Chapter 31: Finding Liyu (2)
Chapter Thirty-One
"We need to go help her!" Li Feng said as he dashed forward at his maximum speed, hoping to catch up and assist Sister Yue.
The other two, Xie and Jie, immediately followed behind him. No matter how much they liked avoiding danger, neither of them could simply stand by and hope that Li Yuexin would somehow survive fighting four of those beasts on her own.
The journey wasn’t long. However, when the trio finally arrived at the battlefield, they froze. What greeted them was a sight none of them had expected. Lying across the ground were four corpses.
Four Two-Spiked Gorillas. Dead. Their deaths weren’t gruesome. There wasn’t even much evidence of a fierce struggle. The wounds that had ended their lives were smooth, precise, and incredibly clean.
It was almost as if death itself had passed through them. The one responsible for those clean kills sat quietly nearby atop a large boulder. Her gaze was calm. Almost serene.
She stared into the distance, her thoughts seemingly elsewhere. "Wow..." Xie and Jie could only stare. Their mouths hung open in disbelief. They had always known that Junior Sister Yue was talented.
Everyone in the clan knew that. But this... This was ridiculous. This was monstrous. "She is a monster wearing human skin," Xie said with complete sincerity. For once, nobody argued with him.
Li Yuexin was younger than Li Feng, yet her talent completely overshadowed even the clan’s brightest stars. Li Feng himself had been hailed as a genius for reaching the Seventh Stage of the Qi Gathering Realm within only two years of cultivation.
Many elders believed that if he had focused more on cultivation and less on tempering his combat abilities, he would have already broken into the Qi Refining Realm. He was undoubtedly a genius. A true one.
Yet compared to Li Yuexin... Even he appeared somewhat ordinary. She was younger than him by an entire year, yet she had already reached the peak of the Qi Gathering Realm. At any moment, she could step into the Qi Refining Realm.
And that wasn’t even the most frightening thing about her. What truly terrified people was her combat ability. She had just fought four peak-stage beasts of the same realm. Not only had she won... She had won so quickly that the beasts probably never understood how they died.
Even now, her long blue dress remained exactly as it had been when they first entered the forest. Pristine. Elegant. Untouched. Not a single stain. Not a single tear. Not even a speck of dust. That alone spoke volumes about how overwhelmingly powerful she was.
Li Feng himself was shocked. His eyes lingered on the corpses before shifting toward Li Yuexin. Did she really kill all four with a single strike each? He didn’t want to believe it.
But everything before him pointed toward exactly that conclusion. The wounds. The positions of the corpses. The lack of battle marks. Everything told the same story.
Li Feng clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Junior Sister... Just how large has the gap between us become? The thought stung.
Every time he believed he had gotten closer to catching up to her, she would accomplish something outrageous and leave him far behind once again. It was as if no matter how hard he chased after her, the distance only continued to grow.
If this continued... Would he even be worthy of standing beside her in the future? The thought made his heart tighten. No. He couldn’t allow that. He had to become stronger. Stronger and quickly. Otherwise, he would be left behind completely.
Taking a deep breath, Li Feng walked forward. Soon, he reached the boulder where Li Yuexin sat. She still hadn’t spared the trio more than a passing glance. Her attention seemed entirely occupied by something in the distance, or perhaps by her own thoughts.
Li Feng forced a smile onto his face. "Little Sister. You already killed them. I guess you didn’t need my help after all." He laughed lightly and sat down beside her. "You sure have grown," Li Feng said with a chuckle, attempting to lighten her mood.
Li Yuexin finally glanced at him. Then she gave a small nod. "Yes." That was all she said. A simple answer. Nothing more. Then she turned her gaze back toward the distance once again, as if something there continued to pull at her attention.
Her hand moved to the side of her clothes where a small carved female figure rested. It was a small gift she had received from someone special to her. Seeing what she was holding, Li Feng instinctively sighed inwardly.
Even until now, she was still worried about Li Yu, wasn’t she? She had been acting like this for a while now. It was as if she couldn’t live without him. Li Yu had decided to leave on his own accord. No one had forced him after all.
Although Li Feng didn’t hate Li Yu, he also didn’t have much respect or affection for the guy either. Yes, he was his cousin, and yes, his mother was one of the heroes of the clan, but Li Yu himself possessed a broken spirit root. In the eyes of many, he was a disgrace to the clan, a stain upon his parents’ glorious legacy.
One might wonder, if Li Feng truly didn’t care whether Li Yu lived or died, then why was he also searching for him? The answer was simple. He was here for Li Yuexin. She had stubbornly entered the Beast Forest despite countless warnings and instructions, all because she wanted to find Li Yu.
As for the brothers Xie and Jie, they were Li Feng’s loyal friends, so naturally they had tagged along. It had already been four days since they entered the Beast Forest, yet there wasn’t even the slightest trace of Li Yu.
Someone with no cultivation and no combat power to speak of should have long since died in a place like this. Honestly, this entire search felt like a complete waste of time and effort.
Yet no matter how much he tried to explain that simple fact to Yuexin, she refused to listen. In fact, he risked making her angry every time he brought it up, which was why he had mostly refrained from doing so.
However, the deeper they went, the stronger the beasts they encountered became. Surely now he needed to convince her to give up. Li Yu was most likely dead already.
"Junior Sister Yue, I think we should go back. There is no way Li Yu would have made it this far into the Beast Forest, and the fact that we still haven’t found a single trace of him probably means that he has long since died."
The moment those words left his mouth, Li Yuexin’s eyes flickered with deep fear. For a brief second, her heart seemed to stop beating. Her mind unwillingly pictured a horrifying scene: Li Yu being torn apart by savage spirit beasts.
His blood staining the earth. His body disappearing beneath countless jaws. Her chest tightened painfully. The mere thought of it made her heart ache. Immediately, she pushed the image away and turned toward Li Feng. Her expression was cold.
Dangerously cold. "Don’t say another word about Brother Yu being dead," she said. Her voice, usually warm and pleasant, was now colder than ice. Her gaze matched it perfectly. "Say it one more time, and I will make you regret it."
Li Feng leaned back slightly, his expression becoming serious. He knew Li Yuexin wasn’t making an empty threat. If he angered her enough, she would absolutely make him regret it. So he wisely remained silent.
Li Yuexin slowly stood up. The coldness in her eyes faded, returning to their usual calm state. "Brother Feng, I’m grateful for your help so far," she said smoothly. "So if you’re tired, you can leave. Don’t worry about me. I can handle myself."
Her fingers lightly touched the small wooden figure resting at her side. The coldness in her gaze softened slightly. "As for Brother Yu... I believe he is still alive. And I will find him, no matter how long it takes. No matter how dangerous things become, I will find him."
Just as he always found me... Those final words remained unspoken, whispered only within her heart. "Goodbye for now." The moment she finished speaking, she launched herself forward and disappeared into the distance.
Li Feng watched her leave, his brows slowly furrowing. Just what had Li Yu done to make her so obsessed with him? He was stronger than Li Yu. Faster than Li Yu. More talented than Li Yu. Better than him in almost every category imaginable.
Yet she barely spared him a glance. "Brother Feng, are we returning?" Li Xie asked uncertainly. Personally, if they were really returning, he would be more than happy with that decision.
Unfortunately, he knew Li Feng far too well, especially when it came to Li Yuexin. The answer was obvious. "Of course not," Li Feng said, narrowing his eyes. "We’ll follow her. Don’t forget that she is the princess of our clan. She must not be allowed to come to harm."
The moment he finished speaking, he dashed forward after her. Xie and Jie exchanged glances. Delicate princess, our ass. She was more like a battle queen. Didn’t Li Feng realize that she could probably wipe the floor with all three of them combined?
"Should we just go back?" Xie asked while staring at Li Feng’s retreating figure. Jie shook his head. "No. Let’s follow them. Our help might be needed."
He paused briefly before adding, "We don’t want the two brightest stars of our clan getting into trouble now, do we?" Xie nodded immediately. "Yeah. The Clan Lord would be furious if he heard about it."
Having reached the same conclusion, the two brothers quickly followed after Li Feng, disappearing deeper into the Beast Forest behind the others.
Several minutes later, the four stood beside a cluster of massive ancient trees, using them as natural cover against any beasts that might be lurking nearby.
Xie reached into his green robe and pulled out a small round monocle-like glass before carefully placing it over his right eye. As he rotated the angle of the lens slightly, his vision sharpened to an astonishing degree almost instantly.
The reason for this was simple. The glass wasn’t an ordinary monocle. It was called the Spear Eye, a mid-grade artifact belonging to the Li Clan. The artifact was capable of enhancing a person’s vision more than a hundred times, allowing them to see distant objects with incredible clarity and precision.
Once Xie activated the artifact, his gaze immediately extended outward. Things hundreds of meters away became as clear as if they were right in front of him. He slowly scanned the surroundings. One hundred meters. One hundred and fifty. Two hundred.
Then suddenly... He froze. A drop of sweat slid down the side of his face. His body shivered involuntarily. The color drained from his face.
"Hey, Xie... what do you see?" Jie asked, looking at his younger brother, who suddenly appeared as though he had seen a ghost. Xie swallowed hard before speaking.
"Guys..." His voice trembled slightly. "There is trouble. A big one up ahead." Jie rolled his eyes slightly. As far as he was concerned, his younger brother had always been overly dramatic whenever danger was involved.
Believing that Xie was simply exaggerating again, Jie snatched the Spear Eye from him and placed it over his own eye. Then he activated it. His vision immediately sharpened.
He began scanning the area ahead. At first, his expression remained calm. Then slowly... Very slowly... His face became white. The more he saw, the paler his face became. His knees started trembling.
The confidence in his eyes disappeared. His breathing grew heavier. Then suddenly, he stumbled backward. If Li Feng hadn’t grabbed his robe in time, he would have fallen straight onto the ground. "What is it?" Li Feng immediately asked
. His tone was tense. "What did you see that scared you this much?" If it had only been Xie acting this way, Li Feng wouldn’t have been too concerned. After all, Xie was afraid of practically everything.
But Jie? Jie wasn’t like that. If even Jie was reacting this way, then it could only mean one thing. Something was terribly wrong. Jie tried to stabilize himself, but he couldn’t. His heart continued racing wildly inside his chest.
The image of what he had just seen kept replaying inside his mind. He took a deep breath. Then another. Only after several seconds did he finally manage to speak. His voice was hoarse. Filled with fear. "What I saw..." He repeated the words slowly.
Li Feng frowned. "What did you see?" Jie let out a hollow chuckle. The sound carried no humor. Only dread. Then he uttered a single word. "Death." Silence immediately descended. Li Feng’s expression darkened.
Even Li Yuexin turned toward him. Jie’s eyes stared directly at Li Feng as if trying to convey the horror he had witnessed. Then he repeated himself. Word for word. "I saw death up ahead."
