Juxi reached for his shirt and said, “I hope you’re not mad… You’re not going to go out of your way to punish me, are you?”

“Idiot.” Yu Nai spat the word out. “You’ve forgotten where you are. This isn’t a place where saints grow on trees. You can’t do whatever you want… Well, almost.”

“I’m not even allowed to talk to you?”

“I didn’t say that. I just told you not to waste your breath. You might not know this, but I never talk.”

“What?”

“I don’t talk because I swore I’d never say anything useless… Ah, why am I even telling you this? You wouldn’t understand anyway. You wouldn’t even try.”

Juxi wasn’t too happy. He needed to learn more about Harilan’s story, but so many restrictions made it impossible to look into things.

The truth was slipping farther and farther away. Juxi was starting to question why he’d come here at all. The only thing he could still place his hopes in was that strange voice.

It had to be connected to him. Otherwise, Juxi wouldn’t have traveled all this way to reach this place, then knelt down and hugged himself like he was now. Yu Nai couldn’t understand why Juxi was so stubborn about this job that he was willing to work without pay.

“I know what you think of me, but… don’t put your shirt on yet. I want to…”

“Aaaah! You perverted slime bastard!!!”

Smack!!!

“Ow… That really hurts…” Yu Nai clutched her swollen, reddened right hand, her eyes filling with tears.

“…Let me see how your wounds are healing.”

Yu Nai sat on the edge of the bed. Juxi deftly unwound the bandages around her, and all the while, she kept her lips twisted in pain.

On the first day they arrived in Harilan, Juxi had removed all the awful shoe-repair thread stitched into Yu Nai’s shoulder, opened up the wound, and examined it carefully all over again.

The result was only to be expected: she was practically absurdly healthy. It seemed there were some decent exorcists after all—she was just a little stiff.

But now Juxi was aching all over and looked utterly sickly. Still, he didn’t complain.

He’d known Yu Nai for a little while now… Well, only a little over half a week, but it felt much longer. She knew a great deal about medicine, and she had all kinds of medicinal herbs at her disposal. The treatment he gave Yu Nai could only help her. It couldn’t do her any harm.

“It hurts like hell. Hey, give me some medicine and I’ll bandage you up too, okay? Hmph. Then you’ll know how it feels…” Yu Nai grumbled angrily as she cleaned his wound.

She’d memorized all sorts of medical knowledge. She’d started lecturing him on it the very day he arrived, and every time she saw

another souvenir left on Juxi’s body, she’d patch him up a little.

“This is terrifying! Even you got torn up this badly! Your muscles and everything… God, it nearly tore your carotid artery apart! For God’s sake, Juxi, what were you thinking? Why did you let a mutant get so close? Were you trying to get cozy with it?” Yu Nai said angrily.

Juxi didn’t say a word. He just smiled faintly.

“Don’t give me that stupid smile.” Yu Nai struggled to her feet and took the first-aid kit from Juxi’s bag.

Who would’ve thought it? Having Yu Nai handle first aid had been the right call all along. When it mattered, she was quick and graceful.

“Hahaha, I couldn’t possibly be any luckier… And neither could you.”

“Lucky? There’s nothing funny about this. Your reflexes have just gotten worse, Juxi.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“Not at all.” Yu Nai spread a green ointment over his neck. Its strong medicinal smell made her cover her nose.

Juxi’s neck really was badly injured. The one who’d hurt him, though, was…

“You shouldn’t have gotten hurt. But not only did you get hurt, you got hurt badly. No, horribly.”

“Yeah… Maybe I should find a rutting wild bear and give it a good beating. That might help me recover…”

“My God. Even with your incredible healing, it’ll take months before you can move your neck freely again.”

“It’s fine. I’m ridiculously fast. Even a cheetah probably couldn’t take me by surprise.”

“I’m warning you: don’t fight anyone fast while you’re recovering.”

“Thanks for the advice. Give me one more: how am I supposed to make a living during that time? Hire a few pretty girls, get a carriage, and go around running a traveling brothel?”

Juxi kept trading barbs with Yu Nai, but she just shrugged and deftly bandaged his neck.

Time trickled by, and Juxi’s breathing gradually settled.

“Anyway, getting angry won’t help. The longer we stay here, the lower our chances of surviving.”

Juxi was getting nervous too. Yuanhui was missing, and they could barely keep themselves safe.

After a moment’s thought, Juxi threw his head back and sighed. “Can’t you find me a more reliable teammate to keep by my side? This idiot can’t even point me in the right direction in life.”

“You want me to show you the way in life?” Yu Nai shouted in exasperation. “Am I your mom or what… Mm, that’s all wrapped up. Get dressed. We’re having breakfast.”

“Right! Where can I find you later?”

“Nowhere.” Yu Nai stood up. “Don’t go wandering around nearby, Juxi. It’s not a smart move right now, and I won’t be able to find you.”

What was Yuanhui doing now?

Yuanhui, who’d escaped that day, was walking down a broad road lined with cornfields. It ran straight from the gate all the way to the village dormitory.

He hesitated, then squinted at the crooked sign at the crossroads. It read: Phil Village.

“Huff… huff… I’m exhausted. I wonder if Juxi managed to escape. There’s no way those ghouls could take him… Ah, I hope nothing went wrong.”

In the end, he decided not to go back inside. Instead, he headed toward the gardens and farm buildings. There, more than a dozen priestesses in gray work clothes were busy pulling weeds and feeding the birds in the aviary.

Most of them were very young women; a few still looked like children. Several girls nodded and smiled as they passed him. He greeted each one, but didn’t recognize a single face.

He came here once a year, sometimes twice, but most of the people he met were strangers. He never recognized more than three or four faces.

The girls were always coming and going. Some served as festival envoys or specialists in healing illnesses.

Others became teachers and the like… In short, this was the town known as Heaven’s everlasting paradise.

There was never a shortage of new hands here. People drawn by its fame came flooding in from every direction, even from the most remote regions.

Phil Village was famous for being just one door away from heaven, and it lived up to its name.

Their faith in the Divine Lord was one of the oldest and, at the time, one of the most widespread. Its origins could be traced back to a prehistoric age, long before human civilization.

The Divine Lord had always blessed life here. He ruled over birth and reproduction, watched over farmers and gardeners, and blessed couples and those soon to be wed.

These different beliefs slowly gathered and mingled, eventually coming together to form the great town of Heaven’s Paradise.

Time was a cold and merciless killer.

Under its ruthless hand, many faiths and nations gradually declined and faded from memory, left alone in deserted temples or abandoned amid the clamor and corners of the city.

And yet time had always treated this paradise with special affection. The Divine Lord still had countless followers here, and wealthy landowners were never in short supply.

When scholars analyzed this phenomenon, they usually brought out a mountain of academic jargon and theories. They remained skeptical and dismissive of the supernatural, invoking things like Mother Earth, the changing seasons, and the renewal of all things to explain why gods and ghosts didn’t exist.

No one acknowledged or believed in the work of my ancestor Ye Juxi and his people. They thought they were charlatans who stood in the way of human progress.

Only our ancestor kept quietly striving in the work of the Heavenly Way. He dreamed that one day… one day, this fear would be ended forever. That’s right—he kept searching. He didn’t know how long he’d been searching for it.

He believed this would create a miracle. He might become the hero who changed this law. He had a feeling he would.

“Juxi.”

“There you are, Yu Nai. I was looking for you.”

“Looking for me?” Yu Nai pursed her lips and gave his earnest gaze a mocking look. “I don’t think I’m the one you’re looking for.”

“I was looking for him too. He’s my close friend… my best friend!” Juxi admitted.

Yu Nai was taken aback. She’d thought the two of them were one of those top-and-bottom… whatever-you-call-it couples. But Juxi wasn’t even blushing, which made her doubt her assumption.

“Do you disapprove?”

“At a time like this, yes… I don’t want him distracting you. He needs to pray properly now. It’s his only way to save himself, and the only thing that might work.”

“I’ve already told you,” Juxi said, coldly rejecting Yu Nai’s suggestion. “I don’t believe prayer can do anything. I don’t think it’ll help me at all.”

“I see… But as for me…” Yu Nai waited until Juxi turned away, then deliberately made a face. “I don’t think it could do you any harm.”

“Fine, whatever… But it won’t work on me. I’m immune. What I’m worried about is you. Treating your wounds might take too much out of me.”

“Come on, don’t make that sour face. I told you, I know exactly what you think of me.”

“Is that so? Then don’t worry about it. It won’t make any difference anyway!”

“I didn’t care before, and I won’t care in the future.” After saying that, Yu Nai left him alone and searched for something to eat beneath a large tree.

“I know.”

Juxi shook his head helplessly. It really felt like looking after a child, since Yu Nai was always finding new ways to make him angry!

This was bad. Juxi wasn’t in the mood to bicker. Yesterday’s mutants had been strange. If it hadn’t been his own choice, he wouldn’t have wanted to provoke them at all. Compared with the ragtag ghouls whose morale was all over the place, these eerie ghouls worked together with remarkable coordination, balancing offense and defense in battle. They’d nearly overwhelmed Juxi.