"There are two different sets of footprints. One set belongs to Little Fox, and the other belongs to the mermaid. I can recognize Little Fox's footprints. As for the mermaid, the footprints are not too deep or too big. I a.s.sume that these footprints belong to a woman of not more than 163 cm and her weight would be…"

She had precisely predicted the weight and height of the woman. Then, her eyes rested on Di Fuyi. "You know who she is, right?"

Di Fuyi did not deny. "I know. If I am not mistaken, she should be Lan Jingyi. She has been missing for five days."

To guess the ident.i.ty correctly was one thing, to hear his confession was another. Gu Xijiu took a deep breath before she continued, "You are only here with me because you are looking for Lan Jingyi, aren't you?"

Di Fuyi was very non-committal about her question. "What is the difference? Regardless of my intention, we are all sharing the same goal."

She was right. She was looking for Little Fox, and he was looking for Lan Jingyi.

Of different means, they were working to achieve the same end. It did not come as a surprise to Gu Xijiu anymore that he offered his help so eagerly.

Gu Xijiu tried to calm down. She already felt bad enough, as though there was a lump in her throat. She could no longer finish the other half of her apple.

She threw the apple away and stood up. She took a look around on the ground, trying to look for the water source to perform the Aqua Drilling technique.

Di Fuyi stood and tidied up his robes. He then picked up the unfinished apple that she left behind on the ground. The apple was already dirty after taking a few rolls on the dirt.

Di Fuyi cleaned the fruit a little and took a bite. The fruit tasted sour and astringent. It was her least favorite flavor.

She liked the taste now all of a sudden. Was it a reflection of how she truly felt inside?

He kept the unfinished apple in his storage bag and performed the Water Manipulation Magic as well.

Gu Xijiu was very fast so Di Fuyi was 15 minutes behind her.

When Di Fuyi finally caught up with her, she was pretty calm. She saw Di Fuyi and frowned a little. "Perhaps we should go separate ways to speed things up," she said nonchalantly. She did not want to be on the same path as him anymore.

"They have used the same waterway. There is no need to chase after them separately," Di Fuyi said firmly.

Immediately, Gu Xijiu pa.s.sed the Wizardry Sh.e.l.l to him. "If you are here looking for someone, too, you should not say that you are here to help. You should contribute as well."

If they were both looking for someone they cared for, why should she be the only one making the effort?

Di Fuyi did not expect that she would mind it. He hesitated, then pa.s.sed magic sh.e.l.l back to her. Promptly, he took out another one. "I have one more. We can take turns to blow the sh.e.l.ls. Now we are even."

Gu Xijiu did not know what to say, as he was trying to make things clear between them. He refused to take any kind of losses on his own. Anyway, she did not want to take advantage of him, so she agreed.

They continued to move forward. At every junction, both of them would blow the magic sh.e.l.l to observe the ripples. None of them took advantage of anyone.

It was the first time for Gu Xijiu to use the instrument. Certainly, she would make some mistakes now and then and pointed at the wrong way.

Luckily, Di Fuyi had a very strong perceptive insight, so he could always correct her in time whenever she made the slightest misjudgment. Thus, none of them made any wrong turns. Unless the situation was really necessary, none of them talked to each other at all.

…

Unknowingly, they had traveled many miles underground.