Watch out! Something's wrong with this guard.

"I was a little hesitant before coming in, but now I'm sure there's a powerful demon in this Tiger's Mouth Abyss. It's really cold!"

Somewhere on the outskirts of Tiger's Mouth Abyss, Senior Sister Li stood with her arms crossed. The surrounding atmosphere was indeed quite cold, and even she, a cultivator at the Nascent Soul Realm, found it difficult to bear.

"Use this." Lu Yunshi then took something out and handed it to Senior Sister Li.

Senior Sister Li looked at Lu Yunshi's hands and found that they were two stones, each about half the size of a palm, emitting a yellow light.

"A thermal stone? How did you manage to pull out something like that?"

Although they looked ordinary, she quickly recognized the two stones.

But soon, Senior Sister Li became puzzled by Lu Yunshi's act of taking out the stone.

As the name suggests, a thermal stone is a stone that can store heat. If a fist-sized thermal stone is fully charged with heat, it can keep a person warm for about six hours.

Many low-level cultivators choose to use heat stones to get through the winter. Although it is winter outside now, and it even snowed yesterday, the temperature is not low enough to require heat stones.

The real need for thermal stones will likely begin in about a month, when it will be colder and their price will drop.

Thermal stones are not cheap, and a beginner like Lu Yunshi probably wouldn't spend extra money to buy a stone that he wouldn't really need in advance.

"Haha, I heard from others that the temperature in Tiger's Mouth Abyss is very low, and it gets even worse as winter approaches, so I bought a thermal stone. I didn't expect it to actually come in handy."

Lu Yunshi smiled gently, then went to Zhang Quan, who seemed hesitant to speak, and handed him a stone.

"Senior brother, this is for you."

"Huh?" Zhang Quan was clearly taken aback by Lu Yunshi's actions; he hadn't expected that he would have such an effect.

I was clearly mocking him the whole time, so...didn't he understand what I meant? Otherwise, why didn't he react at all when I mocked him?

Damn it... I actually feel a little guilty.

"Um... Junior brother is too kind. This time, it was indeed my oversight." Zhang Quan shifted his gaze from Lu Yunshi's clear eyes and accepted the gift, secretly thinking to himself.

'If I have the time later, I wouldn't mind helping him once.'

Suddenly, Zhang Quan seemed to remember something and looked at Lu Yunxi.

"Miss Lu, how about you...?"

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Quan saw the stone that Lu Yunxi had taken from Senior Sister Li's hand. Only then did he remember that Lu Yunshi had given Senior Sister Li two stones earlier.

This was probably Lu Yunshi's intention in giving the two stones; he didn't actually hand them over to Lu Yunxi.

But this raises another question: Doesn't Lu Yunshi like Lu Yunxi? Why did he give up this opportunity to win her favor?

Could it be...

Is he insecure?

A glint of wisdom flashed in Zhang Quan's eyes.

Yes, it must be because of his inferiority complex. Although he pursued her relentlessly within the academy, the huge gap in their social status still made Lu Yunshi feel uneasy when facing Miss Lu.

He knew that Miss Lu would never accept the stone if he gave it to her himself, so he used this method to give the stone to her through someone else.

This guy is a pitiful person too.

Zhang Quan sighed inwardly. Of all the things in the world, love is the most hurtful.

"Senior Brother Zhang, be careful!" A cry of alarm suddenly rang out, and Zhang Quan subconsciously composed himself and stepped aside.

The next second, a dark blade 'whooshed' past in front of him, even severing a few strands of Zhang Quan's hair.

Zhang Quan blinked, and immediately broke out in a cold sweat. He then realized that many dark green eyes had appeared nearby at some point—the Wind-Piercing Wolves!

"Senior Brother Zhang, to your right!" Lu Yunshi, who was standing right behind Zhang Quan, spoke up again.

Upon hearing Lu Yunshi's voice, Zhang Quan did not hesitate at all. He struck out with his palm at the Wind-Piercing Wolf that was charging towards Lu Yunshi. The powerful force hit the wolf's head, sending it flying.

"Behind me!"

It was Lu Yunshi's voice again. Zhang Quan still didn't hesitate and used his cultivation in the direction Lu Yunshi reminded him to.

"Rear left!"

"Right rear!"

"above!"

"..."

There were a total of fifteen Wind-Piercing Wolves. Apart from the seven that Lu Yunxi and Senior Sister Li dealt with together, the rest were all killed by Zhang Quan alone.

And Lu Yunshi?

He didn't hit anyone, he didn't even lay a hand on anyone, his only contribution was reporting directions.

"Hiss! As expected of a demon beast from Tiger's Mouth Abyss, its strength at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm is enough to hurt me." Looking at her arm, which had been scratched by the Wind Piercing Wolf at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm, Senior Sister Li took a deep breath and sprinkled some medicinal powder on the wound.

"It's because you were too careless and haven't experienced enough battles like this. Otherwise, with your strength, you wouldn't have been in such a sorry state even if you had another Wind Piercing Wolf of the same strength." Standing to the side, Lu Yunxi commented on Senior Sister Li's battle without any mercy.

"There's nothing I can do about it. This is the first time I've fought a monster that's so ferocious. The monsters the academy keeps are far too gentle," Senior Sister Li said helplessly.

Over here, Lu Yunshi looked at Zhang Quan with admiration. "Wow~~~ Senior Brother Zhang, you were really impressive just now. I wish I had your skills."

"Hahaha! This is nothing. Didn't you put in a lot of effort just now, Junior Brother? If you hadn't told me the location of the monster in time, how could I have succeeded so smoothly?" Zhang Quan laughed, almost losing himself in Lu Yunshi's praise.

"Senior brother, you flatter me. With my abilities, this is all I can do," Lu Yunshi said dejectedly.

After a battle, the four of them rested and also dismantled and collected the corpses of several Wind-Piercing Wolves. Even if they were monsters used for body tempering, they could still be sold for some money. Zhang Quan didn't want them, and neither did Lu Yunxi and Senior Sister Li. In the end, they all belonged to Lu Yunshi.

The Wind-Piercing Wolf from the Naling Realm was attributed to its killer, Senior Sister Li.

“Let’s continue. Looking at the map, we should be almost there. I told you it wasn’t far and wouldn’t take long,” said Senior Sister Li, taking out a map she had bought from someone else.

Upon hearing this, the group nodded in agreement, preparing to finish their task as soon as possible and then call it a day.

Lu Yun, who had consciously moved to the back of the group, quietly took out a small notebook, flipped through a few pages, then suddenly stopped and put a checkmark next to the line "The Wind-Piercing Wolf likes to attack the weak first".

Seemingly unaware, ten of the fifteen Wind-Piercing Wolves were initially targeting Lu Yunshi. However, Senior Sister Li took the initiative to stop three of them for Lu Yunshi, while Lu Yunxi showed no intention of helping him out.

So the remaining seven were all taken care of by my dear senior brother Zhang.