Chapter 165: 27 It must be a misunderstanding

Luo Yan came to the backyard garden.

He saw the hall was unknowably tall, with countless towering trees rising from the ground, and wild grass growing everywhere. Instead of an unattended garden, it seemed more like a primeval forest.

A rabbit burrowed out from the underbrush and, upon seeing Luo Yan, showed no fear; it continued to nibble on something.

Luo Yan locked eyes with it for a moment, then smiled slightly.

He cleaned a few skinned rabbits by the pond, tied them with grass ropes, and then carried them back with him.

On the way, he saw a few cultivators holding their heads, wailing at the side of the road, shouting, “Take me with you” or “Old ancestor, take me with you.” It was hard to tell how long they’d been driven mad.

Luo Yan sighed, thinking that these cultivators were indeed pitiful.

The rate of time flow within Gui Xu was very peculiar. It appeared normal at first, but when one started to cultivate, they would discover that the speed was alarmingly slow.

According to Master Zhun Mang, spending a year in this place only reduced one’s lifespan by three days. As for cultivation, it was almost the same: practicing Breathing and Qi Refinement for a year only amounted to three days’ worth of cultivation in the outside world.

For those cultivators who only knew how to advance in their cultivation and didn’t understand how to enjoy the pleasures of life, this place must have been nothing short of Hell.

But Luo Yan felt it was okay… at least for now.

When he returned to his room with the rabbits, he saw Miss Shi kneeling on a meditation cushion, praying and looking mournful.

“What are you holding in your hand?” she turned and asked.

“Rabbits,” Luo Yan replied with a smile, lifting the meat in his hand.

“Yuck!” Liuli made a sound of disgust and turned her head away. “Rabbits are so cute, why would you kill them?”

“I didn’t kill them,” Luo Yan said with a smile, “They ran into tree stumps and died by themselves.”

“Nonsense!” Liuli started to shed tears again. “Raw meat looks so disgusting, I won’t eat it!”

Left with no choice, Luo Yan silently set up the roasting rack, lit the charcoal fire, and began to brush and flip the meat.

Liuli, fuming with anger, turned her back to him, wondering when she had ever been so wronged?n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

In the past, even when eating meat, it had always been prepared and given to her. When had she ever witnessed such bloodiness?

The little junior brother simply didn’t know how to be considerate of his senior sister!

As Luo Yan roasted the rabbit meat until it was shiny and dripping with fat, the unique aroma began to waft through the air.

Liuli stared at the painting on the wall, swallowed her saliva, and thought, if the junior brother apologizes now, perhaps I can forgive him.

Luo Yan turned the bamboo skewers over and over, brushing on some spicy oil, intensifying the fragrance even more.

Liuli swallowed her saliva again and again, and after some deliberation, she thought that maybe she should turn around and glare at him, just to let him know to respect his senior sister.

As Luo Yan began to sprinkle pepper and cumin, and the oil dripped onto the charcoal, making a loud explosion sound, Liuli’s cravings got the better of her, and she spun around to snatch the bamboo skewer from his hand, biting into it eagerly.

“Senior sister, if rabbits are so cute, how can you eat them?” Luo Yan asked with a smile.

“Shut up! Give me the chili powder.”

Liuli shook the can vigorously, resulting in all the chili spilling onto the rabbit meat, then she ferociously bit into it as if it were Luo Yan’s own flesh.

“Cough, cough, cough.” But she hadn’t eaten much before she started to choke.

“Slow down, senior sister,” Luo Yan quickly passed her a teacup and helped her pat her back to ease her breathing.

Miss Shi finally calmed down, but she was somewhat embarrassed by Luo Yan’s intimate actions and felt uncomfortable, twisting her body slightly.

“What do you plan to do next?” she asked, holding a cup of tea and looking down at the tea leaves without looking at her junior brother’s face.

“Oh, I plan to go to the side hall first to look over the materials on the Gui Xu Grand Formation.”

“Do you want me to accompany you?” Shi Liuli asked softly.

Luo Yan was about to say it was unnecessary when he saw a timid plea in Miss Shi’s eyes.

Taking into account her temperament, Luo Yan understood what she meant. It was not “Do you want me to accompany you?” but “Can I go with you?”

“Of course, you can.” He said with a smile.

“So hypocritical.” After reporting “Synchronization Value increased,” the Kunlun Mirror couldn’t help but criticize, “You know she is timid, so why don’t you just coax her a bit? She has been so scared…”

“With your eloquence and emotional intelligence, wouldn’t it be very easy for you to calm her down?”

“There’s no need,” Luo Yan said, chuckling. “A proper fear of the unknown can help to close the distance between her and me—after all, during such anxious times, she can only rely on me, right?”

Kunlun Mirror: …

If you were not planning to abandon the identity of Luo Yan once the situation is restored, I would simply think you were a noble suitor and keep quiet.

But since you’ve already planned to have Luo Yan be just a passerby in your life, why bother leaving so many traces in her heart?

Scumbag!

However, Luo Yan was unaware of Kunlun Mirror’s thoughts; he simply left the room with Shi Liuli and went to the side hall filled with books.

Along the way, Shi Liuli held tightly to Luo Yan’s arm, looking around like a timid hamster.

When she saw three unfamiliar cultivators by the roadside, she immediately hid behind Luo Yan.

But those three cultivators didn’t pay any attention to them, just shouting at each other as if possessed.

One was shouting, “Distributed nodes are invincible,” while another roared, “Increasing coupling is the only way out,” both looking as if they wanted to tear each other apart on the spot.

The remaining cultivator could only futilely call out, “Don’t discredit,” “Everything has value,” but was directly ignored by his companions.

“Do you see?” Luo Yan said to Shi Liuli when they had walked far enough, “The cultivators here are all very erratic.”

“Think about it, one year here is equivalent to three days outside. The outside world’s Treasure Ship Secret Realm opens every thousand years, which means that the last batch of cultivators who entered the Secret Realm and fell into the Great Gorge have already spent a hundred thousand years in the Gui Xu Palace.”

“A hundred thousand years! Who other than immortals could live that long in the outside world? Plus, there’s no way to practice Qi Refinement here, nor is there anything to do. Those cultivators who don’t think about escaping have likely already fallen into despair and committed suicide. Those who have survived are all erratic, what’s there for you to fear?”

“Don’t say such scary things!” Shi Liuli hit him hard, tearfully saying, “What if we are also trapped here for a hundred thousand years?”

“If I am trapped with sister,” seeing her like a startled bird, Luo Yan deliberately said seriously, “I wouldn’t mind even a million years, let alone a hundred thousand.”

Shi Liuli listened and became indignant: she was already feeling so uncomfortable, and the little junior brother was still trying to tease her!

She was just about to start grinding her teeth, preparing to bite her annoying junior brother, when unexpectedly the Kunlun Mirror suddenly withdrew the Illusion Technique of Mirror Flower Water Moon.

As soon as this false persona was dropped, his demeanor immediately became extremely sincere, so much so that Shi Liuli actually couldn’t figure out on the spot whether her junior brother’s words were just to distract her attention so she wouldn’t continue to be panicked and frightened, or whether it was a genuine confession to her.

After walking a distance further, Shi Liuli finally stuttered:

“Um, junior brother… I need to think about it, seriously think about it… okay?”

Luo Yan: ?