Huang Ying and Song Yi continued their journey after Huang Ying finished burying the girl he had just killed. Song Yi didn't quite agree on his stance that she deserved enough respect to be buried despite being his enemy, but it was his decision to make so she hadn't bothered to say anything else after stating her initial question. Hei Ya and Hong Yi were also not quite able to understand Huang Ying's actions, as Demonic beasts their first instinct when faced with dead enemies was to eat them. But Huang Ying was the alpha of their pack so they could only respect his decision and follow his lead in silence.

The group of four continued to make their way deeper into the forest while looking for Chen Hong, Song Yi occasionally making them take a detour to avoid Demonic beasts or other groups. The deeper they got, the more frequently they would encounter people nailed to the trees, some alive and some dead, all of them enemies of Huang Ying and Song Yi.

Over the course of two days' time, they encountered a total of seven other people nailed to trees, but only two of these aroused enough of Huang Ying's respect to be buried. The remaining five were fed to Hei Ya and Hong Yi, who were starting to look much better after having spent a few good days alongside Huang Ying.

Hei Ya was one thing, his previous issue was only that he was malnourished as the weakest of the pack. Having been fed the bodies of cultivators, which were basically tonics to Demonic beasts, his previous bald spots had vanished and his entire fur had taken on a deeper sheen. He was still a bit small for a wolf, but that would change with time, it probably wouldn't take long before he became a splendid example of a proud and grim wolf. His strength had also grown slightly after eating so many cultivators, already reaching the 4th Mortal Step.

Hong Yi, however, was a different story altogether. The Demonic beast bloodline in her body was very faint to begin with, and the broken wing that she had was not something that could be cured just by eating cultivators or Demonic beasts. As such, while she had grown a little bit larger and her feathers gained a bit of a shimmer, there were no other changes to her, her strength also still remained stuck in the earliest parts of the 1st Mortal Step.

But in truth, Huang Ying didn't care too much about that. He hadn't picked up Hong Yi or Hei Ya in hopes of having terrifyingly strong Demonic beasts at his side, he wanted companions at his side and he liked the determination and grit that the two of them had shown. Hong Yi's wing, however, was something he was determined to fix once he got the chance, that was the least he could do for someone that chose to follow him.

Having spent two more days venturing through the forest, Song Yi suddenly stopped in her tracks and jerked her head to the left as the sun was starting to approach the horizon. Her scarlet right pupil shrank slightly as it seemed to focus on something in the distance, a few faint lines of light swimming around in it. The corners of her mouth curled up into an amused smile as she gestured towards the distance with her chin, doing her best to suppress her laughter.

"Found the drunkard. He's much closer than I first thought, his karma lines were probably blocked by a strong cultivator or Demonic beast earlier. He's also in a pretty...interesting position, don't forget to laugh at him when we get there."

Huang Ying's eyebrows couldn't help but rise after hearing Song Yi's words, but she refused to answer his curiosity and instead simply started walking to the left while doing her best to restrain her snicker. Huang Ying and the two others immediately followed her, the group making their way through the forest until the scent of water reached Huang Ying's nose. Detecting this scent, a faint idea of what might be going on formed in Huang Ying's mind, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly as they started to curve upwards.

They managed to reach a rather large clearing after walking for about ten minutes, Chen Hong's destination finally becoming apparent to them. Standing at the center of the clearing was a rather large lake that was about 500 meters wide and 200 meters long, an oval-shaped island housing a 100-meter tall dome-like mountain floating at the center of the lake.

The mountain was covered in grass and flowers so it resembled a hill more than a mountain, but the serenity of the scenery was ruined by a small crater that had been blown into the side of the mountain. Chen Hong was sitting in the center of the crater, his knees tucked up against his chest as he did his best to curl himself into a ball to hide away from the water that surrounded the island. He spotted Huang Ying and Song Yi the moment they entered the clearing, a soft curse escaping his lips.

"Oh, fuck."

The curse became the straw that broke the camel's back, Song Yi bursting out laughing while clutching her stomach, laughing so hard that she almost fell to the ground. Even Huang Ying ended up bursting out laughing when he saw the scene, it was clear from the dirt that had gathered on him, and the lack of wear on his clothing, that Chen Hong had been stuck on this small island ever since they arrived in the forest. Chen Hong could only grumble when he saw the two laughing people, flipping them off while cursing at them.

"Yeah yeah, just laugh away you assholes, just wait for the day that I give the both of you a nice ice bath and keep you under the water until the bubbles stop. Little nudist there, you can use earth so just get me off of this cursed rock already."

Huang Ying didn't immediately go up and do as Chen Hong said. He knew that it was a bit meanspirited, but he continued to laugh for nearly half a minute before he walked over to the edge of the lake. The earth beneath his feet started to tremble slightly when he reached the edge of the lake, small parts of it shifting forward and slowly creating a thin bridge that connected with the island.

Chen Hong stood up somewhat unsteadily when the bridge finished forming, carefully making his way down to it and walking across it while taking great care to remain stable and balanced. He took several quick steps away from the lake once he finished crossing the bridge, glaring slightly at Huang Ying, who was still snickering slightly at him.

"Just you fucking wait, the moment I find out what you're afraid of, I'll make sure that you drown in it."

Huang Ying simply smirked at Chen Hong without responding and gave his shoulder a heavy pat. Now that the three of them had reunited, it would be far harder for the people from the academy to do anything to them, they would also be far safer if things went southward. Chen Hong rolled his eyes and placed his own hand on Huang Ying's shoulder, the two starting a small conversation as Chen Hong's gaze landed on Hei Ya and Hong Yi.

"So who are these two? You two started a kindergarten for beasts?"
"The wolf is Hei Ya and the sparrow is Hong Yi, I picked them up while wandering so it's more correct to say that it's I that started the kindergarten."
"Hei Ya... Hong Yi... That's some pretty s..."
"Zip it, I don't need to hear it from you too. The names are set, and if you comment on them then I'll throw you right back onto that island."
"Got it, Chief, excellent names, love them, they ooze of character and grace."

The exchange only caused Song Yi's laughter to grow louder, her knees finally buckling as she fell over and started rolling around. The more time she spent with Huang Ying and Chen Hong, the more convinced she became that she had made the right choice in befriending them, they were a treasure trove of entertainment. Huang Ying glanced at the setting sun while Song Yi was laughing walking over to her and giving her thighs a light kick to make her stop laughing.

"Alright, we gotta dip before your shrill laughter attracts every beast in the damn forest. Night is also approaching so I'd like to find some shelter before a certain crybaby shuts down completely and surrounds herself with enough lanterns to light up the entire forest."

Song Yi immediately zipped up and puffed out her cheeks, her hands reaching out at lightning-fast speed and grabbing onto Huang Ying's shins, giving their backside several vicious pinches. Each of her pinches seemed to locate one of Huang Ying's nerves, ignoring the toughness of his body as they sent jolts of sharp pain through his body. Huang Ying's expression twisted into a grimace as he started to wave his legs around to shake off the little banshee that had latched onto him.

He managed to shake her off after a few seconds, swiftly rubbing the back of his chins while flashing a glare at the scoffing Song Yi. He almost felt like tying her to a tree through the night when he saw her seemingly victorious expression but quickly ended up tossing the idea to the back of his mind. When the group finished messing around, they set out and left the lake behind, looking for a place where they could spend the night in relative peace.

But the part of the forest where they were in now was rather flat in terms of mountains and the like so they were unable to find anything even as the sun got closer and closer to vanishing. In the end, they could only settle on a larger and sturdy tree, climbing up into its crown and hiding among the leaves, using a mixture of leaves and Huang Ying's earth to produce a space where they could sit and maybe sleep.

Song Yi brought out her lanterns and lit up the small spot, forcing Huang Ying to create earthen walls around them to block out most of the light, the last thing they wanted was to become a lighthouse that attracted everything in the area. Song Yi wasn't keen on sleeping, and Chen Hong was eager to catch up on everything he had missed so far, so the hours quickly started to pass as they talked.

But just as the sun was only about an hour from rising, the entire forest was rocked by a horrifying roar that seemed to cause every tree within the forest to shake. The horrifying roar was quickly followed by a symphony of other roars both loud and subdued, thousands of roars resounding from every part of the forest. A soft trembling followed all the roars, it seemed as if the entire forest had suddenly come alive, Huang Ying involuntarily cursing.

"Ah fuck, you have got to be kidding me!"

He didn't know whether or not he should call his luck excellent or shit. He had managed to meet up with both Song Yi and Chen Hong again, but right after that, the people entering the forest had managed to succeed in their plan. Listening to the roars and feeling the trembling, it was clear that the beasts in the forest were currently engaging in a wild stampede, it probably wouldn't take long before the entire forest was turned upside down by rampant Demonic beasts running around in a frenzied state.

(Only two more weeks guys! Sunday of next week is the last day of christmas season, we just gotta get through that and then we'll have survived another year!)