Chapter 306 “He’s Human” (Part one)
Considering everything that has happened in town after they left Brokeback Mountain, it’s a certainty the Judge and the Holy Knights would rush a report back to the main cathedral. Even so, none of that matters to Du Wei at this point for he’s too busy coming up with a ruse to escape.
This White River wasn’t only monstrously strong, he’s also very intelligent and not the type of blind fool that only follows his ego.
Along the way Du Wei kept thinking, what sort of tricks he could use to fool this guy. Maybe he can pull it off if he tried, but what then afterwards? Considering the guy’s strength, it’s unlikely he will make it very far before he’s caught again by this Shaman King. And that time, things won’t be as pretty once the guy’s mood turns sour.
However, this White River did treat Du Wei decently well along the road and not like a captive. As long as Du Wei didn’t run away, anything else was free game with no limit. Occasionally, this White River even conversed with Du Wei a few times.
Another two days later as they headed west, the two ended in a predicament: they missed the closest town for a sleepover this evening.
This can’t be blamed on Du Wei alright!
One was a high and mighty Shaman King that only comes down from the mountain every decade, the other was prestigious noble with a Duke title, how do you expect these two to know something so trivial as to plan a travel path? As a result, the two missed their opportunity to lodge in the town they crossed over earlier this afternoon. Riding fast, both of them are now stuck in the wilderness when the sun’s about to set.
Exchanging a glance with each other, both monsters – one small and one big – had a strange tacit understanding in their eyes. Breaking out into laughter, it was Du Wei who first spoke: “It seems we will be sleeping in the wilderness tonight, what a shame, I didn’t bring a tent with me.”
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In a mild tone, White River replied: “That’s nothing much. All year round up in the mountain cap, I’m always surrounded by ice from where I stay.”
After that, the two dismounted and found a slightly flat area to set up camp for the night in the wilderness.
It’s still the winter season currently, the farther northwest they went, the colder the weather became compared to the south. After Du Wei built a fire, he looks up at the distant clouds in the sky and bitterly smiled: “Let’s hope it doesn’t rain tonight.”
Instead of agreeing, White River didn’t show the teensiest bit of interest; instead, he directly sat beside the bonfire and started to dust off his clothes. Then finding a thick tree branch, this man uses this hard lump to be a pillow and lies down.
He was the Shaman King, and Du Wei was his captive right now. Naturally, Du Wei’s not foolish enough to think this man had the virtue of taking care of his captives.
By spending a whole day trotting around on his horse, Du Wei’s whole body felt like it’s about to fall apart already, sores and aches littered his muscles. What’s more, his stomache was empty and hungry right now. He’s not going to expect this guy to find him food, but Du Wei haven’t seen this Mr. White eat or drink at all.
Is this guy aiming to become a god?
Sighing, Du Wei went ahead to scour the terrain. After spending two days with this guy, Du Wei has ascertained the personality of this White River. His conclusion, this man was super lazy with a totally indifferent attitude towards everything. Du Wei may be his captive, but this guy acted like he didn’t care at all and allowed him to roam hundreds of meters away without observation. One time Du Wei went off to search for food. During that occasion, he did consider making a run for it, but as soon that thought cross his mind, Du Wei instantly felt a murderous chill locking onto himself. Since then, Du Wei gave up on any idea of that sort.
On the bright side, at least it’s not difficult to find food at this moment.
After all, technically this wasn’t Du Wei’s first time being someone’s captive. Compared to his journey through the north with White Robe Gandalf, this trip with this Shaman King was way more comfortable. At the very least, this Mr. White wouldn’t use that disgusting puppet manipulation spell to make Du Wei slap himself on the face.
Digging up several groundhog burrows in the wilderness, Du Wei found it very easy to catch these little critters. It’s the winter season, meaning these lazy animals are hibernating in their burrows and not moving, making them easy prey.
Not long later, Du Wei returned with two fat groundhogs and a flower snake. Cleaning the animals of all unnecessary parts, he washes away the dirty grum from the skin and skewered the groundhogs for roasting. Then summoning a pot from his storage ring, Du Wei shows off his fantastic cooking skill by brewing up a snake soup. Just a reminder, this pot was no cooking utensil, it’s Du Wei’s personal equipment meant for magic alchemy.
To say Du Wei was a master chef was a little over the board, but he’s after all from China in his previous life. China, a country of centuries worth of renowned cooking tradition and knowledge passed down through the ages, Du Wei had to have picked up something in his time there. Like the last time in the north where that undying old fool Gandalf would always praise Du Wei for the unique flavors, this time it was Mr. White’s turn. In minutes, a wafting aroma of roasting groundhogs soon permeated the camp.
White River may be the Shaman King above the Snowy Mountain, but considering his temperament and fixation on the pursuit of power, there’s no way this guy would even think about his appetite. Besides, the Snowy Mountain was a place of frost and cold. Even if there were meat and vegetables up there, it would freeze in no time at all. Against those odds, how can they pull off anything tasty there?
Lying there at this moment, White River can only smell that incredible aroma hitting him in the nose. Never in his life did he smell something so fine, so out of temptation, he couldn’t resist getting up to look at what Du Wei was doing. His eyes full of curiosity as he watched.
Du Wei’s full concentration was set on the snake soup right now. Stirring the gurgling pot of liquid, he gives himself a taste test by making a spoon out of some bark he peeled off a branch. One sip in, he couldn’t help but exhale in statisfiyng tone.
Turning around to see White River’s curious gaze, Du Wei smiled:
“Mr. White, come have a taste. In this world, the number of people who can eat my food is… Hmm, should be no more than five so far.”
At that, he picks up a skewered groundhog and hands it over to the Shaman King. Receiving the roast meat, White River immediately bites down at the hot flesh without realizing he will get burned. As someone that spent most of his life above the Snowy Mountain, White River’s only means of gaining sustenance was to find whatever edible material in his vicinity and chug it down. As for water, that’s even easier. When he’s thirsty, just grab some ice water or snow to quench it. Now that he got burned by his careless action, White River felt a little embarrassed by his lack of common sense.
Watching this peerless strongman acting like so, Du Wei had a moment where he wanted to just laugh, but instead he only chuckled so slightly. For someone that has no trouble wrecking a Saint Class warrior, this White River was simply too much.
As White River eyes the skewer in his hand, he frowned at first while contemplating what to do. Likely because he felt the temperature was too high, he suddenly raises a finger and points at the roast meat.
Under a crackling sound, Du Wei’s popped from being dumbfounded.
Shooting out from White River’s fingertip, a beam of Ice Dou Qi instantly turned the steaming hot roast meat into a chunk of icy meat. Not minding the fact that it’s cold and rocky hard, this Shaman King takes a big bite right out of the meat. Then under the crunching sound of ice breaking, he frowned: “How come it’s not as good when cold?”
Taking it all in, Du Wei originally wanted to laugh at the foolish question. But when seeing the confused expression on White River, Du Wei’s heart suddenly showed some compassion towards this heaven turning powerhouse.
This trace of compassion was honestly a little absurd. White River’s a person that get whatever he pleases at a thought, why would he need Du Wei’s pity? It’s just that the dazed like eyes from White River, Du Wei just couldn’t watch on….
It’s true what they say, “no one knows your suffering best unless they are you.” This man, this Shaman King, holds immense power that could rock the entire continent, but was his life entertaining enough to be worth living?
He’s indeed at the pinnacle of this world’s power, but the cost of it really made one wants to sigh at it.
The enjoyment of life, the different clothes one could wear, the different food one could eat, it’s likely this man never once ever enjoyed any of it.
What meaning was there to such a life even if they can raise their cultivation to a level that can rock the heavens?
Thinking of this, Du Wei can only sigh inside. Squashing any urge he had of mocking White River, he smiles and picked up the other groundhog skewer and blows at it slightly to cool it down: “Mr. White probably never ate anything like this. You can’t use ice on this thing so let me roast your skewer again. Take mine here while I warm up the other one, but remember, this time you mustn’t use Ice Dou Qi to freeze it. Just keep it in your hands and blow at it, then it will cool on its own.”
Receiving the thing from Du Wei’s hand, he rolls it back and forth while looked at it. Shaking his head, he said: “Let it cool? This thing is so hot. If I had to wait for it to cool, wouldn’t I have to wait for a while? Aigh…. almost every minute of my life is spent in training, so stuff like eating is a competition against time for me. If I can find something to fill my belly then that’s enough for me, where do I find the extra time to wait for it to cool? If I have to do this every time I want to eat, then who knows how much time I could be wasting instead of training my cultivation.”
Du Wei literally went speechless at that explanation. Contemplating on what to say, Du Wei carefully asked: “Mr. White, in your opinion then, is your current life that’s spent entirely in training and cultivating really that happy?”
Hearing Du Wei’s question, White River went silent for a while. Shaking his head, he replied in a whispering tone: “I … I don’t know, and I never thought about it. I only know that I want to become stronger, the stronger the better. That’s the only pursuit in my heart.” This statement caused both of them to fall silent, unable to follow up with the conversation.
As the frosty cold of the winter’s night slowly diminished the bonfire like their mood right now, it was White River who broke the uncomfortable silence after a long hiatus: “You’re right, eating it like this is far more delicious.”
Breaking out into a laugh, the two of them no longer seemed like a captor and a captive, more like friends sharing company in the wilderness.
White River didn’t seem like it at first because up until now this guy barely ate at all, but his appetite was seriously big. Devouring both meat skewers, he also gobbled up the rest of the snake soup with ease.
“This is great!” White River states with a smile.
After finishing his meal, White River looks up at Du Wei and smiled, his tone becoming very sincere: “This meal is my most comfortable one in the past several decades. I must say, this is all thanks to you.”
Du Wei never expected this tough man to be so polite to himself. Lapsing out for a moment, it was White River who spoke first: “I White River will never owe another a favor. Let’s do this… As repayment to the delicious food you gave me, I will help you do something. But just to be clear, I’m not going to let you go. That red monster is too important to me so I can’t give it up. Beyond that though, I can meet one of your wishes as long as its within my means.”
Pausing for a moment, he suddenly made an indifferent smile: “Is there any enemies in your life? It’s not like I need to immediately return to the Snowy Mountain so there’s still time. Tell me and I’ll help you kill him right now.”
