"It's so cold in here. You can stay by yourself until you're done building your body." As Xu Zhiqiu spoke, she stood up, put down the tentacle, and headed back the way she had come.
"Oh." Naraku responded and opened a path for Xu Zhiqiu to pass through.
Xu Zhiqiu stopped, however. She turned and raised her head to look straight at Naraku behind her, arching a brow. "You're letting me go so readily? Aren't you going to try asking me to stay?"
"Qiu, if you want to leave, then leave. I won't force you," Naraku answered blandly.
"Do you really mean that?" Disbelief written all over her face, Xu Zhiqiu poked his flesh.
Naraku fell silent and showed Xu Zhiqiu his attitude through his actions.
Tentacles emerged from the once-flat, springy ground and wrapped around her fingers.
Yet Xu Zhiqiu still wasn't satisfied. She continued, "Say something nice, and I'll stay and keep you company."
"..."
"You're not going to say it? Really? Then I'm really leaving."
Under Xu Zhiqiu's relentless verbal prodding, the tentacles wrapped around her hand withdrew.
What an awkward fellow.
Xu Zhiqiu walked past the enormous pit and looked around. There were no passages in any direction; everything had been sealed off. She went to the spot where she had entered earlier. That wall of flesh had reverted to stone, and no amount of ramming into it would open a way out.
After checking her surroundings, she found rock walls on every side. She was trapped inside.
The only possible way out left was that deep pit. She lifted a foot and stepped toward its edge, crouched down, and quietly craned her head to peer inside. The pit was bottomless and dark. A cold stillness crept up from below and struck her face, leaving a