Chapter 421: Forest
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
By what the girl originally thought of, Su Ming should have blasted all the weird trees in the forest all along the way and used the fastest way to walk out of the forest.
This was why his current actions were causing confusion in her heart.
Each and every step Su Ming took was made with extreme caution. Most of the time, he would walk in the spots where the trees were not dense. By doing so, their speed became significantly slower.
The girl did not dare speak, but she was starting to become dubious of Su Ming’s power in her heart. Nonetheless, the red-haired Su Min had left a very deep impression within her. That was why even though she was skeptical, she still believed that her patriarch’s choice was right.
After they had walked for a full day in the forest, several long arcs charged past in the sky, and they came with an astonishing momentum. Wherever they went, the layers of clouds would look as if they were ripped apart. There were five people in those long arcs.
Four among those five people were teenagers, and the one other person was right in front, leading them. He was an incredibly handsome middle-aged man. His expression was as cold as ice, and his whole entire being exuded power. When they passed over the strange forest, that person cast a look downwards, as if he saw Su Ming and the two youths. Once he swept his gaze over them, he chose to ignore them, rushing past the area with the four teenagers behind him.
When the girl saw all of this, she became agitated. She cast Su Ming a glance, and after a long moment of hesitation, still chose to remain silent.
The boy, however, felt completely different from the girl. To him, this was great. They could avoid as much trouble as possible this way, and when he saw the five people flying in the sky, he thought that they were a little too flashy. In the danger filled World of Nine Yin, flying in such a flashy manner was not a good thing.
When the three of them spent their first night in the forest, nine moons appeared in the sky for them. Su Ming’s pupils shrank the moment he saw the nine moons shining above him.
The nine moons shone with a gentle light that scattered on the ground, causing the earth to shine in a glittery light, which also made the sky look much gentler. The layers of clouds seemed to have scattered themselves during the night.
"Rest!" Su Ming came to a halt at a place where there were not many strange trees in the area. He spoke in a calm voice, and once he said his piece, he sat down cross-legged on the ground, then averted his gaze from the moons in the sky and closed his eyes to meditate.
The girl felt that she was being forced into stopping and could do nothing about it. She felt that they should keep moving and head to Shaman City as quickly as possible. In fact, it was to her belief that they should be flying, not walking in the forest. If they continued walking like this, then it was completely unknown just how long they would need to take to cross those three hundred lis.
"Lan Lan, do you want to drink?" Just as the girl was feeling as if she was being forced against her own will, the boy moved to her side and brought out a water skin for her.
The girl took the water skin, and after she took a sip, she asked softly, "Ahu, if we continue walking like this, how long do you think it’ll take for us to reach Shaman City?"
"I think… it doesn’t matter how long it’ll take for us. As long as we can ensure our own safety, it’ll be okay." The boy called Ahu scratched his head and answered with a smile.
"Safe. That’s the only thing you think about all the time. You’re always like this in the tribe. This is called being cowardly, get it? Besides, I don’t think it’s safe for us to walk on the ground, it’s only safe if we travel in the sky. We’d be able to leave this weird forest sooner then…" The girl glared at him, displeased. Clearly, she was venting all her frustrations during the day on the boy.
The boy mumbled a few words under his breath and did not dare speak more. It was clear that he was afraid of the girl. After some time, he brought out some food from his bosom and placed them before the girl.
"Eat! That’s the only thing you know how to do!" The girl nagged him a little more, and when she saw his expression, she rolled her eyes, then ignored him.
Su Ming might have seemed calm as he sat there, but in truth, he remained vigilant. He had spread out some of his divine sense in the area during the day and found that the weird forest completely covered an area of one hundred lis.
In fact, he had a faint feeling that as he walked through this place, there were countless pair of eyes watching them. However, compared to the number of invisible gazes on him, Su Ming noticed that there were even more such gazes within the dark clouds in the sky.
In fact, when Su Ming swept his divine sense through the area, he had felt slight a twinge of surprise in him, which was why he did not choose to fly, especially when he saw the five people flying past in midair during the day. He had immediately sensed all those invisible gazes locking onto the five people with greed, and it made Su Ming completely give up on the idea of flying in the sky.
Even if the path he took in the mountain forest did not reveal anything, this particular trail was only chosen after he had spread out his divine sense and found that it was the road with the least amount of gazes focused on him.
Only by doing so did he feel marginally safer.
However, the boy and girl clearly did not know about this. Su Ming had seen the girl’s disgruntlement at being forced to walk on the ground and her thoughts but did not find the need to explain anything.
As he remained seated, Su Ming opened his eyes to a slit, and looked at the nine moons in the sky once again. A glint appeared in his eyes.
‘Nine moons… I wonder what would happen… if I cast the Fire Berserkers’ Art here and executed the burning of blood…’ Su Ming did not act recklessly. That thought only flashed by in his head before it disappeared without a trace.
The night went by without a single word exchanged between them. When morning arrived, Su Ming stood up and continued moving forward with the boy and girl. The path they took that day was even more incomprehensible to the girl, because there were several times where they looked as if they were just going round in circles. The only thing that was similar was that there were fewer trees in the area they traveled through. In fact, there were even certain places where there were absolutely none of those strange trees around.
If she had nothing to compare, perhaps the girl would have endured it, but when dusk almost arrived on the second day, they heard a violent bang from the distance.
When they heard that bang coming towards them, Su Ming stopped and turned around to look. His gaze pierced through the forest, and he saw a half-naked man walking one thousand feet away from him with a savage laugh. There was a gigantic battle axe in his right hand, and wherever he went, the trees would be shattered, leaving behind a large amount of green liquid.
There were two boys following behind that man, and their faces were lit in excitement. They followed closely behind, stepping on that green liquid and passing through the area quickly.
There was a girl sitting on the man’s shoulders. The girl also looked to be about fifteen to sixteen years of age. She swung her legs about, looking incredibly smug.
When Su Ming and the two youths looked towards them, both parties could still see each other even though the trees were blocking them and there were one thousand feet between them.
The girl sitting on the man’s shoulders chuckled and asked them, "Hey, you there, which tribe are you from? We came from Tranquil Field Tribe. Where did you come from?"
Lan Lan stared at the girl sitting on the man’s shoulders with non-malicious envy. The presence spreading out from the man made it clear that he was a Medial Battle Shaman. When she saw the strange trees shattering under the man’s axe and the group of people moving forward with a speed much faster than theirs, her displeasure towards Su Ming grew stronger.
"We’re from White Bull Tribe. I’m Lan Lan," the girl immediately said. Su Ming frowned, and the boy went forward to tug at Lan Lan’s sleeves.
"The patriarch told us not to get into too much contact with the other tribes before we complete our journey and become Soul Catchers…" Ahu whispered to her.
"White Bull Tribe? I never heard of it before. It must be a small tribe. The path you take is rather remote. Could it be that you’re afraid of these trees? How about this? I’ll allow you to walk behind us." The girl sitting on the man’s shoulders smiled, and her tone contained a slightly arrogant quality to it.
Once she finished speaking, without waiting for Lan Lan’s reply, the girl swiftly left with the man and the two boys behind him as the man continued opening the path. One of the two boys turned back to cast a glance at Su Ming and the two youths when they were far into the distance, and there was slight disdain on his face.
"Let’s go." Su Ming remained as calm as ever. He averted his gaze, then turned around to continue walking down the path his divine sense had perceived.
During that instant, he could strongly sense those invisible gazes in the forest instantly focusing on the man. His existence was like a ball of fire in the dark, attracting all manner of darkness towards it.
"But… But why do we still have to walk through this place? They already opened the path there! Why can’t we take that path?!" Lan Lan could no longer hold her frustration in after having endured for two days.
"And everyone is flying in the sky, and they’re traveling really quickly! Even if we don’t fly in the sky, we can charge through the forest. We can get out of this stupid forest faster that way and arrive at Shaman City earlier too. If we’re earlier, we can also attract other people’s attention. This will be good for White Bull Tribe!"
The girl rambled off, and when she spoke, Su Ming acted as if he did not hear her. He did not even turn his head back, and there was not a hint of change in his expression as he continued walking forward.
There was a torn look on the boy’s face as he looked at Su Ming walking in the distance, then at Lan Lan.
"Lan Lan, the patriarch chose him to protect us. I think… the senior definitely has his own reasons for his choice…"
"Shut up!" The girl was originally annoyed that Su Ming ignored her, and was directing all her anger at the boy.
He mumbled a few sounds under his breath again and simply let the girl vent her frustrations as he continued trying to console her. Eventually, in the midst of all her disgruntlement, she chased after Su Ming with the boy.
Four days passed by in the blink of an eye. During those four days, the girl saw several people flying in the sky once more, and she had already become skeptical of Su Ming’s power.
However, she did not notice that several big trees in the path they took the day previously had faces protruding out of their tree barks, and all of them looked as if they were suffering. However, it was difficult for her to see those faces at first glance as they were all the same color as the tree bark. She would simply think that those were the lines on the tree bark itself.
If she had looked closely, she would have found that those faces belonged to a man, a girl, and two boys...