Page 63

They quickly jumped into the water and gestured for Xie Juanhan and Telingewei to follow.

This wild spring in the woods isn't very large.

The Water Demon soaked in the water, covering three-fifths of the spring's surface.

Xie Juanhan felt embarrassed to get too close to the opposite sex, so he stuck close to Telingewei.

Telingewei's body temperature is very high.

Being close to him in the early morning spring felt especially comfortable.

Xie Juanhan yawned again.

The Peryton stood a short distance away, their large, round eyes fixed on them.

The morning glow gradually filled the sky.

The sky above them was filled with the glow of dawn, and the clouds were reflected in the spring water.

The Water Demon immediately joined hands, gesturing for them to join them as well.

Xie Juanhan first took hands with Telingewei.

Telingewei's hands were large, Xie Juanhan's hands were not small either.

Both hands were well-defined, long, and strong.

Their palms touched, warmed by each other's body heat, and they looked up at each other at the same time.

Immediately afterwards, they restrained themselves from looking away and each extended their other hand to take the Water Demon's hand.

The moment they were grabbed, the Water Demon pulled them down to the surface.

Xie Juanhan submerged his head underwater, his vision blurred for a moment, and when he looked up again, the sky above him was once again filled with the glow of dawn.

His right hand still held firmly in his grasp of Telingewei, but his left hand had long since released the Water Demon.

They stood side by side in the water.

"Is this the Inner Land?" Xie Juanhan looked around in surprise.

They were standing in a river.

Meadows line both sides of the river, and further out are forests.

Only the edge of the forest was visible; most of it was shrouded in mist.

However, the river they were in was rushing downstream.

You can look very, very far along the river.

This fragment of the Inner Land mainly encloses a river.

No wonder the Water Demon knew about this place.

Xie Juanhan is observing.

Telingewei suddenly tightened his grip, pulling him aside. "Be careful."

Xie Juanhan hadn't fully recovered his senses when his body pressed against him, following his force. "What?"

Before he could finish speaking...

A colossal object landed in the water, splashing up a huge spray like a cannonball: "Splash—"

Amidst the splashing water was a plump and robust Peryton.

"Roar!" Peryton roared, his eyes fixed on Xie Juanhan.

"Peryton?" Xie Juanhan subconsciously turned his head to look. "What are you doing here? Are you the only one here?"

Telingewei frowned, looking at Peryton with an unfriendly expression. "Want to fight?"

Peryton quickly took a step back to Xie Juanhan's side. "Awooo!!!"

Xie Juanhan carefully discerned its voice. "You want to explore this place with us? The other companions couldn't get in?"

Peryton: "Roar!"

"You've been here before?" Xie Juanhan asked carefully. "Could you lead us to find food?"

Peryton nodded.

Xie Juanhan looked at Telingewei.

Telingewei: "Legend has it that their ancestors came from Atlantis, and they are indeed quite familiar with the Inner Land."

"I see." Xie Juanhan gently patted Peryton. "Then please lead the way."

"Aww."

After agreeing, Peryton hesitated, glancing at Xie Juanhan, and pawed at the water with his hooves. "Ouch?"

Xie Juanhan: "You want to catch a kind of fish?"

"Awooo!"

"It looks fierce, but it tastes delicious? Will you take us with you later?"

Peryton nodded. "Roar."

Xie Juanhan: "Then let's go. We came here to find ingredients anyway."

Peryton seemed quite pleased, nudging Xie Juanhan "Aww!"

Xie Juanhan looked down at it. "Is it really okay?"

"Aww."

Xie Juanhan turned to look at Telingewei, then at the dog. "I'm going with Telingewei, can you carry him along too?"

Before Peryton could refuse, Xie Juanhan gave it a bit of Dragon Power and softened his voice, saying, "Isn't it said that there are ancient gods in the Inner Land? If he transforms into a giant dragon, his size will be too large, and it will easily alarm those ancient beings."

After a moment's hesitation, Peryton finally agreed, bowing his head to allow Telingewei to be carried along as well.

Xie Juanhan patted Peryton's back. "Can he sit behind me? That way you won't see him when you turn around."

Peryton cheered a little. "Aww!"

Finally, Xie Juanhan flipped over and mounted Peryton, with Telingewei sitting behind him.

Peryton took two running steps on the grassy bank of the river before struggling to carry the two dragons and spread his wings to take flight.

Xie Juanhan quickly gave it some more Dragon Power: "Thank you for your hard work."

Peryton: "Aww!"

Peryton certainly seemed quite familiar with this Inner Land.

It didn't fly very high, only about two or three meters above the river surface.

Xie Juanhan continued reading.

The river water was very clear, and you could see pebbles of all sizes at the bottom.

As Peryton flew downstream, the river below became deeper and wider.

Besides pebbles, some aquatic plants, like willow branches, have grown on the riverbed.

"Aww!" Peryton gave a signal, indicating that the aquatic plants below were edible.

Xie Juanhan patted its neck. "Shall we go down and take a look?"

Peryton landed happily in the river. "Aww!"

This section of the river is quite deep, nearly two meters.

Xie Juanhan needs to float in order to stand in the river.

However, the river water here is still clear, and the aquatic plants at the bottom are growing plump and tender.

Xie Juanhan casually broke off a stalk and held it up to his eyes. "What a fragrant water plant!"

He held the waterweed up to Telingewei's nose. "Didn't we taste this waterweed at the Water Demon' place?"

Telingewei sniffed it and confirmed, "I've tasted it; there was this seaweed in the salad I ate back then."

Xie Juanhan remembered. "This kind of aquatic plant tastes good; let's collect more to take back."

Xie Juanhan took out two large cloth bags and gave one to Telingewei.

They began collecting aquatic plants along the river.

Peryton wasn't idle either.

It dives directly into the water, grabs a piece of seaweed, rips it off, and rolls it into its mouth to chew.

There shouldn't be many creatures that eat aquatic plants around here.

Xie Juanhan and Telingewei also dived underwater to pick the fattest and tenderest aquatic plants.

They could easily break off long strands with their hands, and in no time they had gathered a large pile.

While they were harvesting, Peryton suddenly looked up and hissed.

Xie Juanhan immediately pulled Telingewei out of the water. "What's wrong?"

Peryton glanced at him, ignored Telingewei beside him, dove into the water, retrieved something, and swam back to him. "Aww!"

Xie Juanhan extended his palm.

Peryton spat out what he was holding into his palm.

It is a clam with two semi-transparent shells.

The delicate, translucent shell encloses glistening, white flesh that looks incredibly plump.

Xie Juanhan had never seen this kind of shellfish before. "Huh, it has Magic Power, a shellfish similar to the Demonic Oyster?"

"A Spicy Clam," Telingewei said.

Xie Juanhan: "What?"

"Those sour and spicy pickled vegetables we had before probably had these kinds of shellfish in them," Telingewei said.

Xie Juanhan immediately remembered.

He had eaten those sour and spicy pickled vegetables at the Water Demon's restaurant and thought they were particularly authentic, so he thought he would ask for the recipe later.

However, because they had revealed their sexual orientation to Telingewei at the dinner table, they were quite shocked at the time and forgot about it afterward.

Xie Juanhan leaned closer to Bei and sniffed. "Such an authentic spicy smell, it actually smells quite nice."

Telingewei: "Want some?"

Xie Juanhan didn't hesitate. "Go get it!"

Spicy Clam hide among seaweed and under rocks; there aren't actually many of them.

Xie Juanhan dived into the water to search, then surfaced again, experiencing a thrill akin to searching for small crabs or snails.

Telingewei turned over the stones and saw that he was unusually happy. He didn't quite understand why, but his mood also became cheerful.

While eating seaweed, Peryton noticed Xie Juanhan looking for Spicy Clam, and without hesitation, he abandoned the seaweed he was eating and helped him search for them.

It is very familiar with underwater creatures and flips over faster than Telingewei.

Every time it flipped over a Spicy Clam, it would excitedly snatch it and try to put it in Xie Juanhan's hand.

Seeing how enthusiastic it was, Xie Juanhan stroked its neck several times, praising it, "You're so amazing."

Peryton became even more eager to roll over, his plump and strong body deliberately pushing Telingewei aside as he squeezed in, and when Xie Juanhan wasn't looking, he would secretly cast a disdainful glance at Telingewei.

Telingewei: "..."

"Aww." After giving Telingewei a disdainful look, Peryton immediately dived underwater and continued to actively flip the Spicy Clam.

Telingewei stared at its silhouette expressionlessly.

Itchy hands.

I really want to punch Peryton.

Sure enough, I didn't hit him hard enough during the fight last spring.

Telingewei was unhappy.

Suddenly my palm felt warm.

He looked down and saw Xie Juanhan quickly grab his hand underwater.

When he looked up, Xie Juanhan smiled at him, his eyes crinkling slightly.

Xie Juanhan only held his hand briefly before letting go and continuing his search for Spicy Clam.

Telingewei floated in the water, looking down at the hand that had been held.

In an instant, the aura emanating from him quickly became calm.

Forget it, I'll beat them up next spring.

==========Author's Note:=========