Eat Well, Drink Well, Pack Well

Jiang Yun and the other two had packed several bags of Little Crocodile meat on Mars, but no one wanted to eat that stuff right now.

Although Jiang Yun was very interested in Little Crocodile's corpse and had stored a great deal of it in Source Space,

the Desolate Forbidden Land had better things, so he had no interest in it for the time being.

Instead, Jiang Yun pulled Ye Fan and Pang Bo along to look for food.

As they walked, the three chatted about the golden roc that had been clutching a giant elephant, their fantastical experiences over the past two days, their hopes for the future, and their worries about their families back on Earth.

"There's a spring pool ahead."

Pang Bo suddenly spotted something.

Not far ahead was an open patch of ground surrounded by several old vines. There was a spring pool about a meter across, bubbling steadily like a Divine Spring of sweet dew.

Beside the spring pool grew more than a dozen small trees over half a meter tall. Their leaves were broad, lush, and emerald green, shaped like human palms.

They looked like several little people with multiple arms standing there. At the top of every small tree hung a bright red fruit, shaped like a cherry but as large as an egg.

Jiang Yun and the other two quickly walked over. They could smell the rich fragrance wafting from the fruits, and their bodies stirred with waves of craving as drool unconsciously trickled from the corners of their mouths.

They had barely eaten anything for a day and a night. After so long, they were starving.

"It smells amazing. I've never smelled fruit this fragrant before. Could these be immortal fruits?"

As they drew closer, the fruits smelled even sweeter and more fragrant, as though every cell in their bodies was longing for something.

"Could fruits that smell this good be poisonous?"

Seeing the two hesitate, Jiang Yun stretched out his hand without the slightest hesitation.

"I'll taste one for you first. Even if it's poisonous, I'd die willingly for a fragrance like this."

He plucked a fruit from the top of a verdant little tree and began to eat it.

Jiang Yun took a gentle bite. The instant the glistening red skin split open, an incomparably rich fragrance rushed straight into his organs and spread throughout his entire body.

As expected of an immortal fruit. Jiang Yun had gotten his first taste of the joys of a fantasy world. There could be no greater enjoyment in life.

"I can't take it anymore. It's too tempting. Let's try some too."

Ye Fan and Pang Bo could not resist the temptation either. Each picked one and began eating.

Before long, the three took turns eating, four each. Of the thirteen fruits, only one remained.

The three of them reached for the last fruit at nearly the same time, and their hands ended up clasping together.

They exchanged glances and immediately felt a little awkward.

The fruits were simply too fragrant and tempting. While eating, Jiang Yun declared that he would not trade one even for a fairy maiden, though he might consider trading it for the Ruthless Emperor.

Looking at the final fruit, they found themselves in a dilemma.

"I was just thinking of taking a few back for Yiyi and Zhang Ziling," Ye Fan said.

"The problem is, there's only one left. How are we supposed to split it if we bring it back?"

Pang Bo asked hesitantly.

There was only one fruit. It would be terribly awkward to make the two of them share it.

They might not even be grateful and could instead feel slighted.

"Let's split it among the three of us. Taking a single fruit back would look awful," Jiang Yun decided.

The two thought about it and understood that Jiang Yun was telling the truth. If they took one fruit back, it would not merely be too little to go around—they would definitely be excluded.

None of them were pedantic people, so there was nothing to feel embarrassed about. The three split the final fruit.

"That was so satisfying. Coming to this world isn't so bad after all. I want to eat this kind of fruit every day."

Pang Bo leaned comfortably against an old vine, as though savoring the fruit's lingering fragrance.

"I think these little red fruits should be rare even in this world. Eating one or two a month to satisfy our cravings should be enough."

Ye Fan voiced his guess.

These little red fruits had grown after the Nine Wonders Immortal Medicine split into nine. There were not many Immortal Elixirs in the entire universe; they were extraordinarily rare.

One-ninth of an immortal medicine had been eaten by three ordinary people like them. If the people of the Big Dipper learned of this, they probably would not mind setting up a pot.

As for Pang Bo and Ye Fan's beautiful dream, Jiang Yun felt that not even the Ruthless Emperor's own brother could afford to eat like that!

"This spring water must be extraordinary if it can nourish fruits like these. I can faintly smell its fragrance too. Come drink some."

Jiang Yun stood beside the spring and took a deep breath, interrupting the two men's daydreams.

Pang Bo came over and drank several large mouthfuls of spring water.

"It has a faint sweet fragrance. The taste is unusual, but I don't feel anything after drinking it. It's not as satisfying as eating the little red fruits."

Even so, he honestly poured out all the water from several mineral water bottles and began filling them with the lightly fragrant spring water.

Jiang Yun was not polite either. While the other two were not paying attention, he directly collected some Divine Spring water into Source Space. Split it equally upon seeing it—good traditions could not be abandoned.

After eating the little red fruits and drinking some Divine Spring water, the three got up to leave.

Before leaving, Jiang Yun talked Ye Fan and Pang Bo into going with him to break off some branches from all thirteen little trees.

Pang Bo found gathering branches troublesome and wanted to uproot several trees outright to take with them.

Fortunately, Jiang Yun stopped him. The moment he heard Pang Bo say that, Jiang Yun suddenly felt a chill run through his entire body, as though some terrifying existence had fixed its gaze upon him.

Jiang Yun guessed Pang Bo had felt it too, so Pang Bo readily listened.

They only dared to break off a small branch from each tree. Then the three left and returned to meet up with their classmates.

When they returned to the previous location, all their classmates had come back.

"We've been waiting just for you three. Looks like you found nothing too. Are you planning to chew on tree bark now?"

Wang Yan, Liu Yunzhi's ex-girlfriend, saw Jiang Yun and the other two return empty-handed except for a few broken branches and mocked them.

"What can we do? We were starving. We're not like you three, sneaking behind a tree to eat chocolate."

Pang Bo replied with a grin. The three of them were full, satisfied, and had gained quite a few benefits, so they could not be bothered arguing with such clowns.

Liu Yunzhi and the other two's faces turned pale and green. They had not expected these three jinxes to see them.

They had wanted to stand up and share what was left, but there was not enough even for half a piece each among twenty-five people.

"Everyone, stop arguing. Let's first figure out a way to leave this mountain region," Zhou Yi advised from the side.

Neither side spoke again.

Liu Yunzhi's group of three was somewhat intimidated. After all, they were two men and one woman. If they clashed with Jiang Yun's group of three tall, strong men, they would likely be beaten badly.

Jiang Yun and the others simply could not be bothered with these three jumping clowns.

The group quickly chose a direction that appeared to offer the fastest route out of the mountains. Supporting one another, they headed forward together.

Even by nightfall, they had failed to get out. They had not eaten a proper meal in two days and had spent another day trekking through the forest.

Although they had gathered some wild fruit and shared some snacks, it was far too little for everyone. They were so exhausted they could barely walk, so they decided to rest there for the night.

Unlike the others, who were nervous throughout the night, Jiang Yun was not particularly afraid. These people would have no problem leaving safely.

That night, Jiang Yun fell asleep to the heavy-metal music of the Great Accomplishment Sacred Physique striking Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin within the abyss of the Desolate Forbidden Land.

The only drawback was that it was too loud. Jiang Yun was woken several times during the night, but he could not really say anything.

After all, that was a Great Accomplishment Sacred Physique, an existence capable of challenging a Great Emperor. Jiang Yun could only challenge the likes of Liu Yunzhi right now.

The next day, everyone washed up in a stream, ate some snacks and wild fruit, then set out once more.

After climbing a high mountain, the group suddenly made a discovery.

"Hey, look! Are those buildings on that mountain in the distance?"

Wang Ziwen suddenly pointed ahead. It was an enormous mountain far away from them, separated by several peaks, but the smaller mountains could not block it from view.

"They really are buildings, and they seem to stretch out in a whole complex!"

Everyone immediately revealed looks of delight. They would surely reach it before nightfall.

"Hey, there seem to be cranes flying around there too. Could it be an immortal land? Could there be immortals there...?"

The moment they thought of the immortals of legend, everyone quickened their pace and headed toward it.

It truly was a section of the Heavenly Palace Ruins. Only those with fate could truly enter that area.

Jiang Yun remembered that several of his classmates later had the opportunity to enter it. More people had survived this time, so he wondered whether more people would be driven into the Desolate Forbidden Land and receive such an opportunity.

After slowly crossing several mountains, the forest began to show signs of life, and they encountered some cute, delicious wild animals.

They also saw another intact stone stele inscribed with the four words "Desolate Forbidden Land," which meant they had left that region.

Jiang Yun immediately let out a sigh of relief. Though he had claimed not to be afraid, who would not be on edge after staying in the Desolate Forbidden Land for so long?

"Let's rest here for a while, then continue onward. I believe we'll see signs of human habitation soon."

The group split into twos and threes, forming small groups that sat down on the ground to rest.

Later, Liu Yunzhi, Wang Yan, and Li Changqing were discovered by Pang Bo because of their secret plotting and vicious curses.

To prevent the three from committing evil again in the future, they threw them into a tiger's den.

Jiang Yun did not stop them, not because he wanted to save the three, but because he had considered killing them outright.

If they were thrown into the tiger's den, the three would be saved by the Great Accomplishment Sacred Physique's Divine Thought that had followed the Bronze Coffin here, and they would secretly plot to kill Ye Fan.

But Jiang Yun thought about it. In the original story, with the intelligence of those three, although they caused Ye Fan a few minor inconveniences, they did not cause any major losses.

If he killed them and the Divine Thought found someone else to support, that would be even more troublesome. It would be hiding in the shadows, and they would not know who it was.

It would be better to let those three drag the Divine Thought down with them.