A chance encounter

"Stay calm. One of them is a third-level Great Spirit Master. The other two are a fifth-level water Spirit Master and a fourth-level wood Spirit Master." Even the weakest outranked her. Little Color was utterly rattled.

Though Mu Qing wore a smile, his gaze drifted between her and Little Color. Qing Yan, standing beside him, asked, "Little Brother, is it just you and this little child?"

Dongfang Minghui watched them warily, slowly rising with Little Color in her arms. "Who are you?"

"Little Color, if he decides to kill us to silence us, what are our chances of escaping?" Dongfang Minghui asked through their mental link.

Little Color hung its head. Earlier, it had thought its partner was fearless, but now it took that back—every bit of it. Gritting its teeth in exasperation, it said, "Why would you run? The moment you run, you'll give yourself away."

Dongfang Minghui: "..."

Qing Yan was about to cup his fists, then remembered the injured junior sister beside him. He smiled and said, "Little Brother, I'm Qing Yan of the Azure Mist Sect. This is my eldest senior brother, Mu Qing, and our youngest junior sister, Qing Miao. She's been injured, so we'd like to rest here for a little while."

Dongfang Minghui plainly had no intention of introducing herself. There was plenty of room anyway. "Sure."

The four of them each had their own thoughts.

Dongfang Minghui constantly guarded against them making a move, afraid she might accidentally fall into their trap.

"Little Brother, you dared venture into the Magical Beast Forest with a little child? I admire your courage," Qing Yan said as he tended to Qing Miao, still trying to coax some information out of Dongfang Minghui.

"You're giving me too much credit. I'm only a first-level Spirit Master. How could I dare enter the Magical Beast Forest alone, let alone with a child?" She gave a couple of dry laughs, deliberately avoiding telling them how many people were in her party.

"Then why haven't we seen anyone else? Did they just leave the two of you here?"

Dongfang Minghui immediately waved her hand. "No, they told us to wait here. They'll be back soon." As she spoke, she made a point of looking into the forest.

"Little Color, hurry and find out where Seventh Sister and the others are." She was so nervous that sweat began beading on her nose.

"Have you lost your mind? Isn't your Seventh Sister alone?"

Dongfang Minghui couldn't be bothered to explain.

Fortunately, Mu Qing had only sized her up at the beginning. Afterward, he sat meditating against a tree by himself. Seeing how haggard he looked, she guessed the earlier battle must have consumed a considerable amount of his spiritual power.

As for Qing Yan, he was carefully tending to his immobile junior sister, wiping her face and brushing back her hair, his expression full of affection.

Dongfang Minghui glanced timidly at them and deliberately asked, "What happened to this young lady?"

Qing Yan answered lightly, "We stumbled into someone else's trap. Our junior sister was badly injured saving our eldest senior brother."

"What a shame." She secretly lamented it. If this girl named Qing Miao hadn't meddled, Mu Qing might have died.

"Our eldest senior brother has already avenged her. I'm sure she'll be very happy when she wakes up."

Dongfang Minghui gave him a slightly sympathetic look. Watching the three of them, she inexplicably conjured up a tragic love triangle: the junior sister idolized her eldest senior brother and would willingly die for him, yet he had no interest in her whatsoever. Otherwise, he wouldn't have refused even to spare a hand to support her. Meanwhile, the junior brother adored the junior sister... What a tangled mess.

"Oh no, your Seventh Sister is coming this way," Little Color cried.

"What's wrong with you? If Seventh Sister doesn't come soon, I won't be able to keep this up." The hand holding Little Color pinched its chubby little bottom hard.

Little Color shifted in pain and shot her an accusing glare.

"Idiot. Your Seventh Sister has the Winged Elephant calf with her, and she just fought the mother. She's bound to have some of their scent on her. Once she gets here, our cover will be blown."

Dongfang Minghui stared in dismay. "Then is there any way we can stop her from coming?"

Little Color shook its head like a rattle. It wasn't confident it could pull anything off right under a Great Spirit Master's nose, and it was already too late.

If only they had some kind of telepathic connection. Unfortunately, she and The Female Lead had no rapport at all.

"Have you been waiting long? Honestly, you made me search everywhere for you." Dongfang Wanyu treated her gently on the surface while secretly making faces at her.

Dongfang Minghui was too frightened to understand what she meant. Sweat broke out on her forehead in her anxiety.

"Seventh Sister, you're here."

"And these people are...?" Dongfang Wanyu glanced at her, then swept her gaze over the three of them, lingering on Mu Qing's face for only a second.

Dongfang Minghui swallowed. "Seventh Sister, they came to borrow this spot for a rest."

"Oh. Have you rested enough? If you have, let's keep moving." Dongfang Wanyu deeply regretted that Mu Qing hadn't died. On that point, she and Dongfang Minghui were perfectly in sync.

"I've rested enough." Dongfang Minghui walked away with Little Color in her arms. Before leaving, she said to Qing Yan, who was watching them, "Enjoy your rest. We'll be on our way."

Only after they had walked some distance did Dongfang Minghui finally release the breath she had been holding.

"Seventh Sister."

Dongfang Wanyu pointed at Little Color. "Is that the demon plant you contracted with?"

"Yes. Isn't it cute?" Dongfang Minghui foolishly held Little Color up in front of The Female Lead, showing it off.

Qing Mo was also examining it. After watching for a while, he communicated with Dongfang Wanyu. "If I'm not mistaken, it's Vine Grass, an intermediate demon plant. It doesn't have much offensive power."

Hearing Qing Mo's words eased most of Dongfang Wanyu's suspicions of Dongfang Minghui.

Seeing how enthusiastically she was playing with the Demon Plant, Dongfang Wanyu casually asked, pretending not to care, "How did you lure all those people into the Winged Elephant's lair back then? Did this Demon Plant help you with that too?"

"This Seventh Sister of yours isn't your real sister, is she?" Little Color pouted, looking seriously at Dongfang Minghui. "At a time like this, shouldn't she be asking whether you're hurt?"

Dongfang Minghui was speechless. Her partner had hit the nail on the head. Not only was The Female Lead not her real sister, she was deeply suspicious of her too.

"You guessed right, Seventh Sister. It was all thanks to Little Color this time. Little Color was amazing! It used its Vine Tendril to snatch the Purple Cloud Fruit from that whole crowd in a flash, then tossed it into the Winged Elephant's cave." She spoke excitedly and without any ambiguity. At least she had told The Female Lead everything she wanted to know.

At the praise, Little Color grinned smugly. By the time it finished smiling, a bright green Vine Tendril had sprouted from its bald head and was swaying rhythmically.

"Pfft." Dongfang Minghui couldn't hold back her laughter. She rubbed its head all over. "Little Color, how are you so cute?"

Little Color swatted her hand away with its vine, then silently turned its back with an aloof air, refusing to look at the idiotic smile on her face.

Watching the girl and her pet play, Dongfang Wanyu let down her guard toward Dongfang Minghui. Earlier, when the Blood Fiend Alliance had surrounded her and she was nearly exhausted, she had seen them seize the Purple Cloud Fruit and run. Only later had she learned that someone had diverted their attention, allowing her to steal the calf successfully.

"I've got the calf." Perhaps because she felt Dongfang Minghui posed no threat, Dongfang Wanyu brought it up herself.

"Really?" Dongfang Minghui exclaimed exaggeratedly, unable to hide the joy in her eyes.

In truth, she had known all along that The Female Lead would get it. In this world, luck had always been The Female Lead's cheat. It would have made no sense if she couldn't get something she wanted.

"This was all thanks to you." Dongfang Wanyu looked at her with a complicated expression.

She had had a selfish motive in sending Dongfang Minghui to fetch the Purple Cloud Fruit, and her feelings had been deeply conflicted. She had wanted Dongfang Minghui to return alive, yet also hoped she would never come back.

At the time, she had told herself that if Dongfang Minghui returned safely with the Purple Cloud Fruit, she would forgive everything she had done in the past. If she couldn't, she would have only her own bad luck to blame. As for the magical beast calf, Dongfang Wanyu would find another way.

In the end, it seemed she had won her gamble.

Ultimately, it was her ninth sister who had drawn those people away and allowed her to succeed. Dongfang Wanyu badly wanted to ask how she had escaped while surrounded by so many people, but faced with her innocent smile, she couldn't bring herself to ask.

Inside, however, Dongfang Minghui could only sigh, filled with bitterness. She had simply been deceiving herself before. Just as Little Color had said, The Female Lead had essentially sent her to her death by asking her to fetch the Purple Cloud Fruit.

It seemed the heroine still hated her a great deal. She would have to keep working at it. Sob, sob... Life really wasn't easy.

Mu Qing, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them. He sniffed the air, then abruptly stood.

Qing Yan asked in surprise, "Eldest Senior Brother, what's wrong?"

The scent of a Winged Elephant lingered in the air. Though extremely faint, it hadn't escaped his keen sense of smell. "That sister and brother from earlier."

He recalled how Dongfang Minghui had overreacted when they first met her. At the time, he had thought she feared him because he was a Great Spirit Master. Now that he thought about it, there had been flaws everywhere.

"Eldest Senior Brother, what about that sister and brother?" Qing Yan didn't quite understand.

“How long have they been gone?” Mu Qing asked.

"Two hours." Qing Yan also sensed something was wrong, though he wasn't sure exactly what.

Mu Qing glanced at him and explained, “If I'm right, that sister and brother were the ones who set us up. They had the scent of a Winged Elephant on them. I'll pursue them. Stay here and keep tending to our junior sister.”

Without giving Qing Yan a chance to ask anything else, he took off in the direction they had left.

Dongfang Minghui's eyelid kept twitching. Since yesterday, she had felt that something major was about to happen. After experiencing the terror of the Black Pool and encountering the Blood Fiend Alliance, she had thought the great danger foretold by that feeling had already passed.

“Little Color, I suddenly feel like something's going to happen.”

Little Color lay against her back and tugged her hair. “Don't jinx us. What could possibly happen?” They were nearly out of the Magical Beast Forest.

Thinking she felt unwell, Dongfang Wanyu stopped. “Why don't we rest for a while?”

Rest for a while?

Dongfang Minghui shook her head. She truly didn't want to spend another moment in this wretched place.

“Seventh Sister, I'm not tired. I just feel anxious.” Ever since The Female Lead had decided to steal the Winged Elephant calf, her eyelid hadn't stopped twitching.

Dongfang Wanyu had no time to check on her.

A figure dropped from the sky. Mu Qing wore a bloodthirsty smile. “You two certainly made me search everywhere.”