Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“That’s right. I think I’ve got a good idea of how we’ll get through this. Just follow me.” Zhe Huo rose to her feet, holding Luo Qinghan by the hand, and soared over to the maze.
As she alighted amongst a clump of violets, a massive white flower suddenly sprang up towards her. Zhe Huo smacked it aside with her whip, but the violet flowers beneath her feet were now rotating like an arcane diagram.
Realizing that she’d made a disastrously wrong move, she immediately took to the air again, pulling Qinghan after her, and landed at a spot where she’d seen those demon hunters passing through safely earlier. However, her landing was promptly greeted by a spray of venomous spines from the blood-red styx lilies1 there. This came as another nasty surprise, and Zhe Huo hugged the boy close as she dodged aside again, lashing her whip about frantically to fend off the incoming projectiles. She clearly hadn’t expected to find such peril in this spot as well.
Qinghan remained perfectly calm in her arms. He pursed his lips, sighed inaudibly, and murmured, “Zhe Huo, take seventeen steps northward.”
Given the situation, Zhe Huo had no time to wonder from whence this insight had come. Thoughtlessly obeying the boy’s command, she bounded seventeen steps in the indicated direction, and the assault from the styx lilies ceased. The moonflowers they now stood open slowly rotated them about, and then stopped.
“Another five steps, north.”
Zhe Huo nodded and did as he said. A massive, gnarled vine came hurtling towards them. Her eyes lit up. Holding Qinghan close, she raised her whip and caught ahold of it. As the stout vine rumbled and shuddered through the air, Qinghan’s tranquil voice continued to speak to her. Laced with the adorable hints of a child’s voice, his words were more melodious to her ears than all the music in the world. “Three more shakes, then let go.”
Hugging the boy tightly to herself, she counted silently as they were swung this way and that through the air. Once, twice, thrice… Zhe Huo loosened her whip and descended gracefully. Against all expectations, her feet made contact with a round, indented stone hidden amidst the flowers. The field of flowers whirled rapidly around her, and a shimmering violet portal gradually spun into existence before her eyes.
Zhe Huo squealed with delight, embracing Qinghan happily. “Ahh! Luo Qinghan, you’re amazing!”
The boy’s tail began to wag slightly.
However, her jubilation was soon tempered by some sort of realization. She put him down and looked at him in bafflement. “But, Qinghan… why do you know the way to access this portal?” What’s more, it hadn’t even taken them fifteen minutes to get to this point. They had done far better than the team of demon hunters from previously. It made no sense.
Qinghan appeared as bewildered as she was. “I don’t know, either…”
Zhe Huo gaped at him. “You don’t know, yourself?”
The boy nodded, his long lashes dusted with fine beads of dew. He lowered his head, obscuring from view the imperceptible hints of conscious calculation.
But Zhe Huo’s mind was afire now. Could it be possible that Luo Qinghan was no ordinary boy? He seemed to possess exceptional intellect. This only reinforced the sense that she’d found a rare treasure in him. She stroked his pointed little ears fondly. “Never mind. You’re so clever, Qinghan. From now on, I’ll always bring you along with me on these quests!”