Chapter 481: Complete Makeover
Translated by Rachel of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
The three of them walked for a while along a winding path, clearly familiar with the forest. They went on till they reached a tree with an extremely thick trunk that even three fully grown adults couldn’t wrap their arms around.
What was odd was that the soil that this huge tree had covered seemed to be more moist compared to the surrounding soil.
“This is the place,” the woman said.
The two men immediately put down the sandbag and it landed with a ‘thud’. The thing inside appeared to be very heavy and judging from the shape, it looked like a human…
You XiaoMo’s eyes went wide. Could it be that he just witnessed a murder scene?
The two men worked together to dig a pit. As the soil wasn’t very hard, they managed to do it quickly.
The woman immediately ordered the two of them to bury the sandbag because one of them accidentally ripped a hole in the sandbag and a pale white hand fell out. There were still traces of blood on the fingertips but it had already dried up.
“Good-for-nothings! Can’t even do a simple task right! Bury it quickly.” The woman cursed.
The two men immediately threw the sandbag into the pit and swiftly covered the pit up with soil. Clearly, they were habitual offenders as they were very skilled in what they were doing.
After all that was done, the three of them returned using the original path they took.
You XiaoMo immediately leaped further into the tree and hid himself with the leaves. He waited until the three of them were out of his sight before he summoned his male Golden Winged Insect.
“You follow them and find the way out of this forest. Remember not to get caught, or else you can be prepared to chop your head off when you return.”
Unwilling to part with his wife, the male Golden Winged Insect called out to his wife reluctantly before flapping its wings and flying away.
It’s not like they were parting forever, You XiaoMo thought to himself.
When he was certain the three people were already very far away, You XiaoMo hopped off a tree branch and walked over to the place they buried the dead body. It was only after seeing the soil up close that he realised that the soil was dark red in color. Even by smelling, he could feel the obscurity atmosphere in the air. This definitely wasn’t a good thing. It seemed like many dead people were buried here. Could it be that every time they murdered someone, they buried the corpse here?
No wonder it suddenly became very weird here. The surrounding soil wasn’t wet, only this patch of soil was. The tree probably grew so healthy and strong because it absorbed nutrients from the dead.
Despite his curiosity, You XiaoMo didn’t dig up the soil to take a look. He had no intention of seeing a huge pile a rotting flesh lying in a pit. Furthermore, since the blood of the person who was just buried had already dried, he or she must have died for quite some time already.
When he thought of all the dead people beneath his feet, You XiaoMo turned tail and ran.
Due to the contract and his other half with You XiaoMo, the Golden Winged Insect quickly returned.
You XiaoMo only found out that his current position was at the edge of the forest as he walked along the path. He only had to walk for a thousand meters west to leave the forest. To think that he thought himself so smart before.
As for the three people, the Golden Winged Insect only followed them till the edge of the forest and he returned. Luckily, he also saw the direction in which the three of them were leaving, or else You XiaoMo would really be tempted to drag him over and pummel him. How unprofessional, a populated place was also very important.
After walking for about forty minutes, he finally saw some people.
Smoke was spiralling upwards from kitchen chimneys into the azure blue sky, a clear sign that someone was preparing a meal.
You XiaoMo remembered what time it was now. The sun was high in the sky and shining bright. It was time for lunch! He couldn’t help but touch his belly. Hungry!
You XiaoMo quickened his step and he finally saw a small village. It was surrounded by lush green fields from all around but the village didn’t look like a big one. There were only five streets and it wouldn’t take more than ten minutes to walk around the whole village.
The villagers weren’t in the fields. When You XiaoMo entered the village, he saw a few families eating around tables in their homes and the doors to their homes were wide open. It wasn’t a very sumptuous or rich meal, but they all ate with great relish.
You XiaoMo started to miss Ling Xiao a little.
He had no idea where he was teleported to, so the most important thing to do now was to find out where he was at. He remembered he was teleported to the West…
You XiaoMo suddenly froze. Could this West be the west-side he was thinking of?
Reaching this conclusion, he didn’t dare to delay anymore.
You XiaoMo randomly found a house and broke into it. It belonged to an old couple and when they saw him rushing in they were in shock. The old woman who was closest to him saw him as a robber and immediately shifted her aged body towards her partner. The two old people looked at him in fear.
You XiaoMo was embarrassed. Did he look very much like a robber?
“Si-Sir, we haven’t harvested today’s magic herbs…” The old farmer stood up and said in a trembling voice.
You XiaoMo felt embarrassed again. They must have mistaken him for someone else, he took a step forward and said earnestly, “Old man, I am not the Sir you speak of. I’m just lost so I’m here to ask for directions.”
The old couple exchanged looks with one another. They found it weird too. They hadn’t seen him before among the people who used to come collect the magic herbs, but because their village rarely had visitors from outside, they mistook him for a person from that group initially.
“You really aren’t?” Feeling uneasy, the old farmer asked again.
You XiaoMo nodded, “I really am not.”
According to their words, it seemed like this small village specialised in growing magic herbs. Could it be that the magic herbs were planted in the fields outside?
The old farmer was finally at ease. In fact, his face didn’t look like a bad guy’s.
“Young man, if you have any questions just feel free to ask. I will tell you everything I know.” The old farmer reassured his partner and said.
“May I know where is this place and what is the nearest city called? And which direction is it? Please tell me clearly.” You XiaoMo asked delightedly.
Hearing this, the old couple felt even more at ease and finally truly believed he was only here to ask for directions, so they answered You XiaoMo’s questions.
This was the Hu village and the forest he came out from was called the Forest of Death. It was very famous around this region. There were all kinds of dangers inside the forest and if there wasn’t a person who was familiar with the forest guiding you, you’d most likely lose your life when you go deeper into the forest. That’s why many people who were heading to the Forest of Death only wandered around the edges.
You XiaoMo felt his scalp go numb when he heard this. Luckily he was teleported to the edge of the forest, otherwise just walking out of this forest that carried the smell of death would be another extremely troublesome matter.
As for the nearest city to Hu village, it was Xing Luo City. Although they said it was the nearest city, he still needed to travel more than two hours to reach it, and this was assuming he was running there at full speed.
Xing Luo City was the largest and most prosperous city on the West side, even larger than Vermillion Blood City itself.
Why compare it to Vermillion Blood City? Vermillion Blood City was only two days away from Xing Luo City. In other words, he was on Vermillion Blood Clan’s territory right now.
Fell right into the pit!
His luck finally went downhill.
As for the people who came to collect magic herbs, they were from a faction in Xing Luo City called the QingFeng Sect. Ten years ago, the people from the QingFeng Sect discovered that Hu village was very suitable for growing magic herbs and it was the only village that was not attacked by the demon beasts from the Forest of Death. As a result, they got the villagers to plant and harvest the magic herbs in bulk and then bought the herbs from them.
However, the higher the grade of the magic herb the longer it took to grow. Furthermore, the villagers were only ordinary people, so there were only low grade magic herbs growing in the fields of Hu village. The people from QingFeng Sect would then come by and collect the herbs once every year.
However if that was the case, the villagers wouldn’t be so afraid like they were now.
QingFeng Sect didn’t have a good reputation. Although they were buying magic herbs from the villagers, the price at which they purchased the herbs was lower than the market price by half. Sometimes, they would even find excuses to delay their payment.
There were originally more than a thousand people living in the Hu village but because of how overbearing QingFeng Sect had been these past ten years, there were only fewer than two hundred people living there now. Those who stayed behind didn’t move away because they had no means to, for example the couple that You XiaoMo asked for directions from. They were getting old and they had no kin, so they could only remain in Hu village.
Standing at the mouth of the village, You XiaoMo looked in the direction of Xing Luo City and remembered what the old couple said to him.
It was a complex situation when it came to the factions in Xing Luo City. Recently, the struggles and disputes had become constant and anyone who had a little bit of power would dragged into the them. This was because these forces were trying to recruit powerful people.
If it was only a normal competition for powerful recruits then it would still be fine, but this involved the Yin Yang Valley and Yu Xian City.
Xing Luo City happened to be located right smack between Yin Yang Valley and Yu Xian City. As it the only point of intersection, Xing Luo City had always been the place where the two powerful forces competed for the top spot.
In the past, the competition wasn’t as fierce as it was now but recently for some reason, Yin Yang Valley and Yu Xian City were suddenly going head to head with each other. It was as if they were fighting over something which resulted in many people being affected.
The old couple saw that You XiaoMo didn’t seem to be a bad guy, so they decided to warn him.
You XiaoMo also didn’t want to go to Xing Luo City. He hadn’t forgotten the animosity that Yin Yang Valley and Yu Xian City had developed for him at Bei Dong. If he was seen by those people, whether he could leave safely would be a problem.
However, he must go, otherwise god knew when would he ever find Ling Xiao. Furthermore, even if he wanted to return to Zhong Tian, he must also go to Xing Luo City to find a Dimension Teleportation Portal.
You XiaoMo scratched his head in frustration. It looked like he had to change his appearance and name first before going to Xing Luo City and Ling Xiao must be able to recognise him.
The appearance part was easy. He only had to get CatQiu to change into a familiar person’s face. As for the name, it was much harder. It must be something that Ling Xiao found familiar and also not let the people from the Vermillion Blood Clan know that he was You XiaoMo or You XiaoHa.
