Yaksha, surprisingly, had a spare black mask that would fit the face of its wearer.
San Zhe had looked at him with worshipful eyes while Cheng Xiu gave the man a judging gaze.
Yaksha was unperturbed by it.
He always carried around all the necessities just in case he damaged his present equipment and did not see anything wrong with his actions.
Cheng Xiu turned to Yaksha as San Zhe went behind a tree to change his clothes. "Yous aid that the river should be safe but it wasn't."
Yaksha nodded. "It would seem that the stone would attract the creatures of this forest towards it despite only being partially activated. It is not something that you should keep out in the open, just in case you are attacked again."
Cheng Xiu immediately put the stone in her storage ring and stared into the space.
"Have we not spent too much time here already?" Yaksha asked.
"What?"
"Are you feeling any headaches or uncomfortable anywhere?"
Cheng Xiu shook her head.
San Zhe ran towards them. The robe he wore was a pale yellow robe that had black embroidery along its hem.
"You look good," Cheng Xiu said to him.
"Let us leave then," Yaksha said. His voice was cold.
San Zhe shivered at the tone of the expert. Did he offend the Lord Yaksha somehow? Did he not want to actually share his clothes or masks with San Zhe and only did it to keep his face? Was he expecting San Zhe to refuse his kindness? But he couldn't do that! He was not powerful enough to actually refuse the Immortals anything.
The three began their journey towards the Hill ranges once again, with Cheng Xiu in the middle of both men.
The Dual Gem was indeed an attractive thing for the creatures of the forest.
Soon Cheng Xiu was the target of many watchers in the forest area.
San Zhe's eyes fell on the creatures that hid in the shadows of the dense woods with a bone-chilling fear in his heart. He had never witnessed so many creatures in one place ever before.
San Zhe screamed in fright when he thought that something had leapt at him from above.
It was a fallen leaf.
Cheng Xiu looked at him for a moment.
San Zhe blushed. "Let us ignore what just happened okay?"
Cheng Xiu shrugged and went forward again.
She looked towards all the sides of the forest, her mind occupied by many thoughts.
Why were they not attacking them even though they clearly wanted to?
Cheng Xiu then felt slight negative energy from her left. She turned to find that Yaksha was covered completely in a black mist.
"Brother Yaksha," Cheng Xiu began.
"Call me Yaksha," he said. "I have told you that already."
Cheng Xiu nodded. "Yaksha…can I just call you Dage then?"
Dage? Yaksha looked at her in surprise. Big Brother? He had once tried to get her to call him exactly that only for her to refuse, saying that she would only do that if she did not know who he was.
Yaksha had tried a myriad of ways to disguise himself so that he could get her to call that, but Cheng Xiu seemed to always find out that it was him in the end.
"Okay," he said, his dead heart showing that it existed for the first time in a long while. "I will be more than happy to be your Dage."
San Zhe frowned. There was a subtle sense of gloating that was coming from the expert. San Zhe shook his head. He was thinking too much. Why would the expert feel triumphant about Cheng Xiu calling him big brother?
"Dage," Cheng Xiu called, unaware of the thoughts of the petty man in front of her. "Are you okay?"
"I am. Why do you ask?"
Cheng Xiu looked at the black mist that had decapitated a lot. "Nothing…just casually asking…"
Yaksha nodded, though his mind tried to think of a reason that she would ask this.
San Zhe felt his feet become havier as he walked along with the other two. His steps slowed down, and very slowly he started to fall behind.
Cheng Xiu frowned and looked behind.
Her eyes widened.
San Zhe saw Cheng Xiu look back and stop.
Was she waiting for him?
San Zhe felt his heart melt. Sister Xiu was so kind despite being such a powerful person. His admiration for her grew.
Cheng Xiu's eyes narrowed behind the mask, and she released the intricately decorated sword from her waist.
San Zhe froze in his steps. "Sister Xiu?"
Cheng Xiu raised the weapon in her hand and dashed forwards.
San Zhe stumbled back in shock. The goodwill that he had created for Cheng Xiu in his heart started to crumble as a sense of being betrayed entered instead.
Cheng Xiu swiped the sword towards his ankle.
San Zhe let out a scream as he closed his eyes in fear.
After some time he realised that he seemed to not be in the dorm at all. Instead, he seemed to still be in the Forest from the small sounds that reached his ears.
San Zhe opened his eyes slowly to see Cheng Xiu sheath her sword again.
"Are you okay?" the girl asked him.
San Zhe blinked at her in confusion. "Huh?"
"Your leg had that weird centipede around it," Cheng Xiu explained. "Did you not feel it?"
San Zhe gaped at her in confusion for a moment and then looked down at his feet.
There laid a weird centipede thing that looked far too large to be a centipede. Its midsection was slashed open and the weird watery substance that was its blood had spilt all over him.
"So that was what you were aiming for," San Zhe whispered.
"Or else?" Cheng Xiu asked in confusion. "Anyway, brother San, why don't you walk in front of me and Dage will walk in front of you? This way, we can protect you better!"
San Zhe blushed in embarrassment. He was supposed to be the one who said that but now, it was sister Xiu who said those words to him.