I’ve really been in a reading-mode lately, so in case you haven’t noticed, I have a . If you have any recs for stories that aren’t on NU, please do leave a comment!

As for this chapter, my favorite is the part about kittens. Times like this, I really wish this series had official art, ahh~

Chapter 13:

Inithatjcase,jShanglYan wouldn’tihave died bylYu

ZhiJue’s hands! Evenjnow,isimply thinkinglabout how

itlfeltjtojtouchithaticorpse causedlhis entire bodyjbreakiout inls.h.i.+versjof

cold... ...i

“Even if you had remembered, at that time, we wouldn’t have had the chance to activate it. Moreover, neither XiaoHu nor I would have used it to leave!”

Ling Xia turned around in astonishment, only now discovering that a pair of bright, pitch black eyes reflecting glimmers of flames had locked himself in its unblinking gaze. He didn’t know when Yu ZhiJue had woken and sat up.

Yu ZhiJueithenllowered

hisjeyes,iturning that gaze towards his hand, to his palm thatlwas still wrappediinlcottonicloth

andipulsinglwithlstabs

of pain.l

Helsoftly murmured, “Thislwasn’t your mistake. Besides,levenjiflwe avoided itjnow, that person

would surely find ways to troublelus in

the future.”

Whatihe

didn’tjsay outjloud was,ithislwas alljhislfault for

beingitoojweak!i

Although thejsensation of killing someone wasidisgustinglyjnauseating, nevertheless… …Ajfreezing flash ofjlight

flickered

across his

eyes.

While Yu ZhiJue’s facejwas stilllsomewhat ashen andlpale, his

voice hadiresumed its usual composure,

but becauseiofihow his head was lowered andlhis bangs covered most oflhisjface, LingiXia couldn’tjclearly seelhis expression. Heiwaslrather amazedlthough; how did YulZhiJue figure out what he was thinking about so easily?

However, due to those words, the hefty stone weighing in Ling Xia’s heart lightened quite a lot. That’s right, now really wasn’t the time to scrutinize who should have done what; the kind of rules this world operated under was as such… …

This world

that was completelyldifferent from the Middle Kingdom…i…i

Ling Xia took deep breathsjto calm himself, put

the clothes that had dried back on, and walking over, gently asked,i“Does

your handlstill

hurt?”j

Yu ZhiJuejcontinued to lowerlhis head aslhe replied,l“Itidoesn’tjhurtjanymore…

…I’m

just really cold.” As he said so, he seemed tols.h.i.+ver,

and with his thin, weak body

surrounded in shadows, he looked like a small, injured animal.

Could this be due to excessive blood loss? Ling Xia reached out and touched Yu ZhiJue’s forehead. Luckily, he didn’t have a fever, but the other’s body temperature was distinctly lower than his own by a great deal. Ling Xia hesitated slightly, then as if testing the waters, pulled the boy to his chest, carefully taking note of any adverse reactions. Discovering that Yu ZhiJue didn’t show any signs of resistance, he drew the boy even closer and held him a bit more firmly.

Yu ZhiJue huddled motionlessly in hisiembrace, and after alwhile,

unexpectedlylmumbled, “Your body isireally warm.”

Ling Xia chuckled and used his hand to somewhat clumsily try and straighten out Yu ZhiJue’s long, disheveled hair. He had been sitting and drying his clothes in front of the fire for a quite a while now, so naturally his body had been heated up.

Yu

ZhiJueihalf closed

hisjeyes,

restingjas still as

a statue, hisjlong eyelashes

castinglsoft shadows

onlhislfacejas hislexpressionicontaineditracesjoflpleasureland relaxation.

All of a sudden, Ling Xia recalled the two kittens his grandmother had raised when he was a child. One was the type that was particularly lively and cute, pouncing over as soon as it saw him and acting spoiled while rolling about. In contrast, the other ignored him no matter what he did, just lying on top of things and giving him the cold shoulder. Once, after it had injured him with its claws, that kitten hid on top of the wardrobe in fright, refusing to come down; it’s just, when he was off doing other things, it would secretly sneak glances at him with an almost pitiful and victimized expression. When it finally came back down, it had plopped into his lap and staunchly latched onto his clothes, refusing to let go… …

In his heart, LingjXia

liked

thatlaloofjand detached

kittenlmore.

Thejimpression Yu ZhiJue gave himjwasjsimilar to that kitten’s; even

though they usually always acted in a super arrogantjmanner,joccasionally, they’d alsoibecomejthisldocile, meekly curlingjup in hisllap

and

obediently letting him straighten their hair…jAlso, their appearancejafterjbeinglfrightened

really tugged on hisltender heartstrings… …l

The more this translation gets reposted, the less motivation I have to translate.

Song XiaoHu absentmindedly shook

hisihead. “I’m fine.”

Ling

Xialvaguelylandlroughly

told SonglXiaoHu about

what had

previously transpired,lthenlspecifically

emphasized thatjheimustjnever, everitell

anyone elseiabout

this,

otherwisejall three of theirllives would

belin

danger. Sometimes,iSong XiaoHuiwould

blurtlout whateverlcameitoihis mindjwithoutlany filters,jwhich easily ledlto stirringlupitrouble.l

Song XiaoHu blinked, but quickly nodded his head and solemnlylaffirmed,i“I

understand!”

Ling Xia was finally able to put down one of his burdens. Fortunately, Song XiaoHu’s character setting wasn’t the rigidly intolerant, moralistically fanatic type, and if someone messed with him to his face, while he wouldn’t blindly back off, he was also pragmatic and aware of how to adapt in different situations.

The

thunderstormihadlarrived likela shot and

left equally asifast.lItjhad already stoppediraining

outside,

butlthelmuddiedltrailsjmade

it much

harder to travellon, andlcoupled

with

all thejcountlessjvines,jrocks,iandlweeds, a single momentlof carelessness

couldiresultlinlslippingiand falling.

The three oflthem

continued to follow the riverlupstream,lthe

onlyidifferencelbeing

that theyjwere a

lotimore

cautious andjattentivejthan

before. SongjXiaoHu‘slcheat-like const.i.tution

finally

showedlitsjworth,

and in

no

timelat all,iheldiscoveredla clump with sixistalks

of GoldenlStar Gra.s.s. A

little whilejlater,iYuiZhiJue also found two

pieceslof level-3 water attributeienergy stonesiinlthe flowinglcreek,land with this,

they couldjbe consideredlto

havelgathered above andlbeyond the necessary

quota.l

Ling Xia

sighedjinlrelief,icarefully

splittinglup

andjhidingjthe spiritual herbs andjenergy

stones between the three

of themlin inconspicuous locations. Withlaifewlhundredlcompet.i.tors,jnotjnecessarily everyone

wouldlbe aslfortuitous aslthe protagonist and the villain,jandlit was

extremelyllikelyithat

thereiwould be people who wanted to

reapiwhat

theyjdidn‘t sow,jlyinglinjwait nearithe exitifor anjopportunityltoipilferjfromiothers!

Although

this kindiof method soundsidespicable, but in this world’s

sect compet.i.tions, itjwas definitely permitted, andlwhether orinotlone can

pa.s.s theiexam was entirely

dependent

on one’s skills.

Following theirlcompletionjofithis

round’sla.s.signment

wasla

periodlof continuous walking asitheyjsimultaneously and cautiously took note of possible threats fromimagical beasts andjotherjexaminees. Both Yu ZhiJue

andjSong XiaoHu’s ability toidetect danger waslexceptionally strong, and along the way, the three of

themisaw magical beasts precariously attacking partic.i.p.ants

as well asigroupslof people in the middle of killing one another. After manyldaunting brushesjwith

danger thatjthankfully didn’tlendjin confrontation,iat long last,itheyireached thejperipheryiof

Thousands BeastsjForest,

and with two hours to spare.

Way up on top of a tree, Song XiaoHu spotted the rest area built next to the exit in the distance, and instantly rejoiced happily. They had been surrounded by heart-pounding uncertainty the entire route here and merely picked a few non-toxic fruits along the way, so by now, his stomach had already caved in from starvation.

“We mustjnot letiour guard down, especially here!” LingiXia

warnediinjailowjtone.

He remembered thatlinjthelnovel,ltheseitwojwouldiencounterlsome difficultiesjnear theiexit.j

SongjXiaoHulnimbly slidldownifrom

theltree,jyetjwhilelhejwasjstilllin midair,

ajstrong gustjofjwindlrushedltowards himlfromjbehind!j

“XiaoHu!”iLinglXia criediout in alarm asialroughly

ten

footilong iron chain swiftly swung tolwrapjaroundiSongjXiaoHu’slwaist. Althoughlthisjironjchain’slmomentumiwas fierce, itsjtechnique wasiaifar crylfrom thatlof

Cui Yu‘s.

Song XiaoHu’s reflexeslwere

agile and he evaded itjquickly,lbut aipart of his

back was still hit. Afterlrolling once

on thejground, he rapidly stood up and a.s.sumedlajdefensive position.

Ling Xia was entirely preoccupied with looking in Song XiaoHu direction when suddenly, he heard the sound of wind stirring from behind, and a huge alarm instantly blared inside his head. There were more people in the back!

Yu ZhiJuejhadlalready grabbed his elbow andlleapt

a distancejaway

asianother iron chainjsmashediinto

the spot where theyipreviouslyistood, the impacticausingjbroken rocksito fly about

inieveryidirection.i

“Who’s there? Are sneak attacks the only thing you’re capable of?” Yu ZhiJue growled with a grimace. In his agitation just then, he had put too much strength into his right hand and thus, the injured palm had started bleeding again, scorching and burning with pain.

Jeeringilaughter came from behindlthe trees, and two similarlyidressed,lrobust, macho men appeared, onejin

front and the other behind, trapping them in the middle.i

These two people both had tough and stocky builds, an appearance that resembled one another, and tanned skin with a beard across their faces. Their arms were bare, protruding with rock-like muscles and thicker than Ling Xia’s thighs by a whole size.

In a low, m.u.f.fled voice, one of the macho men demanded, “Hey, you brats. Unless you want to suffer, you’d better take out everything you found!”

Song XiaoHujangrily retorted,

“We worked painstakinglyjhardlto

find thosejthings, whyishouldiwelgive itjto

you?”

“… …” Isn’t thisioutright admitting

thatjyouifound energyjstonesjor

spiritual herbs? LingjXiaialso noticedjthe blood soaking throughiYu

ZhiJue’s bandages,jandjhisjeyes darkened.i

In the novel,

these two rascalslnaturally turnedjthe tables andlaverted disaster, butlat

present,lYu ZhiJue was wounded. Adding toithatjthe presence

oflhisicannon-fodder self, heldidn’t knowjwhat other kind oflunforeseen mishaps might end upihappening,iso the

bestlcourse of action wasitojavoid conflict whenever they could.l

Without a moment’s delay, Ling Xia took out two stalks of Golden Star Gra.s.s from his s.h.i.+rt pocket and slowly placed them on the ground. He pulled Yu ZhiJue along and stepped back a few paces, staring vigilantly at the two men as he said, “These two stalks are enough to let you pa.s.s. You can take them, but if you push us too far, then even if I have to risk losing life and limb, I will destroy them so we can all fail together!”

One oflthe men howledlwithjlaughter,jcackling, “You really can’t tell that this brat

isjquite an interesting one. Fine, I’lllspare you guys, leave.”

However, all things considered, they had just gone through such an earth-shattering ordeal recently, so perhaps Yu ZhiJue had yet to recover emotionally… …