Ye Tian gently stroked the ears of the three little rabbits and caressed their backs with care until all three settled down quietly in his arms before he said, "Showing off, huh? If you’re so tough, why don’t you go up and fight?"
Zhang Liang, while looking elsewhere, spoke about the rabbits, "I wouldn’t have thought you had such a soft spot for animals. Are they a precious breed?"
"Precious my ass! They’re everywhere, eating grass, pooping rabbit droppings, fond of digging holes, with two long front teeth, and they’ll bite if pushed."
Huddled between Ye Tian’s legs, the three gray rabbits trembled, but as Ye Tian’s hand gently brushed over them, all three rabbits calmed down at the same time.
The winds grew wilder, the rain more ferocious. Automatically, the dense rain around the two men was repelled, not a drop touching them, and except for Ye Tian crouching behind the massive stone looking somewhat silly and amusing as he coaxed the rabbits, everything else seemed very quiet. If someone were to see it, they might think they’d encountered an immortal.
"Your cultivation is even more advanced than I imagined."
"Don’t flatter me. One can’t fight off four hands with a pair of fists, and even a good tiger can’t withstand a pack of wolves. You’ve got so many people, if it really comes to it, gang up in shifts. You could wear down anyone to death." Ye Tian’s tone was quite unfriendly.
Looking at him, Zhang Liang asked, "When do you plan to make a move?"
Zhang Liang sensed a fluctuation of fate from afar, frowning in response.
"Oh dear, sorry. There are a lot of wild wolves on this mountain. I’m considering when to come down."
"Why?" Ye Tian raised his eyebrows. "Why do you have the right to ask me ’why’? I’ll go if I want to, come if I feel like it. My legs are my own, so I can walk away anytime I want."
Zhang Liang furrowed his brows.
"You’re looking at me with a frown—feeling high and mighty, huh? I can do it too. Can you frown as handsomely as I can?" Ye Tian raised his neck and looked up at Zhang Liang, also lifting his head, "I’ve told you before, don’t try to pin your hopes on me. I’ve been duped by you guys twice, and here you are again. Don’t you know to find someone else for a change? You really think I’m an idiot, huh? If I trust you again, then I truly would be a fool!"
Leaning against the large stone, Ye Tian curled up, his entire focus on the three rabbits, like a mother rabbit.
Zhang Liang didn’t speak further. He silently turned around, looking into the distance at the streaks of light flashing like lightning, a flicker of worry in his eyes. Then, with a light tap of his toe, he dashed out rapidly, his figure flickering twice before disappearing into the woods far away. Ye Tian glanced over, didn’t say a word, but just curled his lip, seemingly expressing considerable disdain.
"Ah, little rabbits, little rabbits. You have it good, eating when you want, sleeping when you please, and if you’re bored, you come out of your burrow to bask in the sun. When it rains, you can hide at home and sleep comfortably. Ah, this is indeed the life! Huh?"
Ye Tian looked up at the sky blanketed by the slanting storm and felt the strong but headache-inducing aura; the three little bunnies in his arms could no longer stay calm, starting to move around restlessly despite the thunder and lightning raging outside, unwilling to stay in Ye Tian’s embrace.
The green bird flew through the ferocious storm and dived right into Ye Tian’s arms, callously tossing out the three pitiful rabbits. Ye Tian quickly caught two, but unfortunately, one was not caught and fell onto the soft foliage, running away before Ye Tian could think to keep it, leaving him no chance to salvage the situation.
In this stormy weather, a bunny the size of a fist wandering around in the forest would undoubtedly meet one inevitable end. Ye Tian, irritated, grabbed the bird that was desperately burrowing into his chest, pinched the back of its neck and tossed it out; this little bird was tough enough to handle a few drops.
The green bird, grabbed and thrown away, circled back in midair shamelessly and tried to burrow into Ye Tian’s chest again, but was unceremoniously blocked by Ye Tian’s hand. When the little bird flew left, his hand moved left; when it flew right, his hand moved right, "Cut it out, weren’t you just burrowing into young girls’ chests? How come you know to come back now?"
Little Green Bird looked at Ye Tian with its big round eyes but still didn’t receive Ye Tian’s forgiveness. Mimicking its previous behavior, Ye Tian turned his head away and pouted, outright refusing to even glance at the bird. The green bird, fluttering its little wings stubbornly, flew back in front of him. Just as Ye Tian was about to turn his head away again, he froze because this little bird was holding something in its claws -- something that had given Ye Tian and Zhang Liang, as well as the Monk, quite a headache.
Indeed, it was that cool, green bead.
The green bead, the size of an egg, was held by this little critter in its claws, looking rather heavy and burdensome.
"What now, you trying to bribe me with this bead? Hmph, do you think I, Ye Tian, am that kind of person? You seriously underestimate me, hmph! But I know you have your pride too; if I don’t accept it, you’ll feel like I’m being pretentious, like I’m denying you face. Alright then, I’ll accept it."
Suddenly remembering that he shouldn’t touch the bead, Ye Tian put on a stern face, "Kid, you’re trying to play me, aren’t you?"
The green bird seemed to have completely lost its patience, and it just threw the bead onto Ye Tian, which unexpectedly startled him. However, before he could react, the bead had already landed on him. Ye Tian gritted his teeth and gathered all his Spiritual Power to confront the coldness hidden within the bead, but the warmth he summoned seemed to vanish in the spot where the bead rested, as if a boxer’s punch landed on a soft cotton ball, depleting all his Essence Qi without even touching a hair on it.
The sense of coldness had completely disappeared.
Ye Tian cautiously touched the bead with his fingertip, tentatively as if touching water with a dragonfly’s wing, and sure enough, he felt nothing. Could it be the initial chill of the bead had truly vanished?
Ye Tian was somewhat incredulous; such immense power couldn’t just be negated by someone’s cultivation, yet the reality plainly unfolded before his eyes, an utterly impossible occurrence!
Looking at the Little Green Bird flapping its wings in the bitter wind and rain, Ye Tian wore a peculiar expression, then beckoned it over, "Come here, let’s have a chat."
The green bird flew over and perched on his knee; above was the rain trickling down from the mirage-like halo, and next to him were the crouching bunnies, who seemingly wanted to mark their territory by boldly moving forward a bit but retreated at the sight of the killing aura in Little Green Bird’s eyes, shaking in fear beside him.