Princess Xia Lingxi

Just as Xia Lingxi was huddled up, both angry and terrified while keeping a vigilant watch on the movements outside the cave, the space in front of her violently distorted without any warning.

Xia Lingxi let out a reflexive scream. Like a frightened rabbit, she scrambled backward, pressing her entire body tightly against the cold rock wall behind her.

A figure slowly materialized.

"Who is it?! Don't... don't come any closer! I am warning you, I am a princess of the Great Cang Empire! If you dare to try anything, my imperial father and royal brother will never let you off!"

Xia Lingxi's voice trembled, laced with a tearful whimper.

Looking at the petite and adorable Xia Lingxi before him, an urge to tease her suddenly welled up within Qin Hao. Without saying a word, he slowly walked toward her.

This sight scared the living daylights out of Xia Lingxi. She threw her hands up defensively, flailing them in a frantic, disorganized manner.

"Ahhh! Stay away! My master is the number one expert in the Great Cang Empire; he can crush you with a single finger! I have also raised a bunch of demonic beasts, and they are all right outside! If you come any closer, I will have them bite you to death!"

"And I know curses too! I curse you to trip when you walk! I curse you to suffer Qi deviation when you cultivate!"

Xia Lingxi's threats grew increasingly absurd. Seeing that this still was not enough to scare Qin Hao away, she continued.

"I am warning you, my Dao Companion is on his way! If you do not leave right now, you are dead meat when he gets here! He... he is eighty feet tall, and his waist is eighty feet wide too!"

"His eyes bulge like giant bronze bells, and his mouth is like a bloody cavern! He eats ten children for a single meal, and he specializes in eating bad guys like you!"

Qin Hao's figure had now fully materialized. The ferocious fanged mask on his face dealt another heavy blow to Xia Lingxi's already fragile psyche. Like an ostrich, she buried her head in her knees, not daring to spare him even a single glance.

Seeing how terrified she was, the corners of Qin Hao's mouth twitched. He subconsciously raised a hand to stroke his sharp, well-defined jawline.

"Eighty feet tall? Eighty feet wide? A bloody cavern for a mouth, and I eat children? Am I really that terrifying?"

Hearing his voice, Xia Lingxi's flailing arms froze in mid-air. Her amber eyes snapped up to look at the man who had suddenly appeared, and she asked tentatively.

"Are you... are you my rental Dao Companion?"

Qin Hao shrugged. "Who else? Aside from me, who would come to this godforsaken place?"

Upon receiving his confirmation, Xia Lingxi blanked out for a second. Then, all the fear and grievances she had accumulated over the past few days, combined with her recent humiliation, erupted all at once.

"Ahhh! So it is you! What took you so long?!" Xia Lingxi sprang up from the ground, her amber eyes wide and completely round. Having confirmed that Qin Hao was on her side, the terror that gripped her moments ago vanished, replaced entirely by her innate bratty temperament.

Shouting angrily, she stomped her feet and charged at him, swinging her small fists.

Watching Xia Lingxi charge at him like an angry kitten, a hint of helpless amusement flashed through Qin Hao's eyes. He lazily raised a hand and planted his palm firmly against her forehead.

Her forward momentum came to a screeching halt.

"Let me go!" With Qin Hao's hand bracing her forehead, Xia Lingxi was pinned in place. No matter how hard she pushed, she could not move forward even an inch.

Growing even more furious, she swung her arms wildly in the air, only to tragically realize...

She could not reach him!!!

Her short little arms flailed uselessly in the air, completely unable to even graze the hem of Qin Hao's clothes.

Seeing her exasperated yet utterly helpless display, Qin Hao could not hold back a teasing chuckle from behind his mask.

That chuckle completely blew Xia Lingxi's fuse.

"You are still laughing! Stop laughing! You liar! You slowpoke! Let go, let go of me!!!"

After struggling for quite a while, Xia Lingxi realized her efforts were entirely in vain. Exhausted, she finally stopped.

She squatted on the ground and remained silent for a long time before finally choking out a single sentence.

"You... you are a bully!"

Qin Hao gave a helpless smile. "I just got here, and you attacked me without a second thought. How am I the bully here?"

"You just are! I contacted you three days ago, so why did you only show up now? Do you have any idea what I have been through these past three days?"

Qin Hao cast a nonchalant glance at her before letting out a defeated sigh.

"Alright, alright, my mistake. Now, can you tell me exactly what kind of trouble you have run into?"

At the mention of serious matters, the humiliation and feigned bravado on Xia Lingxi's face mostly dissipated.

"I am hiding here because someone is trying to assassinate me. Originally, my royal brother, the Crown Prince, and I came to the Demonic Beast Forest for experiential training. Out of nowhere, a group of men in black ambushed us."

"My royal brother fought desperately to protect me. After hiding me in this cave, he went off alone to lure away our pursuers."

"I wanted to go find reinforcements, but there is a demonic beehive right outside this cave! The leading Queen Bee is at the Nascent Soul realm, and every single worker bee under her command is close to the Golden Core realm."

"I am only at the Golden Core realm myself. What is worse, they have claimed this entire area as their temporary nesting ground. I cannot get out at all. I have only survived by hiding in this cave, relying on a high-tier Qi-Concealing Talisman."

"Then, I found this jade pendant inside the cave. It said that a rental Dao Companion could help me solve any problem..."

At this point, Xia Lingxi raised her head, her tear-glistening eyes looking at Qin Hao with a mixture of hope and uncertainty.

"Can you really help me? Those Red-tailed Poison Bees are extremely troublesome. There are so many of them, and the Queen Bee is at the Nascent Soul realm. Are you... are you really up to it?"

From behind his mask, Qin Hao let out a soft scoff. He then reached out and flicked Xia Lingxi right on the forehead.

"Never question whether a man is up to it or not."

Xia Lingxi clutched her forehead, her face scrunching up in pain.

"I can sense that you are not even as old as I am! You are what, eighteen or nineteen? I am already twenty, and I am only at the Golden Core realm. Can you really handle a Nascent Soul realm beast? Or do you just have some incredible escape technique?"

Relying on the extraordinary perception granted by her Seven-Orifice Exquisite Heart, Xia Lingxi had probed him and discovered that Qin Hao was actually younger than her. This naturally made her highly skeptical of his strength.

Qin Hao did not bother to argue. When faced with doubt, one should simply let their strength do the talking.

With a casual wave of his palm, Qin Hao blasted away all the boulders blocking the cave entrance.

This action completely horrified Xia Lingxi, and she immediately ducked behind him.

"Ah! What are you doing?! You are going to draw all those Red-tailed Poison Bees right to us!!!"

Sure enough, the moment her words faded, hundreds of venomous bees heard the commotion and immediately swarmed toward their location.

These venomous bees were nothing like the little honeybees from Earth in Qin Hao's previous life. Every single Red-tailed Poison Bee was the size of a compact car, radiating the oppressive aura of the Golden Core realm. The sight of a massive, dark swarm of hundreds of them bearing down was enough to send shivers down anyone's spine.

Seeing this terrifying lineup, Xia Lingxi's legs trembled uncontrollably as she frantically urged him.

"Hurry up and activate your escape technique! Get us out of here!"

"Escape? I was planning on slaughtering our way out!"

Qin Hao's words sent a violent shudder through Xia Lingxi's entire body.

"We're doomed! If you want to brag, don't drag me into it! I can't even handle a single one of these venomous bees!"

"Ugh, if I had known it would turn out like this, I never would have rented you as a Dao Companion!"