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Just a short while later, he suddenly sensed something and looked behind him. He immediately saw the little Stranger standing beneath a tree and watching him, the bottle of Nature’s Water pressed tightly against his chest.

Ye Qing’s feelings improved immediately after he spotted the little Stranger. The little Stranger too giggled when it heard his words.

“Well, you’ve seen me off. You can go home now,” said Ye Qing with a chuckle.

“Hahaha…”

Still giggling, the little Stranger shook its head and ignored the request.

“What’s wrong? Do you miss me already? Don’t worry, I promise I’ll come back and visit you once I’m done with my business. It won’t take long at all.”

Ye Qing waved his hand. “You really should go home now. Goodbye!”

However, he had just taken a few steps when he realized that the little Stranger hadn’t left. In fact, it was following right behind him.

This time, Ye Qing looked back with a frown and added some steel into his voice. “Be a good boy and go home, okay?”

“Hahaha…”

However, the little Stranger simply laughed happily in response.

Helpless, Ye Qing had no choice but to feign anger. “Seriously, don’t follow me any longer. If not, I’m going to get angry.”

As he said this, he pushed off the ground and disappeared like an illusion. When he reappeared the next moment, he was ten meters away from his original position. A couple of blinks later, he was completely gone.

However, Ye Qing had dashed just a hundred meters or so when he stopped again, a helpless expression on his face. He looked right and watched as the little Stranger crawled out from behind a rock while carrying the bottle of Nature’s Water on the lotus leaf on its head, giggling.

Ye Qing was starting to feel frustrated, but how could he vent against the cute little Stranger?

“What on earth do you want, little one?”

Ye Qing sighed. The little Stranger might look cute and harmless, but it was clear that it was no ordinary Stranger. For starters, it could turn invisible and become undetectable to most people. Second, it was apparently well-versed not just in the ways of the water, but also the earth. Earlier, he had pushed “Illusionist’s Grace” to its limits and even used his demonic thought to conceal his energies. Despite this, the little Stranger still caught up to him effortlessly.

As of now, it was unlikely he would be able to shake off the little Stranger.

Ye Qing slowly stepped toward the little Stranger, but it immediately ducked behind the rock. So, he stopped. A moment later, after confirming that Ye Qing hadn’t come any closer, he crawled up again and sat on top of the rock. It swayed left and right and giggled while still carrying the bottle on its head.

“Do you want to come with me?”

Ye Qing watched the little Stranger and said slowly, “Normally, I wouldn’t say no to such a fine companion, but the place I’m headed to this time is very, very dangerous. If you come with me, you would be in danger as well.”

The little Stranger seemed to understand his words. It shook its head—the bottle on its head wobbling unsteadily as well, but never falling—as if to say that it wasn’t afraid.

“No seriously, the place I’m headed to is extremely dangerous.” Ye Qing’s heart softened a little. “Be a good boy and stay at Celestial Spring for now, okay? If you still wish to follow me when I come back, then I’ll take you with me. What do you say?”

The little Stranger did not respond. It continued to sway left and right on the rock.

“I’ll take your silence as a yes,” Ye Qing said before trying to walk away again. But once again, the little Stranger stubbornly followed him after he had just taken a few steps.

If he moved slowly, then the little Stranger would move slowly. If he moved quickly, then it would move quickly as well. It always hovered about ten meters away from him, and it was always able to keep pace with him no matter what he tried.

Finally, Ye Qing looked back and said in a harsh tone, “If you can understand my words, then I’m going to say this one more time. Don’t follow me, or we aren’t friends anymore.”

On a tree branch, the giggling Stranger suddenly stopped giggling altogether. Even its movements had frozen for a second. Then, its crescent-shaped eyes lost their brightness as if they were overcast by black clouds, leaving behind only loneliness and sorrow.

A cool breeze blew through the area. The sky was huge, the earth was vast, and the red dust was as infinite as it was complex. But right now, none of it had to do with the little Stranger.

All it had was loneliness, despair, and sorrow.

Ye Qing turned away and walked toward the distance, and this time the little Stranger did not follow him. It simply sat forlornly on the tree branch, silent and sad.

A few steps later, Ye Qing heaved out a deep sigh and stopped in his tracks once more. Then, he looked back at the little Stranger and said, “If you really want to come with me, then come. How can I say no to a friend?”

On the branch, the little Stranger’s eyes lit up instantly. They slowly curved back into crescents, and its giggles were so loud that it resounded throughout the area.

Ye Qing couldn’t help but smile brightly when he heard its smile as well.

“I can’t always call you little one. Since you like giggling, I think I’ll call you Giggle[1].”

Ye Qing smiled at the little Stranger giggling and swaying back and forth on the tree branch and declared, “C’mon! Let’s explore this world together!”

The little Stranger jumped off the tree branch and followed him happily.

And so a pair of big and small men journeyed toward the horizon amidst a chorus of laughter.

……

“Are you tired, Giggle? Do you want a drink?”

On top of a sand dune, Ye Qing was sitting crosslegged and wetting his throat with a sip of wine.

A few breaths later, Giggle crawled out of the sand next to Ye Qing and tried to copy Ye Qing’s posture, the bottle of Nature’s Water still sitting on its head. However, it fell sideways the moment it tried this because its legs were too short. The failure did not annoy it though. It simply laughed brightly and continued about its business.

A few seconds later, Giggle leaned over to Ye Qing’s side and took a sniff. Then, it gave him a nod. So, Ye Qing poured it a cup of wine.

The wine he was currently drinking was a type of fruit wine with very little alcohol in it. It was sweet, fragrant, and was safe even for children to drink, much less a Stranger.

The wine cup was small, but for Giggle, it was practically the size of a basin.

Giggle took a tentative sip. When it decided that it liked the taste, its eyes curved into crescents, and it began guzzling down the wine earnestly.

Once done, it set down the cup and let out a huge burp. Its reddish face looked extremely cute to say the least.

“Alright. Let’s continue.”

Ye Qing climbed up to his feet and stepped into the vast, boundless desert in front of him. Giggle also got up and followed right behind him.

Originally, Ye Qing wanted to keep Giggle on his shoulder or inside his Dragon Nursing Nest.

Naturally, he had procured the Dragon Nursing Nest from Innocent Miao. It was a Phenomenon-class Strange Artifact, and he saw no reason to waste it.

The Dragon Nursing Nest was a Strange Artifact the Dragonrider Mountain used to nurture and strengthen a Stranger. Therefore, its internal space could be used to store living creatures such as Giggle.

Giggle did not like staying inside the Dragon Nursing Nest though. It preferred to walk with him.

At first, Ye Qing was sure that Giggle would grow tired after a while. After all, its legs were many, many times shorter than his despite its speed. He was wrong, however. Not only did Giggle manage to keep up with him, its stamina was greater as well. Like a human child, the trek that wore even him down did not seem to affect it in the slightest. In the end, Ye Qing decided to leave Giggle to its own devices.

The desert ahead of them was named the Blackwind Desert[2] It neither belonged to Chu nor Yan. It was a neutral, ownerless territory that both countries shared.

Blackwind Desert was quite the famous landscape. It was known to Yan and Chu when the Tea and Horse Road was still prospering.

It wasn’t because of anything good though. It was infamous because it was dangerous and haunted by many strange phenomena.

As its name implied, Blackwind Desert was often beset by black sandstorms. Whenever a storm appeared, yellow sand would cover the sky, and the world would darken to the point it almost felt like nighttime.

That wasn’t all. Whenever a black sandstorm appeared, there was a chance the Blackwind Army might appear, and they crushed everything that was unfortunate enough to stand in their way.

1. Wawa’s future boyfriend maybe kek. ☜

2. Do correct me if I accidentally wrote Black Desert in the future lol. ☜