To everyone else’s surprise, Jian Yu raised his hand high in the air. Without waiting for a response, the young man lowered it and removed his black scabbard from the sash around his waist. Though he was of higher cultivation rank than his servant, Xiao Li, the cultivator always had the physical weapon on him instead of waiting for it to manifest from his spiritual domain. The crackling campfire popped lightly a few times, bringing a flicker to the obscure emotions of his nonchalant gaze.

It was early evening by now, a time that was ripe for ambushing others or resting.

With scrutinizing eyes, Bing Wen tightened his jaw. “…Why?”

Swaying red flames enkindled the hard edges of shadow against the warrior’s face. It reinforced the deep disdain that he harbored for Jian Yu.

The other person feigned an expression of hurt and shock. “Big brother, I haven’t even done anything!” There was a chuckle. “You can’t do that!”

“And who the—”

“Alright, alright!” Tapping a chopstick against the rim of her dish, Mei Ying received her friends’ attention. Aiya, these two are always fighting. “Bing Wen, why don’t you and Xiao Li get some rest? I will be up, cultivating the spiritual energy from this area, while Jian Jian watches over the place. If he does anything suspicious, I will notify you.”

Slowly, the huntress set the bowl and both chopsticks down on the ground.

“But…you’re biased.” countered the warrior, arching an eyebrow.

“What do you want us to do? Either Xiao Li watches over Jian Jian watching over us…” Massaging the area in between her brows, the young woman sighed. “…or you spend the night with him.”

“Young Miss…” Xiao Li mumbled. “Phrasing, ah.”

Scratching her head, Mei Ying was unsure if she should laugh or cry. She stiffly twisted a few hair strands together.

The servant rolled his eyes, and in a monotonous voice, he asked, “What do you want us to do?” Though unwillingly, he echoed the huntress’ question to ease the awkwardness.

Bing Wen creased his brows together. He was reluctant despite easing his broad shoulders, little by little. Yet, the man did not shoot Mei Ying’s argument down.

In a low voice, the warrior then said, “Fine. But before I go rest, I need some answers.”

From across the warm, wavering fire, the young woman watched Bing Wen hesitate. He opened his mouth again but was quick to shut it. His eyes flitted to Jian Yu, who acted half-asleep.

“…Never mind.” The man said, massaging his temple with one hand. “I’m too old for all this bickering.”

❁❁❁

In the dark, Mei Ying seated herself on the soft grass. Her legs were crossed. With eyes closed, she gradually absorbed the threads of crisp spiritual energy from the natural surroundings. By and by, weaves of chilly wind gathered around, kissing the young woman’s cheeks and long, flowing hair. By the dim moonlight, her silver hair ornament sheened.

Not too far away were the soft rhythmic songs of crickets. Even beyond that, there were faint but uncanny cries of beasts and demons, all of which were nonthreatening now. For a secret realm that was not thoroughly explored and for its age, it was normal for the place to develop its own set of monsters and various lifeforms.

From the other side, the maiden could hear the slow breathings of Bing Wen and Xiao Li, both wrapped in light-weighted blankets of heavy cotton. For pillows, they each used a folded bundle of their outer robes. It was quiet, and so, Mei Ying thought that they had fallen sleep.

“Young Miss.” On the contrary, the black-robed teenager abruptly sat up and appeared indifferent, but his somber tone told otherwise. Mei Ying did not open her eyes. “I…need to tell you something.”

Silent Seal! With the spell in place, the huntress did not want Bing Wen to eavesdrop on their conversation. “I can hear you just fine from here.”

“Jian Yu…” The moment when the juvenile spoke that name, the maiden felt her posture stiffen. “He...trusts you.”

Every word was weighted in pure honesty.

A sigh was exhaled. What does this person want her to say? Mei Ying felt that it would be better if she did not respond. However, it was then that she remembered who else she had forgotten to exclude from the exchange.

Shit.

By her side was Jian Yu, perched up in a high tree. His overall figure had been overtly concealed by the inky boughs of leaves and flowering buds. For a long time, he had been quiet.

Aiyo, the kid is calling her out! Sweating, the huntress felt stuck between two sides. Her small hands were warm. Though she felt the attention on her, the young woman thought it was better to not open her eyes right now. She did not want to openly acknowledge their stares and tried to calm her heart. Slowly breathe in—and breathe out.

“Do you trust Jian Yu?” asked the servant, seeing that he did not get an answer.

While she is a huntress, Mei Ying felt cornered as the prey. Her heart was thumping fast, along with her inner child wishing to coil into a ball. After all, internally, she was still the little disciple. The passing years only changed her appearance, helped accumulate wisdom through past mistakes and learning, and increased the collected skills that she had mastered. At the core, some habits do not change, simply because they are hard to break.

In the main cultivation world, it is not as free as Mei Ying wish for it to be. It is either that a cultivator walks the straight and narrow path of the Heaven realm—the righteous way—or the weaving path of the Netherworld—the demonic or evil way. If someone wavers at the slightest, they are not righteous. By definition, Jian Yu is an unorthodox person. Despite his polite demeanor as well as his harmless actions, he was also disliked by Mei Ying's senior hunter friends.

When Bing Wen and Wei Sheng expressed their negativity toward the young man, the huntress knew for him to stand on the opposing side of the Heaven gods. But did the words of others change the way she had viewed Jian Yu?

Mei Ying slowly opened her eyes. “I…”

Immediately, blood-curdling screams pierced the air, breaking the glass-like atmosphere between the cultivators. All three turned their heads toward the distant direction. What had sounded like only beasts—was quickly concluded as humans or rather—a group of unfortunate sect disciples in desperate need of help.

Jian Yu reached out his hand, for a few hovering red lights to return. He listened to the little whispers and stepped out of the shadows.

“There is a horde of tree demons across the river that divides the forest.” reported the young man, hopping off the high tree branch. His boots soundlessly touched the lush grass. “Two groups of different sects had carelessly roused the creatures awake.”

Without question, the huntress swiped the air with two fingers to undo the Silence Seal spell. She raced over to the sleeping Bing Wen and shook his shoulders. Despite her repeated efforts to wake the warrior up, the young woman could not get him to speak a word nor open an eye at all.

Another hair-raising scream carried across the rushing water.

“Jian Jian!” In a blink, Mei Ying approached the young man and grabbed hold of him. “Can you help me?”

For a second, the world seemed to have frozen itself. Jian Yu’s eyes widened.

“You…” Lowering his face, the cultivator gaze swept over the small pale hands that seized his wide sleeves. “You plan to go save the others despite knowing that they might just turn around—and attack you?”

Surprisingly, there was a hint of uncertainty in Jian Yu’s voice as well as disagreement.

“They won’t.” As soon as the other’s eyes locked with hers, the young woman narrowed her brows. She then paused, quickly releasing her friend’s red robe. It was rude of her. “But if you think that it is too risky…”

The people could not wait. Even if they were to faint and be teleported back to the Jin Sword sect palace, the encounter of such demons could potentially harm their mind and hinder their progression with cultivation. If not that, bones, muscles, and organs may suffer; hence, possibly disabling the disciples for life.

With her fleeting whistle, the shimmering sword darted out of its pristine white sheathe in Mei Ying’s sash. “…then, I should still be fine—”

The end of her broad white sleeve was tugged. Curious, the huntress glanced back.

Jian Yu’s eyes were earnest and firm. “How can I help?”

❁❁❁

Towering stalks of jasper bamboo snapped. Wherever the humongous clusters of stomping trees squashed, their great, deep roars drifted across the vast forest, followed by several sect disciples, though colors blurred into black shadows, shrieking in cold terror. They stumbled over their own feet or whatever twigs and rocks may lay in their path. Above their heads, many birds cawed and beat their feathery wings into the night skies. The skyscraping monsters, with giant arms and legs, kept missing the tiny fleeing humans.

A large claw of bark and green moss caught a few fowls from the air. Red spilled across the faces of some scrambling young men, all too frightened to stop and look back. They continued to sprint, despite their gasps for air. Behind them, the colossal trees with large red eyes groaned low and swiped down at least ten more birds.

“Should we help them?” A cultivator ran over to his shixiong, holding onto his aching arm.

“It’s not our fault that they struck the tree demons!” spat the other one, hopping onto his flying sword. “No wonder they are a fallen clan! Good riddance!”

Hearing this, the shidi briefly blew a whistle. His glimmering weapon zipped out of its flashy gold sheathe. He soon rode the flat side of its blade and joined the person, racing into the grand black skies and scattered diamond stars.

“Help! Jin Sword sect, help us!” cried a young man, carrying his injured friend away. But the other one was too hefty, and the disciple tripped against the grass. Their silver neck-ring, which had been impeccable and clean, was now stained by blood. “HELP!”

Another massive claw slapped down next to the two people, smashing the ground opened with cracks. At the next second, the wooden palm opened, revealing its razor-sharp branches and body-length talons. Swiftly, it slewed toward the martial brothers, both of whom screamed and screamed from extreme fears—

A luminous gold-and-silver ribbon blitzed across the tree demon’s wrist. “ZHUFU!” The soft, soothing voice of spring water, followed by a wave of flowery aroma, caused everyone to momentarily hold their breaths.

Soon, the tree demon howled in throbbing pain. It toppled over to the side, causing the earth to shake violently. Many people who had failed to escape—succumbed to the rumbling ground. A few of them found themselves facing a lonely hand of branches, bark, and sprouting lichen. They nearly choked, with cold sweating faces.

Again, the bright metallic light whipped around and around, slapping the ten gigantic tree demons off their uprooted feet of shrubs and braided roots. The bells tinkled on and off in between the whip cracks.

Though the disciples were unable to see the wielder, a juvenile cultivator was soon spotted—hopping from tree to tree. Whenever his bright glaive whipped into the air, an entire limb would fly off before it could touch anyone. There were several bellows of agony from the multiple tree demons, shaking themselves from the severance of arms.

The young men could scarcely breathe. They did not dare move an inch, crowding together. Two more disciples joined the group. It was the one who tried carrying his heavy shixiong, whose leg was bleeding a red trail. The round-bellied martial brother watched the flashes of shining ribbons in a daze.

“Is Mei Ying here?” asked the large disciple. He knew it might have sounded absurd…but there was no mistake about that divine whip, a gift from the Heaven realm.

“I don’t think she would dare show her face to Kong.” Another Song cultivator responded. “Especially now that the Heaven Immortal and the tiger are not around anymore.” He stopped. “Besides, why would she…”

The shidi, a thinner young man, rubbed his aching back. He looked to the bigger one who had initially started the topic. “Why would she want to help us?”

The three became quiet as the earth beneath them shook again and again. Thirteen years ago, the older cousins had left Mei Ying with a demon. When she had returned to Cheng Xiu Village, her clean sky-blue outer robe from that morning was splattered with blood at night. Her pink-flush cheeks and watery eyes became a pale face with dreary dark orbs.

Bells jingled. At a single flick of her wrist, the glittering whip of chains shrunk and wound itself around a peerless maiden’s waist. Bit by bit, the white-robed cultivator floated down. Her long, black hair streamed elegantly behind her, resting against her hips. Her pale cotton shoes were sprayed by black demonic ooze.

When she settled to the quaking ground before the cultivators, the young woman solemnly called out—“Teng man!”

Not only did the scourge strike the tree demons away, but it also stuck a glowing talisman to every trunk. Once the maiden gave out the command, a golden magical seal rapidly materialized from each scroll—producing a hundred squirming vines. Right away, the vegetations flourished continuously until they constricted around the tree demons’ bottom half, immobilizing their legs.

“Young Miss!” One of the Song cultivators tried to step forward.

“Stay!” Quickly, a large golden boundary formed around the group of stupefied men, completed with a high circular barrier. The unfamiliar young woman with gold eyes—turned her head. “Don’t leave the circle until this place is completely clear—"

Then, all at once, a nearby tree demon that had laid so still before—rose from the flattened grass. Its entire arm instantly re-sprouted! In a whirl, the creature’s freshly grown claw whipped toward the white-robed cultivator—

Out of nowhere, a crimson streak darted past the exhausted bunch of oblivious people. A trail of red maple leaves fluttered behind. Brilliant metal flashed, and already, the tree demon’s entire limb was sliced off. Clouds of dust hovered in the air.

“Thank you, Jian Jian!” Feeling the airy red outer robe brush against her back, Mei Ying sighed out a breath of relief. “You saved me there, ah!”

Jian Yu averted his eyes to the young woman, who flashed him a warm smile. He glanced down, with long fan-like lashes fluttering for a moment.

Despite the inflicted wound, the tree demon crawled over with its other germinated claw. As it cried, the huge creature of bark and shrouded foliage was about to slam down its substantial palm against the still Jian Yu—

Yi fensan! The young man raised his dark, unnerving eyes at the gigantic tree demon. Too late did the monster realize who the mysterious person was. Its large red shining pupils dilated in shock.

“YOUR…!” Just as the startled creature withdrew its attack—massive red, hot flames engulfed the monumental tree demon. “AHHHH! SORRY! SORRY! WE DID NOT KNOW!”

“WE DID NOT KNOW!” When all ten enormous tree monsters screamed in the human language, Mei Ying was astounded. “WE DID NOT MEAN TO! SPARE US!”

As each titanic creature burst into sky-high inferno, the tree demon closest to them tumbled forward. A lofy shadow of the being gravitated over the two cultivators. There was a low, resonating groan. A sizzling surge of heat washed across them and the vicinity.

Mei Ying’s eyes largened—and without thinking, she raced toward Jian Yu. Her hand yanked back his wrist. He whirled around, with shock-filled eyes, as the scorching ruby-and-gold flames billowed nearer and nearer.

“JIAN JIAN!”

With all her might, the huntress pulled the young man into her firm embrace as gold fire roared by Jian Yu's left side.

Gritting her teeth, Mei Ying looked away while holding the red-robed cultivator closely. She hissed out,"Tian lu xing!"