Chapter 171: Chapter 170: In This Life, He Has Someone to Care For, and Is Cared For in Return

Jiang Zuo looked at Sweet Potato, then moved the flame away from it.

Only then did Sweet Potato happily sit on Jiang Zuo’s shoulder, nibbling on an apple.

Jiang Zuo then got up and started walking back.

He held the coin in his hand. He needed a safe route, and it had to be a shortcut.

Because he didn’t have much time.

But Jiang Zuo wasn’t in a hurry, nor was he panicking. For him, this was already a pretty good outcome.

He was alive, and he had made it out.

With a little time, he could get back to normal.

That way, Su Qi wouldn’t find out.

If Su Qi knew he was severely injured, nothing good would come of it.

So, Jiang Zuo was determined not to let Su Qi know about his injuries. This was no longer about whether he would be exposed.

In the vast, white expanse of snow, Jiang Zuo dragged his weakened body forward, step by slow step.

Anyone who understood the extent of Jiang Zuo’s injuries would probably fear he might collapse unconscious in the snow at any moment.

＊＊＊＊＊＊

During the sacrificial rite, Su Qi and the others, who had been preparing for it, found their previous injuries healed by the eruption of the Immortal Spirit Spring.

But Su Qi just stared down into the Immortal Spirit Spring, lost in thought.

"Why the long face? We may have lost, but it seems our base wasn’t destroyed. And the sacrificial rite has started smoothly, even if it was inexplicably early," Jingyue said, walking over to Su Qi’s side.

In truth, the first two days of the rite didn’t have much to do with them; they were pretty much just here for the ride.

Still, the rite had finally begun, and they were happy to take it easy.

Su Qi shook her head. "I don’t know. I just have a weird feeling. I really want to call my husband."

"Why? Is he in trouble? Is he dying? Did your Life-Protecting Treasure react?"

Su Qi looked at Jingyue seriously. "Senior Sister, do you think he might really be in trouble? I have a really bad feeling. I want to ask Master to go check on him."

Jingyue paused for a moment, then said, "Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. Besides, you’ve only known each other for ten years and been together for nine. It’s not that easy to develop Mind Sensing. Plus, the fact that he managed to marry you just goes to show how lucky he is."

"But Holy Sister, do you think marrying you could have used up all your husband’s luck?" Qing Lian suddenly chimed in from the side.

Jingyue shot Qing Lian an annoyed glare.

But Su Qi couldn’t listen to this anymore. She felt extremely anxious and wouldn’t be able to rest easy until she knew for sure.

It would be even better if she could just see him.

Jingyue sighed. "Alright, alright, you win. Let me, the great Saintess, come and save your heart! I’m free right now anyway."

To contact the outside world, any Candidacy Saintess had to go through the Saintess as a channel.

To put it bluntly, only the Saintess had the authority to contact the outside.

Meanwhile, Jiang Zuo, walking through the snow, didn’t have his phone on him. He had put all his belongings into his ring.

Right now, he had almost no combat power, and his senses were diminished to almost nothing.

The only thing he could rely on was the coin. If he made just one mistake, he might not make it home.

Just then, a virtual figure emerged from Jiang Zuo’s ring.

It was a playful little girl, the ’moe’ type, looking much like a child from a 2D anime.

Except she was only the size of a thumb.

"Hey, your phone’s ringing. You gonna answer it or not?" she shouted at Jiang Zuo.

Jiang Zuo looked at her. In truth, he had no idea who this little thing was.

After a moment of thought, Jiang Zuo spoke up. "Broken Bridge Fishing Rod?"

Jiang Zuo’s voice was a little hoarse.

As for the Broken Bridge Fishing Rod, Jiang Zuo hadn’t tried to devour its will since he got out. He only had a single thread of Innate Qi left, which he needed to sustain his body.

But the Broken Bridge Fishing Rod could only pull him in; it couldn’t appear on its own.

’So, what happened in the meantime?’

Jiang Zuo soon thought of the Immortal Spirit Spring. The fishing rod had probably taken some advantage of it.

At that moment, Duan Qiao said, "It’s me. But your phone is ringing. It’s a call from someone named Su Qi."

Jiang Zuo was taken aback. He finally took out his phone and saw that it was indeed Su Qi.

He composed himself for a moment, then answered the call. "Su Qi?"

"No, it’s Jingyue." It was indeed Jingyue’s voice. "Su Qi is worried about you and insisted I call to make sure you’re okay. You’re all right, aren’t you?"

Jiang Zuo said calmly, "Yeah, I’m fine."

Jingyue was silent for a moment before speaking again. "I’ll send you my contact information in a bit. If you need anything, just contact me. By the way, the sacrificial rite has started. You can enter tomorrow. Su Qi told you, right?"

"Yes, she did."

After that, Jingyue said a few more things and then hung up.

Jiang Zuo wasn’t entirely sure what she said; he couldn’t hear clearly.

But it probably wasn’t important.

Afterward, Jiang Zuo put his phone away and asked Duan Qiao, "Is there a signal in there?"

"There wasn’t before, but there is now. Wherever I am, there’s a signal," the thumb-sized Duan Qiao said, hopping onto Sweet Potato.

"You’re a girl?" Jiang Zuo asked.

"A girl?" Duan Qiao sounded confused. "Do bridges have genders? I only took this form because I saw a similar little figure when your phone rang. When I first came out, I was just a bridge. I changed into this form so you wouldn’t eat me. Hey, hey, ducky, don’t move! Aah!"

Just then, Duan Qiao was flung off by Sweet Potato and fell onto the snow.

Jiang Zuo didn’t stop. He kept walking forward. He couldn’t afford to stop now.

Jiang Zuo felt a bit helpless. He didn’t like sentient Magical Treasures.

Still, being able to get a signal inside the ring wasn’t bad.

At least he wouldn’t miss important calls, like this one.

He never would have expected Su Qi to have Jingyue call him.

But...

He was very happy.

So, there was no way he was going to die.

In this life, he had someone to care about, and in turn, someone cared about him.

"Hey, wait, wait up! I’m a condensed spiritual avatar right now, not connected to my main body. I’m just an ordinary Artifact Spirit. Wait for me! If I die, what’ll happen to my body? It’ll take ages for another me to grow back!" Duan Qiao shrieked, racing after him.

But it was just too slow.

Jiang Zuo walked for a long time, and Duan Qiao chased for a long time. It had never traveled such a long distance in its entire existence.

Finally, just before dawn, Jiang Zuo returned to his villa.

There, Jiang Zuo saw a box at his doorstep, which he figured was from Liuyue Xue.

Jiang Zuo checked it and found that it was indeed what he had asked for, and everything was there.

He then took the items and went back into his room, leaving Duan Qiao and Sweet Potato outside.

He wasn’t sure if things would catch fire this time.

After all, this was the perfect opportunity for the Fire Element to launch a sneak attack.

Sweet Potato didn’t seem to mind. It had its apple, and there was a pond nearby, so it was perfectly content.

Duan Qiao, however, was not happy. Its main body was still in Jiang Zuo’s ring.

But it couldn’t use most of its abilities, so it could only complain to Sweet Potato. "Your master is completely inhuma—"

MUNCH. Sweet Potato ignored Duan Qiao and waddled toward the pond, chewing on its apple.

It hadn’t been long since it was born and didn’t understand much. The one thing it had learned these past few days was that if you have an apple, you should eat it as soon as possible.

Especially a delicious apple.

It had also learned that whether someone was around or not, the safest thing to do was to hide quietly off to the side.