I raised stunning young ladies, but they all wanted to possess me.

Chapter 484 Saying thank you isn't enough

"able."

Gu Yan gritted her teeth and replied, and the seven-colored light surged again, pinning a whole row of worms that were about to break through the left flank defense line to the spot.

The battle lasted for nearly three hours.

The Kuroshio Current's offensive was forcefully halted on the mudflats, and the remaining swarms of bone-eating insects began to retreat under the dual attack of the flood disaster and artillery fire.

The black tide slowly receded from the sea, leaving behind debris scattered across the mudflats and still-smoking bomb craters.

"They've repelled them."

The commander's voice came through the loudspeaker, hoarse and weary.

"We held on."

Gu Yan knelt on one knee on the ground.

His mental energy had been exhausted to the limit, and his vision was filled with double images.

But he still raised his head and looked in Pei Youyi's direction.

She was looking at him too, his dark outfit stained with blood and mud.

Her lips were moving, as if she were saying something, but Gu Yan's ears were filled with a buzzing sound, and she couldn't hear anything.

He smiled at her, then everything went black, and he collapsed on the battlefield.

When Gu Yan woke up, the first thing she saw was the swaying camp lamp on the top of the tent.

The sea breeze slipped in through the gaps in the curtains, causing the light to flicker and cast a shimmering patch of light in his field of vision.

His head felt heavy, as if it had been struck with a blunt object.

He moved his fingers and realized that there was an IV tube inserted into the back of his hand, with clear medicine dripping down.

He slowly turned his head and saw two people standing by the bed.

Pei Youyi stood on the left, her dark outfit still stained with mud and bloodstains that she hadn't had time to change. Her hair was loosely tied up with a jade hairpin, with a few strands hanging down beside her ears.

Chiyomiya Hanyu stood on the right, the hem of his plain white kimono damp with seawater, his pheasant sword still hanging at his waist, the dark red runes on the scabbard gleaming eerily under the lamplight.

"woke up."

Pei Youyi spoke first.

She bent down and gently touched Gu Yan's forehead with the back of her hand, then slid her hand down his cheek to the side of his neck to make sure his body temperature and pulse were stable before slowly straightening up.

"Your mental energy is severely depleted; you were unconscious for a whole day."

"The medical officer said we can't continue like this."

"Your life was given a hard time, you can't keep using it like this."

Gu Yan opened her mouth, her throat was so dry it hurt.

Chiyomiya Yuzuru took a glass of water from the side and fed it to him spoonful by spoonful.

He swallowed a few mouthfuls, and the burning sensation in his throat slowly subsided.

"Thanks."

He said in a hoarse voice.

"You're welcome."

Pei Youyi said.

"You should thank Ms. Yuzuru."

"After you fell on the front line, a calamity approaching SSS level appeared on the flank of the Black Tide."

"If it breaks through the left flank defense, the entire coastline will be torn apart."

"It was only because Miss Yuzuru went around to the rear and killed that calamity that we were able to withdraw our troops smoothly."

You should thank her properly.

Gu Yan turned her head to look at Chiyomiya Yusheng.

Her face was paler than usual, and there was still a trace of blood at the corner of her mouth, but her deep brown pupils remained calm and composed, as if she had just returned from a tea party, rather than having just killed a Calamity that was close to SSS-level.

"Hanyu, thank you."

"If it weren't for you, we might not have made it back this time."

Yuzuru placed the water glass on the bedside table and then sat down on the chair next to his bed.

She sat upright with her hands folded on her knees, but Gu Yan noticed that her fingers were trembling slightly.

That was the body's instinctive reaction after excessive consumption of spiritual energy.

She tilted her head slightly, looked at him, and a very faint smile curved her lips.

"Simply saying thank you isn't enough."

Her voice was still very soft, but every word carried a gentleness that only Gu Yan could understand.

"Mr. Gu, how did you reward Sister Youyi last night? Can you reward me today too?"

Gu Yan's hand, holding the water glass, froze in mid-air.

He glanced at Pei Youyi subconsciously.

Pei Youyi turned her head away and touched her lips very lightly with the back of her hand, a very faint blush rising to her ears.

She didn't say anything, but her gesture said it all.

"Last night... Sister Youyi and I just chatted under the lighthouse."

Gu Yan tried to explain, her voice dry and lifeless.

"We chatted."

Yuzuru repeated the three words, as if he were chewing on a very bland candy.

"The conversation turned to her lips."

"Mr. Gu, I am from Japan. Here we call this kissing, not chatting."

"Are you taking advantage of me because I don't understand the Great Xia language?"

Gu Yan almost choked on her water.

Pei Youyi coughed softly and turned around to pretend to tidy up the medicine tray.

Her ears were completely red, and even the sides of her neck were flushed a light pink.

"Yunyu, um... yesterday was a bit unusual."

"Sister Youyi wasn't in a good mood, so I sat with her for a while."

Gu Yan's voice grew softer and softer until she couldn't even listen to herself anymore.

Yuzuru saw his embarrassed look and the corners of his mouth curled up again.

She reached out and gently poked his forehead with her fingertips.

Her fingers were cold, like a small snowflake falling on her skin.

"I'm not in a good mood today either."

"Mr. Gu, would you like to keep me company?"

Pei Youyi turned around, holding an empty medicine bottle in her hand, her tone returning to its usual dignified and composed manner.

"Miss Yuzuru, if you want him to accompany you, you have to let him recover first."

"He just woke up, so don't make things difficult for him."

Yu Sheng raised his eyes to look at Pei Youyi, his tone still calm and unperturbed.

"Sister Youyi chatted with him at the lighthouse until so late yesterday, and he didn't seem to have any health problems."

"I was just asking for a small reward today, how is that making things difficult for him?"

Pei Youyi's eyelashes trembled slightly.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end she simply placed the empty medicine bottle in her hand into the tray with a very soft, crisp sound.

She knew she couldn't compete with this seemingly gentle but actually meticulous chief priestess.

Gu Yan lay on the hospital bed. To her left was Pei Youyi, who was holding a tray of medicine and trying her best to maintain her composure. To her right was Chiyomiya Yusheng, who sat upright with a gentle yet sharp gaze.

He felt he might be even more exhausted than when he was on the front lines of the Kuroshio Current.

"As for the reward... we'll talk about it after I've recovered."

He could only resort to delaying tactics.

Yuzuru tilted his head.

"Mr. Gu is trying to renege on his debt."

"I read in a book that you Chinese men love to use 'later' to brush off women."

"I never expected the Imperial Wall to be this kind of person."

Gu Yan felt like she was being firmly labeled.

He looked at Pei Youyi for help, but Pei Youyi had already walked to the tent entrance, lifted the curtain and peeked out.

She stopped moving, then turned around, the gentle smile on her face fading.

"Stop fooling around."

"People from the Great Xia have arrived."