Author's Note: Somehow hit #1 on trending :3

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

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A few hours later, the group found the river on the map.

“Alright, set the fox spirits as far away as possible,” Zhao Xieren said as she looked at Zhen Yue and Sun Hong.

“Let’s go then,” Sun Hong said as she walked towards Zhen Yue. Grabbing her arm, Sun Hong suddenly burst in speed as she started running.

In their departure, Zhao Xieren and Qian Yu were left alone for the first time since they came to the Uninhabited Region.

“Thank you for everything Zhao Xieren,” Qian Yu said as he sat down on a nearby rock.

“What do you mean…” A red hue appeared on Zhao Xieren’s face.

“Ahem, it’s too early to know if anything will work out,” she said humbly.

“Well, let’s stay optimistic,” Qian Yu said. 

“Anyways, this is similar to what we talked about previously, right?” Despite the somewhat stressful situation they were in, Zhao Xieren was feeling pretty happy.

Qian Yu took a few seconds to realize what Zhao Xieren was talking about. “Travelling? I guess, though it is outside the country and we are finding an inheritance of sorts, I wouldn’t say it is really ideal…” Qian Yu said.

“Haha, it’s good enough! I’m enjoying every moment right now,” an honest smile appeared on her face.

“Well, I’m sure we’ll go on more adventures or trips in the future anyways,” Qian Yu said. 

“You’re right! Anyways, can you tell me more about Sun Hong?” Zhao Xieren said.

“Ahh yes, it’s a good time now,” Qian Yu nodded as there was finally a moment of rest to talk about Sun Hong.

Meanwhile, Sun Hong was carrying Zhen Yue as the two quickly ran across the cold wilderness.

“Wow sister Sun! You are really fast!” Zhen Yue couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Thank you,” Sun Hong said simply. She was moving at her fastest speed as a Martial Fighter along with using her movement skill.

“Qian Yu told me what you’ve done for him. I’m glad he met someone like you,” Sun Hong said afterwards.

“Ah? I-it’s nothing,” A smile grew on Zhen Yue’s face as she heard Sun Hong.

“I’ve always been alone most of my life and other than fighting, I’m not really good at anything else.  Ever since I met Qian Yu, I’ve started to change but still, it’s a little hard. If possible, I would like your help,” Sun Hong said.

‘Master was right. She’s a really straightforward person,’ Zhen Yue thought.

“Hehe, of course, I’ll help you. I’m jealous of you too though. I hope that one day, I can grow to be strong like you. Let’s get along well,” Zhen Yue said.

“Alright,” Sun Hong smiled.  

10 minutes later, Qian Yu was still chatting with Zhao Xieren as Sun Hong and Zhen Yue returned.

Returning their focus on the main priority, Zhao Xieren asked, “How far away is it?”

“With the speed of anyone below a Martial Fighter, it would take about 30 to 45 minutes from here.” Sun Hong replied.

“At least 30 minutes. That’s pretty far. That’s very good,” Zhao Xieren muttered as she heard that.

Glancing at everyone, Zhao Xieren then announced, “Once it blows up in a few minutes, it’ll attract their attention and we’ll use it to get closer and enter the river. Since their individual scouting groups had been killed off by Sun Hong last time, they should be sending at least two of their scouting groups to see what’s going on.”

*Boom!* The seconds passed by slowly and before long a few minutes passed as a large explosion occurred in the distance. With how close it was to one of the enemy’s base camps, it would no doubt attract some of their attention.

“Alright, let’s go!” Zhao Xieren said as she started running towards the frozen river.

Leaving the covering of the cliff, the other three similarly followed behind her.

Getting to the frozen lake, Sun Hong immediately took out her greatsword as she slammed it down at the ice.

*Clank!* A hole appeared as the four gathered around it.

*Splash* Taking a deep breath, nobody said anything as they immediately jumped into the river.

*Whoosh!* As Qian Yu jumped into the river, he was instantly assaulted by the freezing water.

‘Well, the next few minutes are going to be painful as hell,’ Qian Yu cursed as he held his breath and started swimming underneath the ice.

Painfully, the minutes passed by and despite his vision being heavily affected underwater, Qian Yu saw a large bubbly explosion in front of him as he assumed Sun Hong had made a new hole where they would get out.

‘Finally!’ Qian Yu yelled inwardly as he swam closer to the hole.

*Plop* Reaching the hole, Qian Yu swam upwards as he jumped out of the river.

Looking around, Qian Yu saw Sun Hong who had already taken out some wood stored with her storage ring and there was currently a fire while behind him, the cavern entrance stood there a few dozen feet away. Deeper into the cave, it was pretty dim with scarce lightning. 

“I’ll go check out the surroundings first,” Sun Hong said as she already finished changing her clothes. Since they were swimming under the ice, they naturally couldn’t see the landscape and terrain outside.

“Alright, stay safe,” Qian Yu replied as he removed his own drenched clothes and put on a new pair of clothing before walking towards the fire.

“I’ll be back soon,” Sun Hong said as she ran towards the cavern entrance. 

*Plop plop!* A few seconds later, Zhen Yue and Zhao Xieren similarly caught up as they reappeared above the surface.

“Finally, it was so cold!” Zhen Yue yelled out as she started shivering.

“W-where did Sun Hong go?” Zhao Xieren was shivering as well.

“She just left to check out the surroundings,” Qian Yu replied, sitting down by the fire.  

As the two girls started heading towards the fire, they suddenly stopped as the three of them simultaneously realized something.

A moment of silence passed as nobody said anything or made any noise.

“Sister Zhao, I’ll change first,” Zhen Yue suddenly exclaimed as she broke the awkwardness. Of course, there was nothing wrong with Zhen Yue changing so close to Qian Yu but for Zhao Xieren, it was obviously a novel but embarrassing situation.

“Ahem, of course, go ahead,” Qian Yu coughed as he turned to look the other way from the girls.

*Rustle* In a dozen seconds, Zhen Yue had finished changing her robes as she sat down next to Qian Yu.

“Sister Zhao, you can change now. I’ll make sure master doesn’t peak,” Zhen Yue joked as she sat down.

“A-a-alright!” Zhao Xieren replied as she heard Zhen Yue.

“You silly girl!” Qian Yu jokingly whispered to Zhen Yue as he brought his hand around her waist and brought her closer to him.

*Rustle rustle* Similarly, Zhao Xieren changed her clothes as well before sitting down on the other side of Qian Yu.

Silently, the three sat at the fire. With Zhen Yue resting on Qian Yu’s shoulder, Qian Yu and Zhao Xieren just stared at the fire without talking.

“Ahem, do you want to come closer? It’ll be warmer,” Qian Yu shamelessly said to Zhao Xieren breaking the silence..

Hearing Qian Yu’s question, Zhao Xieren was a little taken back yet a few seconds later she replied with a blushed face, “If you don’t mind then, the fire is indeed a little weak.”

Standing up, Zhao Xieren moved a little closer to Qian Yu before sitting down. Of course, she wasn’t completely right next to him like with Zhen Yue but there were only a few inches separating the two.

As she sat down, Qian Yu stretched out his arm behind him. Hesitating for a while Qian Yu thought, he put his arm around her waist as he brought her closer to him.

“Mmm,” Zhao Xieren muttered as Qian Yu did that.

By the side, Zhen Yue opened her eyes in response to Zhao Xieren’s shout. Seeing what had happened, she smiled and closed her eyes to get some rest.

“Ahem, like this, you’ll be warmer,” Qian Yu’s expression stayed the same.

“Okay…” Zhao Xieren didn’t push Qian Yu away as she was awkwardly in Qian Yu’s embrace.

‘Now that I think about it, the last time we were this physically close was when I returned and we first saw each other again,’ Qian Yu thought.

Under the warm fire in the dark cave, they slowly waited for Sun Hong to come back. Yet only a few minutes later, Qian Yu felt something else on his other shoulder. Turning his head to the side, he saw the black haired Zhao Xieren was resting on his shoulder.

“You deserve a good rest,” Qian Yu muttered as he looked at her.

Before long, Sun Hong came back as she finished looking around. With the two girls asleep on his shoulder, Qian Yu could only wryly smile at her. Qian Yu It had been so long since they met but due to these circumstances, it was hard to spend time with her so Qian Yu couldn’t help but feel bad.

Not wanting to wake up the two girls, Sun Hong simply smiled back as she sat down facing Qian Yu.

They were truly tired and exhausted, sleeping for a few hours before waking up.

“Ah! How long has it been?” Zhao Xieren exclaimed as she woke up. 

Similarly, her shout had awoken Zhen Yue who was peacefully still sleeping. Compared to Zhao Xieren, Zhen Yue felt a lot more relaxed and comfortable from all the adventures she had been through with Qian Yu.

“About three hours,” Qian Yu answered as he stretched his shoulders.

“You should have woken us up earlier!” Zhao Xieren said.

 “Hehe, it’s okay. We haven’t had much free time since coming here and it’s not good to overexert yourself,” Qian Yu replied. Ever since they had found traces of Sun Hong being here, they had to move nonstop in order to catch up. It was only due to this and Sun Hong fighting the scouting groups that they were able to find her.

“Ok ok, it doesn’t matter now,” Zhao Xieren waved her hands, realizing she couldn’t refute what he said. 

Turning her head to Sun Hong she asked, “What’s going on outside?” 

 “I looked outside for possible routes we could take but like before, there weren’t many trees or suitable routes that we could take advantage of. Even though we managed to get through their border, we don’t know where their inner camps are,” Sun Hong answered.

“That’s fine if we can’t travel outside. Instead, we’ll move on with travelling through the cave system,” Zhao Xieren said. The map had indicated that there was a cave system here and if they couldn’t travel outside, they would default to this plan. The only issue with this was that the map didn’t have a clear layout of the cave system and only showed entrances and exits of it.

“Let’s go then,” Qian Yu said as they finalized their plans.