Could Ziqing wait?

How much longer did Ziqing have to wait?

Ziqing had never been someone who waited around foolishly. Given the choice, she would rather take action herself and never rely on anyone else again.

They say the strongest heart, once it finds an arm to lean on, will inevitably crumble and grow fragile in an instant.

But once a heart has grown fragile from leaning on someone, and then that support vanishes —

What was that already-fragile heart supposed to do?

There was only one answer: rely on herself.

More than half a month had passed, and Ziqing still hadn’t woken. Yet even unconscious, she had somehow triumphed over the heart-devouring Gu worm — heaven only knew how fierce this woman’s willpower truly was.

At this moment she lay caught in a hazy half-consciousness, on the verge of waking.

The great foolish bear, who had fallen asleep exhausted at the cave entrance, was also just now stirring from its own daze.

For a great foolish bear, twenty-odd days was really nothing at all.

A body that size took time to recover its strength, and besides, the great foolish bear loved to sleep — sometimes it slept for a year or two, and that was perfectly normal.

But this time, still half-asleep, it caught a whiff of something delicious, seemingly right beside it. Before it had even fully woken, its nose woke first, twitching, sniffing everywhere.

Even with its eyes still closed, it lay there low, its long snout pressed to the ground, following that delicious scent all the way.

Then, suddenly, it froze — and its eyes snapped wide open!

Its huge black eyes rolled toward the center, crossing to stare at its own long snout — blood!

It had just woken and, still groggy, had forgotten what it had been doing before. Foolishly it stuck out its long tongue and licked the blood off the tip of its nose.

That was enough to jolt it fully awake. It sat up, its massive body shuddering several times, finally coming to complete alertness.

My goodness, this blood was delicious!

This was the blood of one immune to a hundred poisons — and negative in polarity, too! Poison beasts seemed born with a sensitivity to blood like this!

For beasts of medicinal poison, this was the finest food there was — not only delicious, but able to strengthen their own toxicity. Once absorbed to a certain degree, it could raise the concentration of medicinal-poison blood in their bodies enough to instantly kill weaker poison beasts of their kind.

The great foolish bear surged with wild delight, immediately chasing after that trail of blood — but the moment it saw, deep in the cave, Ziqing lying there beside its most beloved honey, it froze in its tracks!

In an instant, it remembered! It remembered everything that had happened before it fell asleep!

This monster it had never seen before — it had dragged her into the cave itself. Finally fully awake, the great foolish bear grinned in delight.

Even as it grinned, it felt a flicker of confusion — this beast had been bleeding from back then until now, and it still hadn’t died.

It hadn’t caught the scent of death at all. This body was incredibly tough — perhaps even tougher than some of the handful of top-tier poison beasts in the world of poison beasts!

If this monster recovered and fought a top-tier poison beast, would she win?

But the great foolish bear didn’t dwell on such things — filling its own belly was the most important thing of all. Whenever it woke from sleep, it was hungry, and hunger made its temper flare.

It crept carefully to Ziqing’s side and saw she still gripped her dagger, Liuguang, tightly, so it gave up any thoughts about the blade. Instead, with one great paw, it scooped up an enormous honeycomb.

Of course, this comb held no bees — only honey, brimming full.

Though there was plenty more honey in the cave, looking at the honey in its paw and then at Ziqing’s frame, the great foolish bear looked troubled.

What a waste!

This monster wasn’t very big, but it wasn’t small either — to smear honey all over her before eating, it would probably take three or four combs’ worth!

Truly heartbroken, the great foolish bear licked its lips and teeth, hesitating, reluctant to let go of the comb in its paws.

Meanwhile, in her hazy half-consciousness, Ziqing clearly heard panting — a beast’s panting!

Having fought bare-handed against wild beasts before, she recognized instantly that this was the panting of a hungry beast — meaning the beast was about to eat someone!

At that, Ziqing suddenly snapped awake.

But she couldn’t open her eyes. She didn’t know if she’d slept too long or was simply too exhausted — that heaviness wouldn’t lift. Her mind was perfectly clear, but her limbs wouldn’t move; she tried desperately to open her eyes, and couldn’t.

What could she do?

She remembered being pulled down by some unfamiliar force beneath the sand, then falling endlessly, and after that, losing consciousness entirely.

Wherever she was now, one thing was certain — she was in grave danger.

No!

She had to wake up!

After surviving such a catastrophe, since she hadn’t died, she had to hold on, had to live!

If for nothing else, then just to face that man and ask him why!

Even if it really was exactly as it had looked, at the very least, she needed Jun Beiyue to give her a clear answer.

Even if she had to kill him, she needed him to explain himself, needed him to admit it to her face.

Ziqing struggled, straining with all her might, trying desperately to find a way to recover her strength quickly. She’d been through a scene like this before, back before she’d crossed over.

She would not die!

Just as Ziqing’s mind and body strained together with all their might, the great foolish bear had already scooped up a paw-full of sticky, golden honey — and before it could even smear it on Ziqing, it couldn’t resist and greedily licked a huge mouthful.

Unfortunately, its tongue was simply too large — one lick was enough to clean every last drop of honey off its paw, and quite thoroughly at that.

The great foolish bear stared at its clean, fluffy paw, its eyes wide with shock, startled at itself. How could this be!

So it scooped up another comb, another great paw-full — sticky, golden, and fragrant, enough to make any bear’s mouth water!

The great foolish bear chuckled foolishly to itself, and as it laughed, it couldn’t help sticking out its tongue again — it had only meant to take one lick, just one.

But that one lick alone nearly rolled its own tongue right down into its belly — it kept forgetting that one of its licks was worth several of anyone else’s.

And so, a paw-full of deliciousness vanished in an instant, yet again.

The great foolish bear wept without tears, pitiful and reluctant, and grabbed yet another comb.

It decided to switch paws, scooping honey with its left paw this time — but its tongue still wouldn’t behave, swiping through in one swoosh, spraying drool everywhere, and in an instant the left paw, too, was licked clean as a whistle.

Unwilling to give up, the great foolish bear kept grabbing comb after comb, over and over.

But no matter how it changed its approach, its tongue kept doing the same unchanging thing — sweeping away everything in its path!

Before long, the ground was littered with smashed, empty honeycombs. The great foolish bear stood up, facing Ziqing, panting hard, baring two rows of gleaming white fangs!

It raised both great paws over its head, as if in furious protest!

It was going to eat this monster in front of it — all because of her, all because of her that it had eaten every last drop of its own honey!

This monster’s crimes were unforgivable!

“Roooar… roooar… roooar!”

Unable to contain its fury, it roared and roared without stopping, both massive paws flashing sharp claws with a metallic ring, and swung down viciously at Ziqing’s head…