Chapter 39: Ch 39 - Good Friend
This is no joke!
Given the divine status of the nine-colored deer, even the most powerful elders of the major sects would find it difficult to conquer and be accepted as a master by a guardian spirit beast in their lifetime!
But Yino had so easily taken the nine-colored deer with lies that could fool a three-year-old?
-Wait, is there a possibility...-
-The nine-colored deer has never had friends before, so its brain is really only that of a three-year-old?-
In this situation, Jinyue's mind was racing with thoughts.
But no matter how much reasoning and thinking she did, faced with this abstract reality, Jinyue could only feel bewildered.
The prophecy of the heavenly way had been changed by a useless young man with the destiny of cannon fodder...
While Jinyue was in a daze, Yino was still earnestly deceiving the nine-colored deer:
"Wangxue, do you know that according to the rules of the jianghu, a rescued girl is supposed to offer herself in marriage?"
-Well… That's the only true statement you said till now -
Jinyue nodded slightly.
But soon, she keenly noticed something amiss.
Although Jinyue knew he was deceiving the nine-colored deer, for some reason, she felt that Yino's words seemed to be directed at her as well...
After all, there wasn't much fundamental difference between her and the nine-colored deer. They were both demon spirits, except that the nine-colored deer hadn't transformed yet, while Jinyue already met the basic conditions of being human.
And Jinyue had also been saved by Yino before.
Setting aside the reality of the situation, from a physiological standpoint, Jinyue seemed more suitable to offer herself in marriage to repay the favor according to jianghu rules.
- Could it be that, while appearing to deceive the little deer, Yino was actually reminding me?-
Thinking of this, Jinyue unconsciously gripped the hem of her clothes tightly, flushing her cheeks once again.
Although she didn't dare to speak up, Yino behind her was still chattering with the nine-colored deer:
"But don't worry~ I, Yino, am not such a feudal man. Just like that beautiful fox sister in front of you, although I saved her too, I never thought about making her offer herself in marriage or anything..."
"So, Wangxue, you just need to remember the bond between us good friends!"
"Although you might not understand me now and still have doubts about my true identity... but as they say, familiarity breeds affection!"
"Anyway, Wangxue doesn't have a place to take refuge now, so why not come back with me to Ranmo Peak? There's an immortal sister up there with a particularly dashing dance style, she can definitely protect you..."
"Oh right, do you know the saying 'choice is more important than effort'?"
"When I take you to the Grand Tutor's Mansion one day and introduce you to my great-grandfather, you'll know how easy life can be in the latter half when you make friends... oh no, when you befriend someone powerful!"
"Hey hey hey, I'm not bragging, you know. Do you know what it means to be a friend with a rich brother like me~?"
...
...
After several rounds of ideological indoctrination, Yino had completely deceived the nine-colored deer.
The little deer, who was quite uneasy before, now looked at Yino with shining eyes, her gaze became much brighter.
Although the little deer didn't understand what Yino was saying, she could at least understand what a good friend was!
And as a nine-colored divine deer that could resonate with nature, she could feel the sincere goodwill radiating from this human before her.
-So this is what the village children often called a "good friend"!-
She had been a divine deer for so long, always worshipped and kept at a respectful distance. This was truly the first time she had made the legendary precious good friend... In short, she was so happy!
"Meh!"
"It's getting late, and this place isn't safe. We should hurry back."
Yino, having finished deceiving the little deer, was ready to leave.
But when he turned around, he noticed the flushed face of the fox girl behind him.
"Senior Sister, what's wrong?"
"No, nothing... I'm just moved by the friendship between you two."
Jinyue gently bit her lip, inexplicably a bit shy, and started to make up excuses along with Yino.
For some reason, Jinyue's heart was also beating faster now.
She might have been a bit presumptuous, as every word Yino said was directed at the nine-colored deer, but it hit Jinyue's heart so precisely that she didn't know how to react...
"Senior Sister, you're being too formal."
"Tonight, we're all in this intimate relationship. My friend is Senior Sister's friend... Look, this is my new good friend Wangxue that I just made."
Taking advantage of the friendly atmosphere, Yino didn't forget to give Wangxue a bit more sense of belonging.
At the same time, being stared at by both the human and the deer, Jinyue couldn't help but immerse herself in the 'good friend' atmosphere. She crouched down in front of the little deer and smiled in greeting.
After all, this was the legendary nine-colored deer. Making friends with her tonight and leaving a good impression might come in handy someday in the future, right?
Thinking of this, Jinyue couldn't help but smile sweetly:
"My name is Jinyue, I'm Yino's senior sister..."
She was trying hard to show friendliness.
But before Jinyue could finish speaking, the nine-colored deer, who was originally full of excitement, seemed to see something terrifying in Jinyue's eyes. She backed away and burrowed into Yino's arms.
"Woo... woo woo!"
Wangxue was anxiously trying to tell Yino something.
But she couldn't speak human language. After a moment of anxiety, she mustered up courage again to stand in front of Yino, facing off against Jinyue's bloody red beautiful eyes with her own determined and unyielding spirit eyes.
"Wow! What kind of discerning eye does Wangxue have?"
Yino sensed the tension in the air and immediately remembered Jinyue's true identity.
He quickly held back the nine-colored deer and awkwardly tried to smooth things over with a smile: "It's okay, it's okay, maybe our Wangxue is just a bit stressed!"
Among the two people and one deer present, everyone actually knew why the nine-colored deer was afraid and wary of Jinyue.
But neither Yino nor Jinyue dared to reveal this truth.
In the end, it was only the pure-hearted nine-colored deer who was kept in the dark.
"Is that so... So even divine deer can get stressed..."
Jinyue also responded with an awkward smile.
As they spoke, her originally friendly and intimate smile now carried a hint of cold malice.
She hadn't expected that the nine-colored deer would see through her identity at a glance.
Fortunately, the nine-colored deer couldn't speak human language yet. Otherwise, if Yino found out, all of Jinyue's painstaking acting along the way would have been in vain!
At the same time, Yino's thoughts were similar to Jinyue's, frightened by the nine-colored deer's keen eye.
"Woo, woo woo..."
Sandwiched between the man and woman, each with their own hidden agenda, only the nine-colored deer seemed to feel wronged now.
She was still rubbing against Yino's pants. After all, this was the first friend she had made in her deer life, and she desperately wanted to tell Yino to be extremely careful of this female fox emanating a seductive fragrance!
-She, she she she——-
The nine-colored deer was still trying to communicate with Yino using clumsy human language.
Meanwhile, Jinyue took the initiative to break the awkward atmosphere by changing the subject: "I think maybe this place is too gloomy and the smell of blood is too strong, which scared the divine deer."
With her taking the lead, Yino quickly followed up:
"That's right, Wangxue must have been traumatized and is afraid of staying here and suffering some misfortune... We should leave quickly."
"Meh... Meh?!"
...
...
The nine-colored deer followed Yino reluctantly, suppressing her cute voice and whimpering softly all the way.
But as they walked, Jinyue, who was originally leading the way in front, suddenly appeared beside the nine-colored deer.
The fox girl gently placed her hand on the little deer's head, narrowing her enchanting peach blossom eyes, seemingly saying something to the nine-colored deer in an imperceptible lip language——
"Ying! Ying ying!"
Wangxue felt an alarm going off in her heart and hurriedly bit onto Yino's pants, shaking them.
But no matter how much noise she made, the human boy beside her seemed to exist in a parallel world, unable to be touched and completely deaf to the nine-colored deer's cries for help.
"Divine Deer, save your strength"
"Stop calling out, no matter how much you shout, he won't hear you."
Jinyue's jade hand still gently stroked the little deer, but her tone was no longer so polite.
Without the previous act, the nine-colored deer truly felt the witch's eerie dark aura.
"Considering you're a divine deer, I won't rashly erase your memories."
"But I hope you understand that Young Master Yino not only saved you, he also saved my life in the dungeon. He's not just your friend..."
"Perhaps I'm not a good fox, but at least I won't repay his kindness with enmity."
"So, as we're both demon spirit, I hope the divine deer can be lenient and not sow discord between this humble one and Young Master's precious relationship."
Towards the end, Jinyue seemed to think of something, and her enchanting fox face actually blushed slightly, revealing a bit of pure and sincere maiden innocence.
For a moment, the nine-colored deer felt that she was just like herself, equally cherishing this first encounter of companionship in life.
The charming fox girl actually had such a sincere side...
"Meh."
The nine-colored deer lowered her brow slightly, indicating agreement.
Jinyue patted her head one last time with a smile.
As the illusion ended, those peach blossom eyes narrowed into crescent moons suddenly welled up with two streaks of bloody tears.
"Miss Jinyue, why is your eye bleeding?!"
"It's nothing... Maybe I just used too much illusion magic tonight, and now I'm experiencing some backlash."
Jinyue clinched her teeth, covering her eyes with her hand, and her breathing became faster.
Yino was completely confused. It seemed that as they were walking, Jinyue's eyes suddenly started bleeding, and the previously noisy nine-colored deer had also suddenly become much quieter.
"Meh..."
Wangxue, seeing the fox girl's pained expression, seemed to think of something and voluntarily approached, using the natural spirit energy emanating from her nine-colored antlers to heal her.
In just a moment, Jinyue recovered significantly.
She opened her crimson, beautiful eyes, blinked, and discovered that her eyes, which had been bleeding due to illusion overload, were no longer hurting after only a few seconds of healing.
"Is this the miracle that's been circulating in Snow Village..."
Jinyue seemed surprised.
It wasn't the first time her eyes had bled.
Although she had the enhancement of innate charm for illusions, illusions weren't omnipotent. Sometimes using too many illusions in one day would make her eyes sore, and in severe cases, they would bleed and she couldn't open them.
However, Jinyue usually wasn't this fragile.
Mainly, tonight's Yino and the nine-colored deer both had very high resistance to illusions.
Yino at least still belonged to the human category.
But the nine-colored deer was extraordinary. The fatigue Jinyue experienced from casting one illusion on her was almost equivalent to hypnotizing Yino seven or eight times throughout the entire day!
Jinyue had anticipated that her body wouldn't be able to handle it.
But she really hadn't expected that the nine-colored deer, who had just been intimidated by her, would now voluntarily heal her without holding any grudges.
"It's exactly like the divine deer in fairy tales..."
Jinyue glanced at the nine-colored deer's praying form, her gaze blank, and couldn't help but sigh quietly.
This time, it was Yino's turn to be the outsider. He looked back and forth, not understanding at all what had happened between Jinyue and the nine-colored deer.
-How did they suddenly become friends?-
-Did Jinyue use an illusion again when I wasn't paying attention?-
"Meh!"
After a moment of healing, the nine-colored deer returned to Yino's side, nuzzling him to urge him to leave.
At the same time, Jinyue did the same.
She came to Yino's other side, smiling sweetly with a raised eyebrow: "Thanks to the divine deer's treatment, I'm fine now. Let's quickly leave."