LoserQueen

Chapter 23 Deep in the Valley

Hua Qingyue smiled at the fact that Dugu Muyou would not take Jiuqi Demon's Magical Essence and sensed that she was not a selfish person, since she needed the Magical Essence more than anyone.

"Muyou, I understand you do not wish to take the Magical Essence by yourself, but do not forget the presence of Blood Fox. It consumed too much spiritual power for you. Though you do not want to accept Magical Essence, shouldn't you think twice for Blood Fox's sake?"

Dugu Muyou glanced at Blood Fox resting in her arms with a trace of tender expression in her eyes. For her, Blood Fox had given up the opportunity of incarnation and could not return to Nangong Xun anymore. She could not sit idly by.

"Miss Dugu, you should accept it. Although you did not kill the monster alone, you made noticeable efforts to kill it. You should take the Crystal Essence for granted."

Dugu Muyou nodded at Hu Bijie and spoke, "In that case, I'll accept this arrangement, and let's split it next time if such an occasion arises again."

Hua Qingyue handed the Magical Essence over to Dugu Muyou, and she said smilingly, "It's a rare good thing."

After taking the Magical Essence, Blood Fox transformed the spiritual qi kept inside into usable spiritual qi and disappeared amid the light of the Magical Essence. Then a voice came not far away.

"Dumb woman, in fact, you're not so bad. Keep practicing, and I'll find you someday when I get better." Blood Fox's voice gradually blurred and faded in the vast world.

Dugu Muyou was embarrassed. Being called by a fox as a dumb woman was a complete disgrace. She thought to herself she would never give it a chance to address her like that! Never again!

While she was distressed, a faint blue spiritual qi, as pure and beautiful as the color of the sky, circled above her head.

It turned out that she made another breakthrough! Hua Qingyue stared at Dugu Muyou gloomily, "You are making it so hard for us to swallow. We all witnessed that you made so many breakthroughs in such a short time, which is infuriating!"

Dugu Muyou grinned but did not offer any explanation.

After she absorbed the Magical Essence, an internal dan showed up in her palm.

Taken by surprise, Hua Qingyue yelled, "Internal dan! An internal dan is here!"

Hua Qingshui took over the internal dan from Dugu Muyou, and a smile curved his lips. He said, "Right. That's the internal dan we've been looking for."

Dugu Muyou clapped her hands and said smilingly, "In this case, you can have the internal dan. Why not kill two birds with one stone?"

Hu Bijie and his fellows recovered from injuries. Hu Bijie came up to Dugu Muyou with a broad smile, "Thanks to you and the two swordsmen, otherwise, we might have been beheaded by now. Ha-ha, I will return your favors if there is an opportunity."

Dugu Muyou let out a vigorous laugh, "You're welcome. We're always fighting at close quarters across all corners of the country. We should help each other. We are still staying in the Valley of Magical Animals. What is your plan from here?"

Seeing the bunch of people behind Hu Bijie, Dugu Muyou guessed that they probably had a mission to carry out, which was inconvenient to disclose to an outsider like her.

She paused for a while and spoke, "Brother Hu must have other things to do. We have to resume our journey, so we won't stay long."

To their surprise, Hu Bijie laughed out loud, "You are a straightforward girl, and I cannot allow myself to act like a bashful girl! To be honest, we are not here to carry out missions. Instead, we are heading towards the training camp in the Valley of Magical Animals for training."

Hu Bijie glanced at the dozens of fellows behind him and grinned, "My fellows broke into the f*******n area not knowingly, and I am the one to blame. Our training camp is not far from here. If you would like to come along with me to the base camp and take a rest, I would be happy to cater for you to express my gratitude."

Dugu Muyou shook her head while saying, "Maybe some other day. You'll have plenty of opportunities. For the moment, we still have things to do, so we get to set out."

Hearing Dugu Muyou's words, Hu Bijie did not dissuade her and only held one fist in another hand, "Take care! I'll requite your favors in future!"

After parting with Wings of Wind, the three continued on their journey. There was a forest ahead of them, silent and quiet. Behind the desolate and uninhabited forest were luxuriant clusters of exotic flowers and rare herbs. They saw no one, and it was indeed not an inhabitable place for humans.

"Dugu Muyou, what's that ahead? Is that a house?"

"Where? How come I didn't see anything?"

Dugu Muyou had no interest in looking around. She thought would there be any house? Were they joking?

"It looks like a house. Why not get closer and see what it is?"

Hua Qingyue agreed.

Dugu Muyou sneered sardonically, "Do you two have a clear assessment of your surroundings? It is not the time to joke. A house? Are you starved to the point of delirium?"

Before Dugu Muyou could finish what she was saying, there was indeed a house covered by clouds, partly hidden and partly visible. A closer look at the sight revealed a roof, vaguely seen.

The three stepped up. When they got closer, they found it was a phantom, not a house!

Dugu Muyou guessed the phantom was probably caused by the refraction of the light. In the world she came from, this phenomenon was called mirage.

"Now... Do you still think I am wrong?" Dugu Muyou held her chin melancholy. Worn out, she wanted to just sit on the ground and have a good night sleep.

Beautiful! The sight was beautiful. The roof was still vaguely seen, but the view was not as clear as before. The light grew stronger, and the phantom gradually blurred.

When the three began staring at the phantom, they found it was diminishing little by little. Finally, it turned into a circle of blurred light and disappeared completely.

"So now we don't have a place to stay the night. What should we do? Do you have any other ideas? I don't have any idea. What about setting up a tent by ourselves?"

Gazing at the endless trees, Dugu Muyou lost her will to fight. She had been fighting with monsters for quite some time and was lured by the mirage all the way here, not to mention that she had not eaten anything yet.

Hua Qingyue threw up his hands and said, "It seems that it's not easy to set up a tent here. Monsters are all over the place, and we might be exposed to the risk of being eaten at midnight."

Dugu Muyou's expression grew darker after she heard his words. She spoke, "Could you please say something that's pleasant to the ears? At least something to inspire the morale. What you said was frustrating. Hua Qingshui, do you have any plans? You can remain silent if you have the same view as his."

Dugu Muyou was not in the mood for negative opinions. She was going to blow up if she heard another word about not finding a place to stay the night!

Hua Qingshui was obviously more sensible than Hua Qingyue. At least, he did not say they might be eaten by monsters at night. After observing the nearby terrain, he said slowly, "In fact, it is not impossible to build a tent to stay, but it may take extra efforts. You see there is a high slope. We can cut down some trees as the base and put some tree trunks as the wall, which is not infeasible."

Dugu Muyou threw him a glance and sneered, "However, if we were to proceed as you said, wouldn't we waste a year of our time building a house?"

It was true. Building a place like that was a big project. Nonetheless, where could they stay if they could not find a place now? They could not really take the sky as the roof and the earth as the cottage.

Looking at the sea of trees around her, Dugu Muyou opened her mouth and then closed it since she did not know what to say. Then she bent her head and spoke, "Actually, we do not have to build the tent by ourselves. We helped the guys from Wings of Wind. If we were to go to Wings of Wind and look for Hu Bijie, he would be happy to help and entertain us."

Hua Qingyue stared at Dugu Muyou in disbelief and then spoke to Hua Qingshui, "Was she alright? Was she not the one who just turned down Hu Bijie's invitation to the camp?"

Hua Qingshui grinned implicitly and commented flatly, "It is said that a good horse will never turn round to graze on an old pasture. However, if it knows there is a good pasture behind it and won't go back to it, then it's a real fool."

Dugu Muyou knew he was mocking her in the dark, so she smiled flatly and responded, "Okay, okay, okay. Since both of you do not want to return, let's work out something on our own. In this case, we may face more dangers, and you two should prepare for it."

She mocked the brothers back. Earlier during the fight with the beast, Dugu Muyou's spiritual qi and her strain ability won the recognition of all. Although the brothers from the Hua Family were higher in ranks compared with her, they were not as good as Dugu Muyou.

Hua Qingyue knew they were less capable than her and did not take her words to heart. Smiling at Dugu Muyou, he responded, "Since you think it's feasible, do you expect two grown-up men like us will lose it to you in this? If you dare to move around or rest in the Valley of Magical Animals, then we have nothing to fear."

Dugu Muyou smiled and rose up from the big tree she leaned against. Waving her sleeves, she spoke, "In that case, shall we start off?"

Hua Qingyue nodded and gestured to them to go, and then all three left and moved forward.

After walking for a while, Dugu Muyou sensed a heavy smell, which was not a poisonous gas. Nonetheless, it made her throat uncomfortable, so she asked them to stop temporarily.

"Wait, it seems there is something out there." Dugu Muyou blocked their way with her hand stretching out. She stopped for a moment and said, "Did you hear anything? I think there's something approaching, and that's where the smell seems to come from."

Hua Qingyue sniffed hard and said with a smile, "Muyou, I think you're too nervous. This is not the smell of magical beasts but the fragrance of a kind of flower. I have seen it many times in Taoyuan Wonderland, but I did not know it could be found here."

Hua Qingshui smelled the fragrance and walked a few steps towards the source of the smell. He nodded and said, "Right. This flower is commonly seen in Taoyuan Wonderland and usually grows in sunny places. But look at this place. It does not seem sunny."

Dugu Muyou nodded, "So it's just the fragrance of the flowers. I just don't know where this strange scent comes from. Perhaps we can find an exit by following the scent."

Hua Qingyue and Hua Qingshui exchanged glances and said, "Xue Linglong is very delicate and generally does not grow by itself in the wild. If we can find it, maybe we will also find a household."

Dugu Muyou twitched her mouth, "Grow flowers here? Isn't that a suicidal behavior?"

"Not necessarily. Some people enjoy adventures, like you."

"What kind of flower is this? How come I've never smelled this fragrance before?" When they moved on, Dugu Muyou started chatting with them about the fragrance to pass the time.