Chapter 25 Part 2

Li Yueying nodded, carrying Li Jiangying towards a stream. It had to be said, being carried was quite pleasant. They quickly reached the stream bank, and Li Yueying used her old trick, releasing her pressure to drive away the animals nearby.

Li Jiangying watched helplessly as the fish and shrimp in the stream scattered noisily away and hurriedly called for her to stop: “How are we supposed to hunt like this?”

Li Yueying set her down by the stream, kissed her lightly on the forehead, and suddenly turned and slipped into the dense forest.

Li Jiangying raised an eyebrow: ‘So now she’s not afraid I’ll run? Oh, right, she can just catch me again anyway…’

She looked at the stream. The water was clear, but with no pot or fire, it wasn’t convenient to boil for drinking. Li Jiangying bent down, scooped up some water with her hands to taste. It was fresh and clean, with no off-flavor.

She washed her hands clean, then lay down by the bank and drank her fill. Water was the source of life; a person absolutely couldn’t go without it. Once Li Jiangying was sated, seeing that her surroundings were peaceful and the rogue snake was gone, she simply took off her outer robe and soft armor and jumped into the water, fully clothed.

All the bloodstains and traces of someone’s saliva, thoroughly washed away!

Just as she was washing her hair, the sound of a crawling creature slithering came from behind. Li Jiangying looked back and saw Li Yueying returning, her tail wrapped around an animal that looked like a small deer.

The deer had already been constricted to death. Li Yueying put down the deer carcass and stared silently at Li Jiangying in the water.

Feeling a bit creeped out by her stare, and afraid she’d have another episode, Li Jiangying couldn’t help but speak: “How about you come in and wash up too?”

She couldn’t resist anyway, so she might as well make a calculated concession. Besides, Li Jiangying hadn’t taken off her inner garments when she jumped into the stream. They’d already slept together, and she’d endured that perverted healing session. What was a bath compared to that?

Li Jiangying thought with transcendent resignation.

Li Yueying, upon hearing this invitation, was momentarily stunned. Then she immediately jumped into the water. The stream was only knee-deep. When she jumped in, she landed heavily, splashing large amounts of water and instantly muddying a section of the stream.

Li Jiangying quickly raised a hand to shield her face, muttering a complaint: “Can’t you be a little gentler?”

Li Yueying stared at her unblinkingly, slowly slithering closer: “Jiangying, look, I brought food back for you. Are you happy?”

Li Jiangying looked at her speechlessly. After staring for a long while, the lunatic still wore an expression of persistent inquiry, so she had to say: “Happy, happy.”

Li Yueying then looked down and smiled, a touch shyly.

Li Jiangying turned her back and continued washing her hair. After she finished, she glanced back. Li Yueying was still soaking in the water, barely moving. Frowning, she grabbed her outer robe from the bank, soaked it in the water and scrubbed it, then approached Li Yueying. Using the wet robe as a towel, she began to scrub her back.

This sudden intimacy caused a somewhat bewildered expression to appear on Li Yueying’s face. She quietly reached out to pull at the hem of Li Jiangying’s clothes, biting her lip as she let her scrub and wash her body.

Li Jiangying had long found her hair an eyesore. She simply reached out and pushed her: “Lie down.”

Silently, Li Yueying obediently lay down, her entire body and the back of her head submerged in the water, only her face visible above the surface.

The weather in the Devil Domain had only three settings: not hot, warm, and scorching. The stream water was cool, flowing slightly, and very comfortable. Li Jiangying washed the grime from her body, carefully scrubbing her arms, claws, back, and the scales on her chest.

As for that big tail… well, it was going to crawl on the ground once they got ashore anyway, so she wasn’t going to bother with it!

After washing her body, she moved on to her hair. Li Jiangying wrung out the outer robe and tossed it onto a rock on the bank. Then, she began washing Li Yueying’s hair. The hair was surprisingly not very dirty, just messy and unkempt. Li Jiangying used her fingers as a comb and started to comb it out.

Feeling her Jiangying’s gentle care, a peaceful expression crossed Li Yueying’s face. She slowly closed her eyes, momentarily transported back to the distant past. Back then, her Jiangying had also held her in her arms like this. She was always smiling, and sometimes she would even secretly kiss her…

Smack! Li Jiangying patted her on the forehead: “Alright, get up now!”

She released the hand supporting Li Yueying’s head, stretched her arms, and sighed. ‘Exhausting!’ Then she stood up from the water, walked ashore soaking wet, and began wringing the water from her clothes.

Li Yueying silently slithered from the water onto the bank. She looked at Li Jiangying. She thought she had heard Jiangying’s stomach growling while her hair was being washed. So, she went over to the unlucky little deer. Extending her claws, she began to cut the flesh.

Li Jiangying finished wringing her clothes and looked up. She saw the snake demon, whom she’d painstakingly cleaned, with both arms covered in fresh blood, holding a hunk of raw meat topped with a heart. Her dripping hair clung to her back. Both hair and scales were ink-black; only her face, neck, shoulders, and upper back were pale white flesh.

The ghostly demon holding flesh and blood smiled at Li Jiangying. The look in her eyes seemed as if she wanted to devour her: “Jiangying… it’s all for you.”

Li Jiangying: ‘Thanks a lot. Really.’

·

Li Jiangying wasn’t keen on eating raw meat. She hesitantly asked Li Yueying, “Do you know where we are?”

Li Yueying shook her head.

“Do you think… anyone is tracking you?” Given Yueying’s strength, she should notice if someone was following.

Li Yueying shook her head.

“Is it dangerous here?”

Li Yueying continued to shake her head.

If that was the case, there was no urgent need to leave. Right now, Li Jiangying only had Li Yueying, a short sword, and a mask. Nothing else. To travel to the distant Flying Swallow Capital, she couldn’t set off unprepared.

Li Jiangying told Li Yueying to put down the meat and come into the woods with her. The small animals had been scared away by Li Yueying; there probably weren’t any overly dangerous creatures nearby.

She instructed Li Yueying to collect firewood while she searched the ground for edible wild greens. She should be grateful for all the books she’d read in the Scripture Pavilion—many were journals and travelogues from cultivators, documenting various edible wild plants.

With a good memory and sharp eyes, Li Jiangying quickly gathered several clusters of wild greens and scraped quite a few black fungi off a dead tree.

Li Yueying, meanwhile, found a dead tree directly and, with a few swipes of her claws, efficiently chopped it into firewood.

Having gathered everything they needed, the two returned to the stream bank. On a relatively flat, large rock, Li Jiangying set up a pile of firewood and gathered a clump of dry, dead grass to use as tinder. She found two stones with sharp edges and began striking them together.

Li Yueying watched and then tried to reach out and embrace Li Jiangying. Spotting this from the corner of her eye, Li Jiangying quickly said, “Wash your hands first!”

Fortunately, this Li Yueying was quite obedient about such small things. As long as Li Jiangying didn’t show any intention of running away, she was willing to indulge her.

Li Yueying lay by the stream, letting the water rush over her arms, and said to Li Jiangying, “I could use a spell.”

“Don’t.” Li Jiangying found the right angle, struck a spark, and ignited the tinder. She then bent down and blew on it to enlarge the flame, moved the burning bundle under the woodpile, and carefully fed it dry grass to fuel the fire.

She focused on building the fire and said flatly to Li Yueying, “From the look of you, using magic hurts, doesn’t it? Right now, I only have you, Yueying. Don’t worsen your injuries.”

Li Yueying smiled silently. She watched Li Jiangying’s profile, her mouth opening as her forked tongue darted out and quickly retracted.

Once the fire was burning, it didn’t need constant attention, just the occasional piece of wood. Li Jiangying began to bustle about.

She used forked branches to hang her wet outer robe near the fire to dry. The soft armor, made of a special material, was set aside to air dry. Li Jiangying looked with regret at the tear on the back of the armor, wondering how much longer the garment that had saved her life would last.

Then, Li Jiangying cut the deer and the already removed meat into slices. After rinsing them in the stream, she skewered the pieces onto clean wooden sticks and began roasting them. The gathered wild greens were wrapped in wider slices of meat and roasted together; the deer heart wasn’t spared either.

The black fungi were a bit troublesome to handle. Just picked, they were still fresh and couldn’t be dried in a short time, so they could only be smoked and roasted along with the rest. Considering her own tolerance, Li Jiangying didn’t greedily cut all the meat from the deer, taking only the best parts.

Once the meat-skewering was done, Li Jiangying relaxed considerably. She sat cross-legged by the rock, needing only to occasionally turn the food, and swap it out for fresh pieces once it was roasted dry.

She tasted the first batch of roasted meat-wrapped greens. Without oil, salt, or spices, the flavor was truly mediocre, carrying a smoky charred taste, but it was still better than eating it raw. Li Jiangying frowned but swallowed it down.

After eating the meat, she felt a bit thirsty again. Slapping her forehead, she remembered she’d forgotten to pack water!

She had no waterskin, so she had to consider using what was available locally…

Suddenly, Li Jiangying’s train of thought was interrupted. She silently looked at Li Yueying, who was still lying by the bank letting the water wash over her arms. She reached down and caught something—a flexible, cold tail tip.

Li Jiangying ground her teeth: “What… are… you… doing?!”

The shameless snake demon propped her chin on her elbow, smiled at her, and even stuck out her forked tongue, licking her lips ambiguously.

“Jiangying is mine.”

As she spoke, the tail tip that had secretly probed over suddenly slipped from Li Jiangying’s grasp. Continuing its previous actions, it wrapped around her Jiangying’s ankle, then slowly moved upward.

Wrap her up completely, and she would never be able to leave.