Leaving home

"Miss, what are you trying to do?" Cui'er asked in confusion, watching helplessly as she packed her clothes. She wanted to help, only to be shooed away.

Dongfang Minghui waved a hand. "Nothing. Go stand guard outside. Don't come in unless I call you."

Cui'er obediently withdrew, closing the door behind her.

Dongfang Minghui immediately changed into a maid's outfit, tied up her long hair, and smeared some powder haphazardly over her face. "Cui'er, I'm hungry. Go see what there is to eat in the kitchen and bring me two servings of pastries."

"Yes, Miss."

Once Cui'er left, Dongfang Minghui peeked through the crack in the door and slipped out.

No sooner had Dongfang Wanyu left the Dongfang household than she followed her out. To keep the heroine from discovering her, she even changed into men's clothes, tied her hair high, and hid her face behind a fan, tiptoeing along after the heroine.

"There's a little tail behind you. Aren't you worried she'll ruin our plans?" A cool male voice suddenly sounded in Dongfang Wanyu's mind.

Dongfang Wanyu snorted. "Her?" She wanted to see just what Dongfang Minghui was up to.

To keep pace with the heroine, Dongfang Minghui dared not sleep too deeply at night, afraid she might accidentally oversleep. During the day, she dared not take even a moment's extra rest. After three days of this, her head spun, her vision blurred, and her strength began to fail. Yet the heroine still looked full of energy, completely unaffected.

"Ugh, I've eaten all my provisions. What am I supposed to do now?" Dongfang Minghui rummaged through her bundle. She had brought plenty of money and medicinal pills, but nowhere near enough food.

She had thought going out to gain experience meant seeing the world, staying at inns, drinking wine, and eating delicious food. Who knew it meant dining on wind and sleeping under the stars, without enough clothes to cover herself? After only three days, she felt she could barely hold on. Just look-several blisters had already risen on the soles of her feet. At night, they hurt too much for her to sleep. Old blisters rubbed raw and bled, while new ones sprang up.

"I can't live like this anymore." Dongfang Minghui wanted to cry but had no tears. Out here in the wilds, she didn't even have anyone to complain to.

The next day, as the sun began to rise, the wild grasses shook the dew from their blades, mischievously sprinkling it all over Dongfang Minghui. She smacked her lips, sleeping soundly.

"Get up! She's leaving!"

"Lazybones, she's leaving! You'll be done for if she goes!"

Dongfang Minghui rolled over and mumbled, "Who's leaving?"

"The heroine! She's already gone a long way!" the little grasses clamored.

The heroine?

Dongfang Minghui jolted awake and sprang to her feet. She looked closely at the spot where Dongfang Wanyu had slept the night before. Not a soul remained.

"Oh my goodness! Thank you!" Dongfang Minghui hurriedly pulled on her clothes and boots, then hopped off in pursuit, leaving a footprint with every step.

"She's caught up again. Hey, this little sister of yours really does seem to have some ability."

Dongfang Wanyu couldn't be bothered to respond and let him carry on his one-man show. Still, Dongfang Minghui's persistence had exceeded her expectations.

After walking all morning, they were about to enter the Purple Demon Mountains. Dongfang Wanyu chose a spot to rest for a while.

Dongfang Minghui hid some distance away and rummaged through her bundle, unable to find even a morsel of food. "Am I supposed to starve to death here?"

She leaned against a tree stump and rested for a while, her empty stomach rumbling. Suddenly, Dongfang Minghui sat upright. She had spotted a small white blur. "Hehe, there's my food."

With what little spiritual power she possessed, Dongfang Minghui quickly caught the plump rabbit. She cleaned it in short order, skewered it on a branch without fuss, and set it over a fire to roast.

As the rabbit gradually cooked, its aroma drifted outward. Golden fat dripped onto the grass, making her mouth water uncontrollably.

Afraid the meat wasn't cooked through, Dongfang Minghui deliberately turned it a few more times and poked it several times with her knife. Once it was finally done, she immediately cut off a hind leg.

The rabbit leg was scalding hot. She wrapped it in green leaves, opened her mouth wide, and took two bites. Without seasoning, the meat tasted a little gamey. Luckily, roasting had made the skin somewhat crisp. It would fill her stomach, at least.

Dongfang Minghui quickly finished one rabbit leg and was about to cut off another when she noticed a little squirrel had somehow taken a seat opposite her. Its whole body was fluffy, its two ears twitched, and its gray eyes kept darting around the rabbit leg in her hand. Its paws rested against its chest, and its little tongue licked once, then again, looking unbearably greedy. Its thick, long tail swished over the grass. It was utterly adorable.

Dongfang Minghui's first reaction was that the little fellow was so cute. She tentatively held the rabbit leg out toward it. "Want some?"

The little fellow's ears twitched twice. Its pink tongue licked its black nose over and over, its eyes fixed on the rabbit leg.

"Since you're so cute, you can have one." Dongfang Minghui generously stuffed the rabbit leg between its paws without worrying whether it could hold on.

The little fellow gripped the rabbit leg tightly in its front paws, opened its tiny mouth to reveal sharp teeth, and crunched through more than half of it in a few bites. Then, with a few more crunches, it quickly gnawed away the other half, leaving only a bone.

Dongfang Minghui merely turned around to pack up the remaining rabbit meat. When she looked back, the little fellow was licking its left paw, then its right, watching her as though it still hadn't had enough.

Did it want more?

Dongfang Wanyu had been resting when she sniffed the air and noticed the scent of meat. Following the aroma, she found Dongfang Minghui staring at a little creature, the two of them wide-eyed.

"A Poison Blossom Lightning Mouse."

The lightning mouse was a type of magic beast. Though low-ranked, it moved as fast as lightning, and its sharp claws were extremely dangerous weapons. Supposedly, a poisonous flower grew in the habitats where lightning mice lived. As they foraged for food, their claws remained coated in its poison, earning them the name Poison Blossom Lightning Mouse.

"How did you provoke it?"

Dongfang Wanyu suddenly approached with a bundle in one hand, while the other rested on the flexible whip at her waist. If the lightning mouse made a move, she would immediately teach it a lesson.

At the sight of Dongfang Wanyu, all the little fellow's previously smooth fur stood on end, and it stared at her fiercely.

Dongfang Minghui spread her hands. "Seventh Sister, I didn't provoke it. I think it was hungry and came over on its own when it saw me roasting a rabbit. Look, it's almost eaten the whole thing."

Out of an entire plump rabbit, she had eaten only one leg. Almost everything else had gone into this little creature's stomach. How could something so small eat so much?

Worse, after eating, it kept gazing at her with such innocent eyes that refusing to feed it felt like committing a crime.

"Get moving. That smell is attracting far too much attention," Dongfang Wanyu urged.

Dongfang Minghui's eyes immediately widened. Was the heroine inviting me to travel with her? Wow, this is so exciting! "All right, let's go."

As for the rabbit meat still in her hands, she placed all of it in front of the lightning mouse. "Here, you can have the rest."

The lightning mouse blinked its round, bulging eyes at Dongfang Minghui, its tongue still licking away.

"Seventh Sister, look how cute it is. Don't you think so?"

Dongfang Minghui smiled as she spoke, still walking along. If the heroine hadn't suddenly appeared, she would have tried coaxing the little cutie into coming with her. It might have made the journey much more fun.

"Cute? That's because you haven't seen it kill. One light swipe of its claws, and its poison seals your throat the instant it draws blood."

Dongfang Minghui nearly choked on her own saliva. She stared wide-eyed at Dongfang Wanyu, inwardly bursting with complaints.

Dongfang Wanyu looked at her with a complicated expression, unsure whether her innocence was real or an act.

"Let's go. Once we enter the Purple Demon Mountains, don't light a fire unless you have to," the heroine kindly reminded her.

Dongfang Minghui was still caught up in how close she had just come to losing her life. Only after a long, dazed moment did she register those words and shriek, "The Purple Demon Mountains?"

Dongfang Wanyu gave her a strange look, seemingly unable to stomach her fuss over nothing.

"Seventh Sister, didn't you say you were going to the Royal Academy?" Dongfang Minghui asked in shock. The Purple Demon Mountains were a place people entered but never left, filled with vicious magic beasts and danger at every step. With her meager abilities, wouldn't she be swallowed alive by a magic beast the moment she went in?

Dongfang Wanyu smiled. "Passing through the Purple Demon Mountains is the only way to reach the Royal Academy. What's so strange about that?"

"Speaking of which, you haven't told me what you intend to do, following me out here."

It would have been fine if she hadn't mentioned it, but now Dongfang Wanyu suddenly remembered the question of why Dongfang Minghui had run away this time. Just what was she planning by following her?

Uh... Dongfang Minghui lit a candle for herself.

"When Cousin visited the estate last time, he told us lots of interesting stories about his travels. I was curious, so I wanted to come out and gain some experience too." She trotted out the excuse she had prepared long ago.

Dongfang Wanyu looked her up and down, clicking her tongue in wonder. "With your meager abilities? Did Second Madam agree? Did your father?"

Dongfang Minghui lowered her head guiltily and replied in a small voice, "Neither of them did."

"Then how did you get out?" Dongfang Wanyu asked.

Dongfang Minghui clearly explained the whole sequence of events: how she had disguised herself as the maid Cui'er, avoided the estate guards' watchful eyes, and crawled out through a dog hole.

"Seventh Sister, please take me with you. I promise I won't cause you any trouble." With such a chance to improve her relationship with the heroine, Dongfang Minghui certainly wasn't going to let it slip away.

Before Dongfang Wanyu could refuse, a commotion sounded from the woods.

"Seventh Sister, take me along. I'll behave."

"Shh. Be quiet."

Dongfang Minghui quickly covered her mouth, her large eyes fixed intently on the heroine.

"Stay here and don't move. I'll go take a look first."

Dongfang Minghui wanted to follow, but she feared the heroine would turn on her without mercy, so she could only sit there and wait. "I wonder what happened in there."

In the middle of the night, it probably wasn't anything good.

"Little grass, little grass, can you tell me what happened?" Bored, Dongfang Minghui fiddled with a blade of grass and murmured to it.

"Oh, you want to know? Stroke me some more, and I'll tell you." An especially young-sounding voice suddenly rang out in Dongfang Minghui's mind.

Dongfang Minghui immediately reached out to stroke its leaves, tapping her fingertip back and forth over them as though playing. "Does that feel nice? Hurry up and tell me."

"So nice. Stroke me some more."

Dongfang Minghui could almost picture it closing its eyes in bliss. Amused, she couldn't resist pressing a little harder with her fingers. "Stop being naughty. Tell me."

"Humans are fighting demon insects."

So had the heroine run over there to recruit more underlings again?