5 Chapter 4

"Should we really be following that monster? What if it plans on luring us to its place to eat us?"

The whole way they were following Qing Qing, Xiao Ji kept trying to dissuade Xue Yi from trusting and following the big lake monster, especially when said big monster that could instantly kill them if wished to do so, didn't like Xiao Ji at all. Xiao Ji was sure that once they entered Qing Qing's territory, it would never be able to come out again. Not to mention the look Qing Qing gave it when Xue Yi put Xiao Ji on her shoulder so to prevent her from accidentally stepping on it and to move faster as it's almost dark. Xiao Ji shuddered just from the thought of what Qing Qing would do if they were alone together. It swore in its tiny heart that even when asleep it would not leave Xue Yi's side just in case.

"I'm sure we'll be fine. If Qing Qing wanted to do something (eat) to us, it would've done so in the beginning. Why waste so much time to trick us when we can't even fight back?"

Seeing Xue Yi quickening her pace to keep up with the big snake as the sky was getting darker, Xiao Ji tried to think up of more excuses not to follow Qing Qing. However, Xue Yi didn't listen to its words at all as she wasn't bothered to find a shelter herself when someone would provide one for her. She was confident that they would be fine. After all, why bother going through all the trouble to lead a bunch of prey back when this large deadly monster could just eat them up then go home happy and full.

Hearing that little chicken meat talking behind it's back to it's precious Xue Yi jie jie made Qing Qing turn around to glare at the tiny figure when Xue Yi wasn't looking, scaring Xiao Ji into silence as it sat stiffly on Xue Yi shoulders. The only thing it could do was quietly cry in its small heart and pray for its safety. Despite Xue Yi's constant reassurance, Xiao Ji's worries were not without basis as Qing Qing did have ulterior motives into leading them to its cave. However, the only one that had to worry was Xiao Ji as Qing Qing was waiting for a chance to deal with that tiny cunning beast and pretend it ran away. It could maybe even sign a contract with Xue Yi to become her spirit beast and they could live happily ever after. It mentally gave itself a thumbs up for its brilliant plan and moved even faster as it couldn't wait until it could finally be with Xue Yi.

It already dark out when they arrived at the place they would be staying at. It was a large cave as expected from such a large snake beast, thick grey vines grew along the walls of the cave stretching outwards as though they were about to come alive and snatch an unfortunate victim, swallowed into the darkness of the cave, never to be seen again. The edges of the cave were rough and jagged, like the teeth of a giant beast. However, surprisingly, in the midst of the darkness of the cave was an unknown blue light, shining warmly and radiates safety to passing strangers. On the contrary to the light's gentle feeling, Xue Yi felt that more than giving warmth to struggling strangers, the light acts as a kind of bait for innocent, naive prey, luring them into the stomach of a giant beast that lives within it. It reminded her of an angler fish, attracting its prey with the light on its head. This thought sent shivers down her spine as she unconsciously leaned closer to Qing Qing for comfort.

"Is….is this the place where you live, Qing Qing?"

The big snake eagerly nodded its head in response and continued into the cave. Xue Yi hesitated before following inside, shaking off the uncomfortable feeling. The only thing most scary here was Qing Qing so there shouldn't be anything they should be scared of. On the other hand, Xiao Ji was shaking from fear when it first saw the cave, it only trembled harder when they came closer and closer to the cave. Feeling the trembles from her shoulder, Xue Yi tried to comfort the tiny machine by patting it lightly on its head, but that only made it shake harder as it thought Xue Yi was comforting it before it dies.

Inside the cave, they followed the strange blue light, the deeper they went, the thicker the vines on the walls grew until the whole wall was entirely covered by the terrifying plants where they can't even see the original wall. When they arrived at the end of the cave, they could see a large pool of blue glowing liquid, acting as the light source of the cave. Above the pool of liquid was a large bundle of vines, twisting and tangled with each other. In the middle of the bundle was a green pulsing light, it resembles the beating of a heart caged inside. Xue Yi and Xiao Ji were amazed by the magical sight, however, it wasn't long until that amazement turned into horror as they could see bits of bones and corpse floating inside the pool. When Xue Yi tried to get closer to the pool, Qing Qing immediately used its large tail to block her from advancing further, shaking its head in a warning.

Seeing a large powerful beast, like Qing Qing carefully circled around the pool to the back of the cave was enough to tell them that the blue liquid in the pool must be something bad. Xue Yi distanced themselves as far as they can from the pool and continued to follow Qing Qing. When she had no choice to go closer to the pool in order to go around, she smelt a sweet enticing scent drafting to her nose. Realizing just what had happened to the unfortunate victims inside the pool, Xue Yi quickly covered her own nose and instructed Xiao Ji to do so as well. Already feeling scared and nervous, Xiao Ji dared not disobey and tightly covered its own tiny nose.

Xue Yi stared curiously at the pulsing light in hanging above the pool, she wanted to know what that thing inside was, but considering the state of the corpse in the pool, she knew better than to risk her own life for a bit of curiosity. She would need more sufficient preparation before she could satisfy her nosy heart. Dying the first time was enough to make her more cautious, but this didn't mean she would just leave it alone as its harder to discourage her gossipy behavior than teach an old dog new tricks.

At the back of the cave, multiple fur skins lay on the floor and by the wall was a stack of transparent greenish thin sheets. Qing Qing dived happily onto the furs and used its tail to gently coil around Xue Yi to pick her up and placed her on top of a bunch of soft white fur. Surprised, Xue Yi let out a gasp while Xiao Ji hung on to her shoulder tightly, afraid of falling. She settled into the soft fur without thinking too much about which animal it came from and also carefully placed Xiao Ji down before laying down from the fatigue.

It wasn't that she was physically tired from the journey, she was just mentally exhausted from all the events that had happened. From her dying to meeting a big snake in a strange world she randomly jumped into, everything felt like a dream. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a loud grumbling from beside and turned to see Xiao Ji red in the face from embarrassment.

"I...It's not me!"

"Yes, yes. It's definitely not you, but let's get something to eat anyway."

However, Xue Yi just realized that it was already dark outside, they would hardly be able to find any food, adding on the fact that this was a dangerous unknown environment, they would most likely be dead before they could satisfy their empty stomachs. Xue Yi felt helpless and disappointed in herself for not being able to keep up with her promise to Xiao Ji, that was until Qing Qing came over with a giant rabbit clamped between its large mouth. It brought over the rabbit to Xue Yi and carefully placed it down to avoid the rabbit being poisoned by the venom from its fangs.

Qing Qing happily looked at Xue Yi for praise as it wagged the tip of its tail slightly. Seeing the excited big serpent, Xue Yi thought she saw an illusion of a dog for some reason. She quickly shook the image out of her head and patted Qing Qing's head as a reward. The rabbit it brought back was already dead with purple bruises around its neck, what Xue Yi assumed was caused by Qing Qing suffocating it to death. Knowing that Qing Qing chose to slowly suffocate it instead of directly biting it with its fangs was enough for her to know that its fangs probably contained poison that could cause some damaged when touched. That or it had too much time on hand, either way, she's not going to be touching anywhere near its mouth anytime soon.

Xue Yi decided to handle the rabbit first as she was also getting hungry, however, the rabbit was about as tall as she was and she didn't have any tools to cut the skin and meat apart as the skin was thicker than the normal rabbit, she couldn't just use her hands. There's also the issue of starting a fire, there weren't any materials in the cave that would let her cook. Xue Yi decided to ask Qing Qing in the end since it was most familiar with this place.

"Qing Qing, do you have anything that can be used to cut the meat or anything to start a fire for cooking?"

The large snake tilted its head in thought for a moment before going over to the huge pile of greenish transparent sheets to pull out a leather bag, it obediently placed the bag in front of Xue Yi. She curiosity opened the bag to see a pile of useful tools ranging from an old compass to a short dagger. Xue Yi was amazed that a monster like Qing Qing would have these tools on hand, but then again it could've very well been owned by one of its former prey. Xue Yi tried not to think about where the tools came from and praised the dog-like snake.

"Qing Qing you're amazing, but what about the materials for a fire?"

Qing Qing was feeling overly pleased with itself and praised itself for its quick thinking in keeping the leather bag full of tools when it first found them on one of its previous meals. Those ignorant people dared to venture into its cave to attack and steal its Core when it was having a nice nap during winter. Serves them right for having half of their team being lured into the Blue Yin* Spring, causing all their Yang* energy to be sucked away, leaving only coldness and darkness in their body and hear and eventually withered to death. At first, it wanted to throw away the tools they had, but then it wasn't bothered to and just tossed it to a side where it kept its rubbish.

In order to let Xue Yi praise it even more, Qing Qing quickly thought of the pile of rubbish in the corner and remembered that one of the people that previously went to the cave said that a High-Grade Spirit Serpent, such as itself would have a lot of useful materials to be made from its body. One such thing was the shed skin that was regarded as rubbish in the corner of the cave. It was said that the skin was highly flammable and beneficial to one's body as it helps with the circulation of Qi to make the whole process much smoother by clearing any impurities in the blood. A small piece of the shed skin would be enough to light a fire that could last for days without any signs of extinguishing.

Once again, Qing Qing felt glad that it kept some of its things around as they could now be put to use for it to gain more favor from Xue Yi. Qing Qing cheerfully carried the sheets over to Xue Yi, anticipating some more compliments and petting as rewards.

When Xue Yi saw Qing Qing brought over a large pile of those transparent sheets, she was confused. How was she supposed to use that for cooking? Does she use it to light it on fire? Does it give off heat? Xue Yi placed her hand close to the sheets to feel for some heat, but there was nothing. She frowned in thought and just decided to light it up with some matches she found in the bag and see what happens.

Xue Yi peeled off a piece of the shed skin about the size of her palm and used the matches to light up the small piece fo skin, not expecting much. Contrary to her expectations, the small piece of skin lit up very easily in a warm lilac flame. Surprised, she quickly dropped the lit piece of shed skin in fear of getting burnt, but shockingly, not only did she not get burnt, but she also felt the flames were very comfortable and couldn't help but reach out to pick up the piece burning skin. A pleasant cozy feeling spread throughout her body, making her feel energized and clean. Xue Yi gazed curiously at the flame and wanted to examine it more closely, but was interrupted by a loud grumbling from beside. She looked down to see two cheeks completely red with embarrassment and decided to study the flame later, right now she had to solve her family's* cute machine's hunger first.

"Xiao Ji Rou ah Xiao Ji Rou. Just tell me if you're hungry."

"Uuu….Xue Yi ah, please hurry up." (´┓ `*)

Seeing Xiao Ji's pitiful look, Xue Yi quickly went to work and cooked up the giant rabbit. Even though she knew how to cook somewhat good food, there were still limitations due to their current situation, since there were no spices or seasoning of any kind, the rabbit meat was still tasteless and bland. Xue Yi could only eat two small portions before feeling full. Xiao Ji and Qing Qing on the other hand ate like there was no tomorrow. Even the small-sized figure could stomach 3 more portions than Xue Yi, while Qing Qing ate up the rest of the rabbit that Xue Yi had roasted. She was surprised by the little machine's appetite as something as big as her palms had actually eaten more than her. Xue Yi felt her three views being attacked.

"Xiao Ji Rou ah, how did you eat so much with that tiny size of yours? Just how hungry are you?"

Xiao Ji pouted while holding onto a piece of rabbit meat bigger than its own head. It took a big bite out of the piece of meat before answering Xue Yi.

"How rude. This is the first time I've ever eaten food. I never knew food could taste this good before. I was only given water before, remember?"

Being reminded of Xiao Ji's previous experience and life at the shady company made Xue Yi feel angry and distressed at the same time. She knew that Xiao Ji was not a normal living being, but that didn't mean they could just give it water. Did the little machine even have a bed to sleep on? Xue Yi once again swore in her heart to beat those bastards senseless if she ever saw them again.

Realizing the little chicken meat was 'stealing' Xue Yi's attention again, Qing Qing hurriedly finished its meal and went over to sell meng by rubbing its smooth head against Xue Yi. Feeling the large snake acting cute again, Xue Yi patted and scratched its head like a dog, before becoming curious about Qing Qing.

"Ah Qing*, why do you like to stick to me so much? You usually eat other people and creatures right? It's not like I tamed you or anything. And usually, animals don't really like me."

The silly snake only tilted its head in confusion, staring at Xue Yi. It really didn't understand why it likes Xue Yi more compared to other creatures, it just knew that it felt very comfortable near her and happy when Xue Yi would pet it. So it just followed its instincts and acted cute with Xue Yi without thinking too deeply into it. Besides its a snake, what complicated thoughts could it have other than catching its prey?

"I have a theory. I once overheard one of the higher-ups saying that souls with higher soul energies would attract some animals. However, an overwhelming amount of soul energy would scare away weaker animals, while attracting stronger ones like this snake here."

Xiao Ji had eaten its fill and was laying down on the soft fur to rest. It explained its thoughts to Xue Yi without much thought. Xiao Ji only realized that it had endangered itself again when seeing Qing Qing glaring at it again, Xiao Ji not knowing what it did wrong to attract the hatred of the large snake. While Qing Qing was annoyed at the little chicken meat 'stealing' its Xue Yi's attention again.

"So Qing Qing was only attracted to my soul energy huh? That's a good thing too, I guess since that meant we wouldn't be eaten by Qing Qing while having a place to stay at the same time."

Huh?! Qing Qing was only attracted to Xue Yi's soul energy? No! This snake was not that shallow as to only be attracted to someone's power. Qing Qing felt very wronged and quickly coiled itself around Xue Yi to show that it truly was loyal to Xue Yi. It felt very anxious about being misunderstood. What if Xue Yi didn't want to sign a beast contract with it anymore because she thought it was only after her power? Maybe it was attracted to Xue Yi because of her soul energy at the beginning, but it really liked this tiny person after interacting together for so long. The thought of Xue Yi being disappointed in it made Qing Qing coil around Xue Yi even tighter while glaring at the perpetrator that had caused its distress.

Xiao Ji was terrified by the large snake's killing intent and tried to bury itself further in the soft fur. While Xue Yi who was oblivious to the thoughts of the clingy snake tried to free herself from Qing Qing's tight hold. Even though it didn't hurt her, she was still uncomfortable and wanted to sleep after eating all that meat.

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Small theatre:

Xiao Ji: The reason Qing Qing likes you was because of your soul energy

Xue Yi: Oh is that so? *Doesn't really mind either way*

Qing Qing: Nooooo! I like you! I really do! Wu wu wu...Xue Yi jie jie!*Begs*

Qing Qing: I'm going to roast and eat you, damned chicken meat!

Xiao Ji: Why am I always the one getting bullied? *Cries*

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Footnotes:

阴阳: Yin and Yang in Chinese philosophy are often used to represent the balance of opposite forces, like how those opposite forces are interdependent on each other. Yin represents female, darkness, death, and something along those lines. While Yang represents male, life, light, and other stuff I forgot. But in Chinese medicine, it was said that a well-balanced Yin and Yang was best for the body.

阿: Ah, is another form of nickname that would be used between someone you are closed with or familiar with.

她家的/我家的: Her family's/My family's usually doesn't really mean they are literally from their family, but used as a sense of longing or protectiveness. For example, a fan talking about their idol would use it like, "my family's idol".