The Yuki-onna bowed to Su Yuan and presented a pill with both hands. With her eyes downcast, she said respectfully, "A Qing doesn't think she has done anything wrong. But at this point, I have no complaints about any punishment the Demon Administration Bureau wants to impose on me. I only hope that, for the sake of this thing, you'll grant A Qing one last request."
Su Yuan looked at the pill in her hand that emitted a familiar fragrance. His eyes were dark and unfathomable. With a flip of his palm, the pill landed in his hand.
Zhaozhao stood beside Su Yuan. Looking at the pill, she suddenly had an urge to swallow it.
No, no. This was someone else's thing. How could she have such a thought? It was so impolite.
Zhaozhao shook her head to shake off this offensive thought.
A Qing watched as Su Yuan took the pill. A meaningful smile curved her lips.
"Who gave this to you?" Su Yuan asked in a deep voice.
A Qing got up from the ground. Her words were an answer to Su Yuan, but her eyes were fixed unblinkingly on Zhaozhao.
"There's a tree in this cave. This tree got a chance encounter with some ancient divine objects and is imbued with spiritual energy. This pill was refined by this little demon from the tree."
Hearing about the ancient divine objects from her mouth, Su Yuan's eyes changed.
A Qing took all this in. She stepped forward, getting closer to Su Yuan, and whispered, "I know you've been troubled by karma for a long time and have been looking for it for ages. Although the tree in the cave isn't it, there's always some connection. I think it won't be completely useless to you, my lord."
When A Qing said this, she deliberately set up a barrier. Apart from her and Su Yuan, Zhaozhao and Song Yao standing beside didn't hear a single word.
With a wave of his hand, Su Yuan sent A Qing flying several meters away.
Su Yuan raised his eyes and coldly asked her, "What do you want?"
A Qing brushed aside her disheveled hair and looked straight at Su Yuan. Her tone was earnest and firm. "Your Highness, you should have seen those children, right? A Qing has no other requests. I just hope... you can let those children follow us back to the Demon Administration Bureau and go to the demon territory. Don't let them go back to that village."
Thinking of the blood the Yuki-onna had taken from those girls, Su Yuan suddenly understood.
"Sure, I'll grant your request."
"No way!" Song Yao had been watching for a long time. As soon as she heard this, she immediately got upset.
Those children were human. How could they mingle with demons?! Had Su Yuan accepted the Yuki-onna's favor and planned to bend the rules?!
Song Yao threw out a talisman, aiming straight at the Yuki-onna's vital point. Screw it. She'd catch this demon first.
A gust of cold air swept by. Before the talisman could get close to the Yuki-onna, it instantly turned into fragments in the air.
Song Yao questioned Su Yuan, who had made the move. "What do you mean?"
Su Yuan didn't have the mood to explain it to Song Yao. He turned to the Yuki-onna and said, "Take me to the cave to see that tree."
Song Yao couldn't bear it anymore. "Stop! Su Yuan, this is a case taken over by our Xuanmen. Have you forgotten what you said back then? Are you going to go back on your word now?"
The atmosphere suddenly became tense. Zhaozhao looked at the expressionless Su Yuan and Song Yao, whose face was flushed with anger. She didn't quite understand why everyone suddenly started arguing.
"Cousin sister..." Zhaozhao called out to Song Yao helplessly.
Seeing her standing behind Su Yuan, Song Yao got furious. She raised her voice and asked, "Don't say a word. I'll just ask you one question. Who would you choose between me and him? If you choose me, come stand by my side."
"I..." Zhaozhao didn't understand why her cousin sister insisted that she make a choice. Humans themselves didn't like making choices.
Just like what she saw on her phone that night. A girl asked a human man: if she and his mother fell into the water, who would he save first?
At that time, Zhaozhao watched as the human man in the phone couldn't make a right choice no matter what. She felt that her current situation was so similar to that man's. But she was just a little tree...
Ah! She was facing a problem that a tree of her age shouldn't bear! This was so painful!
Over there, Song Yao was still being pushy. Su Yuan seemed nonchalant and slightly disdainful, saying nothing. But in fact, his body very honestly blocked Zhaozhao tightly.
"Hurry up!"
Urged by Song Yao, Zhaozhao immediately ran towards her.
She thought that she had come to help the Song family through their tribulation. Of course, she should choose her cousin sister. Besides, the great dragon might not even want her to choose him.
"..." Su Yuan watched helplessly as the girl ran away right under his nose. The corner of his forehead twitched a few times. Finally, he looked at Song Yao seriously.
Song Yao put her hands on her hips and blocked the way. She seemed to be saying, "If you, Su Yuan, don't give me an explanation, I'll fight to the death today and won't let you succeed."
Su Yuan rubbed the space between his eyebrows. Finally, he was willing to speak. "Those children's best choice now is to go to the demon realm. If we let them stay in the village, they'll attract more coveters."
Song Yao was about to retort out of habit. Su Yuan directly cast a spell to silence her.
"I know Miss Song has a lot of questions. You'll understand later when we get to the tree the Yuki-onna mentioned. As for the whole case, I'll explain it to the Xuanmen myself."
No matter how much Song Yao was dissatisfied, in the face of absolute strength, she could only swallow her grievances for the time being. She turned around, grabbed the Yuki-onna, and walked into the depths of the cave on her own.
"This bird will come with me!"
Seeing this, Zhaozhao quickly trotted to catch up. Unexpectedly, she was pulled by something and took a step backward.
Looking down, she saw that a blue silk thread had wrapped around her wrist at some point. The other end was in Su Yuan's hand.
Su Yuan calmly held the silk thread. His tone was as bad as his ice-cold face was different. "Look, even after you chose her, you still got left behind."
Zhaozhao said magnanimously, "This is normal. Sometimes cousin sister is a bit silly. I'll tolerate her."
"...... Hehe, you're really something. You're truly speechless." Su Yuan was amused by her. He covered his lips with his hand and chuckled softly. This little fool even said someone else was silly.
Seeing him laughing, Zhaozhao didn't understand why but laughed stupidly along.
Suddenly, Su Yuan stopped laughing. He stared at Zhaozhao for a long time and finally uttered three words. "Heartless." Then he pulled on the silk thread and led Zhaozhao inside.
Zhaozhao thought for a long time. Was Su Yuan saying that she was heartless?
Zhaozhao raised her hand and felt her chest for a while. She really had no heart. After all, she was a tree. That's just how trees were.
But how did Su Yuan know?
Oh my god! Didn't he discover that she wasn't human?!
Thinking of this, it was a big deal. Zhaozhao trotted to catch up with Su Yuan. She leaned close to his ear and argued, "I'm not. I have a heart! If you don't believe me... if you don't believe me, touch it yourself!" With that, she grabbed Su Yuan's hand and was about to do something dangerous.
The innocent and single dragon for ten thousand years was caught off guard by such a flirt. His ears instantly turned red, and his dragon horns were faintly about to appear.
"Enough!" Su Yuan waved away Zhaozhao's hand. The aloof flower fell from the altar. He stammered, "Y-you have one then."