Chapter 1214: 18.52 First Grey Star - White Fog
Chapter 1214: 18.52 First Grey Star - White Fog
As the restaurant was preparing to say goodbye to its final patron yesterday afternoon as the sun was setting, Ye Jieye's expression abruptly became icy and he turned to face the Death Forest. Mo Xuejing, who was standing next to him, saw the change in his countenance.
With a worried look on his face, Mo Xuejing asked, "Is something the matter?"
"Hm. Those guys broke through the borders of the middle and the core regions in the Death Forest," Ye Jieye said as he removed his apron tied to his waist.
Mo Xuejing was also aware of the peril at the borders of the Death Forest, which separate its middle and core regions. In fact, this area was well-known for the legend surrounding it, the trial of sins, which held that only those who successfully completed it would be permitted to enter the Death Forest's core region, and failure to do so would result in being lost in those borders.
There was a survivor who, according to rumors, failed the trial; he and his team arrived at the boundaries of the middle and core regions in the middle of the night, but by the time the survivors emerged, night had fallen, and they endured the agony of hell; ultimately, only one of them managed to survive and return to Numen Town, while the others were unable to escape the Death Forest alive.
Mo Xuejing asked, "The Trial of Sin? Does that really exist?"
"Hm. It wasn't much for me as I ignored it and walked through it without problems. After all, my desires, as long as I want them, I will take them away. You will be okay as well. Excluding our children, the problem is..." Ye Jieye said as he looked in the direction of the Death Forest with dull eyes.
Mo Xuejing understood what he was talking about and said, "It's Yuhan and the other three?"
"Hm. Though one of them might pass it without problems, the other three might have a hard time," Ye Jieye said.
After giving it some thought, Mo Xuejing removed his white apron and hung it on the wall with Ye Jieye's black one. Since the restaurant is always closed after the sun sets, no one comes in after this time.
"Should we pick them up?" Mo Xuejing asked.
Ye Jieye sighed, "There is no other choice. Since we are going there now, there is no need to go again tomorrow. Let's tell Gramps first before taking leave."
"Okay, I'll bring some gifts." Mo Xuejing went to the kitchen and brought some cooled desserts for the old man.
"Go pack a pot of rice and a pot of beef stew for their dinner as well," Ye Jieye said as he cleaned the restaurant.
The pair traveled to the Death Forest after stopping at the major's house. Old Mu was relieved to see this couple's strength and no longer worried about their entering the Death Forest at night. The mayor and Doctor Guang saw them out the gates.
Ye Jieye said, "We should be back before breakfast tomorrow."
"Good night, Grandpa Mu," Mo Xuejing said.
Heavenly Guardian Mu nods his head and says, "Be careful. Don't cause another Beast Stampede."
"Um, I'll be careful," Ye Jieye said, knowing that the possibility of it happening is high, as he most likely will end up fighting that thing.
The two entered the woodland, and immediately a defensive formation enveloped the entire Death woodland; this was obviously created by Ye Jieye, who seemed certain that the mere feel of his aura would start another stampede since the old man could not help but notice the formation.
Heavenly Guardian Mu mumbled, "Tsk. This troublesome brat!"
"Old man, that's beef stew in the pot, right? Let's go and eat dinner!" Doctor Guang said with a drool at the corner of his mouth while staring lovingly at the pot in his hands.
Old Mu snorted and said, "This glutton..."
---
Back in the middle region of the Death Forest. The situation before the sun had set.
Following lunch, the three groups united into one, and Lu Shang and Leica decided to use the remaining time to train the children because they would almost certainly be traveling with them to the Aurora Glaciers and it would be better to train them well in order to avoid having them become baggage on that hunt.
Just when the four of them finished the spartan training of Lu Shang, Ye Jingxia, who was riding on Oreo's back, squatted near Lu Ming and Mo Yuhan, who were boneless on the ground. They looked like fish out of water, twitching nonstop.
Poke. Poke.
Ye Jingxia was poking his uncles with his short but chubby pointer fingers as if playing. He looks bored, as he could run around with Lu Shang and Leica around them.
"Uncle Ming, Uncle Yuhan, play hide and seek with Xiao Jing!" Ye Jingxia said.
Lu Ming looked at his cute nephew with groggy eyes and said, "Darling, Uncle Ming is tired. Maybe later."
"Sweetie, Uncle Yuhan is also out of breath. Let me nap for a bit."
Ye Jingxia pouted upon hearing his uncle's responses. He didn't like what he heard, so he pulled out two pills from his space bracelet and forcefully fed them to his two uncles.
"Uncles eat candies, then play with Xiao Jing."
The two young men, who almost choked from the pill that entered their mouths and directly melted in their throats, sat up abruptly while coughing.
Choke! Cough. Cough. Cough.
Mo Yuhan wheezed, "I almost died. Cough! Sweetie, what did you feed Uncle?"
"Candy that gives strength. Daddy gave Xiao Jing a lot of candies," Ye Jingxia answered.
He had gotten those pills from Mo Xuejing as a snack; one of his hobbies was pill refinement, and he had prepared a variety of sweetened pills for his babies, including one with a milk flavor for Anxia, to ensure that they would have adequate nutrition even when playing outside.
Mo Yuhan, who knew about his cousin's talent with this kind of stuff, stared at Ye Jingxia with glowing eyes. He acted coquettish and said, "Sweetie, can you give Uncle Yuhan a bit more?"
Ye Jingxia frowned and asked, "Which one? I have one that gives strength. One that doesn't let me get hungry. One that makes me run faster. One that allows me to activate more spells. One that heals wounds and more.
I will only give Uncle one more. Which do you want?"
"How much is the candy that heals wounds?" Mo Yuhan asked.
Ye Jingxia brought out a bottle, poured it over his hands, and started counting. "One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Six." There are actually more than ten, but the boy is too lazy to count and said, "There's a lot, Uncle Yuhan! Xiao Jing gives you one. Give one to Uncle Ming. One for Big Brother Ji and one more for Big Brother Xiao Jin. No more!!"
After giving life-saving pills to the four big brothers, Ye Jingxia peeks at Leica and Lus Shang. "Do big uncles want candies too?"
"No, Young Lord. All is for Xiao Jing," Leica said.
Lu Shang said, "Don't give away anymore. You won't have any more candies if you give it all away."
"It's okay. Daddy gave me a lot of mini bottles," Ye Jingxia said
Lu Ming and the others were staring at the high-grade pill in their hand, which could fully heal any wounds and can almost be called an elixir.
He glanced at the giggling Mo Yuhan and whispered, "Is this that pill I know? The one that can only be redeemed with a few millions of points in the Hunter Auction House?"
"Yes, it's the real deal. Cousin rarely makes these pills as he doesn't really need them. But every time he needs money, he sells a few in the Auction House. It's the real deal. You can see the snowflake pattern on that bottle that holds the pill," Mo Yuhan said.
Su Jin swallowed. "If we sell it, can we have enough money to buy more equipment for the next hunt? If we don't use it in this danger zone, I will save it for money."
"Okay, but don't hesitate to eat it if you are badly injured, okay?" Lu Ming said.
Su Jin nods his head in agreement. "I know. I won't save it if something happens."
Ji Yoonjun hid his pill and said, "Since we accepted it, meaning we can only play with the Young Lord, you can't decline this time."
"Isn't it only playing hide and seek? This brother is good at seeking! Xiao Jing, go hide. But you can't go too far away," Lu Ming said.
Ye Jingxia grins and excitedly pats Oreo. "Okay, Uncle Ming, Xiao Jing promises not to go far. Oreo, let's go hide."
Woof!
The two run off into the forest under everyone's eyes. Lu Ming looked at the others who were still standing around and said, "What are you guys doing? You should hide too."
After all, all of them—aside from Lu Shang and Leica, who are tending to the sleeping princess—went into the forest to hide, leaving only the Oni, Lu Ming, who was counting to one hundred, facing the wall. His voice echoes throughout the forest, ensuring that everyone, especially Ye Jingxia, can hear it.
It appears that Lu Shang agreed to play with Ye Jingxia as long as she asked to, and as for System Yue and System Yang, they came to pursue their Young Lord since their princess would be safe under the watchful eyes of the two wardens.
Lu Ming was still counting and was about to reach a hundred. "95, 96, 97, 98, 99... 100! I'm going to look for you guys now~"
The couple behaved so childishly at this playful moment; Mo Yuhan hid somewhere far from them as he was chasing after Ye Jingxia and Oreo, but he still kept a distance; Ji Yoonjun stood at the peak of a tree, watching over the area from a top-view perspective. Su Jin was the first to be caught, and he only hid behind the bushes like a little kid. Lu Ming jumped on him for an embrace.
The place they selected is somewhere blanketed in dense fog; at this time, the fog is harmless, and it was not thick enough to allow others to see each other from a distance. Ye Jingxia, who was hiding behind a giant stone with Oreo.
"Oreo, do you think Uncle Ming can find us here?" Ye Jingxia whispered to his dog.
aroo~
Oreo shook its head human-like and whined softly as if answering his master's question with a low voice as well. He knew that they were hiding from Lu Ming. Giggling, Ye Jingxia laughed, saw his Uncle Yuhan nearby, and waved his hands when all of a sudden the fog around them thickened and he could no longer see each other.
"Ah, Uncle Yuhan is gone. What should we do, Oreo?" Ye Jingxia asked.
Growls~
With his eyes narrowed like a Phoenix, and his black iris glinting with red, Ye Jingxia saw Oreo lunge away, trying to escape the white fog that wanted to eat them. Then, he heard Oreo growling at something and felt like he was pushed over and landed on top of Oreo. Ye Jingxia's expression turned cold, resembling the expression of a furious Hei Anjing.
"This white mist is a bad thing," Ye Jingxia said, pulling a wind scroll from his space bracelet provided to him by his Uncle Lou as a toy. Opening it up would create a strong breeze, pushing everything in front away.
Ye Jingxia said, "Wind. Wind. Blast this white mist away!"
WHOOOSHED~
A strong breeze freed Ye Jingxia and Oreo from the white mist. They successfully escaped from the coverage of the mist that took Mo Yuhan away.
"Go, Oreo. Find Uncle Lou and Uncle Yun!" Ye Jingxia commanded his dog, Oreo, who increased its running speed to leave the white mist completely.
The white mist as if it had its own intelligence backs away. The strong breeze just now showed him that this little boy isn't someone he can touch. It pulls away and no longer chases after Ye Jingxia.
A few moments ago, Mo Yuhan's perspective...
Behind a tall bush, Mo Yuhan was lying on his stomach when he saw Ye Jingxia and his dog behind a huge rock.
"That's Xiao Jing and his dog. So cute~ did they thing they wouldn't be seen behind the rock?" Mo Yuhan mumbles.
He even saw him wave at him and crawl in that direction, but something pulled his foot away, and he was unable to scream, and the last thing he saw before he passed out was Ye Jingxia waving his hand at him and a dense white fog that obscured his vision.
"What the..."