They went then to fight that blood boar that had been terrorizing a lookout tower further up the mountain.
When they arrived, the guards on lookout nearly wept with relief.
"Thank the gods! It's over there--it's over there!"
Qiu Yunru looked where they were pointing miserably. It wasn't hard to pick out where that demonic blood boar was.
After all, the sound of destruction was following it like a siren!
Cracking planks, falling pikes, even plates breaking--this boar was rampaging through the lookout camp like it was a playground, stomping and smashing and butting through everything in sight and leaving a mess of splinters and dust in its wake. Helplessly, various guards were running around and trying to catch it with a binding net, but it was clear their efforts were half-hearted, and they were trying to keep their distance, therefore not making any progress.
"The last person who tried to catch it died," Guard A said woefully. "It was very bad. Lots of blood. I've never seen so much blood."
Someone had really died?!
Of course this was a standard, everyday occurrence in a xianxia setting where the boundary between the demonic and human realms was thin and volatile. It was even more standard in a game like Spring Blossoms, Autumn Fruits, where the whole goal was the become strong to help save people from continuing to be killed by rampaging monsters and demons!
However, Qiu Yunru still felt uneasy.
Now living here in this game, it all felt too real!
"I'll handle it," Lei Ruolan said, rolling her sleeves up and unsheathing her sword.
"Wait!" Qiu Yunru called out.
There was a more efficient and safer alternative to trying to take the beast head-on. He explained his idea to her:
Since blood boars were known to drink and seek out the blood of any living creature, they should get some blood from livestock and lure it into a trap. Then they could also add sedatives to that blood, thereby both taking the beast down and containing it. If they were careful, they could capture it alive and even have it sent to Fan Yao Peak for fresh ingredient extraction. All sorts of rare ingredients could be taken from the body of a blood boar!
Seeing Qiu Yunru's eyes shining with excitement at the idea of getting such rare ingredients, Lei Ruolan's determined face faltered.
How could someone look so passionate about a topic without tipping into anger? It was almost...admirable!
Suddenly, she slapped herself.
Qiu Yunru stared, agape.
Guard B nearby stared, chewing on some melon seeds. Even if he didn't understand what was going on, who can resist nonsensical drama?
"Lei-shijie! What are you doing?"
She turned away abruptly, her demeanor biting and boiling once again. "Such a coward! Why are you always looking for the easy way out? Are you allergic to hard work? As I said, I'll take care of it!"
So, it went about the same as last time.
Qiu Yunru sat up on a tower, trying to convince Lei Ruolan to stop attacking the boar and let him lure it out with some sheep's blood, all while the boar rampaged and broke down every single wall, shed, and table in sight. Just like the great tortoise spirit, the hide of a blood boar was thick and impenetrable. It took Lei Ruolan three hours of slashing and hacking without a break to finally shove her sword down its throat.
Finally, black, oozing blood spilled from the beast's lips, and it fell over sideways with an earth-shaking thud and a pathetic squeal.
Qiu Yunru sighed, climbing down from the tower.
The less fresh the ingredients, the less potent they would be. He had hoped he could convince Lei Ruolan to just knock the creature out and let it be transported alive to Fan Yao Peak. Ah, well! There really wasn't much he could do in the face of someone with such a stubborn demeanor. Anyways, this would have to do!
After Qiu Yunru had arranged with the remaining, greatly relieved guards to have the corpse transported over for extraction, the two disciples set out together, the lookout guards weeping in gratitude as they went.
On the way up the mountain, they sat down to eat together. Qiu Yunru consumed the second Wind Fruit, which had fallen into his hands back at the camp.
CONGRATULATIONS! 2/3 Wind Fruits consumed. Keep up the good work!
Unusually, Lei Ruolan spoke up first.
"Qiu Yunru. Do you realize how annoying you are?"
Qiu Yunru startled, nearly choking on his bun. "Ah--?"
She grumbled, tearing off another bite and swallowing it severely.
"You make my blood boil. I can't stand the sight of you!"
What was he supposed to say to this? Was it better or worse than not talking at all? He couldn't tell!
"Has this shidi done something wrong...?" He said weakly. "If I have, please don't hesitate to tell me. Is it...ah, the robe I was wearing that day?"
Lei Ruolan scoffed, crushing the wrapper of her food in her fist.
"No." She sighed, showing a rare moment of tiredness. "It's true. I was angry about that for a long time. I wrote to my mother, and she said she knew about you and gave it to you, but I didn't believe her until I visited her a few months ago. She insisted you helped her." She stuffed the wrapper into her pack irritably. "She's always been impulsive, giving away important things. But I didn't think..." Her face fell a little. "...she'd give away something like that."
Qiu Yunru's heart hurt.
He felt both sympathetic, and incredibly awkward!
"This shidi also didn't expect her to give away something like that. I really tried to refuse, but she wouldn't let me go. This shidi apologizes. It was wrong to take the robe, even if I didn't know there was someone else who might be affected."
Lei Ruolan waved her hand sharply, grumbling again. "Whatever. You gave it back, and you didn't steal it. That's all that matters. But I still don't trust you. And I still don't like you. In fact, I hate you!"
Qiu Yunru cried internally.
Hadn't they been making progress for a moment? And now they were back to declarations of hate once again!