Rising Turmoil Again

The two of them stayed in the cave. Huo Hai's mental state was in a very bad condition. Ji Mu was not worried that anything might happen from staying with Huo Hai. Perhaps, in her heart, she had long since regarded Huo Hai as family.

From time to time, Huo Hai's thoughts drifted over Ji Mu's body. He had heard that those sorts of things between men and women could treat war syndrome—the aftereffects of killing. There happened to be two people here, and Huo Hai could not help letting his imagination run wild.

But Huo Hai had ultimately overestimated himself—or rather, overestimated the ability of a virgin of two lifetimes in this regard. The setting was perfect, and his strength far surpassed hers. He did not even know whether Ji Mu would resist, yet when it came time to make a move, he ultimately did not have the courage. Even he himself did not know what exactly he was afraid of.

Perhaps it was the way of thinking he had brought from Earth, perhaps the education he had received, or perhaps it came from having been a good person for two lifetimes. In any case, even Huo Hai himself did not know. Amid such tangled thoughts, Huo Hai and Ji Mu lived in the cave for two days.

The cave entrance had long been camouflaged by the two of them. Unless someone inspected it carefully, it would be impossible to discover it. Outside, Huo Hai had also left Star Gu behind as sentries. People had indeed passed through the surrounding area over the past two days, but none had any intention of searching the cave.

With Ji Mu helping to distract him, Huo Hai's mind calmed down very quickly. Two days later, Huo Hai circulated his spiritual power throughout his body, stimulating his own blood vitality. As his blood vitality surged and returned to normal, he said, "Ji Mu, I've recovered. Let's go out now. There's no one outside at the moment." Time waited for no one, and Huo Hai did not want to waste such a good opportunity.

Come to think of it, Ji Mu had been the one to teach him this method of stimulating his own blood vitality to check whether he would lose himself in slaughter. Huo Hai had not been conscious for very long in total, and there was a great deal of common knowledge he simply did not know.

"Alright, let's get out quickly. If I stay in here any longer, I'm going to be filthy." Ji Mu frowned as she looked at herself. Since she had been sharing a cave with Huo Hai the entire time, she had not even had the chance to change clothes.

It was not that she feared Huo Hai might peek at anything. She was simply embarrassed—extremely embarrassed. Although the boundaries between men and women in this world were not as ferocious as tigers and wolves as they had been in ancient Earth, they still could not compare to modern society on Earth. Unless he was her husband, a woman could not expose her body before another man.

Once they got out, she absolutely had to find a chance to wash herself properly and change into a fresh set of clothes.

Since they both wanted to leave, they hit it off at once and moved aside the stone camouflage they had set up. After thinking for a moment, Huo Hai moved the stones back again. "This is such a good place. It might be useful someday, so we can't let anyone else discover it."

Huo Hai did not know whether this place would ever come in handy, but hiding it first was the right move. Ji Mu did not pay attention either. Her entire mind was focused on cleaning herself. As a young lady from a distinguished family, going so long without changing clothes was simply unimaginable.

"Huo Hai, you must be careful. Before breaking through to the Spirit Blood Realm, do not kill too much—especially not too many people at once. Otherwise, you could still lose yourself." Ji Mu remained uneasy and gave him one more warning. Huo Hai indicated that he understood, while his hands did not stop moving as he camouflaged the cave again so no one would discover it.

"Let's go. Oh, right, didn't you keep saying you wanted to find a place to bathe? I remember there was a small stream at the edge of Southern Mountain when we came here. Very few people pass by there, and there aren't any spirit beasts around either. Let's go there."

Blushing, Ji Mu nodded. This fellow, he still remembered. Looking like a young wife, Ji Mu followed close behind Huo Hai, step for step, as they walked forward. Not long after the two left, someone passed by the area.

"Young Master Five, look at these traces, and these footprints. They should have been left by Huo Hai and Ji Mu."

The newcomers were a party of more than fifty people. The marks on their bodies identified them as members of the He Family. This Young Master Five was He Ya's younger brother, a direct descendant of the main line of the He Family head.

He Lu looked at the traces on the ground and said disdainfully, "Hmph, they're just two clowns jumping on a beam. Ignore them. The two of them pose no threat to us. Our most important task now is to get more cards. Our opponents are those people from the other Lineages. Don't get it wrong. These traces... hmph, erase them."

He Lu appeared not to care about Huo Hai's whereabouts at all, but in truth, only He Lu himself knew that it was not because he did not care about Huo Hai. Huo Hai occupied an extremely important place in his mind. From the information sent earlier, he could tell that—

This Huo Hai was absolutely no simple person. His cultivation and combat strength were terrifyingly abnormal. But no matter how powerful Huo Hai was, he was still an outsider. As long as He Lu did not provoke him, Huo Hai would not come after him.

At least, that was what He Lu believed. He had many people under his command, and every one of them was an elite of the Lineage. But Huo Hai was different from the others. He had a grudge against his second brother, He Ya, and now he had formed another grudge with He Wang. This was a good opportunity. He Ya was his second brother, after all. Whenever the Lineage had anything good, the first people they thought of were always the eldest brother and second brother.

The eldest brother was not from the line of the family head, so there was no need to worry about him. Worrying would be useless anyway. He Ya was different. If He Ya kept pressing down on him from above, who knew how many resources that should have belonged to him would be taken away.

And there was that He Wang. Though he usually looked like a debauched playboy, He Lu knew that this man was absolutely not simple. He even knew something about the private soldiers He Wang had organized under his command for this trip into the mountain forest. Later, news spread that let him know He Wang's ambitions were enormous. The power struggle within the He Family was intensely fierce, and it had already begun among their younger generation.

A capable fellow like that should not be allowed to live. Though he could not kill him yet, there was no problem with causing him a little trouble. Let Huo Hai live a while longer; there would be plenty of time for him to cause trouble for He Wang.

It would be best if He Wang did not even get the opportunity to enter Imperial City Academy this time. That way, after losing his chance to go to the academy, He Wang would eventually become a fellow with no future, while He Lu would take another step closer to the position of family head.

After cleaning up the traces Huo Hai had left behind, the group directly changed directions and continued onward. He Lu's actions had indeed helped Huo Hai stave them off for a while. Even Ji Mu herself had not expected it. During the time Ji Mu was bathing, they received no disturbance. When Ji Mu emerged, even Huo Hai could not help staring blankly for a moment.

A hibiscus rising from clear water, naturally adorned without carving or polish—that was what it meant. "Ahem." Huo Hai coughed twice to conceal his embarrassment. "Well, Ji Mu, let's go look for cards now. There isn't much time left, so we can't waste it."

With two dry laughs, Huo Hai turned around and stopped looking at Ji Mu. Fresh from her bath and clad in tight-fitting clothes, Ji Mu was indeed extraordinarily alluring. If he kept looking, Huo Hai feared he would make a fool of himself. Ji Mu gave a delicate laugh. "Hehe, so you have things you're afraid of too. Alright, alright, I'm not going to eat you. Let's go. I won't tease you anymore."

Laughing and chatting, the two set out once more. It was as if they had not come for a trial at all, but for sightseeing. In truth, with so many Star Gu protecting them, Huo Hai's trip here really was no different from a tour.

Once the two began moving again, they could finally no longer conceal the traces left by their movements. Although He Lu wanted to cause trouble for He Wang, he did not dare go too far. No matter how the Lineage fought among itself, it still needed to have its own bottom line.

"Young Master Three, we found them—the traces left by that brat Huo Hai. We absolutely can't be mistaken about these footprints." At last, after He Wang led the remaining people through no small amount of hardship, they finally found Huo Hai.

That fellow had somehow slipped away from within their encirclement earlier, while they had been cautiously closing in. Only after they completely tightened the encirclement did they discover that one of the five teams was missing. Even afterward, they had been unable to find them. They had no idea how those people were now, or whether Huo Hai had directly wiped them out. They did not believe it, nor were they willing to believe it.

That team had not been weak. If Huo Hai could wipe them out, then could he not wipe them out as well? It seemed something had happened that had allowed Huo Hai to escape. What a lucky brat.

But because too much time had passed, the traces Huo Hai had left behind had long since been ruined by others. That was why they had never found him, wasting two days in vain. Until today, Huo Hai had finally appeared again.

"They shouldn't have gone far. Otherwise, they couldn't have left such clear traces." Grabbing a handful of soil, a mercenary spoke in a low voice. For mercenaries, judging situations and tracking were their bread and butter. Besides, if the two had truly left long ago, the traces would not have been so easy for him to discover; they might even have been destroyed.

A cold glint flickered in He Wang's eyes. "Good brat, I've finally found you. Let's see how you plan to escape from my hands this time. Are you all ready?" He Wang's final sentence was directed at the people beside him.

A man with an extremely weathered appearance shouted, "Ready! We spent a huge number of the point cards in our hands to exchange for this. If it still doesn't work, I, Old Liu, will twist off my own head!"

He Wang did not care that his subordinate spoke crudely. Wasn't that exactly how subordinates should be? What he cared about was that the item was ready. Last time, he had not paid attention, which was why Huo Hai had rescued them. This time, such a thing would absolutely not happen. "Hmph, Huo Hai, Ji Mu, neither of you will escape. Sooner or later, you'll fall into my hands. Pursue them!"

At He Wang's command, he led the remaining party of fewer than thirty people and gave chase in Huo Hai's likely direction.