Outside the Coiling Snakes Valley, there was a small town. The town was originally called Coiling Snakes Town, but mercenaries liked to call it ‘Hope Town’.
The reason was because when one entered the Despair Abyss, their lives would be in peril until the moment they get off from the rift valley, and saw this little town that was located high up on a mountain. Only then could one say that one had truly escaped from the Despair Abyss alive.
To be able to see this little town was equivalent to seeing hope.
There were a lot of mercenaries inside the town. This was the best time to harvest Fire Red Ant’s eggs, and one Fire Red Ant’s egg could be sold for 1 gold. That was why there were a lot of mercenaries here seeking for wealth.
Generally speaking, no ordinary mercenary troops would be able to live after provoking the Fire Red Ants colony, whose bodies were more than five metres long. However, this season was an exception.
In these two months, there would be countless female Fire Red Ants flying out to seek for a place to build a new Fire Red Ant Kingdom. When these female Fire Red Ants started to lay eggs, they didn’t have the protection of the Fire Red Ants army. Even if there were, the number of Fire Red Ants present were extremely small. Hence, mercenaries would seize this opportunity to steal those eggs and sell them for gold. Of course, the whole place surrounding the Despair Abyss was the haven of Fire Red Ants. There would be a high chance of meeting other Fire Red Ants which were foraging for food when going through the tunnels underground. Hence, this was truly a job that exchanged one’s life with gold.
“The cost of one map is two gold. Young one, please don’t complain, because this map could only exist in exchange for countless adventurers’ lives. We would always give a half of the profit from every single map that we sell to the grieving families as compensation.” The old man who was selling the map in the Warrior’s Guild pointed out a few dangerous locations on the map to Yue Yang very sincerely and honestly.
Despair Abyss was a great rift valley that lay from east to west. It was over 600 km long.
It’s widest part was in the center, spanning over 120 km wide. It’s average valley width was around 40-50km wide, while its deepest part was, from the records, 10 km deep.
There were few level grounds on the terrain, it was mostly filled with jutting pillars and weirdly shaped, rugged rocks. A lot of places at the bottom of the valley had never seen sunlight. Furthermore, the terrain was also extremely dangerous.
The center of the rift valley had so far been a place of certain death, but nobody was able to verify why.
There were a total of six prohibited locations indicated on the map. These were the regions where death tolls were extremely high. They were the “Abyss Blackwater Lake”, “Flame Mountain”, “Crushed Bones Bridge”, “Sandstorm Canyon”, “Cloud Peak Lake”, and “Death Center”.
Other than Death Central Point, the other five places were scattered all along the stretch of the rift valley from east to west.
Yue Yang and company wanted to pick Starlight Serene Indigo Grass, which was only located on a high cliff near the Cloud Peak lake. It was said that one would have to climb over 3000 meters of steep, dangerous precipice of a cliff before one would be able to go to a place where the Starlight Serene Indigo Grass bloomed.
“Yi Nan… Brother Yi Nan had left a message at the Thief Guild, saying that he will join us in a few days. Luo Hua City Mistress had also left a message that she will personally come in half a month to pick the Starlight Serene Indigo Grass together with us. She asked us to explore the terrain here first.” Ye Kong, who went over to the Thief Guild had returned. The news that he brought gave Yue Yang a little headache. He could embrace a girl if there was only one, but if the two of them came at the same time, he could only hope that their jealousy from each other wouldn’t be too great.
“That’s perfect, we could explore the pathway in the meantime. It is extremely dangerous here, it’s better to spend a few days to explore the terrain first.” Yue Bing knew that that picking Starlight Serene Indigo Grass wouldn’t be that easy. It would be better if they can wait for Luo Hua City Mistress’ help.
Yue Yang also had the same thought. He even hoped not to bring Yue Bing, Fatty Hai, and Ye Kong along to pick the herbs.
Bringing them to “Cloud Peak Lake”, one of the six dangerous locations, if he climbed up the steep precipice to pick Starlight Serene Indigo Grass and leave them alone at the bottom, what would he do if something happened to them? This matter was no joke. Yue Bing, especially, how would he explain to Fourth Mother if Yue Bing was injured?
Before exiting the town and making their way to the Despair Abyss, Yue Yang looked around again. However, he didn’t see that mysterious female thief who liked to watch him.
Although there were a few mercenaries walking in front of them, there were also a few following them.
However, as they walked through the cliff track that was not even half a meter wide, their heart started to become even more frightened as they walked a few meters down, turned and walked a few meters deeper, making their way down layer by layer.
Looking down, the group of mercenaries making their way down the valley looked even smaller than ants. Although Ye Kong and the others had some guts, they couldn’t help but feel intimidated.
If they fall because of a moment of carelessness, not even their bones would be left.
The most frightening thing was that the mountain winds was extremely strong, blowing and whizzing. At times, the wind force could even lift people up.
Even Fatty Hai with his large body, a lump of 150 kg meat, couldn’t withstand the violent wind. When the mountain winds blew, he would quickly hold onto the walls of the precipice. Otherwise, he would similarly be blown away by the wind… Behind him was Yue Yang, who was the calmest of all the members in the part. When the mountain winds blew, countless mercenaries would curse or become pale with fright. Only Yue Yang’s expression remained calm and collected.
Ever since he understood [Nature’s Heart], this kind of small wind did not mean much to Yue Yang anymore.
Yue Bing pulled on her brother’s sleeves as she walked at his side.
Whenever the biting cold mountain winds blew through, Yue Yang would grab her hands to prevent her light body to be blown away by the wind.
In the skies, spiders, mountain goats or even huge lizards would appear from time to time, blown away by the strong mountain winds. Some were even smashed to the valley’s walls, crushed into a pile of bloody mess. If the force of the wind suddenly dropped, the animals that were blown halfway would all drop to the ground. One could only hear the muffled ‘thump, thump’ sound as they fell to their deaths. Most of the time, one could see that the mountain goats that were blown by the wind were still alive, crying miserably.
Those cries muffled in the midst of the whistling of the violent wind sounded so frightening that it made the others tremble and feel weak.
Yue Yang saw that above, there was a mercenary who accidentally slipped. His whole body didn’t even manage to fall to the bottom of the cliff before he was blown away by the mountain wind.
In an instant, he was blown far, far away. No one knew where he would end up.
They could only hear his cries echoing throughout the rift valley continuously for a long, long time.
“Don’t be afraid, everything is alright.” Yue Yang immediately consoled Yue Bing. Who would know that the little lady’s heart was actually very strong and determined. She immediately shook her head and said, “I’m not afraid.”
“I’m really afraid. Console me too…” Fatty Hai cried miserably.
“Shut up.” Ye Kong really wanted to beat this fellow to death. It was a pity that this was not a suitable place to do that.
“You pigheaded guys, if you don’t wish to die, be more spirited. Think about your babies who are still drinking milk. Do you want to return alive with a newfound wealth? If you don’t want to die here and become a lizard’s dinner or a spider’s shit, then be more alert and spirited. Follow me, observe how I tread this path and copy it. If you fall, no one can help you, and no one would dare to help you.” There was a mercenary group leader with a great beard that spoke loudly. Seems like that was the mercenary troop of the guy who had tripped just now.
Walking down the turning small alley down the precipice took a full two hours.
When they arrived at the small Settlement Camp at the bottom of the valley, the sky had turned completely dark. The last few mercenary troops even had to light up fire torches in order to make their way down.
The mercenaries at the bottom of the valley all sat on rocks as they gnawed on mountain goat’s meat and ridiculed Fatty Hai, “Noob, welcome to Despair Abyss. You seemed to have prepared a lot of things, but it seemed like you forgot to bring your wet nurse along”.
“Ah, how would I drink milk then? I haven’t stopped drinking milk yet!” a skinny mercenary shouted out with a ridiculing tone.
“Hahaha!” the mercenaries laughed out loud altogether.
“… “ A flash of anger crossed Fatty Hai’s expression, but he looked down very quickly.
“When you are ridiculing others, don’t forget to watch your backs…” Yue Yang suddenly laughed coldly.
“What are you talking about?” That skinny mercenary was furious when he heard Yue Yang. He threw the piece of meat to the ground and took out a dagger immediately.
“I was just advising you to be more careful,” Yue Yang shrugged his shoulders leisurely.
“Newbie, seems like I need to teach you a lesson about what shutting up is about.” The skinny mercenary soldier then walked over with a malicious smile. However, suddenly, from the darkness, a dark figure charged out. It wrapped itself on the mercenary’s body and quickly pulled him back to the darkness. When the mercenary troops saw this, they immediately cried out ‘shit’, threw away the pieces of roasted meat on their hands, and took out the weapons from their waists. They raised their fire torch and chased after the figure into the darkness.
When the mercenaries chased into the darkness, there was completely no movement in the darkness anymore. That monster that had murdered the skinny man had disappeared without a trace with its prey.
After getting worked up, the mercenaries who failed at catching up returned resentfully.
There was a bald mercenary troop leader who walked over to Yue Yang and bellowed furiously, “You saw the Ghost Shadow Rock Spider, but you didn’t give any warning. You caused my brother’s death!”
Yue Yang shook his head indifferently, “I gave him a warning already, but he took my words as wind passing by. If that Ghost Shadow Rock Spider had not appeared, I might might have even been stabbed by his dagger and collapsed to the ground already. At that time, I didn’t see you, the leader, trying to stop him. I know that you care about your subordinates, but I, too, care about my brothers. Ridiculing them is equivalent to slapping my face… Now, I just wanted to say that if there were next time, I wouldn’t wait for that Ghost Shadow Rock Spider to attack. I would attack you myself.”
“Even if it was my brother’s fault, how could you watch him being killed by a Ghost Shadow Rock Spider without doing anything? We are all humans. In dangerous situations, we ought to help each other.” That Bald Mercenary Troop Leader stomped his feet anxiously, anger and guilt mixing in his heart.
“These words really sounded ironic coming from you. When he took out his dagger, why didn’t you say that we are all human beings, who should help each other out in a crisis?” Yue Yang rebuked.
That Bald Mercenary Troop Leader’s face turned red and green at the same time, so angry that he beat his chest a few times, before roaring painfully, “Even if it was his fault, you shouldn’t have just watched him die. He wouldn’t have really killed you anyway. He was only exaggerating his attitude, because he wanted to teach you a lesson. He didn’t deserve to die! You clearly had the chance to save him, so you should have saved him first. If he had made a mistake, I could make him apologize to you later!”
“Alright, then. I’ll wait for your apology.” Yue Yang gestured with his hands and Hui Tai Lang suddenly flew out from within the darkness.
In its mouth, there was the skinny mercenary soldier who had turned all green.
All of the mercenary soldiers couldn’t catch up with the Ghost Shadow Rock Spider, but in Hui Tai Lang’s eyes, the Ghost Shadow Rock Spider was slower than a tortoise.
Hui Tai Lang returned to Yue Yang’s side all high and mighty, throwing the skinny mercenary soldier who was on the verge of death to the ground. At the same time, it gave a low growl towards the other mercenary soldiers who were shocked speechless. Its imposing presence was extremely dominating. Thick, dense demon qi engulfed its whole body. The mercenary soldiers were all so frightened that they immediately retreated.
That Troop Leader was also shocked.
Looking closely, it was a Silver-ranked Level 4 Two-headed Demon Wolf. Even he, who was used to seeing formidable beasts, couldn’t help but to swallow his saliva and calm his wildly thumping heart when he saw it.
He then saw that his brother had not died yet. He quickly rushed towards him and held him, shouting loudly to his subordinates. “Bring the antidote here, quick!”
Yue Yang pulled Yue Bing along as he turned around and started to leave.
“I, I am the Boss, how could I let my subordinate defend me… Yue Yang, listen well. In the future, I wouldn’t be dragging you down. I will definitely be a qualified boss, who will never run away or cower in fright. Never, you hear me? I said never.” Fatty Hai was like an injured wild beast, rushing towards Yue Yang’s back as he shouted loudly.
“Even if you are not qualified right now, after this special lesson, you would be a qualified boss. I believe that you have that strength in you.” Yue Yang turned around and smiled.
“Scoundrel, you are not allowed to say i’m unqualified. Isn’t it just a special lesson…” Fatty Hai’s tears rolled down his face.
Ye Kong also walked over and patted the emotional Fatty Hai’s shoulders, whose body was trembling unceasingly. Beyond expectation, he didn’t say anything condescending.
Li Qie and Li Ge, the two brothers, also did the same. They walked over and patted Fatty Hai’s shoulders.
Then, they all followed Yue Yang together.
That Bald Mercenary Troop Leader, who had just saved the skinny mercenary soldier, looked at Yue Yang’s figure, which was disappearing into the darkness, as he murmured, “Yue Yang, could he be one of the Yue Clan member? Is he that rumoured useless Third Young Master? Heavens, such a person like him… I can only say that we are completely blind. No, the whole world is blind… This humbling lesson that has moved me but also made me feel ashamed of myself, I will remember it well. I will forever remember it in my heart.”