Chapter 779: Leaving Without A Prize
The moment Bai Yunfei and the others stepped out from the mist, their feet drew forward in expectancy of climbing up. But instead of that, their feet met with air! Without a foothold, the group fell down to the ground!
In front of them was a large expanse of the flat ground, and behind them, the very same mountain they had been trying to scale….
They weren’t at the top of the mountain, they were at the bottom where the entrance to the mist was!
After walking several hours and winding several twists and turns, they were pushed back to their starting point!
“What’s going on….?”
Now that everyone was back on their feet and able to see what was around them, they were in shock at what they were seeing. “We were…walking ‘up’ the mountain the entire time, weren’t we? Why are we….”
When they were in the mist, the group could at the very least confirm that they were traveling up by the incline of the ground beneath them. There is a stark difference in the sensation of walking ‘up’ or ‘down’ a mountain, and everyone could tell that they were walking the former.
It was when they reached the point beyond the fog and near the ‘top’ when everyone was assaulted by the strange bout of dizziness and realized they were at the bottom of the mountain again. And not only that, they had been walking downwards as well…
“Changing the direction of gravity….we’ve been tricked by the array!” Bai Yunfei realized after taking a moment to think about it. “I’ve battled with a soulbeast who could do something similar to this. Not only can that mist hinder visibility and soulsense, but it can also change how we feel gravity! The array made it so we couldn’t tell if we were going up or down the mountain….”
“Seriously?! No way!?” Jing Mingfeng howled in vexation, “Isn’t that crazy?! Who’d be able to make it to the top then!?”
“Ugh…doesn’t seem like we’ll be able to figure out how to get the Extreme King Pills in a short amount of time…” Bai Yunfei sighed. “We all must be tired after walking for so long in the mist? Let’s take a break for now and think about what to do next.”
Dismayed, everyone walked away from the entrance to the mist with some giving one last look at it. With a sigh and shake of the head, they turned away.
“Hm? This isn’t where we came up the mountain from!” Jing Mingfeng spoke out after several steps, “I remember there being a giant tree nearby, where is it?!”
Bai Yunfei looked around the area. He didn’t seem as surprised as Jing Mingfeng. “We’re probably on the other side of the mountain. With all that misdirection and transportation going on, we must’ve walked to the other side of the mountain instead.
“Should we go back to the other side and group up with the other party then?” Yue Feng asked.
“We don’t know how they’re doing, but it’s probably not any different than what we learned. It’d be a little bit pointless to go back….” Bai Yunfei said, “We’re here now anyway, they’ll probably be transported elsewhere and won’t go back to their original point. And with how large this mountain is, it’d be hard to find them…forget it, let’s stay here for now.”
By the base of the mountain further down were a few others—roughly twenty or so people with several in groups. Like Bai Yunfei’s group, these people had also tried their hand in trying to scale the mountain but were unable to do so.
Nangong Yuexia’s eyes lit up when she saw something from the corners of her eyes. Excitement filled her person before she pointed out at a person standing not too far away, “Senior Yu Li!!”
“What?! Where!?” Yue Feng was the first to respond.
He followed Nangong Yuexia’s pointing to the group in front, “It really is her!”
Surprised, Bai Yunfei and the other two with him looked as well. Just about several hundred meters away from the mountain, a woman in light green robes could be seen. She had long hair that reached to her waist like a miniature waterfall that swayed a bit from left to right whenever she moved. But the truly ‘breathtaking’ sight for the males was her physical stature.
But she wasn’t alone. By her side was four other males who seemed to be talking to her about something. They were also starting to spread out in a way that made it seem like they were trying to prevent her from escaping.
“Is it trouble?” Zheng Kai asked.
Yue Feng’s eyebrows furrowed together. Without even a word, he flew straight towards Yu Li with Nangong Yuexia in close pursuit.
“We should follow them.” Bai Yunfei spoke to Jing Mingfeng and Zheng Kai before the three took off to follow.
Having five people rush towards the same destination was something that caught the eyes of many people there, including the four males trying to surround Yu Li. By the time Yue Feng was down the mountain and just two hundred meters away, the group of four was already heading away from Yu Li, clearly intimidated by the group’s coming.
When she saw both Yue Feng and Nangong Yuexia, Yu Li’s eyes lit up with joy. Since those four males were gone, she could freely walk up to meet the two.
There was a swishing sound as Yue Feng came to a sudden stop in front of Yu Li, “Yu Li, are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” She smiled.
Yue Feng looked at the four men now several hundred meters away from them. “Who were they? Were they trying to do something to you?” A dangerous glint shined in his eyes.
Yu Li glanced over to the four for a brief moment. “Just a couple of wandering soul cultivators. They saw I was by myself and wanted me to go with them. I refused, but they kept insisting. You were coming over just as I was refusing them….”
“Senior!!”
Nangong Yuexia flew forward then to tackle the woman into her arms, “You’re finally here! We’ve been looking for so long!”
Yu Li let a sigh of relief at the sight of Nangong Yuexia. “I was looking for you too. It makes me glad to see you safe and sound…”
She turned to look at Bai Yunfei and the other two males by Yue Feng’s side, “And these are…?”
“Ah, they’re some friends I met along the way.”
Yue Feng waved at the three, “This is Yu Li, the senior of Yuexia.”
It was only now that they were up close Bai Yunfei was able to see what Yu Li looked like, and he was pleasantly surprised to see her.
She was a beautiful young woman with tender white skin tones. Her entire person, demeanor or physique, was graceful and lithe with the right amount of curves in the right amount of places. There was a small red mole just above her left eyebrow, but that only added to her appeal.
Yu Li looked surprised when Yue Feng mentioned Bai Yunfei’s name, “Bai Yunfei? Might he be the same Bai Yunfei from the Crafting School?”
“The very same.” Yue Feng nodded.
“Hey Ol’Bai,” Jing Mingfeng nudged him, “You’ve become quite famous. Everyone seems to know you. I’m even more handsome than you but everyone seems to gravitate towards you.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Zheng Kai nodded enviously.
“.......”
“Let’s find a place to sit down and rest, we can talk then.” Yue Feng pointed to a nearby patch of grass with relative distance from the other soul cultivators here.
The group walked on over to the area and were preparing to sit down when Zheng Kai suddenly pulled a decently-sized jade table out from his space ring. Out came enough seats for everyone there before he started to place fruits and other foodstuffs onto the table. “Nearly forgot about this stuff,” he gestured for everyone to sit, “please sit down, we can talk while we eat and drink.”
His thoughtfulness was surprising to see, but everyone had a grateful look in their eyes as they sat down.
Zheng Kai smiled. “Hehe….it’s something I normally use anyhow….Yunfei, start a fire and boil some tea will you…”
“.......”
While Bai Yunfei sought to boil the tea, Yu Li raised her head to look at the mountain. “How long have you been here, Yue Feng? Did you come down from the mountain?”
Yue Feng nodded. “We arrived just half a day ago and decided to go up the mountain.”
“Did you make it to the top? Were the Extreme King Pills there?”
“The Extreme King Pills are probably up there, but no one’s been able to get to the top because…”
He explained the situation about the mist and mountain succinctly to Yu Li.
“We don’t have a clue right now how to get to the top of the mountain. Maybe if we try a few more times, we’ll find something or some way to bypass the array.”
“What do you plan to do next time then?”
“We….we’re not sure yet.” Yue Feng shot a glance to Bai Yunfei at that.
Bai Yunfei, in turn, looked to Zheng Kai, “Ah’Kai, have you any clues about the mist or barrier?”
He was responded with a shake of the head.
“I think I have a rough outline on the details, but it’s rough as I said. There’s not much information to go on. We’d have to try several more times before I can get a better idea on how the spatial energy is fluctuating before I learn anything new…”
“Well let’s take a rest for now then. We can keep investigating later.” Bai Yunfei nodded.
The conversation soon veered off into a more general and broad range of topics. Each person talked about what they had come across when they came into the pocket.
And when the mood was finally very comfortable and happy…
“Ah!!”
A scream was coming from the mountain!