Chapter 28: Morning Glow Spreading Across the Sky

“Are there human heads on the trees?”“On the vines.”“Could it be that the heads of those headless skeletons on the ground have all turned into part of the vines?”“All I know is, if we don’t run faster, we’ll soon have two more heads hanging there.”

Li Weiyi sprinted through the dense forest with Gao Huan on his shoulder. From the trees behind them, there was a constant, rapid rustling sound of something moving swiftly, accompanied by various guttural, human-like laughs.

Reaching a canyon, they looked back.In the dark blue sky, a thick vine, like a monstrous python, shot out from the cliff. Numerous heads swayed on it, reaching up into the hundred-meter mist-covered sky.

“Run!”They crossed streams and leaped over ravines.Even when they couldn’t hear the vine’s sounds, they dared not stop.

When they were utterly exhausted and the vine still hadn’t caught up, Gao Huan took over carrying Li Weiyi. On his back, Li Weiyi practiced the Jade Void Breathing Technique to regain his breath and strength as quickly as possible.

The two relayed carrying each other, or ran together, fleeing for their lives all night long.

When they finally burst out of the dark, misty, dense forest, they could no longer hold on. They sat down one after the other, then collapsed, lying limply on the grass of a hillside.

Their sweat had dried, their strength was depleted, as if their souls had been drained.

“I can’t run anymore, I really can’t. Old Li, you go on ahead… don’t worry about me… just let me hang there. One more step and I’ll die.” Gao Huan lay sprawled on the ground, utterly exhausted, wishing only to sleep there indefinitely.

“Then I’ll hang there too!”Li Weiyi was equally tired; he only felt how soft the ground was and how warm the sky.

He took a deep breath...“Huh!”The sinister, decaying, moldy smell from the forest was gone.

Li Weiyi’s eyelids fluttered open, then he rolled over and sat up. He slapped Gao Huan’s backside, roaring with laughter: “Gao Fish Soup, get up, get up! That vine monster didn’t follow us. We’ve reached the human world! Blue sky, white clouds, green grass, wildflowers... Hahaha...”

The morning glow was soft, and a gentle breeze swept over the mountains.These things, so ordinary on Earth, appeared to Li Weiyi at that moment like a fairy tale world, something only seen in dreams.

The most ordinary human world was more precious than any fairyland to the two who had endured darkness, slaughter, monsters, hunger, and anxiety.

Li Weiyi closed his eyes and took a deep breath.The scent of soil, fragrant grass, wildflowers... even the blue sky and white clouds, all seemed so sweet and captivating.

All their exhaustion vanished in an instant.

Gao Huan finally sat up, surveyed his surroundings, and grinned foolishly like Li Weiyi. Then, like a madman, he scrambled and rolled towards a goose-yellow wildflower, plucked it, and vigorously sniffed it at his nose, repeating, “This is the smell... this is the smell...”

After fleeing all night, their faces, hands, legs, and clothes were covered in thorn scratches. Their sweat had dried and re-wet multiple times, leaving them looking utterly disheveled.

Once they had calmed down somewhat,Pains, exhaustion, and hunger assailed them with a vengeance.

The food and water they had carried were long gone, dropped somewhere in a ditch or a stream. Yet, non-edible items like the Yellow Dragon Sword, the Evil Camel Bell, and their money pouch had not been lost.

The two lay back down.Gao Huan chewed on the wildflower, saying weakly, “We can’t just lie here. We can eat grass roots and then find a stream to drink our fill.”

“Yes, and if we could find a human town, take a hot bath, and get a bowl of noodle soup with cilantro, I wouldn’t trade it for being an immortal,” Li Weiyi said.

Gao Huan’s eyes lit up again at Li Weiyi’s words, and he swallowed hard with his parched throat: “No cilantro for me... I want braised beef...”

Suddenly,A deep, resonant voice boomed from above their heads: “What are you two muttering about?”

The two, who had been utterly exhausted, tired, and starving, instantly sat up as if jolted by electricity.Slowly, they turned their heads.Following the shadow cast on the ground, they looked up.

They saw a powerfully built man, in his early thirties, standing on a nearby hillside. He had thick eyebrows, large eyes, a slightly broad face, and long, slightly curly hair. His skin was rough but remarkably textured.

Gao Huan didn’t understand what he was saying, but he could feel the imposing aura emanating from the man.

Li Weiyi felt it even more intensely.This person’s capability was definitely far superior to his; otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to appear there without a sound. He knew that even in his state of extreme exhaustion, he had never completely let down his guard.

Just now, while lying on the ground joking with Gao Huan, he had constantly been circulating hot and cold air currents to recuperate his utterly fatigued body and regain his strength as quickly as possible.

What was terrifying was not just the other party’s aura and cultivation.It was the ruthless disregard for life in his eyes, a look that could only be cultivated by someone who had killed countless individuals.

Shi Jiuzhai chuckled and chided them: “Were you two sent out for reconnaissance? Why are you so disheveled? Did you perhaps encounter a fiend demon or a departed spirit?”

Li Weiyi understood the general meaning of Shi Jiuzhai’s words and instantly realized.It was the clothes he and Gao Huan were wearing that had caused the other party to have some kind of misunderstanding.

The clothes the other man wore also resembled monk’s robes.But they weren’t brown; they were holly green.

How should they explain this?Could they even explain it?Tell the other person that they had stripped the clothes off dead bodies and put them on?The other person would probably be more inclined to believe that they had killed people and stolen their money.

Li Weiyi dared not gamble on the other man’s disposition, so he quickly nodded, feigning extreme fright. Gesturing as he spoke, he stammered: “Fiend demon! Lots of heads... vines... this thick...”

Although he had learned the language of this world, it was very rusty from years of disuse.However, this perfectly matched his current state.

“You encountered the Thousand-Headed Dragon Vine?”A clear look of apprehension flashed in Shi Jiuzhai’s eyes. He strode down the hillside and, from a distance, struck a palm towards Li Weiyi.

The palm force whistled.Li Weiyi felt only a fierce wind and towering waves assailing him, his body like a lone boat in a deep sea. He thought something had gone wrong and he had been seen through by the other party. He could only grit his teeth, mobilize the hot and cold air currents from the spring apertures in his feet, and strike out with both palms.

Then, it was time to fight for his life!

“Boom!”Li Weiyi was sent flying, feeling as if his internal organs were about to shatter. He couldn’t get up again.

“Haha, no wonder you managed to escape. You little wolf cub, you’ve already opened three spring apertures, haven’t you? For your age, that’s not bad.”

Shi Jiuzhai walked up to Gao Huan, gripped his cheek with a large hand, examined him carefully, and exclaimed in surprise: “There’s even a Pure Immortal Body? Why is there no magical power inside him? Has he just undergone transformation?”

Li Weiyi didn’t understand “little wolf cub” or “three spring apertures” at all.He had only opened two spring apertures in his feet; where were three?However, he understood that the other party wasn’t suspicious but was testing his strength. Fearing Gao Huan would give them away, he quickly said, “That’s right... he just successfully transformed...”

“The Thousand-Headed Dragon Vine must have already eaten its fill, otherwise you two definitely wouldn’t have escaped.”Shi Jiuzhai released his pincer-like fingers and asked, “Whose subordinates are you two?”

Li Weiyi guessed that their attire might represent a certain faction. This person in front of them was likely an influential figure within that faction.

Thousands of thoughts flashed through Li Weiyi’s mind in an instant, and he smiled, “Of course, we two belong to you, Your Excellency.”

“Haha, you’re a quick-witted one! Good, from now on, you will follow this King!”

Shi Jiuzhai walked back up the hillside, his tiger-like eyes fixed on the long, narrow, shaded river valley between the two mountains below. On both sides of the valley, the mountains rose majestically and steeply, soaring over a thousand meters high.

A dirt road had been carved out by the river, and a massive coffin-bearing procession continuously emerged from the mist-shrouded side.

Li Weiyi and Gao Huan, dragging their exhausted bodies, climbed the low slope and appeared beside Shi Jiuzhai.

The terrain here was very high, offering a vast view.As far as the eye could see,

Under the morning sun, ancient peaks and mountains were all enveloped in white morning mist and warm dawn glow, appearing like the earth’s dragon spine extending to the horizon and gradually fading into nothingness.

The sky was vast and the land wide. The wind billowed their robes like flags, giving a feeling of boundless heroism.

The coffin-bearing procession in the river valley below looked like ants, all dressed in grayish-white sackcloth. Four people carried each coffin, and a thousand coffins moved in unison, stretching out like a long white snake.

Chants echoed between the mountains on both banks, and the sound of beast hooves galloping back and forth could be heard.

Paper money was scattered all over the dirt road, some swept up by the wind, drifting to both banks of the great river.

The foremost coffin was made of a silver-like material, bound with hemp ropes, and was as large as a multi-room house, possibly capable of holding hundreds of people. It was placed on a cart pulled by a colossal green ox, larger than an elephant, and the sound of its wheels could be clearly heard even from a thousand meters away in the empty valley.

Li Weiyi asked, “Were all these salvaged from the Sea of Blood?”

“What else?”Shi Jiuzhai chuckled, “The Jiuli clan makes a fortune by salvaging coffins from other realms in the Sea of Blood Coffin Dock and selling them throughout the twenty-eight states of Lingxiao. It’s such a lucrative, no-cost business, yet only they can do it. Who wouldn’t be envious?”

“Starting today, our Earth Wolf King Army will also take a share of this business.”“The world is already in chaos; how can Lizhou remain peaceful on its own?”

“Come on, let’s head back to the main camp first and wait for them at Dragon Kill Pass ahead.”

Shi Jiuzhai exhaled a puff of gray mist. The wind was strong, and the gray mist spread several zhang away, enveloping Li Weiyi and Gao Huan. Then, he moved rapidly, traversing cliffs and walls in strides of several dozen meters, rushing down the mountain on the other side.

Li Weiyi and Gao Huan, enveloped in the gray mist, felt as if they were wrapped in dense clouds, weightless, constantly flying behind Shi Jiuzhai.

“Exhaling mist to form clouds, crossing cliffs in a single stride. Is he still human?”Such thoughts appeared in both their minds.

Li Weiyi was extremely worried. This person’s status within his faction must be very high, so it was normal for him not to remember subordinates. But once they returned to the main camp, they would surely be exposed.What kind of death would await them then?

He had to find a way to escape as quickly as possible.At this moment, Li Weiyi no longer had any thoughts of tracking the Bone Demon or rescuing Cai Yutong; he only felt that he and Gao Huan were on the verge of death.