Panda Cub – Chapter 66

Idiot

What is it exactly? Why can’t I remember clearly?

Jing Dan furrowed her brows, feeling a sharp pain in her head intensifying.

He Ying noticed her strange demeanor, avoiding another attack from the black snake and quickly coming to Jing Dan’s side. She placed her hand on Jing Dan’s head and a cool spiritual power rushed in, completely bringing Jing Dan back to her senses.

Jing Dan looked up at He Ying.

“Don’t lose focus,” He Ying whispered.

Jing Dan tried to shake off the strange feeling without overthinking it, and her head didn’t ache as much anymore. She nodded, looked at the black snake, then took out her meteor hammer. Now that it was larger in size, she could finally use it.

The black snake didn’t waste time with words anymore. Despite being a giant tail, it moved as agile as fingers, making it particularly tricky to deal with.

He Ying’s eyes grew cold as she tightly gripped her crimson moon blade, covered in a chilling spiritual power, directly facing off with the black snake! The sounds of the blade striking the snake’s body were continuous, while Jing Dan’s meteor hammer struck heavily on the black snake with each swing, creating a strong gust of wind.

“You two, don’t even think about surviving!” the black snake roared, surging in power and dominating both of them for a moment.

He Ying’s heart sank. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, her aura had risen gradually to a point where she could faintly contend with the black snake. She skillfully wielded her blade, leaving a trail of wounds on the snake with each swing, while Jing Dan worked in perfect harmony, aiming her hammer at the wounds created by He Ying’s strikes. The spikes on the meteor hammer pierced into the wounds, causing the black snake to howl in pain.

“It’s you! It’s actually you!” The black snake roared to the sky, his voice filled with shock and hatred, “I didn’t expect you to still be alive. Hahaha, today I will definitely avenge the grudge you had against my Yao Dan years ago!”

He Ying’s face was cold and unaffected by his words, each attack carried a deadly intent.

“I’ll hold him off later, you run first,” He Ying said coldly.

“You—” Jing Dan looked up at her, but before she could finish, He Ying understood her meaning, “You run first. Once you’re safe, I’ll be able to relax. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

Jing Dan quietly gripped the iron chain in her hand. At this moment, she deeply felt that even though she was considered a genius in the clan, she was just as weak as before she matured.

Watching He Ying’s surging aura, she realized that staying would only be a source of worry for her. If she had to worry about herself, she wouldn’t be able to focus on dealing with the black snake. She nodded, “You must be safe!”

He Ying stared at the black snake roaring furiously to the sky, her tone softened a bit, “Of course, I’ll be fine. I can’t bear to leave you in someone else’s care.”

Jing Dan breathed a sigh of relief. At the moment when He Ying restrained the black snake, she quickly ran towards the south!

Seeing her trying to escape, the black snake intended to chase after her but was pulled back by He Ying’s blade.

“Your opponent is me!” He Ying’s aura surged once again, the dark pupils faintly glowing red. With Jing Dan no longer in the picture, she had no more reservations, and each attack was terrifyingly ruthless.

The black snake roared, engaging in a fierce battle with He Ying, yet still sneered, “You won’t last long.” 

“Then you can try.” 

The battle grew more intense, with the two exchanging blows, causing all the trees along the way to collapse, sending grass and dirt flying. 

“You really are insane! Always been crazy, still crazy now!” Unable to bear it anymore, the black snake, now in a sorry state, exerted all his strength to hurl He Ying away. He quickly transformed back into his original one-meter-long form and slithered away into the distance. 

However, he failed to notice that He Ying, who had been thrown off, had her aura instantly plummet, rendering her completely defenseless as she fell helplessly towards the distance.

He Ying caught a glimpse of the bottomless abyss beneath her as she fought the black snake, realizing there was no way to avoid it. Just as she was about to use all her strength to transform back to her true form in an attempt to slow down her descent, she suddenly caught sight of a dark shadow. In the next moment, her waist was encircled by an arm, and she fell into a warm embrace filled with the scent of green bamboo.

Jing Dan, who had rushed over at high speed, pulled her into her arms, and together they quickly plummeted down the cliff below with He Ying. Without any tools in hand, Jing Dan resorted to using her bare hands to grab onto the rocks protruding from the cliff face. Despite the pain shooting through her fingers and reaching her brain, she refused to give up. Sliding down the rocks to reduce their fall speed, she finally came to a stop after grabbing onto a protruding stone on the cliff.

“You… you are really disobedient,” He Ying lowered her head. Despite being completely exhausted, Jing Dan’s actions still managed to irritate her. She was both angry and amused, feeling emotional.

This idiot, she told her to run, so why did she come back?

“I listened to you!” Jing Dan sniffed and hugged He Ying tighter. She did run, just not far, staying in place and keeping a close eye on He Ying’s condition.

She knew that in such a situation, she would become a hindrance to He Ying, so she obeyed and left. However, she couldn’t bring herself to truly abandon He Ying and run far away.

He Ying’s smile was bittersweet, but she didn’t blame Jing Dan. For even if the roles were reversed, she couldn’t bring herself to leave Jing Dan behind.

“But now… *cough*!” He Ying had wanted to say something, but her blood surged, causing her to cough up blood, which continued to flow out.

“He Ying, you promised that you would be fine!” Jing Dan lowered her head and saw He Ying in this state, tears immediately welled up in her eyes. She couldn’t even bring herself to wipe away the blood for her!

If He Ying could see, she would notice that Jing Dan’s hand tightly gripping the cliff face was already a mess of flesh and blood, with some areas worn down to reveal stark white bones.

*cough* “I told you,” He Ying’s voice grew weaker, “It’s the backlash.”

Using power beyond one’s capacity would lead to this.

She glanced at the endless abyss beneath their feet. In her current state, even if she transformed back to her true form, she wouldn’t have the strength to flap her wings. However, if they continued to struggle like this, when Jing Dan was exhausted, they would both be doomed.

“Let me go, I’ll transform and carry you.” He Ying spoke softly.

But upon hearing her words, Jing Dan tensed up completely, hugging her even tighter. Her voice trembled as she said, “Don’t lie to me! If you could fly before, you would have already transformed!”

He Ying smiled bitterly, wondering why such a clueless person like Jing Dan had so much cunning. 

“If you don’t let go, we will both die.”

“Then let’s die together!”

“…”

Seeing that reasoning was futile, He Ying tried to pry Jing Dan’s hands away from holding onto her.

Jing Dan noticed her actions, “If you dare to let go, I’ll let go now, and we’ll die together!”

Her tone was firm, showing no sign of deception.

Disheartened by Jing Dan’s response, He Ying dared not move.

“Idiot,” she whispered.

But it was not foolishness, it was brave sacrifice to accompany her in fearlessness.

“I’m very clever!” Jing Dan sniffed and muttered, she was not stupid at all.

He Ying smiled, but deep down, she felt weighed down. How much longer could they hold on like this?

She scanned the surroundings, but suddenly froze in place, her gaze fixed on a particular spot.

By now, the sky was turning light, and she faintly saw, not far from where they were, on the cliff, a purple flower that resembled a trumpet flower but with leaves like pomelo leaves, shining brightly.

“I wonder if our luck is good.” He Ying spoke softly, the Soul-Calming Grass they were looking for was right nearby. Unfortunately, they had found it, but whether they would survive to return remained uncertain.

Following her gaze, Jing Dan looked over, but she didn’t recognize these herbs. However, considering He Ying’s attitude, she asked, “Is that the Soul-Calming Grass?”

“Yeah,” He Ying responded softly.

The difficulty now lay in He Ying’s lack of strength. Both of them were hanging on the cliff, unable to do much.

Both of them fell silent.

Time passed quietly, and He Ying took advantage of this time to adjust the turbulent energy within her body, trying to gather some strength to carry Jing Dan and fly up.

Suddenly, they heard a crane’s cry from afar. He Ying was stunned, her eyes filled with disbelief.

Another crane’s cry sounded, getting closer and closer. In an instant, they looked up to see a pure white crane hovering above them, flapping its wings as it flew towards them.

“Mom…” He Ying murmured, still finding it hard to believe her eyes.

Upon hearing her words, Jing Dan, with a curious look in her eyes, asked, “Is your true form this big too? So white!”

He Ying replied, “…No, I’m smaller.”

Jing Dan’s tone seemed a little bit disappointed as she let out a soft “oh.”

He Ying remained silent.

“I can hear you,” He Yuan’s gentle voice came through.

Jing Dan tried to lift her head to see more clearly, and once again sincerely exclaimed, “Auntie, you are so white!”

He Yuan responded, “…”

This fool, shouldn’t she say to hurry up and save them now?

She flew under the two, allowing them to let go and fall onto her back. Then, she flew to the area around the Soul-Calming Grass, allowing Jing Dan to reach out and pluck it.

In the instant Jing Dan reached out, He Ying saw her terribly mangled hand and her face changed color. She quickly grabbed her hand and said, “Let me do it.”

With a serious expression, she picked the Soul-Calming Grass and then applied medicine to Jing Dan’s hand. She regretted not realizing earlier how Jing Dan had been using her bare hands to cling to the wall.

Seeing Jing Dan’s hand, which was already showing bone, her eyes reddened, and her nose felt sore. “Idiot!”

Jing Dan wrinkled her nose and said irritably, “This is the second time today you’ve called me idiot!”

“You are indeed an idiot.” If she hadn’t rushed over, how would she have gotten this injury.

Angry, Jing Dan turned away from He Ying, refusing to let her touch her hand. Even her posture exuded a scent of ‘I’m angry, you better make it up to me’.

He Ying felt even more remorseful. She stepped forward, embraced Jing Dan from behind, and applied medicine to her wounds, whispering, “My little idiot.”

He Yuan, who had been used as a mount: “…” Have they entirely forgot she was there?

After swiftly flying away from the inner area of the Gulong Mountain Range, He Yuan found a relatively safe spot on the outer area and stopped. She transformed back into human form, then reached out to grab He Ying’s hand, using her spiritual power to examine her body. Her expression darkened.

“You said you could control that power, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, about seventy to eighty percent,” He Ying weakly chuckled.

He Yuan remained silent.

With a serious expression, she helped He Ying regulate the chaotic energy within her, “This time, you were lucky.”

The Black Snake was actually scared off by her reckless aura, fleeing in panic without noticing that He Ying was already at her last breath.

He Ying smiled dismissively and asked, “You’ve been following us all this time?”

Feeling a mix of emotions, she had never imagined that He Yuan would secretly follow behind because she was worried about her.

“Yeah,” He Yuan casually responded, “You’ve made some progress during these years outside.” Then, she turned to look at Jing Dan, “You’re not bad either.”

In this actual battle, there was no sense of being overly protected around Jing Dan.

However, upon hearing He Yuan’s words, Jing Dan didn’t feel any joy but rather a bit of melancholy. She was fully aware of her own situation – she was still too weak, unable to even defeat the Black Snake.

He Ying looked at Lady He with confusion, not understanding why she waited until the last moment to appear if she had been following them all along.

Seeing her confusion, He Yuan explained, “Incidents like today will happen more often in the future when luck isn’t on your side. No one will come to save you then; you can only rely on yourselves.” After a moment of silence, she continued, “When you fell earlier, I saw Jing Dan rushing over, so I went after the Black Snake first.”

When mentioning the Black Snake, He Yuan’s expression turned extremely grim. She said, “Some things he said before really caught my attention. He mentioned a panda before and said you are ‘her.'” When talking about it, He Yuan glanced at Jing Dan, “There must be a connection between him and you!”

He Ying furrowed her brows. She looked at Jing Dan’s bewildered expression and realized that if there was a connection with them, it must have been in their past lives. The problem now was that they had no knowledge of their past lives!

“Did you catch up to him?” He Ying asked.

He Yuan shook her head with a heavy expression, “No, he ran too fast. After burrowing underground, he disappeared without a trace. I tried to dig up the ground, but it was filled with a maze of snake tunnels, making it impossible to find him.”

That Black Snake seemed to have turned the Gulong Mountain Range into its own stronghold.

He Ying’s expression darkened. If that Black Snake had a grudge with them from their past lives and had already seen their faces, seeking revenge on them would be effortless.

“You must merge with your soul,” He Yuan turned to Jing Dan, “Only after you merge with your soul and know what happened before can we come up with a better plan to deal with that Black Snake.”

While it may have been inconsequential whether Jing Dan merged with her soul before, given that it wouldn’t affect her normal life, the emergence of a Black Snake now posed a significant threat, forcing them to make a decision.

Upon hearing her words, Jing Dan also understood the seriousness of the situation. After all, neither of them had expected that coming in search of a Soul-Calming Grass would lead them to encounter an enemy from their past lives. After thinking for a moment, with a slightly furrowed brow, she said, “It’s unwilling to merge with me.”

Her previous refusal to merge was just a moment of anger. The major issue was that the remnant soul was unwilling to merge with her!

After hearing her words, He Ying and He Yuan fell into silence.

The atmosphere became somewhat somber. After checking Jing Dan’s injuries again, He Yuan said, “Let’s go home first and discuss further later.”

Jing Dan replied, “Okay.”

Taking into consideration He Ying’s condition, He Yuan ultimately carried them flying out. Jing Dan reached out to touch the feathers on He Yuan’s back, marveling slightly. She then looked towards the distant horizon as the wind brushed against her face, feeling a sense of wonder.

Unexpectedly, before He Ying could take her flying, Jing Dan had already experienced the sensation of flying with He Yuan.

After exiting the Gulong Mountain Range, He Yuan transformed back into human form. They had to continue on foot as humans to avoid drawing attention as before.

He Ying’s body was too weak, and she fell asleep halfway. Jing Dan carried her on her back, and when the three arrived at a small town outside the Gulong Mountain Range, Jing Shiyue was already waiting for them. Seeing Jing Dan carrying He Ying, her expression immediately changed.

“How is she? Is there a major issue?” Jing Shiyue asked anxiously.

He Yuan glanced at her, “Excessive consumption, she needs to rest for a period of time.”

Upon hearing this, Jing Shiyue let out a sigh of relief. They had only found out about the trouble after receiving a call from Jing Dan.

When they returned to Huaqing City, Jing Li, who had rushed back from their clan, took out a pill for Jing Dan to feed to He Ying. “This medicine is very effective for excessive consumption.”

He Yuan nodded, looking at the now sleeping He Ying with an extremely complex expression in her eyes. It seemed that some things could not be kept hidden any longer.

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He Ying remained in a deep sleep for two days. When she woke up again, she could smell the scent of disinfectant in the air. Opening her eyes, she found herself in darkness, and after a moment of contemplation, she realized she was in a hospital.

As she tried to sit up, the person sleeping on her bed suddenly woke up, grabbed her hand in excitement, and exclaimed, “He Ying!”

Upon hearing Jing Dan’s voice, He Ying felt her nose slightly stinging and responded softly.

“Should I turn on the light now?” Jing Dan asked.

“Mm.”

With a click, the entire hospital room lit up. He Ying squinted slightly, adjusted to the light, and then opened her eyes to see Jing Dan beside her, her eyes slightly red.

“Don’t cry,” He Ying said softly. Seeing Jing Dan like this made her feel uncomfortable too, and she hoped her Jing Xiaodan could always be happy.

“Mm,” Jing Dan sniffed and controlled her emotions, then sat down, holding He Ying’s hand. She asked, “Are you feeling unwell anywhere else?”

He Ying assessed her condition and replied with a faint smile, “No, just a bit weak. I’ll be fine after a while.”

Jing Dan lay on the bed, holding He Ying in her arms, and said in a muffled tone, “You have to take care of yourself from now on!”

He Ying raised her hand to embrace Jing Dan, “Mm, we are all fine.”

Those who were meant to be together would eventually come together.

Although it was said like this, the sudden appearance of the Black Snake remained a shadow looming over them. Thankfully, the Black Snake was seriously injured, so they would hopefully have some peace for a while.

On the second day after she woke up, everyone gathered in the hospital room, including Jing Dan’s father, who had rushed over from the clan and was now standing behind Jing Li.

After examining her again, He Yuan said, “The situation looks good. Just take good care of yourself.”

“Mm,” He Ying nodded in response.

After confirming that everything was all right, the others gave the young ones some space. Hu Tu approached He Ying and Jing Dan, giving them a thumbs up and marveling, “You two are really brave, daring to enter the Gulong Mountain Range so casually.”

He Ying glanced quietly at her. How could they have known their luck would be so bad, encountering a monster inside who had a grudge against them from their past life? If it weren’t for him, He Ying was confident that she and Jing Dan could have safely returned.

Seeing their reaction, Hu Tu didn’t say anything else. Seizing the opportunity while Jing Dan was called out by Jing Shiyue, she lowered her voice and asked, “Do you want to see what Jing Dan looks like when she was young?”

He Ying paused at her words, then looked at her, seeming to not quite understand what she was talking about.

Hu Tu suddenly smiled proudly, pointing at herself. “I am Jing Dan’s childhood friend and have watched her grow up!”

He Ying: “…So, what did you capture?”

Hu Tu’s smile widened even more, but she couldn’t just show He Ying the photos she took for nothing. She replied, “I plan to visit Licheng later, it will probably take around two or three months.”

He Ying: “…I’ll cover for you.”

“Great!” Hu Tu immediately took out her phone, saying as she searched, “I’ve changed phones many times over the years, but I’ve never deleted anything related to Jing Dan!”

As she spoke, she unlocked the encryption and opened a video, handing it to He Ying to watch. Holding back her laughter, she said, “Definitely worth your help covering for me!”

He Ying looked over and saw a large room with clean wooden floors, where a dozen panda cubs lay on their bellies. They appeared too young to walk and could only move around on all fours.

At a glance, she immediately recognized Jing Dan. Her iconic silly hair stood out among the group of panda cubs, making it hard not to recognize her. At that moment, she was lying on the floor with her four paws spread out in four directions, resembling a black-and-white glutinous rice ball lying there motionless, perhaps asleep.

At that moment, another panda nearby began to move towards her, patting her body with a paw before trying to climb on top of Jing Dan. It seemed like it wanted to lay on her.

Of course, Jing Dan wouldn’t allow that. She started to stretch out her paws and play-fight with the panda. Unfortunately, she looked smaller and weaker, unable to compete. In the end, she got bitten on the head by the panda.

He Ying: “…”

She tilted her head, her shoulders starting to shake. Once she calmed down, she looked at Hu Tu. “Add two more months, and send me all the videos and photos of Jing Dan from your phone.”

Hu Tu, seeing Jing Dan come in, gave He Ying a thumbs up gesture.

Jing Dan sat down beside He Ying, holding He Ying’s hand and fidgeting with it, speaking softly, “Auntie asked when we plan to get married. She wants me to take you back to our clan before getting married.”

After saying these words, her cheeks blushed slightly, even feeling shy to meet He Ying’s gaze.

“Marriage?” He Ying was also a bit taken aback. So sudden?

She looked at Jing Dan and saw her blush. Suddenly, she gently chuckled. He Ying, who initially thought it was too soon, immediately felt relieved. She shook the hand that Jing Dan held and softly said, “Are you willing to marry me earlier then?”

With a flickering gaze and a shy tone, Jing Dan replied, “If you are, then I am.”

He Ying’s smile deepened, “Then let’s find a time to return to your clan.”

“Okay,” Jing Dan nodded.

Hu Tu on the side: “…” Damn, have these two forgotten about her?! 

Are they completely ignoring her feelings as a lonely individual?!

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The author has something to say:

If the soul cub were to appear again when they get married.

Soul Cub: ??? What did I just see!

It’s the end of the month, is there any nutrient solution for Zaizai (￣▽￣)

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