Chapter 350: Chapter 350: Trapped
Monk Ben Yin and a few junior brothers found a spot nearby to sit and rest. After all, the campfire was quite small, surrounded by several female disciples from the Emei Sect and about a dozen people including Zhang Hai from the Wudang Sect, and squeezing in more would make the crowd too large.
Besides, being monks, they did not want to get involved with women like Zhi Ruo, whereas the likes of Zhang Hai from the Wudang Sect were different; they were actively trying to court the female disciples of the Emei Sect and Shenming Mountain Sect in hopes of finding love.
However, the female disciples of the Shenming Mountain Sect were rather aloof, barely responding to the advances of Zhang Hai and the others, while the female disciples from the Emei Sect were much more approachable.
The girls from the Shenming Mountain Sect didn’t go over and instead went back to their own place to rest.
Lan Xin glanced at Yang Xiao.
Yang Xiao joked:
"Lan Xin, why don’t you sisters come and warm up by the fire too?"
Lan Xin said indifferently:
"Our Shenming Mountain Sect is located on the Divine Mountain where it is cold all year round, and our Inner Strength cultivation also has the effect of warding off the cold. Besides, I’m not fond of bustling places, you go ahead."
Yang Xiao remembered when Zhang Hai and others had invited Lan Xin for a barbecue. Lan Xin had just coldly said, "Thanks, but no." without further conversation, but this time, she explained more to him, subtly showing a slightly better attitude compared to how she treated Zhang Hai and the others.
Standing opposite Lan Xin, Yang Xiao could clearly see her face this time; her skin was fairer than snow, her features delicate, her demeanor ethereal like the Divine Mountain Snow Lotus, immaculate, recalling the moment he was swayed by her presence, he felt a little thrilled inside.
Yang Xiao was somewhat mesmerized by her. Qin Yu and Deng Xiao’s beauty had a touch of delicacy, the lady from Magic City No. 25 had a touch of mature allure, while Lan Xin’s beauty carried a chilly haughtiness, like a frost-covered mountain.
Yang Xiao stared at Lan Xin and was momentarily lost in thought.
Lan Xin glanced at Yang Xiao and then turned to walk back to her own team.
Yang Xiao went towards Monk Ben Yin’s team from Shaolin Temple, as he was nominally teamed up with monks from Shaolin Temple at the moment.
Just as Yang Xiao sat down, Monk Ben Guo chuckled:
"Mr. Yang, don’t you feel a bit aggrieved being the matchmaker?"
Yang Xiao understood he was referring to how Zhang Hai and others were using his barbecue and campfire to court favoritism. He immediately laughed:
"You are a monk; as long as it helps others, you don’t ask for cause, effect, or reward, I am happy."
"Ha ha, well said! Mr. Yang, I admire your broad mind!"
"I mean, could you not keep saying ’Old Monk’ all the time? We are all about the same age, how about we call each other brothers from now on? What do you think?"
Monk Ben Yin laughed and replied:
"Very well!"
As Yang Xiao talked with Monk Ben Yin and others, he learned that Monk Ben Yin, Ben Hai, and others had become monks at Shaolin Temple after graduating from university; they were not illiterate, and he naturally thought highly of them.
Members from the Shenming Mountain Sect, Wudang Sect, Emei Sect, and Shaolin Temple all had portable camping tents. When it was time to sleep, everyone took out their travel, portable camping tents from their backpacks and climbed in to sleep, except Yang Xiao who didn’t have a tent.
Monk Ben Yin offered to share his tent with Yang Xiao.
Yang Xiao joked:
"The tent is so small, I’d rather not join in; otherwise, people might suspect we have some kind of a ’special bond’."
Monk Ben Yin laughed out loud, chanted "Amitabha", and climbed into the tent to sleep.
Yang Xiao walked over to the Flame Horse and nestled up against its body to sleep. The Flame Horse’s body was indeed very warm and soft. It had become Yang Xiao’s habit to rest in this way during the desert nights. Previously, when he had the Giant Eagle, he liked to nestle in its wings to sleep, which was as comfortable as sleeping in a down quilt. Now, without the Giant Eagle, he really missed it.
A peaceful night passed, and as dawn broke the next day, everyone got up, had their breakfast, and prepared for a new day’s hunting plan.
The young lady Zhi Ruo from the Emei Sect had already fully resurrected, and so had several of her junior sisters.
They had changed into new clothes in the overnight tent, each looking even more beautiful than the day before, especially Miss Zhi Ruo. Her demeanor and appearance were first-rate, on par with Lan Xin from the Shenming Mountain Sect.
However, Miss Zhi Ruo had a gentle demeanor, whereas Miss Lan Xin had a cold and arrogant face.
The ten-meter-long giant leopard’s corpse from yesterday still had plenty of meat left. The daily temperature in the desert was below freezing, so it hadn’t spoiled or rotted, with the blood on it freezing into blocks of ice.
Yang Xiao cut large chunks of meat in the morning and fed them to the Flame Horse. He cut a few pieces for himself, reignited the campfire, roasted the meat, and consumed several pounds. He stored the rest in his Space Ring to use as food during the day, just in case.
Beside him, Zhang Jian laughed:
"Brother Yang, no need to bring food, there are plenty of monsters outside. Don’t you need their corpses? We’ll kill them and you can just pick them up."
Yang Xiao replied, "Thank you in advance."
Miss Zhi Ruo walked over to the fire and said earnestly to Yang Xiao:
"Master Yang, thank you for saving me yesterday."
"Ah, you already thanked me yesterday, no need to be polite."
Zhi Ruo nodded, smiled faintly, and then turned to join her companions.
Yang Xiao entered the Genetic Store, where each store had information about the nearby geographical terrain.
Yang Xiao glanced at the map on the wall. The radius of this Genetic Store covered more than fifty kilometers. Beyond that range, he would need to search for another Genetic Store for nightly rest.
On the map, he saw the farthest place marked as Desert Canyon, and additionally, there were Desert Lake, Desert Prairie, and Desert Forest.
With the Genetic Store as the center, he could hunt monsters within a radius of about fifty kilometers.
Yang Xiao replaced his Arrow Quiver in the Genetic Store. His previous quiver could only hold 200 arrows, while the new quiver could hold a thousand arrows. Of course, this quiver imbued with a mystical secret technique cost him 10,000 Crystal Coins.
Yang Xiao also bought two bottles of Detoxification Pills and Small Blood Pills, to prevent any accidents.
As soon as he walked out of the Genetic Store, he heard shrieking outside.
In the distant sky, hundreds of gigantic killer bees were swarming towards him.
"Damn, these killer bees haven’t left?"
Yang Xiao ran over and saw Zhi Ruo and others from the Emei Sect quickly running into the protective orange light, with a look of shock on their faces.
Joining them in running to safety were Zhang Hai and others from the Wudang Sect.
Initially, the Emei Sect and the Wudang Sect had planned to join forces to hunt monsters today, but as soon as they went out, they were ambushed by a swarm of killer bees from the nearby woods.
These killer bees were extremely fierce and numerous, attacking while flying in mid-air, and even together, the dozen people from Emei Sect and Wudang Sect couldn’t withstand their attack, so they fled back into the protective orange light.
Monk Ben Guo watched and said:
"Amitabha, this is bad. We’ve been trapped by this swarm of killer bees."
(Two more updates tonight, thanks to book friends Xi Xi playing games in the West Stream for rewarding 1000 Qidian Coins, and Low-key Reading for rewarding 100 Qidian Coins, thank you all for your support.)