He Lan Tianxia

Seeing the pool of blood in front of the pale-faced scholar, the innkeeper suddenly felt that staying in the cave was not right. He bent down, carried the pale-faced scholar on his back, and walked straight outside. It seemed that the pale-faced scholar patted his back weakly once along the way, but he didn't pay much attention to it. He thought that if he stayed here any longer, the pale-faced scholar would die here.

"Master, please forgive my presumption." The shopkeeper, carrying the pale-faced scholar, retreated without looking to the side. Jiang He, unwilling to give up, searched every corner again, with the old pine spirit following meticulously, but in the end, they found nothing.

"Old man, go to the wine cellar and get a few jars of wine. I'll go see if that monkey can do anything. If not, we'll go back to the big strange tree and see if we can get Lingyi and Luo Chanyu to wake up."

"Alright." The old pine tree spirit felt a great responsibility now. It suddenly straightened its chest and walked out with firm steps. It turned out that being entrusted with an important task was also a kind of happiness.

It was more than half an hour later when Jiang He and the old pine tree spirit returned to the strange tree. Jiang He went out but didn't see the mischievous monkey, so he waited for the old pine tree spirit to bring the wine. And you know what? The old pine tree spirit was quite resourceful; he conjured several branches to carry eight jars of wine, following Jiang He steadily.

As Jiang He had predicted, Luo Xie and Ling Yi still hadn't woken up inside the strange tree.

"Old man, come and help me, pour all the wine down your throat." Jiang He gave the order and then got to work.

The old pine tree spirit stared at Jiang He with pleading eyes, for a moment feeling as if Murong Junlan had returned. Perhaps it was because Jiang He had followed Murong Junlan for so long that his work style had become assimilated; even it wondered if they could withstand such a large amount of force-feeding. Seeing the old pine tree spirit not moving, Jiang He urged it again. Of course, he knew that force-feeding so much wouldn't work, but if Lingyi still couldn't be awakened, the prince and princess would be in even greater danger. He had to admit that in all the time he had followed Prince Murong, Jiang He had never felt so helpless. Only by awakening Lingyi could he find the prince and princess's whereabouts. His hands were trembling slightly; he even wondered if there really was a Milky Way in the pitch-black darkness, and the prince and princess might have fallen in. Jiang He broke out in a cold sweat as he thought about it.

"Guard Jiang, you've spilled wine in your nose!" the old pine spirit suddenly shouted, bringing Jiang He back to his senses.

"Guard Jiang, look, Brother Lingyi seems to have moved, he has moved."

"Ah... Achoo." Lingyi suddenly twitched her nose and sneezed.

"Lingyi, you're awake?" Jiang He patted Lingyi's body in surprise.

"Achoo!" Lingyi shook his head uncomfortably, his nose landing squarely on the old pine tree spirit. The force of the head shake combined with the sneeze sent the old pine tree spirit tumbling several times to the ground. The old pine tree spirit, far from being angry, was delighted. He scrambled to his feet and approached, as if seeking praise, saying, "Brother Lingyi, are you awake?"

Jiang He was overjoyed and didn't know what to do. He patted Ling Yi's body vigorously with one hand, while still hesitating with the other whether to continue pouring him more wine.

An idea suddenly popped into the old pine tree spirit's head, and it reached out and pressed its hand on Lingyi's philtrum.

Enraged, Lingyi closed its eyes and flicked its tongue. Suddenly, Lingyi flicked its tail and slapped at the old pine tree spirit.

"Watch out!" Jiang He reacted quickly, grabbing the old pine tree spirit and leaping away.

"Snap." Lingyi missed its target. Seemingly unwilling to give up, it swung its tail several more times, only to miss again. Enraged, Lingyi suddenly spun around in the air a few times, then stood upright, hissing and emitting cold air.