Chapter 45
"Ugh… Where… where am I?"
After he opens his eyes confusion immediately filled his mind. The place he is in right now is full of exotic trees and the smell of the sea is evident in the air. It seems that he found himself on an island but in an unknown place or location.
"This seems to be not in the cultivation land anymore. How did I arrive here? Don't tell me..." The young man said as he noticed that something is amiss with the place.
This young man is Shin Jiao who now found himself in a new place after waking up and finding himself on the ground. His consciousness is a little muddled as he didn't know what went wrong. All he can remember was the situation that had happened a few minutes ago.
At that time he was watching from the nearby tree, and he is too careful in hiding his presence so that master Ju won't find him. But when Shin Jiao saw that the head of the Land Devouring Worm shifted from the front to the rear, his heart was shaken. He knows that his two friends are in danger, and so he decided to intervene. But before he could move the beast suddenly opened its gigantic mouth and reveal a layer of razor-sharp teeth. This caught Shin Jiao off guard as he didn't expect this situation. Then the two women shrieked in disbelief and fear as they started to float and began to rapidly fly towards the wide gaping mouth of the monster in front of them.
Shin Jiao didn't hesitate to jump and quickly try and rescue them, but before he can reach them in time, he immediately felt something is amiss. He clearly saw that before the two women can reach the beast's mouth and be shredded to pieces by its razor-sharp teeth they suddenly disappear. Then he suddenly felt that there was a space distortion as then his vision became blurry and darkness assaulted his senses.
And now he has woken up in this unknown land feeling a deja vu.
Shin Jiao sits on the ground and started to look around the place and there he can see and feel his surroundings. This place seems to not belong to the same planet as even the spiritual Qi and the natural energy in this place are too chaotic. But what amazed him is that although it's chaotic, the thickness of both spiritual and natural energies are at least ten times in amount compared to the cultivation land.
"Hmmm... I'm not convinced that I have traveled to another world again. That beast's mouth is the key to all this. But how can I find out without exiting this place? I wish Qin Lou and Susu Ling are okay, I never should have let my guard down at that time. Geez..." Shin Jiao muttered to himself in confusion and a little pang of guilt.
Although Shin Jiao felt a little confused, the energy in this place is nothing sort of miraculous. He truly wanted to start cultivating in this place, although the energies in here are chaotic still they truly are rich and abundant. With his body automatically absorbing them he never had to do anything. But if he concentrated and cultivated seriously he would gain far more in the long run. Still, he remembers that his first priority is to find the two girls, so he stood up and started walking.
Not long later he reached a very small stream of clear water. In the water, he can see the different color of fishes swimming against the low current. Before Shin Jiao could admire them more, he suddenly noticed some movements nearby. Then suddenly he saw on the other side is a small boy with a face covered in mud, wearing nothing but a small cloth covering his private area and carrying a large woven bamboo basket on his back, the boy is actually harvesting some herbs. It seems that the boy had not noticed him as his full concentration is on harvesting herbs. To his amazement, the boy seems to be keen in choosing what medicinal herb to pick. In a quick glance, Shin Jiao could see many precious herbs on the boy's hand. With this, he could not imagine what is inside the basket on the boy's back.
To know more about this world and find Qin Lou and Susu Ling, Shin Jiao decided to approach the boy. When Shin Jiao's figure suddenly appears, the boy was startled and immediately jumped back with caution. He is grabbing in his hand a small crudely made black dagger positioned in front of his body ready to block or attack at any time.
"Hey! Don't be alarmed… I'm not here to hurt you." Shin Jiao said while lifting his arms up.
The boy looks in confusion and seems to not understand what Shin Jiao said. With vigilance, the boy slowly back away step-by-step.
"Wait! Wait! Please, I just needed to ask something. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Shin Jiao said trying to persuade the boy not to leave.
Then, to Shin Jiao's surprise, the boy nods his head. This made him happy; at least he can communicate with him and would soon be able to learn something about this new world. The boy looks at Shin Jiao up and down, and after a while gestured to follow him as he seems to not detect any danger from Shin Jiao. The boy then relaxes and sheathes his crudely made black dagger on his waist.
Shin Jiao knows that the boy is a cultivator in the middle-stage of the core-forming realm and seem to have seen his aura. And since he is a mortal, the boy's cautiousness and vigilance went away just like that. Shin Jiao felt happy that people could underestimate him casually, and because of this, he could easily assimilate to any situation he is in.
Now the two have walked for some time and arrived in front of a very conspicuous tree. Shin Jiao felt some weird aura coming from the tree and using his goggles he found that the tree itself is producing a concentrated amount of both spiritual and natural energies.
Upon seeing this, Shin Jiao was dumbfounded, he thought that if the energy outside is already substantial in here it's too rich. He is now truly tempted to sit here and cultivate, then his level would advance by leaps and bounds. He may even be able to break past 50 spheres as this thing seems to have an inexhaustible amount of energy in it. Shin Jiao just thought that after he rescues the girls he would study this tree first before leaving. But before his thought could travel far, he saw the boy turn right and enter a small cave near the tree.
The boy gestured for Shin Jiao to follow him inside, as they continue walking deeper inside the cave. Soon they reached the innermost part and Shin Jiao discovered that the boy may have gathered far too many precious medicinal herbs and had planted a lot of them inside the cave where the spiritual and natural energy is thicker. When Shin Jiao checked closer he could see that the medicinal plants are divided by their tiers.
The first plot belongs to the lower tier plants, this includes those common but very useful medicinal plants which Shin Jiao already knows a lot of. The second plot belongs to the medium tier medicinal plants which are a little hard to find in the cultivation world as these plants are considered as treasures and would be guarded by a sect, or some strong beast who is waiting for it to mature. Shin Jiao didn't even know what kinds of plants are there in this plot. And the third plot of land is where some truly rare medicinal plants which of course Shin Jiao haven't ever seen before too.
Even though he didn't know what kinds of plants are those. Shin Jiao can judge them by their aura and grade. But to know their uses he needs to get some samples from them and check them using scientific method or his denser spiritual sense.
Then Shin Jiao noticed the boy stopped and turn to look at him. The little boy opened his mouth slowly as if having a hard time taking out words in it.
"Who… who… are… are… you?" the boy asked Shin Jiao while stuttering cutely.
"I guess this is the reason why he didn't talk to me while walking. He is having a hard time talking." Shin Jiao thought.
"I'm Shin Jiao. You are?" Shin Jiao slowly uttered.
"Me, Lemy!" The boy answered while giving a wide smiling.
Shin Jiao also smiled at the boy's reply, at least now he can ask the boy with anything but the problem is that he isn't sure if the boy could express himself and Shin Jiao could understand it perfectly. But still, it is his only chance to know this place and maybe find the two women.
While thinking of a way to communicate with the boy, Shin Jiao decided to spread his short-ranged spiritual sense just to check on the plants. But when he did this the boy suddenly jumped away from him in fear and immediately grabs his black dagger.
"You? Cultivator?" the boy named Lemy asked in fear.
"Me? Um… I… I'm not sure… Maybe yes, maybe no." Shin Jiao answered with some doubt because he truly can't consider himself as a cultivator.
Then the boy's eyes suddenly lit up and did something which shocked Shin Jiao.
"You are a cultivator because you can use spirit sense." A cute voice suddenly entered Shin Jiao's mind.
"Who… who are you?" Shin Jiao suddenly said as he felt wary while looking around and trying to find the owner of the voice.
But when he saw the smiling boy in front of him he felt a little foolish as he already had an idea who it was.
"You can talk to my mind?" Shin Jiao asked with some doubt.
As Shin Jiao is not knowledgeable in communicating through using spiritual sense he just talks normally to the boy.
"Yes, I can. Since you are a cultivator I can send you my spirit voice." The boy said.
"It's hard for me to talk using my mouth as it's hard for me to use my tongue in talking, it's taking me great effort to do that. Anyway, I've been in this part of the island for who knows how many years and you are the first person I've seen with both mortal and immortal aura. A truly fascinating man." The boy said as his gaze went all over Shin Jiao's body.
"You're creeping me out. You're just a small boy what do you know." Shin Jiao said with a little hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Anyway, since you have been here for so long do you know where this place is?" Shin Jiao asked as he suddenly sits in one corner of the cave.
"I'm sure that you're from the outside world and you've just arrived here. Well, to tell you the truth this is a tiny world. If the cultivators from the outside world will know about this they would do everything in their power to get this world and refine it. Because from my knowledge from the cultivators that had come in here, most of them are too violent and greedy. Whenever they saw me they would immediately exert their dominance and capture me to know more about this place. That is why I'm too wary of cultivators. Actually, you are the first person who is not domineering I guess it's because you're both a mortal and a cultivator at the same time right?" The boy said as he too sits down.
"You mean you've seen some mortals here?" Shin Jiao quickly asked knowing that there are also mortal in this place, this only means that this place is not too dangerous and if this is the case he could calm his heart.
"There were, but they would always die immediately after a few days. I guess the thick spiritual aura in this place is not good for their weak bodies." Lemy said.
When Shin Jiao heard this his heart which has felt hope became deflated like a balloon. He had hoped that this place would be safer for both Qin Lou and Susu Ling as he could not bear to imagine the two friends he has suffering.
"So, how can I get out of here?" Shin Jiao asked as he wanted to know how to get out after finding the two girls.
"I don't know either." The boy replied shrugging his shoulders.
Then Shin Jiao began asking the boy more about this tiny world, where it came from and the people in it. And he learned that there are actually some people in this tiny world, and they lived in a small village near the middle of the island.
Shin Jiao told Lemy that he may have entered here through the mouth of a Land Devouring Worm and had a thought that the beast might be the one controlling this world. When Shin Jiao said this Lemy went quiet but nodded in agreement. He is not sure but almost all those whom he saw and spied upon seem to say the same thing, about a giant worm trying to eat them.
Then, Lemy also explained that because of the chaotic Qi in this place cultivators are unable to use their cultivation or spiritual Qi as it would mess up any spells they would use. So those cultivators from outside who arrived in here would be immediately caught by the villagers as they would become powerless like mere mortals.
Upon hearing this Shin Jiao immediately had a bad premonition. He felt that Qin Lou and Susu Ling might be truly in danger.
"Where is this village? I need to go there; my friends might be in there." Shin Jiao asked Lemy with worry in his eyes.
"You mustn't go there, it's too dangerous," Lemy said trying to persuade Shin Jiao.
"Lemy even if it's dangerous my friends are very important to me. I need to find them do you understand?" Shin Jiao said trying to also persuade the boy to tell him where the village is.
Shin Jiao had actually used his goggles but it seems that the calculations of auras are wrong and because of the chaotic spiritual Qi it gives him a lot of wrong information about the place. The most distance he can see clearly is 30 meters. This made Shin Jiao felt helpless and truly wanted the boy's help.
"Sigh… Okay, but on one condition. You must not try to save them. If Mok Dong is angered, we would be in great danger." Lemy warned as he felt that Shin Jiao truly values his friends.
"Who is this Mok Dong?" Shin Jiao asked upon hearing a name.
"He is bad. You must not face him." Lemy said seemingly feeling his mood turned bad.
"Okay, I promise." Shin Jiao said so that the boy would help him immediately.
And so with Lemy's help, Shin Jiao was able to find the village which is truly hidden by puzzle-like path formation. So instead of going to the path, they have to pass inside a small tunnel as it is the secret passage of Lemy. Shin Jiao was almost stuck and had to make the passage wider so that he could pass. Then, they crawled until they were able to reach a clearing. After coming out of the small hole, Shin Jiao was able to see the village. The people there are like from the Stone Age era, where men only wore a cloth that covers their loins and women wore the same with an additional cloth covering for their breast. and their houses are made of rocks.
"Is this the stone ages? Shin Jiao said to himself." He felt curious about how these people came to and started living in this small world.
The two quietly sneaked inside and soon arrived in a clearing where they saw many cages made of rocks. Then Shin Jiao suddenly saw two figures inside those cages and immediately recognized Qin Lou and Susu Ling.