She stood up and walked over to Setis with light steps. Once beside her, she lowered her head, her golden slit pupils level with Setis's eyes.
“So, from now on, you can be considered half a vassal of mine.”
Her tone was half-serious, half-playful.
“You should thank me properly, understand?”
Setis felt a bit pressured by her intense gaze and instinctively took another step back. She didn't understand what "half a vassal" meant, nor did she know if there was some other meaning behind it, so she could only look at Li Yuan in confusion.
Li Yuan sighed.
“Hui, stop causing more trouble.”
Hui narrowed her eyes, her smile deepening.
“What? Feeling protective already?”
Ignoring her teasing, Li Yuan turned to Setis and spoke more seriously:
“Her name is Hui. She indeed saved you, and it is also thanks to her that your body has gained the ability to learn spells.”
The confusion on Setis's face slowly faded.
Li Yuan continued:
“So... in every sense of the word, you really should thank her.”
Hearing this, Setis immediately stood up.
Though she usually had a strong-willed personality and only half-understood noble etiquette, she did not hesitate to bow respectfully to Hui as her savior.
“Lady Hui, thank you for saving me.”
Her tone was very sincere.
Hui had only intended to tease her a bit, but seeing her bow so formally, she found it hard to keep up her playful attitude.
She nodded gently, her tails slowly unfurling behind her.
“Mhm, just remember it.”
Pausing, she added:
“Train hard from now on, and don't let my tail go to waste.”
Setis still didn't understand what the tail represented, but she could tell it was very important to Hui, so she nodded solemnly.
“I will work hard.”
Looking at her serious expression, Li Yuan felt somewhat comforted.
At least when it came to cultivation, Setis was never one to slack off. But there was a more pressing matter at hand.
He reminded her:
“You haven't been unconscious for too long, but your mother and brother probably don't know your current situation yet. Go back and let them know you're safe first, so they don't keep worrying.”
Setis's expression changed.
She had been so swept up in the excitement of being able to learn spells that she had completely forgotten about her family.
Her mother and brother were probably still worrying about her. Her face grew a bit more anxious.
“I have to go back immediately.”
She stood up at once and turned to leave. But after taking a couple of steps, she realized she had absolutely no idea how to get back from this place.
Setis stopped in her tracks and turned back to look at Li Yuan, silently pleading for help.
Li Yuan smiled faintly, amused by her hasty manner.
“Don't worry.”
He raised his hand and gently flicked his sleeve.
A gentle wave of spiritual energy enveloped Setis. Suddenly, the scenery before her eyes began to blur.
Before she could ask any questions, Li Yuan's warm voice echoed in her ears.
“Once you've let them know you're safe, come find me at the teahouse.”
In the next instant, Setis's figure vanished from the small world.
Quiet returned to the yard. Li Yuan stood in place, his gaze lingering for a moment on the spot where Setis had vanished, before he turned and bowed slightly to Hui.
“This time, thank you indeed.”
Hui glanced at him but didn't respond immediately.
She lay back down in her original spot, her tone slightly softer than before:
“All this thanking is annoying to hear.”
Li Yuan smiled helplessly. Hui raised her head and spoke in a leisurely manner once more:
“Still, after all this time, I finally got to see this old iron tree of yours blossom.”
The smile on Li Yuan's face instantly stiffened, and he flatly denied it.
“Don't make wild guesses.”
Hui squinted at him.
“Wild guesses?”
Li Yuan said solemnly:
“I simply felt that this thread of karma shouldn't end in such an absurd manner. Had it been anyone else, if our karmic ties had reached this point, I would have taken action as well.”
Hui didn't rush to refute him. Instead, she stared at him for a long moment, her eyes looking as if they wanted to pierce right through him.
After a moment, she tilted her head, her tone tinged with a hint of skepticism.
“You certainly make it sound like the truth.”
Li Yuan's expression remained calm, and his face didn't betray a thing.
“It is the truth.”
“But something still feels off.”
Li Yuan didn't reply. Hui frowned as she gave it some serious thought, but in the end, she decided that the more she thought about it, the more troublesome it became, so she simply dropped the matter.
She was never one to overthink things. If it had been one of those old foxes from Kyushu, they might have analyzed a whole mess of implications from Li Yuan's gaze, tone, and movements, but she couldn't be bothered to waste her energy.
She only knew that Li Yuan indeed cared about that young girl. As for what kind of care it was, that was still hard to say for now.
With that thought, Hui suddenly shifted her posture, her gaze sweeping over Li Yuan, her tone turning meaningful.
“Then what do you think of me?”
Li Yuan had been about to leave, but hearing this, his outstretched foot froze mid-air.
He looked up at Hui, his expression more serious than ever.
“Don't make jokes like that.”
He then added:
“My heart is weak; I can't take it.”
As if she had heard something utterly absurd, Hui slowly raised her head, her lips curling into a distinct grin.
“Do you think I'd believe that?”
Li Yuan's eyelids twitched violently. She stood up, paced half a circle around him, her voice filled with amusement.
“Who was the one who, at the very first sight of me, said something like, 'I must definitely—'”
“Hui!”
Li Yuan immediately cut her off, his tone uncharacteristically flustered.
Instead of stopping, Hui laughed even harder.
“What? You know how to feel embarrassed now? You weren't like this back then. Who was the one who stared at my avatar for the longest time, muttering—”
“Shut up!”
“Oh? Getting touchy?”
Hui leaped backward lightly, dodging Li Yuan's outstretched hand, and spread her tails in mid-air, deliberately waving them in front of his eyes.
“A grand Mahayana Stage cultivator, yet you dare to do it but not admit it?”
The tips of Li Yuan's ears turned slightly red.
Those memories that had passed so many years ago were usually nothing, but Hui always managed to dig up the most embarrassing parts.
If it were anyone else, he could still stubbornly deny it, but he was truly helpless against Hui.
After all, she really remembered everything.
Seeing him like this, the white fox grew even more smug.
“I'm not finished yet. Who was the one who said they would definitely make me their—”
Before she could finish, Li Yuan finally lost his patience.
With a flicker of his body, his cyan robe stirred a gentle breeze as he lunged directly at Hui.
Already prepared, Hui kicked off with her four paws, turning into a white blur as she darted away.
“Flying into a rage from embarrassment?”
“Today, I'll make sure you eat those words.”
“With just you?”
In the blink of an eye, the man and the fox were chasing each other around the yard.
At this moment, Li Yuan couldn't care less about elegance or being an exemplar of the Mahayana Stage; he reached out directly to grab Hui's tail.
But Hui was incredibly fast, using her nimble body to weave back and forth between the low table, the wooden hut, and the spirit stones in the yard. For a moment, the small yard was thrown into utter chaos.
Rate on N.U.
