CHAPTER 282: CHAPTER 2: THE LITTLE BOY’S THOUGHTS

The Flower Ice Thorns strike to seal the throat upon contact with blood, and are coated with extremely potent ice poison. A mere touch would cause Yue Jinghua to succumb to the poison and faint within the icy forest.

Yue Jinghua, who had been meditating with eyes closed, suddenly opened her eyes, and the Lianyun Great Sword, as if it had eyes of its own, swept out with a whoosh, its Sword Qi striking like a white rainbow through the snow.

The Snow stirred up a swath of white, obstructing the flower thorns, which vibrated into dust.

"You’ve hidden for quite some time, quite patient indeed. Come out now," Yue Jinghua shook off the snow from her clothes, tossed her long hair back, a cunning glint flashed in her eyes.

Silently, the delicate petals fell, revealing a girl around fifteen or sixteen years old, stunning with willow eyebrows and almond eyes, wearing a thin purple gauze dress, standing barefoot on the snowy ground, full of disdain in her eyes.

"So you had already noticed my presence, ugly woman. Hand over the Sky Sun Shuttle and Earth Yin Escape from within your gourd," the girl was none other than Ye Zi who had been tracking Yue Jinghua all this while.

Over the past few days, Ye Zi had thought to strike at Yue Jinghua in secret several times, but guarded and cautious were the Young Clan Leader and a Dark Heavenly Master named Teng Wu, thus she never found the chance to make a move.

Only today, when Yue Jinghua broke away from the main group and entered this snow forest, did Ye Zi finally find her chance.

"The Young Clan Leader you mentioned, is it Yue Chen?" In recent days, Yue Jinghua alternated between cultivating Dark Skill and Sha Technique, making further breakthroughs in her Cultivation, particularly after practicing Sha Technique, she became more sensitive to other clans.

One day, unintentionally, Yue Jinghua sensed a fluctuation near Yue Chen that was entirely different from the typical Dark Power or Evil Power seen on the continent.

This woman who could control flowers to attack had an aura very similar to Yue Chen’s, distinct from that of other Dark Practitioners on the Dragon Road.

However, compared to this girl’s somewhat violent aura, Yue Chen’s aura was more ethereal and seemingly even more sacred.

Yue Jinghua could judge that these two were not from Canglong Continent, and they might not even be from this plane.

"Shut up, hand over the Sky Sun Shuttle and Earth Yin Escape, and do not directly utter the name of the Young Clan Leader ever again," under the snow light, upon seeing Yue Jinghua emitting a Dark Energy like starlight, Ye Zi couldn’t help but look grave.

The Sky Sun Shuttle and Earth Yin Escape were crucial for her and the Young Clan Leader to return to the Senming Realm; she must retrieve them from this ugly woman.

"So the Sky Sun Shuttle and Earth Yin Escape are treasures of your clan. You should have said so earlier, I’ll return them to you," Yue Jinghua said nonchalantly, taking out the wooden-haired stick-shaped Earth Yin Escape and the jujube-sized Sky Sun Shuttle from the Desire Gourd, pretending to hand them back to Ye Zi.

Ye Zi, from the Senming Realm, besides brief earlier interactions with Fa Xiaoyi and others, rarely dealt with the Human Race and was unaware of the treacherous human nature.

Seeing Yue Jinghua handing over the clan treasures so easily, she first hesitated, but eventually, the lure of retrieving the treasures overcame her, and she reached out to take them.

Just as she was about to receive the treasures, Yue Jinghua suddenly withdrew her hands, feigning confusion: "Wait, I’ve never met you before, how can I trust your word that these treasures belong to you? If you’re a swindler, wouldn’t I be at a loss? Let’s wait till I call Yue Chen and ask him."

Ye Zi became anxious. She had not obtained consent from the Young Clan Leader for requesting the Sky Sun Shuttle and Earth Yin Escape, and blurted out in her panic: "You can’t go to the Young Clan Leader. This pair of Sky Sun Shuttle and Earth Yin Escape are crafted from the thousand-year branch tips and seed cores of the Reincarnation Divine Wood from our Senming Realm, tough and impervious to swords and spears, and can only be used by our clan’s men and women."

Yue Jinghua stealthily glanced and indeed noticed the wood grain patterns on the shuttle.

"If it truly is a treasure from your clan, why don’t you explain what these two pieces of wood are actually for?" Yue Jinghua relentlessly pressed.

Ye Zi was seething with rage. If it weren’t for Yue Chen adamantly refusing to let her harm Yue Jinghua, she would have torn Yue Jinghua into pieces right then and there, not bothering to bicker with her, "Earth Yin Escape can break through the Plane Prohibition. As for the function of the Sky Sun Shuttle, I have no idea."

"You have long been in cahoots with Fa Xiaoyi, and knowing the wonders of Earth Yin Escape is not difficult. I see you hesitating in your speech and not knowing the purpose of the Sky Sun Shuttle; you must be an impersonator here to steal the Spiritual Treasure," Yue Jinghua acted as if she was going to seize the two Spiritual Treasures.

"The method to use Earth Yin Escape is known only to me. If you don’t believe me, I can..." Before she could finish, Ye Zi accidentally blurted out and hurriedly covered her mouth, glaring angrily at Yue Jinghua.

Could it be that this woman in front of her could use Earth Yin Escape to break the Plane Prohibition and shuttle through without needing to find the weak point of a Plane’s node?

"You cunning, ugly woman, you clearly do not want to hand over the Spiritual Treasures. You are just trying to steal the secrets of my clan. Well then, if I spare you today, the Young Clan Leader won’t meet with me in the Senming Realm. Today, I shall kill you in the wilderness," Ye Zi was infuriated, a fierce look flashing across her beautiful face as six thorny vine-like tendrils, resembling fox tails, burst forth from behind her.

Each of the vine-tendrils was as thick as the wrist of a burly man, densely covered with iron spike-like barbs. The vines, which could extend and retract, swayed in the wind and snow, kicking up the snow and momentarily obscuring the sky.

With several "pff" sounds, the vines twisted and lunged towards Yue Jinghua like arrows flying at their target.

"Ye Zi, stop," the voice came from behind. Yue Chen, draped in a fur garment, stood in the snow. He glanced at Yue Jinghua, his eyes revealing a hint of annoyance.

The vine-tendrils of Ye Zi abruptly halted mid-air. Ye Zi bit her lip and glared hatefully at Yue Jinghua before turning her head and running away.

In the snowfield, only Yue Jinghua and Yue Chen remained. Yue Chen’s face, under the fluffy fur, appeared even more exquisite.

The very thing he wanted to avoid had inevitably occurred. As if unsure what to say, Yue Chen remained motionless in the snow.

It turned out that Yue Chen had also been restless over the past few days. Ever since Ye Zi appeared, memories of the Senming Realm intermittently haunted his dreams.

That night, he managed to fall asleep with the soothing comfort of Lie Rou but was suddenly awakened by a nightmare.

For some reason, in this eerily quiet and vast snowy night, he felt a chill. He couldn’t help but recall the warmth he felt when he lay on Yue Jinghua’s back that day.

Pulling aside the heavy curtains, he walked over to Yue Jinghua’s carriage and sharply noticed that there was no one inside.

What made him even more uneasy was that he also smelled the floral scent from Ye Zi, which led him to track them here.

He had just arrived when he witnessed the confrontation between Yue Jinghua and Ye Zi.

Yue Jinghua scoffed, nudging her chin towards the direction of Ye Zi, "Not chasing after her?"

Yue Chen hesitated for a moment then shuffled over to Yue Jinghua, saying gloomily, "Since you already had your suspicions, why didn’t you ask?"

"What’s the use of asking? If you want to tell, you’ll do so voluntarily. If you don’t want to, even if I asked, you wouldn’t tell," Yue Jinghua casually sat down in the snow, cracking a smile.