Chapter 8: Flowing Long Hair

“Where… is this?”

The moment the eerie purple moon appeared, Hu Qingyu felt his vision blur, and he was suddenly transported from the original Birdsong Ravine to another place, surrounded and enclosed by giant, towering ancient trees.

“You fiend! What demonic trick did you use to send me to this place?” Hu Qingyu once again pointed his longsword at Ye Cheng, who had arrived here with him.

Ye Cheng spat on the ground with hatred.
“Pah! I’d like to ask you, you monster, how you sent me to this place.”

“So you mean, this wasn’t your doing?” Hu Qingyu frowned.

“Of course not!” Ye Cheng paused.
“Now that you know, put down your sword.”

“Hmph, I will first execute you, then leave this place!” Hu Qingyu had no intention of letting Ye Cheng go.
Even if he didn’t know why he had ended up in this forest, he would kill Ye Cheng first.

With a move of his body, Hu Qingyu’s longsword thrust towards Ye Cheng with the force of a thunderbolt.

“Tch.” Despite being seriously injured, Ye Cheng had no intention of backing down.
He crossed his hands and pulled, drawing two silver threads in the air that were almost invisible to the naked eye.
The two silver threads had an intersection point that, as Ye Cheng pulled, continuously attacked Hu Qingyu’s vital throat area.

Heaven-tier ultimate kill, Malevolent Ghost Reaps the Soul.

Hu Qingyu retracted his longsword and quickly flicked it towards himself, cutting the two murderous silver threads that could have taken his life in an instant.
He then leaped high towards Ye Cheng’s position, swinging his longsword again in mid-air, aiming straight for the top of Ye Cheng’s head.

Azure Billows Thirteen Swords, Falling Leaves are Heartless.

Ye Cheng calmly retreated backwards, a fist blade popping out from his sleeve to meet Hu Qingyu’s next attack.

In the forest, an unknown life-and-death battle was being fiercely waged.

As Hu Qingyu and Ye Cheng were locked in heated combat, they suddenly heard a roar like that of a legendary dragon.
A bizarre, massive tiger landed swiftly between the two.

Both Hu Qingyu’s and Ye Cheng’s eyes widened.
They had never seen such a huge black tiger with a snake for a tail.
Their forty-some-year-old minds were shaken as never before.

“Could this be… a strange beast from the ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas’?” Hu Qingyu’s sword tip pointed diagonally at the ground as he whispered.

And this beast, which Hu Qingyu had mentally named “Snake-Tiger,” opened its mouth and roared.
With a turn of its body, the seemingly living snake-head tail whipped towards the two of them.

“Aah, this hair is so annoying.” Mianbao grabbed the long hair on her back with one hand and tidied the messy strands on her forehead in the mirror with the other, which had been messed up from lying down.
“To think it could grow so long overnight… you’ve got to be kidding me… I’ll find a chance to cut it…”

Xixi didn’t hear the first half of Mianbao’s casual remark clearly, but she heard the second half loud and clear—she wanted to cut her hair.
“What!? Big Sister Mianbao, you’re going to cut your hair!? You can’t!”

Xixi pounced forward, her small body draped over Mianbao’s legs.
“Don’t cut your hair, you shouldn’t cut your hair! Big Sister Mianbao, your long hair is so beautiful! You’re not allowed to cut it!”

“Uh…” Startled by Xixi’s pounce, Mianbao’s hands trembled, and a huge bead of sweat dripped down her face.
She stuttered a bit, “But… long hair is very troublesome… ah…”

“It’s not troublesome, not troublesome at all!” Xixi lifted her small face and shook her head from side to side.
“Big Sister Mianbao, how about I do a hairstyle for you?”

“Huh?”

“Big Sister Mianbao, your hair is so silky, and the color is beautiful too. This bluish-white… it’s very pleasing to look at.”

“Ahahaha… is, is that so.” Mianbao sat on the stool, accepting Xixi’s hair-combing service and listening to her compliments.

“Hmm… Big Sister Mianbao, which of these two hair accessories do you want?” Xixi moved to the front of Mianbao and held up two pairs of hair accessories: one was a pink bow, the other, blue stars.

‘Is there even a choice!’ Mianbao complained in her heart and pointed to the pair of blue stars.
“This one, I guess…”

“Okay!” Xixi giggled and put away the pair of pink hair accessories, then moved behind Mianbao again to start working on her hairstyle.
“What a pity, I actually really wanted to see Big Sister Mianbao with this kind of cute pink hair accessory.”

Mianbao: ‘… (Absolutely not.)’

After Xixi’s skillful combing and arranging, Mianbao’s hair was tied into a pair of very low twin tails.
Mianbao turned her head in front of the mirror, and the twin tails swayed from side to side with her movements as if they had a life of their own, which was quite fun.

Then Mianbao actually got a bit addicted, constantly shaking her head in front of the mirror, looking like an idiot.
It wasn’t until her brain was trembling from all the shaking that Mianbao finally stopped.
However, this hairstyle didn’t seem to be of much use.
She felt it would have been better if Xixi had tied her hair in a high ponytail, but this was also quite nice, so Mianbao decided to let it be.

“Hehe, isn’t Big Sister Mianbao very pretty?” Xixi asked, lying on the bed and looking at her.

Mianbao turned her head, showing half of her beautiful face to Xixi, her small pink lips curving into a sweet smile.
“Yes, very pretty.”

In the evening, the magi-mobile stopped again.
The girls got off the carriage once more, chattering like birds as they prepared dinner.
But Kunta always made things difficult for Mianbao, making Zero accompany her into the forest to gather some firewood.

“Damn it! Training and now hard labor…” Mianbao cursed Kunta while gathering firewood, while Zero “stood” by, helping Mianbao keep an eye out for any approaching magical beasts.

Mianbao was very curious about one thing: why neither Kunta nor Zero had mentioned a single word about the time she had practically died and come back to life.

Just as she was about to ask, Zero pointed to the east and suddenly spoke, “Firia, it seems there’s something going on over there.”

“What’s going on?” Mianbao stood up with a grunt, holding a pile of firewood and walking fearlessly towards the east.
“Let’s go, let’s go see.”

When they reached the spot Zero had pointed to, Mianbao and Zero carefully hid behind trees and bushes, peeking out with just their heads to observe the situation.
A Ropuoluo Beast (Snake-Tiger), one level higher than the Umbral Beast, was confronting a man.
The man was lying on the ground, clearly seriously injured, and would likely not be able to withstand a single blow from the Ropuoluo Beast.

“Firia, you go save that person. I’ll hold off the Ropuoluo Beast,” Zero’s voice sounded in Mianbao’s ear.
Without hesitation, Mianbao nodded.
Her father had said, “Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda.”¹ Although she didn’t know what it meant, she was sure that saving someone was the right thing to do.

Zero completed the Magi-Knight Armor integration.
Mianbao dropped the pile of firewood in her hands.
After a three-second countdown, she and Zero charged out together.
The golden light sword in Snow Dove’s hand hummed as it slashed towards the Ropuoluo Beast.

¹A common Buddhist saying emphasizing the great merit of saving a life.