Chapter Two: A Playmate Dropped from the Sky

"Hahaha, you have zero plasticity!"

Huo Feifei laughed as he teased Bi Jian. Bi Jian, already incensed, countered with a backhanded grapple. Seeing the two about to brawl, You Du clutched her coin purse tightly, turned, and had just lifted a foot to flee.

"Young Mistress?!"
"Where are you going?"

Say what you will about their bickering, those two never took their eyes off her for a single second. You Du turned back and gave them a "hehe" grin. Then, the smile vanished, and under their watchful gazes, she turned and bolted, disappearing into thin air.

"I'll definitely be home before dinner!!!"

Her voice lingered over the hills, trailing behind her as she hurried toward her secret base. She had been raised by Huo Feifei and Bi Jian since she was small. It wasn't that they didn't dote on her, but, well, two men couldn't exactly produce a daughter.

She had always been curious about who her parents were, why they had handed her over to Feifei and Bi Jian, or why they had abandoned her. That curiosity was much like the eyepatch covering her right eye.

Bi Jian told her that she had been born with an ailment in her right eye; to heal it and remove the patch, she would need to reach the Sacred God Realm. However, the Sacred God Realm was the highest cultivation tier in the Shanhai Continent—a world where everyone rode spirit beasts.

There were two ways to increase one's cultivation rank: either the spirit beast cultivated on its own, or human and beast cultivated together. She clearly belonged to the former. Looking at the lonely white spirit bead on the spirit bracelet on her left wrist, You Du sighed to herself.

She had lived for a hundred years only to crawl from the "Small White" stage to the Initial Spirit Realm. If she truly wanted to reach the Sacred God Realm, there were six whole tiers in between. Furthermore, every advancement required the practitioner and their beast—or the beast alone—to enter the exclusive spiritual bracelet realm to complete the trial. Upon success, a bead of the corresponding color would appear on the bracelet.

To collect eight such beads to reach the Sacred God Realm... it would take forever!

Therefore, she had to find another way: work hard, save money, and once she was rich, she could leave the Desolate Hills. Yuan Fei, the pheasant who taught her to read and write in the back hills, had said: "There is nothing in this world that money cannot solve!"

You Du looked up at the peach tree in front of her. While she called this her secret base, it was actually just the peach grove behind the small courtyard she shared with Bi Jian and Huo Feifei. As for why she chose peach trees? Peach trees ward off evil, of course!

And why so close to home? Because the most dangerous place is the safest place. You Du crouched by the peach tree and started digging a hole. Finally, she counted the existing gold in the pit to confirm everything was there.

Only then did she carefully place today's earnings inside and count them once more. "My treasures, you must take root here securely. Do not try to run away from home, or else..."

*—Ah!!!*

A shout cut off You Du’s muttering. She hurriedly buried the gold and was just about to stand up to investigate when, *thud*, an unidentified object smacked square into her head.

Amidst the ringing in her ears, You Du and the object rolled together into a gully in the woods.

***

In the gully, You Du opened her eyes to see her hands covered in fresh blood. Terrified, she touched her forehead; it wasn't bleeding, just a bit swollen. She looked down and couldn't help but gasp.

"Hiss, whose corpse is running around all over the place?!"

She noted the newcomer’s youthful face, which seemed to be around her own age, but the spirit bracelet on his wrist made her instantly alert. She remembered Bi Jian saying that anyone wearing that kind of bracelet must be killed on sight!

But the intruder was currently breathing his last. You Du’s gaze shifted to the pure gold collar around his neck. Her left eye flashed with golden light. Today was truly her lucky day! Who cares who he was...

First, rob him—no, wait, rob him, then kill him!

As long as she killed him in the end, it was fine. You Du dragged the person toward the courtyard. Terrified of being discovered by Feifei and Bi Jian, she dragged him directly into the dog hole she had dug beneath the wall of her own little room.

It was a bit cowardly, sure! But it was extremely useful in a pinch.

Like now, for instance. You Du successfully hid the person inside her room and hoisted him onto the wooden table. After catching her breath, she rummaged through her treasure pouch for a long time before pulling out a three-foot-long leopard-claw wrench.

The wrench weighed a hundred pounds, and You Du was instantly hunched over by its weight. *Heave, ho, heave, ho*, she dragged the wrench to the table. Looking at the groggy intruder, she used every ounce of her strength to lift the wrench and force it against the collar on his neck.

The gold collar vibrated, and the intruder opened his eyes. Seeing the three-foot wrench, he instinctively raised his arm to block it, and a Huan beast flew out. The sight startled You Du so much that she let go, and the hundred-pound wrench slammed onto the intruder.

"Argh—" The pain was excruciating. The intruder’s injuries were compounded, and just as he let out a howl, You Du clamped her hand over his mouth. "You shut your trap, Your Majesty says! Otherwise, I’ll kill you!"

It was meant to sound imposing, but paired with a face as young as his, it felt like something was missing. The intruder breathed in ragged, terrified gasps, surveying the strange room. "You... mmph..."

"I told you to shut up!" You Du glared at him with her left eye and slammed him back onto the table, aiming once more for the gold collar. She spotted two characters engraved on it: "Qin Shou."

You Du narrowed her eyes. Whether he was Qin Shou (a name) or a *qinshou* (beast), she had to finish this quickly. If Feifei or Bi Jian caught her, she wouldn't get to keep the gold collar all to herself. This time, she reached out with her hands.

"Dobei, dobei—"

As soon as she approached the collar, the Huan beast that had jumped out earlier lunged at her, chirping wildly. You Du had intended to swat the beast unconscious, but realized to her surprise that it was a one-eyed creature just like her.

You Du blinked in wonder. The beast’s raccoon-like appearance was almost identical to Feifei’s original form, and it was ridiculously cute. The only difference was that while Feifei had one tail, this little fellow had three...

—Could it be a distant relative of Huo Feifei?

Just as she was thinking this, a knocking sound came from the door.

"Young Mistress? Young Mistress, are you in there?"

Outside the door, Feifei and Bi Jian exchanged glances. When they had returned to the yard, they had smelled a rich scent of blood and followed it all the way to the Young Mistress’s room. Fearing something had happened to her, Huo Feifei couldn't help but knock again.

"Young Mistress, if you don't answer, I'm coming in!"

***

Quick as a flash, You Du shoved Qin Shou under the table and kicked the leopard-claw wrench down with him. The hundred-pound weight pressed down on Qin Shou, causing his eyes to roll back as he fainted on the spot. You Du quickly grabbed a tablecloth to cover the scene.

She turned around just as Huo Feifei burst through the door.

"Young Mistress!"
"Hi, you guys are here!"

You Du gave a guilty smile, flashing all eight of her teeth. Huo Feifei noticed it, but Bi Jian, standing behind him, had already spotted Qin Shou under the table. *A human?!* A telepathic message flashed to Huo Feifei’s ears.

Beyond sensing a human, Huo Feifei also caught the scent of a Huan beast. Their eyes met, and Huo Feifei walked over to You Du, pretending nothing was wrong, and patted her little head. "Young Mistress, you scared me to death!"

"Exactly! You can't do things like this again!" Bi Jian chimed in from the side. "Come on, let's go have dinner!"

Seeing that the two of them didn't seem to have discovered anything unusual, You Du nodded quickly. "Okay!"

As she agreed, You Du grabbed Huo Feifei with her left hand and tugged Bi Jian with her right, and the three of them left the room together. She couldn't let Bi Jian and Huo Feifei linger in her room, especially with the keen sense of smell that Huo Feifei, a civet cat, possessed.

Last time, a rat spirit had nested in the corner of her room, and Huo Feifei had crouched there for three days and three nights, refusing to stop until he had exterminated the entire family. Ever since then, the rat spirits of the Desolate Hills would scramble away the moment they heard Huo Feifei’s name.

Some of them had even died of fright, crashing into things in their panic!

Once outside, Bi Jian glanced at Huo Feifei.

"You take the Young Mistress to the inner room to eat first. I forgot I left the osmanthus cakes on the kitchen stove!"
"Right!"

Huo Feifei understood immediately. He bent down and gently scooped up You Du. "Shall we head over then, Young Mistress?"

At the mention of food, You Du, being a child after all, instantly cast Qin Shou to the back of her mind. She nodded. "Okay!"

As Huo Feifei coaxed You Du away, Bi Jian turned his steps away from the kitchen and walked straight back into You Du’s little room.