Chapter 83: Bao Yaoyao’s Mental Journey

Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Bao Yaoyao’s Mental Journey

’I fought for my life, worried myself sick.’

’And this is what I get in the end?!’

Bao Yaoyao was dumbfounded.

She had assumed Li Heng would be in a terrible state. Maybe not torn to shreds, but she had definitely imagined him missing an arm, a leg, or some other body part.

Or, she wouldn’t have found any trace of him at all.

She believed that would have been the normal course of events!

Even so, if he had simply managed to survive the pressure from a Tier Two High-Grade Soul Beast, Bao Yaoyao would have considered Li Heng’s strength to be extraordinary, truly one in a million.

But she never, ever expected that the Li Heng she had pictured in such a miserable state would be leisurely turning a barbecue skewer, occasionally even interacting with the Ice Simurgh beside him.

Forget missing limbs—his school uniform wasn’t even torn!

’And he’s continuously feeding the Ice Simurgh?!!’

’The worst part is, the stuff he’s feeding the Ice Simurgh actually smells pretty good!’

’I don’t even have anything to eat!’

Bao Yaoyao didn’t know why, but her emotions suddenly destabilized. She couldn’t tell if it was anger or something else, but there was a faint sense of being wronged, and it felt awful.

’No! I have to calm down. This might be a hallucination!’

After a moment of thought, Bao Yaoyao felt it was all a bit unreal. Everything else was one thing, but the interaction between this man and this bird was just so damn ridiculous.

’I mean, seriously.’

’This is a living, breathing Tier Two High-Grade Soul Beast. Do you think it’s a pet sparrow?’

’He’s feeding it whenever he wants, and not only is nothing bad happening, but from the look on Li Heng’s face... he looks like he’s about to burst with happiness!’

’Then look at me! I’ve been running and fighting this whole time, my clothes are practically in shreds, and I’ve mostly been fighting Tier One Soul Beasts and common Secret Realm Creatures.’

’Does he really think a Tier Two High-Grade Soul Beast is just for show?’

’But this smell... It really is so good...’

Bao Yaoyao desperately tried to break free from this "illusion." She was convinced it was all fake, completely unreal. But after just a few seconds, the aroma drifting to her nose only grew stronger.

’With a smell this good, if I were dreaming, the craving would have woken me up by now. But so much time has passed, and nothing has changed, so...’

’Does that mean everything in front of me is real?!’

’Is Li Heng really interacting with the Ice Simurgh?’

!!!

Bao Yaoyao found it too hard to believe. She pinched herself and, realizing it actually hurt, froze in a daze once more.

But as she stood there stunned, Bao Yaoyao suddenly realized this Ice Simurgh seemed very different from the one she’d first encountered...

For one, in terms of size, this Ice Simurgh wasn’t as massive as the one she had seen before.

Second, she couldn’t feel a single trace of malevolence from this Ice Simurgh, which meant none of the terrifying pressure that had made her so afraid.

Her mind started struggling again, this time more intensely than before. After all, the greasy aroma of barbecue still lingered in the air!

Two minutes later, Bao Yaoyao gritted her teeth, stomped her foot, and then mustered her courage to shout.

"Li Heng!"

As she shouted his name, a gust of wind swirled around her feet. She was ready to bolt at a moment’s notice, her eyes locked on the man and the Simurgh Bird.

---

’Hmm?’

’Is that Bao Yaoyao’s voice?’

Li Heng had just carved off a piece of roasted Soul Beast Meat. He glanced at their Affinity, which had now reached 61, and was about to feed the Ice Simurgh again to raise it further when he suddenly heard Bao Yaoyao’s voice.

Looking toward the source of the voice, Li Heng was shocked!

’This girl... Did she just escape from a warzone?’

Li Heng saw that Bao Yaoyao’s clothes were in tatters, hanging off her in strips. Her legs were covered in scratches, and her chest was nearly exposed through the rips.

Her face was so smudged she was almost unrecognizable. If it weren’t for her distinctive voice, Li Heng wouldn’t have been sure it was Bao Yaoyao at all.

"Bao Yaoyao?" Li Heng asked uncertainly.

Li Heng saw her whole body seem to tremble violently after he spoke. Then, he heard her speak again.

"Li... Li Heng... What’s going on?" Bao Yaoyao’s voice was trembling.

"What do you mean, ’what’s going on?’ Don’t just stand there. Come warm up by the fire and have some barbecue! I won’t even charge you for the medicinal herbs this time."

Li Heng didn’t understand her sudden question. But then it dawned on him. He figured she must be afraid of his soul qi pet, so he explained.

"It’s okay, this is my soul qi pet. It won’t attack you. Come over, sit down, and rest for a bit."

Although Li Heng’s tone was casual, he was quite pleased inside. This was his soul qi pet’s first "public appearance," and from the looks of it, its intimidating presence was pretty impressive. It was pretty cool.

!!!

’A soul qi pet?!’

Hearing Li Heng respond, Bao Yaoyao had initially breathed a sigh of relief. At least it meant Li Heng was alive and well, and not under some kind of spell.

She had been about to ask what was going on with the Ice Simurgh, and why the atmosphere was suddenly so "harmonious" that it felt like they were on a camping trip.

But a few seconds later, as the conversation progressed, it was as if Bao Yaoyao had taken a critical hit. She fell into a stupor.

Her gaze went vacant.

Her eyes were locked on Li Heng, not even glancing at the Ice Simurgh Bird beside him.

’A soul qi pet!’

’Heh, a Tier Two High-Grade Soul Beast?’

’So... am I... dreaming?’

Bao Yaoyao felt the situation was beyond absurd. She was like a broken machine, her gaze fixed rigidly on Li Heng.

Seeing Bao Yaoyao staring at him without moving, Li Heng was also baffled. He thought to himself, ’This girl... she hasn’t been scared witless, has she?’

Seeing that Bao Yaoyao wasn’t moving, Li Heng seemed to consider something, then took the barbecue skewer and walked toward her.

When she saw Li Heng walking toward her, she snapped back to her senses. Her gaze was fixed mainly on him, though she also darted a glance at the Ice Simurgh in front of his resting spot.

Seeing that the Ice Simurgh didn’t move an inch, Bao Yaoyao let out a huge sigh of relief. With that, she finally accepted the fact that the Ice Simurgh was Li Heng’s soul qi pet.

But at the same moment she accepted this, the emotions in her heart suddenly grew complicated.

It was a chaotic mix of feelings!

’Someone in the Soul Pupil Realm has a Tier Two High-Grade Soul Beast as a soul qi pet?’

’And in all likelihood, he just got it.’

Bao Yaoyao didn’t even want to think about what that implied. Her brain was already fried.

First, she’d been teleported to a mountainous island.

Then, she’d seen a peer in the Soul Pupil Realm take on ten Soul Beasts at once.

After that, she’d been scared into fleeing by an Ice Simurgh.

While escaping, she’d had to constantly fight off Soul Beasts, all while worrying about Li Heng’s safety.

And in the end, she found that not only was Li Heng perfectly fine, he had even gained an Ice Simurgh as a pet.

After all that, she was simply exhausted. It wasn’t that she was afraid to think; it was just that her experiences today had been, to put it mildly, eventful to the extreme.

’Not even a TV show would dare to have a plot this crazy!’

Bao Yaoyao even thought that if things kept going like this, another shock might give her more than just a nervous breakdown.

While Bao Yaoyao’s brain was short-circuiting, Li Heng had already walked up to her. He held out the barbecue skewer. "Bao Yaoyao, want some?"

"YES!"

Bao Yaoyao used every ounce of her strength to roar out the single most resolute word of her life!