Arrival at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well

Although Suotuo City was quite far from Sunset Forest, with the speed of the World-Painting Creation Griseo had created, they could arrive in less than half a day.

Lang Lei and Little Griseo chatted as they admired the scenery along the way. Before long, Lang Lei could see the vast forest ahead.

"We're here!"

Not long after, Lang Lei and Griseo reached the outermost edge of Sunset Forest and stretched their bodies a little.

"Little Griseo, shall we go in?" Having adjusted himself, Lang Lei looked at Little Griseo.

"Okay, I'll listen to Brother Lang Lei." Little Griseo nodded.

"Alright, then let's go!"

And so, not long after leaving the Star Dou Great Forest, Lang Lei and Little Griseo entered another primeval forest that very day.

As he walked through Sunset Forest, Lang Lei was no longer quite so relaxed. At the very least, he kept his Earth Dragon Dust martial soul active this time.

True to its name, Sunset Forest was home to many dark-type soul beasts and poisonous creatures. They posed no real threat to Lang Lei or Little Griseo, but getting hit by one would still be rather irritating.

Little Griseo was fine. Those poisonous creatures could barely break through her defenses, and since Lang Lei kept her in his arms, the odds of them attacking Griseo directly were extremely low.

But Lang Lei was different. If he did not activate his martial soul and happened upon some especially dangerous yet inconspicuous poisonous creature, getting bitten would hurt!

As for why they were not flying...

Lang Lei felt that Little Griseo probably liked places like forests. Maybe because of the rich colors? So he chose to walk. That was all.

Sure enough, Little Griseo loved the bright, colorful sights in the forest. Even Lang Lei, who was holding her, could feel the joy welling up from her heart.

"Brother Lang Lei, look, look!" Griseo suddenly became excited. She lightly patted Lang Lei's shoulder with her left hand while pointing in one direction with her right.

Lang Lei looked where she pointed and saw a vast patch of vividly colored mushrooms growing in a meadow.

Almost none of the mushrooms were the same color. Each glowed with a different halo, their colors exceedingly brilliant and intricate.

"Brother Lang Lei, what do those taste like?" Griseo was clearly interested.

"Little Griseo, those probably aren't edible~" Lang Lei thoughtfully observed the brightly colored meadow. "The prettier a mushroom is, the more poisonous it may be~"

Of course, with Griseo's constitution, such a tiny amount of poison would not be a problem.

But what if it gave her diarrhea?

Lang Lei did not want Little Griseo to take that risk.

"Is that so..." Griseo nodded. "Mama Aponia seems to have said that I can't casually eat wild plants I don't recognize either."

"That's right, Aponia was absolutely correct." Lang Lei smiled. "And Little Griseo, why don't you take a closer look at that meadow? It's not ordinary at all~"

"Mm." Little Griseo looked toward the meadow, then gave a soft "Eh?"

"You noticed, right?" Without changing his expression, Lang Lei walked toward the meadow where the brightly colored mushrooms grew.

The moment Lang Lei stepped onto the meadow, the ground suddenly shook violently. Then a huge mouth emerged, while the meadow and its mushrooms vanished from Lang Lei and Little Griseo's sight.

Almost at the exact moment the terrain changed, Lang Lei pushed off with his feet and leaped into the air with Little Griseo.

Then several Earth Dragon Dust daggers shot out, sending the soul beast that had been waiting to ambush them flying.

Knowing it was no match for them, the soul beast hurriedly turned and fled.

Lang Lei did not pursue it. Instead, he pointed at its back and said to Little Griseo, "Did you see that?"

"It was the pretty mushroom from before..."

"So, the more beautiful something is, the more dangerous it is!"

"The more beautiful, the more dangerous..." Little Griseo nodded thoughtfully.

"Then, Brother Lang Lei, am I dangerous?" Little Griseo asked, seemingly casually.

Lang Lei instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

Had he just dug himself into a hole?!

No matter how he answered, it felt wrong!

Say she was dangerous?

What kind of joke was that! How could sweet, soft, adorable Little Griseo possibly be dangerous?

Absurd!

And if Lang Lei said that about Little Griseo, she would cry, wouldn't she?!

She definitely would!

But if he said she was not dangerous... based on his earlier explanation, would that not mean Little Griseo was not beautiful?!

But saying something like that to a girl of any age was incredibly rude!

If he said it, never mind how Little Griseo might react—the next time Miss Knight came out, she would definitely smash his head with that greatsword of hers! He would swear that if he answered that way, she would absolutely do it!

Lang Lei's mind raced at top speed, cold sweat pouring down his back.

Little Griseo tilted her head, unable to understand why Brother Lang Lei, who always answered her immediately whenever she asked something, had hesitated for so long over such a simple question.

"I..."

"Brother Lang Lei?"

"Little Griseo should be described as cute, of course!" Lang Lei suddenly had an idea. "As for beautiful, we'll save that for Griseo after she grows up!"

"Mm, thank you, Brother Lang Lei!"

Little Griseo was clearly very happy now. Brother Lang Lei had called her cute~

Seeing Little Griseo in such a good mood, Lang Lei also breathed a sigh of relief.

But he did not know that, at that moment, he had dug an enormous pit for his future self...

"Little Griseo, can you help Brother find a pool with both blue and red water?" After searching for a while, Lang Lei had still found nothing.

Already lost, he now wandered aimlessly through Sunset Forest like a headless fly.

He had even begun to wonder whether he had been circling around inside Sunset Forest all along.

"I can!" Little Griseo answered instinctively, though there was a hint of disappointment in her voice.

Lang Lei naturally heard it, and a sudden suspicion came to him.

"Wait, Little Griseo, you haven't been watching Brother make a fool of himself this whole time, have you?"

"Of course not!" Little Griseo immediately denied it. She had only wanted to stay in Brother Lang Lei's arms a little longer...

"Alright, then I'll have to trouble you, Little Griseo." Lang Lei did not suspect her and merely assumed he had heard wrong.

"Mm..." Griseo closed her eyes and sent out several flying World-Painting Creations.

Before long, Little Griseo found something.

"It's over there!" Griseo opened her eyes and pointed west of them. "The shape looks like the taiji Sister Hua showed me before... and there's some green mist around it too!"

"Yes, that's it!" Lang Lei ran west as he asked, "About how far away is it?"

"At Brother Lang Lei's current speed... it should take around ten-odd minutes!"

"Alright, then Little Griseo... hold on tight. We're speeding up!"

"Mm!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Little Griseo wrapped her arms around Lang Lei's neck.