Ning Bingque was at a loss. He didn’t know how to face Yan Yu’an when he woke up.
Take him back to be my partner. That was the only thought in Ning Bingque’s heart—but what if he wasn’t willing?
For a moment, Ning Bingque felt glum.
“Tie him up and take him back.”
In an instant, that blood-red eye appeared on his forehead again, baring its teeth and clamoring for Ning Bingque to tie Yan Yu’an up and take him back.
Ning Bingque pressed his lips together and gave a cold laugh, paying no mind to the monster that had suddenly appeared.
The reason he was going to find God-Slaying Grass this time was precisely to destroy it.
But—tie Yan Yu’an up and take him back…
Ning Bingque lowered his eyes, seeming to ponder the feasibility of this.
Though he’d agreed with Xie Ji and Shen Yuanzhou that each would rely on his own abilities, now… he had never been a person who kept his word anyway.
When Shen Yuanzhou returned to the room, he instinctively sensed something was off. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the still-sleeping Yan Yu’an, always feeling something wasn’t right.
At this moment, Xie Ji was fiddling with something, making a banging racket.
Ning Bingque had gone off to who knew where, leaving only Shen Yuanzhou alone.
He lowered his eyes and cautiously approached Yan Yu’an.
The familiar scent made him couldn’t help shuddering all over, and his eyes turned blood-red in an instant.
Ning Bingque’s scent…
He clenched his fists, veins bulging, and on his always cold, stern face appeared anger, fury, and other unnamed emotions.
He reached out and viciously pressed down on his Snake Queen’s lips, rubbing hard, as if trying to wipe something away.
He couldn’t help lifting the animal hide, and only after seeing there were no bad marks on Yan Yu’an’s body did he let out a slight breath of relief. Then he shifted his gaze onto the animal hide Yan Yu’an was wearing.
With a raise of his hand, the hide fell away, and the friction marks at the base of his thigh suddenly appeared before Shen Yuanzhou’s eyes.
The vivid red marks stung Shen Yuanzhou’s eyes viciously. He clenched his hand, his nails digging deep into his flesh. After a long while, he raised his hand and stroked those red marks.
Perhaps it hurt too much—Yan Yu’an couldn’t help letting out a small moan. Shen Yuanzhou’s hand paused. Seeing him go back to sleep, he relaxed and slowly withdrew his hand.
After covering Yan Yu’an with the animal hide, he strode out of the room.
He was going to settle accounts with Ning Bingque.
As he went out, he saw Xie Ji fiddling with something, and the corner of his mouth curved into a cold smile.
Idiot. He didn’t even know his home had been robbed.
He thought this, paid no mind to Xie Ji’s expression, and turned to leave.
Xie Ji cursed Shen Yuanzhou in his heart and continued polishing the little gift he was preparing for Yan Yu’an.
Shen Yuanzhou followed the scent to the stream and spotted Ning Bingque standing in the water at a glance.
He flew to stand before Ning Bingque, furiously raised his fist, and punched him right in the face.
Caught off guard, Ning Bingque’s head was knocked sideways by the punch. He pushed at the inside of his cheek with his tongue and tasted a trace of blood.
The two grown men grappled together like this, blow landing on flesh, both wanting to strike hard. Shen Yuanzhou’s venomous fangs had no effect on Ning Bingque.
But he didn’t mind in the least. His sharp teeth pierced Ning Bingque’s skin, and the venom poured into his body as if it cost nothing. Ning Bingque wasn’t afraid in the slightest either—however much was poured in, he recovered just as much.
Ning Bingque’s abilities: one was acute hearing, the other was the ability to heal his wounds.
Neither was a combat-type ability, so he’d be at a disadvantage in a fight. But no matter what, Ning Bingque was still the overlord of the sky—how could he just admit defeat like this?
And so, after seeing Shen Yuanzhou shift back into snake form, he unhesitatingly shifted back into his true form too.
“You’re really asking for death.” Shen Yuanzhou gave a cold huff. Knowing his venom was useless against him, he simply moved the tall trees around them over here.
In an instant, the originally open stream bank became densely overgrown with trees. Ning Bingque couldn’t fly, and so couldn’t use his full strength either.
Ning Bingque cursed under his breath, feeling for the first time how useless his abilities were. His wings could only fly at low altitude. His sharp talons grabbed Shen Yuanzhou’s body—but the next second, Shen Yuanzhou coiled back around him, binding Ning Bingque tightly.
The two overlords of the forest were deciding victory here and now, and the only ones to suffer were the other animals of this forest.
Xie Chen was the first to sense something was off. He had Mu Shu go check on how Yan Yu’an was doing, then immediately headed with Xie Ji toward the direction of their fight.
Even though they arrived quickly, seeing the mess all over the ground and the two still tangled together, Xie Chen still felt a shock in his heart.
Instinctively he looked toward Xie Ji, saw that he too was full of confusion, and hurried forward to pull back the furious Shen Yuanzhou.
Xie Ji came back to his senses too and went to pull Ning Bingque.
“Let go of me!” Ning Bingque glared furiously at Shen Yuanzhou. He wanted to struggle free of Xie Ji, but Xie Ji’s strength was simply too great.
Meanwhile, Mu Shu looked at the sleeping Yan Yu’an and suddenly understood something.
He slapped his own head in vexation, but couldn’t bring himself to wake him.
It was fine that he’d worked up a sweat himself, but he hadn’t expected Yan Yu’an’s tolerance for alcohol to be this poor.
But remembering Xie Chen had told him before leaving that he absolutely had to bring Yan Yu’an over, he could only steel himself and go wake Yan Yu’an.
“Mu Shu?” Yan Yu’an’s eyelashes were long and curved, and at this moment he still carried a trace of drowsiness, a hint of moisture clinging to those long lashes.
He looked at Mu Shu uncomprehendingly, as if not understanding why he was here.
“Wake up quick—Ning Bingque and Shen Yuanzhou are fighting.”
Yan Yu’an sobered up almost instantly. He couldn’t help his eyes going wide, and he hurriedly got up to have Mu Shu take him to see.
But unexpectedly, the moment he propped himself up, a sharp pain stabbed at the side of his thigh.
The pain brought tears to his eyes, but seeing Mu Shu’s concerned look, he immediately shook his head and, forcing himself to endure the discomfort on the inner side of his thigh, hurried toward where Shen Yuanzhou and Ning Bingque were fighting.
“Are you okay?” Mu Shu supported Yan Yu’an. Looking at him limping, and thinking of Ning Bingque coming to find Yan Yu’an, he suddenly understood why Shen Yuanzhou and Ning Bingque had started fighting.
Mu Shu pressed his lips together and hurriedly led Yan Yu’an over there.
“They’re over there!” Mu Shu pointed at the Xie brothers, who were holding Ning Bingque and Shen Yuanzhou down.
Yan Yu’an’s eyes lit up. He wanted to run over, but the inner side of his thigh hurt too much—running only made the friction worse.
“What’s going on?” He managed to get to the few of them, his tone a little displeased. He’d assumed the two had just had a small squabble.
But after he got a clear look at the wounds on Shen Yuanzhou and Ning Bingque, it was as if a basin of cold water had been poured over his head, chilling him so much he couldn’t help shivering.
“What’s going on?!” His voice suddenly rose. His pale little face was frighteningly red from how angry he was.
Afraid something would happen to him, Xie Ji hurriedly comforted him in a low voice: “It’s nothing, just a small squabble. You—don’t get worked up.” He wanted to let go of Ning Bingque, but seemed to think of something and in the end didn’t release his hold.
Yan Yu’an’s gaze landed on the two of them. Seeing them both looking like they refused to look at him, his anger flared at once. “A small squabble?” he retorted loudly. “A small squabble gets you beaten like this?”
Shen Yuanzhou turned his head away, not looking at Yan Yu’an. He’d just learned from Xie Chen that Yan Yu’an had eaten that thing called wine, which was why he’d gotten drunk and ended up like this.
But Yan Yu’an had been drunk—Shen Yuanzhou hadn’t. His own thoughts were perfectly clear to himself; only that idiot Xie Ji didn’t know.
Ning Bingque stared fixedly at Yan Yu’an. Seeing no reaction from him, he couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed.
“Why on earth were you fighting!” Yan Yu’an panted heavily. Because of the wine, his head still ached a little. He didn’t know what had actually happened—how, in such a short time, they’d gotten into such a big fight.
Xie Chen narrowed his eyes, seeming to understand something. The look he gave Yan Yu’an held some confusion. “You forgot?”
“What?” Yan Yu’an didn’t know either. He only remembered that after he and Mu Shu got drunk, someone had helped him back to the bed—he didn’t know who.
After that, Mu Shu had woken him, and then he’d been told Shen Yuanzhou and Ning Bingque were fighting.
Yan Yu’an rubbed his forehead. He looked at Shen Yuanzhou, whose face was beaten swollen, then at Ning Bingque, whose face was written all over with anger and impatience, and let out a deep sigh.
Fortunately, Xie Ji seemed fine, and he couldn’t help feeling slightly relieved.
Xie Ji didn’t know what had happened either! He’d been outside preparing a little gift for Yan Yu’an, and then his own younger brother had told him the two were fighting.
Seeing Yan Yu’an lean in to look at those two, he felt a little uncomfortable inside, but he still obediently stood to the side.
Xie Chen looked a little schadenfreude-ish. Xie Ji didn’t understand why he was like that either—but when Yan Yu’an leaned close, he caught a bit of Ning Bingque’s scent.
So unpleasant.
He felt a little displeased.
Without showing anything on his face, he edged closer to Yan Yu’an, wanting his own scent to rub off on Yan Yu’an.
Yan Yu’an naturally didn’t notice his little movements—but Shen Yuanzhou, who had been watching him all along, did. Shen Yuanzhou gave a cold huff, shot Xie Ji a cold look, then lowered his head and continued accepting Yan Yu’an’s criticism.
“What are you looking at?” Noticing Shen Yuanzhou’s lack of attention, Yan Yu’an pursed his lips and lowered his voice.
Hearing Yan Yu’an criticize Shen Yuanzhou, Ning Bingque immediately laughed—not loudly, not softly, just enough to land in everyone’s ears.
Yan Yu’an immediately turned and glared at him.
Xie Chen pulled Mu Shu back and smiled playfully. Then he patted the back of Mu Shu’s hand lightly, signaling him not to be nervous, and turned to say to Xie Ji: “You all settle your own business. I’ll take Mu Shu and go first.”
Xie Ji nodded, and only after seeing them leave did he say carelessly: “What got into you two today? Didn’t we agree to…”
In an instant, sensing two gazes fixed dead on him, Xie Ji realized he’d said the wrong thing and hurriedly changed the subject. “What were you fighting for today?”
Yan Yu’an narrowed his eyes, his white teeth biting hard into his red lips. Only after a long while did he speak: “Agreed to what?”
His voice was a little cold. Anyone who knew him would know he was definitely angry now—and at once, all three fell silent.
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