LAVW – Chapter 16 Aotian Eats Grass

Chapter 16 Aotian Eats Grass

“Splash—”

Shi Qian dragged Long Ye to the surface of the water.

He first reached the shore, then used the Earth Escape Technique to instantly burrow onto solid ground.

“Squeak—” Shi Qian collapsed right away.

He was exhausted.

But after taking a few deep breaths, he forced himself to get up and check on Long Ye’s condition.

His stomach seemed slightly bloated—had he swallowed water?

Shi Qian quickly jumped onto his belly and started bouncing wildly, but since he was too light, it had no effect.

He took out a spirit stone, gnawed on it for a bit to replenish his spiritual energy, then gathered his strength and forcefully patted Long Ye’s stomach. Finally, he managed to make the unconscious man cough up the water.

But he still didn’t wake up.

Shi Qian squatted beside Long Ye’s face and patted his cheek with his paw.

Slap slap—

“Squeak squeak.”

Long Ye, wake up!

But no matter how much he slapped—or even stepped on his face—he didn’t wake up.

Left with no choice, Shi Qian rummaged through the pill bottle again, took out a few of the same pills Long Ye had taken before, and shoved them into his mouth.

After taking the medicine, Long Ye’s breathing seemed to stabilize.

Shi Qian let out a sigh of relief and then noticed that Long Ye’s hand was tightly gripping a piece of skin, entangled with a red jade necklace—the keepsake from his late father.

Looking further up, his injured arm was exposed, revealing deep blade wounds.

Shi Qian took out the green bamboo cloth and wrapped it around Long Ye’s wounded arm.

Back at the old pier—

The Long family members who had rushed over were completely unable to catch up with the escape expert Mouse, and could only watch helplessly as Long Ye was taken away.

When they turned back, the sight of Long Chengyang’s gruesome corpse left them dazed.

The wind at the pier blew for a while, carrying away the stench of blood, before someone finally spoke.

“Go notify the clan. Have the elders and the clan leader come immediately.”

“Block the road leading here. Don’t let anyone else get close.”

“Isn’t Long Ye only at the fifth stage of Qi Refining? How… how did he do it?”

“It looked like a demon beast took Long Ye away—he was already unconscious at the time.”

Unable to determine the full truth, everyone turned to Li Qingqian, whose face was pale, urging her to recount the events.

“Long Ye wanted to see me, so I came here.”

“He was with a rodent-type spirit beast. That spirit beast had snow-white fur all over, except for its ears, which weren’t pure white. It was very small, just slightly bigger than my fist, a bit chubby, round, and quite adorable.”

“That spirit beast was highly intelligent and could communicate with people. Long Ye could even understand what it was saying.”

“What was its cultivation level?”

“I don’t know. My cultivation is too low to tell. But it didn’t seem very strong. When I left, Uncle Long—no, Elder Chengyang—was fighting both Long Ye and the spirit beast at the same time, yet he wasn’t at a disadvantage at all. In fact, he even had the upper hand.”

“But Long Ye… he definitely wasn’t just at the fifth stage of Qi Refining. He was much stronger—he felt like he was at the ninth stage.”

“The spirit beast was very fast and had exceptional escape techniques. It only harassed Elder Chengyang from the sidelines. I didn’t see it use any offensive spells.”

Thinking about her lost storage ring, Li Qingqian gazed unwillingly at the continuously flowing river, eyes filled with frustration and helplessness.

She had counted on the Long family to capture Long Ye so she could retrieve her ring, which was why she had eagerly reported everything. Who would have thought Long Ye would actually kill Long Chengyang?

Long Chengyang was a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator!

For someone like her, that was an unattainable level for life.

The Long family started speculating that the spirit beast was the one who had killed Long Chengyang, but Li Qingqian believed that it was Long Ye himself.

Being able to kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator, even one who was injured—didn’t that mean Long Ye was no longer the same as before?

A chilling realization crept over her—perhaps she had made the wrong choice.

When the Long family patriarch and the elders, including Long Xing, arrived, they confirmed the conclusion: Long Ye had killed his own uncle and fled. He would be expelled from the Long family, and if he was ever found, they would send people to eliminate him.

Li Qingqian listened in silence, then tried to leave.

But Long Xing stopped her.

“My son is dead, and you think you can just walk away?”

“It was Long Chengyang who attacked Long Ye first. And yes, Long Ye and his spirit beast killed Elder Chengyang,” Li Qingqian frowned, emphasizing, “but this has nothing to do with me.”

“I’m curious—why did Elder Chengyang suddenly try to kill Long Ye, like he’d gone mad? If they’d just talked it out, it wouldn’t have come to this…”

Li Qingqian desperately tried to distance herself, but the Long family was large, and now that someone had died, the situation had become entangled with her broken engagement to the Li family.

In the end, after negotiations between the two families—with the Li family making some concessions—Li Qingqian was finally allowed to return home by late afternoon.

At the same time, Shi Qian looked at the still-unconscious Long Ye and started worrying about where to stay for the night.

Out in the wilderness, demon beasts would come out to hunt at night. Finding a cave to stay in would be the safest option.

But the cave couldn’t just fit him—Little Mouse—it also had to be big enough for Long Ye. That meant it had to be a large cave.

And large caves? They were usually occupied by large demon beasts. Or worse, a whole family of them.

Shi Qian knew how to find a suitable cave—Mouse Mom’s final exam had tested him on this.

But the problem was—he couldn’t fight for it.

If Long Ye were awake, at least they could challenge some weaklings in the demon beast world and steal their home for the night.

But Long Ye just wouldn’t wake up—he was in an incredibly deep unconscious state. Shi Qian even whispered in his ear that Li Qingqian was getting married, but he didn’t react at all.

Shi Qian looked up at the sky.

It was getting late; he needed to find a place to stay first.

With some luck, he might come across an especially friendly demon beast or a few abandoned caves.

Holding onto that slim hope, the little mouse—barely 20 centimeters long—began dragging a massive burden, nearly 1.8 meters tall, as he explored the outskirts of the vast forest.

Thank the heavens for his amazing escape techniques!

With one hand gripping Long Ye and the other clutching a spirit stone to gnaw on, Shi Qian peeked into various demon beast homes, sending out the classic curious-Mouse expression.

Not very well received.

Some demon beasts were disturbed and roared in anger.

Before they could even step out of their homes, Shi Qian bolted—faster than a kid who had just smashed a window.

After being roared at four times, chased twice, and nearly smacked once, Shi Qian plopped down on Long Ye’s back, looking up longingly at the many holes in the tall trees.

Any one of those would be enough for him to stay in.

He realized that relying on luck wasn’t going to work.

This mountain range was the habitat of demon beasts, and most of them were quite strong. Even the ones at the outer edges were nearly at the Foundation Establishment stage. With so many beasts around, abandoned caves big enough to house a person were extremely rare.

Wandering around aimlessly wasn’t a solution—he needed a better plan.

Rent a place?

Low-level demon beasts didn’t have that kind of mindset.

Find a fellow species?

His kind—except for his giant rat mother’s clan—was generally small. On the other hand, there were plenty of feline demon beasts in these mountains. Shi Qian had already spotted a tiger demon and a pitch-black furball with golden eyes.

He really wanted to pet them.

But he wanted to stay alive even more.

If only he were stronger…

If he were stronger, he could pet all the fluffy creatures he wanted!

That thought took root in his mind. Shi Qian lowered his head, staring at Long Ye, recalling how he had suddenly erupted in power today, skipping levels and taking down Long Chengyang in one strike.

You’re Long Ye. I’m a Mouse.

We’re both from the Long family.

So… does that mean I can do it too?

Shi Qian wasn’t asking for much.

Not to become some incredible fighter—just a little stronger in presence would be enough. He had picked up the scent of a particularly timid demon beast nearby—the “Big-Furred Coward Beast.” This creature was said to be massive in size but ridiculously timid.

Shi Qian started analyzing the key factor.

Long Ye’s sudden surge in power felt like he had triggered a critical-hit buff, unleashing the strength of multiple Long Ye’s at once.

Exactly how many? He’d have to ask the guy when he woke up.

It definitely had something to do with his bloodline.

Bleeding… shouldn’t have anything to do with it, right?

Shi Qian shifted his gaze away from Long Ye’s wounds and attempted to use his internal spiritual energy to touch the meridians that felt as if they were clogged shut.

“Hiss—”

It hurt.

But it seemed to work.

Shi Qian let out a dozen sharp cries in his Mouse voice, roughly grasping a little trick to make his aura stronger.

Time to move out. He approached the Big-Furred Coward Beast’s cave.

After sneaking into position, Shi Qian endured the pain and lightly triggered his bloodline power, releasing his aura.

Within moments, a shadow zipped out from another cave and disappeared.

Holding back a triumphant cry, Shi Qian quickly withdrew his aura and dragged Long Ye into their newly acquired zero-rent forest lodge.

Inside the rabbit hole, there was fresh grass. After setting Long Ye down to the side, Shi Qian sprawled on the grass and started munching away.

When Long Ye finally regained consciousness, the first thing he heard was the soothing crunch, crunch of the Mouse enjoying its meal.

Then, his stomach let out a loud, rumbling growl.

“Squeak Squeak!”

You’re finally awake! Hungry? Here, have a bite.

As someone who loved sharing snacks in his human life, Shi Qian instinctively extended his paw, offering the grass he was holding.

Long Ye politely accepted it—then froze.

Not eating it felt a bit rude.

But grass… was definitely not on his menu.

Shi Qian could read his awkwardness, but honestly, Long Ye had woken up at the most frustrating moment.

They had just settled in, and now he woke up? Before, Shi Qian had called him for ages, and he’d been dead to the world like a lump of meat!

With an absolutely delighted grin, Shi Qian ran up to Long Ye, quickly grabbed his hand, and—ever so warmly—shoved the grass right into his mouth.

“Squeak squeak squeak!”

Eat up! No need to be polite with me.

Long Ye, with a mouthful of grass: …

A new problem had arisen.

Should he chew or not?

Seeing the little spirit beast looking so excited, Long Ye didn’t want to hurt Shi Qian’s feelings or dampen his enthusiasm.

So he reluctantly chewed a few times—treating it like eating salad leaves—and swallowed.

Then he quickly said, “Xiao Qian, I’m human. I don’t eat grass!”

Shi Qian: I know that.