You Really Know How to Judge People

Lin Yu paused, sweeping his gaze across the dense forest around them before lowering his voice. "And if other alchemists saw these things, do you know what would happen? An innocent man gets into trouble because of his wealth. A single seventh-grade medicinal herb would be enough to make a group of Battle Spirit experts kill with bloodshot eyes. And now you've brought out a pile of seventh- and eighth-grade materials, along with a ninth-grade Flame Demon heart. If word gets out, every alchemist in the Central Plains will come looking for you like mad. You'll be in danger then, Sister Little Demon."

Hu Jiujiu tilted her head as she listened, blinking. Her expression turned serious for a brief moment before returning to that playful, cheeky look.

"I know," she said brightly, her voice as crisp as a mountain spring striking stone. "You're not an outsider."

She said it as if it were the most fundamental truth in the world.

Lin Yu froze for a moment.

"Mhm." Hu Jiujiu nodded, as though confirming what she had just said, then continued, "Leave these with you for now. When you're capable of refining them, you can make medicine for me. How about that?"

After saying that, she blinked. Her golden eyes curved into crescents, and her fox face practically screamed, "I'm very crafty!" Her two fox ears even twitched smugly.

Lin Yu looked at her face and could not help laughing.

He reached out and rubbed Hu Jiujiu's head, his fingers slipping through her hair and brushing against those soft, furry fox ears.

Hu Jiujiu enjoyed the petting so much that her ears folded back, her chin lifted slightly, and an almost inaudible purr escaped her throat.

"Hehe, Sister Little Demon, you trust me that much?" Lin Yu asked with a smile, his hand never stopping.

"Of course I trust you." Hu Jiujiu closed her eyes in enjoyment, her tone carrying a matter-of-fact pride. "You're Lin Yu."

She paused, opened her eyes, and studied Lin Yu's face seriously, as if researching something.

His reflection lay in those beautiful eyes, and she looked far too serious to be joking.

"I think that name sounds like the name of someone righteous and loyal," Hu Jiujiu declared solemnly. Then she pointed at her nose. "My instincts are very accurate, you know. Demon instincts. You humans wouldn't understand."

Lin Yu was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter. His laughter echoed through the silent mountains, startling several roosting birds into flight.

"Sister Little Demon, you really know how to judge people!" Lin Yu gave her a thumbs-up, his face filled with sincerity.

Hu Jiujiu immediately raised her face. More precisely, she leaned her whole body back slightly, lifting that fox face high into the air, her chin nearly pointed at the sky.

Her hair glowed softly beneath the setting sun, her fox ears stood straight up, and her tail swayed proudly behind her.

Seeing her like this, Lin Yu felt an indescribable emotion rise in his heart.

Yao Chen stood to one side, watching the interaction between the human and the demon, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something—probably about how foolish it was to casually entrust ninth-grade medicinal materials to someone else—but swallowed the words before they came out.

Because he suddenly realized that when Hu Jiujiu said Lin Yu was "not an outsider," the certainty in her eyes was neither calculation nor probing, but a pure, almost childlike trust.

Yao Chen had not seen that kind of trust in a long time.

"Let's go." Hu Jiujiu put away her smug expression and sniffed the air with her little nose, as if confirming a scent. Then she picked a direction and set off.

She walked quickly, her steps light as though she were dancing. Her silver-white tail swayed behind her, and from time to time, she looked back to urge the two of them along.

"You know the way?" Yao Chen looked at Hu Jiujiu leading from the front, hesitation appearing on his face.

Lin Yu had been the one figuring out their direction all along. Now that Hu Jiujiu had taken the lead, Yao Chen could not shake his unease.

After all, this fox demon girl did not look reliable in the slightest.

"Brother Yao Chen," Lin Yu said as he walked up and patted Yao Chen on the shoulder, neither too hard nor too lightly. "Don't worry."

He raised a hand and pointed ahead, his gaze passing over layers of trees toward the distant horizon. "There's a river in the Shennong Mountains. Follow it downstream, and you'll reach the Central Plains."

"The Central Plains..." Yao Chen paused slightly.

Those two words were like a stone dropped into a still lake, stirring ripple after ripple in his heart.

Hu Jiujiu glanced back at Yao Chen, an imperceptible emotion flashing through her golden eyes.

She blinked, seeming to ponder something. Then she suddenly turned to Lin Yu, that carefree smile once again appearing on her face.

"Oh, right." Hu Jiujiu hopped over to Lin Yu's side and looked up at him. "Can you refine candy pills?"

The question came without warning, scattering the sorrow that had just risen within Yao Chen.

"Of course I can!" Lin Yu answered without the slightest hesitation, utterly confident.

"Great!" Hu Jiujiu's eyes lit up, and her ears trembled excitedly. "Then make some for me! I've already eaten all the ones I brought from home."

As she spoke, she dramatically rubbed her stomach and put on a pitiful expression. "My mouth's been so bland on this journey that I could spit feathers. There isn't even a single piece of candy. It's terrible."

Lin Yu could not help laughing at her pitiful act. "Sure, no problem. When we rest by the river, I'll refine a whole batch for you. I guarantee they'll taste even better than the candy pills from your home."

"Really?" Hu Jiujiu's eyes shone even brighter.

"Really!"

The two bickered noisily as they traveled, clearing a path through the thorns while discussing candy pill recipes and flavors.

Yao Chen followed behind them. Listening to their meaningless yet strangely relaxing conversation, the corners of his mouth unconsciously lifted into a faint smile.

The gloom and heaviness from before were temporarily suppressed amid the noisy atmosphere.

The sun gradually sank westward, and the sky shifted from orange-red to deep purple before darkening layer by layer.

The cicadas in the forest gradually fell silent, replaced by the songs of night insects and the occasional wolf howl from afar.

Just as the last trace of light on the horizon was about to vanish, a sound came from the distance.

"A waterfall!"

Hu Jiujiu cried out, her voice full of excitement. She turned into a silver-white blur and shot off in an instant, so fast that one might suspect she had used a movement Battle Skill.

Lin Yu followed unhurriedly, pushing aside the last layer of bushes. The view before him suddenly opened up.

A winding, mighty river stretched before them, broad and surging, dividing the entire forest in two.

The river gleamed with golden ripples beneath the last rays of the setting sun, like a flowing ribbon.

Not far upstream, a towering cliff rose from the earth, majestic and imposing.