Chapter 112: Warm Cave Spring Sun

  That day and night, Qing Xia was too tired, as if she had gone through many life-and-death struggles, her heart almost worn out of its vibrant vitality. Moreover, she hadn't eaten for a long time and was half-frozen in the heavy snow. When she saw Chu Li, she fainted from crying.

  In the vast cave, a fire was lit, and Chu Li skinned and cleaned the white small beasts from outside, placing them on the fire to roast slowly. The aroma wafted gently, and the golden oil dripped onto the fire pit, making a sizzling sound. The cave gradually warmed up, while the fierce wind howled outside, but it didn't affect the two people inside at all. Chu Li turned his head to look at Qing Xia, who was lying on the side, her cold and hard expression slightly moved, perhaps only in such a desolate and dark place, with no one else around, could the two of them be so peaceful together.

  Qing Xia had never been so quiet lying beside him, Chu Li looked at her and felt a daze, as if the two were still in the Lan Ting Hall, everything remained unchanged, she was still his concubine, now taking a nap in the afternoon, after waking up later, she would accompany him to eat and play chess.

  That would be great if it were true.

  The proud king suddenly curled up the corners of his mouth, and smiled slightly. This kind of smile had not appeared on his face for a long time, and it was unclear how long it had been, even if he didn't think about it clearly.

  He was buried under the heavy snow, but in fact, he wasn't far from Qing Xia. Qing Xia had even found his side several times, only to narrowly miss him and leave in a hurry, getting lost again and ending up here. The massive landslide that buried them didn't just bury the two of them; several soldiers from Yanzi Camp who were near the ravine, as well as several soldiers who had come to pull them back, all fell down together. It's just unknown where they are now. Perhaps they've already frozen to death. The corpse Qing Xia saw in the cave was one of Chu Li's guards. In her shock and assuming only the two of them had fallen, she naturally mistook that mangled, unrecognizable body for him. Because of this, she took the lives of this strange little white beast's family, which was also quite unfortunate.

  But it's also because of this that the two of them let their guard down, otherwise with the animosity above, even if they met below, with her personality, she might have started a big fight too.

  Chu's mouth twitched and she smiled slightly. Two years had passed without seeing each other, but her temper didn't seem to have improved much.

  In fact, he didn't know that Qing Xia would only be so violent when facing him, just like a destined arch-nemesis, as if she wanted to get angry whenever she saw him.

  The torch crackled and suddenly burst into a spark, almost falling on Qing Xia's hair. Chu Li was taken aback and hurriedly tried to move Qing Xia's long hair away. But unexpectedly, his hand suddenly felt a sharp pain, and the small white beast suddenly jumped up from beside Qing Xia and bit down on his wrist.

  This small beast, no larger than a palm, was smaller than an unweaned puppy. Its teeth seemed to be still growing, and when it bit down on Chu Li's hand, it didn't even feel painful. With a swipe of his hand, he sent the little creature flying far away. The small white ball rolled around on the ground for several circles, dazed and disoriented. After a while, it finally steadied its footing, stared at Chu Li with its bright green eyes for a moment, then ran back to Qing Xia's side with a series of loud yips, baring its teeth and glaring at Chu Li with a fierce expression, looking like a loyal and devoted little dog.

  Unexpectedly, Qing Xia was hugged and cried loudly, but instead, this little thing was bought over. Chu Li looked at it with disdain and thought to herself: Your parents, uncles, brothers, sisters were all killed by others, seeing that others are powerful, you've become a flattering, fawning, and begging-for-mercy dog, really making people look down on you.

  An animal can have what intelligence, but it still saw that Chu Li's attitude towards it was not friendly. The little white beast suddenly raised its neck and let out two loud barks at Chu Li. Chu Li turned his head around impatiently and glared at it fiercely. Unexpectedly, this guy was indeed a bully who feared the strong and preyed on the weak. Chu Li's glare had an intimidating aura, and the little white beast immediately whimpered and shrunk its head, running to Qing Xia's side and burrowing into her arms. It peeked out through the gap, blinking its eyes cautiously at Chu Li, but no longer dared to bark.

  That little beast stirred, Qing Xia woke up in a daze, this sleep was very unsteady, chaotic and fragmented dreams followed one after another, so that when she opened her eyes, she didn't know where she was. Xiao Bai Shou was the first to discover Qing Xia waking up, excitedly yelping and rushing to Qing Xia's front, shaking its head and wagging its tail. Qing Xia was dazed for a moment, remembering only after seeing it. The scene before she fainted suddenly flashed back in her mind, and she was shocked and discolored, frantically searching around, but immediately collided with Chu Li Ming's bright eyes.

  It wasn't just a dream after all.

  Finally letting out a breath of relief, Qing Xia slowly lowered her head, covering her chest with her hand and taking deep breaths.

  It was just an action, but it was enough to express a thousand words. Chu Li looked at Qing Xia's expression and for the first time in over two years, he felt a warm feeling in his heart. His face unchanged, he turned his head back around and continued roasting the game on the rack, for a moment not knowing what to say to her. After thinking for a bit, he suddenly remembered that she had an injury on her foot, took a deep breath, secretly mustered up the courage twice in his heart, before abruptly turning his head back around.

  "How's your injury?"

  "How's your injury?"

  Two voices sounded at the same time, and the words that came out were exactly the same. As soon as they finished speaking, the two people looked at each other in a daze, exchanged an awkward glance, and then turned their heads away from each other.

  "Ahh!" A sharp cry suddenly rang out, startling the two people who were silent at the same time. They turned their heads to look, and it was that little white beast jumping out of Qing Xia's arms. It stood proudly on the ground, wagging its tail at Qing Xia, then turned its head to look at Chu Li, nodding its chubby chin.

  Suddenly, it jumped in Chu Li's direction, making a fierce expression with its chest puffed out and eyes glaring, baring its small sharp teeth as if growling. Then, it quickly jumped in another direction, looking pitiful and rubbing its eyes with both front paws, shaking its head and whimpering.

  After repeating this several times, the little white beast wagged its tail and ran to Qing Xia's front, biting her pant leg and tugging at it twice like a spoiled child. It whined and cried, looking very pitiful.

  The little thing's actions had left the two big shots in front of it, who could make the world tremble with a single stomp of their feet, completely bewildered.

  Qing Xia blinked her eyes, staring blankly and somewhat unable to accept it. She finally tentatively said to the small white beast: "Do you mean he bullied you, yelled at you, and you want me to help you teach him a lesson?"

  "Wooo..." The little white beast suddenly jumped up excitedly, but unfortunately its short legs had no strength at all. When it landed, it was unstable and fell to the ground with a thud.

  "What is this thing?" Qing Xia looked at Chu Li with some confusion, pointing at that little dot and asked.

  "I don't know." Chu Li shook his head and said in a low voice, "The world is vast, and there's nothing strange that doesn't exist. It must be some kind of spiritual beast."

  "What's a Ling Beast?" Qing Xia was taken aback, and she picked up the small creature that was still lying on the ground, holding onto her pant leg. She stared into its green eyes, and saw that it was only about the size of her palm. Its entire body was covered in white fur, similar to an ermine, but its head and face were not like a fox's. Instead, it looked more like a small dog, except for its ears, which were quite peculiar, resembling those of a rabbit - long and droopy, with a slight reddish tint on the inside, and would stand up straight when encountering something.

  Qing Xia stretched out her small white hand and poked the little black nose, puffing out her cheeks and asking: "Are you a spiritual beast?"

  Nor did he know if he had heard it or not, the little white beast nodded hastily and shook its extremely short tail, desperately sticking out its tongue.

  Qing Xia was taken aback and looked up at Chu Li in surprise, saying: "Can it understand human language?"

  Chu Li obviously didn't have the same shocked expression as Qing Xia, he just nodded and said in a very cooperative tone: "It's indeed a bit strange." Then he turned his head back and continued to barbecue.

  Qing Xia was still astonished, fiddling with the small beast, looking it up and down, left and right, but couldn't find anything special about it. If this thing were placed in modern times, it would be a big topic of study, wouldn't it? Being able to understand human language without any training, isn't that too clever? Even when two people from different countries meet, they still need to use gestures and drawings to communicate for half a day. This little guy is self-taught, it's simply a legendary divine object!

  No matter if it's a divine object or not, at least after being stirred up by it, the two people didn't feel as awkward with each other anymore. Qing Xia hugged her knees, hung her head down, and looked at the little beast lazily lying at her feet, its snow-white belly facing upwards, sleeping soundly, couldn't help but smile slightly, being able to find joy in such a desperate situation is also a kind of mental victory method.

  Outside, heavy snow was falling and the ground was frozen. If it weren't for this cave, even if the two of them were lucky enough not to die, they would probably have lost half their lives.

  Just as she was thinking, a sudden smell of burnt food wafted into her nose. Qing Xia turned her head to see Chu Li frantically fiddling with the rack of roasted meat, apparently having just discovered it had been overcooked. Not wanting Qing Xia to notice, he shifted his body to block most of it and tried to reach out to take it down, but was suddenly scalded and quickly withdrew his hand.

  This man can command thousands of soldiers to go into battle and kill the enemy, he can talk and laugh as if killing people is nothing, he can seize great power in the court without shedding a drop of blood, but at this moment, facing a small piece of roasted meat, he was stumped.

  Qing Xia smiled slightly and stretched out her hand, pushing Chu Li's shoulder with one move, saying: "I'll go."

  Barbecuing is also a skillful job, and Qing Xia's outdoor life experience in her younger years was not lacking. Now that she picked it up again, she was still very proficient. She saw that half of the meat Chu Li roasted was already charred, while the other half was still raw. Without thinking, she tore off the charred half and threw it to one side. Chu Li let out a sound of dismay, her lips moving slightly, but she didn't say anything else.

  Chu Li was an impatient person, he couldn't wait to throw the meat into the fire and roast it, but he didn't know that roasting required a slow fire, low heat, and careful cooking to avoid burning. After a while, the air was filled with the aroma of roasted meat, and golden oil dripped out from inside, sizzling loudly. Qing Xia stretched out her thumb and index finger, carefully tore off a piece, blew on it to cool it down, and turned around to say to Chu Li: "It's hot, try some quickly."

  Chu Li didn't think, opened his mouth and took it over, his lips lightly touched Qing Xia's fingertips, both of them suddenly felt a little awkward, staring at each other with wide eyes, then turned around and said nothing.

  Yes, how can it be forgotten? Previously, we were still in such hostile positions, with such deep-seated hatred and resentment. How is it that once we arrived here, everything just vanished into thin air?

  Or perhaps it was just because they had distanced themselves from the world, away from the vortex of power and the struggle for fame and fortune. In this desolate place, there was no room for hatred, suspicion or resentment. And they, as if they had forgotten their past, interacted with each other like ordinary people.

  But after all, there is still a layer of things that are heavily separated, and some thoughts will jump out suddenly when the two people slightly forget their shape, bringing everything back to its original form.

  It doesn't work after all.

  Suddenly, a crisp crackling sound, the firewood crackled and popped loudly. Qing Xia took down the roasted meat from the rack, pulled out a dagger, handed it to Chu Li, and said: "Eat."

  Chu Li's expression changed slightly as she hesitated for a moment before asking in a somewhat unpleasant tone: "Is this what you use to kill people?"

  Qing Xia held a knife in his hand, with a piece of roasted meat on it, just as he was about to put it in his mouth, Chu Li suddenly said something that made him furious, and he said angrily: "You love to eat or not!"

  Chu Li grabbed a handful, didn't say anything else, cut off a piece and started eating it in big mouthfuls. At this point, don't be particular about it anymore, just endure the pain and eat one bite.

  Just after eating a few mouthfuls, a small whimpering sound suddenly came from beside him. Qing Xia looked down and saw that it was the little white beast, staring at him with shining eyes, its mouth open wide, drooling all over the place, and wagging its tail non-stop towards him. Qing Xia immediately became furious, kicking it to one side and shouting angrily: "Do you have any humanity? These are your parents!"

  Chu Li almost choked on a piece of meat, and it took great effort to swallow it down. Talking about humanity with a wild beast, it seems that Qing Xia is also considered the greatest person in history.

  Look at that little beast, its big head swaying dejectedly. After some thought, Chu Li cleared his throat and said: "You know, I think you've got it wrong, they shouldn't be the same breed. Look, their tails are long, but this one is short; their ears are short, but this one's are long; even the smallest of them is much bigger than this one. And if they were all as intelligent as this one, you couldn't have killed them so easily."

  This speech is indeed enough to be garrulous, they haven't finished yet, but Qing Xia took a closer look and it was true. After thinking about it, he waved his hand at the little beast and said: "Although you are not from the same family, others have raised you for nothing, so don't eat meat, just gnaw on bones."

  Having said that, with a clang, he threw a bone on the ground.

  The little white beast let out two mournful cries, circled the bones twice, seemingly unsure where to start. Finally, it raised its head and gave Qing Xia a resentful look, its eyes full of implication. Chu Li said casually while eating, "Maybe it's not being raised, maybe it was caught."

  "Woof!" The little white beast suddenly let out a sharp cry, jumped up from the ground, and ran towards Chu Li with its short legs moving swiftly. It buried its head in Chu Li's chest, its small pink tongue licking his palm non-stop, and its tail wagging so hard it seemed like it was going to fall off, as if it had finally found a kindred spirit.

  This was still the first time this little thing had shown itself off to him, Chu Li was taken aback, then grinned from ear to ear and burst out laughing loudly.

  It turns out he can also smile like this.

  Qing Xia looked at Chu Li's smiling face and was slightly stunned.

  Is there anyone in this world who would be willing to walk in darkness for a lifetime, even if they were the gods of the night, wouldn't they also yearn for light?

  After eating his fill, Chu Li felt a bit thirsty. He looked around and got up to walk outside the cave. Before long, he ran back in, holding two glittering ice cubes in his hand, and asked Qing Xia: "Thirsty? Want some?"

  Qing Xia furrowed her brow and said: "This is too cold, you're injured, it's better if you don't eat like this."

  Chu Li looked down and frowned, saying, "Unfortunately, there is no container."

  Qing Xia sighed, and with the golden spoon-fed Southern Chu Da Huang, talking about wilderness survival was indeed playing a zither to a cow. She took off the flying knife pouch from her waist, pulled out seven or eight willow leaf flying knives, and skillfully wove them together. Those knives were extremely thin, Qing Xia bent each one and then stacked them on top of each other, in the blink of an eye, they became a small silver bowl. She placed the ice crystal in Chu Li's hand inside, and then roasted it over the fire, soon, steaming hot air rose up.

  Be careful, it's sharp, don't cut your mouth.

  Chu Li secretly admired her, but naturally wouldn't say it out loud. She silently lamented that these knives had probably been stained with the foul blood of who-knows-how-many unlucky souls. With a toss of her head, she downed the hot water in one gulp.

  "Alright, rest now and recharge your energy, we still have a long way to go tomorrow to escape."

  Chu Li was taken aback for a moment and asked: "Do you know the way out?"

  Qing Xia shook her head slightly and said: "I don't know, but it must know."

  Chu Li was taken aback, turned his head to look at the small beast that was licking a bone and whining, the small beast seemed to know it was being talked about, its green eyes glanced at the two of them, then continued to gnaw on the bone that was several times larger than its body.

  ，

  "This place used to be land and had no ditch, but there are living things here, which means that there must still be a road connecting the outside. As long as we look carefully, we can always get out. The reason I don't give it food is that I want to starve it, wait until it can't bear the hunger, and then it will naturally go out to find something to eat."

  Qing Xia's faint smile, her face full of smiles, her pale face radiant, Chu Li was slightly stunned, but his heart tightened at her words.

  Are you leaving tomorrow?

  After leaving, how should they face each other again?