This made him somewhat displeased—he couldn’t even find a proper reason to kill her. Such a small creature who posed no threat to him, yet willingly obeyed and tended to his wounds. Besides, he had witnessed how hard she worked digging up trees in the Magma Sea. It could be said that she had contributed significantly to their escape.

Killing people was like waging war—it wasn’t good to do so without just cause.

Feng Miaojun gave a dry, awkward laugh: “How could I?” Without absolute certainty that the poison insect wouldn’t activate, she’d better stay near this god of death for now. After walking a few steps, she suddenly asked, “By the way, if you don’t remove the formation, how can I get out?”

He didn’t even lift his eyelids, appearing ready to fall asleep: “Just go out.”

Feng Miaojun picked up the golden pheasant from the ground and walked carefully, afraid of colliding with a barrier. However, after safely walking several hundred zhang with no issues, she couldn’t help feeling annoyed: she had been fooled by Yun Ya’s empty fort strategy—he had never set up any formation at all!

It was because she feared him too much.

After walking several hundred steps, she indeed found a cheerfully flowing small river ahead. Though the stream was narrow, it hadn’t frozen and was clear to the bottom. She first filled a bucket with water, observed that there was no one nearby, casually set up a simple formation, then removed her clothes and waded into the stream for a cold bath.

After experiencing such a long day of battle, with cave collapses and magma splashing everywhere, and finally falling into the hands of this great demon Yun Ya… now only the cool water could help her quickly calm down.

After three years of cultivation, her body was countless times stronger than before, and she didn’t even shiver when taking an ice-cold bath in winter. But soaking in such bone-chilling stream water indeed helped settle all her anxiety and uneasiness.

Facing Yun Ya, she had lost her composure, stemming from the fear she had reinforced day after day.

It was truly a case of what you fear most comes to pass.

But now that they had to face each other, she needed to collect her emotions and not let him detect anything unusual. In their brief contact, she had already observed that this man was extremely suspicious and unpredictable in his moods, clearly not an easy person to deal with.

What strategy should she adopt for such a person?

She thought for quite a while before climbing out and drying herself. With her fingers still injured and unable to touch water, she could only rinse herself briefly before figuring out how to prepare the golden pheasant.

Feng Miaojun had already recognized that she was now just a servant.

However, with all ten fingers wrapped in gauze, she couldn’t meticulously remove the feathers, and besides, she had never done such work before. With no alternative, she could only pluck the large feathers, remove the entrails, wrap them in wet mud from the riverbank, and bring them back to the cave.

In the cave, Yun Ya had already lit a fire and was silently meditating with closed eyes. Feng Miaojun moved the firewood aside, buried the mud ball underneath, and then began to boil water.

Beggar’s chicken—this was the simplest cooking method she had heard of. “One chicken probably isn’t enough for two people. Should I go outside to hunt for more games?”

Cultivators typically had astonishing appetites. Even though this golden pheasant was larger than its kind, it wasn’t enough for two people to share. After a day of anxiety and fear, she didn’t want to shortchange her stomach as well.

Yun Ya, with his eyes closed, said: “No need. Just sit and rest.”

Since he wanted her to “rest,” she couldn’t go elsewhere.

With no choice, Feng Miaojun went about her tasks while secretly glancing at Yun Ya. He had already used water to clean his face and head, taking the opportunity to remove his facial disguise and restore his stunningly handsome appearance. His black hair, after cutting away the burned parts, was newly gathered and held by a gold hairpin slanted at the back of his head.

Casual, yet elegant.

Looking at this scene alone, it was impossible to connect this celestial-like gentleman with the great demon who could kill countless lives without blinking an eye.

His expression was as calm as a still ancient well. He seemed to be in meditation, his breathing long and continuous, though slightly heavy, clearly unable to escape the torment of his injuries. But a tiger taking a nap is still a tiger, never becoming a cat. Feng Miaojun didn’t dare move carelessly.

This day had been full of twists and turns, and she was mentally and physically exhausted. Listening to the crackling sounds of the firewood, she unknowingly leaned against the stone wall and gradually fell asleep.

Feng Miaojun had a dream where she was still in her original world, but the terminal illness she had suffered from had been cured. She invited friends out to celebrate, eating hotpot and singing, having eaten five large kidneys but still not satisfied.

So she ordered more beef and mutton, intestines, and pig brains.

She was eating happily when suddenly she smelled a foul odor, which instantly dampened her mood: everything tasted excellent, but why did the pig brains smell so rank?

Feng Miaojun picked up the plate of boiled food and sniffed—yuck, it stank terribly.

Then, she woke up and discovered cold wind blowing into the cave, carrying an unpleasant fishy smell. She focused her gaze—

The campfire had gone out at some unknown time, and even the residual warmth had completely dissipated. The cave was pitch dark, but outside, the forest was illuminated by moonlight, showing the shadowy tree silhouettes swaying like ghostly hands.

Within the forest, there seemed to be two fireflies glowing.

No, that’s not right—how could there be fireflies in such a frozen, snowy landscape? Feng Miaojun opened her narrowed eyes slightly and then saw a black shadow lurking in the grass about twenty zhang away.

Hanging eyes and a white forehead, with fur showing beautiful vertical stripes under the moonlight filtering through the treetops.

It was a large tiger, a wild one.

The way it looked at the two people in the cave was just like how Feng Miaojun had looked at the beef and mutton in her dream. It could be described in a single word:

Hungry.

These two people looked delicious. Winter in the White Elephant Mountain Range had come too early, making it difficult to find food in the wild. The fierce tiger would not pass up the feast before its eyes.

Feng Miaojun thought for a moment and gave up the idea of taking action. Fighting a fierce tiger would be a piece of cake for her, but she was positioned further back, while Yun Ya was a bit closer to the tiger.

What if…?

She quietly regulated her breathing, then listened to Yun Ya’s breathing, which came only once after a long while, suggesting he had not yet awakened.

Seeing that the two people in the cave were unaware, the fierce tiger slowly crawled toward them, its movements becoming faster and the distance between them shorter.

Finally, when it was still five zhang away from them, it pushed off with its hind legs in a ferocious pounce—

And then, it crashed into an invisible barrier.

“Thud,” a muffled sound.

The greater the force it had used, the greater the setback it suffered. It bounced back, shaking its head as if trying to clear the dizziness from its skull. Its tiger eyes revealed a puzzled expression.

There was nothing in front, so how had it hit a hard wall?

Feng Miaojun was no less surprised than the tiger, but she was much more knowledgeable, understanding that this was not a wall but a barrier.

So he hadn’t deceived her—he had truly set up a barrier here…

Thinking about it, this aligned with his consistently cautious style.

But she had gone to the stream to fetch water in the evening and returned without any obstruction. When exactly had Yun Ya set up the barrier, and how had she known nothing about it?