Chapter 150: First Love, Fruit

“No problem. Go ahead, what do you want me to do?”

Shui Miao responded readily. In such situations, you’re either enemies or friends, and if you’re going to be friends, they must be straightforward friends—that was Shui Miao’s principle.

Privately, Shui Miao weighed the options. If he suddenly attacked, there was indeed a chance of capturing these baby salamanders. Even if he couldn’t catch the big ones, he could definitely get the small ones. Yet he felt a pang of guilt. They were so innocent, a warm and loving family of five. How could he bring himself to do something so cruel? Even if he gained some spiritual power, would he truly feel happy?

Therefore, Shui Miao abandoned the idea of hunting the baby salamanders, sparing himself a lifetime of unease.

“It’s simple, take us outside—we want to see the outside world,” the baby salamander said longingly.

Shui Miao frowned. “Why don’t you go out yourselves? With your spiritual power, once you take human form, wouldn’t going out be easy?”

“I know it sounds easy, but we know nothing about the outside world. Plus, we can’t sustain our spiritual power for long. Once it runs out, we’d revert to our original forms and die on dry land,” the baby salamander pouted. “So, I want you to take us out.”

“I’m afraid that won’t work!” Shui Miao shook his head and explained, “Going out is dangerous. I know you prefer quiet, cool springs. Your cultivation isn’t strong enough yet; going into the human world would be troublesome. Even if I took you out, I couldn’t guarantee your safety 100%. If anything happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt.”

“Swish, swish, swish…”

A sound of water echoed, and the baby salamander that had just left swam back, transforming into a small salamander dwarf. They whispered to each other briefly, and then the one that had left earlier spoke to Shui Miao, “We’ll help you restore your spiritual power, so you can become really strong. Then, you can take us out to see the world, okay?”

“…”

See, good deeds bring good rewards! Shui Miao was secretly thrilled but kept his expression calm. “Well, it’s not that easy, right? How exactly are you going to help me restore my spiritual power?”

“Hehe, that’s not something you need to worry about. Just agree to take us out to play,” the baby salamander said confidently—it was clearly a male.

Shui Miao pretended to hesitate. “Alright, if my spiritual power is fully restored, I can protect you better. But we have to agree—only one night out, because things get complicated during the day.” Shui Miao thought taking them to the party for some fun would be okay, but he couldn’t let them know too much. The more they knew, the harder it would be to manipulate them later.

“Deal! One night is enough! Haha, wait a moment…”

The baby salamander dwarf was excited and immediately the family of five jumped into the spring, swimming quickly toward the depths of the rock bottom.

The baby salamanders swam away…

Before Zhang Hanya could speak, Shui Miao interrupted, “Hey, keep this to yourself for their safety. I hope you won’t talk about tonight’s events, not even to your mother. Let this be our secret. Promise me.”

Shui Miao had his concerns and wanted to remind Zhang Hanya in advance.

Thinking about the baby salamanders’ safety, Zhang Hanya paused and then nodded gently. “Okay, but big brother, will you teach me to cultivate?”

“Sure, go find Chen Xiang later; she’ll teach you.”

Shui Miao had no intention of teaching Zhang Hanya directly here.

For some reason, Shui Miao felt a sense of unreality, as if everything was too surreal, like it had been prearranged.

The feeling was strange, indescribable.

Zhang Hanya wanted to say more, but Shui Miao placed a finger on her lips, silencing her.

※※※

Soon, Shui Miao saw dozens of baby salamanders swimming toward them from the spring river.

It turned out the baby salamander wasn’t alone—it was a whole group!

Shui Miao and Zhang Hanya were stunned, so many adorable little baby salamanders…

As Shui Miao wondered how they would help him restore his spiritual power, they raised their heads, opened their mouths, and exhaled streams of spiritual energy. Sensing this, Shui Miao quickly absorbed the energy into his body. Meanwhile, the original group of two adults and three children transformed into dwarves and handed Shui Miao a dozen small red fruits the size of quail eggs.

Shui Miao had never seen these red fruits before.

As he held them, he could sense the immense spiritual energy within each fruit. Taking a deep breath, he inhaled a large amount of spiritual energy into his dantian, which immediately began circulating, rapidly restoring his spiritual power.

“Eating them works better. We cultivate by eating these fruits,” the baby salamander reminded him when they saw Shui Miao merely sniffing at the fruit.

Zhang Hanya, drooling, reached out and took one, bringing it to her nose. “Brother, can I have one?”

“Not yet, let me try first…”

Shui Miao naturally wouldn’t let Zhang Hanya try first—if the fruit were poisonous, it could harm her.

Shui Miao ate one and found it icy cold, like eating ice. But as the baby salamander had said, the fruit contained immense spiritual energy! Excited, Shui Miao ate several more. Zhang Hanya watched enviously and finally took a bite. Instantly, her mouth froze! The fruit contained not only spiritual energy but also strong yin energy. Since Zhang Hanya hadn’t cultivated, she couldn’t handle it. She felt intense pain and numbness in her mouth and, frightened, quickly tugged at Shui Miao’s clothes. Shui Miao turned and saw her mouth filled with yin energy and spiritual energy. Seeing her pained expression, he didn’t hesitate and immediately pressed his lips to hers…

“There, I told you not to rush…”

Shui Miao felt awkward, but at least it was in front of a group of baby salamanders.

Zhang Hanya’s mouth regained sensation, but her face turned as red as an apple.

Shui Miao ate all the small fruits and sat cross-legged, closing his eyes to regulate his energy.

“Did you fully restore your spiritual power?” The baby salamander dwarf sensed the spiritual energy entering Shui Miao’s body and saw it swirl in his dantian before shrinking into a tiny point. They were shocked—why did this happen?

Salamanders don’t have a dantian.

They could only gather spiritual energy in their bodies but couldn’t condense it into a ball for storage.

“I only restored a little…”

Shui Miao opened his eyes. In reality, the spiritual power in his dantian had already grown to the size of a quail egg.

But who would ever say no to more spiritual power?

The baby salamanders looked at each other, then without a word, they jumped back into the water…

They were probably going to get more fruits.

Shui Miao wondered whether this waterway led beneath Jing Shui Village and whether this spiritual energy had any connection to the thousand-year-old female ghost. He decided to ask them when they returned.

They moved quickly, but a round trip still took twenty minutes.

Time dragged during this wait.

Zhang Hanya tugged at Shui Miao’s clothes, blushing. “Brother, you stole my first kiss. I want you to make it up to me!”

“How should I make it up?” Shui Miao was surprised.

“…”

Zhang Hanya leaned in directly, closing her eyes…

“Honey, that was to save you. Don’t play around!” Shui Miao was embarrassed, not expecting Zhang Hanya to get addicted.

Zhang Hanya opened her eyes, looking displeased. “Don’t you think I’m pretty?”

“What kind of question is that? Of course you’re pretty!” Shui Miao winked and smiled. “Anyone who dares to say Zhang Hanya isn’t beautiful, I’ll punch their mouth shut.”

“Then why won’t you kiss me?” Zhang Hanya didn’t smile; she was serious now.

“Uh…” Shui Miao was taken aback. “Well, how should I put this? You’re my little sister!”

“Pfft! Who wants to be your sister? You’re surnamed Chen, and I’m surnamed Zhang. I’m not your sister!” Zhang Hanya rolled her eyes and continued seriously, “Besides, my dad told me he wants you to be our family’s son-in-law. Otherwise, do you think my dad would have allowed me to go out with you?”

“Is that so…”

Thinking about it, Shui Miao realized it made sense. Otherwise, why had Zhang Hanya been so enthusiastic from the moment they met?

“Of course! So I’m your girlfriend, not your little sister. From now on, don’t call me ‘little sister’ anymore. Call me Xiaoya,” Zhang Hanya suddenly became assertive.

Shui Miao felt overwhelmed. His charm with women seemed unstoppable!

Feelings between men and women are strange. Sometimes a man desperately pursues a woman, but she remains indifferent. Yet when a man pays no attention, keeping his distance and staying cold, those women might come to him instead. This was exactly Shui Miao’s situation now—trying hard not to think about women, yet women, out of curiosity and the belief that what’s hard to obtain is the best, were drawn to him.

During this time they had spent together, Zhang Hanya had come to realize that Shui Miao truly had great charm!

She even believed that a man like Shui Miao, who wasn’t fickle, was definitely worth having.

“…”

Shui Miao didn’t speak. What could he say? Looking at Zhang Hanya’s expression, would she even listen?

But then, Zhang Hanya took the initiative, pulling Shui Miao to his feet and hugging him tightly, pressing her face against his chest. She spoke very seriously, “Shui Miao, do you know? All my life, I’ve never liked any boy before. You’re the first boy I’ve ever liked, and I hope you’ll be the last. You’re my first love, and I won’t let anyone take you away from me. I can tolerate many beauties around you, but I won’t tolerate you loving them. No matter what you think, I’ve already decided—if you don’t like me, I’ll die.”

“Uh…”

Shui Miao was completely stunned, as if struck by lightning!