Chen Lin asked what was on his mind outright.
Though he could hardly be called a master schemer, he knew no one would recruit a stranger without a reason.
Since she had dared to cross the sea, she must have had some confidence in her chances. If she had only now thought of finding a traveling companion, either something had gone wrong along the way or enemies were pursuing her.
Hearing Chen Lin's question, Huangfu Ying replied without any change in expression, "You're overthinking things, Fellow Daoist Chen. If enemies were pursuing me, why would I linger on this island? The Dark Sea simply holds many dangers. Some incidents along the way left us short-handed, and I'm no longer very confident about the rest of the journey."
She added, "If you truly have no wish to travel with us, I won't insist. Even if we do travel together, we'll have to sign a contract agreeing not to harm one another."
Chen Lin had no particular objection to signing a contract, but he doubted the truth of her words. He had a feeling she must have offended someone.
With that in mind, he brought up the fate screen in his mind and checked his main destiny line.
There were no disturbances in the near future.
But according to her earlier explanation, reaching Third Pillar Heaven from here would take another year or so. The main destiny line's prediction was of little use.
After a moment's consideration, he said, "Traveling together isn't out of the question, but let me make this clear in advance. If sea beasts attack us, or we encounter robbers blocking our way, I'll naturally do my part. But if your enemies attack, or you're attacked for some other reason, I won't get involved."
"Of course. That's no problem."