When brown bear Xiong Yuan heard his younger brother’s words, he raised up the hand that was holding firewood. “Hu ao~” (Duoduo, what are you saying?)
Xiong Duoduo wrinkled his nose and sucked in a breath of cold air. He confirmed that he hadn’t misidentified that smell. There was the strong scent of willow in the air. “Hu.” (There really is the smell of a willow demon.)
On guard now, Xiong Yuan looked around, but he only saw the heavy falling snow and rain. Neither of them caught sight of a suspicious demon.
“Hu…” (Is it just my imagination?) The smell of willow in the air gradually dissipated. Xiong Duoduo shook his round ears.
Although they couldn’t find any sign of danger, Xiong Yuan still felt uneasy in the darkness. He couldn’t resist growling, “Ao~” (Let’s hurry back with the firewood and hide from the rain. The rain is so cold.)
Xiong Duoduo hesitated before taking a step forward.
“Ka-ca”, “Ka-ca.” They heard that sound coming from behind them. It was followed by a painful roar from Lu Ziran. Xiong Duoduo turned back to look in surprise and saw a stretched out blood-stained willow branch.
It was fortunate that Lu Ziran was in his lion form, so his reaction time and speed was much more agile than when he was in his human form. His hide was also thicker than his human skin. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to survive the willow demon’s sneak attack that left his right leg broken.
“Roar!” (I was right. There’s a bad demon!) Xiong Duoduo bared his teeth. Tossing the firewood, he showed the strength of his late level 2 earth ability by forcefully raising a piece of dirt near the spot that Lu Ziran had been lying on.
“Boom!”
The dirt smashed against the rock wall and made a violent sound, but it missed the willow demon. On the contrary, Xiong Duoduo’s attack accidentally injured Lu Ziran even more
Lu Ziran thought; who was it? Why did that willow demon suddenly attack him?
Could it be that the invisible high-level fiend near Ruan Qiuqiu’s cave has caught up to him? But, he clearly should have left that fiend in the dust already?!
Due to the severe pain, Lu Ziran was grimacing. He half-tottered and half-rolled forward. With his injured leg, he fled to Xiong Duoduo’s feet.
Although Xiong Duoduo and Xiong Yuan didn’t know what happened, since they had promised to protect Lu Ziran in return for herbs, the two honest bear demons stood in front of him in protection.
A gentle female voice came from the poorly illuminated rock wall. The voice seemed both far and near. “Don’t be anxious. Members of the bear clan, I mean you no harm.”
The dust dispersed, and a gentle, soft breeze passed by. The willow scattered, revealing a gentle and pretty young girl.
“Hu?” Xiong Duoduo widened his eyes. The girl didn’t look older than 12. He screamed in shock. “Ao~” (What’s going on? If you mean us no harm, why did you attack as soon as you came here?”
The girl still had a smile on her face. “I said that I don’t mean you guys harm.”
Lu Ziran thought; she had no ill will towards the two bears. Did that mean he was the one she was after? But, he didn’t know this willow demon.
Wait no, this girl that looked like a willow demon wasn’t a full demon. Although she had the form of a willow demon, there had clearly been a lot of fiend energy in the willow branch that had crushed his right leg.
This little girl was a high-level fiend in disguise. After he quickly arrived at that conclusion, Lu Ziran’s lion mane almost puffed up.
What evil had he done to encounter two high-level fiends in one day?!
