Chapter 27: Forest Gap, Forest Thing
As Qing Menger lifted her head, she saw the countless black figures fluttering towards her, causing her to quickly turn pale in terror.
“Quick, retract your Flame Bird.” Chu Mu said.
Qing Menger quickly jumped down, and retracted her Flame Bird again.
“Get on.” Chu Mu leaped onto Mo Xie’s back and said to Qing Menger.
Feeling the waves of cold air assaulting her from above, she didn’t dare to hesitate, and she hurriedly jumped onto Mo Xie’s back.
“Wuwu!!!” Mo Xie seemed not to like anyone else sitting on her, as she let out sounds of discontent.
“She is also here to help us, just bear with it for a moment.” Chu Mu rubbed Mo Xie’s ear and placated Mo Xie.
Mo Xie was also simply doing it for show. Realizing that the dozens of wing type soul pets had already flown towards them and started a huge gust of wind, Mo Xie started striding. Her flaming paws quickly stepped through the black forest; she disappeared into the grim night scene…...
“Miss!!” Old Teng was stunned. Watching the kid “kidnap” Qing Menger, he didn’t know what to do. After all, he didn’t have a wing type soul pet.
“Don’t shout, you’ll awaken those guys!” Chu Ning immediately shot a stare at Old Teng.
“Yi!! Yi!!”
Yet, just as Chu Ning finished, a shrill sound came from under the cliff. Following the noise were distinct waves of wind that blew through like daggers.
“Now they’re in trouble. Let’s leave here first, and then look for them Gangluo City’s western forest. Staying here would only be more dangerous.” An old counselor of the Chu Family said.
“How can that work? The missus is still down there.” Old Teng said anxiously. If anything happened to Qing Menger, Old Teng wouldn’t be exempt either.
“We can’t even go down from here. Go back to Gangluo City. There, we can unite both of our clans to find them within the forest gap.” Chu Ning said while still somewhat maintaining his calm.
Chu Ning was very careful. He didn’t just say that Mister Chu was Chu Mu. After all, he just managed to come back alive. Chu Ning believed that Qing Menger wouldn’t reveal it, but he didn’t trust this clan servant Old Teng that much.
“I guess that’s the only way. Let’s go to your city first.” Ting Yu couldn’t think of any other way. Now, all she could do was go to Gangluo City, and check if there are any Nightmare Palace bases and dispatch some Nightmare Palace experts to look for Chu Mu within this forest gap.
****
The shrill calls behind them slowly faded. Running madly, the speedy Mo Xie finally lost the big crowd of wing type soul pets.
“So close…...” Once they stopped to rest, Qing Menger also patted her plump chest and let out a breath.
“Cliffs like those are the heavens of wing type soul pets. Flying by with other wing type soul pets is the biggest taboo.” Chu Mu told Qing Menger.
“I…...I didn’t know…...” Qing Menger immediately blushed, saying slightly embarrassedly, “Sorry, I couldn’t help you and even brought you trouble.”
Chu Mu didn’t mind such little issues, especially when he remembered that Qing Menger seemed to be this silly since long ago.
“Do you know how to walk out of this forest?” Chu Mu asked.
“Uncle Teng said that the east side of this forest connects with the western forest of Gangluo City. If we walk east, we may be able to reach Gangluo City. However, I heard that there are many dangerous creatures within this forest gap, making it very treacherous.” Qing Menger said in a small voice.
“Then let’s head east.” Chu Mu said.
“Which way is east?” Qing Menger looked around, seeing nothing but the pitch black forest, unable to discern a direction.
“Just follow me.” Chu Mu survived for over a year in the deepest parts of Prison Island alone, which was much more complicated than the forest gap. How could a small forest gap cause him to lose his direction?
Qing Menger could only nod and follow Chu Mu. However, it seemed to be her first time advancing in a black forest, as she looked afraid.
“If you have any soul pet that can hide its aura, you can summon it. If not, then don’t summon anything, or else it will just bring us more trouble.” Chu Mu reminded Qing Menger.
Qing Menger was just about to summon her soul pet to alleviate the slowly invading fear, but after Chu Mu said that, she could only blink and get closer to Chu Mu.
“Just now your soul pet was an Evil Flamed Six Tail Demon Fox right? It was so speedy!” Qing Menger said lightly.
Li Nan had fought with Chu Ning before, so he didn’t have that much battling strength remaining. Qing Menger didn’t have any difficulty when dealing with him.
Qing Menger also paid attention to Chu Mu’s fighting, so she was also very astonished at the strength of his Ice Air Fairy. Yet now, Chu Mu summoned an Evil Flamed Six Tailed Demon Fox, which was even rarer than a Night Thunder Dream Beast, and it seemed just as scarily strong.
“En.” Chu Mu nodded but didn’t explain any further. He was only focused on walking forward in order to quickly leave this forest gap and return to Gangluo City.
Qing Menger was naturally talking to Chu Mu because she was afraid, yet Chu Mu didn’t seem like he liked to talk, as he put on a cold guise, making Qing Menger unhappily pout.
Qing Menger was born pretty, so there were always many young and handsome talented individuals around her. Qing Menger didn’t like their soliciting and flattering, but she also didn’t like to be totally ignored by a man that she was curious about.
Before, she was worried if it wasn’t too good to be alone with another man but, looking at it now, a good looking girl like her seemed to have no allure in front of this man.
One couldn’t blame Chu Mu for being insensitive though. Chu Mu wasn’t uninterested in Qing Menger. It was just the opposite. Because of some past memories, he quite liked this little sister, especially since she was a lithe and beautiful girl now.
Yet, Chu Mu’s personality was such. Even if beside him was the superior Princess Jin Rou, Chu Mu would still be his icy self. After all, he was used to being alone…...
After walking past midnight, Qing Menger was clearly tired, so Chu Mu stopped, giving the rest of his soul power to White Nightmare before starting to cultivate.
Chu Mu, in this entire process, was like a different person, almost ignoring Qing Menger’s presence. Yet, this made Qing Menger’s thoughts wander even more. Being a girl deep in a black forest, unable to summon her soul pet and having to rest under a tree, made her uneasy. She wanted to talk with this man, but he was like a statue, completely merging into the surrounding forest and night. There were many times when Qing Menger almost felt as if he didn’t exist.
Regardless of where Qing Menger’s thoughts wandered as to how to get through the night’s torment, the first rays of sun slowly peeked over the horizon, steadily lighting up this vast forest.
All living things were awakening. As the sunlight fell on her face, the half asleep Qing Menger opened her hazy eyes, her beautiful pupils still twinkling blurrily.
Opening their eyes, Qing Menger immediately saw a handsome yet somewhat detached face. Qing Menger subconsciously backed off a little…...
“These fruits can allay your hunger.” Chu Mu passed some fruits to Qing Menger and said lightly.
Qing Menger blinked and slowly took the delectable fruits. She took a small bite, yet her glistening eyes still stared at Chu Mu…...
“What’s wrong?” Seeing Qing Menger’s pitiful look, Chu Mu was completely baffled.
“Nothing…….nothing…… it tastes pretty good…...” Qing Menger shook her head and started nibbling the tasty fruit.
“Yesterday night you slept well, right? But next time don’t salivate on my shoulder anymore…...” Chu Mu said.
“Ah? I leaned on you when I slept…? I...I…...” Qing Menger instantly went red, as she panicked and almost dropped her fruit.
Chu Mu looked at her blankly. Glancing at the ashamed Qing Menger, then looking at little Mo Xie on his shoulder, he let out a questioning expression.
Little Mo Xie on Chu Mu’s shoulder lifted her little head and let out a few embarrassed “wu”s, acknowledging that she didn’t eat a midnight snack yesterday, so she salivated a little with hunger…...
Seeing the cute little fox on Chu Mu’s shoulder answering Chu Mu, Qing Menger immediately realized that Chu Mu was addressing his little pet and not her. Her beautiful face instantly reddened, lovely and tender, and she wished that she could find a hole and hide in it.
“Here’s the forest gap. I remember there are many Mo Ye’s living here. From what I’ve heard, the quality of the Mo Ye’s were also quite high. Maybe we could linger and capture a commander rank Mo Ye.” Chu Mu said.
Qing Menger specifically looked at Chu Mu again to see if he was talking to her. Making sure his eyes were on her, she then said, “It’s pretty dangerous here, if we meet any fierce soul pets…...”
“En, true, bringing you along is dangerous, then let’s forget about it.” Chu Mu nodded.
Chu Mu didn’t mind if he was by himself, because he knew how to avoid the stronger soul pets. But with Qing Menger, he would definitely be weighed down.
Qing Menger’s expression froze again, feeling secretly angry, “Why is this guy so annoying, either not talking with me, or talking to me and saying hurtful words. At least I’m a fourth remembrance spirit teacher…...”
With Qing Menger, Chu Mu didn’t plan on staying any longer, and planned on walking straight east to try to reach Gangluo City as soon as possible.
Walking for another day, they met a few soul pets on the way, but Chu Mu let his Night Thunder Dream Beast deal with them. His Night Thunder Dream Beast was at the fifth phase fifth stage right now, and Chu Mu wanted it to get to sixth phase as soon as possible, with growth only happening through constant battling.
“What’s wrong, why did you suddenly stop?” Qing Menger stopped and looked at Chu Mu, who stood before her, and asked.
“There should be a forest lake nearby.” Chu Mu said.
“Forest lake?” Qing Menger’s eyes brightened. If there was water, she could wash her face and take a bath. These two days of walking in the forest made her feel uncomfortable all over.
“Mo Ye’s also like to live in areas with lakes.” Chu Mu said.
“You want to capture a Mo Ye?” Qing Menger said.
Chu Mu shook his head, saying, “I have high standards for my soul pets. I won’t choose any soul pet in such little time; there’s simply not enough time for me to pick.”
“The forest winds that blow from this lake goes east. But, when we were walking over, the wind was northwards. The lake probably changed the direction of wind, meaning there may be some special soul item in the lake, causing normal wind to be unable to enter the lake and change its direction.” Chu Mu took a deep breath and smelled the forest.
Qing Menger opened her little mouth in surprise, watching Chu Mu with her pretty eyes.
She never would’ve thought that a person could deduct that an area had a soul item simply from an unexplained shift in wind!