Ye Tiancheng lightly smacked the little fox on the back of the head as soon as it finished speaking.
He said to the little fox, "Little fox, you're going off-topic!"
The little fox immediately reacted and quickly corrected itself, saying, "Oh, oh, sorry, let's talk about the important stuff first."
"Anyway, later, after Lin Yanqin's other brother left, we went to find Lin Yanqin. Hmm... it's a little embarrassing, but we lied to her."
"However, Lin Yanqin heard that something seemed to have happened to you, Liang Ping, and Nie Chongyang, and that you were trapped by the Kunlun Mirror. That's what we told Lin Yanqin, and that's how we explained it. After Lin Yanqin heard this, she immediately agreed to help."
"She even gave us that ruby pendant, the heirloom left by her mother, the ruby pendant that Lin Yanqin particularly cared about and treasured, and asked us to activate the Kunlun Mirror."
"That ruby pendant was really useful..."
The little fox said, scratching its head.
It continued, "I apologize for suspecting Lin Yanqin later, for suspecting that she might have given us something fake."
Liang Ping was also quite surprised.
Although he could sense that Lin Yanqin was likely a kind young lady without much ulterior motive, he hadn't expected her to be so exceptionally good.
To save the lives of both himself and Liang Ping, she was willing to hand over something so important.
Liang Ping said, "I'm also very surprised... If there's a chance later, I will definitely express my gratitude to her personally. If there's anything I can help with, I will definitely help her."
The little fox nodded and said, "Of course, my elder brother and I will too."
After finishing, the little fox suddenly remembered something.
It asked Ye Tiancheng, "By the way, big brother, was the ruby pendant saved? Is it still in your hands... Oh, and the Kunlun Mirror, where did the Kunlun Mirror go?"
Ye Tiancheng frowned slightly.
He wasn't quite sure either.
Ye Tiancheng didn't know that after he and the little fox left, the Kunlun Mirror had disappeared along with them.
He said to the little fox, "I'm not entirely sure. I was directly teleported here. Before the teleportation, wasn't the Kunlun Mirror still in my hand?"
But now, it was gone.
The little fox's heart leaped, and it quickly asked, "Can you not feel it at all? Then without the Kunlun Mirror, how will we leave here? Is there any way to find it?"
Ye Tiancheng calmed his mind and sensed carefully.
As a result, in the next second, Ye Tiancheng felt a burning sensation on his wrist. He extended his left hand and found that on his left wrist, at some point, a mirror-shaped, cyan totem like a tattoo had appeared.
As Ye Tiancheng extended his hand, the little fox and Liang Ping also immediately saw the totem.
The little fox leaned closer to examine it.
Suddenly, the little fox exclaimed in surprise, "Isn't this the appearance of that... that Kunlun Mirror? It went onto your hand, big brother?!"
"However, why do I feel like something is slightly different?"
Liang Ping also looked at the totem with some curiosity.
He asked curiously, "Is this what the Kunlun Mirror looks like?"
Ye Tiancheng's expression was a little subtle. He actually felt that this mirror seemed to have recognized him as its master.
However, after the mirror recognized him as its master, Ye Tiancheng could truly and clearly feel that this was indeed the Kunlun Mirror. This time, there would be no mistake.
Ye Tiancheng tried to use his cultivation to summon the Kunlun Mirror.
With the Kunlun Mirror recognizing him as its master, it was as if it was at his beck and call. To be precise, with just a thought from Ye Tiancheng, the Kunlun Mirror would appear before their eyes, without Ye Tiancheng even needing to truly exert his cultivation.
The little fox exclaimed, "It really is the Kunlun Mirror! The mirror really went onto your wrist, big brother!"
Ye Tiancheng said, "It seems to be more than that. This mirror seems to have recognized me as its master."
The little fox was slightly stunned, and then its expression turned to surprise and joy. It happily said to Ye Tiancheng, "That's truly wonderful! Obtaining such a divine artifact is truly a great thing for us!"
"Moreover, with this Kunlun Mirror, we shouldn't have to worry about being trapped in this place again."
Ye Tiancheng did not deny the little fox's statement. He replied, "Yes, but I still need to study it further. The Kunlun Mirror has just recognized me as its master, and I need to understand it better."
The little fox asked Ye Tiancheng, "Can we be sure this time that this mirror is the true Kunlun Mirror?"
Ye Tiancheng nodded slightly.
"After it recognizes its master, we can confirm it. There will be absolutely no mistake."
The little fox opened its mouth, wanting to ask how the Kunlun Mirror, as a divine artifact, differed from another divine artifact, the Nuwa Stone, and whether the Kunlun Mirror had a spirit.
However, before the words left its mouth, the little fox swallowed them back.
This was because this was really not a good place to ask such questions.
It wasn't that the little fox didn't trust Liang Ping and the others, nor that Ye Tiancheng didn't trust them. It was out of consideration for various factors that Ye Tiancheng originally didn't want too many people to know that the Nuwa Stone was in his possession.
The more people who knew this fact, the easier it would be for the news to leak out.
Ye Tiancheng was willing to let the little fox know this fact because of his trust in the little fox, and the little fox had indeed lived up to that trust, never betraying Ye Tiancheng.
Therefore, the little fox was very self-aware and well-behaved at this moment.
Realizing that this was not the time to talk about it, it promptly shut its mouth and said not a single extra word.
However, the little fox's gaze fell upon the Kunlun Mirror.
It suddenly said, "This mirror really seems to have changed. That extra thing on it, could it be..."
Ye Tiancheng also looked at the shiny red gem that had suddenly appeared on the Kunlun Mirror, embedded in the frame, and was momentarily speechless.
It was Liang Ping, standing beside them, who stated the fact.
"That gem... could it be Lin Yanqin's ruby pendant?"
The little fox said somewhat sheepishly, "If I'm not mistaken, it should be."
Liang Ping was instantly dumbfounded.
"Can that gem still be taken down and returned to Lin Yanqin?"
For a moment, the little fox and Liang Ping both looked at Ye Tiancheng, the current owner of the Kunlun Mirror.
Facing their gazes, Ye Tiancheng could only say helplessly, "This red gem seems to have always been a part of the Kunlun Mirror. The previous Kunlun Mirror was not complete. Only when the red gem and the mirror are combined is it the complete divine artifact, the Kunlun Mirror."
"So..."
The little fox said, "So, we really can't return this red gem to Lin Yanqin."
Faced with this situation, everyone was a little at a loss for words.
Liang Ping thought for a moment and said, "How about we compensate her with something else later? Although we're still sorry to Lin Yanqin, it seems we don't have any better options right now."
The little fox opened its big, bright eyes, and its eyes were filled with guilt.
It said, "But..."
Seeing the little fox hesitating, Liang Ping curiously asked, "But what?"
It was Ye Tiancheng who answered this question.
Ye Tiancheng said, "Actually, we felt quite sorry for Lin Yanqin not just because we lied to her, and Lin Yanqin kindly helped us by handing over something very important."
"Another point is that after we obtained this ruby pendant, we all knew that if this ruby pendant was truly useful, we might... not have the chance to see Lin Yanqin again."
Liang Ping took a moment to react before realizing that Ye Tiancheng was right.
The little fox said somewhat guiltily, "At least we owe Lin Yanqin more than one life-saving favor, so we don't completely owe her. Of course, I'm not trying to be complacent and evade responsibility."
"If there's a chance to compensate her in the future, I definitely won't renege on it."
Ye Tiancheng said, "That's all we can do. It wasn't intentional. When Lin Yanqin gave us the ruby pendant, she should have had that kind of psychological preparation and can understand us."
"If there's a chance in the future, we'll compensate her."
The three people present knew that the chance of them seeing Lin Yanqin again was indeed very slim.
After this, Ye Tiancheng and the others asked about the situation again.
Ye Tiancheng asked Liang Ping, "By the way, I haven't asked yet, why are you the only one here? Where is Nie Chongyang? What happened to him? Why haven't I seen him?"
As Nie Chongyang was mentioned, Liang Ping's expression involuntarily showed a hint of worry.
Liang Ping replied to Nie Chongyang, "Nie team and I got separated."
Ye Tiancheng and the little fox were both greatly surprised. They exchanged glances for a few seconds and asked in surprise, "Separated? What exactly happened?!"
Liang Ping briefly explained the situation to them, saying, "Before, something unexpected happened on our side, and we haven't been able to get back to you with news, right?"
Ye Tiancheng and the little fox nodded at this.
Then, Liang Ping continued, "At that time, it was because we suddenly heard some noise. The reason we came here was because those four young people were being reckless, playing dangerous games in that ruin and getting lost. We came here to explore, and then people went missing."
"And at that time, Nie team and I actually suddenly heard the screams of one of the boys."
"We thought, no matter what, we couldn't just stand by and do nothing. If we waited any longer, the person might not be saved. It was too late to do so many things to send a message back then, so we thought we'd explain to you after we solved the problem and came back."
At this point, Liang Ping sighed slightly.
He said, "Neither Nie team nor I expected that after that, we wouldn't have the chance to come back and explain to you."
"...According to what you're saying, later, you didn't receive any news from Nie team, so Nie team, even if he's okay now, his condition is probably not optimistic, and the finance department hasn't replied to your messages."
The little fox immediately asked with concern, "What exactly happened to you at that time? Did something go wrong while rescuing someone?"
Liang Ping continued to explain, "Something did go wrong. We were originally going to rescue someone, but when we went out, it was already too late. The boy who was screaming at that time had already had his neck broken, and his body was even dismembered."
"And the one who caused that boy's misfortune was one of the girls among those four young people. That girl has probably also met with misfortune. She seems to have mutated, and in short, she no longer looks human, otherwise, she wouldn't have killed her companion."
"Then, Nie team and I got into a fight with that mutated girl."