Looking at the table full of delicious food, everyone was eager to start. Su Muqing personally folded a pointed birthday hat for the little milk bun, and drew colorful patterns all over it.
Then she took out a small blue candle in the shape of the Arabic numeral 1, stuck it on the cake, and lit it. Lu Yuzhi and the others were already accustomed to it, so they calmly watched her fiddle with things.
However, Ke Binna and Wan Yan'er, who had never seen this before, were a bit bewildered. But neither of them opened their mouths to ask questions, as that would make them seem ignorant.
Everyone watched her tinker with those strange things from the side. Once everything was ready, Su Muqing held the chick-shaped cake and looked at the slightly dazed little milk bun.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you~" After Su Muqing finished singing the simple birthday song, everyone stared at her, completely unaware of what the next step was.
"Little Xuan Xuan, let's blow out the candles together!" Su Muqing brought the cake closer to the little milk bun. The little milk bun directly opened his mouth and started to bite, undoubtedly a little foodie.
She blew out the candles with Lu Yuzhi. Then Su Muqing began to offer her blessings. "I hope my brother grows up healthy and happy forever, and big sister will always be with you~"
"Then I wish him eternal joy and smooth journeys. I will do my best to protect you all for the rest of my life!" After Su Muqing finished speaking, Lu Yuzhi followed with his blessings.
Before Su Muqing could think about the meaning of his last sentence, Lu Yuzhi took out a small pendant of white jade, carved in the shape of a rooster. The overall size was not large, the material was fine and translucent, and the warm white jade was the most nourishing.
Leng Ren and Leng Feng followed with their blessings. Leng Ren gave him a pair of small silver bracelets, and Leng Feng gave him an exquisite silver collar. Su Muqing happened to tie Lu Yuzhi's carved white jade pendant to the collar and then hung it around the little milk bun's neck.
After Ke Binna offered his blessings, he took out a beautiful treasure sword from his sleeve and gave it to the little milk bun as a birthday gift. The scabbard was inlaid with all sorts of precious gems, the largest of which, a sapphire, was as big as an egg. Su Muqing quickly refused, feeling that their friendship had not yet reached the point where she could accept such a valuable gift.
Before she could refuse Ke Binna, another person chipped in. Wan Yan'er directly handed over a thousand taels of silver notes, saying it was her congratulatory gift and that Su Muqing should buy something for the little milk bun herself. She was in a hurry when she left, and besides a few changes of clothes, the most she brought was silver notes.
Looking at the two wealthy young masters and ladies in front of her, their expressions were surprisingly synchronized, and even what they said was almost the same. If Su Muqing refused to accept their gifts, it would mean she didn't consider them friends!
Forced by their gazes, Su Muqing had no choice but to accept the treasure sword and silver notes, then quickly ran back to her room to find two return gifts.
Finally, she bought a complete set of twelve zodiac glass ornaments from the space mall. She originally wanted to give them gold-inlaid jade, but they seemed to prefer glass, so Su Muqing could only cater to their tastes.
When Ke Binna and the others saw Su Muqing's return gifts, they were indeed as excited as two children. These glass ornaments were exquisitely made, and they even felt that the value of her return gifts far exceeded what they had given.
The gift-giving segment concluded, and it was time to enjoy the feast! Leng Ren and the others had already brought down the seafood feast prepared for the boatmen.
Su Muqing also handed a jar of wine to the old captain, reminding them not to drink too much, and to just have a small sip to taste. She would treat everyone to good wine and meat when they reached the Land of the Rising Sun! Her words moved the boatmen to tears.
It was time for the meal! What followed was a whirlwind of eating. Everyone at the table, except for Su Muqing, was eating birthday cake for the first time. Especially the cream on top, which was rich in milk flavor and melted in the mouth, described by Ke Binna and Wan Yan'er as indescribably delicious.
They were all young people in their teens and twenties. After a few days of getting along, their true personalities had long been revealed. After Su Muqing distributed a piece of cake to everyone, Wan Yan'er and Ke Binna, while eating what was in their bowls, stared intently at the only piece left on the plate.
Finally, Ke Binna finished what was in his bowl and reached for the cake on the plate. Wan Yan'er also reacted quickly, holding the other side of the plate and quickly gobbling down the rest in her bowl. The two of them were in a stalemate, grabbing at the cake, while everyone else at the table ate their own, pretending not to see.
In Su Muqing's eyes, these two were like a bickering couple. Not only did they fight over who would be the landlord during cards, but they also competed to see who caught more fish, and sometimes even fought over the last vegetable on the plate. In short, neither of them would admit defeat, so everyone had long been used to it.
Seeing them argue more fiercely, Su Muqing simply sent a gust of wind, cutting the cake in half. Now neither of them had to fight anymore. "Stop fooling around! There's still so much food here. If you like cake, we can make more next time."
"Hmph~"
"Hmph~"
The cake was divided into two halves, Wan Yan'er and Ke Binna exchanged glances, then snorted heavily! The others didn't know what to say about their childish behavior.
The dispute over the cake passed, and everyone began to enjoy the delicious food with great spirit. The meal lasted for nearly three hours, leaving the table in disarray, with piles of shrimp and crab shells stacked high. Everyone was completely satisfied.
The next two days were calm, until the evening of the third day.
Around five in the afternoon, everyone was playing cards in their rooms. The old captain suddenly rushed to find Lu Yuzhi, saying that there was an anomaly in the sea ahead, and that the sea god was likely to be enraged!
Lu Yuzhi and the others didn't know what it meant for the sea god to be enraged. The group followed the old captain to the deck. They saw that the sea, which had been clear and calm just an hour ago, had suddenly become overcast and turbulent.
"There's a demon ahead..." the old captain suddenly exclaimed, then his eyes widened, and he pointed a trembling finger towards the sea ahead.
The group followed his gaze, but saw nothing except a whirlpool.
Su Muqing's space screen was filled with dense blue dots. There were no icons representing species, so she didn't know what the old captain had seen.
Everyone craned their necks to look for a long time. Finally, Su Muqing leaped out and flew straight towards the whirlpool ahead. Seeing her go alone, Lu Yuzhi climbed onto the eagle's back. He instructed Leng Ren and the others to keep an eye on Su Muxuan, who was sleeping in the room.
The eagle spread its wings and soared high, chasing after Su Muqing who was flying ahead. It flew low, just skimming the sea surface, and then lifted her up from below.
Lu Yuzhi quickly helped Su Muqing to sit firmly on the eagle's back. Then the two of them lay on the eagle's shoulders, looking down at the sea below.
As they got closer, they realized that the situation might not be so simple. This was because the whirlpool was very large and was constantly expanding outwards, with very high waves already forming around it.
Su Muqing vaguely saw something stirring at the bottom of the sea. Had they encountered Nezha stirring up the sea?
Su Muqing twisted her body at a tricky angle and looked towards the center of the whirlpool. It turned out that the instigator stirring up the seabed was a super giant octopus!
Just then, a giant pink tentacle stretched out from the center of the whirlpool, moving with incredible speed towards the eagle circling around the whirlpool.
The eagle was a little slow to dodge, and was struck on the abdomen by the tentacle. In pain, its body tilted and it flew for a short distance before quickly stabilizing itself.
Su Muqing and Lu Yuzhi were thrown out by the immense force. They reacted quickly and held tightly onto the eagle's wings, thus avoiding being thrown into the whirlpool.
But they rejoiced too soon. Before the two could sit firmly on the eagle's back again, two more tentacles extended from the center of the whirlpool, quickly wrapping around Su Muqing and Lu Yuzhi's waists, and pulling them off the eagle's back.
In a moment of crisis, Su Muqing quickly took out the water-repelling pearl given to her by Luo Li and put it in her mouth. With her free hand, she electrocuted the tentacle wrapped around her waist. In pain, the octopus quickly retracted its tentacle, threw her down, and dragged Lu Yuzhi into the whirlpool.
After being dragged into the water, Lu Yuzhi held his breath and fiercely struck the monster wrapped around his waist. Obviously, striking it had no effect; the tighter he struck, the tighter the monster wrapped around him. He grabbed the tentacles with both hands and pulled them apart forcefully, but because he was in the water, he couldn't exert his full strength.
He was supposed to have the dagger Su Muqing gave him with him, but earlier that day while playing with the little milk bun, he had accidentally touched it. However, the dagger was too sharp, and Lu Yuzhi, worried about hurting him, had taken it off and put it away.
Seeing Lu Yuzhi being dragged away, Su Muqing was extremely anxious. She rushed towards him desperately and then, with a splash, jumped into the sea.
The octopus clearly didn't care about the minor injury it had just sustained. It once again swung two tentacles towards her, trying to entangle her. This time, Su Muqing did not resist.
When it tightly entangled her and dragged her to the closest spot to Lu Yuzhi, she tried to use her lightning skill again, only to find that she couldn't use it in the water. Not only the lightning skill, but even the wind element was useless in the water.
It was over...
Seeing Lu Yuzhi's resistance weakening, Su Muqing flashed into her space. Then, when she reappeared, she quickly rushed towards where Lu Yuzhi was bound.
The octopus stared at the empty tentacles with its big, round, innocent eyes. Where did she go? Seeing that Lu Yuzhi's breath was reaching its limit, Su Muqing quickly swam over, hugged him, and put the water-repelling pearl from her mouth into his.
Once the water-repelling pearl was in Lu Yuzhi's mouth, he found that he could breathe freely underwater without holding his breath. Looking at Su Muqing, whose lips were touching his, he let go of the hands that were pulling the tentacles and hugged her waist tightly. Then he used his tongue to push the water-repelling pearl to his lips, allowing her to also hold half of it. This way, both of them could breathe freely underwater.
Seeing that Lu Yuzhi could breathe normally, Su Muqing finally relaxed. She quickly drew out a machete and forcefully hacked at the octopus's tentacle. However, the resistance in the water was too great, making it very difficult to chop. She sawed at its tentacles with all her might, like sawing wood.
The attacked octopus instinctively shook violently and retracted its tentacles. This shake threw them both into the swirling giant waves. Fortunately, Lu Yuzhi held her tightly, otherwise their situation might have been even more dangerous.
Su Muqing felt like she had been thrown into a washing machine. The two of them closed their eyes and hugged each other tightly, then there was a lot of tumbling, or spinning around. The giant waves battered them, making it impossible to open their eyes.
Just as the octopus was about to attack again, the eagle circling above the giant waves seized the opportunity. With a "chirp~", it let out a cry and swooped down towards the giant waves, grabbing Lu Yuzhi's shoulder with its claws, and then flapping its wings rapidly. It narrowly flew up, skimming past the octopus's outstretched tentacles.
Having learned its lesson, the eagle flew very high this time. Su Muqing looked down and could still see the octopus, unwilling to give up, extending several tentacles to grab them.
Seeing that the eagle was flying too high and could no longer reach them, the octopus's big, round head emerged from the center of the whirlpool. Over a dozen tentacles, thicker than water buckets, were still churning in the seawater. It was clear that it was still angry about the escape of its prey.
Lu Yuzhi took out the water-repelling pearl from his mouth, wiped it clean, and handed it to her. Su Muqing put the pearl away and suddenly noticed that the eagle's spine seemed to be trembling. Recalling that it had been struck by a tentacle earlier, she realized it must be injured.
When they finally managed to fly above the large ship, the eagle seemed to have exhausted itself and could no longer hold on, suddenly starting to fall towards the deck.
This wouldn't do at all! Falling from such a height would not only injure Lu Yuzhi but also worsen the eagle's injuries. Su Muqing leaped off the eagle's back. After her feet touched the deck, she quickly turned around and used her wind element to support the spiraling falling eagle, then placed it steadily on the deck.
Lu Yuzhi also quickly jumped off its back. At this moment, the eagle's eyelids were drooping, and blood was even flowing from the corner of its mouth. Su Muqing called for the black bear and had it pick up the eagle and turn it over.
Everyone then saw a bloody wound on the eagle's abdomen, extending from between its legs to its neck. The feathers around the wound were stained red with blood, looking very serious.
There was no time for sentimentality now. Given the speed of these two ships, they would likely reach the whirlpool ahead soon, and they would have a tough battle to fight.
Su Muqing asked Leng Feng and the others to bring a few basins of water, secretly dripped a few drops of spiritual spring water into them, and then the group quickly cleaned the eagle's wound. After treating the wound, they stuffed a few pills into its mouth.
After doing all this, Su Muqing had the black bear put the eagle into the attic so it could rest well. She believed that with the spiritual spring water, it should recover quickly.
At this time, their ship was getting closer and closer to the center of the whirlpool. The sky was howling with strong winds, and thunder and lightning followed. The sea began to churn, and the ship's hull swayed under the impact of the large waves.
Just then, it suddenly started to rain heavily, and even hail the size of fists was mixed in the rain. This was truly adding insult to injury! Su Muqing told everyone to quickly return to their rooms for shelter, to avoid being injured by the hail, then took out a water-repelling pearl and placed it in Lu Yuzhi's hand, entrusting the little milk bun to him.
If they fell into the water again, at least they would have a chance of survival.
The octopus was still churning the seawater, the sea wind howled, and the giant waves rolled. A tornado gradually gathered in the center of the whirlpool. At first, the octopus churned with great vigor, but later, it found that it could no longer control the wind force.
When it wanted to withdraw, it was already caught in the tornado. With the octopus gone, the giant waves, lacking support from tentacles, quickly collapsed outwards.
The enormous tidal wave surged towards the two ships. Once hit by such a powerful force, the hulls would surely be shattered.
This wouldn't do at all! There were so many people on the ship...
Su Muqing mobilized all her abilities, and also opened all the wind energy in her energy ring. She flew into the air, braving the incessantly falling hail, first changing the direction of the sails of both ships, and then pushing them further away.
Seeing the ships retreat, Su Muqing then flew to the front of the giant wave and desperately threw various gales and hurricanes towards the tidal wave.
When the powerful tidal wave met the strong wind element, the collision created a deafening roar!
The immense impact force sent Su Muqing flying a long distance. Her chest cavity ached, and the taste of rust filled her mouth.
While flying in mid-air, she endured the intense pain and drank some spiritual spring water, then swallowed three pills. Only then did she recover some strength, but it was barely enough to stabilize her body.
Before her strength was completely depleted, Su Muqing quickly took out a life raft and lay on it. After using the last bit of her strength, she slowly fell onto the sea surface. Although the giant tidal wave had been blown apart, the dense small waves that remained were still something the life raft could not withstand.
She experienced a long period of being spun around on the sea surface. When Su Muqing felt her strength recovering a little, she quickly flew up and held the life raft on her forehead to block the hail. Was this not going to stop?
She inadvertently glanced at the energy ring on her hand and wondered if what Ding Mo said about absorbing celestial energy included hail. With this thought, Su Muqing propped herself up with one hand on the life raft and raised the other hand wearing the ring high.
She opened her palm and then clenched it instantly. With her brows furrowed and lips tightly pressed together, she looked imposing and unfathomable.
But alas! She proved through practice that not only was the hail not absorbed, but it also hurt when it hit her flesh! Her hand was bruised black...
"Muqing..."
Just as she was shaking her hand to relieve the pain, she thought she heard Lu Yuzhi's voice. Su Muqing turned her head and saw the eagle flying over again. As it flew closer, she saw that its belly was wrapped in thick gauze.
It was still fighting with injuries!
"Are you alright? Is the ship alright? Is the eagle's injury healed? Why did you come over?" Su Muqing asked a series of four questions after sitting firmly on the eagle's back.
To avoid her worrying, Lu Yuzhi briefly explained the situation. "Our people are fine, and the ship is also fine. A few people on Ke Binna's ship fell into the sea, but it seems they were all rescued. The eagle's wound has also recovered. To avoid arousing suspicion, I specifically wrapped some gauze around it to conceal it. I was worried when you hadn't returned for so long, so I came to check."
While Lu Yuzhi was speaking, he tidied the hair on her face and then looked at her with a look of heartache. "You've worked hard. You've suffered so much on this journey to find medicine for me."
Seeing the deep self-reproach in his eyes, Su Muqing opened her mouth to tell him not to be sad. However, Lu Yuzhi cupped her face and kissed her forehead.
What was going on? Why did this action feel somewhat ambiguous? Su Muqing was stunned by Lu Yuzhi's actions, frozen in place, not knowing how to even place her hands.
This forehead kiss lasted for a full thirty seconds, after which Lu Yuzhi slowly moved away. He looked at Su Muqing with complex eyes, which held not only guilt and self-reproach, but also deep affection. And it seemed like he desperately wanted to do something, yet was trying hard to control himself.
At this very moment, Su Muqing seemed to understand something. She didn't know when Lu Yuzhi's gaze towards her had changed. And when she noticed it, it seemed to be around the time Leng San and Cui Ping confessed their feelings.
In just two minutes, Su Muqing's mind raced. She recalled Lu Yuzhi's flustered explanation when she had seen the wanted poster. She remembered that when she wanted to learn to ride a horse on the road, only he had reached out to her.
Her looking at each other in the carriage when she was healing him in the no-man's-land. When climbing mountains, he thought he had injured her, then tightly hugged her, even activating a peculiar energy within his body for it.
And on the little milk bun's birthday, his final words – "I will do my best to protect you all for the rest of my life."
So, it was like this?
Thinking of those things, Su Muqing couldn't help but feel a little joy in her heart. Her lips also couldn't help but curve upwards.
Then what were her feelings for him?
Back then, when she heard Chu Ruoqiao say that she and Lu Yuzhi had a past, Su Muqing inexplicably felt angry, and seemed to have thrown a tantrum at Lu Yuzhi that day.
Later, when they were encircling the Thousand Poisons Sect, Lu Yuzhi personally told Chu Ruoqiao that he had never had any intentions towards her. Su Muqing remembered feeling very happy when she heard this.
And when she saw Wan Xuan'er staring at Lu Yuzhi without batting an eye in Whitesittown, she had also felt very displeased.
Perhaps her feelings for Lu Yuzhi were also different? She didn't know when it started, but she no longer saw saving him as just a task.
Saving him? A task... Thinking of this, the smile on Su Muqing's lips immediately disappeared. She averted her eyes in a panic, not daring to meet Lu Yuzhi's gaze again.
How could she forget that she was just a divine envoy in this small world, and she had to leave after completing her task? Therefore, she couldn't reciprocate this feeling, otherwise, Lu Yuzhi would definitely be sad after she left...