Little Alpaca – Chapter 102

Volume 3: Old Tales of Kunlun

Weird Thing!

Yi Qiu did remember that back when they were still in the Demon Realm, You Yan had indeed personally cooked for her every single day.

The Demon Realm was barren, not like the Human Realm, and didn’t have nearly as many good ingredients. But she had to admit, the food You Yan made had always been delicious.

But this bird woman, huh. Ever since coming to the Human Realm, she had been so lazy, absolutely refusing to lift a finger if she could just spend money instead. Whether it was food or drink, it had to be delivered right to her.

Yi Qiu couldn’t help but think that perhaps it was because the bird woman of the past had always been in a state of high alert. So, having finally arrived in a place where no one would hurt her, she too wanted to live a few easy, stable days.

The title of Demon Lord sounded impressive, but in reality, if someone truly had the skill to kill her, there wouldn’t be many voices of opposition from below.

After all, the Demon Realm was unlike the Human or Heavenly Realms. Most demons struggled just to stay alive, so their awareness of hierarchy was naturally not as strong as that of immortals, gods, or humans. To them, whether a “monarch” was wise or not, cruel or not, legitimate or not—none of it had anything to do with them.

They only cared if the one they pledged allegiance to was powerful. They only knew to obey whoever was currently in power.

It was just like what was written in the late-stage plot of the original novel, 《Thin, Withered Branch》: after Luo Mingyuan fell into the demonic path, he was deceptively pushed onto the Demon Lord’s throne by You Yan. After awakening the ancient fierce beast “Fei”¹, he joined forces with it and led the demon hordes to officially declare war on the Heavenly Realm.

This showed that the demons didn’t care who their leader was. As long as that person had the ability, as long as they could lead them out of the Demon Realm, they would obey—even if it was the son of the Heavenly Emperor.

And it was precisely for this reason that You Yan had trusted no one when she was in the Demon Realm.

She was unwilling to let anyone serve her, much less let them get close. It was no exaggeration to say that when You Yan rested back then, it was impossible for any living thing, besides that little alpaca, to exist within a hundred-meter radius.

In the past, Yi Qiu had never paid attention to these things. Now that she suddenly recalled them, she felt a pang of heartache.

“The… the last time you made something for me to eat was back at Xianlu Sect,” Yi Qiu said softly.

“So it was,” You Yan replied quietly. “What did you think of it?”

Yi Qiu thought for a moment, then said earnestly, “It was delicious. I liked it a lot.”

You Yan smiled without a word, her gaze drifting to the gradually darkening sky outside the window.

That afternoon, Yi Qiu ate until she was full. Just as she let out a hiccup, she was on the road again with You Yan, traveling through the night.

After countless frustrations, Yi Qiu couldn’t help but feel the urge to give up thinking altogether—anyway, she was already hugging the thigh of the person with the highest IQ in the novel². If her brain could be freely detached, she wouldn’t even want to carry it around; it would save her the trouble of overheating it in her spare time.

At this moment, in the dead of night, with the moon slanting westward, Yi Qiu was brought back to Moshui City by You Yan.

She opened her eyes from a half-dreaming state, rubbing a fistful of tears away with the back of her hand as she dazedly looked around.

This was the inn where Jiang Yuyao and the others had temporarily stayed.

“How did we end up back here…” Yi Qiu couldn’t help but mumble under her breath.

Coming to an inn in the middle of the night… could it be that they were tired of flying and needed a rest?

It was possible. After all, You Yan’s thoughts couldn’t be casually measured with an ordinary person’s logic.

Just like in the afternoon, she had thought with all her heart that You Yan was off to handle important business, only for it to turn out that she had just taken her for a good meal.

At this moment, You Yan had suddenly come to the inn. Her motive was probably just as simple: she just wanted a good night’s sleep to rest and recover, and then set off again tomorrow, right?

But it was so late, the inn’s doors should have been bolted long ago. How were they supposed to check in?

Just as Yi Qiu was thinking this in a daze, she saw You Yan vault directly through the window of a certain guest room on the second floor. The movement was fluid and seamless, and she landed without a sound. The arm holding Yi Qiu loosened slightly, and with a reverse motion, she pushed her toward the bed.

“If you’re sleepy, then sleep for a bit,” You Yan said, slowly walking over to the table to sit.

Yi Qiu stood by the bed in a daze for a moment.

What was going on? She’d seen people dine and dash, but she’d never seen someone pull an “overlord’s sleep”³!

“This isn’t right, You Yan!” Yi Qiu said softly, having come to her senses. “We came in without a word. If we oversleep and get discovered, how embarrassing would that be…”

Her words had just fallen when she saw You Yan close her eyes. A pulse of spiritual power emanated from her body, like an invisible stream of water, slowly extending into the surroundings.

This looked like the Soul-Searching Technique. You Yan was looking for something.

Yi Qiu subconsciously glanced around and finally realized that the furnishings of this guest room were very familiar, especially the window that faced the well in the backyard.

She remembered. This was the room Chao Yun had stayed in before, exactly two rooms down from Jiang Yuyao.

Yi Qiu remembered the original text mentioning that the Yi Bird’s cultivation wasn’t particularly high, but it was extremely skilled at concealing its spiritual aura. That was precisely why You Yan hadn’t sensed its presence at all after it had been down the mountain for so long.

If she couldn’t find the Yi Bird, she could only look for Chao Yun.

You Yan’s sudden arrival here was perhaps to find the residual spiritual aura Chao Yun left behind and use it to determine her whereabouts.

Four days had already passed. That spiritual aura had probably dissipated almost completely. Finding it would likely take a lot of effort, wouldn’t it?

“You Yan, why don’t we just forget it…” If it was too much trouble, it wouldn’t be impossible to go back to waiting by the stump for a rabbit⁴. After all, she didn’t want You Yan to expend too much spiritual power over a few words she had said.

But You Yan acted as if she couldn’t hear her at all, paying her no mind. She just followed that faint residual aura, spreading her spiritual power farther and farther, bit by bit.

Yi Qiu leaned against the window and watched for a while, her eyes following that幽-green spiritual light. As she watched, sleepiness crept over her again.

Anyway, You Yan wouldn’t listen to persuasion. Maybe it was better to just get some sleep.

With that thought, Yi Qiu tiptoed to the bedside. She stared at the bedding for a good while before finally lying down after her third deep breath.

She’d forgotten how long it had been since she’d slept in a bed. For a moment there, she almost felt like she wasn’t worthy.

As expected, when a person is subjected to PUA⁵ for too long, they lose their self-confidence!

A person can sleep on the floor, but it must be voluntary, not forced!

Regarding this sleeping-on-the-floor issue, when a suitable opportunity arose in the future, she absolutely had to have a good talk with the bird woman about it. She couldn’t let this go on for a lifetime.

After making this resolution, Yi Qiu gave a huge yawn, pulled over the folded thin quilt, and comfortably stretched out flat.

However, she had felt quite sleepy just a moment ago, yet the second she lay down on the bed, her brain suddenly became excited. Her eyelids were clearly still heavy, but her drowsiness had dissipated significantly. The moment she closed her eyes, her mind filled with all sorts of chaotic thoughts.

The original novel did mention that unless used over a large area, the Soul-Searching Technique didn’t consume too much spiritual power. A single Moshui City shouldn’t count as a large area for You Yan, right?

Hopefully, when she woke up, You Yan would have found some clues.

Also, this whole business of being brought here by You Yan for an overlord’s sleep—she prayed and prayed it wouldn’t be discovered. Just thinking about it was so embarrassing.

Oh, right, right, there was a place across the street from this inn that sold doujiang youtiao⁶. The taste was pretty good. Maybe she could go for a meal tomorrow morning.

And she wondered when You Yan would repay the roasted fish she owed…

Argh, she couldn’t keep thinking about this. How could these stupid things be more addicting⁷ than a phone? If she didn’t sleep now, the sun would be up!

Yi Qiu gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, but she just couldn’t fall asleep.

She thought she might be the type who has trouble sleeping in a new bed… no, to be precise, she might be the type who has trouble sleeping off the ground.

She’d been sleeping on the floor for too long; she simply couldn’t fall asleep in a bed.

It was all that bird woman’s fault!

Utterly helpless, Yi Qiu turned on her side, seriously contemplating whether she should get down and make a pallet on the floor.

As she was thinking, she opened her eyes and found herself looking at You Yan.

The ethereal, mist-like, spectral green spiritual light gently coiled around Youyan’s slender frame.

Perhaps because her old injuries hadn’t fully healed, her lips were still somewhat pale. She didn’t know if it was an illusion, but this sense of frailness seemed to make her look less unattainable than before. Or maybe, it was just because the You Yan of today was indeed much more approachable.

As Yi Qiu was thinking this, she suddenly sat up, intending to hug the soft pillow. But for some reason, the pillow seemed to be stuck to the bed.

How could a pillow be stuck to a bed?

Could it be that Chao Yun knew long ago that she might get into trouble, so she hid a clue in her room beforehand? But to prevent it from being discovered by mortals, she used a spell to seal it.

If a mortal discovered that this pillow couldn’t be picked up, they would certainly think they’d encountered something demonic. And if something demonic appeared in Moshui City, they would definitely have to find Xianlu Sect.

In this way, it wouldn’t be difficult to get the message to Luo Mingyuan and Jiang Yuyao.

But then again, this spell didn’t have the slightest ripple of spiritual power; even You Yan hadn’t been able to detect it. Chao Yun was really amazing.

Yi Qiu grew a little curious and reached out, trying to gather her spiritual power and infuse it into the pillow.

Her own cultivation was low, so she had thought it would be a useless effort. But unexpectedly, after she infused it with spiritual power, she was able to pull the pillow right off the headboard.

Beneath the soft pillow lay a small, transparent bead. The bead was a turquoise-green color, and a spiritual light seemed to flow slowly within it.

Though it was just a small bead, Yi Qiu had the faint feeling that it seemed to embrace the ten thousand phenomena⁸ within.

Why did Chao Yun leave this?

“You Yan, look!” Yi Qiu called out subconsciously.

At that exact moment, You Yan’s eyes shot open with extreme vigilance, and in an instant, she retracted all the spiritual power that had been scattered across heaven and earth back into her body.

“There’s a bead hidden here, I don’t know if Chao Yun left it!” Yi Qiu said, about to pick up the bead, but was startled by You Yan’s sharp cry of “Don’t touch it!”

The next second, an exceptionally dazzling five-colored spiritual light burst forth from the bead.

What is this weird thing!

Yi Qiu reflexively raised a hand to shield her eyes from the light. Before she could even process what was happening, she heard You Yan shout anxiously, “Get over here!”

Shit, shit, shit! This must be a trap left by the Yi Bird!

Yi Qiu scrambled and fell off the bed. The light in the room was so blinding she couldn’t open her eyes at all. She just subconsciously got to her feet and stumbled toward You Yan.

But a powerful force from behind seemed to be dragging her back, pulling and pulling. She could feel You Yan channeling her spiritual power with one hand to resist it, while the other wielded Chuixue⁹ to bind her waist.

Yet her consciousness was still being rapidly devoured by that force behind her!

If this really was a trap the Yi Bird used to deal with the protagonists, then it was most likely a killing blow that a little alpaca like her couldn’t possibly withstand.

—Am I going to GG¹⁰ here?

In the final second before all her consciousness faded, she couldn’t help but roast them in her heart.

Damn it, Little bird coo coo fly, can you set up fewer weird things!

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