Chapter 80: Running

Chapter 80: Running

What would be outside the valley?

Yu Sheng felt that this was a perfectly natural curiosity. The continuous mountain range stood quietly within his sight. It did not look so towering that it could not be climbed, and the sky was no longer covered by any terrifying barrier. Anyone standing here ought to be curious about what kind of scenery lay beyond those mountains.

“Have you ever tried crossing that mountain before?” Yu Sheng asked Hu Li curiously.

“I... tried a very long time ago, when the immortal was still here,” Hu Li immediately nodded. “Back then, I went with several adults. We tried to get over it together, but we couldn’t reach the summit. When we got halfway up, terrifying sounds would come from the sky. If we climbed any higher, we’d start losing our strength, and we’d see many horrifying miasmic shadows. The immortal even tried turning stone into puppets and sent stone puppets up the mountain. As a result, contact was lost halfway up. The next day, the shattered pieces of the stone puppets rolled down from the mountain. Blood was flowing from every piece of stone. The adults who went to investigate later came back and said flesh and bones had already started growing inside the stones.”

“Sounds coming from the sky... That sounds like the influence of the Dim Angel that used to cover the heavens,” Irene muttered. “But I don’t know whether it did that intentionally or whether it was just a passive effect. Something that sinister can have a huge impact simply by existing.”

“Now that the Dim Angel is gone, we can try again,” Yu Sheng said, looking questioningly at Irene and Hu Li. “What do you think?”

Hu Li nodded immediately. “I’ll follow Benefactor’s lead.”

Irene waved a hand. “Whatever. You always come up with ideas. You’ll try even the weirdest things. I’m used to it by now.”

“Alright then, unanimous approval. Let’s go.”

“How are we getting there? Opening a door?” Irene glanced at Yu Sheng.

“We’ll have to walk there,” Yu Sheng waved his hand. “We’ve never been there before, so it’s hard to pinpoint the location with a door. Besides, if that’s the edge of the Other Domain, the environment might be unusual. Opening a door directly wouldn’t be safe. If we walk there slowly, we can observe any environmental changes along the way and still have time to react.”

The moment Irene heard that, astonishment appeared on her face.

“You actually have a concept of safety?!”

Yu Sheng said, “I’m throwing you off my shoulder! You’re sitting up there talking nonsense nonstop!”

Hu Li looked at Yu Sheng and Irene, who had started bickering again. After thinking for a moment, she spoke softly.

“Um... the valley isn’t easy to travel through, and you don’t know the convenient paths up the mountain. How about I take you there?”

Yu Sheng looked curious.

“Take us? How?”

Then he saw the fox girl turn and run several steps away before dropping flat onto the ground.

A gust of pressure and illusion-like light erupted around her. Her form suddenly dissolved and transformed within the radiance. Before either of them could see exactly what had happened, a gigantic silver-white demon fox stood before Yu Sheng and Irene.

Yu Sheng had seen Hu Li transform into a fox before, but this was Irene’s first time witnessing it. The little doll’s eyes widened instantly. After letting out a loud gasp, she cried out:

“Good heavens! That thing looks bigger than two vans put together.”

“Is that really how you describe it?” Yu Sheng could not help glancing at the doll on his shoulder, but he still nodded. “It really is bigger than a van. Just that pile of tails is bigger than a vehicle.”

As he spoke, the enormous silver-white demon fox had already approached with light, graceful steps. She gently nudged Yu Sheng’s head with her chin and affectionately rubbed against him.

“Like this, I can carry several people!”

Yu Sheng did not respond immediately.

Because those two “gentle and affectionate” nuzzles had nearly knocked him senseless. His vision was spinning, and his head had almost been driven into his chest.

“If you’re going to talk, can you control your strength a little?!” Yu Sheng barely managed not to pass out. He grabbed the fur beneath the fox’s chin to stop her from rubbing against him again. “Seriously, you practically hammered my skull...”

Even as he spoke, his head was still buzzing. The impact felt like being struck by a fox immortal’s enlightenment ritual.

Hu Li’s apologies, at least, came quickly. Her head lowered instantly.

“Benefactor, I’m sorry...”

Yu Sheng hurriedly jumped half a meter to the side, narrowly avoiding having his head crushed open by her nose as she bowed.

Only then did he get the chance to properly examine the fox girl’s current appearance.

There was no denying it. She was graceful, and she was beautiful. It was the first time he had ever looked at a furry canine and thought of the phrase “a beauty capable of toppling nations.”

Yet compared to that beauty, what he felt more strongly at this moment was the demon fox’s unique presence.

The gigantic silver-white demon fox stood upon the earth. Her golden-red eyes seemed filled with flowing light. Several long tails swayed slowly behind her, while tiny wisps of foxfire occasionally appeared in the air. Like spirit creatures with lives of their own, they circled her tails, dancing and dispersing.

And perhaps because she had been eating well over the past two days, and because she had finally had a proper bath earlier, her tails now looked sleek and glossy.

They were in far better condition than when he had first met her.

Hu Li lowered herself to the ground. One tail settled gently beside her, the tip dropping in front of Yu Sheng.

“You can climb up now,” she said happily.

“This really is a first...” Yu Sheng hesitated before cautiously stepping onto it. In fact, because the demon fox’s fur looked so beautiful, he had even briefly considered taking off his shoes. “It doesn’t hurt when I step on you, does it?”

“I can barely feel it. It’s only a little ticklish.” Hu Li turned her head and watched Yu Sheng awkwardly climb up her tail toward her back. “You can grab the fur beside you. Otherwise your feet might slip.”

“It’s fine. I’m pretty agile.”

With Irene in tow, Yu Sheng struggled his way onto Hu Li’s back. After carefully finding a place that looked relatively stable, he sat down cross-legged.

“I’m seated securely.”

It was fluffy and warm.

With mixed emotions, Yu Sheng reached out and touched the surrounding fur. It felt as though he were sitting atop an exceptionally luxurious soft blanket.

Before he could finish marveling at it, he noticed several tails curling around from behind Hu Li, forming barriers beside him.

Irene poked Yu Sheng’s head.

“It even has armrests and a backrest!”

Then she added:

“Can we install a seat on your shoulder too? A hard seat is fine.”

Yu Sheng: “...”

“What do you think?”

“If not, then not.”

A gentle swaying rose from beneath them.

The enormous silver-white demon fox slowly stood and turned toward the distant mountain range.

“We’re setting off,” Hu Li said. For some reason, her voice sounded especially happy. “Benefactor, hold on tight! I’m going to start running!”

“I’ve got a hold...”

Yu Sheng only managed to say a few words before everything beneath him lurched.

The next instant, he nearly lost his seat.

The demon fox had already shot forward like an unleashed whatever-it-was.

One tail swept over from behind and caught Yu Sheng and Irene just as they were about to lose their balance. Another tail extended from the side, blocking the violent wind rushing toward them.

Amid the tremendous acceleration, Yu Sheng saw the scenery on both sides instantly blur into streaks racing backward. Neither ravines nor ruins across the land slowed Hu Li’s acceleration in the slightest.

The demon fox ran freely across the vast valley.

“Waaaaah hahaha!” Irene screamed excitedly. Gripping Yu Sheng’s head with all her strength, she faced the gale pouring through the gaps between the tails, even though it had already been weakened countless times. She stretched her mouth wide and shouted, “We’re-going-to-flyyyyy!”

“I love running!” Hu Li’s voice drifted back from ahead, filled with delight. “It’s been so long since I’ve run like this!”

One hand tightly gripping a huge fluffy tail beside him, the other holding the doll on his shoulder to prevent her from being flung away, Yu Sheng shouted:

“Watch where you’re going! Don’t crash into... a mountain! Mountain! There’s a mountain ahead!”

“Okay!”

Hu Li shouted happily and accelerated once more toward the approaching slope.

Clusters of brilliant foxfire suddenly ignited behind her. Flames gathered around her tails in dense masses, then erupted into a series of rapid explosions.

Amid the fierce combustion and discharge, sharp cone-like trails formed behind her!

Hearing the commotion, Yu Sheng hurriedly looked back through a gap between the fox tails.

The moment he saw it, he cried out:

“Holy crap, a rocket-propelled fox!”

Then an even more powerful acceleration slammed into him, accompanied by violent vibrations. Even with his current physical condition, he nearly lost his breath.

The next thing he knew, Hu Li had already charged onto the mountainside.

She had not run up it.

She had practically skimmed along the terrain in ultra-low-altitude flight!

In the blink of an eye, the rocket-propelled fox had reached the vicinity of the mountainside. Her voice pierced through the roaring wind and reached Yu Sheng and Irene.

“This is where we started hearing the strange sounds back then! Higher up, we’d lose our strength and start seeing strange things! We’re going to cross it!”

Then Hu Li passed through the mountain line that had once blocked the immortal, blocked her father and mother, and blocked all the survivors.

She crossed it almost without resistance.

Nothing remained here to stop her.

She could already vaguely see the scenery near the summit. Jagged boulders stood atop the slope like rows of strange sentries beneath the daylight.

She began slowing down.

The propulsion flames on her tails quickly faded. Her agile paws landed among the rocks as she ran while steadily regaining balance.

Over the final few hundred meters approaching the summit, Hu Li’s speed finally dropped to that of a brisk run.

She leaped several more times among the stones before finally stopping in a relatively open area.

Several tails on her back slowly unfolded, like a passenger compartment opening, revealing a somewhat dazed Yu Sheng inside.

It took him several seconds to recover his senses.

Slowly, he raised his head and looked into the distance.

“Benefactor,” Hu Li’s voice entered his ears.

“Outside... it’s still mountains. Mountains repeating endlessly.”