Mo Yichen kept his gaze firmly on the sleeping Ziyun, absentmindedly stroking her soft fur, pretending he wasn't slightly embarrassed by his current "survivalist" look.
"So…" he began, pointedly avoiding eye contact with Jing Yu, "how come you're here?"
Jing Yu shrugged casually. "Well, when I woke up the next day in Yin Ci City, you were gone. No one saw you leave. It was like you vanished into thin air."
Mo Yichen raised a brow. "And?"
"And," Jing Yu continued, "when I checked Brother Mo's room, everything was still there. Your spiritual bag, your extra robes—" his gaze unintentionally flickered to Mo Yichen's current attire, but he quickly looked away, wisely choosing not to comment.
Mo Yichen's expression remained indifferent, but inside, he was screaming. Ahhh! Stop looking at me like I'm some mountain bandit!
"I thought it was suspicious," Jing Yu went on, "so I rushed to Yongtian Peak to report it to Master." He paused, as if recalling something unpleasant. "Buuut… turns out, we don't have that much manpower in our department, and Master's status isn't exactly high either, so…"
Jing Yu gave another shrug, this one even more shameless.
Mo Yichen narrowed his eyes. "… so no one came looking for me?"
Jing Yu cleared his throat. "No, no! Of course not! We totally looked for you—"
Jing Yu: "…with our hearts."
Mo Yichen: "…"
Mo Yichen's lips twitched. What do you mean "with your hearts"?! Is searching for someone an internal process now!?
"Anyway," Jing Yu hurriedly continued before he got hit, "Master told us not to worry too much because, well… you're 'capable of escaping.'"
Mo Yichen sucked in a sharp breath. His grip on Ziyun's fur tightened slightly.
Capable of escaping?
Is that something to be proud of!?
A professional runaway?
He maintained his emotionless face, but inside, his soul was violently protesting.
Clearing his throat, he changed the subject. "What is this place?"
Jing Yu perked up, finally on a topic he could confidently answer. "Ah! This is Mengyan Forest. It's famous for middle-grade herbs and spiritual beasts. We were actually dispatched here."
"Dispatched?" Mo Yichen frowned. "To do what?"
Jing Yu scratched his cheek. "To explore, mostly. But more importantly, this place is connected to the Thousand Illusions Labyrinth."
Mo Yichen tilted his head. "Thousand Illusions Labyrinth?"
Jing Yu nodded enthusiastically. "It's a secret realm that only opens once every twenty years. Inside, there are ruins and treasures, but also high-tier beasts..."
Mo Yichen crossed his arms. "So, basically, a death trap with occasional rewards."
"Yep, pretty much!" Jing Yu grinned. "it's said to be so mysterious—no one has ever fully explored it. Till this date, no one knows what lies at its deepest part."
Mo Yichen tapped his fingers against his arm. "So… when is it opening?"
Jing Yu, "Um… we still have around two days"
Mo Yichen nodded, his gaze dropping to the little white dumpling nestled comfortably in his arms.
Just as he was about to pet her again, Jing Yu suddenly interrupted. "By the way, Brother Mo… you might need this."
He pulled out a familiar yellow spiritual bag and held it out.
Mo Yichen's eyes lit up the moment he saw it. Without hesitation, he snatched it and eagerly rummaged inside. His excitement peaked when his fingers brushed against a familiar texture.
He pulled out a set of robes and sighed in deep relief. "Finally!" he muttered, hugging the robes like a long-lost lover.
Then, without warning, he shoved Ziyun into Jing Yu's arms. "Hold her for a sec! I'll be back!"
Before Jing Yu could even respond, Mo Yichen took off like a madman, sprinting straight into the bushes.
Jing Yu stood frozen, blinking at the tiny fox in his arms. Ziyun blinked back.
Meanwhile, Mo Yichen double-checked that no one was watching before swiftly entering his dimension.
The moment he arrived, he dumped everything out of his storage bag.
And by everything, that meant—a few lonely gold taels and exactly two black robes that he had painstakingly bought back in Yin Ci City.
"This is it?!" he deadpanned, staring at his pitiful belongings.
But he had no time to grieve.
With slender fingers, he slipped into one of the robes, adjusting the sleeves and straightening the hem.
After a quick once-over, he nodded in satisfaction.
"Perfect."
Finally, with a dignified air, he exited the dimension and casually strolled back to a clueless Jing Yu.
Jing Yu glanced up and immediately burst into laughter. "Pfft—Hahaha! Brother Mo finally looks more human—cough I mean, handsome! Handsome!"
"..." Mo Yichen's lips twitch at the corner looking at thin little boy showing his teeth. But before he can even think about anything the air around them thickens. Mo Yichen asks in vigilance, "Can you feel it?"
The confused Jing Yu shakes his head but then his eyes widens, "...the ground.. the ground is SHAKING!!"
The moment Mo Yichen asked, a deep thump echoed through the ground, sending a faint vibration beneath their feet.
Both he and Jing Yu flinched, their eyes darting around.
"…What in the—" Jing Yu started, but Mo Yichen immediately raised a finger to his lips, signaling him to shut up. He walks forward towards the disturbance.
Jing Yu, already sensing that following Mo Yichen was probably the dumbest decision of his life, grimaced but still trailed behind him.
They moved cautiously toward the source of the noise, their footsteps light, their breathing shallow. The closer they got, the stronger the scent of blood became.
Then they saw it.
And both of them froze.
A massive, two-tailed fox beast let out a guttural roar, its sleek fur matted with blood, red spots littering its body from deep wounds. Its razor-sharp claws swiped through the air, barely missing its attacker—a towering, coiling monstrosity with gleaming violet scales and sinister golden eyes.
Jing Yu's jaw dropped.
"…What the hell is that?!"
Mo Yichen, on the other hand, had an entirely different reaction.
His eyes sparkled, lips parting in utter awe as if he had just found the holy grail of alchemy.
"Nebula Python!!" he exclaimed, voice filled with excitement.
Jing Yu whipped his head toward him.
"You—you know that thing?!"
Mo Yichen, completely ignoring the ongoing death battle before them, nodded enthusiastically.
"Of course! The Nebula Python was thought to be extinct in my—uh, cough.. But look at it! Its blood essence is so fatal and corrosive that even nascent soul cultivator can die in few breaths!!"
Jing Yu grabbed Mo Yichen's sleeve with his own trembling fingers.
"Tha..that thing lo..looks dangerous—"
Before he could finish, Mo Yichen suddenly sucked in a sharp breath. His temporary excitement vanished.
Oh. Right.
He was just a Qi Two-Star cultivator.
A Gold Core beast could sneeze in his general direction, and he'd be obliterated from existence!!
The realization hit him like a brick.
"…Hahaha," he laughed weakly. "w..we seem to have wandered into an area far beyond our capabilities… hahaha"
What a tragic mistake...!!!
Jing Yu, face paled in an instant.
Before they could contemplate their poor life decisions, the Nebula Python hissed, its enormous, coiling body tightening around the wounded fox. The fox let out a pained growl, its powerful tails smashing against the ground in defiance, but its strength was clearly waning.
Mo Yichen frowned.
Despite his inability to fight either of these creatures, something nagged at him.
This fox… It looks familiar.
His gaze flickered to Ziyun, who sat perched on his shoulder, her small body trembling. But her purple eyes were locked on the larger fox, filled with something that looked a lot like recognition.
Mo Yichen's brows furrowed further.
Wait a minute.
Could it be…
This fox was Ziyun's family?!
His stomach dropped as he looks towards a clearly sorry state of fox.
Jing Yu, still in survival mode, grabbed Mo Yichen's sleeve. "Listen, Brother Mo, I don't know what you're thinking, but we need to leave Now!! Before that python—"
HISSSSS!
The Nebula Python's golden eyes suddenly snapped toward them.
Both Mo Yichen and Jing Yu went rigid.
A beat of silence passed.
Then Mo Yichen, voice barely above a whisper, said:
"Jing Yu…?"
Jing Yu also whispered, "Yeah?"
"Run!!!"
Mo Yichen suddenly grabs his hand, his other arm supporting Ziyun before he bolts.
But before they could get far—
BOOM!
The ground exploded behind them, dust and debris flying as the python launched forward at terrifying speed. Jing Yu loses his balance and falls to the ground, his eyes wide-
Python suddenly turns towards Mo Yichen, or more towards the trembling Ziyun on his shoulder, as the beast looks at her with hungry and malicious eyes.
…Oh, I am so screwed.
Before the enormous python could strike, a sharp white blur shot forward. A delicate yet fierce paw slashed through the serpent's scales, tearing open a deep, oozing wound. Purple, viscous liquid spilled out, sizzling as it hit the ground, releasing an acrid stench into the air.
Mo Yichen didn't need to be told twice—he dodged the corrosive liquid like his life depended on it (which, to be fair, it did) and landed firmly beside a still-trembling Jing Yu.
"You good?" Mo Yichen asked, even though the answer was obvious.
Jing Yu shakily nodded, but his pale face and the way he clung onto Mo Yichen's sleeve like a distressed maiden said otherwise.
Before either of them could process the sheer horror of what was happening, their eyes snapped back to the white fox—the same fox that had just saved their lives.
She barely managed to stand, her once snow-white fur now dirtied and matted, yet her eyes unwavering, glassy flickered towards Mo Yichen, lingering briefly on the trembling little fluffball in his arms—Ziyun.
Then, a cry of agony.
The python coiled around the fox in an instant, its thick, muscular body tightening like a death trap.
Mo Yichen's instincts screamed at him to do something, but his rational side (the one that preferred not dying) made the decision for him.
"Fuck!!" Mo Yichen cursed under his breath, grabbing Jing Yu by the collar and yanking him in the opposite direction.
"W-Wait! The fox—" Jing Yu stammered, still running alongside him.
"We'll mourn later!" Mo Yichen snapped, dragging the younger boy along as they sprinted.
Mo Yichen's mind raced. Wait. WAIT. Why the hell am I running like some weakling when I have a whole-ass dimension to hide in?!
He almost skidded to a stop. That's right! I could've just—
But then he remembered something- Jing Yu.
If he suddenly vanished into thin air, this nosy brat would definitely start asking questions.
Mo Yichen groaned internally. Damn it.
Instead, he glanced at Jing Yu, whose face was practically the color of death. The boy's breath was ragged, his legs barely keeping up.
Mo Yichen's eyes twitch, shifting his grip on Ziyun and pressing her closer as he said internally "Don't worry, Ziyun. Brother Mo will take care of you."
Behind them, the white fox let out another painful howl with a thud noise.