Volume 1: Little Alpaca
After tonight, I’m afraid you’ll just be a dead dog.
After a false alarm, everyone continued to move forward.
Yi Qiu thought as she walked, and the more she thought, the more she felt that something was not right.
She admitted that she was just that timid, just that fond of using brain-filling1 to scare herself.
But she truly felt that her brain-filling was very reasonable, ah!
In this kind of place that was polluted by demonic energy to the point where birds don’t shit2, there was actually a fluffy little black dog sleeping, and sleeping so peacefully at that—is this reasonable?
She originally wanted to say something, but just now, everyone, including You Yan, had told her not to be jumpy.
Because of this, she held all of her fear in her stomach, not daring to say anything, not daring to ask anything, and only followed beside You Yan, trembling.
Intuition told her that tonight, in this very place, something terrible was definitely going to happen.
Although after becoming an alpaca, her intuition had never been accurate, this did not prevent her intuition from bringing her feelings of nervousness.
In the end, every person present had the ability to protect themselves; even Luo Mingyuan, who was mocked by his fellow martial brothers for being unable to even learn the introductory heart-method3, also had a body of good martial arts4.
But she was different, ah, she was just an alpaca with no real skills, and aside from spitting a few mouthfuls of saliva that would have difficulty breaking defenses5, she truly knew nothing else. If she encountered danger, she was afraid that even her running speed would not be faster than the little pig trotter whose injuries had not yet healed.
Thinking of this, Yi Qiu could not help but move closer to You Yan.
If one could say that on normal days she followed You Yan normally, then at this moment she was striving to stick close, wishing she could become a dog-skin plaster6 and directly adhere to this bird woman’s body; only that would count as absolute safety.
As a result, You Yan could not walk more than a few steps without being bumped by the fluffy, soft little alpaca beside her. After this repeated several times, she could not help but take a deep breath and directly reach out to grab the little alpaca by the scruff of its neck.
If it were the past, Yi Qiu would definitely have struggled fiercely, but this time, being held by You Yan, she instead felt an inexplicable sense of security and did not struggle in the slightest.
No matter how big a stone cave was, it would eventually have an end.
Yi Qiu did not know how long she had been walking while being held by the neck by You Yan; in any case, as they walked and walked, there was no more path ahead.
At the end of the stone cave, there was a small open area sealed by a layer of barrier. The barrier was suffused with a burst of spiritual light, illuminating the surrounding stone walls very brightly, but inside the barrier, it was completely empty.
“What is this barrier here to seal?” Jiang Yuyao stood at the edge of the barrier, suppressing a bit of curiosity within her wary gaze.
“There is nothing inside,” Luo Mingyuan said, carefully searching a full circle in the surroundings, as if wanting to find any clues left by the person who led them here, but in the end, he found nothing.
In this stone cave, there was only this one barrier sealing who-knows-what.
“Open it…” Jiang Yuyao said.
“This might be a trap,” Yi Qiu muttered in a small voice.
“Mm…” Jiang Yuyao responded faintly, turned to glance at Luo Mingyuan, then shifted her gaze to You Yan, “Bai-guniang, this barrier is extremely strange. If we break it open, it is unknown what will happen, but we are unwilling to have made this trip for nothing.
This yaojing injured my shidi, killed his parents, and has also harmed other mortals of Moshui City. Right now, the enemy is in the dark and we are in the light; aside from stepping into its trap, I can think of no other way to lure it out…
So, no matter how dangerous it is, today, my shidi and I are going to investigate this place to the end. It’s just that this matter should not have involved you. You are more than welcome to take Little Sheep…”
“No need for more words, just do it,” You Yan said, taking two steps back. With a clench of her right hand, the water-colored long whip tied at her waist was already in her hand.
Yi Qiu was so scared she dodged backward, only to hear the long whip crack with a loud sound against the ground. Then, with a forceful lash towards the barrier and a sound like it was tearing through the air, that seemingly incomparably sturdy barrier was actually smashed to pieces.
A trace of astonishment flashed through Jiang Yuyao’s eyes. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
At this very moment, a wisp of soul light7, which no one had previously discovered, drifted out from within the barrier that was dissipating inch by inch after being shattered.
That wisp of soul light was like an inch of starlight, floating weakly in mid-air, as if it would completely shatter with just a light touch.
“This is…” Jiang Yuyao was involuntarily stunned.
The next second, it suddenly burst into flames and, like a headless fly, began to ram around aimlessly within this stone cave.
“Be careful!” You Yan said, whipping the long whip in her hand towards it.
The instant the long whip struck the flame, a low roar echoed in the empty stone cave, accompanied by several layers of echoes, deafeningly loud.
The originally faint spark almost instantly transformed into a ball of fire.
“What is this ah!” Yi Qiu shrieked, frantically squeezing against You Yan.
She was terrified of fire, so afraid that her hands would tremble even when using a lighter to light birthday candles!
Jiang Yuyao came back to her senses, quickly retreated to Luo Mingyuan and You Yan’s side, chanted a sword-incantation, and erected a barrier, protecting everyone within it.
The constantly colliding flame burned larger and larger. It frantically crashed into everything within sight, scorching the surroundings until they were scalding hot.
For a moment, the entire stone cave seemed as if it had been set ablaze, glowing with a blinding firelight.
“In a place like this, how could…” A trace of astonishment flashed in You Yan’s eyes. She could not help but frown and urge, “Go!”
The moment her voice fell, the scorching flame, as if summoned, flew in the direction from which they had come.
Everyone did not have time to think much and also hurriedly rushed outside.
“What was that just now?” Luo Mingyuan asked in alarm.
“It’s a weird thing!” Yi Qiu cursed while chasing behind the three of them, her four short little legs moving as if they were equipped with motors, running extremely fast.
This was the first time she was able to keep up with the pace of these three people in front of her while running—
As an alpaca, an alpaca with no cultivation and unable to use Qinggong8, how difficult this was!
She dared to swear to the heavens that she had never run so fast in her life; this was simply a life-and-death speed9 forced out by the will to survive!
But as she ran, from the path they came from, a series of heavy footsteps suddenly sounded.
One step, one step, and another step.
It sounded like some kind of behemoth.
Ahead, the firelight soared to the sky, completely illuminating this dark and cold stone cave.
The surroundings became scorching hot in this instant.
The unknown fear made people involuntarily stop their forward steps.
“A land of misfortune scorched by heavenly fire10…” You Yan could not help but let out a cold laugh, “So it was it.”
“Who?” Yi Qiu’s voice trembled uncontrollably.
She did not remember, she truly did not remember what other thing in the original text, besides Luo Mingyuan, could play with fire to such an extent.
This thing blocking the road was completely beyond her comprehension!
You Yan mentioned being scorched by heavenly fire…
The two words ‘heavenly fire’, could they be referring to the fire wielded by that thing blocking the road?
In the world-setting of 《Thin, Withered Branch》, regardless of whether one was an immortal, yaojing, god, or devil, if their soul11 was burned to ashes by heavenly fire, there would be no possibility of resurrection or reincarnation.
Sure enough, the Yi Bird had lured Jiang Yuyao here with true killing intent.
But Luo Mingyuan was also here; shouldn’t the Yi Bird be deeply in love with the Golden Crow? The current situation clearly looked like it wanted to do away with both of them together, ah!
Just as Yi Qiu was letting her thoughts run wild, that approaching behemoth finally appeared before their eyes.
Yi Qiu was instantly dumbfounded.
It was a dog, a large black dog that was at least four meters tall.
It was so large that just by standing there, it directly filled the entire stone cave to the top.
On its pure black fur, there seemed to be faint, dark fire patterns flowing slowly. With every step it took, the path it walked over would ignite with red flames.
“What kind of yaojing is this…” Jiang Yuyao frowned, infusing spiritual energy into the body of her sword.
“The fierce beast Huodou12. I truly didn’t expect it to be sealed here,” You Yan said, reaching out to stop Jiang Yuyao who wanted to go forward. “Do not try to be a hero. Heavenly fire can incinerate everything in the world, including your three souls and seven spirits13.”
“…” A trace of panic flashed in Jiang Yuyao’s eyes, but she quickly calmed down again. “What do we do now?”
“I can hold it off for a while,” You Yan said, tightening her grip on Chuixue and, lowering her eyes to glance at Yi Qiu, said faintly, “You all take her and leave first.”
“Then are you confident you can get away?” Luo Mingyuan could not help but ask.
“Less nagging14, either leave or die,” You Yan finished, then patted the back of the little alpaca’s head. “Run faster, I’ll be right behind you.”
“Mhm!” Yi Qiu nodded her head repeatedly like a chicken pecking at rice.
She was not the least bit worried about You Yan. After all, with this bird woman’s abilities, even if she couldn’t take care of this big black dog, she could definitely escape after delaying for a moment.
At a time like this, she wasn’t afraid that You Yan couldn’t hold it off, only that Luo Mingyuan and Jiang Yuyao were two blockheads15 who would refuse to abandon a companion no matter what, insisting on playing that whole idiotic16 “live and die together” routine.
Fortunately, in the face of an absolute difference in strength, Jiang Yuyao and Luo Mingyuan could both be considered clear-headed and did not make that kind of suffocating, free-giveaway17 choice.
But the road ahead had practically become a sea of fire…
“I, how do I get across ah? I’ll be cooked!” the little alpaca could not help but let out a trembling voice.
The next second, Yi Qiu only felt her body suddenly become weightless. When she came to her senses, her very large self had already been hoisted onto Luo Mingyuan’s shoulder as he charged towards the 「sea of fire」 ahead.
In that instant, the youth’s thin shoulders dug painfully into her stomach, but how could she dare to be picky about anything? This kid’s injuries hadn’t even fully healed yet!
“Little pig trotter, can you even do this ah!”
“You’re a good person! I’ll eat less in the future and strive to lose weight!”
“No need…”
Seeing someone run towards it, the Huodou could not help but let out a low roar, raise its front paw, and swat towards them.
“Ahhh!” the little alpaca suddenly started screaming like a pig being slaughtered.
In the very second she thought she was about to be slapped into a well-done alpaca mixed with bird-meat paste, an extremely thick blue shadow flashed by, whipping the giant, about-to-fall dog paw several meters askew.
The huge black dog, failing to stand firm, staggered half a step to the side.
Causing the entire stone cave to tremble twice as if there were an earthquake.
“Go quickly!” Jiang Yuyao swung out a wave of sword-qi ahead, extinguishing the red flames on the ground and charging all the way in front.
Yi Qiu twisted her neck to look behind her, only to see You Yan soaring in mid-air, long whip in hand, the whip’s shadow a blur, seeming to weave a giant net that trapped the Huodou within.
At that moment, she actually felt that the slender figure was like a god of slaughter who had stepped out of hell, treading on blood.
It was completely impossible to overlap with the image in her memory.
After a brief trance, she observed a three-second silence for the Huodou’s back.
—After tonight, I’m afraid you’ll just be a dead dog.
✨ Unlock Early Access to Chapters! ✨
Choose your perfect membership at bamboopandatl.net:
📚 Full Access ($4.99)
• Advanced chapters of ALL ongoing novels
• Access to complete finished novels
• Ad-free reading experience
📖 Single Novel Access ($1.49)
• Advanced chapters of ONE specific novel
• Ad-free reading for chosen novel
PayPal is the only current payment option!