Xu Chen really didn’t have much confidence, but hearing that from the girl he loved still stung. He stood up, walked over to Qingyin, and said, “Yeah, that’s right! I don’t know how to chase girls! If I could choose, I’d rather choose to fight! No matter how strong the enemy is, I’m not scared! Qingyin-jie, back then, for you, I even dared to challenge the will of that Chaos Origin itself!
“I know I’m not charming, not manly, no muscles, not tall, and I don’t know how to sweet-talk. But I’ve got courage! Tell me, in the boundless cycles of the Sea of Chaos, who else has ever dared challenge the Origin Will for a single woman? I did!!!
“So, if I can win over the Four Great Beauties, great. If I can’t, then I’ll just drag them here if I have to, and make them open the Gate of Time and Space so we can save Izayoi!!”
“Huh?” Seeing Xu Chen suddenly radiate that kind of presence, Qingyin was stunned for a moment. It was true—after being together for so long, it was easy to be fooled by Xu Chen’s appearance. This was a man who’d gone toe-to-toe with the Origin Will itself!!! She really shouldn’t have said that to him.
“Exactly! Well said, Xu Chen! Isn’t this world still all about survival of the fittest? Other powerhouses and overlords can come rob us, but our Xu Chen has to play by the rules? If he can win them over, great. If those women don’t know what’s good for them, then we’ll just grab them!
“And it’s not like we’re gonna do anything bad to them. We just need them to help activate a magic array, that’s all!” Yule said indignantly.
Star Dance added, “We’ve always wanted to live away from the world’s disputes, but in the end, even the Origin Will refuses to leave us alone. There’s nothing left for us to worry about anymore. But, that said, with our current strength, I don’t think we can really strong-arm the Four Great Beauties yet, can we?”
“I know,” Xu Chen said. “But to me, challenging strong foes is way easier than chasing girls or whatever! I was never into those Four Great Beauties to begin with. Worst case, we just go hard.”
Devol stood up and said, “Since we’ve finished what we needed to do here in Snowland, there’s no point staying any longer. Let’s go back to that Demonic Capital or whatever it was called! Whether we’re chasing women or snatching them, we should first head back there and gather intel.”
“De-sis is right! The wind and snow aren’t that bad now, so let’s pack up and head back right away!” Xu Chen said.
“Xu Chen, do you guys even know how to get back? The teleportation array we came through seems to be one-way,” Devol said.
“Before we came, we already got the map to the return teleportation array. It’s pretty far. I’d say it’ll take about half a month to get there,” Xu Chen said.
“So for half a month we’ll be trudging through Snowland’s endless winds and snow, unable to set up a proper camp? That’s really not easy! Especially for those female soldiers,” Devol said.
“Yeah, we can only camp out in the open along the way. But we can’t stay here forever anyway. We’ve got to go back someday,” Xu Chen said.
After they finished packing up, they set out on their journey home that afternoon. The road back, however, was extremely long.
The snowfall wasn’t that heavy, but walking through the snowy forest was still hard. Every step sank into snow that reached their knees.
“Xu Chen! Want me to carry you?” Qingyin suddenly came up beside him in the wind and snow and asked.
“Huh? Qingyin-jie, what kind of joke is that? I’m not injured, how could a guy let a girl carry him? It’s you I’m worried about. In this blizzard you’re still just wearing black stockings, showing off those long legs. How about I carry you instead, so those legs of yours don’t get frostbite?”
“Xu Chen, I was born connected to ice. My resistance to the cold is way beyond what you can imagine. I’m really not cold, so don’t worry about me. But a boy’s feet staying frozen for too long will mess up his body. It’s really bad for a guy to let his lower half get chilled,” Qingyin said.
“Uh… Qingyin-jie, you really don’t need to worry! I’m fine!” Xu Chen yelled back.
“Huh? You’re sure nothing got frozen down there? I thought all these cold days had already left your body weak,” Qingyin teased.
“Qingyin-jie! Don’t look down on me! I might look weak, but I’m actually pretty tough, you know!”
“Oh? Really? I don’t believe you,” she said.
“Hmph! Don’t believe me? Nothing I can do about that!”
“Qingyin-meimei, when you say ‘weak,’ which part are you talking about?” Star Dance asked.
“Huh? What ‘which part’? I didn’t mean anything in particular. Don’t let your minds wander!” Qingyin said in a soft, flustered voice.
“Xu Chen, sounds like Qingyin’s complaining about you,” Star Dance said with a laugh.
“Hmph, look at the timing! The other female soldiers are struggling just to walk, she’s not afraid of the cold and still has time to complain? Let her complain then!” Xu Chen said irritably as he went over to help support a female soldier who was having trouble moving forward.
“Xu Chen, you…” Qingyin planted her hands on her hips, glaring at him in a huff. Then she sighed helplessly and could only keep walking.
