Li's mother was a little flustered upon hearing that her younger son and daughter-in-law still planned to go into the mountains. "Tiantian, there are big creatures inside."
"We'll walk on the trees."
Uh.
Li's mother had no reason to refuse. "Then tomorrow, I'll go with Haohao and the other two. Lili is really hard to coax when she throws a tantrum."
Tian Jing agreed. "That's fine. You and Afeng can take turns coaxing her, and you can sleep in the west room at night."
"We don't know how many days it will take for us to come down this time. To avoid unnecessary trouble, we'll go up the mountain from outside the village and just say we've gone out on business."
"Mm-hmm."
Li's mother repeatedly agreed. "Last night, I was too worried and scared myself by overthinking."
"It's okay."
Her daughter-in-law's indifference made Li's mother feel a little discouraged.
...
The next day, Li Zhengguo and his wife went out with Li Liguo.
Yesterday's load of coal was divided equally between the courtyard and Li Liguo's family. They were going to pick up another load today.
Li Liguo had already made arrangements with the Wang, Yang, and Ou families. They would share half a truckload.
"Are you staying overnight this time?"
"Not sure."
Li Zhengguo shook his head. "Keep an eye on our mother. She's still traumatized by our father's situation."
"I know. Mother will be at the courtyard in the east of the village, with Grandpa and Afeng to keep her company. The children won't be fussy, so she'll feel more at ease."
...
Upon reaching Qing Song Yan, Tian Jing told Xiao Song that she had entered the Misty Valley.
This made Xiao Song ecstatic. "I'll break off my roots right away."
Tian Jing quickly interrupted it. "Wait, Xiao Song, listen to me..."
After listening, Xiao Song was confused. "What is a book world? What is a book transmigration? What is a reborn person?"
Tian Jing: "..."
"Don't worry about what a book world is. Think of book transmigrators and reborn people as prophets, prophets who know the future."
Xiao Song became worried. "So, that book transmigration person knows my function?"
"Yes."
"Wuwuwu... I'm going to die. I'm definitely going to die."
Listening to Xiao Song's cries, Tian Jing also felt sad. She genuinely considered Xiao Song a good friend.
She could confide secrets without fear of them being revealed, and she could hear secrets. She could find out all sorts of unfavorable information about herself from Xiao Song.
"Xiao Song, don't cry yet. We haven't fully entered yet."
"When I've completely figured out the Misty Valley, I'll find a way to hide you."
"From what I estimate, he's busy having children right now. After the children are born, they'll need to be at least three years old before they can be used, so we still have time."
Xiao Song stopped crying. "Mm-hmm, find a way as soon as possible. Your mind doesn't seem very sharp. You should discuss it with Li Zhengguo."
Tian Jing: "..." Why was her mind not sharp?
Xiao Song continued, "Even entering the formation, I was the one who helped you figure out a way."
Uh.
Tian Jing: "..." She admitted that entering the formation was thanks to Xiao Song, but she really wasn't someone whose mind wasn't sharp.
Could she argue with a young pine tree that was old on the outside but young on the inside?
No.
She could only concede. "Alright, my mind isn't very sharp. I'll discuss it with Li Zhengguo."
Using Xiao Feng's foot, Tian Jing dug out the deepest Wu family jar. "Zhengguo, where did you throw the golden lock?"
"The scrap yard."
"Ah? Could it have been collected as a treasure?"
Li Zhengguo shook his head. "No, it's not an authentic golden lock, so it has no collection value. The scrap dealer's family is in great need of money."
Taking out the golden lock from the jar, Tian Jing hid the jar back underground.
"If Chen Yao Shi is really a book transmigration, then the plan with the golden lock and golden key will be useless."
Li Zhengguo denied it. "At least, it can cover up the fact that he has been exposed to us."
...
Entering the formation again, the couple waited for the sun to shine directly before they walked through the forest and reached the side of the Bagua Maze.
Tapping the wall of the maze, a glass dome appeared.
They tried attaching both the golden key and the golden lock to the dome, but there was no reaction.
Sprinkling hot blood also yielded no response.
Li Zhengguo stopped his wife, who was about to sprinkle more blood, took the golden key and golden lock from her hand, and opened the golden lock.
"Try again, with the blood too."
"Mm-hmm." Tian Jing took the lock. "Hold my waist."
After sprinkling blood, as soon as the opened golden lock touched the dome, a hole large enough for one person to enter opened up.
Tian Jing excitedly bent over and entered through the opened hole.
"Bang!"
Li Zhengguo, behind her, was repelled by the formation and hit a tree in the forest.
"Zhengguo!"
Tian Jing anxiously placed the golden lock on the dome, which was about to close, and the hole widened.
She quickly squeezed out of the hole and ran towards the forest.
Li Zhengguo had already managed to sit up from the ground, his face pale, clutching his chest.
"Zhengguo, are you okay?"
Li Zhengguo shook his head. "I'm fine, just a bit chest tightness. Let's go out first."
"Okay."
Seeing Li Zhengguo, whom Tian Jing was supporting, Xiao Song was shocked. "What happened to Li Zhengguo?"
Tian Jing had no time to answer it.
She placed her husband by the cave entrance to lean on, took out the key, opened the cave door, made a bed, and then helped her husband lie down on it.
She hurried down Qing Song Yan and rushed to the hot spring valley to accelerate the growth of a few ginseng roots...
Supporting her semi-conscious husband, she placed a teacup to his lips. "Zhengguo, drink this."
Li Zhengguo barely opened his eyes and gave his wife a weak smile.
He drank the liquid in the teacup from his wife's hand...
After retracting her supernatural ability and laying her husband flat, Tian Jing busied herself with heating the stove and the cooking hearth.
It got dark. After feeding her husband a bowl of wild chicken soup, Tian Jing sat down under the pine tree with a bowl of chicken soup.
Only then did Xiao Song realize that Li Zhengguo had been injured by the formation.
"Then, can I not enter either?"
"I don't know."
Tian Jing shook her head. "You're not human."
Xiao Song: "..." It wanted to become human, was that allowed?
"Then what if Li Zhengguo can't enter? Didn't you say that the black and white tombs on the Yin-Yang fish eye might require an intersex person?"
What was an intersex person?
"I meant the yin and yang of male and female."
"It's the same."
Could it be the same?
Tian Jing was tired and didn't want to argue with Xiao Song. What if it asked why humans had both male and female traits? How would she answer?
"Forget it, I'm going to rest. Aren't you smarter than me? Hurry up and think of a solution. I want to hear it when it's dawn."
Xiao Song was very confused. Why was it being asked to think of a solution again? It never said its mind was sharp.
...
After a night's sleep, Tian Jing met her husband's unwavering gaze. "Are you better?"
"Yes, much better. Better than before."
As he spoke, Li Zhengguo started being intimate.
Tian Jing quickly pushed him away. "Xiao Song understands everything. We can't avoid it here."
"What about the hot spring valley?"
"The same."
Li Zhengguo narrowed his eyes. "Then, didn't it see before?"
"It's female."
Tian Jing said those four words very reluctantly, knowing that Zhengguo couldn't communicate with Xiao Song anyway.
Who knew that, "Wife, pine trees are monoecious."
Ah? Such a huge oversight?
"When it gained consciousness, it chose to be female."
Li Zhengguo: "..."
Did he believe his wife when she blinked and lied?
"Oh, then forget it. Let's go take a bath in the hot spring."
Tian Jing thought she had escaped, but the bath lasted until noon.
Her wolfish husband said that with children at home, he had been very repressed.
Recently, busy with various matters and searching for the Misty Valley, he had also been very repressed.
Therefore, she was very tired.
It wasn't until the second day that Tian Jing asked Xiao Song for a solution.
But Xiao Song had a lot of questions to ask.
Tian Jing: "..."
She had forgotten to use her supernatural ability to order the rose guards 'hibernating' outside the hot spring courtyard?
"Stop, stop."
Tian Jing called out to the problem-child-like Xiao Song. "Do you know your gender?"
"Didn't you say I was female? I suddenly feel that being a woman is pretty good."
Tian Jing's eyes and the corners of her mouth twitched. "Xiao Song, you must understand, you are *not* human."
Xiao Song was very disappointed. "I want to become human, why isn't it allowed?"
"Your sudden strong desire to become human... it must be because you want to experience human love, right?"
"Is that not allowed?"
Tian Jing felt that her facial nerves must have been stimulated to malfunction by Xiao Song.
"Xiao Song, you, you are monoecious. Do you know that humans also have hermaphrodites? That's what you called intersex people."
Unexpectedly, after Tian Jing's explanation, Xiao Song's desire to become human became even stronger.
"Great, I can be male when I want to be male, and female when I want to be female, experiencing both."
Tian Jing: "..."