Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 192 - 154: Ideals (Two-in-One)

Chapter 192: Chapter 154: Ideals (Two-in-One)

Breaking off a thumb-thick branch from a withered tree beside him, Xu Yuan headed straight along the dark tunnel of the cave toward its interior.

The light sound of footsteps echoed in the darkness, and after an unknown amount of time, Xu Yuan’s eyes, flickering with a bloody glint, saw a faint blue-white light at the end of the tunnel.

As he continued to approach, the blue-white light gradually became brighter, accompanied by regular surges of Origin Qi.

Seeing this, Xu Yuan instinctively halted his steps.

It seemed that altering the Formation Patterns to control the array point here was not as easy as he had imagined, and the work, including that of Xu Xinyao inside, was still not finished.

After a brief hesitation, Xu Yuan still stepped forward, only this time he masked the sound of his own footsteps.

At the end of the corridor, at the cone-shaped entrance of the cave, Xu Yuan saw everything inside.

The light was emitted from the Formation Patterns on the ground. A girl in blue sat cross-legged at the very center of the Formation. Surrounded by a variety of odd instruments and materials, she rapidly engraved mysterious blue Formation Patterns onto the ground.

These newly engraved Formation Patterns, along with the original white ones on the ground, shone together, creating a dazzling sea of blue and white light.

Standing at the entrance of the cave for a long time, Xu Yuan gradually noticed that these blue Formation Patterns seemed to be continuously eroding and replacing the original white ones.

Is she breaking the Formation?

After watching for a while and confirming that the other party wouldn’t be able to solve it anytime soon, Xu Yuan walked back a distance and leaned against the inner wall of the corridor to rest.

There was no point in watching any longer as he couldn’t understand it; better to take the opportunity to rest for a while.

Although his cultivation was profound, two days and nights without sleep had already begun to give Xu Yuan a sense of palpitations reminiscent of the mornings after pulling all-nighters in his previous life.

The dazzling light accompanied his drowsiness, and like an unending tide, it began to erode Xu Yuan.

...

...

Not much later, Xu Yuan smelled a familiar scent of lavender, seeming both far away and yet close at hand.

Suddenly,

Xu Yuan abruptly opened his eyes, only to find his surroundings completely quiet, the blue-white light before his sleep had returned to darkness.

In the first moments of wakefulness, Xu Yuan moved his body and felt something covering him.

A flash of blood passed through his eyes, and everything in the darkness became clearly visible.

It was a mink fur coat that looked somewhat familiar. The lavender scent he smelled was probably from this.

With a light snort, Xu Yuan glanced sideways and, sure enough, saw a peaceful blue-dressed girl beside him.

It was Xu Xinyao.

Her cultivation was slightly stronger than Xu Yuan’s, but even she couldn’t endure two days and nights without sleep.

However, she was still awake, her eyebrows furrowed slightly, her eyes cast down as if deep in thought.

Hearing the slight movement beside her, she immediately looked over at Xu Yuan.

Their gazes met in the dim corridor.

After a moment of eye contact,

Xu Yuan threw the mink coat back to her and offhandedly asked,

"Did you succeed?"

Xu Xinyao silently accepted the coat, nodding lightly with a very soft voice:

"Mm..."

"How does it feel?"

"...."

No response.

Seeing this, Xu Yuan snorted softly, exhaling a long breath, and changed the subject:

"How long has it been now?"

"About seven hours."

"It seems I had quite a long sleep."

Xu Yuan murmured softly and then looked into her downcast eyes, asking, "Xinyao, in the three days’ time, how many of the four hundred thousand people in Shengshan County are left?"

"......"

No response.

Laughing softly to himself, Xu Yuan continued, "What, are you planning to play mute about anything related to Shengshan County?"

"Half..."

Her voice was somewhat hoarse: "Half are left."

"...."

There was a momentary silence in the corridor.

Although Xu Yuan had his suspicions based on Xu Xinyao’s demeanor, the rapid fall of Shengshan County still took him by surprise.

It was too fast.

He had thought that with the Protective City Formation, Colonel Wang could hold out for at least ten days.

Taking a deep breath, Xu Yuan raised his hand to rub his swollen brow, stiff from the length of his sleep.

If he hadn’t heard the news about his younger sister at Huanglong Collection, relying solely on the decree sent by their father from the Imperial Capital, by the time ten days had passed, the most likely scenario would be arriving just in time to collect the dead.

Observing her dejected expression, Xu Yuan spoke softly:

"Twenty thousand died, but conversely, you also saved twenty thousand, which is quite good."

"Big brother..."

"Colonel Wang is truly grateful to you. If he knew that you solved this as well, if you went there now, with his publicity, the people of Shengshan County would probably erect another living shrine for you."

"Big brother..."

"It’s good you have some sense, knowing that the Formation wasn’t complete and you needed to check on Shengshan County again. But if I hadn’t found you, with the speed of your sightseeing progress, this mess would most likely end up on... oh no, on our Prime Minister’s Mansion."

"Big brother!" Xu Xinyao clenched her fist, her gentle voice carrying a trace of sobbing.

"....."

Xu Yuan calmly looked at the younger sister beside him, without a hint of comfort, and spoke each word deliberately:

"Now, do you understand why I had to hit you?"

Xu Xinyao responded softly:

"I understand..."

"Why?" Xu Yuan pressed.

Xu Xinyao replied softly:

"If I had been more careful and completed the Formation before leaving..."

"No, you were in a hurry to go to Jingjiang Prefecture to see me. Don’t you try to put the blame on your brother here."

Xu Xinyao’s face turned pale: "That’s not what I meant..."