Dongfang Minghui cried for a while, then, exhausted from crying, simply fell asleep across Qian Wanyu's knees.
"Ninth Sister, wake up."
Seeing the sky darken, Qian Wanyu hurriedly woke her.
Dongfang Minghui, who slept every day only to start causing trouble at night, was truly exhausted. She rubbed her bleary eyes, first noticing that the light around them had dimmed. Scrambling up from Qian Wanyu's knees, she said with rare seriousness, "Seventh Sister, it's dark. You and Mo-"
Before she could finish, Qian Wanyu covered her mouth.
As though sensing something, Mo Ce raised his head and glanced at them, his fingers still habitually stroking the layer of beast hide covering the Handwritten Journal. There was little written inside; he had finished reading it in four hours, yet continued leafing through it again and again.
"Don't say it," Qian Wanyu warned Dongfang Minghui.
Remembering how she had clung to Mo Ce and sobbed her heart out earlier, Dongfang Minghui covered her face in shame and nodded repeatedly. "Seventh Sister, I won't, but you must stay close behind me."
After saying this, her eyelids drooped, and she looked ready to fall asleep. She let out another enormous yawn, lay back across Qian Wanyu's legs, and drifted off again.
Mo Ce tossed the Handwritten Journal into his storage space and stood with his longsword in hand, watching Dongfang Minghui warily. "Where does she want to take us?"
Qian Wanyu gently stroked the soft hair beneath her hand, then froze as Dongfang Minghui rose expressionlessly. She paused outside the Nine Dragons Cave, quickly found the precise spot, and stepped inside.
"Stay close behind her."
The moment they entered, they encountered the two guardians inside the cave. The guardians hesitated briefly, and Qian Wanyu and Mo Ce tacitly attacked them from either side. By