“There’s no telling when the new route will be finished. The security team and construction crew still can’t get in yet. If there really are tomb raiders in there, it’ll be dangerous for us to go in too.”

Ji Mingyu wasn’t afraid for himself, of course. What he feared was that Ninth Master might get hurt.

After all, Ninth Master’s status was noble beyond question. If anything happened to him, it would shake the whole of Jiangzhou to its foundations.

“My suggestion is that tomorrow I go in first to take a look. Qin Fei and Miss Jiu’er can stay here with Ninth Master. Once—”

“If we stay here, does that mean we’ll be safe?” Lu Beicheng’s indifferent eyes slanted toward him.

“This—”

Ji Mingyu immediately remembered the attack from three days ago.

“So going in isn’t safe, and staying here isn’t necessarily safe either. Then what’s the point of staying here?”

That question left Ji Mingyu with no answer.

After a long moment, Ji Mingyu finally said, “Very well then, we’ll go in together. But we still don’t know exactly what’s going on inside Ying’an City right now, Ninth Master, so please be careful.”

Lu Beicheng said nothing.

Ji Mingyu knew that Ninth Master had no patience for that kind of tender talk, and even less patience for saying it himself.

The man was cold and unyielding through and through. Ji Mingyu wondered when that would ever change — any ordinary young lady wouldn’t be able to withstand Ninth Master’s coldness.

Outside, footsteps approached.

Ji Mingyu rose at once and looked toward the tent flap.

“Ninth Master, I’ve come to give you your acupuncture. Is now a good time?”

It was Zhen Jiu’er.

“Good time. Ninth Master’s got nothing but time right now,” Ji Mingyu answered with a grin on Lu Beicheng’s behalf.

Zhen Jiu’er, carrying her medicine case, lifted the flap and stepped inside.

“Miss Jiu’er, how has Ninth Master’s leg been lately? Any worse?”

They had been out here for days now, walking rough mountain trails every day, and the air in the primeval forest was so damp — he wondered if it might be affecting Ninth Master’s leg.

“No worse.” Zhen Jiu’er set down her medicine case.

Ji Mingyu waited for her to go on, but to his surprise, once she’d said that much she simply ignored him.

That same cold attitude again. Sigh — his luck really was terrible.

Still, these past few days the relationship between Miss Jiu’er and Ninth Master hadn’t seemed too good either. She’d been cold toward Ninth Master as well.

So her being cold toward him too — Ji Mingyu could understand that.

If she was angry at Ninth Master, of course she wouldn’t treat him any differently, since after all, he was one of Ninth Master’s people.

Still, what exactly were the two of them so upset about?

They seemed to be drifting further and further apart…

“Well then… I won’t disturb the two of you.”

Ji Mingyu looked at Lu Beicheng respectfully. “I’ll go prepare what we’ll need for tomorrow.”

Seeing Lu Beicheng nod, Ji Mingyu bid farewell to Zhen Jiu’er and left.

Jiu’er was still the same Jiu’er — expressionless, laying out her acupuncture kit, looking at Lu Beicheng’s leg.

“Ninth Master, let me roll up your trouser leg.”

Lu Beicheng said nothing, so she took it as consent.

Just like the past two days, she quietly rolled up his trouser leg, then quietly began the treatment.

This was a needling technique she had worked out herself — supposedly able to invigorate the blood and dissolve stasis, helping the nerves in his leg recover.

Lu Beicheng kept his eyes on her face the whole time.

She said nothing, and he said nothing either.

Throughout it all, her face showed not the slightest expression — if anything, her manner toward him was even more distant and cold than when they’d first met.

Finally, just as she was about to put away the fine needles, Lu Beicheng asked calmly, “Did I do something wrong, to make you angry?”