Little Purple

"..."

Now, let's all take a long breath.

"Aaaaaaaaa..."

"Noooooooo...."

"Hiiiiiiii..."

Everybody has a different way of screaming.

The huge snake caught them naked and off guard. They screamed in extreme terror, causing the sleeping birds to startle. Even Fei Ying, who was guarding the campsite, awoke by these screams.

"Quick! Take offensive and defensive measures." Hu Cheng Se reached below to the spring bottom, took a rock, and threw it at the snake. The rock hit the snake but this only served to make him mad, and he started to enter the spring. "Change of plans! Run!"

"What? Wait, where to? Where are you, Second Sister?"

The spring's air was too hot for Hu Zi to be able to sense anything clearly. She stood up but didn't know which direction to run to. Hu Cheng Se hurriedly took her hand and led her out of the spring.

Qing Guang grabbed her bow, notched an arrow, took aim, and released the string.

In an instant, the snake head was pierced, and it laid there, limp and dead. After confirming its death, Cheng Se pushed it aside. Snake skin makes good money after all.

Humph! See how we will skin you.

"Our screams earlier were really loud. Do you think that the boys heard?" Hu Cheng Se asked the other two.

"Going by their personalities and abilities, if they heard it, they would have definitely arrived sometime earlier," said Qing Guang.

"Yeah, I guess. Hu Ye and Qing Bo are quite protective, after all," said Cheng Se. "But if they did come, they would see us half naked. Things'll be messy."

Even though she couldn't see anything and could only feel a tiny presence, Hu Zi took a slight glance at the bushes on the western side of the hot spring.

"Sis, what would happen if they saw us half naked? Why would it get messy?"

"Ah, that's because most of the time, according to an unwritten law, if one happens to see, then he and the girl have to get ma—"

"Males who dare to taint an innocent maiden with their lecherous stares are going to have their thing cut off and burned in a celestial fire." Qing Guang interrupted and answered the young lady's question with the vigor and spirit of a young maiden.

"Eh..." Cheng Se was speechless at the nonsense in Guang's answer.

-----

At the same time, in the western side bushes...

"Cut down and burned." The three males shook in terror. They swore they would bring this secret to their grave.

-----

Recalling what happen a few mistakes ago...

After hearing the ladies scream, the boys, who were also taking a quick bath on the riverside located to the west of the hot spring, came.

Upon realizing the awkward situation they were in and after finding the object of terror being casually trashed aside, they went to turn back but lost the chance to. If they crawled and made a move now, the girls would realize. So that's why they waited and happened to hear their conversation.

Finished recalling...

-----

When the girls went to the other side to get their change of clothes, they boys snuck back to the campsite.

Though they just took a bath, they immediately went back to having dark faces.

The boys were now surrounding the campfire, contemplating. Hu Ye was a minor and was still innocent, whereas both Shou and Qing Bo were used to having a hard life. They had great self-control; something like seeing a naked little girl wouldn't make them feel flustered.

But why was the image that they saw, though it was only a hazy glimpse, unable to leave their minds?

Can't blame them, if a normal man saw the same view, they might've gone crazy and obsessed. Those three's beauty was not normal!

"I am not a loli, not a loli. I'm a grown up, healthy minded man!" said Master Shou to himself.

The girls came back and saw the boys' sorry figures.

"What is wrong with them?" Hu Cheng Se asked.

"I don't know." Qing Guang replied. "Maybe it is because of the river water being too cold."

"Oh, should I boil some water for them to drink?" Hu Cheng Se suggested. "That will help their body regain the heat."

"Sure, I will help you."

"..." Hu Zi, who heard Hu Cheng Se and Qing Guang's conversation, kept quiet and secretly smiled mischievously.

"Third Sister Zi, come here." Hu Cheng Se called. "Take this cup of water."

"Okay."

The cup of water Hu Zi took had a leaf inside. She looked at the cup and then at the campfire, getting an idea. She formed a small ball of flowing wind on the tip of her index finger and moved it to the cup of water. The constantly flowing air didn't break and managed to protect the leaf inside it from the surrounding water.

Then she made another ball of wind with the same leaf inside and moved it to the campfire. Almost immediately, the wind ball dissipated, the leaf inside it burning; the fire momentarily became bigger. Shocked, Hu Zi stopped.

Master Shou, after seeing Hu Zi's experiment, smiled meaningfully and created a similar wind ball of his own and encased it around a leaf. When the fire suddenly grew bigger, the others stopped their activity and watched the two wind users with interest.

Master Shou flew his wind ball toward the fire, but before that, he used the wind to lift the water and blend them together to form a ball of mist. It was a technique similar to what they used earlier when transfering energy to another person in order to effectively heal them. The only difference was that the wind carried water, not energy.

Shou slowly moved the ball of mist to the fire, and unlike Hu Zi's ball, which dissipated as soon it touched the fire, Shou's ball continued intact. But as soon as the watery mist evaporated, the ball of wind dissipated.

Hu Zi concentrated and took it all in her through her senses. Amused, she tugged Shou's sleeve, urging the usual brief explanation.

"Fire is our natural enemy." Shou patted Hu Zi's head. "Unlike any other element, it is an element that can disperse and spread easily, and if we bring wind to the fire, it will only further spread."

Shou held Hu Zi's shoulder. "Hu Zi, if you encounter a hostile fire wielder, run! Hot air will only blur your air sensory and trap you. You need to run before you are surrounded by those flames."

Hu Zi knew her master was very serious. She nodded, making sure to note today's lesson in her head.

All of a sudden, Hu Cheng Se spoke.