Chapters [81 - 82]

Chapter 81. Leaving Wangyou Forest

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Leng Yuexin lay pale on the ground, a black knife pierced through her body. Fresh blood soaked her shirt, and the artery on her right wrist had not stopped its bleeding. She was drenched in a pool of her own blood.

"Xiao Hei, should I remove the knife first or do I use the Healing Card directly?" Lin Huang asked. He was worried that removing the knife would cause even more bleeding. In Leng Yuexin's current state, if that happened, she would die within seconds. She could not take the torture any longer.

"You can use the Healing Card directly. During the process of healing, the object that caused the injury would be removed from her body automatically," Xiao Hei explained.

Hearing what Xiao Hei said, Lin Huang was slightly relieved.

"Then use a Healing Card on her."

A white glow came out of Lin Huang's body into Leng Yuexin's body. Soon, her wound stopped bleeding. The black knife that was stabbed into her chest was removed slowly by an invisible force.

"Girl, I have spent two Transformation Cards and two Healing Cards on you… Please don't create more trouble for me…" Lin Huang muttered aloud and transformed to his original form from his vampire mode and looked on at Leng Yuexin healing anxiously. If he did not manage to kill Li Yanxing with the two cards that he pulled out at the last minute, the mission would have been a waste of his resources. Lin Huang did not know that something bigger was waiting for him. When he summoned Charcoal, the eyes on top of the jellyfish-like transcendent monster in the cave were opening one by one…

Near the entrance of the underground river, Leng Yuexin was healing fast with the help of the Healing Card. The life-threatening wound was healing in front of Lin Huang's eyes, her pale face became rosy as well.

"The effects of the Healing Card is so amazing!" Lin Huang exclaimed as he saw the changes on Leng Yuexin body. Unfortunately, he had three Healing Cards but now, two of them were used on her. This time, he did not stay hidden anymore since Leng Yuexin had seen him fighting and summoning Bai and Charcoal earlier. However, she did not see him transforming into Bai as she passed out. He did not bother to think of an explanation he would tell her, all he wanted was for her to wake up as soon as possible and leave this place.

Soon, as her wounds were almost healed, Leng Yuexin woke up. She opened her eyes and saw Lin Huang, Charcoal and Bai who were not far away.

"You saved me?" Leng Yuexin said quietly, almost in a whisper as she looked at her chest and noticed that her wound had disappeared. Same on her wrist, just that the blood stains reassured her that she was not dreaming.

"Yes," Lin Huang said. He was not going to deny it.

"Was it you who removed the poison from my body too?" Leng Yuexin asked as she noticed that her condition was similar to the previous time she woke up from being poisoned as she noticed back then that the poison had completely cleared from her body too. Even the wound that was left by the transcendent monster disappeared as well.

"Yes, if you have any more questions, we can talk about it on our way out of here," Lin Huang said as he knew the underground cave was not safe after the battle and he wanted to leave as soon as possible.

"Wait, let me change my clothes," she said. Seeing herself in a mess, Leng Yuexin blushed.

"You can change when you're outside, it's not safe here…" Just when Lin Huang said that, the ground started to shake.

They were shocked, they both instantly knew that it was the transcendent monster. It must be coming for Charcoal who was a dragonkin with dragon blood flowing through its veins.

"Let's go, Bai will get you out of here!" Lin Huang shouted.

"Then what about you?" Leng Yuexin asked, surprised to hear his instructions.

"I'm just an avatar, my real body is up there," Lin Huang lied to her. He knew the made-up the excuse would speed things up and Leng Yuexin would not worry about him. He then called Bai who came forth with his Blood Power wings transformed into a pair of fins. Bai then carried Leng Yuexin, dived into the water and swam swiftly towards the entrance of the cave.

The light blue tentacles were coming for him and Charcoal. He recalled Charcoal immediately and transformed himself into Specter. He then leaped and hid behind the wall. The light blue tentacles seemed to sense Lin Huang had gone through the wall and they swept all over the location where Lin Huang and Charcoal were. Lin Huang did not turn to look behind him as he ran for his life from wall to wall. He heard loud thuds that sounded like an earthquake followed by the roar of the monster.

Deep in the cave, the light blue jellyfish monster turned a bloody red and shined a bright red glow all around the cave. Its countless tentacles were going towards the direction where Lin Huang and Charcoal had disappeared. As a transcendent monster, it knew very well about the importance of bloodlines. If it was to swallow a pure dragonkin, it would not become a dragonkin itself, but it would at least transform into something similar to the level of a Sky Dragon. By then, its ability would increase immensely.

Losing the scent of the dragonkin made it furious but soon it became calm as it caught a whiff of a human with hints of dragon blood. After locking its target on the human, countless deadly light-blue tentacles headed out for Lin Huang. Sensing the vibrations behind him getting more and more intense, Lin Huang started to run upwards. In less than three minutes, he was on the ground. Noticing that the transcendent monster was not giving up, Lin Huang used his Provisional Transformation Card and turned himself into an Alexandrian Eagle.

He flapped his wings and his gigantic body went all the way to the clouds within seconds. However, he did not leave the place immediately. He observed the area from the sky. He saw clearly that the red tentacles had pierced through the ground and caused cracks to appear all over the place. However, it was only a few centimeters out of the ground. Suddenly, the ground started to burn. The transcendent monster let out a devastating groan and retracted all its tentacles.

Seeing the strange phenomenon, Lin Huang guessed the monster must be sealed underground by some strange force which caused its body to burn once it left the ground. Now he knew where the cracks on the ground came from. Knowing that the monster was no longer a threat, he waited patiently for Leng Yuexin. The pool and waterfall that connected to the underground cave's entrance was close by. They had to come out of that entrance as there was only one way.

Flapping his wings, Lin Huang landed on a giant rock next to the pool. He turned back into a human and waited patiently. Soon, Bai brought Leng Yuexin who was wrapped in a diving suit out of the water. After removing the diving equipment, Leng Yuexin and Bai swam towards Lin Huang.

"I think I heard the monster again!" Leng Yuexin shouted at Lin Huang once she got ashore.

"Yes, we need to leave here quickly," Lin Huang nodded and summoned Viridian Wolf immediately.

"Wait, I'll only take a minute to change. Don't worry about the monster, it's sealed underground by the black rock, there's no way it can escape," Leng Yuexin said. She was soaking wet. It was summer, and she was uncovered. Her clothes were so wet that they were stuck on her body, shaped to each and every curve of her body.

Lin Huang looked the other way. Leng Yuexin leaped towards the waterfall and changed behind a giant rock. Lin Huang recalled Bai and waited patiently. Soon, Leng Yuexin was done changing. She wore a pair of jeans with a white shirt. It was casual and pleasing. She was pretty and had nice features. She used to give off the vibe that she was rich and obnoxious. Now as she was dressed in casual attire, she looked really down to earth.

"Thank you for saving me twice, I owe my life to you and I will never forget that," Leng Yuexin said as she leaped from the waterfall and landed not far from Lin Huang.

"If you could send me back to Carefree City, that would make us even then," Lin Huang replied. He just wanted to complete his mission.

"Even if you didn't mention it, I will send you back in one piece. Since I have already accepted the mission, I will have to complete it. It has nothing to do with repaying you," Leng Yuexin answered his request and shook her head.

"However, before that, please give me two to three days, I need to kill that bastard Li Yanxing with my own hands!"

"Erm… Li Yanxing is dead," Lin Huang said while rubbing his nose and averting his eyes.

"He's dead?" Leng Yuexin looked at him confused as she did not think Lin Huang could have managed to kill Li Yanxing. Although he killed him in a bad way, she thought Lin Huang was just chasing Li Yanxing away instead of killing him.

"That's right, I killed him," Lin Huang said and then took out Li Yanxing's ring.

Leng Yuexin recognized Li Yanxing's ring immediately, "He's really dead!"

"He was poisoned and almost exhausted all his Life Power when he attacked you. I killed him together with my monsters, burnt his body and tossed it into the underground river," Lin Huang lied. Of course, he could not tell her about killing Li Yanxing by transforming himself into a vampire.

"Although he was strong, he was strangled by a vampire, and there was no way he could run," he continued.

"Alright then. There will be trouble if you keep his ring. Give it to me, I will tell his family that he attempted to kill me so I defended myself and ended him. About this ring too, I will get someone to activate it. I will send all the stuff in his storage space to you, just give me your address," Leng Yuexin said to Lin Huang.

"That's what I thought too when I retrieved his ring. I was worried if his family found out about me from this ring, it would mean a great load of trouble for me," Lin Huang said and nodded. He then tossed the ring to Leng Yuexin.

Leng Yuexin caught the ring and kept it in her storage space.

"Since Li Yanxing is dead, do you have anything else you have to do?" Lin Huang asked.

"No. Li Yanxing is dead, two of the guys were eaten by the monster and another one was poisoned. There's no reason for me to stay. Let me send you back to the city," Leng Yuexin said and shook her head recounting all the events of the day. She then took out her monster taming token and summoned her gold-level Frostwolf. She rode on it while Lin Huang rode on his Viridian Wolf and headed on their way...

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Chapter 82. Uncle's Relationship Advice

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Carefree City was a peaceful little city. The streets were crowded with people at the many restaurants that lit up at night. As time passed, it became a major attraction of this foothold which beckoned many tourists. It was late in the evening when Lin Huang and Leng Yuexin arrived in Carefree City. All the restaurants were opened for business, many tables and chairs were arranged in the alfresco area.

Looking at the crowds in the restaurants on both sides and the smell of food in the air, Lin Huang started to get hungry. He just realized that he only had breakfast that day before his mission. Leng Yuexin was a little panicked in the crowd as she hardly went to places that were crowded.

"I bet you're hungry. It's my treat," Lin Huang offered. He was hungry himself but he did not want Leng Yuexin to feel left out so he suggested a meal together.

"Huh?" Leng Yuexin hesitated as she had never eaten at places like this before.

"What would you like to eat?" Lin Huang asked.

"Anything… is fine with me…" Leng Yuexin did not want to reject Lin Huang as he saved her life. Even if the food was terrible, she would force herself to eat.

"I'll order then. Can you take spicy food?" Lin Huang asked.

"I'm okay with that," Leng Yuexin nodded.

Lin Huang was not familiar with the food in this world as there were so much more varieties here than on Earth. He would usually eat something that he was familiar with but there were many dishes he had never tried in this place. However, Lin Huang was experienced when it came to finding good food. He used to travel a lot, and aside from browsing food recommendations on the Internet, he would come up with useful food guides that were about the crowd a place had, the number of people eating at a restaurant, which location had better tasting food and so on, trying to make the experience of finding the best meal much simpler for his readers.

Although most of the dishes were unfamiliar to him, it was not difficult to tell which restaurants had good business based on his guide.

"Let's go to that one!"

Lin Huang strolled around and found a restaurant with quite a long queue. He then pulled Leng Yuexin into the queue. Leng Yuexin's appearance attracted many wandering eyes. Although she did not dress up, her beauty could not be hidden.

10 minutes later, it was finally Lin Huang and Leng Yuexin's turn to enter the restaurant. The restaurant owner was a middle-aged man. He stood behind the counter and looked at the both of them. He smiled at Lin Huang and commented, "Little man, your girlfriend is so pretty!"

Leng Yuexin blushed as Lin Huang waved his hand, "Uncle, that's a misunderstanding, we're just friends." Lin Huang explained.

The restaurant owner smiled and did not dwell on the topic, "What would the both of you like to order?" he asked.

"Please recommend your specials, good sir," Lin Huang asked politely. He knew that the owner would always recommend their specialties to convert people into regular customers at their establishments.

"Our food portions are pretty big, two dishes and a soup would be sufficient for the both of you. If you order more, the extra food might go to waste," the restaurant owner said with a hearty laugh. "We have two specialties here. One of them would be the Roasted Iceberg Pig Tenderloin while the second would be the Grilled Steak which is made from the Ox Devil's Ribs. For the soup dish, let's get you guys the Twin Vine Flower Soup. It's light and healthy," he said.

"Sure, we'll get everything you recommended," Lin Huang nodded with satisfaction.

"Can the both of you take spicy food?" the restaurant owner asked.

"Just slightly," Lin Huang replied.

"Sure, take a seat. Your food will be sent to you soon," the owner said.

Seeing there was an empty table at the al fresco area, Lin Huang lead Leng Yuexin to take a seat. When he was in the university, Lin Huang would usually go to the beach with his roommates for a barbecue and a few beers during the summer. Later on, although he needed to eat out with his customers a lot, he hardly ate street food anymore.

Al-fresco street food places like this made him reminisce about his simple life back on Earth.

Leng Yuexin sat across from Lin Huang. Seeing him staring into space, it was quite awkward for her. She broke the ice by asking, "Do you usually come to places like this?"

"No, this is my first time," Lin Huang was stunned, he shook his head and said, "There used to be street food like this in my hometown but it has been a long time since I've eaten there."

"Oh…" Leng Yuexin nodded and did not know how to continue the topic.

"Have you not been to places like this?" Lin Huang asked as he noticed that Leng Yuexin seemed uneasy.

"No," Leng Yuexin shook her head and said, "My family wouldn't allow me to eat at places like this."

Just then, Lin Huang recalled that she was royalty. Although he did not know much about the royalty here, he concluded that they should be similar to the knights in the olden days that lived by certain principles such as having good manners and strict rules both at home and in public. It was normal that they were not allowed to eat by the streets. Since that topic involved Leng Yuexin's family, Lin Huang did not want to pry any further so he changed the subject and asked, "What's that monster that lived underground?" He asked.

"That was a Floating Orchid, an undead species from the abyss. A transcendent from our family sealed it in Wangyou Forest more than 100 years ago so that generations to come could kill it to level up into a transcendent. My purpose here this time was to kill it so that I could level up. I didn't know that it had mutated twice since then. Although its combat strength remained the same, its ability was more than 10 times stronger than it was 100 years ago. If you were not there, I would have surely died," Leng Yuexin told Lin Huang the story of the monster that lived underground in the Wangyou Forest.

"Did you hire Li Yanxing as your assistant?" Lin Huang asked.

"No, I was alone when I departed but I bumped into them. Our families had a good relationship and he knew that I was there to kill the monster so he decided to help. I knew that he was up to something but I did not want to reject him so we decided to go on the mission together. No matter how strong a companion is, we always have to be cautious. Thankfully you were there so that he could not carry out his evil plan. I am so grateful we met you," Leng Yuexin finally told him about the real reason why they were together.

After listening to Leng Yuexin's explanation, Lin Huang thought how Li Yanxing bumped into her was quite strange. Just as they were talking, the waiter came with their food so their conversation was interrupted. Lin Huang had tried many delicious delicacies but the specialties the restaurant owner had recommended was incredible! The spices and seasoning alone were better than the food he would die for on earth. The restaurant owner was brilliant in the kitchen. Not only did Lin Huang feel that way, Leng Yuexin did not stop eating too. She did not like street food but the food they were having was irresistible.

The both of them cleared all the food. Leng Yuexin wiped her mouth and said, "I've never tried street food. I didn't know it was so good! Thank you!"

"If we've another chance, I'll bring you to other places too," Lin Huang said with a smile.

"I'll have to leave in a while, my family sent someone to pick me up. You will leave soon too, right?" Leng Yuexin asked.

"I'll leave tomorrow morning. If I stay here any longer, my sister will be worried," Lin Huang told her and smiled awkwardly in embarrassment.

"Oh…" Leng Yuexin kept quiet for a while and asked, "I have been wanting to ask you this but I don't know if I should."

"Please do. Don't worry I'll answer your questions the way I know how to," Lin Huang said as he nodded. He had made up answers to all the possible questions she could ask in his mind.

"I want to know why you saved me?" Leng Yuexin asked. Out of all the questions he had prepared himself for, this was the one question that Lin Huang had not expect. She actually had many questions for him, among them were the reasons why went underground? What kind of healing magic did he possess to have saved her twice? She could tell clearly that the guy in the cave was not his avatar, how did he manage to get out of the cave? However, she chose to ask why he had saved her instead.

"Maybe...I like you," Lin Huang answered, just making up the first thing that came to mind. He could not tell her that he was on a mission and that saving her was mandatory.

"That's it?" Leng Yuexin asked. She did not seem to accept his answer.

"That's it. I like you, so I saved you," Lin Huang nodded and answered in all seriousness.

"Alright, I shall accept your answer," Leng Yuexin knew that Lin Huang was not telling the truth but she did not want to dwell on it. She then looked at the time on her ring and stood up, "It's almost time, I need to go now," she said.

"Alright, we shall meet for food if there's another chance in the future," Lin Huang stood up as well.

"I will send you the stuff that I've promised. Goodbye!" Leng Yuexin said politely. She then turned around and left.

Seeing her walking away, Lin Huang then waved at the restaurant owner, "Boss! Bill, please!"

The restaurant owner walked to him with a smile, "What's wrong, didn't it go as you expected? I don't mean to nag, but men should always cling to girls they like. You'll understand this when you're my age. Girls that pretty are hard to come by even if you've lived an entire lifetime. How could you give up just like that? Go chase after her, maybe there's still a chance to turn things around. You should treat her better, go somewhere nicer…" He advised Lin Huang with a sincere look in his eyes.

"Uncle, we are really, just friends…" Lin Huang replied. He paid immediately and left soon after. The owner was confused because the young man looked like he was running for his life.

"Sigh... Such a nice lady. Why did they break up just like that? Young people nowadays... How strange…" The middle-aged man sighed as he watched Lin Huang leave.

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