Chapter 495: Is it delicious?

Is it delicious?

Mm-hmm, slip-slip.

Do you believe now that I am a good person?

Mm-hmm. slip-slip.

Yunhe stopped questioning and just silently stared at the girl in yellow robes; she had a candied haw in her mouth, her beautiful eyes wide, her long lashes fluttering like butterfly wings, their gazes locked, and they fell into silence.

Yunhe first looked away, turning toward the broad trees, but a pale yellow figure darted in front of him, arms outstretched like a brave little hen?

Don't. gulp gulp gulp. (What are you doing!)

The girl realized speaking was inconvenient, so she chewed up the last candied haw and swallowed it whole.

What do you intend to do to my grandfather?

Yunhe stopped; in fact he had no intention of directly taking anything. This small island is strange, acting rashly might cause unnecessary trouble—just like this girl before him, who seems more like a spirit than a girl, surely related to these anomalies.

Your grandfather?

Yunhe asked in surprise, realizing he had been a bit rude, and eased up slightly.

I will not harm your grandfather; I can guarantee it.

Yunhe extended his hand, as if swearing an oath.

Yunhe had no intention of deceiving the little girl; upon entering this forest he sensed its strangeness, the five elemental powers in his body circulating automatically, mutual restraint and promotion, the thick wood-element spiritual energy making him feel refreshed.

Looking at the snarling girl before him, Yunhe snapped his fingers, and a Yunhe-secret-made candied haw appeared in his hand.

Aren't we friends?

The girl's snarling expression eased slightly, her throat moved as if she swallowed saliva, though she hid it well, but she immediately reset her expression, shook her head, and kept her wary look.

Yunhe smiled slightly, 'One isn't enough? How about that bag?' He liked her defiance. His divine sense stirred, a small storage bag appeared in his hand; with a wave, the bag was wrapped in Spiritual Power, tracing a graceful arc in the air before landing before the girl.

At first the girl disdained to look, staying on guard, thinking, 'What is this? Throwing it at me?'

Yunhe's lips twitched up; instantly the storage bag spewed candied haws across the sky. The girl, no longer snarling, had her eyes wide open, stars shining in them, tears of helplessness streaming from the corners of her mouth down to her neck.

Collect!

At Yunhe's command, the sky-full of candied haws vanished, leaving only the storage bag on the ground still faintly glowing with magical power, and a puddle of saliva before the girl.

How?

The girl hurriedly picked up the storage bag, hesitated a moment, a hint of difficulty on her face as she bit her lip, her grip on the bag tightening and loosening, as if finally making a big decision; she threw the bag away and stood firmly before the big tree.

That's enough, Xiao Ling'er; he means no harm.

An old voice sounded; the ancient big tree behind the girl trembled slightly, shedding a large patch of green leaves.

Powerful outsider, please restrain your might; I will answer your questions.

'Might?' the girl was bewildered.

Yunhe walked past the girl and came straight to the big tree; what he most wanted to know was: where is this? Who is this girl? Which direction of the Vermilion Bird Secret Realm is this place? Who else has entered? And other questions; Yunhe pondered briefly and spoke.

What place is this? Where in the Vermilion Bird Secret Realm is it located?

After Yunhe's question, the big tree remained silent; man and tree gazed at each other as the wind blew falling leaves into the murmuring stream, only to be blocked by tangled roots, perhaps never advancing further, here to rot, become nourishment, and return to the tree's body.

Yunhe frowned slightly, wondering if this question was hard to answer, and considered asking again.

This place can be called the Bottle Realm, containing a fragment of heaven and earth, holding a glimpse of mountains and seas; whatever the eye sees is the end, with no day or month, no sense of time or years.

As for the Vermilion Bird Secret Realm you mention, I have never heard of it; since I awoke in this world, I do not know how long I have lived and grown here, and I have seen some strong ones who strayed in—some like you, some even stranger—but I have never heard of the Vermilion Bird Secret Realm you speak of.

The big tree spoke slowly, like an elderly elder recounting his tale; though his words were slow and soft, to Yunhe's ears they sounded like a thunderclap, raising his eyebrows.

You mean this place is no longer within the Vermilion Bird Secret Realm?

The interrupted big tree was not angry; apparently unable to answer Yunhe's question, it stayed silent. Seeing the tree say nothing, Yunhe knew this question likely had no answer.

Before, have others like me come to this world? What happened to them afterward?

Yunhe continued asking; this was important to him—regardless of any opportunity in that secret realm, the key was finding the exit back to the Vermilion Bird Secret Realm.

None of the outsiders I have seen could leave this place; they either died in the yellow sands or slowly aged in the forest, turning to a handful of yellow earth.

The big tree spoke slowly, his voice heavy with sorrow; perhaps having witnessed too many tragedies, he was pessimistic about leaving the Bottle Realm.

The Bottle Realm is called a 'bottle' because entering this world is like falling into sand inside a bottle; if you cannot find the bottle's mouth, you cannot leave, and your whole life is like being trapped in a cage.

After hearing this, Yunhe slowly shook his head; he did not believe he would truly be unable to leave this world, though he might merely waste some time.

Yunhe was pondering his next question when suddenly a commotion came from afar—something was destroying the vegetation at the island's center, fallen trunks booming like cries of life's last gasp.

'What's going on?' Yunhe asked; his mood was foul, and if any eyesore disturbed him, he wouldn't mind expending effort to wipe them from this world.

They're back again.

The big tree sighed, as if accustomed to this; green light flickered on its trunk, the forest floor heaved like a subterranean dragon, emitting huge digging sounds, and on the invaded soil several massive roots burst forth, attacking the intruders in the forest.

However, Yunhe could not witness this earth-shaking scene; at that moment he realized a problem—the big tree had not told him something.

You said those strong ones either grow old and die here or perish on the yellow sands—why do they go to those sands, and what lies upon them?

The light on the big tree gradually faded, shedding a large patch of withered yellow leaves, causing Xiao Ling'er to look on with concern, heartbroken as she stroked the spot where the bark was slowly drying and peeling.

Ah, never mind; I ought to have told you.

The big tree sighed, now like a venerable elder who still wishes to do something for the young, but his strength is waning.

This place is indeed called the Bottle Realm, but this world originally had no yellow sands; we must go back to long ago—when the island had no sand, the forest covered the whole small island, until one day two outsider strong ones stormed in, fought a great battle in this world and perished together, yet the artifact left by one of them was eerily evil; from that day on, a thing I call a Fire Fiend has been eroding this land, growing ever stronger.

The big tree leisurely recounted past events, yet to Yunhe's ears it sounded extraordinarily abrupt: 'Two strong ones?' 'Fire Fiend?' The two Core Formation cultivators who entered earlier have never reappeared; where could they have gone? This has long been Yunhe's greatest doubt.

So you let those who cannot leave help you get rid of those troublesome Fire Fiends?

Yunhe interrupted the big tree's leisurely explanation, stepping close to ask; this act annoyed the girl, who, even with a candied haw in her mouth, seemed to be condemning Yunhe.

No. If you want to leave, you cannot avoid contacting the beings beyond the sands; there is a place that once was the portal to the outside world.

The big tree finished speaking slowly, utterly unbothered by Yunhe's offense.

Why didn't you say this from the start?

Yunhe was teasing Xiao Ling'er with candied hawthorn on the side when he suddenly asked, though he seemed indifferent; as he posed the question, he didn't even glance at the big tree.

"This is an inescapable fate. I've seen far too many lives left upon that patch of sand."

The big tree finished speaking, leaving only a faint echo; thereafter there was no sound at all, as if it had returned to the way it was when Yunhe first came to see it—quiet, just like the surrounding trees, with nothing special.

Yunhe gave the girl a deep look, the one who was somewhat possessive, and said, "Alright, some things will become clear when I return." He handed the candied hawthorn back to the sulky girl.

Yunhe unfurled his Ice Phoenix Wings, stirring up a gust of wind, and amid the girl's startled cries he rose above the forest.

"The sound just now should be coming from this direction."

In no time Yunhe arrived at the spot where the fire demon had recently ravaged—fallen trunks, scorched earth, bite and claw marks, and scorch marks from flames. Yet oddly, there were no scattered leaves or fallen branches on the ground; perhaps the fire demon had burned them to ash?

Yunhe frowned slightly; there were no corpses left, suggesting the big tree had merely driven them away. With that thought, he gradually understood why the compass had pointed two directions when he first arrived on the island: one led to the tree, the other likely to the source of all this.

Yunhe pondered briefly, standing at the forest–sand boundary, and swept his divine sense over the area—just as in the forest, he found no trace of fire demons.

Moreover, the sand here is unusually heavy; flying above the dunes one feels a strong suction that grows stronger with speed.

"This place is strange in many ways; we must proceed with caution," Yunhe thought.

Moments later, Yunhe flew slowly over the dunes, bearing none of the might of a Nascent Soul expert—more like a frail large bird, or even a flying roasted chicken. He felt that to the fire demons lurking beneath the sand, he must look especially tempting.

On a dune, a bit of sand sank slightly, then was immediately filled by surrounding sand, barely noticeable. But Yunhe, who was no ordinary person, didn't even twitch his eyelids; he smiled faintly and deliberately flew a little more toward that spot.

Yet what surprised Yunhe was that, after flying back and forth several times, he saw no sign of fire demons—had he been overcautious? Were there none here? Or had the fire demons sensed he was a tough opponent? Yunhe felt a tangle of emotions as yellow sand swirled across the sky, dunes filling his view; the compass was useless here, as if something below the dunes was interfering with its operation.

Yunhe sat openly on the dune, took out a bottle of mana-restoring elixir; he had no fear of a fire demon attack—indeed, he hoped one would come looking for him.

After Yunhe swallowed the elixir, he felt a bit irritable and, as a vent, flicked the medicine bottle into the sand; the bottle bounced a few times on the dune when suddenly a claw shot up from beneath the sand, snatched the bottle, and dragged it underground.

Seeing this, Yunhe wondered, "The medicine bottle?" Could it be that fire demons like to eat elixirs? Then I could use elixir as bait for them.

But the claw that had seized the bottle then tossed it back out; the bottle spun in the air a few times before landing at Yunhe's feet. Unexpectedly, the bottle was unharmed, yet the wooden plug used to seal its mouth was gone.

"A wooden plug? This surely isn't a coincidence—could this fire demon be a vegetarian?"

Recalling the gnaw marks on the tree trunk earlier, a bold idea gradually formed in Yunhe's mind.

After a while, a strange figure slowly flew out of the forest—Yunhe, his body covered in green leaves, occasionally grabbing a handful and scattering them on the dunes; the moment the leaves touched the sand, a pair of tiny claws shot out, snatched the leaves, and immediately retreated back into the sand.

On the dune, rows of claws danced in response to the leaves Yunhe scattered; he hadn't expected it to work so well—now a sweep of his divine sense revealed the impatient fire demons lurking beneath the sand.

As his divine sense spread, Yunhe discovered that beneath the dune lay a fire demon nest so numerous it made his scalp tingle.

"If you don't enter the tiger's den, how can you get its cub?" Yunhe felt a thrill.

He pointed a single hand to the sky; his storage bag glimmered, and the trunk of a tree requiring several people to encircle appeared above his fingers. As the trunk emerged, the sand beneath began to tremble, the yellow sand sank, and a large expanse of fire demons stripped of sand cover was revealed.

Although these fire demons' compound eyes were filled with fear, they did not flee; instead, they waved their claws in unison with the tremor.

"Come!" Yunhe bellowed.

Yellow sand flew as a pair of enormous claws burst from the sand—so huge they surpassed Yunhe's imagination, almost blotting out the sky; yet they were not claws but the mouthparts of the Fire Demon King, and Yunhe's excited expression froze in an instant.

(End of chapter)