Chapter 133: Unlikely Ally

Half an hour later, Qi Yichen crawled out of Qi Wan's room. That sight shocked Xiao Qi, who was about to walk in to change Qi Wan's bandages. Gu Qingyu's bright and cheerful laughter came from the room. "Oh hahaha, Qi Wan, do you feel the joy of life?"

Qi Wan's body shook, and then immediately exclaimed loudly. "Yes! Boss, because of you, my life is full of meaning! Oh! You are like the sunshine in my life, illuminating the core of my soul. You are like the blessing of rain after a drought, watering my fields!"

"Huh, not bad. You just graduated from primary school?" Gu Qingyu nodded with a satisfied smirk. She turned to the door and greeted Xiao Qi with a warm smile, "Morning."

"Yeah, good morning." Xiao Qi walked in with a tray of medical supplies and gently placed the tray on the table. "Here, Xiao Yu. I'll be outside."

"Okay." Gu Qingyu nodded, turned sideways slightly, gently untied the bow that tied up Qi Wan's bandages, and began to unwind it as Xiao Qi stepped out. Gu Qingyu's brows furrowed as she removed the bandages. His injuries are healing, but it was still horrifying to see.

Seeing the worry in her eyes, Qi Wan reached over and squeezed her hand gently. "It doesn't hurt, it's all on the surface anyway."

"Just on the surface?" Gu Qingyu rolled her eyes, but she knew that he said that to assure her. She removed the old bandages, put it on the tray, gently applied the medicinal paste that Mo Bai prepared, then re-dressed Qi Wan's injuries with clean bandages as delicately as she could.

"Um, I want to go for a walk later." Qi Wan turned and looked out the window. The warm sunlight of early spring was inviting and calming.

Gu Qingyu tied off the bandages. "Come on, you're still going to walk around? Just stay in bed and rest up."

"I'm mostly fine, you don't have to worry, boss." Qi Wan stretched out his hand and ruffled her hair. "Okay, I'm really bored. You know me, I can't stay still at all."

"What, are you expecting me to just let you out to prank and tease Qi Yichen again?" She pierced through his veneer mercilessly.

Qi Wan sighed, "Oh, you still know me best!"

"Exactly. I'm doing this for your own good. What if you two get into a brawl like always, and that caused your injuries to reopen?" Gu Qingyu explained with a sigh. Qi Wan wanted to disagree with her, but he swallowed his words.

"Yes Boss! You have worked so hard for me! Ah! I love you so much! How can I thank you, my boss! Oh!" Qi Wan sighed as he scanned through his lexicon.

Gu Qingyu waved her hand and dismissed his praises shyly. "Okay, fine, you can rest for a while. I'll go get something to eat, then we'll go for a walk."

"Yes, my lord!" Qi Wan laid down immediately and started to plan out their itinerary in his head.

Gu Qingyu walked out of Qi Wan's room and saw Ye Jin walking towards her. She frowned and greeted him. "Oh, there you are. Where have you been, Xiao Zhezhe? I couldn't find you anywhere just now."

Ye Jin smiled, stretched out his hand and patted her head. "I went out to do something."

Gu Qingyu immediately realised what he had meant. “You-you-did you went to rip Mo Bai a new one?"

"What do you mean?" Ye Jin blinked in confusion, but he figured out what he meant. "Ah, that's about right."

Gu Qingyu swallowed weakly. "Can I ask...who won?" Even though the answer was clear to her, after all Ye Jin was standing in front of her with a smile, completely unscathed. In contrast, poor Mo Bai. Let's hope he's not too badly hurt. Gu Qingyu silently raised a stick of incense for Mo Bai in her heart, then took Ye Jin's hand. "Let's go and have breakfast, I'm hungry."

"Yeah." Ye Jin seemed to be in a particularly good mood. He pulled her into his arms and walked forward with his arms wrapped around her shoulder. The corner of a white robe peeked out from a pillar behind them.

Everyone else was already seated around the dining table, waiting for them in comfortable silence. Gu Qingyu and Ye Jin sat down. Qi Yichen was resting his head on the table, his voice barely a whisper, "Brother Zhu...I can't..."

Gu Qingyu sighed, "Didn't I tell you to prepare a coffin in advance? That's great, now I have to make preparations instead!"

Qi Yichen stared at her with horror and shock.

"Let's eat. By the way, Qi Yichen," Gu Qingyu raised her head slightly, "Can you still eat? If you can't eat, I will..."

"No, no, how can I not eat it!" Qi Yichen straightened his back immediately and shoved rice into his mouth. "Brother Zhu, you worry too much!

"It seems that I went easy on you." Gu Qingyu nodded thoughtfully. Qi Yichen choked on a mouthful of rice and went into a coughing fit. Everyone else ignored him, except for Xiao Qi, who glanced at him sympathetically.

"By the way, Kitten, where are we going next?" Xie Zang asked as he added more food to his bowl.

"Well, next..." Gu Qingyu was also confused about the ambiguous answer Yan Zun gave her last night. "Someone might bring us to where the next Spirit Gem is?"

"Oh? Who?" Her answer piqued Xie Zang's interest.

Gu Qingyu shook her head honestly. "God knows who, I guess we'll have to wait to find out.

Xie Zang rubbed his chin as he continued his questions. "Kitten, this world is just that big. We have already visited all the countries in this world, so where are the other Spirit Gems?"

Gu Qingyu's heart dropped.He was right, they have travelled through all of the countries, on this continent, at least. And they found all of the available Spirit Gems. Where would the remaining gems be? Lost in the wilderness? Hidden somewhere in the mountains? If that's the case, it would be really hard to find the remaining Spirit Gems.

Looking at Gu Qingyu's puzzled expression, Xie Zang nodded. "Well, it seems that we think differently."

"Huh?" Gu Qingyu raised her head and blinked in confusion.

At this moment, a black gust of wind swept through the room.

"What's the matter?" Gu Qingyu frowned and sniffed the air lightly. Then she stood up and declared loudly, "Something is coming!" Everyone rolled their eyes, that much was obvious.

Suddenly, Gu Qingyu felt an immense weight on her body. When she looked down, her body was wrapped in heavy chains. The chains did not touch her, instead it surrounded her, glowing with sinister, black light. She gritted her teeth and tried to break free from the chains, but she could not even move a muscle. It was as if gravity itself had doubled.

Sitting across from Gu Qingyu, Qi Yichen first noticed her shift in behaviour. "Are you okay, Brother Zhu?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Jin, who had been holding her hand tightly, immediately turned around and looked at Gu Qingyu. "Xiao Yu'er? What's the matter?"

"You..." Gu Qingyu forced her head up and answered with a strained voice. "Can't you see..."

"Brother Zhu!" Murong Zuoyu immediately got up and drew out the sword around his waist, the sword shined with purple light.

Xie Zang narrowed his eyes slightly. "Kitten, are you caught in something?"

"Perhaps." She pulled her other hand up against the crushing gravity around her and gently touched the chain. In an instant, an electric current surged through her body from her fingertips.

"Urgh..." Gu Qingyu growled through her tight jaw. Just as she wanted to claw at and pull off the chain, Xie Zang wrapped his hand around hers.

And he gently lowered her hand. "Leave this to us, don't force yourself."

"Xiao Yu'er, this is..." Ye Jin frowned and closed his eyes slightly. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open. "Fang?"

"Yes."Xie Zang also lowered his eyes, turned around, and waved his sleeves. "Murong, I'm going to borrow your roof."

The roof was lifted, and a man stood on the exposed pillar, in his trademark, black regal robe that commanded authority.

"Heh, Xian Di." Ye Jin narrowed his eyes slightly, and squeezed Gu Qingyu's hand. "I should have known it was you."

"Yeah, Fang, my weapon of choice." Xian Di looked at Gu Qingyu with a smirk. "So? Does it feel comfortable?"

"Comfy." Gu Qingyu looked at him and smiled, "I could fall asleep in this." She suddenly grabbed the chain that surrounded her and pushed it apart. The strong electric current surged through her, but she refused to let go.

"Xiao Yu'er! Let go!" Ye Jin tried to pull back her hand, but her hand would not budge. He did not dare to pull harder, for fear of hurting her. Xian Di narrowed his eyes slightly, then waved his sleeve, Fang was removed instantly. Gu Qingyu collapsed to the ground in an instant. Ye Jin caught her and held her in his arms as he shot cold daggers at Xian Di.

"This is why I detest the weak." Xian Di turned his back to them, "What's the point of resisting when you are so weak? The weak are meat and the strong do eat."

"Yeah, you are so strong..." Gu Qingyu fired back despite the tremors in her muscles. Her hand was still shaking from the aftershocks of electrocution. "How do you know... what it’s like to be weak...were you always so strong anyway?"

Xian Di whipped back. "What did you say?"

In an instant, a dark miasma surrounded them. She did not mean to, but she knew then that whatever she said had triggered Xian Di, in its intended sense. Ye Jin shielded Gu Qingyu in his arms, gathering blue light in his hands, and Ghost Howl formed. Xian Di closed his eyes, and the dark miasma dissipated. "I'm not here today to fight. But watch what you say, Gu Qingyu."

"Not here to fight? Then what are you planning? Are you finally aware that good would always triumph over evil, so you want to change your ways and join the good guys? Sure, you can join us, but there is an entry fee of 3 boxes of gold."

Xian Di narrowed his eyes and shot a glare at her. "Enough talk." He hmphed, "Gu Qingyu, I am here to take you to find the next Spirit Gem."