Chapter 1195: 18.33 First Grey Star - Tenth Mountain
The wall Heavenly Guardian Xian Wu built upon his arrival prevented anyone else from witnessing Hei Anjing in his soul form, but those inside the wall at that moment did see him. His original features resembled the body of his earthly incarnation, and he also bore a striking resemblance to Mo Xuejing.
Those who were aware of the existence of the Mo Clan heir were taken aback by his appearance, wondering how he could appear before them in the form of a soul.
Despite the fact that the chaos in Somatic Town has subsided, the Ye Jieye group has now reached the core region; this mountain's tension and the fact that it is so quiet that not even the sounds of insects can be heard combine to create an atmosphere that Ye Jieye was not prepared for on the tenth mountain.
Lu Ming spoke, "Why is it too quiet in this place?"
"Not even a bug can be heard. Is this really the entrance to the core region?" Mo Yuhan mumbles.
Su Jin and Leica checked through their digital map and saw the marker that shows where they are currently. As expected, they are in the right place.
Su Jin asked, "Why is it so quiet in this place?"
"Because here, only predators that stand on top live. Only high-ranked ingredients remain here, and likewise, they aren't able to go down the lower mountains even if they want to. There is a barrier around the core region that prevents them from leaving," Mo Xuejing explained.
Mo Yuhan asked, "What kind of barrier, cousin?"
"The Milky Way River. There, some live at the depths that prevent them from coming here. Something huge and powerful," Mo Xuejing said.
Everyone was stunned by what they heard. They've already dove down in there and all, but they didn't notice anything too powerful living under that weird and almost endless river.
Ye Jieye said, "Don't worry. That thing might be left there intentionally as its sleeping ground. Maybe it's the pet of the Heavenly Guardian that protects this place."
"A Heavenly Guardian? Is each danger zone protected by a Heavenly Guardian, Big Brother Ye?" Lu Ming asked.
Ye Jieye nods his head. "Yes. Like how the gramps protect the Death Forest. This Tornado Mountain Ranges must have a Heavenly Guardian protecting it as well. Instead of protecting, they are like guardians that prevent beast stampedes towards the land where humans live."
"I haven't experienced Beast Stampede yet but I heard that even legend-grade creatures come out to lead the lower-rank one," Lu Ming said.
Leica said, "The last recorded Beast Stampedes was just after the Heavenly Guardian had been stationed in each danger zone. It's in the Ruins of Time at the Capital. It was said that Heavenly Guardian Lu even sacrificed his son and son-in-law during that accident."
"Darling, shss~" Lu Shang whispered.
Ye Jieye said, "He is useless, so sacrificing is all he can do."
A painful past was suddenly unearthed in the group, to the point where even the normally talkative Lu Ming fell silent. The story that Leica had just told was one that he was familiar with: it was the tragedy of the Lu Clan, and Ye Jieye's parents were the sacrificed couple in that accident.
This is also the reason why Ye Jieye's cousin is so estranged from the Lu Clan; after that second incident involving his cousin, his cousin broke away from the clan.
The younger generation chose to live as far away from the main clan as possible because they were afraid that their families would be the next to be sacrificed; even though the Lu Clan is quite famous, they are more notorious for this tragedy. He had no idea for all this time whether his grandfather made that decision for them or for the sake of their Clan's fame.
Ye Jieye said, "Enough with the nonsense and look for the trace of that new ingredient. Once we've reached the twelfth mountain, I will focus on Behemoth Carabao by then."
"I hope the new ingredient will have some effect on Xiao Xia. At least let her not feel cold for a few weeks or months. After all, the effects of Lava Apple and Fierce Grapes are only 3 days. She has to eat more next time for it to have effects," Mo Xuejing said.
Ye Jieye said, "It's alright. Next time we will head to Active Volcano Island and find more ingredients suitable for Xiao Xia. When Ciao Jing reaches ten, we will need an ingredient with powerful ice elements to help him fully awaken his physique."
"I will accompany you in both zones," Mo Xuejing said.
Ye Jieye looked at him and said, "Do as you wish."
While Mo Xuejing closely followed Ye Jieye's every move, Lu Shang and Leica understood their Lord God's hesitation, as he vowed to only love Lord Hei. However, they felt that Mo Xuejing was Lord Hei's incarnation because the Lord God did not choose to treat him as his wife. Nevertheless, they could only watch. It is not as though they look intimate as lovers who hold each other's hands at all.
For their part, Lu Ming and Su Jin simply perceive the awkward yet unbreakable bond between these two powerful figures; they were uninterested in their elder's relationship and could only concentrate on tracking down evidence of the new ingredient.
As for Mo Yuhan, the more he witnesses scenes like these between Ye Jieye and Mo Xuejing, the more he regrets and feels guilty about it because they were meant to be inseparable—not in this awkward way—but everything had changed as a result of previous events.
Mo Yuhan mumbles, "Maybe I should just tell them, even if, in the end, my cousin ends up hating me."
As they proceeded up the quiet mountain, they came upon a strange scene: a group of enormous potatoes and a sweet potato face to face. The potatoes' faces are etched on the potato or sweet potato itself, and they are wearing gloves-like objects on their hands. The sweet potato's feet have bandages wrapped around them. The two vegetables were engaging in a combative display.
The Boxing Potato Man and the Kicking Sweet Potato Lady are two first-class, rare-grade ingredients that Lu Ming and Mo Yuhan identified. It was said that the French fries and steamed sweet potatoes made with these ingredients are delicious and highly sought-after, ranking among the most expensive vegetables sold by the Food Gathering Association.
People would be hard-pressed to finish just one meal made from these ingredients.
Even Su Jin's eyes glow at the sight of these luxurious vegetables. He started pulling his lover's sleeves and chanted countless dishes that made one crave them.
"French Fries, Steamed Sweet Potato, Mashed Potatoes with butter, Sweet Potato Sherbet, Classic Potato Salad, Sweet Potato Pancake, Patatas Bravas, Sheet-Pan Harissa Chicken and Sweet Potatoes, Salmon and potato Skillet, Sweet Potato Pie, Gorditas..."
Drools~ Gulps!
"Enough. Enough. I'll catch all of it for you!" said Lu Ming as he and Mo Yuhan jumped into the crowd.
Mo Yuhan mumbles, "Hash Browns. I want Hash Browns!!"
"Sweet Potato Gnocchi. Sweet Potato Fries! Damn, I want all of it!" Lu Ming said.
The two fearless idiots leaped into the middle of the two groups, with Mo Yuhan going after the Potato Boxing Men and Lu Ming going after the Kicking Sweet Potato Ladies. They split the group equally and began the hunt, with Su Jin supporting the two men from the sidelines, unable to fight but able to assist them in gathering the ingredients.
To obtain a small pile of vegetables, one must defeat each of the Kicking Sweet Potato Ladies and Potato Boxing Men. Each pile yields six to ten potatoes and sweet potatoes.
Lu Shang and Leica were at a loss for what to do with these brats, who had become obsessed with the minion-sized potatoes and Sweet Potatoes. They were surrounded by two of the largest Sweet Potato Queens in the world, Kicking Sweet Potato Queen and Potato Boxing King, which together could fill a three-story structure.
Mo Xuejing said, "We will take the Potato King, you two will get the Sweet Potato Queen."
"Yes!"
The three who were fighting the minions did not know that something was amiss until they felt the ground tremble. Mo Xuejing and Ye Jieye went to Potato Boxing King, while Lu Shang and Leica went to Kicking Sweet Potato Queen.
Rumbles~ rumbles~
Su Jin said, "Eh? An Earthquake!?"
"No. This is..."
The three of them saw a huge potato not far from them. Ye Jieye and Mo Xuejing were flying. The latter had frozen the feet of the Potato giant. Meanwhile, as they fight the huge potato Ye Jieye notices something passed him at the speed of light. He didn't mind it much but saw what it was.
"Is that a Boxing Potato King!?" Mo Yuhan exclaims. "Fuck! It's so big. This is the first time I saw something like that."
"Didn't they say that this ingredient is at least a legendary grade!? It's a hundred times more delicious than peak rare-grade Boxing Potato Man!" Lu Ming said.
Mo Yuhan said, "It would be great if it could mutate, so we could have some Demigod-grade ingredients."
Su Jin thought for a while and commented, "Since a Potato King exists, doesn't that mean a Sweet Potato Queen exists as well!?"
At that moment, a massive tornado emerged on the other side of the Potato King, and Lu Shang was able to control it at the base of the enormous sweet potato in order to keep it stationary.
Lu Ming and Mo Yuhan exclaim, "There really is one!"
"What are you two doing? Hunt all those minions! Those are delicious too! Extra ingredients mean extra dishes!" Su Jin woke up the two hunters and made them hunt the remaining Boxing Potato Men and Kicking Sweet Potato Ladies.
The watch is Leica's red strings wrapped around the Sweet Potato Queen, and after all those minions are captured, the three of them watch how the elite hunters of the Joker Class hunt. They see that all of their brothers did not give a damn about the size of their target; they just used the most basic hunting technique of keeping their targets from escaping, and only then would they be dealt with.
After pulling it hard, the Sweet Potato Queen was cut into multiple strips before it transformed into a small hill of amber-colored sweet potatoes. These sweet potatoes mutated and became Amber Sweet Potatoes, a Demigod-grade ingredient that wasn't included in the original ranking as they were even rarer than God-grade ingredients.
After all, causing ingredients to mutate during the process of hunting is very hard to do.
Lu Shang was even grinning. "That's a good exercise!"
"Don't leave yet. Help me pick these up. Put them in the sack," Leica said.
Lu Shang said, "Okay, Honey~"
While the others saw only a large flash of black light, Ye Jieye, on the other side, where the Potato King is frozen, takes a knife from his kitchen set. He is a sword user, but he feels that using Shenyuan to cut a gigantic potato is a bit overkill, so he uses a kitchen knife instead.
The enormous potato king was skinned, revealing diamond-colored flesh, and it transformed into a small pile of diamond potatoes of the same rank as the Amber Sweet Potatoes. Mo Xuejing simply waves his hand to gather all the potatoes in his inventory.
Ye Jieye said, "Let's go. I found a trace of that new ingredient. It seems to be capable of flying."
"I saw it too. It has wings, huge ones. But from how it looks, I think it's a mushroom. But I am not sure~" Mo Xuejing said. He actually also noticed it when it passed near Ye Jieye but turned a blind eye to it as he was focusing on hunting the Potato King.
While fiddling with his terminal, Ye Jieye saw that the other members terminals began to ring, so he investigated and discovered that he had sent them moving coordinates.
Lu Ming realized what this was. "Big Brother Ye, you placed a tracer on it!? Amazing!"
"It's a bit fast compared to you. Its dominant element seems to be wind instead of fire," Ye Jieye said.
Mo Xuejing said, "If it's wind elements, doesn't that mean it's useless for our Xiaxia?"
"Don't worry. There should be something more useful on Active Volcano Island. Let's go there next time with the cubs," Ye Jieye said.
Mo Xuejing said, "We can bring the cubs with us!?"
"I have absolute control over fire. By bringing them there, I can protect them well," Ye Jieye said as he rubbed Mo Xuejing's head. Such gentleness is rare for Ye Jieye, which made Mo Xuejing happy.