"I'll protect you too."
Yan Zhao's words echoed in Ren Qingyue's ears, leaving her momentarily blank, unsure how to respond.
After a while, Yan Zhao poked her arm and gently called, "Senior Sister?"
Ren Qingyue snapped back to reality, a flush of red suddenly rising to her cheeks.
She bit her lip and cleared her throat, trying to maintain her composure. "I understand."
But as soon as the words left her lips, her smile couldn't be contained, rising at the corners against her will.
Outside, Wu Yingying fell into a brief moment of contemplation.
Perhaps she didn't necessarily have to return to the sect with Yan Zhao.
But Yin Wuxian had already left, and with her own injuries still not healed, returning to Yaoshen Sect alone wouldn't be safe.
Previously, the sand bandits near the sand city had been dealt with, but recently, she'd heard they were becoming active again.
Moreover, after the incident with Fuyun Sect, some nefarious cultivators had begun to imitate their methods, creating more chaos.
Some of these evil cultivators were like rats in the gutters, picking on the weak while avoiding crowds; they specifically targeted solitary female disciples to abduct and use as furnace cauldrons.
In short, the world was in disarray, and Wu Yingying didn't dare wander around alone.
After a moment of hesitation, she decided to accompany Yan Zhao.
Just as she was thinking this, the door behind her opened, and Yan Zhao stepped out, waving to Wu Yingying. "Let's go!"
Behind Yan Zhao, Ren Qingyue's expression was cool and distant, a stark contrast to her warm demeanor in the room with Yan Zhao.
Wu Yingying bowed slightly, feeling a bit guilty for accidentally overhearing their conversation, curious but not wanting to pry too deeply.
However, Yan Zhao remained oblivious, walking side by side with Wu Yingying.
They weren't in a hurry, so they didn't use sword flight; if the weather was nice, they would gather herbs together as they passed through the mountains and woods.
Wu Yingying wasn't very strong, but having grown up under Elder Wu's guidance, she was familiar with many medicinal herbs and understood their growth habits well.
It was only then that Yan Zhao learned there were many plants and animals in the sandy areas that could be used for medicine.
Wu Yingying talked about her own training task for descending the mountain, which was quite similar to Yan Zhao's assignment from Yaoshenzi—both were about collecting herbs, although her targets were more common, looking for a few rare, but not uncommon, third- and fourth-tier herbs.
"I've been down the mountain for over three years, traveling all over the place just to gather the herbs my grandfather asked me to find," Wu Yingying said with a hint of emotion. "You wouldn't believe it, but I was here in the sand city last year, and the sand bandits were so rampant!"
As she recounted her past, Wu Yingying was filled with righteous indignation. "All the herbs I painstakingly collected were taken by the sand bandits! When they found out who I was, they captured me and demanded a ransom from Yaoshen Sect!"
Yan Zhao was quite surprised. "What happened next? Did you kill them all?"
"Ha, how could I do that? I'm not capable of such things!" Wu Yingying waved her hand dismissively. "But I got lucky; I encountered a mysterious expert who accepted the bounty and killed those sand bandit leaders. The next morning, their bodies were discovered. You won't believe what happened!"
