Under everyone's gaze,
"Hello, everyone. I'm
If they hadn't just witnessed Xiao Xue's fiery little-temper act,
"Ahem." Nie Li nearly choked. That change was way too fast to process.
Xiao Ning'er and Du Ze exchanged bewildered glances.
Xiao Xue pursed her lips into an adorable smile, walked over to Lu Piao, and hooked her arm through his. "Thank you all for taking care of Lu Piao all this time. I hope you'll keep looking out for him in the future."
"Of course, of course." Du Ze and the others hurriedly nodded.
Lu Piao was staring blankly at Xiao Xue, his brain still short-circuiting. He'd been bracing himself for her to charge over and beat him senseless. Instead, she'd turned sweet as could be, like a completely different person.
Xiao Xue glanced at Lu Piao. A flash of menace crossed her eyes, and in a voice too low for anyone else to hear, she muttered, "I'm only being nice because your friends are here. Wait till we get home — I'll deal with you then." Then, instantly switching back to her cute, shy demeanor, she looked at Nie Li and the others and said, "Lu Piao must have been causing you a lot of trouble."
"Yeah, he has." Du Ze nodded earnestly.
Yeah? Is that how you're going to answer? When have I ever caused you trouble? Lu Piao nearly coughed up blood.
Xiao Xue's expression stiffened for a moment. Her comment had been nothing more than polite filler, and Du Ze actually agreed to it. She shot Lu Piao a glare that clearly said, "Your friends are just as unreliable as you!"
Du Ze was dying inside, fighting desperately to keep a straight face.
After getting that glare, Lu Piao shrank into himself. That Du Ze — always stirring things up. He did that on purpose. I'll get him back for this someday.
Xiao Xue's arrival had caught everyone off guard. Who would've thought Lu Piao had actually managed to find a girl? And such a pretty one at that — though she did seem a bit scary.
These two bickering lovebirds were quite the spectacle. Nie Li threw back his head and laughed. "All right, let's welcome a new member to our team. Let's head out."
"Head out where?" Xiao Xue blinked in surprise.
"You'll find out when you come with us." Nie Li gave a mysterious smile and walked toward the ancient formation.
The whole group entered the ancient formation, Xiao Xue still holding Lu Piao's arm as she followed along.
Lu Piao could feel the soft pressure against his arm. Despite rather enjoying it, under Xiao Xue's silent intimidation, he could only maintain a stiff, solemn posture, shuffling forward awkwardly. This truly was — a dangerous pleasure.
The moment they stepped into the ancient formation, everyone felt a strange warping sensation of space.
"The Myriad Phenomena Spatial Formation — I can't believe that someone in that distant era had already mastered such a profound array." Nie Li felt a faint jolt of surprise, silently reflecting. In his previous life, he'd only come across a passing mention of the Myriad Phenomena Spatial Formation in the Book of Time-Space Demon Spirit.
Time and space were the most mysterious laws of the world. Very few beings could master both, and much of that knowledge had been lost to history.
Just as Nie Li stepped into the Myriad Phenomena Spatial Formation, he felt the torn remnant page of the Book of Time-Space Demon Spirit at his chest begin to hum and glow, as though resonating with something. A mysterious energy flowed through the page.
It was as though the remnant page had entered some kind of resonance with the Myriad Phenomena Spatial Formation.
Nie Li's heart stirred. In both his past life and this one, his fate had been inextricably bound to the Book of Time-Space Demon Spirit. Yet despite that deep connection, he understood remarkably little about its mysteries. The origin and true purpose of the Book of Time-Space Demon Spirit remained an unsolved puzzle to this day.
Perhaps this Myriad Phenomena Spatial Formation could be the key to unraveling the secrets of the Book of Time-Space Demon Spirit.
Nie Li pressed forward and sensed a barrier ahead — gentle on the surface, yet tyrannically absolute beneath. When he touched the boundary, its surface was soft and smooth, like silk or satin. But the moment he tried to push through, it went boom, and his hand was flung back.
"It's this barrier," Lu Piao mumbled. "I remember coming here as a kid, wanting to break through it. I took an axe and swung, and the axe went flying — chopped some kid's hat right off his head. The little brat was so scared he wet himself on the spot, ran home crying to his daddy about it, and I ended up getting the living daylights beaten out of me by my old man."
Du Ze and the others burst out laughing. That kind of stunt was so perfectly Lu Piao. Thank goodness the flying axe had taken a hat and not a head — otherwise it wouldn't have been just a beating.
"You can actually say that with a straight face?" Xiao Xue pinched Lu Piao's waist hard, making him grimace and bare his teeth in pain.