Lu Zhi already had a conditioned response to Shen Qi's occasional provocative remarks, "You're not a horse, can the two be compared?"
Shen Qi's eyes held a deep meaning, "Wouldn't you know if you rode it?"
The onlookers: Holy cow, are these two playing that wild?
Lu Zhi's face instantly turned red. Noticing the shocked eyes of Jiang Yue and the others, he angrily kicked Shen Qi, "Can't you speak more properly?"
Shen Qi bent down, dusting off his pants, and said slowly, "Proper people don't get their wives."
Lu Zhi was momentarily speechless, but he didn't follow up Shen Qi's words by asking 'Whose wife am I', otherwise, he would have fallen into the trap Shen Qi had dug.
With past experience, Lu Zhi was no longer as easily led astray by Shen Qi's topic changes. He coughed, and blurted out something he couldn't take back, "Be serious, is this the time for flirting?"
Shen Qi raised an eyebrow, his voice lingering, "Oh~ You also know we're flirting~"
Lu Zhi realized he had said the wrong thing and quickly explained, "No, no, I mean, there are people here, we shouldn't..."
"Darling~" Shen Qi hooked Lu Zhi's neck and pulled him closer, interrupting his unfinished words, and whispered ambiguously, "When there's no one around, can we discuss topics deeper than flirting?"
Lu Zhi's ears turned red again, his earlobes flushed from white to red, like a ripe fruit, tempting and delicious.
So close, Shen Qi's eyes darkened, he opened his mouth and bit down, even deliberately gnawing.
"!!!" Lu Zhi abruptly pushed him away, covered his ears, his face flushed red, pointing at Shen Qi, feeling a sense of frustration at wanting to scold him but being unable to.
"Holy crap!" The group, treated as invisible, witnessing the public display of affection firsthand, had the saying 'Show off your love, and you'll break up quickly' on the tip of their tongues, but they didn't know if they should say it.
Jiang Yue silently covered her stomach, which felt full from too much "dog food." Encouraged by Luo Shiyu and Xia Zhi, she nervously spoke, "Junior."
Shen Qi glanced over, with an expression of: Why are you still here.
Jiang Yue choked back a sob, wanting to say: We've always been here.
"Senior sister, it's getting late, shall we enter the divine tower first?" Lu Zhi tried to calm his flustered mind, which had been stirred up by Shen Qi, and decided to ignore him directly.
Jiang Yue instinctively glanced at Shen Qi. Seeing that Shen Qi didn't object, she took it as tacit consent and quickly led the others towards the divine tower.
Due to the sudden turn of events, Wang Cao Tian had been protecting Lian Yao. The two sat on the stone steps in front of the divine tower entrance like abandoned children. Their eyes lit up simultaneously as they saw people approaching.
"Is that white horse the Chinese Zodiac?" Wang Cao Tian curiously observed the horse that silently followed Lu Zhi.
Lu Zhi shook his head, glanced at Shen Qi, and carefully chose his words, "This is just a gatekeeper... oh, no, a guardian horse."
Everyone suddenly understood.
At this moment, the white horse spoke, with a sexy, mature female voice still filled with confusion, "How do you know my name is Ma Wei? Do you know me?"
Lu Zhi: ...
The others: ...
Chinese characters are profound and extensive, those who understand will understand.
"Miss... Ma." Lu Zhi was the first to regain his composure, "Can you tell us how you woke up?"
Miss Ma Wei's hooves angrily stomped the ground, leaving cracks in the spots where the hooves landed, which spread to Lu Zhi's feet before stopping. "Evil humans, defiling my pure body with human blood, awakening me from my slumber, attempting to enslave me and make me recognize a master! Rest! I shall serve my king my entire life, loyal to my king, and never betray my lord!"
Lu Zhi hadn't expected Ma Wei to be so irritable. Just as he was about to ask more, Jiang Yue showed Lu Zhi an image projected by her optical computer.
It was a video of the divine tower when it first appeared, looking different from how they saw it now.
The divine tower emitted a brighter light than it did now, and a stone statue of a pure white steed stood majestically at the entrance, with no pond.
This could only mean that the pond was created by those who called themselves apostles. They submerged the stone statue of Ma Wei in a pond made of human blood, with the sole purpose of making Ma Wei recognize a new master?
Lu Zhi waited for Ma Wei to calm down before asking, "Your king, has he woken up?"
Ma Wei walked towards the divine tower and said sternly, "My king has entrusted me with a grave responsibility. Upon my awakening, he commanded me to guard the divine tower from evil intrusion. I was forcefully awakened, and my lord has not yet fully awakened. The time is not yet right."
Xia Zhi asked at this moment, "Miss Ma, are you saying that the divine tower is still sealed and cannot be entered or exited, correct?"
Ma Wei replied, "Of course. As I said, my lord has not fully awakened, the time is not yet right, and the trials have not begun, so naturally, you cannot enter or exit."
"But I heard that many people have already entered the tower?" Jiang Yue frowned. "Could it be that those apostles deliberately spread the news to lure people to the island?"
This was perhaps the real answer.
Lu Zhi pondered, looked at the divine tower, and said, "We want to enter the tower. Are there any other ways? You might not know, but the world is currently facing the crisis of ghostly invasions. We want to do our best to awaken your king and help us overcome this difficulty."
Ma Wei scoffed, "You? You want to enter the divine tower? This small body is not enough for me to kick."
Lu Zhi: ... Suddenly being personally attacked, I get angry too.
"Ah~ Is that so? I can't, but my boyfriend can." Lu Zhi patted Shen Qi's shoulder, with a rather imposing air of borrowing authority from someone else, and smiled, "I wonder how many kicks my boyfriend can take?"
Shen Qi put his arm around Lu Zhi's shoulder and smiled, "Darling, would you like to try some horse meat?"
Ma Wei's four hooves recoiled several steps. Its horse eyes quickly rolled, and it grudgingly compromised, "Whether the divine tower can be entered, I do not know."
Lu Zhi was suspicious.
Ma Wei became anxious, "Really, I truly don't know. I only guard the divine tower from invasion. Whether the divine tower is open, I truly don't know! My lord said that when the time is right, it can naturally be entered."
Lu Zhi thoughtfully looked at Jiang Yue and the others and asked, "How about we try to see if we can get in?"
Lian Yao then said, "I secretly wanted to enter the divine tower without my brother's knowledge, but there was an invisible wall outside the entrance of the divine tower. I couldn't even touch the door."
Jiang Yue and Luo Shiyu walked towards the divine tower simultaneously. They looked at each other and extended their hands to push the door gently. They had already prepared themselves for failure, but unexpectedly, the door just opened?
Everyone: "???"
Ma Wei: "How is that possible!!!"
Lu Zhi smiled, "It seems that when the time is right, and Miss Ma Wei awakens, that is when the divine tower opens."
Ma Wei looked bewildered, "But, but my lord did not tell me..."
"Shall we go in too?" Lu Zhi was also very curious about the situation inside the divine tower. Jiang Yue and the others had successfully entered the tower. Lu Zhi and Shen Qi walked at the end.
Just as Shen Qi was about to enter the divine tower, a golden barrier blocked his way.
Within the golden barrier, a line of traditional Chinese characters was displayed: Mad dogs and liars are not allowed to enter!