomorrow, but I’m just going with classmate Zhu to the library to read books together.”

Yu Li: “…”

—

Word Count: 2,136