Chapter 26: CHAPTER 25: FIRST MISSION (1)

The mountain that uncle Hung talked about in their previous discussion was very close to the area where their mansion was located, only fifteen kilometers away. Without any delay, the journey began with one person and one luggage. Inside it, in addition to the necessary personal belongings for the long trip, there were many useful spiritual treasures for a beast hunt as well.

Binh An felt that this bag was particularly practical and robust, even after stuffing a lot of things inside and carrying it on this thin, fragile back, he still found it to be extremely light. For a split second, he felt that with just the help of this bag, he could probably conquer the world. This trip was expected to be a breeze, and he would be back in no time.

Well, that was just at the beginning of the trip, because things really went downhill after a while since he first started moving. The item that he was so proud of one second ago now started to turn against him. Every step he took seemed to sink deep into the ground, and the further he traveled, the more certain he was about the thing on his back was some sort of rock, not the bag that he had personally picked out among others.

The landscape here was rich and dense. The mountain range consisted of many moist broadleaf forests, grand, majestic, a little dark and cold because of the prolonged lack of sunshine.  

This location was about fifty kilometers from the foot of the mountain and eighty kilometers from the nearest town. 

During this time of the rainy season, the forest was immersed in a deep shade of green as the main color; the mist rose; the leaves and the ground were all wet as the result of a non-stop downpour. However, this location was gifted with such rare and incredibly rich resources, you wouldn’t have to worry about hunger as long as you were here, therefore it's no surprise that being told not to visit this location upset many residents in the area.

The view was somewhat limited due to the dense volume of trees, branches, and bushes interlaced in no particular order. The canopy of leaves spread to all four sides along with its density, after the heavy rain, it seemed to have expanded a lot bigger, only allowing tiny little holes for the light to pass through, which was not enough to dispel the coldness of the mountains. 

Binh An woke up in the morning before eating some dry food to fill up his energy and hurried to leave on time as planned.

The early morning sky was circled with thin white clouds peacefully drifting across. The forest was engulfed in a thin mist, creating an extraordinarily whimsical as well as mysterious atmosphere. In contrast with the beauty of the hazy forest, it's not easy to navigate at a distance, thus, one should remain cautious while moving in the territory of other aggressive wild animals. 

He was just on a move for a little while when his body started to alarm him with all kinds of  signals. His steps became sloppy as he couldn't keep a straight pose, partly because of the uneven terrain and dense obstacles, partly because his feet were screaming of aching. His lungs refused to take in any more air, his legs gradually became limp, each step became heavier and heavier. When he reached the point of mistaking the bag for a boulder, he gave up and crouched down in the middle of the forest.

Never before had he thought that this distance of several kilometers would exhaust one’s strength so fast. In his mind, he felt like he had been walking forever, yet the destination was still out of reach. Only till this point did he realize how weak this body was and that uncle Hung was right to worry about him.

Uncle Hung! I started to worry about myself, too. He complained to himself, but as promised, he had to complete this mission.

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When the sun reached its zenith at noon, it was warm and golden like chicken fat, pouring down and glistening on the leaves. Binh An sought to find a spot where the canopy was less dense, lying down and sunbathing to warm up while also enjoying the pure mountain air. At the very least, he was making the most out of this trip.

After some rest, he resumed his journey, clinging to the rugged and perilous cliffs, following the woodland route. He monitored his own strength each time to avoid overloading his body because he still had a long way to go and a battle ahead of him.

The hue of the mountains darkened in the afternoon, standing out against the spectacular bright red background of the early sunset. The silhouettes of the mountains and the sky contrast with each other, separating them into two defined coasts.

Binh An paused his steps, took a final look, admired the stunning beauty of nature before the two coasts merged themselves into unrecognizable one huge shadow and engulfed him in the pit black darkness.

The end of the day came. Binh An finally got the rest he deserved. He halted his journey, found a quality tree and then climbed up to it. 

In the past, with the strong as a rock and light as a feather body he had trained, his vitality was abundant, his skill was unmatched, it only took him one leap, and immediately he was able to stabilize himself in perfect position up in the high branch, even managing to hold his balance on such a narrow thing for as long as he wanted. He also took advantage of it, leaned back the tree and took a nap however and whenever he pleased.

Now, he has to work hard to stomp on each tree branch to get to the desired height, pushing his heavy body and his huge ass backpack up with him, his arms and legs seemed to be falling apart from fatigue, he ground his teeth so hard that they might come off as well. 

His soul still hasn’t fully integrated with the body yet, making it extremely difficult to control. Earlier that day, he somehow managed to fall down on his own. As he approached a tree root that emerged from the ground, he thought that he had lifted his foot to walk over; it turned out that the body didn’t quite follow the brain signal, causing him to trip and plant his face to the ground.

And now, while he was struggling to climb up, he accidentally met eyes with the night owl from the nearby tree, it seemed to be mocking him. He pouted and scolded. "What are you looking at? Not everyone was born with wings like yours!" and then proceeded to ignore it and do his own business.

When he finally reached a reasonable height, he struggled to keep his balance, afraid of falling to the ground while sleeping. That would be very humiliating, if anyone found out, he might feed the dogs his reputation.

To avoid the incident from happening, he started to rummage through his pockets for a rope. This was no ordinary rope, it was one of the spiritual weapons that he carried with him, which was supposed to tide up the monsters, now it was being used to tie himself against the tree trunk. He even took caution and tried to shake it off for a safety test, nothing budged and he was pretty proud of his good job. After settling in a comfortable place upon the branch, he stretched his legs and rested his head against the tree trunk and quickly went to sleep in assurance.

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