Fire Ants

"Hey, you're so rude. I saved you, and I didn't even hear a thank-you."

Hu Jiujiu planted her hands on her hips, her lively fox eyes widened into round circles. Her fluffy fox tail swayed behind her, clearly dissatisfied with Yao Chen's icy attitude.

"How polite can someone be when they calls people 'hey'?" A flicker of discomfort crossed Yao Chen's face, and the tips of his ears reddened slightly. After a moment of silence, he finally turned his head away and lowered his voice. "Um... thank you."

Yao Chen blinked, parted his thin lips, and added, "Thank you."

Seeing how awkward he looked, Hu Jiujiu did not press the matter. She giggled. "Fine, I'll reluctantly forgive you. Oh, right, you have a fire mark on your forehead too. Aren't you a disciple of the Medicine Clan? How did you end up being hunted by Medicine Clan assassins? Could you be a traitor to the Medicine Clan?"

The moment she said that, Yao Chen was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. He glared at her, his anger flaring up. "You're the traitor! I just... I just..."

"Just what?" Hu Jiujiu tilted her head and leaned closer with a curious expression, her fox tail lifting slightly as though she were all ears.

Yao Chen opened his mouth, his Adam's apple bobbing several times, but in the end, he swallowed his words and said sullenly, "Why should I tell a magical beast?"

"Hmph! You're a traitor!" Hu Jiujiu curled her lips and crossed her arms, wearing an expression that said, I've seen right through you.

Yao Chen was angered again. His youthful temperament made him retort at once, "You're the traitor!"

He had expected an even fiercer argument, but the little fox opposite him did not get angry at all. Instead, her eyes curved into crescents, and her voice turned soft and sugary. "Hehe, aren't I? I defected from the Demon Clan!"

Her tone was as light as if she were talking about what delicious food she had eaten that day, without the slightest hint of the guilt or heaviness a traitor ought to have.

"Uh..." Yao Chen choked up instantly. The fury filling his stomach was like a fire doused by a basin of warm water, leaving him unable to muster even the slightest temper.

What could one possibly say to someone who smiled while being insulted? It was like punching cotton.

Seeing that he had fallen silent, Hu Jiujiu became even more insistent. She stepped forward and poked his shoulder. "Traitor, you're so boring. Why didn't you ask how I defected from the Demon Clan?"

Yao Chen's mouth twitched. She had indeed stirred his curiosity, but he still forced himself to sound tough. "Fine. Why did you defect from the Demon Clan?"

"Why should I tell you? Hmph hmph!" Hu Jiujiu smugly shook her head, her fox tail nearly sticking straight up into the sky.

Yao Chen froze, then understood and could not help laughing.

Well then, that was obviously payback for what he had just said about not telling a magical beast. This little fox was exceptionally good at holding grudges.

"Alright, stop arguing."

Lin Yu, who had been standing nearby watching the show, found it rather amusing and finally spoke.

He had not interrupted earlier because he had been observing the two of them—or rather, confirming his own memories.

Yao Chen and Hu Jiujiu. These two names had churned through his mind for far too long. Now that he saw them standing before him, bickering like this, the feeling was too strange to put into words.

One was a future Medicine Venerable cast out by the Medicine Clan, while the other was a little princess of the Demon Clan. Either one of them, out in the world, would have been enough to stir up a storm, yet at this moment, they were merely two ordinary children squabbling.

"Young brother, and this Miss Nine-Star Fox," Lin Yu said gently as his gaze swept over them, "I'm planning to leave the Shennong Mountains. What are your names? Would you like to leave the Shennong Mountains with me?"

Hu Jiujiu's fox eyes spun as though she were calculating something.

She tilted her head and studied Lin Yu for a moment, seemingly judging whether he could be trusted. At last, she gave him a sweet smile but did not reveal her real name. "My name is Little Demon. Let's go together, then."

Yao Chen was currently being hunted by the Medicine Clan, so naturally, he had no objections.

The Shennong Mountains were filled with danger. With his current strength, trying to leave alone was indeed more likely to end in death than survival.

Following these two would at least give him a bit more security. He nodded and said, "My name is Yao Chen."

Though Lin Yu had long since confirmed the identities of the two before him, hearing them admit it in person still made his heart surge, and an imperceptible glint of excitement flashed through his eyes.

Lin Yu had come to the Shennong Mountains many times and was already intimately familiar with its terrain, so naturally, he would not get lost.

He led the two through forests and across ravines, avoiding the territories of powerful magical beasts. Their journey went quite smoothly.

Hu Jiujiu's mouth never stopped moving along the way. One moment she complained that Yao Chen walked too slowly; the next, she commented on the strange flowers and plants by the roadside. Her constant chatter made the journey far less dull.

Just as they were about to leave the mountains, something unexpected happened.

Hu Jiujiu disappeared.

Lin Yu was the first to notice something was wrong—the chattering voice behind him had suddenly gone silent.

He spun around sharply and saw only Yao Chen standing there with a blank look on his face. The spot where Hu Jiujiu had been moments ago was empty.

"Where's Little Demon?" Lin Yu asked in a low voice.

Only then did Yao Chen realize the person behind them was gone. He frowned, about to speak, when a faint tremor suddenly came from the ground beneath his feet.

At first, the tremor was slight, like some heavy object falling in the distance. But it quickly grew more and more violent until the entire earth was shaking.

"Bzzzz—"

A scalp-numbing buzzing sound came from afar. It grew louder as it drew nearer, like countless wings beating at once and merging into a wave of sound that shook the air.

Lin Yu's expression changed instantly. He looked sharply toward the source of the sound and saw a red tide rising on the distant horizon.

They were Fire Ants.

Thousands upon thousands of Fire Ants.

Each one was the size of a fist, crimson from head to toe, their shells gleaming with a metallic sheen beneath the sunlight.

They surged from afar like a tide. Wherever they passed, grass and trees instantly turned to ash. A scorched stench filled the air, the temperature of the ground rose sharply, and even the air began to warp and distort.

The ground trembled as countless Fire Ants poured in from every direction like a crimson flood, reducing all grass and trees in their path to ash.

The sight blanketed the sky and earth, enough to make anyone's scalp crawl just by looking at it.

Lin Yu cursed under his breath, grabbed Yao Chen, and ran.

The three of them spent an entire day before they finally managed to shake off the Fire Ant horde behind them and escape the danger.

Hu Jiujiu smugly tossed a fiery red crystal up and down, her fox tail spread comfortably behind her. There was not the slightest sign of the bedraggled state she had been in while fleeing for her life.