Volume 9: Chapter 12 - Flying Ahead
I told Zhan Hu, “Big brother, I’ll be the first one to bring this fellow along.”
Zhan Hu nodded. “Everyone just has to take turns. If we don’t bring a person along, everyone can fly for an hour without much problems, and if we’re to bring someone, we should be able to fly for 20 minutes. How about this? Every ten minutes, we’ll change the person that carries him. We should be able to fly continuously for 40 minutes that way. It can be counted as a day’s journey at our current pace every time we fly.”
I pulled Su He over to my side and told him, “If you don’t want to fall to your death, don’t flail about.” Upon saying that, I carried him under my arms before I surged my magic powers outwards. ‘Sou!’ I lept into the sky while carrying him. Su He was so scared that he yelled out in fright.
I said, “Stop shouting! If you’re afraid, just close your eyes.”
Zhan Hu and the rest lept into the sky, surrounding me so that I found myself in the center.
The burden of carrying a person as we flew was really great. After ten minutes, I passed Su He to Zhan Hu. Everyone took turns to carry him in that manner. We had flown five times in a day; the duration of each flight was about an hour.
Su He dazedly sat in a corner with a pale complexion when night arrived. He wasn’t able to take in any food, even the ones that he loved. As I saw his looks, I felt a little bad for him. I walked over to his side and said, “You just have to endure it for a little while more. After two days, we should be at the border of the demon race. You can be reassured that when the time is right, we’ll definitely set you free.”
Su He nodded. “I thank you for that and I’m hungry now.”
I chuckled as I tossed him a piece of a single eyed demon beast. “That’s more like it!”
When it was time to fly again the next day, Su He was slightly more accustomed to flying and gradually came to like it. We had reached a small forest about 300km away from the border of the demon race after travelling for two days. There wouldn’t be any mountain forest to hide our tracks if we were to head any further. Zhan Hu and I had decided to stay at our position for a while before heading on. No matter how slow we moved, we would be able to reach the border in three days time.
As I lay on my quickly made bed of withered grass, I looked up at the stars in the sky. Mu Zi’s beautiful complexion appeared before me. ‘Mu Zi, I’m coming. I don’t know how you’re faring.’
The demon fox, who was snuggling at my side, suddenly stood up and looked warily at her surroundings. I patted her head and replied, “What is it? Is there any danger around?”
There was suddenly a call of a nocturnal bird that broke the tranquility. The demon fox’s eyes lit up and she immediately pounced. I hastily stood up and chased after her. She stopped at a place not far away from where we were. She was gritting her teeth and her fur was standing up. It was as though she had met an enemy.
I ran in front of her, only to see Su He awkwardly squatting down.
I asked, “What are you doing here?”
Su He replied, “I...I was crapping and alerted the nocturnal birds by accident. After that, this fella came over.” Upon saying that, he pointed at the demon fox, who was filled with animosity.
The demon fox seemed to be unsatisfied and continuously growled at him. Since my mind was filled with Mu Zi’s image, I didn’t think much about it before I told the demon fox, “Let him do his business. Let’s head back to sleep. Su He, quickly come over.” After I said that, I grabbed onto the demon fox and returned to my not so comfortable bed.
We simply ate something the next morning. We walked out of the forest and onto the flat plain, dashing towards the demon race’s border.
We were soon able to reach the border of the demon race. Su He seemed to have a lot on his mind. After these days of interacting with him, even though he was a useless Second Prince, we didn’t reject him as much as we did initially.
I said, “Su He, tell everyone about the customs of the natives near here.”
Su He looked at me and replied, “The nearby area is already within the perimeter of the city. The city has about three million ordinary demon race. Since it’s war time, most of the army had been dispatched to the front line. The city is left with Holy Light’s Protectors to protect the demon Emperor and other assisting troops. There should be approximately 1 million of them. The status they hold is extremely important. The high ranked demon race has many special privileges, especially the demon race’s royalties. They’re generally gathered in the city.”
Zhan Hu said grinningly, “Didn’t you say that the beauties of your demon race are charming? Why aren’t they any in view?”
Su He chuckled. “The beauties are in the city. The beauties in our demon race are incomparable to the human race. They’re quite open minded. I can introduce some of them to you.” I didn’t feel that they were open minded. Mu Zi gave me a feeling that she was more conservative than the human race. From how I looked at it, Hai Shui was more open minded than she was, but it might be due to her identity.
Zhan Hu mockingly scolded him, “You little fellow, once it’s about beauties, your spirit increases.”
When we were very close to our destination, I gradually became nervous. After a day, we only walked for 100km. Zhan Hu said impatiently, “Let’s fly again tomorrow. Our current pace is too slow.”
I shook my head. “Forget it, safety is our priority.”
Su He said, “After passing the valley in front of us, we should be able to see the city already.”
I opened the map and pointed on it. “Is that the God Rended Canyon?”
Su He nodded. “In the legend, during the great War between the Gods and the monsters, it was split open by a God. Thus, getting its name, the God Splitting Valley.” Upon saying that, his expression dampened.
I didn’t mind that as I continued to look at the map. The map had shown that the area that the demon race held was quite large; it was about the size of a small country. (The demon race’s country is about the size of the human race’s province. In the center of the map, there was a golden portion that was noted on it. It should be the Imperial City. Mu Zi should be living at that place.)
After a quiet night, we headed towards the God Splitting Valley the next day.
When the Sun was high up in the sky, I saw the God Splitting Valley. The sight was extremely terrible. Light was shining through from both sides of the mountain and there was a 10 meter pathway in the middle. What aroused my curiosity was that we hadn’t seen a single demon race since this morning. Su He said that this was the only path leading to the city. Why was it so quiet?
Su He said, “There aren’t many people that come through here. The people in the demon race city usually head in the other direction as that direction is the interior of the demon race. The pathway through the valley will be inclined. After walking to the end of the valley and when the path gets even with the mountain plain, we’ll be able to see the city.”
I nodded. “Let’s quickly move on.”