Ou Xiaoxue replied almost immediately, "Uncle, I'll go with you. Don't leave me alone!"
Ye Tiancheng certainly wouldn't abandon her to die. Ou Xiaoxue looked like she couldn't survive alone here. However, he felt it would be too strange to just take her with him so directly, and he also needed to ask the young girl for her opinion, which was why he asked Ou Xiaoxue that question.
In reality, Ou Xiaoxue was so terrified that she'd rather go back with Ye Tiancheng to the villa she so feared, the one that was supposedly haunted, than stay alone. Ye Tiancheng didn't even need to think to guess that Ou Xiaoxue would definitely leave with him.
As expected, this was indeed the case. Ou Xiaoxue decided to leave with Ye Tiancheng without a moment's hesitation.
As they walked together, Ou Xiaoxue didn't understand much. She only felt that as they walked, they suddenly entered a rural, pastoral setting. If it weren't for the fact that she could still see her villa behind them, and after she had anxiously asked Ye Tiancheng and he had led her back once to confirm they could still return, Ou Xiaoxue would not have felt at ease.
Ye Tiancheng didn't take Ou Xiaoxue on the direct path. Instead, he took a slightly longer route. As soon as he appeared with Ou Xiaoxue, the Nuwa Stone indeed contacted him.
Unlike when it was just Ye Tiancheng and the little fox in the illusion, now that Ou Xiaoxue was present, the Nuwa Stone naturally wouldn't communicate directly with Ye Tiancheng but would communicate with him within Ye Tiancheng's mind.
"I was wondering why I felt something hit a barrier earlier. Fortunately, we were prepared. Someone actually broke in. What's going on?" The Nuwa Stone looked at Ou Xiaoxue, the young girl beside Ye Tiancheng, with great surprise.
Ye Tiancheng roughly explained the situation to the Nuwa Stone. "Just now, after I collected the fragment of the Fuxi Qin, I heard a noise, then I left that cave, and the formation shifted. You should have felt it, right?"
"Then I discovered that this villa was included within the range of the formation. However, I've confirmed just now that only that villa was included, and only this young girl lives in the villa. Her name is Ou Xiaoxue. Her villa was haunted two days ago, and she was trapped inside and couldn't get out until the formation shifted here."
"I just had her contact some friends, and it's basically confirmed that she's a real person and should be trustworthy. However, just in case, you still need to observe her more closely. Her villa was indeed haunted. I went inside, but I haven't checked carefully yet. Aren't we going back to cook now?"
"I think the reason her villa was so heavily haunted might be related to the Fuxi Qin fragment. Even if it's not directly related, the fact that evil spirits could cause such a commotion in her villa is probably truly related to the Fuxi Qin fragment."
After listening to Ye Tiancheng finish explaining everything, the Nuwa Stone clicked its tongue. "It seems our previous precautions were correct. It's likely that such situations won't be uncommon in the future. Fortunately, we were prepared. It's just that this young girl is quite unlucky."
"But what I hope now is that the next time the formation shifts, it doesn't encompass a vegetable market. That would be fine."
When the Nuwa Stone said this, even Ye Tiancheng couldn't help but freeze. That thought was too terrifying. If a vegetable market were encompassed, who knew how many people would be involved.
Therefore, Ye Tiancheng said with lingering fear, "Little Stone, you've reminded me. Next time I go to collect Fuxi Qin fragments, during the final stages, if I forget, please remind me in advance."
"In the final stage, just before it ends, have me go in the middle of the night."
The Nuwa Stone easily understood Ye Tiancheng's meaning, as it also understood Ye Tiancheng's concerns very well. Going in the middle of the night, even if a vegetable market were accidentally encompassed during the shift, while it might become social news, at least not so many people would be involved.
If so many people were brought into the illusion, it would truly cause them trouble. But they wouldn't be that unlucky, would they?
The Nuwa Stone and Ye Tiancheng could only pray in their hearts, hoping that heaven wouldn't play such tricks on them. Their current lives, which appeared calm and good on the surface, were actually very hard. They had already gone through so much difficulty, so they shouldn't be toyed with in this matter.
Ou Xiaoxue didn't know that Ye Tiancheng could communicate with other things in front of her and behind her back. She only thought that she was simply walking with Ye Tiancheng towards an unknown direction.
The little fox had been informed by the Nuwa Stone long ago that the formation had shifted to a new location, so Ye Tiancheng was returning later than usual, and he wasn't in a hurry. However, not long after, the Nuwa Stone gave him another piece of news: there was an additional person in the illusion.
The little fox was not happy about this. Having an outsider live with him and Ye Tiancheng for several months was something the little fox was quite unwilling to accept.
He himself didn't mind living in hardship, but the little fox did. They had a good house to live in, but because of others, they were now forced to live in the crude wooden house they had built by hand.
Other than that, there wasn't much else. They even had some vegetable patches and fruit trees that could be exposed, as long as their growth patterns were temporarily normalized. But one obvious point was that they couldn't use many modern appliances.
Ye Tiancheng promptly remembered to ask the Nuwa Stone to temporarily draw a small stream near their dwelling, one where people standing in the water would only reach their knees. After all, Ou Xiaoxue was a girl, and she might need to take care of washing and other matters later.
Before, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox had everything convenient in the old house. Even when Ou Xiaoxue arrived, they could still use the old house to take care of things while avoiding her. However, Ou Xiaoxue could not.
When Ye Tiancheng returned with Ou Xiaoxue, the little fox had already moved to the crude wooden house.
Ye Tiancheng introduced the little fox to Ou Xiaoxue. "This is the one I told you about before. He's my younger brother, Ye Li."
The little fox still didn't have a proper name. However, considering some circumstances, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox had temporarily come up with a name-like appellation. The little fox had no intention of changing it to a proper grand name, as the name was given by the Fatty, and he quite liked it, with no intention of changing it.
But calling him Ye Fox directly would be very strange. It would be better to introduce him by saying he was the little fox. So Ye Tiancheng combined them, and from then on, he would introduce him as Ye Li.
Generally, since it was just spoken and not written, not many people would scrutinize which "Li" character it was. If anyone asked, they could just muddle through with a few words.
The main reason was that the little fox was reluctant to part with his name, so Ye Tiancheng kept the character "Li." Otherwise, it would be better to change it directly.
But this way was also acceptable. From Ye Tiancheng's perspective, the little fox's personal opinion was more important. Considering so many things, the little fox's preference was more important.
Ou Xiaoxue indeed didn't think too much about it. After all, just by the sound, Ye Li was a normal enough name, so Ou Xiaoxue's attention was not focused on the name at all.
However, the first time Ou Xiaoxue saw the little fox, she was completely stunned. She almost forgot about all the bad things she had experienced in the past few days, and that she had just left the haunted villa.
"Wow! Your brother is so handsome, so beautiful! He's even better looking than a celebrity!" Ou Xiaoxue was practically infatuated.
Ye Tiancheng couldn't help but cover his forehead. It was true that most women had no resistance when faced with the little fox's face, because the little fox was indeed too good-looking. From an aesthetic point of view, Ye Tiancheng himself felt that the little fox was very pleasing to the eye, which was absolutely undeniable.
The little fox's expression was not very good. If it were other people, like Hou Mingzhu or Su Muxian, because they were somewhat related to Ye Tiancheng, the little fox wouldn't reject them because of Ye Tiancheng.
But the little fox didn't like Ou Xiaoxue. He felt that Ou Xiaoxue was an interloper, so the little fox's attitude was not very enthusiastic. "Hello, I am Ye Li."
Ou Xiaoxue let go of Ye Tiancheng's arm, her emotions clearly very excited. "Hello, hello, my name is Ou Xiaoxue."
The little fox's cold attitude did not dampen Ou Xiaoxue's enthusiasm much. However, Ou Xiaoxue looked at the little fox, then looked at Ye Tiancheng again, and finally asked curiously, "Um, I don't mean anything else, I just want to ask."
"Uncle, are you and little brother Ye Li really biological brothers? You don't look alike. Is one like your father and the other like your mother?"
There was indeed no malice in her tone, so Ye Tiancheng couldn't be angry. He was just a bit at a loss for words due to the difference in address, finding it both funny and exasperating: calling him uncle and the little fox brother.
At first, when Ou Xiaoxue called him uncle, Ye Tiancheng didn't think much of it. However, he wasn't very old. After all, he married Hou Mingzhu at a young age and had a daughter, who was only a few years old now.
So, Ye Tiancheng was indeed still young. It was acceptable for her to call him uncle, as he already had a daughter who was several years old. However, calling him brother, based on his appearance, wasn't too excessive.
After all, Ye Tiancheng was a cultivator, and he was truly young. Unless there were special circumstances, his appearance would not show his age.
As for the little fox and Ye Tiancheng not looking alike, of course, they wouldn't look alike. They weren't biological brothers. However, Ye Tiancheng understood Ou Xiaoxue's meaning. He had told Ou Xiaoxue before that the little fox was his brother, and Ou Xiaoxue must have taken it for granted that they were biological brothers, which was why she found it strange that Ye Tiancheng and the little fox didn't look alike.
Ye Tiancheng wasn't angry and didn't have much of a reaction, but the little fox was unhappy. He said with a cold face, "Can't brothers look different? My elder brother and I don't look alike."
Seeing that the little fox seemed angry, Ou Xiaoxue quickly fell silent and dared not say more.
Ou Xiaoxue saw where Ye Tiancheng and the little fox lived, which was actually the crude handmade wooden house that was disguised. She hesitated, not out of disdain, but because it seemed she couldn't live there.
After all, she was a girl, and the wooden house built by Ye Tiancheng and the little fox was used for disguise, so it certainly wouldn't be very well-made. No matter how you looked at it, there was only one room.