Phoenix's Requiem

“What’s the matter? What’s happened?” The others were all surprised by the sudden noise.

“Th, this place is a snake lair,” Zhuo Lin’er stuttered as she spoke.

“Mistress, quickly, run!” At the same time, Qiuqiu’s voice rang out in Yun Ruoyan’s mind.

“Everyone, we have to run! The walls are embedded with snake eggs, so make sure you don’t touch them.” Yun Ruoyan quickly called out to everyone before she began running.

But it was already too late. A swarm of snakes poked their heads out of the eggs embedded on the walls, and a rain of snakes began to fall from the ceiling.

Those snakes that had just emerged from their eggs were covered with a sticky fluid all over their body, and, as they fell like raindrops, a foul smell instantly smothered the cave. 

Yun Ruoyan and the others ran as though their lives depended on it. However, as if directed by some unknown entity, those little snakes all slithered along the walls in front of the group, forming a thick wall of snakes.

Seeing that the way forward had been blocked, the party could only run back towards the fork, but they found that the way back had also been blocked by the snakes.

The only path left was the right one. Without any hesitation, everyone ran in that direction.

This route didn’t seem to contain a single snake egg and was a little wider than the other one, but the swarm of snakes chasing them was like a flood just about to swallow them whole.

They didn’t know how long they’d run, but it was to the point that Yun Ruoyan felt as though her entire body were cramping up.

After all, two days ago, she had just fought the saber-toothed tiger, and she still wasn’t fully recovered.

Finally, ahead of them was the faint glow of moonlight.

“We’re almost there, almost!” Lin Qingxue was in the lead, and she gathered the last of her flagging energy as she fervently ran towards the moon.

Because Yi Qianying had sprinkled some snake-attracting powder on her body, those snakes were particularly interested in her, and some would even ignore the rest of the party in favor of pouncing on Lin Qingxue instead. This repulsion was what gave her the energy to sprint to the front and remain there.

As soon as she’d left the cave behind, she collapsed onto the ground, feeling weak all over. She kept on mumbling, “I can’t run anymore, not anymore, not even if the snakes start biting me…”

Although this was what she claimed, when she felt something touch her shoulder, her whole body sprang up, and she made as if to keep running.

“Stop, we’re safe!” Yun Ruoyan’s voice came from behind her.

Only then did she dare turn back. The cave from which they’d all emerged was filled with snakes.

Under the moonlight, they twined and curled around each other. The indistinct chatter from the contact between their tiny scales was magnified by the sheer number of bodies present until the  noise was scalp-numbing.

The strange thing was that these snakes couldn’t seem to get out of the cave, as if they were somehow restricted from moving.

“Why aren’t these snakes chasing us further?” Lin Qingchen sat on the floor panting, barely able to catch her breath.

“Who cares? All I know is that we’re safe!”

“Are you both alright?” Yun Ruoyan turned toward the beastkin siblings.

Zhuo Lin’er had already gotten off Zhuo Yifeng’s back and was standing on the ground. Unlike the others, he wasn’t panting hard, but his face didn’t look too good.

“No.” Zhuo Yifeng shook his head. “I dropped one of the tiger’s canines behind!” His expression couldn’t help but look pained.

During the run, in order to protect his sister, although he could feel one of the canines falling from his body, he didn’t have the time or luxury to pick it up.

A treasure from a mid-tier beast, enough to make at least twenty mid-grade arrows! How could he not be upset?

“Brother Zhuo, don’t think too hard about it. Under those circumstances, your life’s far more important!” Lin Qingxue consoled.

“Brother, we’re sure to find more treasures in the future, but we only have one life.” Zhuo Lin’er peered at Lin Qingxue before saying lightly. The two girls, who seemed to enjoy opposing each other, could finally agree on something.

“Have we left the misdirection array, then?” Lin Qingchen asked as she inspected her surroundings.

They were in a valley-like area. Under the moonlight, they could hear the chirping of birds and insects. A cool wind brushed against their faces, making them feel relaxed after their tiring ordeal.

“I don’t care where we are, but I want to have a good night’s rest,” Lin Qingxue muttered, and her thoughts reflected everyone else’s.

The group found a good place to set up camp for the night. Because it was the start of summer, the nights weren’t too cold, but they started a fire just as a precaution.

Zhuo Yifeng, who had the best physique, would take the first watch, and the others quickly slipped into their dreams. The night was uneventful, and the others awoke to bright sunlight.

Yun Ruoyan woke up upon smelling a concentrated aroma, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Zhuo Yifeng busying himself in front of the fire.

“Didn’t you sleep at all last night?” Yun Ruoyan walked to Zhuo Yifeng’s side, somewhat embarrassed. After all, last night, they’d agreed that Zhuo Yifeng would take first watch, and Yun Ruoyan the second, but Yun Ruoyan was so tired that she couldn’t force herself to wake up.

“Why didn’t you call me up?”

Zhuo Yifeng was busily preparing a roast, and he said without turning around, “It’s alright, I can miss sleep for a few days and still be perfectly fine.”

Yun Ruoyan looked at his serious face in profile. To her surprise, not only were his eyes particularly bright, his eyelashes were unusually long. They curled slightly upwards, and the dawn gave his face a surprising gracefulness.

“It’s ready.” Zhuo Yifeng removed a skewer from the fire. As he turned his head, he locked eyes with Yun Ruoyan, and he couldn’t help but stiffen.

Yun Ruoyan was looking at Zhuo Yifeng from the side, and this angle perfectly hid the birthmark on her right cheek. Her skin was pale, especially in contrast to her red garment.

At that moment, Zhuo Yifeng’s three-quarters view of Yun Ruoyan seemed to have transformed into a different person entirely, a beautiful, pure, and unsullied maiden.

Yun Ruoyan didn’t think much of Zhuo Yifeng’s momentary stupefaction. She smiled and took the skewer from his hands.

“What’s this? A chicken or a large bird?” She asked, smiling.

“It’s so fragrant!” Lin Qingxue spoke up from behind them, and the two both turned around. They had been so wrapped up with each other that they hadn’t noticed Lin Qingxue waking up and emerging from behind.

“Good morning, Sister Ruoyan, Brother Zhuo!” Lin Qingxue gave the two of them a resplendent smile.

“Good morning! Here.” Yun Ruoyan handed the skewer in her hand to Lin Qingxue. Her face was bright and sunny, but her heart went cold. How had her alertness dropped so much in the last few days?

After her rebirth, Yun Ruoyan had been a little bird, frightened by any sudden gesture and distrustful of everyone.

For a while, she slept so lightly that she would wake at the slightest disturbance, and whenever she ate, she had to secretly test her food with a silver needle beforehand.

But ever since she had entered the imperial territory, her wariness had steadily dropped.

“Here, there’s more.” Zhuo Yifeng handed her another skewer. Yun Ruoyan absentmindedly chewed on the meat as she ate.

Back then, she was alone and helpless, but now, she had trustworthy friends and family by her side. This was why she had unconsciously let down her guard.

But wasn’t this a sort of dependency? Once she got used to something like this, what would she do if she became alone and helpless once more?!

“Ah, Sister Ruoyan, you’ve eaten a share meant for two! Qingchen’s going to have to go hungry now,” Lin Qingxue suddenly exclaimed.

Only then did Yun Ruoyan break out of her stupor. The large roasted chicken that she’d been consuming was now nothing more than bones; she’d eaten the whole bird by herself.

“I got full just eating half the bird; Sister Ruoyan, how can you eat so much while remaining so thin?!” Lin Qingxue’s face was filled with shock. “How can your figure look so good like this?!”

“I—” As soon as Yun Ruoyan opened her mouth, she let out a big burp.

“Hahaha!” Lin Qingxue immediately began to laugh out loud. “Sister Ruoyan, you’re too cute, hahaha…”

As if responding to Lin Qingxue’s laugh, Yun Ruoyan burped again.

Lin Qingxue was so overcome by laughter that she couldn’t stand up straight.

Yun Ruoyan didn’t know why she kept on burping, her face turning from white to red and white again.

My goodness! Was her cold, aloof image that she’d worked hard to develop ever since her rebirth about to break down just like that? No, she had to rein it in! Burp!

Zhuo Yifeng didn’t laugh in as obvious a manner. His face looked as paralyzed as ever, but his unusually limpid eyes were clearly full of mirth.

The whole day, Lin Qingxue never stopped talking. Once Lin Qingchen woke up, Lin Qingxue masterfully recreated the entire scene alone, and then, when everyone sat down together for lunch, she did it again. Even Zhuo Lin’er was brought to tears from her antics.

“I thought that I was the only glutton in our group, but it turns out that Sister Ruoyan’s even more of a glutton than I am! She’s been burping the whole day!” Lin Qingxue once again began to imitate her behavior.

Considering her cousin’s innocence and naivete, Yun Ruoyan couldn’t bear to get angry, so she could only lower her head and pretend that nothing had happened.

It looked as though she would have to find a way to rein in her cousin, or the cold and aloof image that she’d built for herself ever since her rebirth would fall to pieces once again.

Luckily, her burping had ceased by the evening, or even she would have been unable to stand herself.

They’d discovered a path as they explored the mountain valley, the only path that they’d found so far. The group had already followed this path through the valley for an entire day, and while they didn’t encounter any powerful beasts, they did find quite a number of rare and valuable herbs: a variant on mugwort and rapeseed, vital mid-grade ingredients for concocting an ointment for external wounds; sage’s grass and earthbane shrooms, high-grade ingredients for treating internal injuries; and far more low- and mid-grade herbs than they could name. They barely took a few steps before finding more herbs, a small patch of which would have gone for hundreds of taels of gold in the capital.

Everyone was overjoyed from picking herbs, and Yun Ruoyan stuffed quite a few into her bracelet while no one was looking.

“Sister Ruoyan,” Lin Qingchen walked up to Yun Ruoyan’s side and asked, “Why are there so many herbs here?”

“Do you have some insight?” Yun Ruoyan got at the heart of Lin Qingchen’s question.

“Generally, spiritual herbs tend to grow in areas with high spiritual energy. Do you think we could be in the center of the imperial territory?” Lin Qingchen revealed her own hypothesis. Having studied under Lin Zainan for quite some time, she was quite learned in some regards.

Actually, Yun Ruoyan had been curious about the same thing. Could they have somehow meandered into the center of the imperial territory?

The imperial territory was shaped like a disc. The outermost regions had the lowest spiritual density, the lowest-tier beasts, and lowest-grade herbs. As they went closer to the center, the spiritual energy greatly increased in density, as did the number and quality of herbs and beasts.

Given their current situation, they must have wandered into the center of the territory.

“But why are there only herbs, not beasts?” Lin Qingchen wondered.

“Mistress, something’s ahead!”

“Brother, brother!”

Qiuqiu and Zhuo Lin’er cried out warnings simultaneously. There were beasts ahead!