Chapter 55: Scavenger

Du Zhengyi knew that time was still ticking away, second by second; he did not have much time left, and he stepped into the snow of Qionglin with a foul mood. A sound of dry branches snapping came from nearby immediately; Han Yi appeared to his front-left, as if he had made up his mind to watch him die.

Du Zhengyi kept a cold, stony face and, without saying a word, walked straight toward the river.

Han Yi followed him with a smirk, staying by his side, "I suddenly feel that you are a bit different now compared to before; you've suddenly become as stingy with your abilities as an old man."

Du Zhengyi ignored him and continued walking toward the river; a gust of wind blew, and ice crystals shook down from the treetops again. Du Zhengyi walked faster and faster, and Han Yi traveled through space again, this time flashing to his front-right, saying provocatively, "I've forgotten when it started, but I always see you relying on walking with your feet. I remember you weren't like this before."

Du Zhengyi looked up at the red clouds above the treetops; there was a strange silence in the air, and the temperature was a bit higher than usual.

"What are you looking at?" Han Yi said, "It's just about to snow."

Du Zhengyi glanced at him, said nothing, and continued walking with his head down.

"You're really lucky today; that Zuo Yu is truly an incompetent old thing. Running into him on duty is practically letting you have your way. He actually likes you quite a bit, pretending to play the role of your teacher. Actually, it's quite embarrassing if a teacher isn't as talented as most of their students."

"If you're dissatisfied, you can go and complain about me to the Venerables," Du Zhengyi said without even raising his head. "You can say it was all my doing, that I just wanted to save an innocent person from two Lotus Burners."

Han Yi laughed contemptuously behind him, "If I said that, Pei Shu would probably actually believe it. In his eyes, aren't you always that kind of excellent, obedient little treasure?"

"If I lie, you refuse to let me go; if I tell the truth, you refuse to believe me." Du Zhengyi stepped onto a rock, jumped violently, leaped across, landed under a thick pine tree two meters away, and suddenly began to sprint.

Han Yi flashed to his side abruptly, baring his teeth in a cunning smile. Du Zhengyi's behavior made him curious and confused, and more importantly, the playful side of a predator was stirred up by Du Zhengyi. He gave up on traveling through space and began to sprint alongside Du Zhengyi, convinced in his heart that Du Zhengyi was playing a game with him, and no matter what Du Zhengyi wanted to play, he would keep him company.

If anyone could see the sight of two slender, long-limbed Mages sprinting rapidly through the forest, they would surely be stunned by their terrifying speed. Du Zhengyi sprinted, constantly making sudden turns, bypassing bushes, and jumping over fallen dead trees; Han Yi, with a smile, followed firmly every time and gradually began to show off.

As Du Zhengyi ran forward, Han Yi jumped onto the branches above his head several times, leaping over him.

"Du Zhengyi, do you think we are predators?" Han Yi asked when they were side-by-side for a moment.

"So what?" Du Zhengyi looked ahead intently and said casually, "Do you plan on eating people?"

Han Yi laughed, "Sometimes you are quite humorous. If you are really this humorous, do you plan on using physical stamina to shake me off? Why don't you try Space Travel and see if I can track your Magic trajectory?"

Du Zhengyi suddenly stepped on a piece of dead wood and leaped onto the fork of an old tree. The branch could not withstand his weight, but he used that force to spring out, landed by a small frozen stream a few meters away, and sprinted along it.

Han Yi immediately followed suit and caught up with Du Zhengyi in one breath, "If the situation goes wrong, do you really intend to lie to Pei Shu and say you did it to save Luo Qi?"

Du Zhengyi ignored him.

"If you really are that kind of person, why didn't you save Chu Yao back then?"

Du Zhengyi looked at Han Yi in surprise while sprinting; Han Yi's expression was both painful and hateful. He had almost never seen such intense emotion on Han Yi's expressionless face.

"Who exactly are you, Du Zhengyi? Why were you able to grow up in Qionglin? Why don't you even have a proper name?" Han Yi said, his feet not stopping, still maintaining the same speed as Du Zhengyi, not even particularly out of breath.

"Who is Chu Yao?" Du Zhengyi said, staring ahead, ignoring Han Yi's angry glare. "I don't remember."

Han Yi's face twisted for an instant, but Du Zhengyi suddenly escaped into the Subspace and flashed under a tree five meters away.

The drastic change happened in that instant. Han Yi's attention was entirely on Du Zhengyi, his whole being ignited by anger, but Du Zhengyi suddenly flashed away. He lost his composure in his anger, his Battle Mage state was completely gone, and he hadn't even realized something was wrong by this point, when a huge force slammed heavily into him.

He felt as if his internal organs were about to be knocked out of his body. Just as he thought he was going to fly away, a sharp, intense pain came from his right shoulder. A behemoth was right behind him, its massive head pressed against the back of his neck, and teeth as sharp as daggers bit into his shoulder. His body flew forward, but his shoulder was clamped by the giant beast; the inertia and the beast's bite force almost tore him apart, and he let out a painful howl.

Han Yi finally realized what he had encountered—it was Qiongqi. He had only heard that there were Scavengers in Qionglin; he had never thought that the legends were not just legends. And Du Zhengyi... he realized, Du Zhengyi was a rare Mage who had lived in Qionglin since childhood. This forbidden land for Mages was his home, and he was extremely familiar with it.

In this instant of consciousness shifting, he summoned his weapon, but for some reason, the condensation of the weapon was much slower than usual. Qiongqi shook its head violently, as if it wanted to tear his shoulder off. In his extreme pain, he cried out, gave up on his dual-wielded weapons, and also gave up on complex, aggressive weapons; he only condensed a single dagger and stabbed it violently into Qiongqi's lower jaw.

The monster felt the pain, let him go, and dodged his subsequent stabs. He landed on the ground, looked up in shock at the monster; at first glance, it looked very much like a dull-colored tiger, but its teeth were larger and sharper, and two vestigial fleshy wings hung from its back, looking very disgusting.

The monster pawed at the snow on the ground restlessly, its ginger-colored eyes staring at him viciously, as if it were also observing him. Han Yi panted heavily, his gaze shifting slightly to look at Du Zhengyi, who was standing far away under a tree.

Du Zhengyi murmured, "I told you, don't use Space Travel in the Consciousness Prison. What kind of consciousness do you think wanders there? That is a Ghost Box, you idiot."

"What did you say?" Han Yi also murmured, while not daring to take his eyes completely off the monster.

"That's why it's becoming difficult for you to condense weapons now," Du Zhengyi said. "If you travel through space, it will also catch up to you, because you can't travel very far right now."

Han Yi swallowed; his Battle Mage skills began to strengthen, and he calmed down, "Du Zhengyi, what do you intend to do? Do you think I won't report you?"

"Whatever," Du Zhengyi said. "Didn't you say it? No matter what I say, Pei Shu will always believe me. Next time we meet, remember to tell me your battle record—how many arms and legs you lost before you shook off Qiongqi."

"Du Zhengyi!" Han Yi roared in warning.

But Du Zhengyi disappeared under that tree. He stood there blankly, blood continuously flowing from the torn wound on his shoulder, and with his remaining energy, he could not detect Du Zhengyi's presence.

He realized that Du Zhengyi had not only traveled, but had traveled an extremely long distance...