Little Alpaca – Chapter 140

Volume 4: Immeasurable

The Mid-Autumn Full Moon.

After this dream, You Yan seemed to have changed a lot.

And this change, no matter how you looked at it, seemed to be heading in a very good direction, yet Yi Qiu found herself somewhat at a loss for how to face it.

She felt that their current distance seemed a little strange.

Every night in that dream, she had slept quietly beside You Yan.

If one were to speak of the difference between a person and an alpaca, it was probably that when she was an alpaca, You Yan would hold her to sleep every night. But ever since she had changed back into human form, such a situation of sleeping in an embrace had never happened again.

In truth, for Yi Qiu, sharing a bed was just like back in her school dorm days when, after happening to watch a ghost movie, she’d be too scared to sleep and would have no choice but to run and squeeze into the same bed as her braver roommate. It was nothing worth dwelling on or overthinking.

But for some reason, she gradually began to feel ill at ease.

It wasn’t repulsion, but a sense of fluster.

Every time her hands were held, she would be at a loss.

Every time they were in bed and she accidentally touched the person beside her, she would be at a loss.

It seemed as if all of this had started after that day You Yan told her, “In this mortal world, only you can save me.”

She didn’t know what she had done to deserve such words from You Yan’s lips, yet she had a faint feeling that something was not quite right with her.

That strange feeling was something she only dared to keep in the bottom of her heart, not daring to mention it to You Yan at all.

So she tried her best to pretend nothing had happened, tried her best to be like before, serving the increasingly gentle You Yan every day in her own clumsy way.

And in the process of relying on and accompanying each other day and night, Yi Qiu would always unconsciously pull up the system attributes to take a look.

Of course, within the Floating Dream Pearl’s illusory realm, spiritual power was extremely chaotic, and the system was completely unable to monitor numerical values. Even if she looked at it a thousand or a hundred times in her spare moments each day, all she would see in the end was a pile of question marks.

She wondered…

Just what was You Yan’s favorability rating toward her now?

It seemed to be over ten thousand before they came in.

Over ten thousand—what did that even mean? And if it were even higher, what would that mean?

Yi Qiu would let her mind wander like this when she had nothing to do. As she thought and thought, the question marks accumulating in her brain were about to outnumber those in the attribute pane.

However, the days she had for such idle thoughts were not many. A dreamscape was, after all, a dreamscape. When the time came, she would have to leave, and that time was already close at hand.

One night, she was gently patted awake by You Yan from a messy dream. When she opened her eyes, she discovered she had already left the inn from the dream.

She saw a field of pure white before her.

It was not the snow of winter, but a pure white in the truest sense—aside from white, there was nothing else here.

“This is…” Yi Qiu shook her slightly dizzy head.

“I have already brought you out of the dreamscape. This place is the Source of Nightmares.” As You Yan spoke, as if afraid Yi Qiu wouldn’t understand, she added, “In other words, the true appearance of the Floating Dream Pearl’s interior.”

“There’s nothing inside this pearl?” Yi Qiu couldn’t help but be greatly surprised.

“Perhaps it is precisely because there is nothing that it can conjure all the deepest fears in a person’s heart,” You Yan said, glancing around her and sighing with emotion. “As the saying goes, formlessness gives birth to ten thousand forms, and the ten thousand forms are fundamentally formless¹. If all things in the world could return to one, it should also be a stretch of nothingness.”

Yi Qiu, only half-understanding, pouted and stood up from within the pure white nothingness.

All this talk of formlessness and ten thousand forms coming from You Yan’s mouth sounded like a tongue twister, giving her a terrible headache.

She thought, perhaps this was the “physics” of a fantasy world?

Just like “conservation of energy” or something—it doesn’t appear from thin air, nor does it vanish into thin air. It only transfers from one place to another, and then continuously cycles.

Within the Floating Dream Pearl’s illusory realm, there were many formless powers. This power would use a person’s soul as a medium and, based on the different thoughts in each person’s heart, transform from formless to tangible, becoming an illusory realm that imprisons people. And when the soul of the person who entered the realm shatters and scatters, the medium disappears, and the powers will once again return to formlessness. When a new medium arrives, the formless will again transform into the tangible…

This understanding shouldn’t be wrong, right?

【Host is truly clever to the peak of the head!²】

“Alright, alright, stop with the awkward flattery… Me, clever to the peak of the head?” Yi Qiu couldn’t help but mutter under her breath. “If I were clever to the peak of the head, I wouldn’t always be getting looked down on by You Yan.”

Hearing this, You Yan lowered her brows and glanced at Yi Qiu beside her.

Yi Qiu cleared her throat, raised her eyes, and changed the subject with a dry laugh, “So how do we get out?”

“We can leave at any time,” You Yan replied.

“Any time? Then why… are we standing here now?” Yi Qiu curiously stretched her neck forward, then, hearing You Yan’s soft laugh, came to her senses and quickly straightened her posture, her face blushing.

After being an alpaca for so long, her neck just had a tendency to uncontrollably stretch forward. She must have looked incredibly stupid.

She had to fix this bad habit quickly, or she’d be laughed at by You Yan every day.

“What’s so funny!” Yi Qiu frowned, randomly scratching at the bangs that had been messed up in her sleep, and asked again, “When are we getting out?”

You Yan was silent for a moment, then said faintly, “Hold me tight.”

“Huh?” Yi Qiu couldn’t help but be taken aback.

“Hold me tight,” You Yan repeated, her tone leaving no room for doubt.

Yi Qiu blinked, at a loss. After a brief hesitation, she obediently took two steps forward. She held out her hands, which didn’t know where to go, and hesitated for a long while before finally lightly wrapping them around You Yan’s slender waist.

Seeing Yi Qiu’s hesitant appearance, You Yan couldn’t help but add, “Tighter. I won’t be able to look after you when I break through the realm. If you get left behind, you’ll be staying here alone.”

“Ah!” Hearing this, Yi Qiu instantly cinched her arms tightly around You Yan’s waist.

In that moment, the strength in Yi Qiu’s arms was so great it seemed as if it could snap that thin waist, and even You Yan couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath.

“S-Sorry!” Yi Qiu quickly loosened her grip a little.

She was truly terrified of being left alone. Without You Yan, she was afraid she wouldn’t have survived more than three days in this illusory realm.

You Yan couldn’t help but curve her brows into a faint smile. She took a long, deep breath where she stood, slowly raising her fair hands. Her long, slender fingers gathered spiritual power and formed a hand seal in mid-air.

A surge of ethereal green spiritual light gushed from her fingertips. In just a few seconds, it had spread like a blanket, covering this entire pure white, formless illusory realm.

That patch of white suddenly surged like a tide, threatening to devour this smoke-like, mist-like ethereal green spiritual light completely.

The two streams of spiritual light continuously collided, emitting a bizarre and piercing hiss.

Yi Qiu saw You Yan’s hands trembling slightly, and a few beads of sweat had also appeared on her smooth cheeks.

She was a little worried but didn’t dare to disturb her. She could only hold her tightly in her arms, her heart pounding uncontrollably at her side.

After a brief stalemate, the spiritual light before them exploded with a boom. For a moment, the light was unbearably blinding.

Yi Qiu subconsciously closed her eyes. At the same time, a cool palm also gently covered her eyes.

The next second, she suddenly heard a loud bang by her ear. Heaven and earth trembled, and she was so frightened that she shrank deep into You Yan’s embrace.

You Yan held her tightly, which gave rise to an indescribable sense of security in her heart.

When the ground beneath her feet stopped trembling, when the roaring in her ears ceased, when You Yan released the cool palm from her eyes.

Yi Qiu slowly opened her eyes, only to see that the surroundings were no longer just a field of white.

She stared blankly around her and could tell at a glance that this was a stone cavern in the mountains. And half-suspended in the air before her was a pearl that had developed cracks.

“We’re out!” Yi Qiu exclaimed, looking at You Yan. “You Yan! We’re out!”

Her cheeks were crimson, but her eyes were filled with joy.

This was reality, the world outside the dreamscape!

She was so happy she started grabbing You Yan and bouncing around on the spot.

You Yan was shaken by her to the point of not knowing whether to laugh or cry. For a moment, she opened her mouth as if to say something, but when the words reached her lips, they turned into two heavy coughs.

Hearing this, Yi Qiu immediately let go of the hands that were grabbing and shaking You Yan, stopped her extremely childish actions, and asked with urgency and worry, “How are you? Did your injuries get worse?”

You Yan shook her head. “I’m fine.”

Yi Qiu frowned, clearly not believing her.

Ever since the battle with the Huodou in Wuzhou, You Yan’s injuries had never healed. Forcibly breaking through the Floating Dream Pearl’s illusory realm just now must have triggered her internal injuries again.

But even so, You Yan still told her, “I’m fine.”

If she were to expose her now, this bird woman would definitely feel like she’d lost face… Forget it. I’ll just pretend to believe her.

“That… That’s good, then.” As Yi Qiu spoke, she surveyed her surroundings with a tight frown. “Why isn’t the Yi Bird here?”

Didn’t they say the Floating Dream Pearl was something the Yi Bird carried with it?

“It’s best that it’s not here,” You Yan said, gathering a surge of spiritual power in her palm and shattering the Floating Dream Pearl suspended in mid-air into a million specks of dust.

“This…” Is this the legendary finishing blow?³

Well, that certainly deserves a good review.

As Yi Qiu thought this, she saw You Yan knit her brows and quickly stepped forward to support her. “And you still say you’re fine!”

“It’s nothing,” You Yan said, turning to look outside the cave and gesturing with her eyes for Yi Qiu to leave.

Yi Qiu pursed her lips for a moment and said no more, only helping You Yan walk step by step toward the cave entrance not far away.

The entrance to this stone cavern was also set with a spiritual power barrier. A five-colored spiritual light could be seen flowing slowly at the entrance; one glance was enough to know that no one outside could see in, and no one inside could walk out.

Before Yi Qiu even had time to worry, she saw You Yan shatter the five-colored spiritual light with another palm strike.

“You… You’re still using your spiritual power like this!” Yi Qiu started to get anxious. How could You Yan’s body hold up like this!

“What else?” You Yan retorted. “Take a nap here, wait for the Yi Bird to come over, and sit down for a chat?”

“…You’re right.” Yi Qiu bit her lower lip and helped You Yan out of the cave.

Outside was a mountain forest that stretched as far as the eye could see. A slight glance upward revealed the round moon in the sky.

Today is the mortal realm’s Mid-Autumn Festival⁴. If they were still in the mortal realm, they should be eating mooncakes, appreciating the flowers and the moon of this night…

Unfortunately, her luck was truly terrible. Not only was she trapped in a dream with You Yan for over a month, but after getting out, she was in these desolate mountains and wilds, not even knowing where she was.

“Where is this?”

“Snake Mountain.”

“Then, isn’t this the Yi Bird’s territory?” Yi Qiu instantly grew tense.

Snake Mountain was not the mortal realm. A dense concentration of heaven and earth spiritual energy gathered here, and countless demon spirits cultivated here. And every single one of these demons revered the Yi Bird as a god. If the Yi Bird discovered they had escaped, it would probably just take a single command to have the demon hordes of Snake Mountain bury them both.

“You Yan, we…”

“Don’t be afraid,” You Yan said. After a moment of contemplation, her fingers suddenly tapped several spiritual acupoints on Yi Qiu’s body with great speed.

Being poked like that so suddenly, Yi Qiu couldn’t help but look completely bewildered. Her hands subconsciously covered the two small mounds on her chest as she stared blankly at You Yan.

What was You Yan doing?!

The next second, she saw You Yan lower her head and tap the same few spiritual acupoints on her own body.

“You… This, this is…”

“Sealing our spiritual presence,” You Yan said, slumping down to the side. “I don’t have the strength to take you away from here for now, but we should still be able to evade the Yi Bird’s search.”

Yi Qiu’s mouth fell open. She quickly squatted down to support You Yan and said, “And you still said it was nothing!”

You Yan: “I’ll be fine after some rest.”

Yi Qiu: “Then, then what do we do now?”

You Yan: “No rush.”

Yi Qiu: “How can we not rush, you’re already…”

Before Yi Qiu could finish, her chattering little mouth was gently pressed shut by You Yan’s index finger.

The next second, she saw You Yan’s eyes curve into a smile as she turned her gaze to the sky.

“Today should be the mortal realm’s Mid-Autumn Festival.”

“…”

“Mortals appreciate flowers and gaze at the moon.” As You Yan spoke, she looked at the anxious-faced Yi Qiu and said, “The mortal realm would certainly be livelier, but I can’t take you to see it… The scenery of Snake Mountain is actually quite nice. Speaking of which, you know more of mortal affairs than I do. Look at this moon… is it any different from the one in the mortal realm?”

Yi Qiu bit her lip and said, “It wouldn’t be different… The moon under the heavens is the same one.”

“That’s good.” You Yan stroked Yi Qiu’s head. “We’ll make do with appreciating this one today. Next year, I’ll take you to the mortal realm to celebrate this Mid-Autumn Festival.”

How could there be a person like this? Injured to this extent, and still thinking about appreciating the moon.

Yi Qiu’s eyes reddened. She gently leaned against You Yan’s side and looked up at the sky.

“You said it,” Yi Qiu sniffled, muttering in a small voice, “You owe me.”

“Mm, I owe you.”

In truth, it didn’t matter where they were. After all, the moon tonight was truly full.

---

---