Chapter 65: A Thirsty Man

''Help!'' It was a man's voice.

We increased our pace but it was coming from a little farther away. Du Gering sent Ule and a few other scouts to check up on who was crying ahead.

The pathway through this forest was narrow. Tall and short but all without or with a little amount of dried leaves, the trees stood around us.

One after another, we went past these trees. The cry enveloped their thick dried up barks, it went bouncing on the spread out twigs and branches.

When we reached Ule and the others, we saw them helping a rather young man stand up. He didn't seem to have any injuries nor was there any beast threatening him.

So, why was he shouting in the middle of a forest, and why was he here alone?

These questions were in the mind of not just me but also in everyone's mind.

The young man introduced himself as a treasure hunter. He told us that he had come here to search for a legendary cauldron which could refine any body to supreme grade. His name was Hao Gosai and he had a thin build of a medium height.

''Did you come here alone, in this forest?'' asked Du Aini. She was suspicious of this young man just like myself.

He immediately asked to drink water when we met. He did not have a bag with him nor any tools a treasure hunter would usually bring to a forest such as this.

''My friends, I came with them but they all disappeared!'' He waved his hands around. We were all sweating due to the day's heat, yet he looked fine.

Well, not as fine, his lips were parched. Maybe he hadn't gotten to drink water for a long time.

''What about your supplies? No one will come here for a stroll.'' Du Aini narrowed her eyes while a few merchants spoke of bandits.

It was strange, however. We weren't even a quarter way through the forest. The canyon was far away and the city was farther.

Bandit groups also required food and water, after all. We didn't have to have a high intelligence to figure out no bandit would hide out here of all places.

Hao Gosai was at rank 5, average among the practitioners in our group. He had no weapon with him and wore loose gray robes.

After drinking five gulps of water, he thanked us and told us that we shouldn't roam in this forest.

"We always go through this dry forest every year." The chief waved her stick.

"You and your treasure hunting friends must be new to this forest and got lost."

They then whispered something to each other and even with my spirit sense, I couldn't quite catch what she and her children talked about.

Hao Gosai was taken into our group at one condition. He would have to be the merchants' guard while he remained with us.

"Something about that man doesn't seem right," said Ling'er and I agreed with her.

We started moving once again only to stop when the footsteps disappeared. However, the merchants knew their way, they had to know. We sometimes turned left and sometimes right. I didn't know we would have to go through such winding paths.

A few hours went by.

Chunu patted the craoca's head two times quickly and it stopped. It was also trained and my sister had figured out about this herself.

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We just had to pull on the beast's furs and keep holding for five seconds to make it run. Hitting its horns was only a way to provoke it.

"I'll come back quickly," she hurriedly said and got down from the craoca's back. I signaled Feng Yi to follow her.

Judging by how she was holding her skirt, I could guess that she had gone to pee. We were moving slowly this afternoon and the heat had gotten way less scorching compared to back when we first left Pinchu.

Lou Shila switched with Ling'er to sit on the beast's back. She moved a little closer and passed me a straw hat.

"You'll need it." she said.

'Where did she get lipstick in this place?' thought I, taking the hat from her hands.

"Imagine what would happen if a small fire broke out here."

"Don't jinx it, Hao Gosai."

I heard the men chatting ahead. The children sat on the camels' back which were busy smelling the leaves and chewing twigs.

More greenery had appeared as we went deeper. This many trees and dry grasses were a feast to the camels, even though other herbivores would most likely snort or scrunch their noses smelling the flora here.

"You guys, come faster!" shouted Ule from ahead. They hadn't stopped for us.

Ling'er took out a bottle from the left bag. It was covered with wet cloth to keep the water cool.

Chunu and Feng Yi came when she finished drinking.

"What took you two so long?" Shila asked and Feng Yi put on a grave expression.

"We saw bones over there. A lot of dead birds, their feathers were all over the place." She pointed to the left behind a jumble of bushes. The soil was yellowish black.

"Could be an animal. I don't think demon beasts would prey on simple birds-"

I told Ling'er to stop as my ears picked up on something. It was a voice that seemed to be crying. A bit similar to…

''Where is Hao Gosai?!'' They all looked around. The treasure hunter was gone. Nothing, not even a shadow of him remained. They had just been talking to him earlier.

I suddenly got down from our mount and took out the Qi locating compass from my personal bag. The merchants looked at me confusedly as I went ahead while Chunu and Feng Yi called out to me.

I didn't care to stop and explain. Holding the compass in my hands, I ran between the trees having mismatched heights. The merchants followed me along with the guards.

The scouts came to my side and asked me if I had seen Hao Gosai. I didn't answer. Soon, they also heard the ethereal voice.

Its indicator violently vibrating, the compass pointed straight ahead, at someone who had a body of medium build and parched lips.

''Help- ah, please give me water!'' begged the young man wearing loose gray robes.

The scouts beside me widened their eyes while I clenched my teeth. I looked around myself. This place looked familiar.

Trees nearly naked with dry barks, sparse dried leaves on their twigs and narrow pathways.. We were back here once again and… we were lost.

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