Living in close quarters day and night, the stiffness between them melted away.

As soon as Lu Xiao stepped into the wooden cabin, its narrow dimensions instantly became apparent.

Cramped inside together, the two of them could barely stretch their limbs.

When he first built the cabin, Lu Xiao had never intended for two people to occupy it simultaneously.

The primary consideration in constructing this shelter was concealment.

The larger the cabin, the exponentially harder it would be to keep hidden.

"Junior Brother Lu, you've had a much harder time than me out there scouting."

With these words, An Yunzhi handed Lu Xiao his pack.

Lu Xiao reached inside, pulled out a piece of dried cake, and tore off a morsel to chew on.

He then began to discuss the observations and concerns he had gathered along the way.

Water was not an issue; as for food, relying on the flatbreads and the cassava they had brought would sustain them temporarily.

However, they needed to look ahead and find additional sources of sustenance.

Otherwise, over the span of twenty days, their current provisions would certainly fall short.

As they chatted and conversed, the daylight completely faded away.

After nightfall, the rain seemed to grow even heavier than before.

For some reason, after an abrupt lull in the conversation, neither of them knew how to speak up again.

With the sound of the rain providing cover, as long as they didn't raise their voices too high, their words would be muffled.

Yet at that moment, neither could figure out how to strike up a new topic.

Inside the cabin, pitch darkness had fallen.

In the dark, their senses of smell and hearing became exceptionally acute.

Aside from the patter of the rain, they seemed to be able to hear each other's gentle breathing.

For Lu Xiao, a faint, indefinable fragrance still lingered at the tip of his nose.

The cabin was simply too narrow; even with Lu Xiao pulling his limbs in, the two of them remained stationed very close to one another.

A slight shift of movement would cause them to touch.

They remained enveloped in silence, each lost in their own thoughts to push through the night.

Lu Xiao possessed a high degree of vigilance.

Although this was his first time out on a trial by ordeal, his ability to handle surrounding situations surpassed that of many others.

Back at the Marquis's estate, he frequently performed heavy labor and still practiced cultivation for an hour or two at night.

Right now, he wasn't overly exhausted and could manage a light slumber, so the conditions were already a vast improvement.

Lu Xiao kept his wits about him, remaining alert to his surroundings.

As for An Yunzhi beside him, she seemed remarkably reserved throughout the night, also drifting into no more than a light sleep.

She felt a lingering guilt for initially hesitating to let Lu Xiao in.

And now that Lu Xiao was inside, she felt constrained.

Both of them harbored a sense of awkwardness and restraint as they endured the night together.

As dawn gradually broke, the rain outside finally ceased.

It was evident to both of them that the other had not rested well.

"I'm going to head north to have a look today, and I should be back a bit later."

Lu Xiao broke the silence first.

An Yunzhi softly murmured an "en" in response.

Sharing this tiny cabin had left them both so tense and constrained that neither had managed a proper rest.

Stepping out of the cabin with a piece of flatbread in hand, Lu Xiao prepared to head northward.

An Yunzhi handed him her long sword so he could carry it for self-defense.

Plenty of people had ventured into these mountains and forests, but Lu Xiao had no desire to cross paths with anyone else.

An Yunzhi had previously mentioned that those fierce beasts were likely raised using some sort of heretical arts.

If they encountered people, it would be hard to tell whether they were righteous or wicked, and they might even be the masters controlling the beasts.

Comparatively speaking, meeting no one at all was much safer.

To the north lay endless rolling hills and dense woods, nothing out of the ordinary.

That day yielded no particular discoveries.

Spotting traces left by other people, Lu Xiao deliberately steered clear of them.

Upon returning, he recounted everything he had seen and heard to An Yunzhi and handed her long sword back.

Her condition was noticeably better than the day before, and she was recovering rapidly.

In another six or seven days, she should be fully healed.

That day passed with them subsisting on dry, stale cakes once more.

When night fell, the two of them huddled together in the cabin again to ward off the chill.

Compared to the previous day, they seemed a little less tense and constrained.

To avoid falling into an awkward silence, An Yunzhi racked her brain for numerous topics to discuss today.

As they talked, the conversation naturally drifted toward the potential treasures left behind by the Celestial Immortal Tianlin.

All the rumors circulating through Flowing Slope were trivial matters.

The truly important information was tightly grasped by the major sects, completely out of reach for outsiders.

An Yunzhi shared the crucial location of the ruins with Lu Xiao.

Right there might be the exact spot where Celestial Immortal Tianlin's treasures were hidden.

However, reaching that place did not guarantee acquiring the treasures.

"The closer you get to the center of the ruins, the heavier the suppression you will face."

"Stepping into the very core makes it difficult to even maintain the Stone-Moving Realm, reducing one to the level of an ordinary person who has never touched cultivation."

"This is the exact reason why Senior Sister Ruan and I fell into such perilous danger..."

Hearing this, Lu Xiao's vigilance heightened even further.

While he harbored a longing for the treasures and inheritances left by predecessors, he was well aware of his own limitations.

Over the next few days, Lu Xiao ventured out daily to scout the surroundings.

Finally, in an easterly direction, he discovered a shallow lake.

The body of water was not large, almost comparable to a pond.

Lu Xiao guessed that its formation was linked to the flash floods that had erupted near Flowing Slope.

Flowing Slope had been carved out by torrents of rushing water, and those passing currents likely pooled together to form this barrier lake.

Since the water was deep and had remained undisturbed for years, fish had inexplicably bred within it.

And indeed, Lu Xiao managed to catch fish from the lake.

Finding a secluded spot, he roasted them thoroughly along with a piece of cassava, then wrapped them up to take back.

Lu Xiao did this to minimize the chances of being targeted by those fierce beasts once again.

Upon bringing the fish back, Lu Xiao and An Yunzhi finally enjoyed their first proper meal of meat.

They no longer had to rely haphazardly on dry flatbreads to fill their stomachs.

Having gone without such meat for so long, An Yunzhi found the taste truly exquisite.

Back at the Nine Stars Palace, she had been exceptionally picky.

Even dishes prepared by renowned master chefs would only receive a couple of dainty bites from her.

Even the meat pie Lu Xiao had given her that day was only nibbled at lightly.

Once they had eaten their fill, the two of them sat in the wooden cabin to rest.

After spending these past few days in close quarters and conversing so frequently, they had grown quite familiar with each other.

Crammed together in the tiny wooden cabin, talking and interacting no longer carried the heavy restraint of the beginning.

Having discovered that lake, their subsequent food supply was essentially secured.

Both of their moods lifted considerably.

Returning early today, the two of them began chatting about minor, everyday matters.

Lu Xiao recounted how he had accidentally stumbled into this place, explaining that he had merely wanted to undergo a trial by ordeal.

He had hoped to gain experience and provide a boost to his martial arts cultivation.

Hearing this, An Yunzhi recalled that during their very first conversation, Lu Xiao had indeed possessed very little understanding of the situation here.

Midway through the conversation, An Yunzhi voiced a question that had puzzled her for a long time.

"Junior Brother Lu, when you traveled out on your own, why did you only bring that single blade..."

"Are you cultivating some special martial technique or skill?"

Hearing this guess, Lu Xiao smiled and stood up to stretch his muscles.

"The main reason is actually that I haven't yet learned to use any weapons; I only know some crude slashing and chopping moves."

"You haven't learned to use weapons..."

"I wonder what kind of weapon Junior Brother Lu wishes to learn? Do you have any preferences?"

"I've given it some thought before; I'd like to learn something forceful, with fierce, violent, and imposing movements."

Forceful, fierce, and imposing...

An Yunzhi gently furrowed her brows in thought before speaking softly:

"Many spear techniques possess these exact characteristics, and I happen to have superficially studied a set of spear forms."

"If you don't mind, Junior Brother Lu, I can pass it on to you."

Hearing this, Lu Xiao's eyes lit up slightly, though a trace of hesitation flickered across them a moment later.

"Would that be appropriate..."

"This set of spear techniques was created by my family's ancestors. As a direct descendant of the An family, I certainly have the authority to decide whom to pass it on to."

"It's just that this spear technique isn't all that profound, so I hope Junior Brother Lu won't look down on it."

Lu Xiao certainly did not mind at all.