Chapter 78
Chapter 78: Don’t I Have Water on Me?
***
She had no intention of going out at all, still staying inside the bead.
Sure enough, in just a moment, Ye Fan emerged from the shadows in the corner, his footsteps extremely light, as if afraid of disturbing something.
His brows were knitted into a knot, his gaze sweeping over every inch of ground like a hawk, muttering to himself:
“Could they really not be here? They can’t have just vanished into thin air…”
He suspiciously circled the bottom of the cliff two more times, and seeing no unusual movement, reluctantly departed on his sword.
“As expected, he didn’t leave.”
Lin Muyu’s lips curved into a knowing arc.
With Ye Fan’s cunning nature, how could he easily give up?
He had probably already anticipated that they would hide in the shadows, deliberately putting on this act to lure them out.
But even after Ye Fan left again, Lin Muyu still didn’t move.
She had made up her mind to stay here for at least a day.
Who knows if that guy would come back for a surprise attack? If they went out on the front foot and ran into him on the back foot, wouldn’t that be walking into a trap?
With nothing to do, she could only pick up that copy of 《Sun and Moon Reversal Technique》 to read.
She pondered the incantations while secretly calculating:
She wondered if this cultivation method could have some effect on the unconscious Su Wanqing, and if it could help her channel some spiritual energy, that would be good.
It was just that her body was quite lively right now, Su Wanqing was carefully placed on her thighs as a pillow, bringing a faint sense of weight.
Xiaomu was curled up on her left shoulder, her fluffy hair strands draped over her collarbone, occasionally brushing against her neck, causing a light tickling sensation.
Xiaotao was pressed against her right shoulder, staring intently at Lin Muyu’s face.
Being surrounded like this, Lin Muyu suddenly felt that being surrounded by girls felt quite nice.
It diluted much of the fear of being in a dangerous situation.
Sure enough, not even half a day had passed when Ye Fan actually came back again.
Only this time, the composure from before was completely gone from his face, replaced by barely concealed irritation.
He grabbed his hair and paced back and forth at the bottom of the cliff, like a wild beast trapped in a cage.
“Damn it! How could they just vanish into thin air?”
He growled, kicking the pebbles at his feet far away, his tone full of frustration.
“After Su Wanqing used Blood Burning, she’d have half an hour of strength at most. Lin Muyu is just a little girl in the Qi Refining stage, she can’t possibly carry her and fly, can she?”
His original plan was that even if he couldn’t catch these two people, he absolutely couldn’t let them return to the sect alive to report.
But he had already searched within a hundred li radius, and forget about human figures, he hadn’t even found a single strand of hair.
By his calculations, Su Wanqing should have been completely exhausted after using the Blood Burning technique, and probably couldn’t even stand steady now.
And Lin Muyu, just a small Qi Refining stage cultivator, how far could she run?
How could they possibly evade his and Elder Feng’s detection?
“Elder Feng, say something! This was all your idea!”
Ye Fan couldn’t care about respecting his elders now, growling with a tone full of accusation.
Before his identity was exposed, he still had room to maneuver.
But now that his whereabouts were revealed, if the sect found out he had plotted against fellow disciples, the consequences would be unthinkable.
“Maybe… they were eaten by nearby demonic beasts? Isn’t it just the time when demonic beasts are rampaging?”
Elder Feng’s voice came from Ye Fan’s sleeve, carrying some uncertain speculation.
“Do you even believe that yourself?”
Ye Fan rolled his eyes dramatically, the veins on his temples throbbing.
“We specifically chose this territory and cleared it out in advance, where would any powerful demonic beasts come from?”
“And the demonic beast tide wouldn’t reach this place. Besides, I suspected that before and gutted every demonic beast I saw, but still found nothing!”
“…Relax, even if they go back to accuse us, they won’t have any evidence.” Elder Feng was silent for a long while before slowly speaking words of comfort.
Hearing this, Ye Fan could only helplessly deflate, leaning dejectedly against the cliff wall.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought of just running away, but once he fled, their accusations would confirm his crime of harming fellow disciples.
Not to mention whether he could escape Qinglan Sect’s pursuit.
Even if he was lucky enough to survive, before reaching the Spirit Transformation stage, he’d probably have to hide like a rat, living as a rogue cultivator who couldn’t see the light of day.
The resource gap between rogue cultivators and sect disciples was like heaven and earth.
Just Qinglan Sect’s Ancient Cultivation Tower was a sacred cultivation ground that rogue cultivators could never reach in their lifetime.
“Start preparing…”
Ye Fan’s expression was sinister, his knuckles turning white from clenching, clearly having made other plans.
Then he departed on his sword for the third time, the sword light cutting through the clouds, carrying a resolute murderous aura.
“Master, he’s gone again.”
Xiaotao’s gentle voice rang out in the space as she observed the movement outside.
Lin Muyu put down the book, her fingertips lightly tapping on the pages, suddenly asking:
“Xiaotao, can you control your bead to roll? For instance, move to somewhere farther away?”
“Of course I can!”
Xiaotao’s voice rose slightly.
“Good, then control the bead to roll to somewhere farther away, find a more hidden corner.”
Lin Muyu instructed, her gaze falling on Su Wanqing’s pale face.
“We need to find a place where Senior Sister can recover peacefully.”
“Okay~”
Xiaotao obediently agreed, controlling the disguised pebble to roll gently along the cliff’s slope.
Lin Muyu unconsciously bit her fingertip, her brows slightly furrowed:
He had already come here 3 times, so he probably wouldn’t come again.
But this was ultimately the place where they disappeared, so he might still come back for a surprise attack… it was better to be careful.
Just as she was thinking, Xiaotao suddenly shouted excitedly:
“Master! There seems to be a cave entrance here! The entrance looks very small, just a bit bigger than the bead, but the space inside is very large!”
Lin Muyu’s spirits lifted as she looked through Xiaotao’s shared vision.
She saw that deep within a pile of rocks, there was a tiny cave entrance that could barely fit the bead.
The entrance was concealed by vines and would be impossible to discover without careful observation.
Looking through the entrance into the interior, it was actually quite a large space, like a naturally formed stone chamber.
“This location is perfect!”
Lin Muyu quickly had Xiaotao roll the bead inside.
After entering the cave, Lin Muyu immediately carried the unconscious Su Wanqing out and gently placed her on the relatively flat ground, allowing her to better absorb the surrounding spiritual energy.
She then found a suitably sized rock nearby to block the entrance, making it even harder to discover.
But as soon as the entrance was blocked, without a light source, the cave was instantly plunged into impenetrable darkness.
Fortunately, Xiaotao’s bead timely emitted a soft glow, like a night pearl illuminating the small area.
It dispelled the heavy darkness and also dispelled some of the unease in her heart.
“Xiaotao, we really owe you big time this time.”
Lin Muyu gently caressed the warm bead, her fingertips feeling that familiar warmth, her tone full of gratitude.
Without Xiaotao, they would probably have had no escape this time.
“I’m happy to help Master~ You’re welcome~”
Xiaotao’s gentle voice came from the bead, making Lin Muyu’s heart feel warm.
“Master! What about me?”
Xiaomu’s voice immediately rang out.
“Xiaomu made a great contribution too.”
Lin Muyu quickly consoled her.
“If Xiaomu hadn’t reacted quickly, how could we have blocked that Golden Core stage monster? I’ll reward you later!”
Only then was Xiaomu satisfied, humming twice and muttering:
“That’s more like it~”
The cave space wasn’t large, but it was more than enough to accommodate two people.
The most urgent thing now was to let Su Wanqing recover her strength as soon as possible, so that even if they encountered Ye Fan again on the way back, they wouldn’t be completely helpless.
Lin Muyu stuffed a few more healing pills into Su Wanqing’s mouth, watching the pills slowly dissolve under her tongue before feeling slightly relieved.
Then she continued reading 《Sun and Moon Reversal Technique》 by the dim light, waiting for Su Wanqing to wake up while circulating the cultivation method to restore her own depleted spiritual energy.
But before she could read a few pages, Su Wanqing suddenly groaned drowsily, her eyelashes trembling lightly as if about to wake up.
Lin Muyu quickly leaned over and saw her cracked lips move, her throat making hoarse sounds, intermittently calling out:
“Water… water…”
“Water?”
Lin Muyu was immediately in a difficult position.
How could there be water in this cliff-bottom cave? The nearest river was far away, where could she find water?
Watching Su Wanqing frown in discomfort, her throat constantly moving, Lin Muyu’s heart felt like it was being scratched by cat claws.
Suddenly, a bold idea flashed through her mind:
Don’t I have water on me?