Li Guanqi found Meng Wanshu's behavior thoroughly amusing.
The young woman "stealthily" reached out a finger to pinch a piece of fish meat, but Li Guanqi lightly swatted her hand away.
"It's not done yet. Wait a little longer."
Pouting, Meng Wanshu drew her hand back and licked the grease off her finger. "How much longer will it take...?"
Li Guanqi stood up, rolled up his sleeves, and chuckled. "Soon, soon. I'll catch two more so we can roast them together."
Meng Wanshu nodded like a chick pecking at grain. The moment Li Guanqi walked away, she plucked a piece of meat from the spirit fish's belly and popped it into her mouth.
Seeing Li Guanqi glance back, Meng Wanshu clamped her mouth shut, her eyes wide with feigned innocence and confusion.
Li Guanqi smiled faintly, pretended not to notice, and leaped into the river.
Meng Wanshu chewed the succulent fish carefully, savoring how its tender texture combined with the aromatic spices to fill her mouth with flavor.
Her eyes lit up; under the flickering firelight, they curved into cheerful crescent moons.
Propping her chin on one hand, she turned the wooden skewer with the other. Surrounded by the chorus of chirping insects, Meng Wanshu thoroughly relished this peaceful moment.
Soon, Li Guanqi returned carrying two large fish, one in each hand. With practiced efficiency, he dressed them and propped them over the fire.
Their eyes met, neither knowing quite what to say.
Watching Meng Wanshu pretend nothing had happened, Li Guanqi's eyes were filled with doting affection.
As for the half-eaten roasted fish, Li Guanqi simply acted as though he hadn't noticed.
"That look in your eyes... are you telling me this fish never had a belly to begin with?"
Meng Wanshu nodded with absolute conviction.
"Hahahaha!"
"Hahaha!"
Pitter-patter! Patter-patter-patter!
A gentle drizzle began to fall. Li Guanqi casually plucked several enormous leaves from the forest to shelter behind them.
Each leaf spanned about a zhang across. Sticking four or five into the ground, he created a clean, dry shelter.
Warming themselves by the fire, eating the fish, and listening to the soft patter of rain, the two felt exceedingly content.
Meng Wanshu produced a guqin from somewhere.
Her slender, elegant fingers brushed across the strings, coaxing out slow, melodious, and undulating music.
Sitting across from her, Li Guanqi watched her play with her head lowered, the corners of his lips curving upward.
Suddenly, the music broke off. Both furrowed their brows slightly and looked toward the depths of the forest.
A little annoyed, Meng Wanshu put the guqin away, sat back down by the campfire, and took a fierce bite of roasted fish.
Li Guanqi's nostrils twitched slightly, his brow furrowing.
"Come out."
His voice faded, but only the chirping of insects answered him.
Helpless, Li Guanqi raised his hand and clenched his fingers slightly.
Several hundred zhang away, amid the dense grass, a fiery-red figure was suddenly hoisted into midair by an invisible force.
When Li Guanqi and Meng Wanshu saw the figure clearly, both were taken aback.
For the figure was clearly not human... or rather, merely possessed a human-like body and facial features.
The young girl had long fiery-red hair, and her entire body was covered in fiery-red fur.
Only her face was bare skin, pale and wan, with faint traces of blood on her forehead.
Most striking of all was her pair of fiery-red eyes.
Li Guanqi pulled her through the air until she hovered before them. Seeing the terror in her eyes, he frowned and asked, "Who are you?"
The girl trembled all over, keeping her head low, not daring to meet the gaze of either Li Guanqi or Meng Wanshu.
Meng Wanshu looked her up and down, finding that her strength was not high—only around the Core Formation realm.
Moreover, she was severely wounded; her shoulder blades had been pierced through, as if she had once been hung in midair by iron hooks.
Her fiery-red fur was dry and lackluster, matted with clotted blood and grime, making her look thoroughly disheveled.
On her cheek was an egg-sized burn scar that twisted across her face like an earthworm.
The branding was shaped like a cloud motif they had never seen before.
Meng Wanshu noticed that after her initial terror subsided, the girl's eyes remained fixed on the leftover fish heads.
Meng Wanshu said softly, "She must belong to the demon race, and she seems to be starving."
Li Guanqi released his spatial grip. Unsteady on her feet, the girl swayed and collapsed limply to the ground.
Li Guanqi waved a hand, floating the three picked-clean fish heads over to her.
The girl cast a grateful glance at the two, snatched the fish heads with both hands, and began devouring them ravenously.
As she ate, tears welled up in her fiery-red eyes.
Large teardrops splashed heavily onto the ground.
Clutching the fish heads and stuffing them frantically into her mouth, she glanced back toward the depths of the forest from time to time.
Li Guanqi stared at the girl's eyes, narrowing his own in contemplation.
Just then, however, as if sensing something, the girl suddenly snapped her head up to look at him.
Her eyes flared with an intense fiery-red light, and a powerful mental shockwave surged straight into Li Guanqi's mind!
Dong!
A muffled sound rang out. To Li Guanqi, the girl's power was no different from a mayfly trying to shake a giant tree.
It could not even breach the barrier of his sea of consciousness, let alone harm his Dao platform within.
Even so, the sheer force of the strike surprised him.
A mere minor demon of the Core Formation realm was capable of unleashing such a potent mental shock.
The girl leaped backward, intending to flee, but a cage of ice instantly trapped her!
Meng Wanshu let out a cold snort, a glint of frost flashing in her eyes.
"Ungrateful creature!"
As she spoke, dozens of ice spears condensed in an instant. With a flick of her hand, they shot toward the ice cage like lightning.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The ice spears shattered. Meng Wanshu frowned at Pengluo, who was standing right in front of the ice cage with his eyes squeezed shut.
"Big Radish, what's the meaning of this?"
Pengluo opened his eyes, frantically felt around his body, and only sighed in relief upon confirming he had not been skewered by any ice spears.
"Uh... Mistress, this little demon meant no harm."
Turning to glance at the girl huddled shivering at the edge of the cage, Pengluo sighed.
He looked back at Li Guanqi and said, "Master, she must have felt your gaze. You kept staring into her eyes, which is why she struck first."
Li Guanqi thought back. Just now, he had indeed sensed that there was something peculiar about her eyes.
Those fiery-red pupils had looked as if flames were swirling within them, emitting an exceedingly profound aura.
That was why he had stared a little longer, prompting the girl to unleash her mental shock against him.
Li Guanqi asked with a frown, "Do you know what kind of demon she is?"
Pengluo murmured with deep emotion, "I do."
"Her race has suffered an exceptionally tragic fate."
"The Fire-Eyed Demon Fox."
Only then did Li Guanqi notice that the girl had a fluffy tail behind her.
Hearing Pengluo name her race in a single breath, the girl's face instantly filled with despair.
Her tear-streaked face was utterly devoid of life. A deathly resolve flashed across her numb eyes, and she raised her hand to strike violently at her own forehead!
Pengluo raised a hand to seal her movements, then hung his head and sighed. "Don't throw away your life. We won't do anything to you."
At this, the girl sneered as if hearing the most absurd joke, her eyes brimming with mockery.
"Your hypocrisy makes me sick."
Her ethereal voice rang out slowly. Li Guanqi had not expected her to be able to speak.
He had thought she was mute...
Chapter 879