Miao Tong’s face was gloomy and displeased.
Er Ya walked ahead with large strides, humming a tune, in high spirits.
“Will they always be like this?” Bai Yuqi was still not accustomed to the way Miao Tong and Er Ya interacted. He quietly asked Xia Qingyu beside him.
“You’ll get used to it.” Xia Qingyu was already used to it. Although she didn’t know why the Miao family and Er Ya’s families held such deep grudges, as an outsider, she could only offer respect and blessings, and nothing else.
“Er Ya, why don’t you… apologize to Miao Tong?” Xia Qingtian also felt that this situation couldn’t go on.
“On what grounds?” Er Ya was displeased. “The Gu worms from your Miao family lost their minds, and I used poison to send them to their demise. That just shows my Tang family’s poison is more capable. Why should I apologize to him?
Apologize for what?
Sorry, weakling?”
“You!” Miao Tong choked. “Are you blind? Didn’t you see those Gu worms were being controlled? I…”
“Oh ho, when it comes to controlling Gu worms, who in the Miao family would dare claim second place?” Er Ya sneered. “If I hadn’t been quick-witted, you would have been completely devoured after stepping in! Why else would they say you’re weak? Weakling~”
“Er Ya! That’s enough! If you’re not convinced, let’s have a one-on-one!” Miao Tong’s face turned red. He didn’t know who was so despicable to use such a dirty trick. If he could catch this scoundrel, he’d chop him up and feed him to the dogs!
“A one-on-one it is! Do you think I’m afraid of you!” Er Ya cocked her chin, looking as if she could fight Miao Tong at any moment.
“If you want to fight, we’ll set up a special arena for you on the way back. Fight to your heart’s content,” Xia Qingtian immediately stepped forward to stop them. “Our journey is more important right now! Can you stop bickering?”
They had chosen the longer route, and by now, those who had chosen another path were already far ahead.
These two were still quarreling.
It would be fine if it were any other day, but Xia Qingtian wasn’t going to indulge these two troublemakers today.
“Sister, are you okay?” Xia Qingyu looked at Xia Qingtian. She could sense that her sister seemed a bit unhappy.
“I’m fine,” Xia Qingtian didn’t want to lose her temper, but her heart felt a sense of unease, as if something terrible was about to happen. This feeling was uncomfortable, suffocating, and oppressive. “It’s just that I feel a bit breathless.”
“How could that be? The birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant here. I thought we had stumbled into fairyland,” Steward Shi said, taking a deep breath. “The air here is quite good. It even smells faintly sweet.”
“Oh, that’s poison,” Er Ya chuckled. “This area was set up by the Tang family. Everything you can see that has color is highly poisonous.”
“!!!” Everyone present was stunned and looked at Er Ya in disbelief. Why hadn’t she mentioned something so important earlier?
“But it’s okay, I’m immune to all poisons. This little bit of poison is nothing!” Er Ya grinned.
“What about us?” Bai Yuqi asked, pointing to himself.
“You’re not immune to all poisons, so you’ll definitely get poisoned,” Er Ya clapped her hands. “But it’s okay, there are antidotes here.”
As Er Ya spoke, she found a tree nearby. The tree had long, narrow leaves. Er Ya plucked a few leaves, tore them apart, rolled them up, and stuck them into her nostrils. “Like this, it detoxifies.”
“Are there no more normal ways to detoxify?” Xia Qingyu’s mouth twitched. Honestly, she didn’t really want to stick leaves in her nose.
“Yes, you just need to grind dried lizards into powder, mix it with morning dew, and then use…” Before Er Ya could finish, everyone had already moved to pick leaves.
Dried lizards were worse than leaves.
Xia Qingtian saw Xia Qingyu deliberately picking a few more leaves and smiled. Her sister was thoughtful and always thought more thoroughly than others. That was wonderful.
After everyone was ready, Er Ya pointed at them and burst into laughter. “This is hilarious! You all look so ugly!”
“Shouldn’t you look in a mirror first?” Miao Tong said speechlessly.
“Hahaha, I look so ugly too! Hahaha!” Er Ya took out her phone, switched to the front camera, looked at herself, and burst into laughter.
Seeing Er Ya like this, the others could only shake their heads. After spending some time together, everyone had gotten used to Er Ya’s pranks.
After detoxifying and removing the leaves from their noses, the journey had to continue. Not long after, Xia Qingtian and her group saw a tall wall standing behind the lush vegetation from a distance.
“That should be it. Let’s hurry,” Er Ya pointed at the high wall and eagerly took the lead. The others could only follow her and quickly run forward.
They hadn't run for long when the ground suddenly began to shake.
“Holy hell! Is it an earthquake?!” Bai Yuqi exclaimed.
“It shouldn’t be,” Lu Yaoyang glanced at the high wall. “Someone must have unlocked the Lu family’s mechanisms. Let’s hurry over there.”
Everyone nodded, and they sprinted with all their might on the trembling ground.
“Something’s not right. Is this the effect of just unlocking the mechanism?” Bai Yuqi, halfway through, saw a crevice appear on the ground and panicked.
“Everyone be careful,” Xia Qingtian also felt something was wrong.
“Sister!” Xia Qingyu immediately grabbed Xia Qingtian’s hand, feeling a little scared.
“There’s someone up ahead!” Er Ya narrowed her eyes and looked into the distance. “Xia Qingyu, it looks like that… Nie…”
Before Er Ya could finish her sentence, Xia Qingyu immediately let go of Xia Qingtian’s hand and rushed forward, leaping to avoid the deep crevices and sinking ground debris.
“Nie Qingkong!” As soon as Xia Qingyu rushed over, she saw Nie Qingkong on a piece of ground that was collapsing. She immediately reached out to Nie Qingkong.
Nie Qingkong never expected to see Xia Qingyu at this moment. He instinctively reached out to Xia Qingyu.
But in the next moment, Nie Qingkong hesitated.
Even if he held those hands, what would it accomplish?
He was just a poor man poisoned and close to death. How could he be worthy of holding onto the light?
Xifu was dead, and he had become a discarded piece, his life soon to end.
What was the meaning of living anymore?
To be able to see Xia Qingyu one last time before dying, Nie Qingkong felt that heaven had treated him kindly enough.
Let it be this way.
He was tired.
Nie Qingkong smiled at Xia Qingyu and was about to lower his raised arm.
At this moment, Xia Qingyu lunged forward and firmly grasped Nie Qingkong’s arm that was about to fall.
In an instant, the ground beneath Nie Qingkong shattered and completely collapsed.
Flying rocks scratched Nie Qingkong’s face, hurting him. The trembling ground finally began to calm down.
Nie Qingkong’s hand was tightly held by Xia Qingyu, and he was suspended against a cliff face that felt as if it had been cut by a knife.
Nie Qingkong looked up in Xia Qingyu’s direction, and suddenly, blood dripped onto his forehead.
Only then did Nie Qingkong remember that Xia Qingyu had been injured before. Her wound must have reopened. “Xia Qingyu, let go.”
“No,” Xia Qingyu gritted her teeth, unable to tell whether her entire arm hurt more, or her split wound hurt more. “I’ve got you, and I won’t let go.”