"Who is it?" she asked.
"I have no idea," I shrugged. "But your enemies would be stupid not to put at least one spy in your team."
In this case, I was putting myself in the shoes of whoever Song Song was against. If there was one thing soone could trust Song Song to be, it was unpredictable. So it would make sense to have soone keep an eye on our dear psycho girl here so she didn't do sothing like... just decide to lead this team toward one of the rival camps and slaughter them.
"If your enemies did not put a spy in your team, there is nothing to worry about. You will win this, or you would have already won by now," I stated the obvious.
Of course, her enemies were not dumb; we both knew that. One of her enemies was surely her other cousin, the kid who was the Sect Leader's son. Given how the Sect Leader himself had co into power, I doubted he raised a naive son.
Song Song cald down and sighed. With her sigh, it seed like everyone else on the team also breathed an internal sigh of relief.
"It seems like the only people I can trust here are you and your cousins," Song Song shook her head.
"Do not trust my cousins," I quickly refuted her. "While they might work for you, they ultimately have the clan's best interests in mind. If betraying you benefits the Liu Clan, then you can be sure they will stab you in the back."
"Oh? Is that so?" Song Song asked rhetorically as an eerie feeling ran up my spine and a strange chill spread through my body. "Then, what about you? Should I trust you? If your cousins have their clan's intentions at heart, what about you?"
Well, I had stumbled into very dangerous waters here. I would have to answer carefully, or I would not take a step further before my head would be rolling at my feet. But at the end of the day, anything other than the truth would be a lie. But I had to be careful how I ca off.
"If I were in your place, I would not trust either, just to be sure," I shrugged. "But there is one thing that you can trust."
"And what is that?" she asked.
"You can trust my lack of strength. I am only a Body Tempering Cultivator, and if I decide to betray you or stab you in the back, you can rip my head off before I can even bring the knife down, I answered with the facts that she could easily prove.
Almost imdiately, Song Song put a hand on my shoulder, and I felt a soft Qi run through my body in a split second and leave before it did any harm. She had gotten better at imbuing Qi in soone else's body compared to the last ti we did this.
"You truly are a Body Tempering Cultivator and don't have Qi spread through your body like any Qi Gathering Cultivator would," she stated her findings and let go of my shoulder before stating. "I have decided to trust you on this. You haven't lied or led wrong until now."
"Well, if I were to lie about the traitor, the only benefit a spy would get was making you appear paranoid or crazy" I carefully thought of my following words and contemplated if I wanted to say such things to her face. Ah, screw it. "But we both know you don't need much help since they already see you like that."
"True," she agreed without any of the anger.
Huh, she was more self-aware about her problems than I expected.
While Song Song looked at everyone in her team like a hawk searching for her prey, I kept my eyes on the one person I knew for a fact would betray Song Song if she ever got the chance, and that was Ye An.
"You can put the array down and return to the others. I need so ti to think," Song Song said, waving away.
"Call if you need anything," I said before dismissing the silencing array around us with a single thought and returning to the rest of the team.
Unlike before, it seed like they no longer seed angry or even thinking of . Everyone was looking at the ground, not daring to raise their heads to et Song Song's gaze.
I stayed back with my cousins, who spoke very little the whole way, only occasionally staring at so of the people in the crowd. To be more precise, Liu Bo talked a ton and acted as friendly as always. But the other two were stone-faced and impossible to read.
Slowly, the sky turned dark as we continued on the road. Song Song had not stopped or told anyone after what I had told her. Perhaps telling her was not the best decision, but she needed to know. Because if anything were going to happen to her, this was the perfect ti for soone to pull off an assassination and bla it on the monstrous beasts.
Was she even paying attention to her surroundings?
It was weird even thinking about how Song Song could be overthinking sothing. She was not that kind of person at all and often reprimanded for doing it.
Instead of calling out to her, I muttered a chant under my breath, and the Qi around fluttered for a split second. No barrier arose, but it was enough for attentive individuals to notice.
My cousins were the first to sense the irregularity since they were so close to . Only two other people sensed it after them: Song Song, who imdiately turned toward , and Ye An. The latter's sense of this was a bit worrying since it showed that her Qi senses were recovering, aning that her cultivation could be recovering, too.
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But I had no ti to worry about Ye An, and instead, I t Song Song's gaze and pointed at the sky.
She looked up and noticed it was getting dark, and realization dawned in her eyes.
For a group of this size, traveling at night was dangerous. Many monstrous beasts out there would have an advantage or could ambush us. Soone like Song Song might not be in danger, but many would be, and I definitely would also be in danger.
"Everyone, stop!" Song Song ordered, and the group complied. "Tonight, we will set camp along the road and rest. We will set off again Tomorrow as soon as the sun rises."
My cousins imdiately turned toward Liu Qian, who removed a string necklace with a bronze ring attached to it. She then put the ring on her pointing finger, causing four backpacks to pop out.
My two cousins and Liu Qian picked up their backpacks with little ado. Liu Qian then glanced at the last backpack, then at , and then back at the backpack again. "We prepared this for you. We didn't think you would have ti to prepare your own, and we assud Song Song didn't send you a ssage."
That was considerate of them, and although the backpack might not be needed since I already had my own, I picked it up and unrolled a sleeping bag.
"Thanks," I smiled. "I can set up four tent arrays for all of us. Also, by 'us,' I an the family and not the whole group."
"No need. If we get better or more convenient things, others might grow jealous. So might even ask you for help to make sothing of their own, and if you refuse, it will just create needless conflict," Liu Qian stated matter-of-factly.
The way she spoke about it seed like she was familiar with such situations. Unlike , they had no one from the inner sect of the Liu Clan supporting them, so their journey to the inner sect must have been filled with hurdles.
Liu Qian was also tactful in how she handled things. Despite growing up as the princess of the Liu Clan, she seed like soone worthy of followinga good leader with a good head on her shoulders. If she survived to adulthood, the Liu Clan had a bright future.
"Do you guys need any help starting a fire?" A familiar voice interrupted my bonding ti with my cousins.
It was Song Sia, wearing an awkward smile. "I went to help Song Song set up a tent, but she told to go and wander around being helpful. So here I am! At your service!"
"No need, Lady Sia," Liu Qian shook her head, her nonchalant deanor present as always, even when speaking to soone so respectfully. "But you are a mber of the Song Clan, essentially royalty compared to us. It would be dishonorable if we allowed you to do such nial work."
"As the youngest, that work falls to ," I stepped forward with a smile. "I have a couple of arrays in mind that would help with that."
Despite my standing with Song Song, I was still a junior compared to my cousins. Also, they had helped with that whole inner disciple problem a while ago, so the least I could do was cook a good al for them.
Without waiting for any of them to respond, I moved a step away from the rolled bed I had placed on the damp, grassy ground. I put my palm on the earth and felt its wetness.
Starting a fire here was going to be annoying. But I pointed at the ground and muttered a fire barrier array under my breath, and a small red circle ford around a patch of grass just bigger than my head. The ground began steaming as all the water evaporated, and soon after, the now-dry grass caught on fire.
But before I could ask Liu Qian if she had any pans or pits in that storage ring, Song Song's cousin ca and sat beside . She was starry-eyed as she stared at the fire I had started.
"Wow, Song Song was right. You're really good with arrays! Did you morize an array just in case you needed to start a fire?" Song Sia looked at with a smile, her eyes gleaming with childlike excitent.
"Sothing like that," I answered vaguely.
"Oh! Cool! Do you think I can work with this fire..." she scratched her head and uncomfortably smiled. "Despite Song Song telling to go around doing nial work or sothing, I brought nothing to start a fire with or anything like that."
"Did you bring cooking tools?" I inquired.
"Of course!" Song Sia smiled brightly and showed the bronze ring on her finger. A dozen pans and pots popped out in front of her. "Tada! Look at this!"
She had enough space to carry so many pots and pans but brought nothing to start a fire with?
Perhaps Song Song was right; her cousin seed to lack foresight. She had turned out quite peculiar in her own way for soone who grew up with Song Song.
"Did you bring any at or other foodstuff?" I asked.
"Yep!" She then took off her strange ring and handed it to . "You can check it all and take anything you need from in there!"
I raised a questioning brow and examined the storage ring in my hand. It felt and looked like a typical ring; there wasn't even a speck of Qi around it.
How were these things made?
Despite my curiosity, I turned toward Song Sia and clarified, "I can't use Qi to open a storage ring."
"Oh! Sorry about that!" Song Sia hurriedly took back her storage ring and began listing the contents she had brought.
Was she actually this slow, or was it all an act? It made little sense for soone who grew up with Song Song as a friend to be so naive.
Though so people were just born less astute, and no amount of life experience could change that.
If she was acting, then she was an exceptional actress. Also, she would have had to act around Song Song all the ti, too, and my psycho friend had an instinct about these things.
Even as Song Sia put everything up and began making so at stew, she kept up a one-sided conversation with , unaware of my lingering gaze.
There were no inconsistencies in her acting, not an ounce of suspicion. She hadn't even noticed looking at her.
From an outside perspective, if soone were a spy, Song Sia fit the description perfectly. She had been with Song Song for a long ti and could have kept an eye on her. But at the sa ti, she did not co from the part of her family connected to the Sect Leader.
"So, how did you and Song Song et each other?" Sia asked, trying to make so small talk.
"It kind of just happened," I answered vaguely.
She didn't seem to mind the answer and continued talking about food and so recipes she ca up with when she was younger.
"By the way, Song Song seems quite happier with you around," Sia remarked. "She seed more at ease, too."
I raised a questioning brow and looked at Song Song, who was leaning against a tree and staring at the group like a hawk. Then I turned back toward Sia and asked, "Does this look like soone happy?"
Sia chuckled, her voice soft and friendly, nothing like her cousin's. "Yes, Song Song is usually much worse."
After that, she picked up the pot and walked away with a happy leap in her step, calling out to anyone hungry.
What a strange girl...
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