The tent within her perception was not far off, and Luo Shangyu could already make out its silhouette in the darkness of the night.
She increased the intensity of her magic release, focusing it on the tent to perceive Qin Yu’s exact location at full power.
Sure enough, Luo Shangyu faintly detected Qin Yu’s presence right inside the tent.
At this, Luo Shangyu finally let out a long sigh of relief. Having located Qin Yu, the task of rescuing her was more than half complete.
The rest of the process was merely a matter of bringing Qin Yu back. Luo Shangyu believed that with her strength, no one would be able to stop her.
However, Luo Shangyu still did not dare to be too careless. She worried the owner of the tent might have set up magic circles to alert them of incoming enemies, so she held her staff ready, approaching the tent with caution.
—
“Hmm?” Valya was startled awake from her sleep and nudged Lilith beside her. “Lilith, it seems something has entered our warning perimeter.”
“It shouldn’t be…” Lilith sat up dizzily. “I have already released my Blood Tribe aura around the tent. Any monsters that sense it should stay far away!”
“Could it be Qin Yu’s family coming for her?” Lilith thought for a moment and said to Valya, “She is a wealthy young lady, so her family must be looking for her. This is most likely them. You should think about how to deal with it!”
“How to deal with it?” Valya sneered. “Who could possibly defeat me?”
Valya got out of bed, put on her outer coat, and walked out of the room. “Lilith, come with me to face the enemy!”
The entrance hall and the living room were connected on the first floor of the Villa. The guest bedroom where Qin Yu slept and the master bedroom where Valya and Lilith stayed were on the second floor.
Valya held her staff high while Lilith followed behind her, arms crossed over her chest.
“We won’t turn on the lights. First, we will catch the person coming to save Qin Yu in the dark, tie them up, and then train Qin Yu right in front of them…”
Valya stepped onto the stairs and whispered softly into the darkness, a hint of a smile in her voice.
—
Luo Shangyu quietly slipped into the tent, her body flickering as she moved inside.
The vast space inside the tent did not surprise Luo Shangyu. Having entered the expanded space within the tent, she had already scouted everything inside.
Luo Shangyu had, of course, also detected Valya and Lilith, who were already prepared.
She moved through the darkness and hid in the small space beneath the Villa’s stairs, listening as Valya and Lilith’s footsteps drew closer.
In the darkness, an old Boermai-style mechanical clock ticked away steadily, one second at a time.
Luo Shangyu closed her eyes and took deep breaths, trying to calm her heart.
Through her detection, she already knew the true strength of Valya and Lilith. Valya was a 7th-rank Quasi-god, and Lilith was an 8th-rank Quasi-god—both were incredibly powerful.
The stairs creaked, and Luo Shangyu heard every word Valya said. Although she desperately wanted to rescue Qin Yu, she had to wait for the right moment to strike.
‘Surprise is more meaningful than simple strength,’ Luo Shangyu thought silently, raising her staff.
Just as Valya stepped off the stairs, Luo Shangyu chanted a spell under her breath. A bolt of holy light shot from the tip of her staff, aimed directly at Valya’s back.
Valya moved her feet slightly, dodging Luo Shangyu’s strike with a simple sidestep.
But Luo Shangyu saw it clearly—Valya had used instant-cast Space Magic to teleport herself and avoid the attack.
Valya turned around and tapped her staff on the ground. “I’ve found you!”
Luo Shangyu tried to dodge, but chains generated by Valya’s Metal Magic appeared almost instantly on the floor, swarming over her body.
‘Not good!’ Luo Shangyu swung her staff, wanting to launch a fireball, but it was too late. Her body had already been restrained.
Lilith turned on the lights on the first floor. The blinding glare made it impossible for Luo Shangyu to adjust for a moment, and she could not open her eyes.
“What do you think you’re doing, breaking into a private residence?” Valya asked, leaning in close to Luo Shangyu with a smile.
Having heard Valya’s earlier words, Luo Shangyu knew she was asking a question she already knew the answer to. She chose to remain silent and began searching for a way to escape.
She had already prepared an escape item—a Teleportation Token engraved with a Space Magic circle. It was a one-time consumable. She had originally intended to use it during the hunt, but she hadn’t expected it to come in handy here.
Just as Luo Shangyu was preparing to use the Teleportation Token to escape, footsteps came from the stairs.
Luo Shangyu looked up and saw Qin Yu wearing plush slippers and the bathrobe provided in the guest bedroom, revealing the faint outline of her undergarments beneath.
“Luo Shangyu!” she cried out in surprise. “How did you get here!”
Before Luo Shangyu could answer, Valya pretended to have a sudden realization. “Oh, so you came to save her! Well, since you’re already here, there’s no need to leave. Both of you can be my personal maids!”
‘Does she intend to humiliate Luo Shangyu just as she humiliated me?’ Qin Yu grew anxious upon hearing this and immediately pulled out her staff.
However, Valya acted as if she hadn’t seen any of it and leaned in close to Luo Shangyu. “Not bad. You’re a bit more heroic than Qin Yu. I really want to see you surrender at my feet.”
Looking at Valya’s arrogant expression, the anger in Qin Yu’s heart was ignited.
Was bullying her not enough? Did she have to bully Luo Shangyu too?
Qin Yu desperately wanted to defeat Valya, but she also realized that the gap in their strength made it all futile.
However, the moment she raised her staff in anger, Qin Yu remembered that her magic had been suppressed by Valya.
Then, she suddenly realized she still had her Domain Magic!
“Wu silk and Shu paulownia join in high autumn; condensed clouds over empty mountains sink and cease to flow!”
The familiar incantation was shouted, the familiar sensation returned, and the surrounding space fell silent once more.
Seeing that Qin Yu had successfully restrained Valya and Lilith, Luo Shangyu used the Teleportation Token to free herself.
“Let’s go!” Luo Shangyu grabbed Qin Yu’s hand.
“You really think you can leave?” Valya snapped her digits, and the frozen time around them immediately resumed its flow.
“Hmph, you can’t keep us!” Luo Shangyu moved quickly. She had already pulled Qin Yu out of the tent in a single stride, leaving a wall of fire behind them with her magic.
Valya chased after them. “Just you wait! One day, I will turn both of you into my personal maids!”
—
Qin Yu and Luo Shangyu ran quite a distance before finally stopping.
Running in slippers had left Qin Yu’s feet aching.
Wearing silk over-the-knee socks inside the slippers, Qin Yu only felt an unbearable stuffiness. The sweat made her feet slip constantly inside the slippers.
“Can we just stay here?” Qin Yu pleaded with Luo Shangyu. “I’m a little tired…”
“Fine.” Luo Shangyu calculated that they had already run a great distance, so she stopped.
Soon, a tent was set up. When Qin Yu walked closer, she saw that the space inside had also been expanded with magic, though it was one size smaller than Valya’s.
“Take a shower and get some sleep,” Luo Shangyu urged.
“Mmhmm…” Qin Yu took off her clothes and walked into the bathroom with Luo Shangyu.
As it was late, the two of them used the shower directly to save time.
Water flowed over Qin Yu’s skin, pitter-pattering onto the floor.
“Valya didn’t… do anything to you today, did she?” Luo Shangyu asked while helping Qin Yu scrub her back.
“No…” Qin Yu hesitated repeatedly but ultimately decided to hide her experience.
After all, being humiliated like that was simply too embarrassing!
“That’s good, then. That’s good.” Luo Shangyu breathed a sigh of relief. “I am sorry, I let you suffer.”