With no reason to stay, Sofie sent one last pitiful look towards the corpse of the rocky rock demon beast. Even if she knew it was made of rock… Sofie was starting to grow hungry and the rocky rock demon beast started to look more and more like one of the animals back home like the pigs or cows some of the villagers kept and slaughtered for delicious food.
"Stop staring at the rock like it's some delicious meal and let's move on!" As Sofie was about to move back to the rocky rock demon beast, Yang Meng seemingly knew what was going on in her mind and interrupted her train of thought.
Maybe the drool leaking out from her mouth gave her away?
Thinking this, Sofie quickly brushed it away with the corner of her blouse. Only for more to appear soon after.
Not being able to do something about what gave her away to Yang Meng, Sofie reluctantly followed him and Yue Wan up the mountain road. Leaving the corpse made of different rock behind them.
Neither Yue Wan nor Yang Meng, who was a foodie himself, understood why Sofie wanted to eat the rocky rock demon beast. After all, it was made from rocks…
Wondering whether something might be wrong with Sofie, both of them cast a worried look in Sofie's direction before continuing their path up the moonlight mountain.
…
Passing through the layer of clouds, Sofie looked up into the sky and saw a giant cluster of fire qi hanging there, like a miniature sun shining brightly down at the mountain. Sofie could even feel the dense and high-level fire qi that made up the miniature sun from far away.
Filled with awe, Sofie looked up at the miniature sun. Seeing how small it was compared to the one outside, Sofie inspected it closer and saw all kinds of different symbols floating around the cluster of fire qi suspended mid-air.
Someone being able to make a miniature sun…?
This was Sofie's first thought and it was indeed a terrifying and exciting conclusion.
Sofie could guess that an extremely strong cultivator in fire qi had created the miniature sun.
Thinking this, Sofie had a somewhat dangerous smile on her face as she imagined herself absorbing the fire qi that made up the miniature sun, before making a new, bigger and brighter sun.
She was also someone who cultivated fire qi, so why should she be unable to make a sun as well?
Yang Meng, who was walking besides her already knew about some of the oddities of the moonlight mountain and only cast a quick look towards the cluster of fire qi suspended in the air before returning to walking.
Yue Wan on the other hand practiced water qi and felt a slight feeling of suppression coming over her when she felt the cluster of fire qi above her.
Looking annoyed, she quickly made her way up the mountain as well.
…
The further up the moonlight mountain they went. The darker it became; it was weird in several different ways. Mostly because it was not like what the Yang Meng knew and even he was surprised at the sudden turn of events.
The miniature sun was slowly transformed from what looked like a sun into a moon. The weird part was that all this happened within a few minutes.
"What is happening to the sky?" Sofie asked in wonder as she stared up at the bright moon hanging in the sky, replacing the former cluster of fire qi.
"I… Have no idea to be honest… From the looks of it, this has something to do with the mountain… Seeing as it is called moonlight mountain and a moon suddenly appeared in the sky." Yang Meng said slightly confused. His dad had mentioned to him that this place was called moonlight mountain, but not about a miniature sun turning into a moon.
"ROAAAAAR!"
An earth-shattering roar could be heard in the distance as sounds of fighting soon followed.
"Hii!" Sofie let out a somewhat loud shriek, being both scared and surprised by the sudden loud roar from the distance.
"Let's move quickly!" Yue Wan said as she had a serious look on her face, meaning whatever made that earlier roar was something quite terrifying and so was whatever it was fighting against.
Yang Meng did not say anything and only nodded upon hearing what Yue Wan said, agreeing that it would be a good idea for them to move away from whatever demon beasts were fighting further down the mountain road.
…
The three of them continued to walk for an hour before the sounds from the fight died down completely. Whatever fought earlier must have made quite a big scene, as they had at least managed to make it a few hundred meters up the mountain by now and could still hear them fighting below.
"W-what was that earlier…?" Sofie answered in a shaken voice, while looking towards the mountain road going down the mountain.
"From what I felt… Most likely demon beasts at rank 2… and in the latter stages of rank 2 as well." Yue Wan said in a slow voice, emphasising the strength of the demon beast that were fighting each other earlier.
"B-but didn't Yang Meng say that the strongest demon beasts appearing would be around the qi condensation realm?" Sofie asked in a disbelieving voice as she turned around and looked at Yang Meng, while waiting for him to answer.
"The strongest demon beast appearing at the moonlight mountain is indeed only rank 1-"
"W-what about the two demon beasts earlier!?" Yue Wan interrupted Yang Meng with an irritated look on her face.
"Let me finish… Only rank 1 demon beast will appear on the moonlight mountain, but this doesn't stop stronger demon beast from entering the same way we did… Though… Two demon beasts at the peak of rank 2 stumbling into the moonlight mountain like us, can be considered unlucky…" Yang Meng said with an unhappy expression on his face. Clearly not liking the idea of two peak rank 2 demon beast being on the moonlight mountain as well.
"So, what do we do now?" Yue Wan asked similarly unhappy at the unlucky development they found themselves in.
"Hah… Make it to the top as quickly as possible and exit the moonlight mountain, before any of the two demon beasts stumble upon us…" Yang Meng let out a tired sigh explaining the plan to them.
"Guess that is our best chance…" Yue Wan said as she picked up the confused Sofie.
"Let's go, I have a good endurance and should be able to keep up with you!" Yang Meng said as an arrogant smile appeared on his lips.
"A-are you… Sure…?" Yue Wan said as she looked at his chubby body that resembled a ball more than a human.
"Of course!" Yang Meng said as the two of the quickly started running towards the top of the moonlight mountain.
...
Sofie, who was currently being carried in a princess carry, confusedly looked at the sceneries quickly passing by. Not having any idea about how much danger they were in at the moment.
Maybe I should just sleep…? That way I won't feel the hunger…
Thinking this, Sofie felt herself lulling of to sleep. Not minding being carried by Yue Wan at the moment.
Walking so much in one day was exhausting!