Chapter 4: Mutual Dependence

In a vast, desolate mountain forest.

The biting wind howled incessantly, heavy snowflakes fell thick and fast, and everything was white as far as the eye could see.

Though the setting sun had not yet fully disappeared, the forest within the snowy curtain was already quite dim.

A faint forest path, already indistinct, wound and twisted, nearly impossible to discern under the thick layer of snow, yet at its far end a glimmer of firelight shone, exuding a hint of warmth in the icy wilderness.

Where the firelight glowed stood the only mountain god temple in this vast forest spanning a thousand li.

Due to being rarely visited, this mountain god temple had long lost its incense offerings and had been abandoned for years. The outer courtyard's gate tower and walls had already collapsed, leaving only a dilapidated main hall standing alone in its place.

The main hall's door had long since vanished, and a tattered straw mat was half-draped over the door frame, hastily shielding against the wind and snow outside.

Through the holes in the straw mat, one could see inside the empty hall, where, besides some scattered dry grass and bricks, a figure sat cross-legged in the center.

It was a tall young man in blue robes. Even sitting on the ground, his posture was exceptionally straight, but his face was utterly expressionless, wooden to the extreme, just like the dilapidated clay statue of the god behind him—rigid, dull, and lifeless.

The tall young man held his arms crossed in front of his chest, and in the crook of his arms lay a slender, small girl—the little fox spirit, Liu Le'er.

"Uh..."

Just then, a low moan came from within the young man's arms.

Liu Le'er's small head nuzzled against the young man's arm, and her face, which had been buried deep in his chest, shifted outward a bit, emerging from between his arms.

Her originally delicate and lovely childish face was now flushed with a sickly red. Though still asleep, her delicate brows were tightly knitted, and beneath her closed eyelids, her eyes rolled left and right incessantly, as if she were experiencing a terrifying dream.

"No... don't... wuwu..."

Accompanied by these sleep-talking murmurs, Liu Le'er's arms, which were wrapped around the young man's arm, instinctively tightened a bit.

One of her little legs also kicked out restlessly from his embrace, and her body twisted occasionally, seeming very unsettled. Her face, which had just shifted out, now burrowed back into the young man's chest.

The young man, who had been staring straight ahead, seemed to sense something. He lowered his head to look at the girl in his arms, and his wooden eyes shifted slightly, appearing somewhat puzzled, but still more confused.

"Stone... brother..."

Another bout of indistinct sleep-talking buzzed from within the young man's arms, faint as the hum of a mosquito, barely perceptible.

Perhaps it was the effect of the firelight, but the tall young man's face seemed to soften a bit, and a glimmer of light appeared in his otherwise hollow eyes.

Without rising, he shuffled his position on the ground, using his own body to block the wind that seeped in. He shifted his arms slightly, tucking the girl's protruding leg back into his embrace, and held her a little tighter.

The girl squirmed and rubbed against him in his arms, her small head burrowing further into his chest. Gradually, her movements ceased, and her breathing became steady.

Outside the hall, the sky had long since turned pitch black, and the wind and snow that raged across the land had also gradually subsided, almost imperceptibly.

...

Halfway up a hundred-zhang green mountain peak, at a cave entrance over three zhang high, a tall young man stood with his back to the cave.

Liu Le'er stood behind the young man, one hand tugging at his clothes, the other clutching his thigh, peeking out half her face to look ahead. Her face was pale from nervousness.

Several zhang in front of them stood a gray-furred giant bear, as tall as two adult humans, standing upright on its hind legs with its forepaws raised.

On its head grew a ferocious horn like white bone, and its protruding, blood-red maw had its lips curled back, revealing sharp, gleaming white teeth. It bared its fangs and growled lowly, a line of sticky, foul-smelling drool dripping from the corner of its mouth.

The originally tall young man appeared as frail as a child before this giant bear.

Yet his face showed no expression at all; he simply stared straight at the bear, his jet-black pupils like ink, lacking much luster.

The giant bear stared at the young man's face for a moment, then, for some reason, a hint of human-like fear appeared on its face. It suddenly let out a low roar, stepped back two paces, turned, dropped to all fours, and fled away at a gallop.

Seeing this, Liu Le'er first relaxed, letting out a sigh of relief, then scratched her head in slight confusion, walked around to the front of the tall young man, and looked up at him.

She stared at his wooden face for a long time but couldn't detect anything unusual, and a hint of disappointment showed on her face.

"Brother Stone, Le'er knows you're no ordinary person, but it's a pity you can't speak. If only you could talk and share something with me, ah..." Liu Le'er sighed like a little adult, took the young man's big hand, turned around, and walked back toward the cave halfway up the mountain.

The young man said nothing, but his downcast gaze fell on the fair little hand holding his own, and he let himself be pulled into the cave.

...

On an unknown vast grassland, it was the height of spring when orioles sing and grass grows. The new shoots of green grass had already sprouted, and the whole prairie was filled with the fresh fragrance unique to grass.

A girl of eight or nine, holding a cluster of slender vines covered with pale yellow flowers in her hand, sat astride the shoulders of a tall, straight-backed young man, ambling leisurely forward.

Compared with two years ago, the young man had not changed at all, still wearing the same blue clothes, but Liu Le'er was already very different.

The girl had grown much taller, and her little face had shed some of its childishness; between her brows and eyes appeared a soft charm rare in ordinary girls, clearly a rare beauty in the making, perhaps even one who could topple cities and kingdoms in the future.

Her ten fingers moved swiftly, weaving the yellow-flowered vines in her hands, while she hummed a light, cheerful tune in a crisp, pleasant voice like an oriole's song.

"Done!"

Before the song ended, Liu Le'er's hands stopped moving, and a beautiful, tightly woven flower crown had taken shape.

Holding the crown in both hands, she turned it around to examine it, nodded in satisfaction, and with a joyful face, placed it squarely on the young man's head.

The crown fit perfectly, with the densest cluster of flowers resting right above the young man's forehead.

The tall young man seemed to sense it, raised a hand to gently touch the crown, then slowly withdrew it.

Liu Le'er had long grown accustomed to the tall young man's reactions. Glancing down, she caught sight of the green string around his neck, covered her mouth with a smile, and mischievously reached out to grab it, pretending to pull it up.

But the young man beneath her, as if by instinct, grabbed at his chest and clutched the dark green ornament tied to the string, refusing to let go for a long time.

"Brother Stone, you stingy thing! You're always like this. I just want to take a look out of curiosity..." Liu Le'er puffed out her cheeks.

Though she said this, she wasn't really angry. In the past two years and more, this Brother Stone had never spoken to her; he rarely reacted to the outside world, except that whenever the ornament on his chest was involved, he would always take the initiative to respond.

For this reason, Liu Le'er would occasionally tease him about it.

...

Time flew like a white colt passing a gap; in a flash, several more years had passed.

A pretty girl of thirteen or fourteen, dressed in a white blouse and skirt, with black hair reaching her waist, hands clasped behind her back, walked briskly in lotus-colored short boots along a sand-covered official road.

Behind her followed a tall, blue-clad man with a wooden expression and slow steps.

One walked fast, the other slow; one took small steps, the other large, but they didn't fall too far apart.

Liu Le'er, walking ahead, saw in the distance at the end of the road a majestic greenish city, with many people coming and going at the city gate, looking as small as sparrows.

She furrowed her delicate brows and stopped.

"Ming... Yuan... City..." Liu Le'er squinted as she gazed for a long while, then slowly called out the name.

The tall young man walked up beside her and also stopped, gazing into the distance at the grand city like her.

"Looks like a large human city..." Liu Le'er murmured, her expression hesitant.

In the past five years, in order to cure the tall young man's stupor, the two had entered some human towns, but they had never approached a city of this scale.

"Brother Stone, if you were completely healed, would you be able to help Le'er take revenge?" Liu Le'er looked up at the young man and said softly, but she didn't know whether she was asking him or herself.

The young man seemed to react somewhat at her words; his distant gaze slowly withdrew and fell on the girl, but he still said nothing.

"What nonsense am I talking? Even if Brother Stone were incredibly powerful, how could he possibly defeat all those bad guys from the Blood Blade Society?" Liu Le'er, as if remembering something, hung her head in dejection, and tears fell uncontrollably, drop by drop, seeping into the yellow sand on the ground.

Just then, she suddenly felt a weight on her head and a warm sensation.

She lifted her head slightly and saw her "Brother Stone" raising a hand to gently stroke her head, his eyes exceptionally soft.

For some reason, Liu Le'er felt an immense sense of reassurance at that moment, as if an indescribable courage had welled up inside her, making her no longer afraid of any difficulty.

She wiped the tears from her face with the back of one hand, grabbed the tall young man's thick palm with the other, and strode determinedly toward the distant city gate.