“Oh.” Xie Ji said glumly. He kept his butt toward the two of them, not wanting to look at them.
Yan Yu’an was helpless and started comforting Xie Ji again.
Sigh, too many little kids really is hard to handle.
He couldn’t help thinking.
Time here seemed to pass very quickly, but strangely, though Yan Yu’an felt this place was full of spiritual energy everywhere, the power inside his body still hadn’t reached the stage of bursting forth.
It was like being stuck at the mouth of a bottle—to truly possess the power, it would probably have to burst out first.
Xie Ji and Ning Bingque felt the same.
For Xie Ji, it was because the recovery of his ability had slowed. Not long ago he could recover half in a day, but now he could only recover a little each day.
And for Ning Bingque, it was because he felt the monster inside his body still hadn’t been fully suppressed—it even faintly showed a tendency to backlash against him.
“Maybe we’ve stayed too long, and the spiritual energy here has been used up?” Yan Yu’an propped up his head and tried to speak, then immediately shook his head. “No, that shouldn’t be it.”
Seeing Shen Yuanzhou’s puzzled look, he explained: “I can still feel the spiritual energy here is very abundant.” He touched his own heart. “This tells me the spiritual energy in this place is inexhaustible.”
“What does ‘inexhaustible’ mean?” Xie Ji couldn’t help asking.
“It means no matter how much you use, it never runs out.”
Yan Yu’an touched his heart and lowered his head, not knowing what he was thinking.
Meanwhile, A Xuan was happily rolling around on the table. “That proves master is about to recover!”
Seeing that even the usually cold man was looking at it with curious eyes, A Xuan couldn’t help puffing out its chest to show how impressive it was. “Apart from the fellow with the monster in his body, master and that stinky cat should recover very soon!”
Having been graced with the name “stinky cat,” Xie Ji ground his teeth in fury. One day he was going to throw this little thing up the mountain.
Ning Bingque hadn’t expected A Xuan to say that. He couldn’t help frowning, then reached out and placed his hand on his own chest, letting out a deep sigh.
He knew his own body best. A few days ago he could clearly feel that thing slowly peeling away from inside him—but since yesterday, that feeling had come back, even worse than before.
Was there really no way… Ning Bingque couldn’t help clenching his fist.
The next second, a cool hand covered his fist. The cold, cool sensation brought him back to his senses, and then he looked at Yan Yu’an in astonishment.
“There will be a way.” Yan Yu’an comforted him quietly.
A Xuan nodded along too. Its chubby body rolled once around the table and then rolled in front of Ning Bingque, waving its claw covered in sharp spikes.
“Right! As long as master recovers, you just eat one of his leaves!” A Xuan said happily—but then, as if thinking of something, it hemmed and hawed for a long while before saying, “It’s just that I don’t know how long we’ll have to wait… If we’re lucky, a day or two. If we’re unlucky, it could be a very, very long time.”
Ning Bingque pressed his lips together. He knew all too well that the thing inside his body couldn’t wait much longer. Today it had already begun to show a tendency to erupt.
One look at his expression and Yan Yu’an knew what he was thinking. So he patted Ning Bingque’s hand soothingly and asked quietly: “Is there any other way?”
Hearing this, A Xuan paced back and forth on the table, looking like it was thinking about something.
Before long, it strode over to Ning Bingque’s side, patted his hand in a show of seriousness, and then came to a conclusion: “I need to go consult my companions first!”
“You have companions?” Hearing this, Shen Yuanzhou couldn’t help raising an eyebrow.
“Of course!” A Xuan said smugly. It jumped onto the ground—so small that if you didn’t look carefully, you couldn’t even find it. “I have lots of companions. Some of them protect master too, but…”
It seemed to think of something and looked a little troubled, then immediately shifted the topic onto Ning Bingque. “The oldest one here, Grandpa Ginseng, definitely knows. Just leave it to me.” It patted its chest, signaling to leave everything to it.
“I’ll be back by tomorrow morning at the latest.” As A Xuan spoke, it had already run out of the wooden house and turned into an enormous creature.
Even having prepared himself, Yan Yu’an still couldn’t help feeling a little spooked by A Xuan suddenly turning into a monster.
As A Xuan disappeared into the forest, Yan Yu’an’s gaze landed on Shen Yuanzhou.
Shen Yuanzhou thoughtfully took a sip of water, not knowing what was on his mind.
Shen Yuanzhou stared seriously and carefully at Ning Bingque, as if he wanted to bore a hole through him with his gaze. Ning Bingque was creeped out by it and couldn’t help turning his head away, not looking at Shen Yuanzhou.
But the gaze on his face only increased.
He turned his head and saw Yan Yu’an and Xie Ji staring at him too.
Ning Bingque: “???” What had he done?
Yan Yu’an cleared his throat and was the first to ask: “I wonder if you could tell us how that thing got into your body.”
“It’s been inside me since I was little.” Ning Bingque answered as a matter of course. He didn’t know what Yan Yu’an meant by suddenly asking this.
Then he heard Shen Yuanzhou ask: “Do others in your family have it too?”
Ning Bingque couldn’t help lowering his head. He raised his eyes and looked at Xie Ji, then said: “No. Only me. That thing just seemed to appear suddenly—it probably wasn’t innate.” He hesitated, not knowing how to continue.
Shen Yuanzhou nodded in understanding, then didn’t ask anything more—he only blandly shifted his gaze away.
But though he’d shifted his gaze away, Ning Bingque still felt a burning stare fixed on him. It wasn’t Yan Yu’an, and it wasn’t Shen Yuanzhou—so that left only one person.
He took a deep breath, then looked toward Xie Ji. And that look of his caught Xie Ji, who had been secretly watching all along.
Seeing him suddenly look over, Xie Ji even beat him to it and tattled on him first.
Ning Bingque felt nothing but deep helplessness at this.
That evening, A Xuan came back. On one of the two horns of its enormous body hung mutton, and on the other was a little monster clinging to it and refusing to let go.
A Xuan hadn’t been gone long—though it had said it would be back by tomorrow morning at the latest, this was a bit too early.
“You’re back?” Yan Yu’an went up to meet it, his gaze landing on the trembling little monster, a trace of curiosity in his eyes.
A Xuan nodded happily, then pushed the little monster toward Yan Yu’an’s side. “He knows!” Seeing the little monster refuse to come down no matter what, it could only shake its head.
The little monster dropped to the ground with a plop—but luckily the ground was covered with soft animal hides, so though it wasn’t hurt, it was scared badly.
The little monster immediately latched onto Yan Yu’an’s leg, which at once displeased the other three men.
The sudden chill made even Yan Yu’an couldn’t help shivering, let alone the little monster on the ground.
“Awroo.” The little monster immediately bared its fangs and claws. It looked all around, and after seeing the three big words “unhappy” written all over Xie Ji’s blue eyes, it couldn’t help trembling.
Instinctively it shifted its gaze away—and then met Ning Bingque’s half-smiling eyes.
Little monster: “…”
The next second, a cold, damp sensation made the little thing tremble all over. Even its smooth skin couldn’t help breaking out in goosebumps.
It slowly lowered its claws.
You damn A Xuan—where did you meet these guys?
Half an hour later.
“So, you’re saying Ning Bingque should stay with me all the time?” Yan Yu’an tilted his head, a little puzzled.
He hadn’t even recovered himself—would Ning Bingque really benefit from staying with him?
Sensing that chill again, the little monster shrank back and edged a little closer to A Xuan. “Right. Though master hasn’t fully recovered, he’s already more than half recovered. It can’t fully expel that thing inside him, but it can suppress seven-tenths of it.”
It paused and looked at Xie Ji. “You too. Your ability’s more or less recovered. As long as you stay with master all the time, even without eating leaves you’ll fully recover.”
Yan Yu’an asked, puzzled: “But we’ve been together all along, haven’t we?”
The little monster fell silent. It looked at Yan Yu’an, then swept its gaze over Xie Ji and Ning Bingque, and finally looked at Shen Yuanzhou.
Wait—this was a lot to take in. Its meager monster brain couldn’t quite wrap around it.
Shen Yuanzhou sat silently in the chair. Though he didn’t speak and there wasn’t any expression on his face, Yan Yu’an inexplicably felt he seemed to be in a bad mood.
But unexpectedly, what the little monster said next shocked Yan Yu’an.
“Companionship isn’t ordinary companionship.” It paused, seeming a little embarrassed—even its pitch-black skin nearly turned red. “It’s being partners! Mating!”
Yan Yu’an: “…?”
Afterward, the little monster felt that gaze on it grow even stickier and colder.
“Impossible.” Shen Yuanzhou suddenly spoke, his voice extremely cold, carrying an indescribable anger.
Yan Yu’an looked at him and saw the veins on his wrist bulging, his hand clenched tightly into a fist.
Even Xie Ji and Ning Bingque were stunned by the little monster’s words.
After a long while, Xie Ji finally stammered: “I—I didn’t hear that wrong, did I?”
Ning Bingque shook his head blankly, indicating he didn’t know.
In the end, the little monster was sent away by A Xuan in fright, and only the four of them remained in the room, silently looking at each other.
“Uh, um…”
Yan Yu’an tried to speak, but found that whatever he said wouldn’t be quite right, so in the end he chose to shut his mouth.
Shen Yuanzhou’s lips were pressed tightly together—if you looked closely, they were even trembling a little. Even Ning Bingque seemed to feel a little awkward.
But the only happy one was Xie Ji, who said excitedly: “I like being with An’an!” His face was a little red.
Though he’d been surprised just now, he’d long since tacitly accepted Yan Yu’an as his partner in his heart—so mating shouldn’t be a problem, right?
He thought smugly, and even felt that losing his ability was just waiting for Yan Yu’an to come save him.
But hearing this, Shen Yuanzhou was displeased.
He shot to his feet, no joy or anger visible on his face. After a long silence, he only said: “I’m going out for a bit.”
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