Chapter 38 36. This is what a sickly-cute person looks like.
"You mean \'they\'?"
Liu Ruoxue looked toward the two persons intensely battling and asked incredulously, "Impossible, right? How could they possibly discover us?"
"Didn\'t you just not understand why I wanted to keep such distance from them?"
Xu Yuan spoke indifferently, "This is because one of them has the ability to read minds."
"Mind-reading?"
Liu Ruoxue was slightly startled, "So what about it?"
"What if I said... they only seem to be fighting to the death but are actually simply trying to find us, what would you think then?"
Xu Yuan continued, his voice smooth and leisurely, carrying the ease of a refined gentleman.
Liu Ruoxue looked up and saw a frivolous smile at the corner of his mouth, as if everything was under his control.
Her heart felt inexplicably uneasy.
"That\'s not possible, right?"
Liu Ruoxue gazed at the houses falling continuously as the two clashed, and whispered, "If you say that this intensity is just them putting on an act..."
"Don\'t worry, this is just the beginning. They are not that powerful yet."
Xu Yuan said, "Right now, apart from not revealing their true capabilities, they are indeed really fighting, just that they are holding back from delivering fatal blows. Otherwise, considering Lin Qingque is inherently weaker than Tian Liuli and even hurt herself with her own palm just now, how could she still be evenly matched with Tian Liuli?"
Liu Ruoxue was suddenly startled. She hadn\'t noticed until Xu Yuan mentioned it, but once he did, she also realized it immediately.
Indeed, it was so.
In her perception of spiritual power, the ethereal young girl was indeed slightly weaker than the lady in the fiery red dress. Now, despite her injuries, the fact that the two were still exchanging blows evenly was indeed suspicious.
Moreover, judging by the atmosphere between the two, one could easily guess that they both desperately wished to annihilate each other. Even if they were cooperating to rescue Xu Yuan, it was definitely not possible for them to trust each other wholeheartedly.
How could the girl in the fiery red dress be completely off guard and allow the other girl to successfully ambush her?
"Tian Liuli, Lin Qingque..."
Liu Ruoxue silently remembered the names of these two individuals in her heart.
She hadn\'t expected that the two could come up with such a plan—an excellent blend of truth and deception—so quickly and spontaneously.
And more so, she was certain that without any prior discussion, the two achieved such tacit understanding.
But what she hadn\'t anticipated more was that such a cunning plan could not escape Xu Yuan\'s discerning eye; he had seen through it.
After understanding the truth of the matter, she carefully observed the combat between the two for a while longer and suddenly discerned some different elements in it.
The battle between Lin Qingque and Tian Liuli seemed fierce, but in fact, neither of them really used any significant techniques; instead of a spell battle, it seemed more like they were merely bombarding each other with spiritual power.
Under their aftershocks, building after building collapsed, the earth trembled, creating an apocalyptic scene.
It was hard to imagine that two Foundation Establishment cultivators could fight to such extent.
Of course, this was not the most crucial point. The most crucial point was...
During their spell battle, they were constantly circling around the entire town.
If what Xu Yuan had just said was true—that one of them had the skill of mind-reading—it wouldn\'t be hard to figure out what they were doing now.
They were using the pretext of the spell battle to probe for their presence gradually through mind-reading.
Not only that, she also realized that the collapsing houses included in this process were also deliberately brought down by them just in case, fearing that they might be hiding inside.
It could really be said that they were being exhaustively thorough.
Even though Liu Ruoxue knew that the Red Dust Building given by her Master existed independently of the ordinary world, she still felt worried.
What if?
"What should we do? Should we make them stop?"
Liu Ruoxue turned to the boy who still appeared as tranquil as a mountain and asked subconsciously.
"Why should we make them stop?" Xu Yuan\'s lips curved into a smile, his expression still unfathomable, "They are clearly following your instructions, and the scene before us should be to your liking, you... what grounds, or rather, what concerns, makes you want to have them stop?"
"This...?"
Liu Ruoxue took a look at the figure of "herself" high in the sky and suddenly understood what he meant.
"Indeed, I don\'t have any reason..."
Liu Ruoxue fell silent.
Logically speaking, she really didn\'t have any reason to call a halt.
But... if things continued this way...
"As a matter of fact, if you were to stop them now, it would only sow doubts in their minds."
"Oh?"
Liu Ruoxue stared at him, her eyes not moving an inch.
"If I\'m not mistaken, this plan must have been disclosed to Lin Qingque while she was reading Tian Liuli\'s mind, which is why the two of them could play out this act as if they hadn\'t communicated at all."
Xu Yuan said, "And the purpose, apart from using the battle to cover their true intention of searching for someone, was also to test me."
"Test you!?"
Liu Ruoxue was a bit astonished, "No way? How could she... suddenly start doubting you for no reason?"
"Who said it\'s impossible?"
Xu Yuan spoke softly, "Different from Lin Qingque, Tian Liuli is inherently suspicious, so she enjoys testing others."
Even if she adored him, she would not exclude him from the suspects.
Rather, it was because she adored him that she would start by suspecting him in everything.
That\'s what a yandere is like; even if you just stepped out for a moment, she might suspect you were off to see another woman.
"Couldn\'t it just be that we\'re really hidden below, afraid she might discover us, so I stopped her?"
Liu Ruoxue asked again.
"No, have you forgotten the flying sword she just used? If we were truly hidden there, she would have discovered us with the flying sword by now. What she\'s doing now is just a precaution..."
"But... why should she suspect and test you?"
Liu Ruoxue still couldn\'t quite understand.Nôv(el)B\\\\jnn
"It\'s quite simple, because she doesn\'t think I would be so easily captured by you."
Xu Yuan spoke frankly, "Rather than the possibility of me being captured by you, she\'s more inclined to think that this is an act we are putting on together..."
Liu Ruoxue fell silent again.
She looked up at the girl in the air, radiating an untamed goddess-like demeanor, and involuntarily tightened her grip.
These two... in some way, were really quite fond of him standing there.
"So, as you wouldn\'t logically or emotionally reject the scene before you, if you were to voice an objection now, she would definitely start suspecting me."
Midway through speaking, Xu Yuan suddenly looked out the window and said, "Here they come."