Chapter 193 - 192: A Little Too Relaxed

Chapter 193: Chapter 192: A Little Too Relaxed

Of course, Gu Qingyin knew she didn’t really have amnesia; her soul had likely been disturbed by some power, creating a delusion.

She could deduce from this that she was no longer in the same timeframe as when she’d chased the Candle Dragon into the spatial entrance. Her clothes were wrong, and she was wearing an unfamiliar ring.

Gu Qingyin touched the ring and thought, ’Have I made up with Huo Yunjing? Hmph, he got off easy.’

She put away the damaged paper doll and resumed her relentless search for an anchor point.

Despite the slight complication, the way out remained the same.

Meanwhile, Gu Qingyin began to inspect the changes to her body and quickly discovered the Soul Mirror within her Dantian.

The moment she took out the Soul Mirror, the surrounding space rippled faintly, obviously unable to withstand its power.

Gu Qingyin muttered in shock, "Well, I’ll be damned. I actually bonded with a Divine Artifact! Did I save the mother of the President of Xuan Association or something?"

Realizing the Soul Mirror had a huge impact on this space, Gu Qingyin naturally stopped her blind search for an anchor point.

She infused her soul power into the Soul Mirror. It instantly grew to two meters in height and emitted a soft glow. Inside the mirror, a scene completely different from her current surroundings appeared.

Gu Qingyin frowned at the scene in the mirror: an old room containing a simple single bed, a dilapidated desk, and a chair with a broken leg.

The scene shifted, and Gu Qingyin’s eyes widened. She saw Liu Ergou, looking a bit older, lying on the ground.

The scene shifted again, and she saw an old man she didn’t recognize.

It shifted once more, and she saw herself, then couldn’t help but blush.

Unlike the first two, she wasn’t lying on the ground but was held carefully in someone’s arms. The person holding her stood in place, eyes tightly shut, like a perfect statue.

Once her embarrassment faded, Gu Qingyin felt puzzled again. ’How is Huo Yunjing here too?’ She then thought of the two extra contracts bound to her soul.

’One is very far, and one is very near...’

Gu Qingyin frowned, let out a "tsk," and reached into the Soul Mirror.

The mirror’s solid surface rippled like water, easily swallowing her arm.

Feeling reassured, Gu Qingyin stepped through. ’Divine Artifacts are so useful,’ she thought.

The instant Gu Qingyin vanished into the Soul Mirror, it shrank rapidly. A sharp light, like the flash of a blade, shot out from it, tearing the entire illusionary realm apart.

Held in his arms, Gu Qingyin opened her eyes. Her memories returned instantly, but influenced by her recent emotions, her expression as she looked at Huo Yunjing was still complicated.

A couple of seconds later, Huo Yunjing’s eyelashes fluttered, and he opened his eyes, meeting her gaze.

"What was that place?"

Gu Qingyin froze, surprised. "You were in that illusion, too?"

"Yes," Huo Yunjing said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I went to find you."

’No wonder,’ Gu Qingyin thought. ’He knew to pick me up before we entered the illusion.’ She nimbly jumped out of Huo Yunjing’s arms and landed on her feet. "It’s a Different Space created by the Candle Dragon," she replied. "I was delayed there for two days once. When I came out, twenty years had passed."

Gu Qingyin went to check on Liu Ergou and Elder Miao. With the Array broken, they should be waking up soon. Apart from the two of them, there was no sign of anyone else.

Gu Qingyin guessed the Array was meant to trap them, and that Chen Ling and Dongfang Ran must have used the opportunity to escape.

’Tsk. Such crafty yet cowardly women,’ she thought. ’They went to the trouble of pulling us into the Array but didn’t even have the guts to stay and finish us off.’

Shaking her head, Gu Qingyin looked at Huo Yunjing and asked, puzzled, "How come the Array didn’t affect you?"

"I’m not sure," Huo Yunjing admitted. "I was disoriented for a moment when I entered, but then my head cleared. Maybe the Array primarily targets humans?"

"Speaking of which," Huo Yunjing added, pointing to the window, "those two women jumped out and ran. It looks like they continued deeper into this place."

’Ah, I see,’ Gu Qingyin realized. ’It’s not that they didn’t intend to kill us, they were just scared off by a conscious Huo Yunjing.’

’Tsk. Still so cowardly. They didn’t even dare to put up a fight.’

"I’ll watch them. You go outside and check on Miao Yan."

Huo Yunjing did as she asked and went out, but, still worried, he left the door open so he could keep an eye on the room.

Before long, the ones who were supposed to wake up woke up, and the one who was supposed to arrive arrived. The group looked at each other, their faces flushing slightly. They never thought they’d get tripped up so easily.

"Should we keep chasing them?" Gu Qingyin looked from side to side, and then, abiding by the principle of respecting her elders, she asked Elder Miao, "Do you need to rest for a bit?"

Elder Miao was so angry his beard practically flew off his face. ’So *now* she decides to respect her elders? Who does she think she’s looking down on?’

He straightened his posture and boomed, "We chase!"

He’d been tricked by two juniors. If he didn’t let out his frustration, he felt like he might just suffocate from it.

The baby ghost continued to point the way. The two women were probably trying to throw them off the trail, constantly making abrupt turns and ducking into the densest parts of the woods.

The third time Gu Qingyin saw the same large tree, she called for a stop and posed a reasonable suspicion. "Do you think they’re lost?"

The others, human and ghost alike, fell silent, their expressions indescribable.

After a few seconds, Gu Qingyin looked up at the tree. "Why don’t we lie in wait for them?"

No one had any objections.

Gu Qingyin beckoned to Huo Yunjing. "You take them and keep ’chasing.’ The rest of us will take a break."

Huo Yunjing understood. She wanted him to take the "trackers" with him, creating a backup plan. If their ambush failed, they could still follow his trail to continue the pursuit.

He casually lifted a finger, immobilizing Kong Xu and the baby ghost. Then, he floated forward, his feet not touching the ground, asking as he went, "Which way?"

Only the baby ghost’s hand could move. It crooked a finger, pointing in a direction they hadn’t taken before.

Everyone understood when they saw this. Chen Ling and Dongfang Ran had realized they were lost and were now trying to find the right way out.

"How long do we wait?" Miao Yan asked.

Gu Qingyin picked a spot on the tree that offered an easy climb. In a few quick movements, she was up the thick trunk. She found a spot with dense foliage to lean against, hiding her perfectly.

"Let’s wait for about half an hour. Remember to conceal your auras."

Miao Yan and Elder Miao climbed the same tree. Liu Ergou remained below to tidy up the messy footprints, though he was careful not to erase them completely.

After all, they had paced back and forth several times; a complete lack of tracks would seem even more suspicious.

Once he was done, Liu Ergou climbed a tree and applied a Concealing Aura Talisman to himself.

He had just found a comfortable position to lean against when he looked up and saw Gu Qingyin holding a piece of cake in one hand and a spoon in the other, happily eating away.

Liu Ergou froze. He could faintly smell the sweet scent of cream.

"...Aren’t you being a little too obvious?"

Gu Qingyin raised an eyebrow, her reasoning sound. "Considering their intelligence, even if they did smell it, they’d just assume they were so tired they were hallucinating."

Liu Ergou couldn’t argue with that. ’True... no need to be so cautious.’

After a moment’s thought, he took a pot of steaming tea from his Spatial Bag. A faint tea aroma drifted out, mingling with the scent of the forest trees in a surprisingly harmonious blend.

The grandfather and grandson from the Miao Family, who were on another tree, stared in bewilderment. ’So this is how you handle a mission?’ they thought. ’Isn’t this a bit too laid-back?’