Chapter 588: Welcoming Ceremony

Chapter 588 Welcoming Ceremony

Soo Soo, who was seated on the grassy ground, stood up and walked some distance away.

In the beginning, neither Tian Lie nor Nicole paid any heed to her actions. They had assumed that this little girl was looking around. However, after observing her for a while, they noticed that Soo Soo was moving closer to the forest.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Tian Lie asked loudly.

“Finding something,” replied Soo Soo without even turning her head back.

“What are you looking for?”

Soo Soo sighed and shrugged. She then turned backward to face the two ‘adults’.

“Your reactions are really dull.” Blinking her eyes, Soo Soo pointed at Tian Lie and asked, “You say you cannot find any fish in the river?”

“Err, yes.”

“What about you? You did not see any birds up above the trees?” Soo Soo pointed at Nicole.

Nicole nodded.

“That is why you two believe that this world has no other life forms?” Soo Soo continued her questions.

The two of them grew silent.

“If so, where did the squirrel come from?” This question from Soo Soo dumbfounded Nicole.

Tian Lie knitted his brows and said “Squirrel? What squirrel?”

“A squirrel.” Soo Soo gestured with her hand for a bit before continuing, “It is about this big, furry and very, very cute. Sis Nicole had caught it for me to play with.”

Tian Lie turned to look at Nicole, who froze for a moment. Her face was filled with confusion as she looked back at Tian Lie.

“You caught her squirrel?”

Back then, Tian Lie was in front, using the machete to hack open a path. Thus, he had not seen Soo Soo holding the squirrel.

At present, there was confusion within Nicole’s eyes. She subconsciously shook her head and said, “I… … do not remember that.” She then raised her voice and asked, “Soo Soo, did it happen back in the forest?”

“Yes. I saw that there was a squirrel on a tree and thought that it looked cute. You then helped me catch it so that I can play around with it. After that… … after holding it for a while, I let it go. Because it appeared very terrified.”

There was a very solemn look on Tian Lie’s face as he looked at Nicole. “You cannot remember anything about that at all?”

“… … no.” Nicole said, “No such thing happened.”

Tian Lie suddenly stood up. Seriousness was reflected upon his eyes as he checked their surroundings.

Nicole had likewise realized that there was something wrong. She quickly made her way to stand before Soo Soo. Crouching down, she asked in a serious tone, “Are you certain that incident had occurred?”

“Yes.”

“If so… … we have a problem.” Nicole took a deep breath. “Either something happened to my memory – someone messed around with it – or… … it is… … something happened to yours. Someone had inserted an illusion into it.”

“I have a way to test it out.” Tian Lie suddenly smiled and walked to stand before Soo Soo. “How old are you?”

“… ten years old, what about it?”

“Which grade are you in right now?”

“Fourth grade?” Soo Soo frowned. “Your questions are very strange.”

“A fourth-grade primary school student, eh? If that is the case, your general knowledge must likely be not that good… … mm, don’t frown. I will ask you one more question. Do you know about fire?”

Soo Soo rolled her eyes. Next, she stretched out her hand and a clump of flames burst out from her outstretched palm.

“Mm, that is right. Your skill is fire. In that case… … let’s do an experiment.” Tian Lie grinned. “Soo Soo, I have another question for you. There is no need for you to think about it, just answer it spontaneously, can you?”

“Sure.”

“I want you to think, if a fire is ignited here, how long would it take for a large tree to burn up?”

“Probably… … very fast.” Following Tian Lie’s request, Soo Soo did not think much about it and simply answered what came to mind. “Trees are wood. Wood burns quickly, no?”

“Mm, very good.” Tian Lie did not attempt to correct Soo Soo’s error. “If so, let’s give it a try. You, set fire to the forest.”

“Eh?” The little girl became stunned. “But… … setting things on fire is not a good thing.”

“It is just an experiment.” Tian Lie smiled and continued, “Do it!”

The seriousness on his face caused Soo Soo to hesitate for a moment. In the end, she slowly nodded. After that, this little girl turned around to face the lush forest, both her hands slowly rising up…

Red light burst out!

…

“Since the other side is observing us, trying another such test would be pointless.” Chen Xiaolian spread his hands and looked at Hossein. “I have already verified what I wanted to verify. Next up… … let’s hurry to meet up with the other side! Follow the instructions given by the signboards!”

Hossein had a calm look on his face and he nodded silently. Next, he held Jenny by her shoulder and said, “If so, let us head out.”

The four of them moved on following the direction indicated by the signboard. After moving for over one hour, they saw a second signboard. Then, a third… … and a fourth…

Finally, after reaching the fourth signboard, they reached a mountain peak.

Before them was a very deep cave. The signboard indicated that they should move into the cave.

Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath and shouted. “Hey! Following your request, we have arrived! We are now going to enter!”

The sound echoed around but no one responded.

“Let us go!” After a moment’s consideration, Chen Xiaolian pulled out another sword from his Storage Watch and gripped it in his hand. After thinking about it some more, he retrieved another two protective suits. He gave the suits to Lin Leyan and Jenny and had them wear them.

After doing all that, Chen Xiaolian began moving. He took the lead and stepped into the cave.

The cave passageway was very dark. However, it was not too narrow. Hossein was at the rear position, a glowstick in his hand and a hard look on his face.

The deeper they went, Chen Xiaolian found that the air in the cave grew more damp. There was also a trace of warmth in the air.

“There is sound up front.” Chen Xiaolian suddenly halted his steps to listen.

It would appear that there was a rushing sound at the end of the cave passageway. It was… …

“The sound of water!” Hossein said heavily.

They continued moving forward. After making their way through two bends, light suddenly shone before them.

The rushing sound of water greeted them, echoing throughout the cave in a deafening manner.

The ground beneath them had also become wet and slippery. Chen Xiaolian turned around to hold Lin Leyan. After that, the four of them continued forward. Surprisingly, there was a water curtain at the end of the cave passageway.

A waterfall spilled down from above the cave, creating a curtain of water, which blocked the cave. The outside area appeared bright. Clearly, they had made it out of the cave.

“We have reached the end.”

Chen Xiaolian shouted loudly amid the deafening echoes of the rushing water.

Hossein gestured with his hand and shouted back, “Go have a look! See if there is any way out!”

Chen Xiaolian jumped onto a piece of rock and moved to the edge. There, he looked beyond the water curtain. However, the thick layer of water curtain blocked his vision and he was unable to get a clear view of the outside. It only allowed light to pierce through it.

That made Chen Xiaolian and Hossein surprised.

The reason for that… … when they had stepped into this cave from the other end earlier, the sky had turned dark.

At present, having made their way to the other end of the cave, there was light?

“There at the edge! There is an exit!” Chen Xiaolian waved his sword and used it to point.

Hossein turned and saw it. There beside the edge of the water curtain was a small forking path leading to an exit point. The light coming from the outside was clearer there.

The four of them made their way there. After entering the forking path, they made a turn. Instantly, the surroundings before them expanded.

Finally, they had made it out of the cave.

It was a very large valley.

There were lush and verdant plants as far as the eye could see. They covered the entire valley. There were birds and flowers. Beside them, the sound of the waterfall roared. They turned and saw that the waterfall was roughly 20 metres to their left. It poured down from the top of the mountain, covering the direct entrance to the cave. As for them, they were standing on a rocky platform beside the waterfall. The rocky platform was around five to six metres wide and it overlooked a cliff that was tens of metres high.

Looking further down, they saw flourishing grasses and trees on the ground.

At the centre of this valley scene was the stunning sun, which shone its light down upon them. Beneath the waterfall, down at the foot of the mountain, was a pool. A rainbow rose up from the surface of the pool.

The item that shocked them the most was the thing standing amid the valley. At a spot roughly hundreds of metres away from them was a towering castle.

The castle seemed to be constructed from black coloured stones. It had an ancient look and was filled with an air of solemnity. Within this verdant valley filled with birds and flowers, it looked totally out of place.

The moisture in the air, the result of the falling waterfall, caused Lin Leyan’s hair to turn wet. She wiped her forehead and shouted at Chen Xiaolian, “What should we do?”

“Go down!” Chen Xiaolian pointed to the distant castle. “That should be the place!”

After saying that, Chen Xiaolian crouched down to allow Lin Leyan to get on his back. He carried her and moved to the edge of the cliff. He took a deep breath and said, “What happens next might be a little shocking, but… … do not be afraid!”

Lin Leyan said nothing. However, her hands, which were hugging Chen Xiaolian’s neck area, tightened.

Chen Xiaolian jumped.

His body plummeted down the valley. The roaring winds assailed Lin Leyan’s ears and she felt as though her drumming heart was on the verge of jumping out from her body. All she could do was to tightly hold onto Chen Xiaolian’s neck area so as to not end up screaming.

Chen Xiaolian, on the other hand, had his eyes opened wide. His eyes were fixed upon the area beneath his feet. Seeing that the distance between him and the ground was growing short, he thrust the sword in his hand onto the surface of the wall.

Kacha!

When the tip of the sword made contact with the rocky wall, a flash of golden light burst out as he unleashed his [S] class power. However, the sword broke instantly, failing to pierce through the rocky wall. Thankfully, after breaking, the remaining shard on the hilt remained in contact with the surface of the rocky wall. It skidded down, creating sparks as it did. Thanks to that, Chen Xiaolian’s fall speed slowed down considerably.

Chen Xiaolian’s feet kicked out and he jumped through the air once more. When Lin Leyan felt a shudder run through her body, she reflexively shut her eyes.

A few seconds later, she heard Chen Xiaolian’s voice coming from beside her ear.

“All right, we have safely landed. You can open your eyes… … err, you can also loosen your hands around my neck a bit.”

Lin Leyan blushed. She got down and looked at Chen Xiaolian, who smiled at her. Next, though, he pulled her aside to make way for the others.

Above them, the wind whistled as Hossein, who held onto Jenny in his arms, fell down from above.

When there was around seven or eight metres between them and the ground, a silvery clump of light suddenly burst out from Hossein’s feet. A gentle force seemingly came to bear as he slowly floated down to the ground.

“Let us go. We will head to the castle. I really want to see how the fellows who have been secretly watching us look like,” said Hossein coldly after putting his wife down.

The four of them walked across the grassy land toward the castle. After walking over 100 metres, they reached the edge of a forest. Earlier, they had been able to clearly see the terrain here. As long as they made it through this forest that was several hundred metres in length, they would reach the castle. 

The forest before them was luxuriantly verdant, brimming with life and vitality. They could faintly hear the sound of birds from the forest. It sounded like a place of harmony.

After the four of them stepped into the forest…

Suddenly, a clap of thunder broke through the sky.

In but an instant, clouds gathered and the originally clear sky with a sun hanging overhead was covered by the clouds. The sky immediately darkened. Next, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled as a heavy storm descended.

The four of them stood at the edge of the forest and observed the rain falling down upon the grassy land beyond. As for the forest, it had a dense canopy. Thus, at that moment, the rain was not falling down too heavily within the forest. However, due to the clouds above, it had grown considerably darker. Occasionally, after a lightning streaked through the sky, the accompanying clap of thunder could almost overpower the distant sound of the waterfall.

“What an interesting welcoming ceremony.” Chen Xiaolian sneered.

…