Chapter 70: A River That Separates

The forest fire spread like a disease. From left to right, it traveled through the land where dried up leaves and bushes lay, catching other trees by their touching twigs and branches. Sometimes, the wind just helped it leap over any obstacle that wouldn't burn.

We felt the heat invade our bodies but didn't let ourselves be subjected to its burning effects. The beast got rid of the medicine's effect while it was still running. However, we didn't have the time to tame it. Even so, it ran without minding us sitting on its back.

Life was more important here. Other things such as us humans could be dealt with later on.

The stars shone brightly over us. We didn't stop at all. Not even when Feng Yi said she felt like sleeping, not when I suddenly had an urge to pee, not when the craoca got really tired. We rode the beast till daylight and finally managed to outrun the forest fire.

We suddenly saw a large river ahead of us. Past that, grew a lush forest, untouched by the heat of the Shang desert, untouched by the fire we left behind. The river separated the forest. Once we got past that stream of water, we would be safe.

''Chunu, Feng Yi, wake up. It's morning!'' I shook their bodies. Ling'er had stayed awake the whole night just like me.

Feng Yi, sitting ahead of me, had been comfortably leaning on my chest. There were bruises on the back of her hands and her clothes were still hot. All of us had rough hair, some of which had turned white due to too much heat.

Chunu was the first to wake up. She pushed herself up from my back and looked around.

''Where are we, big brother?'' She asked while Feng Yi rubbed her eyes.

''I don't know. Ling'er, get down and help me take out the bags from the craoca's back,'' I said.

The poor beast sat near the bank of the river right after seeing it. There was not an ounce of energy left to turn hostile. Maybe because we had been with it for some time, it was now familiar with us.

Lingling quickly dismounted with me and we untied the four bags. They fell on the ground, along with Feng Yi who was still having a hard time waking up.

''Ow that hurt!'' She grumbled and rubbed her lower waist. Then she looked around and immediately became energetic at the sight of such a large water source.

''Immortals above! It's a river! Look, Zuifan. A river!'' She was so excited that I was stunned for a moment. Then I saw lingling smiling as well.

Born and raised in a desert, they had never seen flowing water as large as this in their whole life.

I immediately went behind one of the large trees, feeling the plight of my little brother. I had been holding it all night. Even with a rank 8 body such as mine, no man could do this. Well, maybe some trained army men could. They have rough lives.

Why was I thinking of this while relieving myself? I felt weird.

When I came back to check on the beast, I found my sister looking upstream. I followed her gaze and found smoke rising from far away.

''Don't worry, we will have crossed the river by the time it reaches this place,'' I said. ''Go eat something. We'll then figure how to cross this river.''

I took out my map and found that it ended here. Past this river was a different territory and not Shang desert. I rolled the map close and met my eyes with Lingling's.

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''It seems we have come a long way,'' She sighed and sat down on the marble tiled riverbank. She looked thinner and her skin was rough, the moisture in it all sucked by the fire we narrowly escaped from.

What Ling'er said made me think deeply. That formation we were in earlier was something peculiar. When us and the merchants got caught in it, we had tried running away so many times.

We weren't walking the same path, but actually, the formation made it seem as though we were. We had crossed about three days worth of distance in a day due to it. Thus, we were already halfway through the forest.

We washed our faces after that and ate the dried food that was still edible. With all that heat and the blood of zombies prior to collection, we had to throw a lot of food. No water remained in the bottle but we were not worried about that. There was this big of a river right in front of us, water was the least of our concerns.

Now only about two days worth of cereals and bread remained if we didn't count the meat that was reserved for the beast. Well, if worse came to worst… we could just eat it. Although it would be a waste to kill such a good mount, we had to live.

Half an hour passed by.

After eating, we were ready to cross the river. The question was, how? This river, which was named Fenge on the map, was kind of large even though only a thin line represented it. There was, of course, no bridge across it. We were in the right direction but on the wrong track.

This was a fast stream and the waves were dangerous enough to take heavy rocks along with them. I could use a movement technique to cross the river but I couldn't say the same about these girls, not when they seemed more tired than me.

I threw a marble on the flowing water and it sank deep. Hmm, maybe the craoca could go past it. The beast was tall and this much depth shouldn't be any trouble for it.

''We should first feed the beast. Feng Yi, you sort out the things we would need and the things we won't. Throw away the excess clothes, the nights won't be so cold anymore.''

An hour passed and we rested during that time.

I checked if we had forgotten anything. Most of the items we had stolen from the auction were in my personal bag except for some weapons which Chunu and Feng Yi used. Ling'er already had a decent sword for herself.

There were pills, golden tickets worth eight thousand, a Qi gathering compass which was really helpful, some sophisticated daggers, steelheart fruit, Bottle of toughening oil, a box inside which contained an actual piece of spirit stone... It was the size of a nail, but still worth thousands of gold kins.

I still hadn't worn this luxury mantle which Feng Yi had hurriedly caught while searching for the tendons reforming herb, Hawiel. Once we got to Xuahour, I could step into Viscera Purifying with the help of so many resources.

Ling'er and Feng Yi had taken their own share of the loot. Remained my sister, who said she didn't need stolen goods to rank up. Though, that attitude of hers had been changing recently.

I stood up after checking and packing everything up. All of our clothes were in one bag this time and we threw away lots of unnecessary armor and clothes. The meat was already eaten by the beast which was finally looking energetic. Uh-oh, I nearly forgot about the medicine.

After we were done resting, we mounted the beast once again. I would've liked to have a quick bath as well but first we had to cross this river. The smoke was nearing us and I honestly didn't want to experience the same heat again.

Well, I'd be immune to such measly fire after getting a Perfect Yang Body. That day wasn't far.

Splash! The craoca set foot on the flowing water and fought the waves while crossing the river. We had come a long way, indeed.

- End of Volume 1, Shang Desert -

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