"True love is true love, but true love always has a cause," Shen Yuan said, staring intently at me. "Between people, how can such a 'cause' easily arise? Naturally, it requires similar character, suitable appearance, and compatible speech to find that spark. But you... the God of Laws, right?"
As he spoke, though I didn't want to admit it, I felt there was a hint of sarcasm in what he said.
"Finding a mortal in this small town to create that spark with you is truly too difficult. I pondered for a whole day and finally found a solution."
He gestured towards the dog in my arms as if introducing an important figure.
"If you can't find a lovely person, find a lovely dog? Is that your solution?" I asked him.
He smiled gently, comforting me. "This is a species inherently loyal and trusting. Only such sincerity is worthy of your true love."
I squinted. "I increasingly feel you're insulting me, but I can't find a flaw in your words."
Shen Yuan didn't answer me directly, only smiled.
"Anyway, solving the problem is our top priority right now. The dog is the most likely quick solution. How about this, I'll take you with me, give you two days to build a bond with this dog. Even if you fail in the end, it'll only take two days. Two days to verify a wrong path, and it'll be over quickly. Right, Little Fruit Fairy?"
I looked at Shen Yuan, then at the sleeping puppy in my arms.
It was snoring soundly, its breath spraying onto my dress.
My heart softened.
I nodded. "Alright, at least this dog's mouth won't confess to me casually." I looked up at Shen Yuan's mouth and asked him, "Right, Flower Butterfly?"
Flower Butterfly smiled with narrowed eyes. "God of Laws, you're quite the chatterbox."
"Thank you for the compliment. I'll keep the dog, you can leave."
I chased Flower Butterfly out of my room.
I looked at the dog in my arms, and for some reason, even though it was just sleeping, I inexplicably smiled.
As a fruit, I felt for the first time the cuteness of a living being.
Chapter 6
"The first step in building a bond with a puppy is to give it a special name."
Under the big tree outside the town, Shen Yuan told me this.
"Little Fruit Fairy, you name it."
I looked at the puppy running and thrashing on the ground, then frowned at Shen Yuan. "Don't just name me randomly, call me Good Fruit."
Shen Yuan raised an eyebrow. "Don't take it personally, Little Fruit..."
I glared at him.
Shen Yuan pursed his lips, then quickly changed his tune. "Alright, Little Liangguo. The rules I'm teaching you today are rules for building a bond with a puppy, not for people. Besides, don't you also call me Butterfly?" He asked me with a smile, "Do you also want to build a bond with me?"
I widened my eyes, looking left and right, afraid that a big rock would suddenly appear and crush me, but after waiting for a while and seeing no movement around me, I finally breathed a sigh of relief.
I scolded Shen Yuan, "Watch your words!"
He nodded repeatedly, but his reply was perfunctory. "I know, I know." He pointed to the puppy. "Quickly, give it a name."
I watched the round puppy hopping around on the ground, and almost immediately felt the sensation of petting it all night. "Fur... fluffy, I guess."
Shen Yuan pursed his lips and pondered for a moment regarding my naming ability, then bent down and ruffled the puppy's head. "Rongrong, your older sister named you Rongrong."
The puppy didn't understand Shen Yuan's embellishment of its name. It only knew someone was petting it. It happily lay down on the ground, sticking out its tongue and exposing its belly.
Watching this, I don't know why, but I also squatted down with Shen Yuan. I also reached out my hand, but because Shen Yuan was petting Rongrong, my hand stood in line beside him.
Shen Yuan chuckled, pulling my hand over and placing it on Rongrong's body. "The God of Laws is being too polite, even petting puppies requires queuing? Feel free to pet it, Rongrong is tough, you won't hurt it."
I readily complied and petted it too. Rongrong was indeed even happier. It had lost its fear and wariness of me from yesterday and started rolling around on its back, as if showing off its cuteness.
"This is the second step in building a bond with the puppy: playing with it."
Shen Yuan picked up a stick from the ground. "Come on, I'll throw this stick, you and Rongrong have a contest to see who gets it first."
With that, Shen Yuan tossed the stick out with a whoosh. Rongrong, who had been rolling on its back, immediately rolled over and pounced after the stick with its round body.
My feet were already moving, wanting to chase after Rongrong, but something felt off. I turned to look at Shen Yuan, who was gazing at me expectantly. "Not going with Rongrong?"
Looking at his expression, I crossed my arms. "How about I throw one, and you and Rongrong have a competition?"
Shen Yuan pursed his lips, saying regretfully, "You'll never experience the same joy as Rongrong."
"Go ahead!" I yelled at him.
Despite my outburst, Shen Yuan wasn't angry. He just lowered his head, covering his lips and chuckling. The dappled sunlight fell on his jade-like face, making his skin seem to glow.
He didn't look like an old tree spirit, but rather like a jade-carved immortal.
I turned my head and watched Rongrong excitedly run and jump, returning with a stick in its mouth. It placed the stick between Shen Yuan and me, barked happily twice, and then wagged its tail wildly, as if laughing along with Shen Yuan.
Shen Yuan patted its head and praised it. "Our Rongrong is so good."
In a daze, sunlight filtering through the leaves warmed the shadows, and a gentle breeze blew. Shen Yuan and I didn't seem like enemies who had come together to complete a task, but rather genuine friends playing with their little dog under the tree at the village entrance. We stole a day of leisure, enjoying the beauty equally bestowed upon us by nature.
Shen Yuan handed me a stick. "Why don't you play with Rongrong for a bit?"
For some reason, I was a little dazed.
Until Shen Yuan raised the stick high, tilting his head to look at me. "Little Fruit Fairy?"
I took it blankly, then imitated Shen Yuan, throwing the stick far away.
The stick arced, and Rongrong happily chased after it again, barking twice along the way, seemingly unable to contain its joy.
I watched the stick land, watched Rongrong pounce on it, grab it, and then run towards me without stopping, full of its passion and undisguised joy.
It brought the stick to me, stretched out its front paws, stuck out its rear end, and wagged its tail vigorously. As if possessed, I also patted the fluffy head and said, "Our fluffy... is so... so good."
A little awkwardly, but as I spoke, a warmth spread through my heart. Receiving an even more enthusiastic response from Rongrong, I felt my heart completely melt.
"Rongrong is so good," I said, skillfully stroking its head, my voice softer than I'd ever heard before.
Shen Yuan smiled beside me, saying nothing more. He sat on the ground, leaning against a large tree, head tilted back, eyes closed, seemingly truly enjoying the moment.
After playing for half the day, in the afternoon, Shen Yuan taught me how to feed the puppy. He said this was the third point in building a bond with a puppy. Then he took us to the area where stray dogs gathered in town. A large dog tried to bully Rongrong, so I picked it up. Shen Yuan said this was the fourth point in building a bond—protecting it.
And so it went, from two to four o'clock, until dark. The dog and I were exhausted, and Shen Yuan finally stopped and took us back to the inn.
As we entered the inn, Shen Yuan was still reminding me, "You have to sleep with it tonight, this is the fifth time..."
I held Rongrong, not responding, because upon stepping into the inn, I suddenly felt that the atmosphere was different from when we left that morning.
A group of burly men had entered the lobby on the first floor. They were all dressed in black, tight-fitting clothes, with leather wrist guards and knives at their waists, their faces grim. Although there were many of them, they were quiet, not one of them making a sound. Their body heat alone made the inn feel much stuffier.
They seemed very intimidating. The waiter and the owner had disappeared.
As Shen Yuan and I entered, they all turned their gazes towards us, either staring or scrutinizing us.
Rongrong buried its head in my chest, instinctively pulling away because it felt the pressure.
I stood there, patting Rongrong's back to comfort the little dog, when I felt a hand pat my back as well. The palm was warm. It was Shen Yuan.
I turned to look at him. He smiled warmly and led me forward, seemingly unaffected by the atmosphere, continuing softly, "Puppies shouldn't be bathed too often, but it's been running around all day. Wipe its paws."
His ordinary words seemed to dispel some of the unease brought on by the unusual atmosphere.
"I know," I replied, following him through the group of burly men.
They didn't make any move, glancing at me before turning back to sit quietly, as if waiting for someone.
As Shen Yuan and I were walking upstairs, we suddenly saw a tall, thin man coming down. He was also dressed in black, but unlike the burly men downstairs in their fitted outfits, he wore a black fox fur cloak despite the late spring weather. His slender, pale fingers, like his complexion, peeked out from the wide, silver-trimmed sleeves.
I glanced at him, meeting his gaze, and felt his eyes were dull and lifeless, empty and numb, as if he were looking at a dead person.
Our eyes met, neither of us lingering on the other's gaze. As we passed each other, Shen Yuan and I continued upstairs, but he stopped descending.
"You two..." the man called softly from the bottom of the steps, "Wait a moment."
His words drew the attention of all the burly men in the inn.
This time, it was even quieter, making even the chirping of insects outside seem noisy.
I stopped and turned to look at him, but the man's gaze didn't linger on me at all. He was only staring at Shen Yuan beside me. His lifeless gaze was illuminated by the flickering candlelight in the inn, but it still lacked warmth, carrying a chilling intensity.
"May I ask, is this young master a cultivator?"
As he spoke, I also looked at Shen Yuan beside me, but Shen Yuan remained silent for a moment before slightly turning his head and smilingly replying to the man in the black fox fur coat. "Whether I am or not, what can I do for you?"
"I observe that your breathing and exhalation are not those of an ordinary person, yet there is a slight bloody aura emanating from you, as if you harbor the residual aura of profound immortal arts..."
I raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.
Shen Yuan had been struck by eighty-one bolts of heavenly lightning and fallen to the mortal realm. It was easy to smell the bloody aura of his injuries, but it was not easy to detect the residual aura of profound immortal arts.
Heavenly lightning is not immortal arts, but divine arts. After striking for so long, he could still sense something in the fleeting moment they passed each other...
I took another look at the man, this time with more care.
I noticed that although he was physically weak, wisps of scattered spiritual energy gathered around him. These subtle wisps of energy were imperceptible even to the immortal standing beside me, let alone mortals. The most minute forces in the world could only be discerned by those of us who had fed on the Mountain and River Fruit for tens of thousands of years.
The man in the black fox fur was still a mortal, yet he could attract so much scattered spiritual energy around him without using magic. He must be a very powerful cultivator.
So young, and so talented. Perhaps he could even ascend to the Ninth Heaven and become a fellow immortal with the one beside me.
He didn't seem like a fool who only knew how to talk about love and romance.
I looked him over with satisfaction, and then he said, "I am Lu Beihan of the Lu Clan of Yan Peak. I have some medical knowledge. If you need my help, I can offer my humble assistance."
Could this person really be so kind? I couldn't tell from his eyes alone.
"Thank you for your kindness." Shen Yuan politely declined, as expected. "No need."
As he spoke, Shen Yuan's hand on my back exerted a slight pressure, gesturing for me to continue upwards.
I was holding Rongrong, not wanting to linger here.
Regardless of whether this person would ascend to the Ninth Heaven in the future, he seemed like someone not to be trifled with.
I had just taken a step when Shen Yuan's hand, which had been behind me, suddenly moved to my front, gently blocking my knee. I didn't take another step, and instead placed my foot on the same step.
And at that very moment!
"Whoosh!"
A short blade flew from an unexpected angle, suddenly embedding itself in the step above me. The force was so great that the hilt of the blade vibrated.
If Shen Yuan hadn't stopped me, the blade would have pierced my big toe!
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