*BOOOOM*
A large explosion spread through the surroundings as several large glowing trees were uprooted by the shockwave spreading from the clash between the crystal tortoise and muscular man.
Sofie, Yue Wan and Yang Meng, just looked on speechlessly from their hiding spot as the crystal tortoise stood there completely unharmed after launching its attack at the attacker, while the attacker on the other hand was send flying far into the distance.
Not bothered by the annoying human who had attacked it earlier. The tortoise finally felt like it could lay down and relax once again, but this simple wish of the crystal tortoise seemed to be impossible to fulfil as a large glowing tree swayed at bit, before collapsing on top of the crystal tortoise.
*Crash*
Annoyed at suddenly being trapped below a large glowing tree all of a sudden. The crystal tortoise greatly shook itself from side to side, causing the large glowing tree to fall of its body.
With the tree removed. The crystal tortoise cautiously looked around itself to see if there were anything else around to disturb its peaceful relaxation time.
Sadly, what the crystal tortoise saw was way too depressing as the entire area that was formerly its best relaxation spot was completely ruined, with all the surrounding glowing trees swaying from side to side unsteadily.
…
Sofie and the rest attentively watched as the crystal tortoise annoyedly stomped its large feet on the ground for a few seconds, before turning around and leaving in the opposite direction of where they were hiding.
"Hah…"
Letting out a breath of relief, Sofie stared in the direction that the crystal tortoise left with a conflicting look in her eyes.
Tortoises and turtles were both cute, Sofie had seen many turtles before when she visited the sea where many turtles gathered to mate. Resulting in a giant swarm of baby turtles once every mating season.
One of Sofie's greatest pleasures in life was going to the sea whenever the turtles were about to hatch and watch them making their way from their nest and into the sea.
The first time Sofie came to the sea was together with her big sister and at that time many of the small and cute turtles got picked up and eaten by predators. This in turn devastated the small Sofie, causing her to return every year to protect the newly hatched turtles.
From then on, Sofie also grew a hate towards the birds which preyed upon the cute baby turtles.
Tortoises on the other hand could be seen from time to time in the village and Sofie had played with quite a few of them on a daily basis.
The giant crystal tortoise on the other hand, was nothing like the small cute tortoises or turtles that she knew about and was instead some giant demon beast.
Maybe the cuteness of something is amplified the smaller something is?
Feeling conflicted, this was the only thing that came to Sofie's mind at the moment. The thought was logical as the turtles, tortoises, her plushies and other cute things she saw so far were all smaller than her.
"What are you three brats doing here?"
As Sofie was lost in her own thoughts about what makes up the essence of cuteness, a calm and collected voice sounded out from behind the group of three.
"Who!?"
Turning around, all three of them stared directly at the man in front of them. Looking closer, Sofie could see that it was the skinny man who was standing besides the muscular man earlier. Though upon closer inspection, he didn't look that skinny. Maybe it was just because there was an extremely muscular man standing besides him. Making him look even smaller than he really was…
"Chen Chun!"
Yue Wan spontaneously yelled loudly the moment she saw the person in front of them, shocking both Yang Meng and Sofie.
"Ah… Yue Wan… How come you are so deep inside the underground forest? And with a few qi gathering brats no less?"
Chen Chun asked in a somewhat confused voice as he inspected both Yang Meng and Sofie with a quick look.
"Humph! None of your business!"
Acting completely differently than she used to, Sofie scornfully looked at Chen Chun with a cold look in her eyes.
Sofie and Yang Meng were both confused at the sudden development and could only turn to look at the newly arrived senior brother Chen Chun, who seemed to be the cause of Yue Wan's sudden personality change.
"When she 'helps' out her fellow junior sisters from time to time, I also help out whenever I can. Mostly to prevent anything bad from happening to the junior sisters…"
Seeing both Sofie and Yang Meng's confused faces, Chen Chun decided to enlighten both of them.
"Ah…"
Yang Meng seemed to understand what the senior brother was saying and could not help but praise the valiant senior brother inside his mind. After all, going against Yue Wan was no easy job. Sofie on the other hand was still as confused as ever.
"It would be better if we leave!"
Yue Wan coldly said as she was about to grab the confused and make her way back into the depths of the underground forest, in Yue Wan's mind, being lost in the underground forest was way better than being together with Chen Chun.
"Not so fast! You are lost, aren't you?"
Chen Chun quickly moved beside Sofie, preventing Yue Wan from grabbing her and running away. Clearly displaying his superior cultivation realm in the process.
"Humph!"
Not wanting to acknowledge that they were lost, Yue Wan snorted while turning her face away from Chen Chun's line of sight.
"Hah…"
Helpless at Yue Wan's cold behaviour towards him, Chen Chun let out an exhausted sigh.
This junior sister in front of him was indeed a difficult one to deal with…
"S-senior brother Chen Chun…! W-we are indeed lost."
Not being able to take it anymore, a slightly awkward voice came from the side as Yang Meng answered Chen Chun's earlier question.
Chen Chun seemed to be slightly surprised that someone answered him, while Yue Wan's cold gaze flickered with killing intent as she looked at the shivering Yang Meng.
Even thought Yang Meng knew that Yue Wan would not do anything to him, he still couldn't stop himself from shivering when he felt her cold gaze lock onto him. Clearly unsatisfied with his earlier words, which ended up giving her lie away.
"So that is indeed the case!"
Chen Chun smiled slightly as he looked at the angry look that was now on Yue Wan's face.
"Well then, do you want me to escort you out…?"
Chen Chun said in a playful voice, as the look on Yue Wan's face slowly grew darker and darker. This in turn only seemed to make the smile on Chen Chun's face, in contrast to the one on Yue Wan's, grow brighter and brighter.
…
Seeing Yue Wan and Chen Chun talking to each other, Sofie, who had stood still for the last few minutes finally asked something which had been confusing her.
"W-what about the muscular man that the tortoise sent flying…?"
""…""
Both Yue Wan and Chen Chun stopped talking as they both stared at Sofie for a bit before staring at each other once again.
"Ah… I seem to have forgotten about him… Let's go and get him first…"
A slightly embarrassed response could be heard from Chen Chun, who quickly turned to move in the direction that the muscular man was send flying in.
Yue Wan had a similar expression on her face as she, together with Sofie and Yang Meng, awkwardly followed after Chen Chun.