Chapter 269: Revisiting an Old Place, Reliving an Old Dream
On the Divine Mountain, Tian Fu’s trusted followers were anxiously awaiting his instructions.
They had been ordered to gather all the Blood Crystals from the storerooms to be ready for transport at a moment’s notice. But when they entered, there wasn’t a single Blood Crystal left.
It wasn’t just one storeroom—all of them were empty. Trembling, they sent one person to report the situation while the rest waited for news.
"How could they be gone? With so many Blood Crystals, even if someone stole them, there’s no way they could have done it without making a sound, right?"
"Are you accusing my men of stealing what they were supposed to be guarding? That’s ridiculous! There’s absolutely nothing wrong with my men!"
"Who knows? All I know is that our patrol team has always been diligent, never missing a single corner of the Divine Mountain. Who’s to say your guard team didn’t take advantage of an unguarded moment..."
There were two special squads on the Divine Mountain: the patrol team and the guard team. Their captains were both Tian Fu’s confidants, and neither wanted to take the blame or be punished.
So, before Tian Fu’s next order could arrive, they started arguing. The dispute grew more and more heated, to the point that they were on the verge of coming to blows.
Fortunately, Tian Fu arrived just in time. Time was short, so he said nothing. A single glance was enough to silence everyone.
Worried that Yu An would see so many people on the Divine Mountain and be scared off, Tian Fu had all his men withdraw.
When Yu An and her three companions arrived, Tian Fu was waiting for them to land, his hands clasped behind his back. The ground around him was covered in a carpet of lush, green moss.
He had already activated his trap. The moment their feet touched the ground, they would be ensnared.
This was no ordinary trap. In fact, it wasn’t of his own making at all. It was a fragment of an Illusion Realm he had brought with him from the Upper Realm.
Once inside this Illusion Realm, even he would have a hard time getting out.
But to his surprise, Yu An and her companions hesitated to descend. Their brows were furrowed, as if they were trying to figure out if Tian Fu’s stillness was part of some scheme.
Tian Fu’s brow twitched imperceptibly, a flicker of annoyance in his eyes.
’I was too careless,’ he thought. ’An act has to be convincing.’
He made a show of running, and just as he expected, Yu An’s group made their move. But they didn’t land. Instead, they gave chase on their Cloud Beast.
Seeing that Yu An had grown suspicious and was on her guard, Tian Fu knew his covert scheme had failed. He steeled himself and decided to use an overt one instead.
’As long as I offer something she can’t resist, she’s sure to take the bait!’
"You’re desperate to know how to turn Blood Crystals back into Beastmen, aren’t you."
Tian Fu stopped and said, "Just come down here, and I’ll tell you."
His words dripped with blatant malice, yet Yu An hesitated.
What Tian Fu was offering was indeed the very thing she was desperate to know.
Seeing Yu An’s hesitation, Tian Fu fanned the flames. "Besides me, only a few people in the Tian Family know the secret—the Family Head, the Young Master, and a handful of elders."
"Who among them do you think would ever tell you? Or, to put it another way, whose mouth do you think you could possibly pry open?"
He pulled a rolled-up Beast Skin from his robes and waved it. "The method to restore the Beastmen is recorded right here. Whether you get it or not is entirely up to you."
With that, he tossed it aside. The Beast Skin vanished the instant it touched the ground, and a moment later, Tian Fu disappeared as well.
Yu An’s hands clenched into fists. She had a strong feeling Tian Fu wasn’t lying. If she could just get that Beast Skin, the Beastmen could be saved!
"A yuan, I’ll go down by myself. The rest of you, go back to Beast God City and help Big Brother defend it..."
"An’an, we’re going with you."
Mo Yan said disapprovingly, "Big Brother and the others are enough to hold Beast God City. We can’t rest easy if we’re not by your side."
’Even if we can’t beat Tian Fu, we can at least take a blow for her if it comes to it.’
’We’re tough. We’re not afraid of getting hurt.’
Unable to convince the three of them, Yu An had no choice but to take them with her. She sent off a Cloud Beast to inform Ao Yi of the situation.
The instant they touched the ground, their figures vanished.
Little Stone’s grand enterprise of taking on disciples had expanded to include Da Hu, Xiao Yu, and Xiao Hu. It now had five disciples in total, and spent its days teaching them how to cultivate from the moment it woke up.
But it was enjoying itself, happily bustling about every day.
Just a moment ago, while it was instructing Da Hu in his cultivation, it suddenly sensed a familiar aura.
’Is that... the scent of my home?’
Little Stone’s home was known as the Heaven and Earth Illusion Realm, where every blade of grass and every tree could form a small illusion of its own. Families from the Upper Realm would often respectfully request to borrow these, using them as trial grounds for their disciples.
These minor illusions were countless, and Little Stone wasn’t stingy. As long as their requests weren’t too outrageous, it would agree to let them take some.
’But that aura just now... why did it smell like my favorite patch of moss?’
When it slept at home, it liked to lie on a certain patch of moss. It was cool and slippery, and incredibly comfortable.
’Damn it! Who the hell stole my moss bed?!’
Stuck inside its space, Little Stone couldn’t go out to find the thief and could only fume in silence.
It was so furious that it completely forgot: the illusions formed from the places it frequented were exceptionally dangerous.
Yu An saw a flash of white light, so intense that she instinctively squeezed her eyes shut.
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a place that seemed... familiar?
Yes, familiar. This was the sea of flowers from the exiled land.
The place where she and Mo Yan had first become intimate after her arrival in the exiled land.
Mo Yan and the other two were gone. Yu An took a moment to look around before walking toward the sea of flowers.
This was where she and Mo Yan had reconciled. To be precise, the stone chamber beneath the sea of flowers was where they had truly made up.
’Will Mo Yan be there?’
Yu An didn’t know, but she decided to go take a look.
Relying on her hazy memory, she searched all over the sea of flowers.
The sea of flowers was vast. The stone chamber was located... ’I think it’s this way.’
After hesitating for a long time, Yu An chose a path. She pushed aside the flowers and headed in that direction.
After walking for a while, Yu An felt this didn’t quite look like the sea of flowers she remembered. After a moment’s thought, she pulled out a photo she had taken before from her storage space.
The background in the photo was a field of pink flowers. ’Yep,’ she thought, ’I’ve definitely gone the wrong way.’
Yu An tried, but she couldn’t ride a Cloud Beast here. So, she had a Cloud Beast help her get her bearings, then changed direction and continued on.
While she was searching for her destination, Mo Yan was in the stone chamber, his hands and feet bound by invisible chains.
He glared at the man in front of him—a man who looked exactly like himself—but the doppelgänger simply smiled.
"Look, I look exactly like you, and I have all your memories. What do you think? When Yu An sees me, will she take me with her?"
"Dream on!"
Mo Yan said in a low voice, "An’an will never get it wrong!"
The other "Mo Yan" smirked. "So confident? Well then, let’s put it to the test."
"Oh, right. I remember this is where you and Yu An made such ’beautiful’ memories."
The smile on his face widened, and his shadow on the stone wall danced like a phantom. "We’re revisiting the place, after all. It would be a waste not to relive some old dreams, wouldn’t it?"
Seeing the color drain from Mo Yan’s face, the doppelgänger grew even more excited. "You just stay put right here. As long as she doesn’t realize I’m a fake, I can take your place."
"And you will be trapped here forever!"