Stone Gaze Forest (Part 3)

In front of Mingyue was tattered young man surrounded by a pair of crying woman.

Even though the three of them was clearly driving those beasts toward her direction, Mingyue didn't hold any grudge. In fact, she might have to be thankful since finding a beast in this kind of place was a little hard chore.

Hence, Mingyue was planning to heal the poor man as long as the man was still alive.

Of course, the man was still alive. But. . .

"Er, you can cry, but can you not disturb me?" Mingyue asked while scratching her cheek. Even though the scene in front of her was very heart-warming, the two women was disturbing her attempt to heal the tattered young man.

The young man, Zheng Zhanglie, had a common commoner's feature. Rough hands, darkened skin thanks to continuous exposure of sunlight, but his body had some muscle. His outfit was made of tanned skin, a flexible kind of armour, but without good protection for the body.

At most, this kind of tanned skin armour was used to repel some annoying mosquito or maybe snake's bite.

Some part of his body was holed with the black hound's strong bite. Even though blood gushed out from his body, he was not in the critical situation.

A hundred percents, Zheng Zhanglie was safe.

But, Mingyue couldn't do anything about these two women.

In the end, Mingyue revealed herself as a healer and offered to heal Zheng Zhanglie, and the two women readily accepted it.

But, the two women didn't want to let go of the poor, or maybe a lucky young man.

""Ah?""

"Er, I say, can both of you back down a little? Both of you are disturbing me."

Usually, a healer would have to be in contact with the patient, and the patient must not be disturbed. It was what Mingyue saw four years ago in the Xia Family's domain, and she copied the same thing that she had to do.

Went closer to the patient, moving Elemental in her body, touch any part of the patient, and slowly fused her Elemental toward the patient's body.

If it was Mingyue, she could heal someone from some distance. But it was impossible for her to do it since it would attract attention.

Low profile, that was Mingyue's commitment.

If she couldn't be low profile? Use her decoy, aka Liao Yun and Fu Tao.

After getting some free space, Mingyue made her move. Zheng Zhanglie's wound was not as worse as the appearance, thus there was not much that Mingyue had to do. Improve the natural's regeneration, stopping the flowed out blood and sealed the wound. That's all.

Zheng Yi and Peng Zhen's tense expression softened when they say Zheng Zhanglie's paleness decreased. Even if it was slow, but they were convinced that Zheng Zheng Zhanglie was saved.

Both of them never expected that they would meet their saviour.

While Mingyue was busy, Liao Yun was done with her exercise and collecting the black hound's body.

"Little Yue! We got some side dish!" Liao Yun raised two black hound's body in each of her hand while she jogged toward Mingyue's position. "Oh? Did we get some guests? Since when?"

Mingyue just rolled her eyes toward Liao Yun, "Well, they are the one who sends the ingredients. Be grateful to them."

"Oh. Thanks."

But for Zheng Yi and Peng Zhen thought that Mingyue was being satire.

Turning their body toward the incoming Liao Yun, both of them bowed a little and said, "We are very grateful of lady's help."

But Liao Yun didn't pay them any attention after a brief glance.

"Little Yue, cook them." Liao Yun threw the four black hound's corpse and went back to fetch some more.

"I can't cook, don't you remember?"

"Start the fire again and wait for me. I will cook personally." Turning her body toward Mingyue, Liao Yun glared with menacing aura, "Be grateful, okay? My fee is high, so I expect you to pay."

…

"My name is Peng Zhen."

"I am Zheng Yi. This one is my brother, Zheng Zhangliu."

"And once more, on behalf of my companion, I am sorry to send all of you this trouble.

Peng Zhen lowered her head when after she introduced themselves. She knew what they had done was very dangerous toward the four people in front of her. Thankfully, the lady was strong enough to not only repel the bunch of the black hound, but also clean them up in one sweep.

If not, Peng Zhen believed not only the four people in front of would be massacred, she and her companion would face the same fate.

Even though she was saved, she couldn't run from the consequence.

Hence, she lowered her head once again.

She didn't know whether they would be forgiven or not, but it was something that she had to do.

But sadly, no one paid attention toward her apologies, letting her in an awkward position.

"Little Qi, eat more." Mingyue shoved the uneaten part from her portion. But before it was given toward Song Qi, Fu Tao repelled it.

"Don't be picky. Finish what you ate. And moreover, eat more and grow up!"

"I am an adult! Don't be a bother, smelly tofu!"

"If you want to grow up, don't be a picky eater. Little Yun, say something!"

"The meat is rubbery and a little hard. The taste is blander if compared with the earlier rabbit's meat. But since it is my cooking, I will rate it a perfect rating!"

Seeing that Liao Yun didn't pay any attention toward him, Fu Tao nagged again, "If you are still a picky eater, you will not grow up. Don't you see that you didn't grow at all? Your unbalanced diet is the main reason for it."

"I can't eat what I can't eat. Do you want to eat something that you can't eat? It is better to eat what you can eat and avoid what you can't eat. This one is the better diet."

Fu Tao was tongue-tied as he didn't know the proper response. In the end, he sighed and said, "Don't cry if Song Qi grows bigger than you, okay? Remember my word"

"Humph. Don't be a meddlesome person, smelly tofu. Little Yun will not like you even further."

". . ."

Knowing that talking was useless, Fu Tao moved his gaze toward the pair of Zheng Yi and Peng Zhen.

Both of them had an ordinary feature and their hair was only up to their shoulders. Zheng Yi had a broadsword on her waist, while Peng Zhen had a little mace.

No one had a crossbow or standard bow. Even their poor gear was the proof that they were not a mercenary yet.

"Not a mercenary?" Fu Tao started the conversation while offering the black hound's meat. Fu Tao had no problem with sharing because Zheng Yi, Peng Zhen, and Zheng Zhanglie were the one who brought the ingredients. Sharing them was a must.

At first, Peng Zhen wanted to refuse. But the loud bell from Zheng Yi's stomach made her swallowed back her word.

Fu Tao understood that Zheng Yi and Peng Zhen was tired and felt a little groggy, thus he didn't say anything after offering the roasted meat.

After finishing all of the roasted meat Liao Yun returned to her sleeping Budha's posture while Mingyue went to sleep.

Leaving Fu Tao alone with Zheng Yi and Peng Zhen, he finally asked the thing that bugged his mind.

"So, what happened to both, I mean the three of you earlier. Did you stumble upon their nest and taunted them?"

It was the most basic deduction. Even if it was for hunting, it was a little weird for a pack of the beast to chase after the hunted for a long time. The first possibility that the three of them disturbed the beast's nest or maybe the beast's cub.

Similar with human, beast and Fierce Beast were very protective toward their descendant. It was especially true for those who couldn't have too many descendants.

The second possibility was there was something that made the bunch of black hounds became hostile and irritable, and the three of them were at the wrong time, their bad luck.

Shaking her head, Peng Zhen only sighed in silent. But Zheng Yi snorted as she replied, "No, of course not. We were sprayed with Beast Gathering Powder, making us a decoy for those despicable people!"

"Beast Gathering Powder? Is it only to make the beast gathers?"

Shooting a weird expression, Zheng Yi explained, "This thing is basically banned in the market. But on the black market, it is a little different. This Beast Gathering Powder is used to make someone become a decoy. Well, not only used at someone, but the effect works the best when this powder is sprinkled on the human body. When one is sprayed with this powder, it was akin to ask to be slaughtered by the beast. The person would leave trails everywhere for the limited time. Moreover, the beast will only attack the one with Beast Gathering Powder while disregarding the other."

"But we are being used without our knowledge, and we just realized when those bastards enjoyed our expression. I remember them very clearly, how they were in leisure, how they were laughing at our attempt to save ourself, how they laughed when more and more beast came toward our direction. And when we escaped, we were no more than a little show for those bastards."

The more Zheng Yi told her story, the angrier her expression was.

It was no wonder as they just experienced the most dangerous event in their life.

"But, why are the three of you in this kind of place?" Fu Tao wondered about this point.

This time, Peng Zhen was the one who answered with a wry laugh, "Because, we are in the middle of the mercenary's examination."

"We were tasked to find Blood Rose Grass, and some people invited us to go along with them-"

"No! They are only a bunch of bastard!" Zheng Yi interjected while gritting her teeth, proving that her anger was real. But seeing the weak smile on Peng Zhen's face, Zheng Yi lowered her head.

"We were invited by some group. At first, we thought that they were our fellow exam's participant. And from them, we knew that a big amount of Blood Rose Grass was seen around here."

Remembering the magic of Mingyue earlier in the morning, Fu Tao only had a depreciating smile for himself. If not for the quick-witted Mingyue, he might be scammed the same way with Zheng Yi and Peng Zhen.

Peng Zhen continued her story, "Since the three of us are not the native of the Black Iron City, we followed those people. Sigh, and it turned out that we were sprayed with that Beast Gathering Powder. And because of that, we were being chased by a bunch of black hounds for a few hours non-stop."

Even though Peng Zhen's tone was calm and she had no any change in her expression, her fist balled because of her anger.

After that kind of experience, who wouldn't get angry? She was no saint, her companion was also the same.

"Sigh. No matter what, we failed."

Zheng Yi pouted, but Peng Zhen patted her shoulder.

"It's okay. As long as we are okay, we will be able to take another one next time."

But suddenly, she flushed in embarrassment as she remembered the few last sentences from Zheng Zhangliu. Her heart thumped in a fast rate, making her body a little feverish. In order to not attract any attention, she lowered her head.

'ZHENER! I WISH WE WILL BE ABLE TO MEET IN THE AFTERLIFE!'

'I WISH I WILL BE ABLE TO PROPOSE TO YOU PROPERLY!'

'I WISH, I WISH, I wish that I will be able to make you happy.'

It was kind of stupid, but she couldn't blame Zheng Zhanglie to spout such nonsense as it could be his last moment.

The more she thought about it, the flush on her face grew and reached her ears.

Peng Zhen had no romantic feeling toward Zheng Zhanglie at all. He was kind of similar with a big brother's figure, the sibling of her close friend. But faced with that passion and resolution, what kind of woman that wouldn't have her heart melted?

Throwing one's life in order to protect his loved one's safety.

After receiving that kind of passionate feeling, she didn't know what kind of expression she had to use when Zheng Zhanglie regained his consciousness. Twirling her short hair, her expression was no different from a maiden in love. With her soft gaze, Peng Zhen peeked at the unconscious Zheng Zhanglie.

Based on the little girl (Mingyue) that just healed him a while ago, he had to spend the night in peace, to prevent any opened closed wound.

Hence, she had a night to think about her answer carefully.

She just wanted to become a mercenary.

She was only his old neighbour.

She was close to his sister.

She didn't know what to do.

And serenity filled the night as the faint stars far above painted the dark night.

…