Huo Yin and his group traveled north, hunting beasts and leveling up; the journey proceeded fairly smoothly. Fortunately, they had parked their vehicle relatively far away that day and hadn't fallen into the pit, saving them from having to find a market to buy a new one.
Through the battles and adjustments during this period, Huo Yin felt his body had basically recovered.
In fact, his physique was even better than before, he had broken through the Tier 5 limit and could once again continue strengthening his body by absorbing Enhancement Source Cores, though his Element superpower had not seen an upgrade for the time being.
Even so, he still sat in his wheelchair as usual. It served as a handy disguise while allowing him to refine his elemental control with fine precision.
In the evening, the group gathered around a campfire, enjoying a picnic while chatting casually.
Huo Yin and Yuan Chu wore matching combat suits, drank matching beverages, and sat together playing handheld game consoles.
"Momo."
Feng Chenxiu leaned over to Su Mo, muttering under his breath, "Look at Boss and the girl. Flaunting their love day in and day out, it's downright immoral."
Su Mo: ... Who is Momo?
"Pity us single dogs, nobody to care for us, nobody to love us." Feng Chenxiu sighed mournfully.
Su Mo: ... What's wrong with being single? Freedom to single dogs!
"How about..." Feng Chenxiu's eyes gleamed with intent as he stared at him.
"We pair up temporarily?"
"Get lost." Su Mo finally spoke.
"So you can talk! Why stay quiet all the time then? I'm dying of boredom here by myself."
Su Mo: Boredom is your own problem, what does it have to do with me? Even when you keep your mouth shut, your internal chatter is annoying enough!
Right at that moment, Tali ambled down from the vehicle. Her messy hair sagged haphazardly, and heavy dark circles clung under her eyes like smoky makeup. Draped in a dark, ominous aura, she floated over and sat down beside Yuan Chu. Without a word, she grabbed a skewer of grilled meat and silently began eating.
Lately, Tali had been practicing her skills non-stop, making her the most hardworking person in the group aside from Huo Yin. As her strength grew, the Ghostly Qi around her deepened.
Even Feng Chenxiu barely dared to get near her, only Yuan Chu remained completely unbothered. Consequently, Tali loved clinging to Yuan Chu the most, constantly and obliviously wedging herself right between her and Huo Yin.
Huo Yin raised his eyes, his gaze darkening slightly as he watched Tali lean against Yuan Chu.
When Yuan Chu picked up a towel, Tali immediately lifted her face, letting Yuan Chu wipe her mouth for her. After wiping her mouth, Yuan Chu fed her a sip of water, treating her like a oversized baby.
Huo Yin: 💠When we brought her in, why didn't I realize she was the type who couldn't even handle basic self-care?
Receiving this mental message, Su Mo's lips twitched subtly.
Tali: 💠There's plenty of fresh Death Qi nearby. I won't sleep tonight, I'll train hard and reach Tier 4 as soon as possible.
Su Mo: ...Now this is a girl whose mind is solely focused on growing stronger.
Feng Chenxiu: 💠Ahhhh! A love triangle! A total crematorium! Finally, I don't have to keep eating dog food!
Su Mo didn't want to hear his garbage babble at all!
Among the people around him, Feng Chenxiu was by far the noisiest, his inner thoughts flooded over like a raging river, unstoppable and relentless. Huo Yin maintained the strongest mental defenses, Su Mo could only pick up sporadic, harmless fragments. Tali was the simplest, her mind held no thoughts other than leveling up her strength.
As for Yuan Chu...
Su Mo looked toward her discreetly. Her mind was as clear as a mirror and as deep as a vast ocean, completely impossible to peek into.
All in all, it was a good team. Though everyone carried their own secrets, there wasn't much backstabbing or petty scheming.
Sensing Su Mo's gaze, Yuan Chu glanced at him briefly before returning her attention to her handheld console.
The video of their recent encounter with the Earth-Splitting Spiders and Mud-Stone Beasts had now spread across the network, reposted region by region. It brought them a degree of fame, but it also caught Ji Ming's attention.
Huo Yin's disguise might fool outsiders, but it couldn't deceive the companion who had spent ten years alongside him. Knowing Huo Yin was alive, Ji Ming was bound to take action.
Had he merely defected to another faction, there might still be room for compromise, but he had slaughtered his own compatriots just to construct a noble and heroic background for himself, that was unforgivable.
Huo Yin remained unaware that Ji Ming had discovered he was still alive. However, with his strength largely restored, his physique heavily enhanced, and his guard now raised, it wouldn't be easy for Ji Ming to harm him again.
As Yuan Chu casually played her handheld game, she passively calculated future possibilities.
Suddenly, her hands paused, though the game didn't stop. Her 2D character continued aggressively slaughtering monsters, clearing the stage in under a minute. Yet the screen didn't display the usual victory sign, instead, a bold, eye-catching prompt popped up:[MOMMY]
Yuan Chu: ... Evidently, it had come 'alive.'
Perhaps because she had used it to search for information last time, residual energy elements had triggered the creation of an internal Source Core, turning the device into an electronic beast.
Mutated beasts weren't all dangerous, aggressive creatures. For instance, this newly spawned electronic monster posed no real harm, aside from occasionally stirring up minor mischief.
[MOMMY, MOMMY, MOMMY...]
The screen was completely smothered in varying sizes of the word MOMMY until it abruptly crashed.
Without waiting for it to reboot, Yuan Chu decisively stuffed it into her pocket.
"Boss, which way are we heading tomorrow?" Feng Chenxiu asked.
Due north lay Strange Stone Canyon, northwest was the Mist Forest, traveling a few hundred kilometers east would lead to District 36.
Huo Yin: "Strange Stone Canyon."
Yuan Chu: 💠Mist Forest.
Su Mo turned his head, he had picked up Yuan Chu's inner answer, which differed from Huo Yin's.
Yuan Chu: 💠Strange Stone Canyon is dangerous.
Su Mo found it strange. If she knows it's dangerous, why doesn't she speak up?
Yuan Chu: 💠Mating season. Beast herds are gathering.
Realization dawned on Su Mo. He spoke up: "Isn't the wild beasts' mating season coming up soon? Strange Stone Canyon has always been a hotspot for beast activity."
Huo Yin paused, mentally calculating the timeline before asking in confusion, "Mating season is at least a month away, isn't it?"
Yuan Chu: 💠Temperatures changed drastically this year. Mating season arrived early.
Su Mo hesitated on whether to speak, but after a moment's pause, he finally said, "Recent temperature shifts might cause the mating season to arrive ahead of schedule."
Hearing this, Huo Yin fell into thought. After a moment, he nodded. "Your point makes sense. To be safe, let's reroute to the Mist Forest."
Su Mo stole a glance at Yuan Chu and said no more. He knew why Huo Yin had originally wanted to go to Strange Stone Canyon, someone online had claimed to have spotted several rare mutated beasts there, complete with telephoto photos, attracting a crowd of hunters.
Had Yuan Chu not stepped in, he too would have considered Strange Stone Canyon a solid choice.
Only Yuan Chu knew the whole thing was a trap. Someone had anticipated the early mating season and intentionally leaked the news, intending to use the frenzied beast tide to slaughter Evolvers, harvest their Source Cores, and reap the benefits effortlessly.
Under the normal course of events, heading to Strange Stone Canyon would have plunged Huo Yin into a near-fatal crisis, and the rest of the group might not have survived either.
Now that Huo Yin had changed his mind, Yuan Chu waited a moment. Sensing no threat from the Heavenly Dao's rules, she finally confirmed that using someone else's mouth to reveal crucial information could successfully bypass its detection.
The next day, the group packed up and set off. Along the way, they crossed paths with several teams heading toward Strange Stone Canyon.
Coincidentally, Whistle, whom they had met before, was among them.
"Hey! Met again!" Whistle drove a single-passenger mountain vehicle, greeting Huo Yin and the others enthusiastically.
Huo Yin opened his roof hatch, exposing the transparent protective canopy, and nodded to Whistle.
"Are you guys heading to Strange Stone Canyon too? We can team up!"
"No need, we're not going to Strange Stone Canyon." Huo Yin declined.
"Huh?" Whistle glanced at him in surprise.
"Haven't you heard the news? Several high-level rare mutated beasts were spotted in Strange Stone Canyon!"
"I know, but I'm worried about bumping into the mating season." Huo Yin offered as a subtle warning, though the other party clearly brushed it off.
"Haha! Mating season is still more than a month away, what's there to worry about? Come along! We have so many experts here, even if we do run into mating season, there's no need to panic."
That last remark was a total joke. Wild beasts during mating season were in an absolute frenzy, their strength multiplying several times over, appearing in numbers far beyond what dozens or even a hundred Evolvers could handle.
Huo Yin couldn't press further, after all, an early mating season was only their speculation. If it didn't happen, wouldn't he be holding them back from hunting monsters?
As they chatted, Whistle was streaming live, so Huo Yin's words reached the audience in the stream as well. Many mocked and dismissed it with a laugh, though a few cautious viewers took note.
Bidding Whistle farewell, Huo Yin's group continued toward the Mist Forest.
When they were just a dozen miles away from the Mist Forest, Yuan Chu's heart skipped a beat. A subtle gleam flickered across her eyes as she caught a faint premonition of what was to come.
"Let's stop here." Huo Yin selected an open space and parked the hover-car.
"For the next half-month, we'll operate in the Mist Forest."
The Mist Forest had a higher concentration of Plant-type and Element-type mutated beasts, though higher concentration was only relative to other regions.
The group prepped their gear and ventured deep into the Mist Forest.
Meanwhile, a fast-moving team of Evolvers had already reached Strange Stone Canyon. Eager to secure the upper hand, they plunged straight into the canyon, only for not a single person to come out alive. After their deaths, an invisible Evolver stripped everything of value from their bodies. It all happened silently, leaving no trace behind.
Shortly after, more Evolvers arrived at the canyon in waves. Having agreed in advance, they split into designated zones to avoid interfering with one another.
The hunt commenced. The Evolvers charged into the canyon depths with high morale, practically itching to deliver their own heads on a platter...
Huo Yin and the others spent three days in the Mist Forest, yielding rich rewards.
Tali broke through to Tier 4, while Feng Chenxiu reached Tier 7. Huo Yin, Su Mo, and Yuan Chu saw no immediate changes in their levels, but they gathered a substantial stash of Source Cores.
"What are you looking at?" Huo Yin walked over to Yuan Chu, asking as he found her staring blankly into the distance.
"Nothing." Yuan Chu retracted her gaze and sat on the ground, leaning against Huo Yin's wheelchair.
"These are yours." Huo Yin offered three Source Cores to her.
Yuan Chu didn't take them. "Keep them for me."
"You keep giving all your Source Cores to me, how are you going to raise your own strength?" Huo Yin had never seen Yuan Chu absorb a Source Core. Though curious, he had never pried. Yet in a place fraught with danger, lacking sufficient strength to protect oneself meant risking one's life at any moment.
"Don't worry about me. I have my own ways of growing stronger." Yuan Chu didn't need Source Cores, her powers would gradually unlock alongside the Child of Luck's growth in strength.
Huo Yin stared at her intently, ultimately refraining from asking further.
This girl had rescued him from crisis and accompanied him through his darkest days, his trust in her was absolute.
"Then promise me."
Huo Yin said earnestly, "No matter what, protect yourself and stay alive."
Yuan Chu looked back up at him. "As long as you're alive, I won't die."
"And if I die?"
Yuan Chu answered without hesitation: "Then I'll die with you." Once the Child of Luck died, she would immediately be discovered by the Heavenly Dao and forced to exit this world.
Ignorant of the underlying truth, Huo Yin felt a surge of warmth in his chest and pulled her tightly into his arms.
"Rest assured, I definitely won't die." Two fierce flames ignited in Huo Yin's eyes. He still had a deep vengeance to exact, and his homeland was still suffering in misery. His life no longer belonged solely to himself.
His only stroke of fortune was the girl by his side. When he had lost everything, she had stepped in to fill every void.
Sensing the shift in his destiny's luck, Yuan Chu came to a decision.
After helping him evade the disaster at Strange Stone Canyon, the Heavenly Dao had set up another trial for him. She had originally hesitated on whether to warn him again, but now, she decided to remain silent.
The reason Children of Luck could contend with the Heavenly Dao was precisely because they possessed extraordinary diligence, wisdom, perseverance, courage, and fortune, allowing them to break through their limits time and again in desperate situations. Blindly steering him away from all danger would only stifle his growth.
"I believe you." Yuan Chu looked up at him, her eyes clearly reflecting his image without a single trace of doubt.
That look of total, unreserved trust made Huo Yin's heart race.
This silly girl must be head over heels for him.
(Yuan Chu: ???)
On the fourth day, Huo Yin decided to push deeper. He led the group as they advanced at a steady pace.
Halfway through, Huo Yin suddenly felt a hot, humid current in the air, heavy with active elemental energy.
Spurred by a sudden thought, he said, "I'm going ahead to check things out. Wait for me here."
With that, he operated his wheelchair and soared forward, disappearing into the depths of the forest in the blink of an eye.
"Ah..." Feng Chenxiu sighed as he watched the direction Huo Yin had vanished in.
"Heartless man, just abandoning us like this."
Nobody paid him any mind.
Su Mo leaned against a tree trunk, listening closely to their surroundings.
Tali was thoroughly absorbed in refining her Ghostly Qi, unable to pull herself away.
Bored out of his mind, Feng Chenxiu grabbed a few sick and injured small beasts to practice his healing spells on.
After an unknown stretch of time, Yuan Chu suddenly raised her head just as a thunderous boom resounded in the distance.
"What's going on?!" Feng Chenxiu bolted up.
Su Mo and Tali also turned their heads toward the source of the roar.
A small mountain peak in the distance was erupting with blue flames hundreds of meters high, blooming in the sky like bursting fireworks.
Feng Chenxiu gasped in horror: "A volcanic eruption?!"
Without waiting for them to react, Yuan Chu sprinted off toward the blast zone.
Unable to ponder further, the others followed her in a haze of confusion.
After giving chase for a distance, the group was shocked to find they couldn't even keep up with Yuan Chu!
In their eyes, Yuan Chu had always been a low-profile presence. She had never been seen fighting in combat, so they had simply viewed her as Huo Yin's arm candy. Now, witnessing her lightning-fast agility, they gained an entirely new appreciation for her true strength for the first time.
Volleys of blue fire rained down from above. Dodging nimbly, the group followed Yuan Chu straight into a cavern.
"Yuan Chu, where are you going?!" Feng Chenxiu shouted.
"It's dangerous here! Shouldn't we find a safe place to hide first?!"
Yuan Chu: 💠This is the safest place. After a volcanic eruption, blue flames scatter outward, leaving the base at the center of the volcano as the safest spot.
These blue flames differed from ordinary fire, they produced no toxic fumes, but they could seep through skin to ignite one's blood.
Receiving Yuan Chu's mental message, Su Mo hesitated no longer, urging Feng Chenxiu and Tali quickly inside the cave.
Just a few hundred meters away among the volcanic rocks, Huo Yin was locked in battle with an Element-type mutated beast. Clusters of blue fire struck at him continuously, penetrating his skin and igniting his blood. The searing pain was nearly unbearable.
Gritting his teeth, he kicked off a rock face, using the momentum to dodge the fiery strikes while unleashing whirlwinds in an attempt to constrain the fire beast's movements.
Just as he was on the brink of success, his foot slipped. Losing his balance, he fell straight toward the churning lava below!
Huo Yin's pupils shrank in shock. Trapping the beast with one hand, he desperately condensed Earth elements with the other.
A mass of earth elements condensed over the lava, but his descent was far too rapid, and having expended too much energy earlier, he couldn't form a solid enough layer of earth in time to support his weight.
Just as he was about to plunge into the molten lava, the scattered Earth elements suddenly solidified beneath him. Flipping his body around, Huo Yin landed firmly on the newly formed earthen platform.
-----
Yuan Chu: Don't panic, I'm here!
Huo Yin: No, I can still hold on!
Yuan Chu: Hold on my ass. If I came a second later, you'd be a dried corpse.
Huo Yin: I have my pride too, you know...
Yuan Chu: Heh.
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