Creating an opportunity
The lizards leaped up one after another to bite the girl. She was highly agile and kept dodging, but although they failed to bite her body, they tore what little remained of her skirt to shreds.
By now, the girl's slender waist and lower abdomen were exposed.
One benefit of cultivating was being able to see in darkness as though it were broad daylight.
Thus, Qin Yi could see everything perfectly clearly.
At the sight, he suddenly laughed inwardly. Wasn't this a heaven-sent opportunity for a hero to save a beauty?
"Stay away... stay away..."
The girl was scared senseless, brandishing her treasured sword and crying out, but she ultimately lacked the power to intimidate them.
The four lizards drew ever closer, their rolling eyes roaming wildly over her body.
The lizards stared at her and drooled. Without a doubt, however beautiful a human woman was, however fair her skin, however long her jade-like legs or slender her willow waist, in their eyes she was merely prey, something to fill their bellies.
Just as the four lizards were about to rush her together and bite her to their hearts' content, Qin Yi acted.
He rode his sword through the air, but instead of killing the four lizards with a single slash, he slipped an arm around the girl's waist as he passed her and carried her onto a ledge jutting from the cavern wall.
If Qin Yi wanted to kill those four lizards, he certainly could.
But anyone who chose to kill them all in a single move at a time like this was definitely a steel-straight man.
A hero saving a beauty could certainly make the beauty grateful to him, but what came after that gratitude?
They would simply go their separate ways, and at most she would thank him.
But a spoken "thank you" was worth less than anything.
Rather than that, he might as well do this-keep the bandits alive to bolster his own importance!
Qin Yi held Xu Xinran on the ledge, which measured less than a square meter.
Since the space was so small, the two could only hold each other. If they stood apart, a moment's carelessness would send them falling.
Even though Xu Xinran had a Dao companion, she could not reject him now. After all, everything had happened so suddenly.
"Senior... Brother Qin."
After steadying her nerves, the anxious girl finally saw clearly who had saved her. It was Qin Yi.
"Why did you come all the way in here alone?" Qin Yi asked with concern, despite knowing the answer.
"Because this is where I can find Rhinoceros Horn Stone and deep yin water. I've been here before, but I didn't expect there to be so many more Fire Salamander Beasts this time, or so many more of those bloodsucking bats."
"Fire Salamander Beasts?"
The materials Qin Yi's mission required involved killing Fire Salamander Beasts and stripping out their fire salamander bones.
But according to the information he had read on the map, Fire Salamander Beasts were roughly the size of babies, could jump, moved quickly, and had sharp teeth.
Yet each of the four lizards before him was as large as a Nile crocodile, weighing at least seven or eight hundred jin.
The difference in size was far too great!
That was also why Qin Yi had not recognized them at first.
"How did these Fire Salamander Beasts grow so big?"
"I... I don't know either." Xu Xinran suddenly grunted in pain.
Only then did Qin Yi notice the wound on her arm. It did not look like a bat bite, but rather a scrape from a rock.
"Junior Sister Xu, are you all right?"
"I... used up almost all my spiritual power clearing out the bats outside earlier. If you hadn't come to save me in time, Senior Brother Qin, I might have..."
"Don't say that. We're fellow disciples. It's only right that we support each other."
"Senior Brother Qin, thank you."
As they spoke, their bodies remained pressed directly against each other.
Xu Xinran might have realized this was somewhat inappropriate, but with no spiritual power left in her body, she could only rely on Qin Yi now.
As Qin Yi looked above her head, a favorability score of 30 suddenly appeared.
He could not help frowning slightly.
He had saved her life, yet only received 30 favorability points?
"Ah, I used up all my spiritual power searching for Fire Salamander Beasts along the way too. It looks like we'll have to stay up here for a while." Qin Yi suddenly sighed.
Hearing this, Xu Xinran asked in anxious surprise, "Senior Brother Qin... you're out of spiritual power too?"
Qin Yi said, "Yes. There are so many ferocious beasts outside that dealing with them alone was quite difficult. When I saw this cavern, I wanted to come in and hide for a while, but I never expected there would be danger inside too."
Only then did Xu Xinran understand. Qin Yi had entered this cave to escape the ferocious beasts.
If that was the case, it was perfectly normal for Qin Yi to have run out of spiritual power.
But that meant neither of them had any spiritual power, so they were destined to spend at least twelve hours on this ledge, a man and a woman alone together.
This was because the human body could automatically complete a greater celestial circuit in twelve hours. When one's spiritual power was exhausted, twelve hours of rest could restore ten or twenty percent of it, even without anything else to replenish it.
At the thought of spending twelve hours embracing a man she barely knew like this, Xu Xinran immediately flushed, her heartbeat quickening.
"Senior... Brother Qin, actually... you don't have to hold me so tightly."
"I'm afraid you'll fall. If you do, I won't have the strength to rescue you again."
As he spoke, Qin Yi did not waste the opportunity, beginning to use Hand of Nüwa.
Xu Xinran kept feeling that it was inappropriate for him to hold her, and now her blood was boiling and her heart racing.
"Junior Sister Xu, are you all right?"
"I... I'm fine. Senior Brother Qin, could you let go of me first?"
"Then make sure you stand firmly. Don't fall."
Qin Yi was cooperative. After all, when dealing with a woman whose guard was high, he had to remain respectful toward her until he broke through her defenses.
However, Qin Yi had his own methods. As he released her, he doubled the power of Hand of Nüwa and touched her waist.
That touch
nearly stimulated Xu Xinran into crying out on the spot.
She bit her lip, her body swaying as she was about to fall from the ledge.
Her expression instantly changed, and she screamed in fright.
Qin Yi seized the moment and wrapped his arms around her waist again, holding her even tighter this time. "What did I tell you? Fortunately, I acted quickly, or you would have fallen and become their food. They're positively drooling over you."
Xu Xinran turned to look at the four Fire Salamander Beasts watching hungrily below, then looked at Qin Yi's concerned face.
At last, she stopped resisting. When Qin Yi held her, she wrapped her arms around him too, holding him quite tightly because of her lingering fright.
At that moment, the favorability above Xu Xinran's head rose by another 10 points, reaching 40.