Once Bai Wu finished his sentence, the two robust men from the night before came over immediately and restrained him.

“What’s the meaning of this? They came here searching for us!” Bai Wu shouted as he rushed over to the old lady, knowing not of what was actually happening. Xu Lan was also restrained.

“Stop with your nonsense and keep walking!” One of the strong men held Bai Wu’s arms and forced him to walk back into the house that they came from. The shouts came closer and close; meanwhile, the men handled them even rougher. They pushed Xu Lan and caused him to stumble, which in turn caused Bai Wu’s heart to ache.

“Pa…Xu Lan, are you okay?” Bai Wu turned to give one of the tough men an angry glare, then asked Xu Lan heart-wrenchingly.

“Yes, I’m okay,” Xu Lan replied calmly. With his facial expressions, he hinted to Bai Wu so as not to act without thinking.

“Hmph! You just don’t know when to quit. To think that you’d resign to using such methods to find your way up. I should’ve thrown you guys into the snake cellar last night!” The man who was pushing Xu Lan said with contempt.

With a slap, the old lady hit the big man’s body ruthlessly using her walking stick. Her eyes – sullen and deep inside her eye sockets – stared at the him, and after a shiver came over, he shut his mouth and locked them inside the room.

“Hey! Let us out! We bear no ill will! They’re just coming up to find us!” Bai Wu banged on the wooden door and shouted. White mist began to emanate and envelope Bai Wu.

“Hey, what are you doing? Have you thought of how you’re going to explain it to them? They’re already on their way up.” Xu Lan patted Bai Wu on the shoulder to halt the transformation.

Like air leaking out of a balloon, the white mist gradually dissipated, while Bai Wu pouted unhappily and looked at Xu Lan. In truth, Bai Wu himself was unwilling to freely transform, the reason being that his production of such immense energy would have serious repercussions on the state of space and time. It would further speed up the process of the crack’s formation. He wanted to transform because he did not want to burden Xu Lan by letting them stay at such a run-down place.

“What else is there to explain? We can just tell them that a supernatural being descended to the world. It’s not like they’ve never experienced anything like that before.” Bai Wu replied as though they had nothing to lose.

“Tch. You little…shh! It sounds like they’re coming closer. Maybe you can try and hear what they’re saying?” All of a sudden, a rumbling sound came from outside the house, and the man who was supposed to be guarding the door to their room left.

Bai Wu tiptoed across and pressed his pale ears to the door. His eyebrows alternated between bouts of twitching, which tickled Xu Lan’s curiosity. Xu Lan urged Bai Wu on and asked if anything could be heard.

With a finger to his lips, Bai Wu indicated for Xu Lan to keep quiet. Bai Wu’s reddened eyes swirled around, and Xu Lan copied Bai Wu’s action by holding in his breath and trying to hear what those outside were talking about. After a long while, Xu Lan still could not hear anything. He gave up, sat back on the stool, and waited for Bai Wu.

“What did they talk about?” He stood up immediately and asked once Bai Wu came over.

“They said, um…”

Bai Wu rubbed his chin and appeared to be thinking of a way to organize his sentence. He went up and wrapped his arms around Xu Lan, then placed his mouth to Xu Lan’s ear and said, “Bai Wu loves Xu Lan!”

“F*CK! Can you be serious!” The sudden confession left Xu Lan unprepared. He took a fist to Bai Wu’s chest and cursed angrily.

Bai Wu felt pain and touched his chest as he sat back down onto the stool. He looked at Xu Lan with eyes full of hurt.

“What’s wrong? Is it painful? I haven’t even used any force and yet you’re…”

Seeing how pitiful Bai Wu was, Xu Lan guiltily and anxiously walked over to him to see if he was alright. Bai Wu sprang into smiles suddenly and grabbed the man into an embrace, nestling his jaw right in Xu Lan’s collarbone. It was then that Xu Lan realized he was tricked! He struggled fervently and threatened to break Bai Wu’s arms!

“Papa,” came the warm, sensual voice blowing air into Xu Lan’s ears; the latter’s body was both stiff and powerless at the same time. “The village chief called the old lady Wu Ling.”