The lamplight swayed slightly. Little Wolf Cub let out a howl and clung desperately to the lamp's rim with both paws.
Then, realizing that nothing seemed to have happened to it, it nestled back into Yun Ruyi's arms with a pretense of composure and resumed licking its paws.
Lin Muyao, on the other hand, staggered from the impact and nearly fell off her flying sword.
"Ow! What was that?" Clutching her forehead, she looked up and snapped angrily:
"Do you even know how to fly a sword? What are you hovering here for?!"
Only after cursing did she get a clear look at the girl seated opposite her.
The girl gazed into the distance with tranquil eyes, a soft, sacred radiance surrounding her like a goddess compassionately delivering the world from suffering.
Despite the sudden collision, she showed not a trace of anger. She merely turned her benevolent gaze toward Lin Muyao, leaving her anger nowhere to land.
So, so beautiful...
The rest of Lin Muyao's tirade lodged in her throat. She stammered "You, you, you" for ages without getting anything else out.
At last, she managed to squeeze out a question. "What are you looking at?"
Yun Ruyi raised a hand and pointed toward the parched, cracked Wildlands beneath them, her voice gentle:
"I'm looking at all living beings."
Lin Muyao followed the direction of her hand.
Below lay a dilapidated village. Long fissures split its fields, and several children, thin as skeletons, crouched beside a well whose bottom had long since dried out. An old person sat on a doorstep, sunning cracked bean seeds, their eyes clouded.
Yun Ruyi said, "The earth veins here are damaged, and fire spirit is too abundant. Years of drought have cracked the soil and withered the seedlings. Countless mortals have been driven