Tianchen was quite perceptive. Seeing that Shushu's expression was off, he immediately stopped cursing and repeated, "Is Pei Anlan the dean of Lingxin Academy now?"

While asking the questions, Tianchen's fox-like eyes were fixed on Shushu, trying not to miss the slightest change in her expression.

The glutinous rice didn't bother to hide anything from it this time. Meeting those fox-like eyes, it told what it knew: "The current dean of Lingxin Academy is Rao Xiuqi. As for Pei Anlan, whom you mentioned, I don't know."

After saying that, she silently took another step back, worried that Tianchen might get excited and punch or claw her. She couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't get hurt by it.

Unexpectedly, Tianchen did not riot upon hearing this answer. Instead, he stood there stunned, looking deeply shocked.

The fluffy creature, hovering pitifully in mid-air, its tiny body huddled up, made Shushu's heart clench, and he instinctively took a step forward.

The next moment, a fluffy little thing bumped into her arms, clinging to her with its four paws, its little head pressed tightly against her body, and it started to sob softly.

In no time, Shushu's clothes were soaked with tears.

Hearing the little guy's sobbing, Shushu was at a loss for what to do. All she could do was gently stroke its fur to comfort it.

It took half an hour of comforting before Tianchen finally returned to normal, detached himself from Shushu's embrace, and said with a hint of embarrassment, "Thank you."

The sweet potato noticed its discomfort and, to avoid further embarrassment, changed the subject: "Tianchen, can you sense where my senior brother is? Could you take me to him?"

As she spoke, she took out the jade pendant and examined the red dot on it.

She discovered that only her red dot was independent, while the other four had already converged and were rapidly approaching her.

Knowing that they had come together, Shushu was overjoyed. He stopped paying attention to Tianchen and focused his divine sense on the direction they had come from, waiting for their appearance.

Her gaze shifted away, allowing Tianchen, who was so embarrassed he was practically digging his hands into the ground, to secretly breathe a sigh of relief and silently wipe away the tears welling up in his eyes.

After mentally cursing Pei Anlan again, she finally felt less wronged.

With a slight pout, Tianchen composed himself and moved closer to Shushu.

"Um, I don't know your name yet. What's your name? Can I go out with you later? I don't want to stay in the secret realm any longer."

Although Shushu's attention was mostly focused on what was in front of her, she was also always aware of her surroundings, and she noticed Tianchen as soon as he arrived.

Hearing a barrage of questions, Shushu realized that he hadn't introduced himself yet.

So, Shushu cleared his throat and began to introduce himself earnestly.

"My name is Shushu. If you're willing, you can come with us later, but we still have training missions to complete before we can leave."

Despite the length of the sentence, Tianchen astutely extracted the key point: "Surname? Which rat?"

"The 'shu' in 'shuzi' refers to the 'shu' in 'shuzi', which is the herbaceous plant."

"Are you from the Shu family?"

"yes."

"I see, I understand."

The two exchanged a few words as if they were playing a game of charades, but they both understood each other's meaning.

Knowing that Shushu was a treasure-hunting rat, and that their species was comparable to his own, Tianchen's mood improved considerably, and then he remembered something else.

"You just said you have another training mission? Do you mean finding Dream Grass?"

In response, the potato gave a big nod, since there was nothing to hide.

Then, Shushu was rolled up by Tianchen, who seemed to be taking her to find Mengli Grass. It was only because Shushu spoke up in time to interrupt that she was not rolled away from where she was.

Then, knowing that Shushu was waiting for Lu Li and his group, Tianchen immediately changed direction and led Shushu to rush towards Lu Li.

Tianchen was much faster; in just a quarter of an hour, Shushu met Lu Li and the other three.

Lu Li spotted the sweet potato immediately and rushed over, snatching it away and protecting it behind him before looking at Tian Chen, who was glaring angrily at him for having his sweet potato taken away.

Almost immediately upon meeting, both sides displayed an atmosphere of impending conflict.

Seeing that the two were about to draw their swords against each other, Shushu could only quickly speak up: "Senior Brother, this is Tianchen, my newly acquainted friend. Tianchen, this is my senior brother. Please don't fight."

After she finished speaking, she moved the two of them a little further apart.

Just as they were about to ask what had happened, Tianchen had already explained everything, and Shushu now knew the whole story.

The reason is actually quite simple: Tianchen, being a member of the Celestial Fox clan, is extremely skilled in illusion magic.

Once someone enters its territory, it can read the intruder's memories and thus transform into the person in those memories.

Shushu and Luli had both mistakenly entered Tianchen's two hideouts in this little secret realm.

Or it's not entirely accurate to say they're two nests. The one on Lu Li's side is actually Tian Chen's nest, while the one Shu Shu encountered was Tian Chen just out for a stroll.

Tianchen had left himself many contingency plans for his territory, which is why Lu Li kept running into a bunch of acquaintances.

Unexpectedly, Lu Li was also quite formidable, cutting down anyone he encountered.

One of them tormented the other, while the other mercilessly destroyed the phantoms. Although those phantoms were all transformed from Tianchen's fur, it didn't stop Tianchen from being angry.

This is why the two sides were so tense when they met; they recognized each other.

After hearing all this, Shushu was speechless.

Previously, Lu Li had only told her to be careful of the fake Lu Li in his telepathic message, without mentioning his own experiences. Naturally, Shushu hadn't expected that she and her fellow disciple would have such a coincidence.

Even when separated by a great distance, we still manage to encounter the same things.

However, since the two sides have already met, all Shushu can do is try his best to adjust.

Fortunately, both Lu Li and Tian Chen, seeing that she genuinely wanted to ease their tensions, toned it down considerably and stopped giving each other attitudes.

As for the places that Shushu wasn't paying attention to, the two of them continued to ignore each other, but they didn't actually fight.

Shushu naturally knew that the two were putting on an act for her, but as long as they didn't actually make a move, she pretended not to know. Instead, she let Tianchen, a fox who was familiar with the area, lead them to find the Dream Grass.