Chase
"Senior Brother Duan, are we really just going to let Senior Sister Qi leave like this? She's so strong, with her help we're sure we can get the sparrow flower!" Sima Chu pouted unwillingly.
Duan Yu looked up at the sky with a sigh: "Let her be, there's no point in forcing things. There's only one day left until the birdflower blooms! Even if I don't manage to pick it, witnessing this miracle will be good enough. But I will do everything in my power to get that flower!"
"Senior brother, get out of the way!" Sima Chu exclaimed, and the cultivators behind her began to run towards her.
Qi Yi was lying on a tree branch sleeping, but his sensitive hearing immediately detected something was wrong. He jumped down from the tree, drew his sword, and fought the group of rogue cultivators.
Duan Yu, carrying his broadsword to defend against the attack, exclaimed, "Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have worn this outfit!"
Those cultivators formed cliques and agreed to work together to eliminate the strongest-looking individuals before the flowers bloomed.
"Damn it! Brothers, did you see those three? They're disciples of a major sect. Let's go, take them down!" someone shouted from a distance.
It's over. Sima Chu felt a chill run down his spine. He swallowed hard, but his movements didn't stop. He smoothly took down a group of people and moved on to the next batch.
*
Qi Yuan helped Ye Hanyun, whose bottom had gone numb from sitting, to sit up: "It's almost dusk, less than a day left. I'll pick them myself, whether you come with me or not is up to you. But let me make this clear, even if I pick them, you won't get any."
Ye Hanyun patted the dust off her clothes and said ingratiatingly, "Of course! The flowers picked must belong to Senior Sister. I'll beat up anyone who disagrees!"
She looked him up and down with the eyes one would give a stranger.
Night Melody: ...
Since dusk, there had been constant sounds of fighting in the vicinity. Qi Yuan found a hillside, hid on it, and secretly observed the movements below.
Good heavens, at a glance, everyone being ganged up on was someone I knew.
To be precise, it was the monks surrounding them who were being attacked unilaterally.
She was right; Duan Yu, Sima Chu, and Qi Yi were all in trouble.
Pei Yin was recognized by an inner disciple of the Shanlin Sect, and thus began to be greeted by waves of cultivators.
On the other side, the Water Spirit Sect, needless to say, started a team battle with Ye Ting and Cheng Jin at its core. They seemed to be cooperating with Dongfang Yilin, the senior sister of the Earth Spirit Sect, and were very closely positioned together.
Qi Yuan watched for a while longer. Dongfang Yilin wasn't cooperating; he was fighting alone, so he must be thinking the same thing as Qi Yuan.
"Senior sister... there are two people here..." Ye Hanyun said tremblingly, startled.
She turned around at the sound and was startled.
Ouyang Lanyue waved to her and said with a smile, "We meet again."
Ye Hanyun asked in surprise, "Senior sister, you know these two people?"
Qi Yuan looked at the person next to Ouyang Lanyue with a hint of expectation, but it wasn't Zhu Fu.
She was doused with cold water.
She had never seen that man before. He had long, jet-black hair draped over his shoulders, deep-set eyes, and a handsome face with a sharp, defined jawline.
She actually mistook the man for Zhu Fu at first glance. The two looked similar, but gave off completely different vibes.
"This is Mu Huai, my dear friend," Ouyang Lanyue said, noticing Mu Qinghuai's embarrassment.
"Nice to meet you." Upon hearing this name, Qi Yuan immediately thought of the Demon Lord's name, which was only one character different from the original.
Mu Qinghuai's expression was somewhat unnatural, and he didn't dare to look at her: "Hello, what's your name? I'm not a disciple of any sect, you can... just call me by my name."
"Qi Yuan." She smiled politely.
Ye Hanyun rolled up her sleeves: "Who are you? Just call me by my senior sister's name!"
Qi Yuan smacked him on the head: "Don't be rude!"
She said apologetically, "I'm sorry. My junior brother was being inconsiderate."
Mu Qinghuai was a little nervous as he met Qi Yuan in his true form for the first time: "...It's alright."
"Young Master Ouyang, are you here to pick flowers too?"
“Of course not. I just want to witness the blooming of that rare, century-old flower. As for him, he wants to see the person he wants to see.” Ouyang Lanyue looked at Mu Qinghuai meaningfully.
Qi Yuan didn't ask any more questions and continued to lie on the hillside to observe the situation of the others.
*
"Go up, there are people up there!" A hoarse male voice broke the silence.
It was the last night before the flowers bloomed, and everyone was exhausted from fighting, so they tacitly stopped.
At that moment, a burly man inadvertently looked up and saw a light on the hillside.
This action has aroused public outrage.
This means that while they fought so hard for so long, someone was hiding in a corner watching without suffering any hardship!
They no longer felt soreness in their hands or fatigue in their bodies; only their chests were filled with overwhelming rage, and their eyes were fixed on the same spot.
"Why are you starting a fire so late at night? Can't you save your spiritual energy for tomorrow?" Qi Yuan was furious. After extinguishing the fire, she grabbed the culprit, Ye Hanyun, by the collar.
"It's dark and I can't see, so I wanted to get some light to tidy up my appearance." His voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz.
Qi Yuan released her grip and said to the two people behind her in a serious tone, "Run."
At the same instant, many cultivators who were leaning against the tree trunks jumped up, grabbed their swords, and rushed up the mountain.
A large group of people chased after Ye Hanyun, shouting, and nearly stabbed him in the buttocks with knives and forks.
Below, apart from the sleeping cultivators, only a few disciples remained unmoved. Duan Yu and his group knew that it was Qi Yuan and her group on the mountain, while Ye Ting and his group disdained to waste their energy on such a pointless matter.
Pei Yin followed slowly behind the main group, and no one knew what he was thinking.
Qi Yuan was not pursued.
Mu Qinghuai pulled her into a secluded patch of grass to hide.
Mu Qinghuai covered her mouth from behind her neck with one hand, and only released her after a while.
Her lips were soft and felt wonderful to touch. His face was flushed, though it wasn't visible in the darkness.
Qi Yuan's tense heart calmed down. Outside, Ye Hanyun's screams grew fainter and fainter. All she could hear was the man beside her breathing heavily, his breath tickling her neck.
She could smell Mu Qinghuai's scent; it smelled wonderful and felt very familiar, as if she had smelled it somewhere before.
After an unknown amount of time, they heard Ouyang Lanyue's voice above them: "They're gone. How long are you going to hide in this bush?"
They then slowly got up.
Ouyang Lanyue observed Mu Qinghuai by the moonlight. Seeing that the other man's face was flushed red to the roots of his neck, the smile in his eyes deepened: "The other one has already run far away with those people. He's a bit pitiful."
Qi Yuan coughed awkwardly, "Mr. Mu, Mr. Mu Huai, thank you."
Mu Qinghuai stared at his toes, looking anxious and uneasy: "It's nothing..."
Of the three people, not one of them was worried about Ye Hanyun being hunted down.
*
"Stop chasing us!" Ye Hanyun shouted breathlessly, turning back as she ran.
"So what if I chase you? You brat, you've been hiding the whole time, you have no manly guts at all!"
"Damn it!" Ye Hanyun was really going crazy.
Pei Yin, at the back of the line, secretly kicked a few people to the ground, then ran to the middle of the line, pointed in another direction, and shouted, "I saw them running in that direction!"
The line split in the middle, and those at the back, unaware of what was happening, were misled and ran in the opposite direction.
Pei Yin rushed to the front, only to see a disheveled figure running wildly.
He exclaimed in surprise, "Why is it just you?"
Ye Hanyun also saw him and roared, "Yeah! Why am I the only one here?!"
...
Grass.
Pei Yin stopped chasing, his mind preoccupied with only one question.
Where did my senior sister go?
On the other side, the group of people who had just been misled by Pei Yin ran towards the direction of Qi Yuan and the other two.
The sound of a large, imposing footstep startled the three of them, who immediately spotted the cultivators ahead.
Ouyang Lanyue pointed her fan at her feet, and he leaped up and quietly joined the group, even managing to get to the very end.
He gave a thumbs-up and smiled at the two people standing there.
Mu Qinghuai gritted his teeth, glanced at Ouyang Lanyue, then turned and ran with Qi Yuan.
They ran fast and not only were they not caught, but they almost circled the entire mountain. Just as they were about to finish, they ran into a panicked Ye Hanyun and another group of people behind him.
With tears streaming down her face, Ye Hanyun cried out, "So you were being hunted down too!"
Why does your tone sound so touching?
Qi Yuan: ...
Mu Qinghuai: ...
Two groups of people blocked the mountainside, and Qi Yuan and Mu Qinghuai took the opportunity to escape into the group on the other side.
Mu Qinghuai pointed at Ye Hanyun, who was stuck between the two lines, and shouted, "Don't let him get away!"
The first group of people reacted first, grabbing their swords and following behind Ye Hanyun. The second group, unaware that the two had become one, didn't care and continued running after her.
"What incredible stamina!" Ouyang Lanyue exclaimed as she broke away from the back of the group.
Qi Yuan rubbed her sore arms: "Let's go down first and find a tree to lie down under, otherwise we'll be discovered again."
“I agree.” Mu Qinghuai, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke.
Ouyang Lanyue thought he was a fool, and stopped fanning herself. Did she need his permission?
*
"Senior Sister Qi, are you alright?" Sima Chu asked, looking at Qi Yuan, who was walking down the mountain looking exhausted.
"It's nothing. Thank you for your concern." She walked slowly, her eyelids drooping.
Duan Yu hesitated, knowing that the two people beside his junior sister were definitely people she knew. He had heard from Pei Yin that Ye Hanyun was with her, and the commotion on the mountain was still ongoing...
So... the person being chased is Ye Hanyun.
The Water Spirit Sect members had been watching the drama unfold, and their eyes widened when they saw Qi Yuan come down.
The person who was just being chased was Qi Yuan from the Silver Bamboo Sect?
Ye Ting had been leaning against a tree trunk with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, but after being patted a few times by the person next to him, he impatiently opened them.
The moment he saw Qi Yuan, he snapped out of his daze.
This commotion has caused quite a stir; now there's nothing he doesn't understand.
Just as Ye Ting was about to speak, he noticed that there were two unfamiliar men next to Qi Yuan, their faces even darker than the bottom of a pot.
He coughed lightly, his casual voice echoing clearly in everyone's ears: "How did Junior Sister Qi end up being hunted down?"
The other close associates present listened intently.
Qi Yuan said coldly, "Senior brother, you shouldn't worry about so much. Be careful, or you might be the next one to be hunted down."
Seeing her dismissive attitude, Ye Ting became even more furious and raised his voice: "Now that Junior Sister has already gone down the mountain, who is being chased now?"
She was about to speak, but remembering Ye Hanyun's request, she kept quiet.
Unexpectedly, Mu Qinghuai smiled and replied, "Then naturally it's Ye Hanyun. Who would this young master like to be?"
After he finished speaking, there was silence.
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