Lou Yi, hearing Jia's flat refusal, also lost his good mood. With his mood gone, he instantly lost his pleasant demeanor as well. "Lou Yi, are you suggesting we'll be trapped here forever?" he asked sternly.
Jia was accustomed to Lou Yi's 'pretentious' demeanor. Looking at him, Lou Yi's expression also soured. "I don't want to say unpleasant things."
"Go ahead and say them," Jia challenged, eager to hear what Lou Yi had to say.
"You want to hear it?" Lou Yi deliberately played on Jia's curiosity.
Jia's eyes widened.
Seeing this, Lou Yi understood Jia's determined stance. He pursed his lips and blurted out, "You're just a coward. Do you know how painful it is to be hit by sorcery? You just hide behind others. I actually thought highly of you before, but now I realize it was all a facade." He took a breath, feeling much better.
Conversely, Jia didn't show any signs of being wronged. Instead, he smiled inexplicably at Lou Yi.
Lou Yi, seeing this, grew confused. "What do you mean by that?"
"I really don't know who it was that said they had no mission, no value. Well, now you have a mission," Jia sighed. "And you've started complaining. As expected, it's better to do things yourself to avoid being blamed." With that, he hopped off the chair.
Lou Yi was stunned by Jia's words. Blinking, he reflected on their time together. His eyes darkened, and he asked, "Did I do something wrong?"
Upon hearing this, Jia stopped and turned to look at Lou Yi, saying solemnly, "There are bound to be unexpected situations during a mission. Getting hit is a common occurrence. If you can't even handle this, then I can say," he frowned, "you don't need to do it anymore."
"But..."
"Ouyang Ye detests immortals; that's his business. Also, do you think I would let you venture out needlessly? Have you considered," Jia interrupted Lou Yi's words, his expression serious, "what he is doing all this for?"
"To get Mu Anxiao and escape Feng Qishi," Lou Yi recalled their previous analysis.
Jia nodded. "Exactly, that's what he's after. Think about it," he glanced at the scratch on Lou Yi's neck and continued, "if he had truly acted, do you think you would still be alive?"
"..." Lou Yi listened to Jia's words, reached up to touch his neck, and said softly, "What you're saying seems reasonable."
"It's not just reasonable, it *is* reasonable," Jia said narcissistically.
Lou Yi gave an awkward smile.
Then, Jia walked around Lou Yi and was about to head towards the wooden door when Lou Yi suddenly stood up. Jia immediately stopped his advance, looking up at Lou Yi, and asked, "What do you want to do?"
Lou Yi cleared his throat, turned sideways, and looked down at Jia. "Let me do it instead."
"But... didn't you call me a coward? I don't want to..."
"You're not a coward. And what I said earlier wasn't meant sincerely." Lou Yi, worried Jia might overthink it, completely reversed his previous statements.
However, Jia was not foolish. He could tell that Lou Yi was being serious. If he were in Lou Yi's position and someone ordered him around like that, he wouldn't be happy either. So, Lou Yi's words made him realize... he had gone too far.
In reality, he was just scared, and those words were just excuses he made for himself.
With that, he stopped dwelling on Lou Yi's words and said, "You want to go." He glanced towards the wooden door.
Lou Yi nodded.
"Then..."
"Help me keep watch," Lou Yi decided on his own.
Jia, hearing this, agreed without hesitation. "Okay." He wanted to use this to make up for his earlier mistake.
"I'll try," Lou Yi said, turning around and walking directly to the wooden door. He raised two fingers and began.
Jia walked behind Lou Yi, listening for any movement outside for him.
In the guest room.
Ouyang Ye lay on the wooden couch, a smirk playing on his lips. "Immortals," he thought, "are indeed never idle."
A quarter of an hour later.
Lou Yi, looking exhausted, withdrew his single hand that had been channeling energy. He then looked down at the intact door lock and said, "It didn't work after all." He swallowed with a dry throat, realizing... this was a waste of his spiritual energy. But he didn't want Jia to see that, so he hid his injured hand behind his back.
"Let me try," Jia said, raising his hand.
Seeing this, Lou Yi quickly reached out and blocked Jia. "You can't do this."
"Why?" Jia asked, confused.
Lou Yi glanced back at the sleeping figures, then looked down at Jia and said, "Things aren't as simple as you and I think. You..."
"Your hand," Jia interrupted, his eyes fixed on Lou Yi's decaying hand, and he was startled.
"I... I'm fine," Lou Yi said, keeping his hand behind his back. "It's just a skin abrasion."
"Blood," Jia said, looking down at the pool of blood on the floor. "Do you feel unwell?" he asked with concern.
Lou Yi shook his head. "No, the bleeding has stopped. This..." He also looked at the ground. "This flowed out while I was casting the spell earlier."
"You..."
"Alright, I'll rest for a bit and then continue," Lou Yi said, turning towards the table and chairs.
Under Lou Yi's restraint, Jia gave up struggling and gracefully followed Lou Yi to the table. He personally poured him a cup of water and said, "It seems that lock is indeed more complicated than we thought." He then glanced towards the wooden door.
Lou Yi grunted, not saying much.
Then, Jia thought for a moment and continued, "Your spell isn't..." He stopped mid-sentence, seeing Lou Yi's troubled expression, and quickly reached out to grab the hand Lou Yi was using to reach for the cup, exclaiming, "Your spell has been depleted."
"I..."
"Don't move," Jia interrupted. After sensing for a few more seconds, he released his hand and immediately turned to look at the door lock. "It looks like we can't continue."
"I can," Lou Yi insisted.
Hearing this, Jia immediately turned back to look at Lou Yi, who was stubbornly determined to 'break through his limits.' He shook his head. "No, you cannot continue."
"But..."
"No 'buts.' The reason you're like this is because the spiritual energy in your body has been damaged. If you persist any further," Jia's gaze was serious, "you will only be more deeply harmed."
"What do you mean by that?" Lou Yi, with his limited experience, didn't fully understand some things. He thought he had only suffered a superficial injury, but hearing Jia say this now, he suddenly felt a sense of crisis.
"Right now, the injury is on the surface. If you continue, the damage will be to..." Jia pointed to Lou Yi's chest, "your internal organs."
"That serious?" Lou Yi exclaimed.
Jia nodded slightly. "I need to deliver this message to Mu Anxiao." With that, he closed his eyes.
Lou Yi felt Jia was doing the right thing and remained silent. Instead, he stared intently at Jia's profile.