Chapter 169: Abnormal Energy Fluctuation
SLASH!
A slicing motion was created as blood splattered across the sands. A dead corpse's head was rolling for a few meters before stopping.
After the corpse was confirmed to be dead, a woman held a blissful smile as she turned around and glanced at the person sitting on top of a beast.
"Master, I did it." Deng Lijuan exclaimed happily as she wiped off the blood on her sword.
"How many times do I have to repeat myself? Stop calling me your master." The person who was laying down on a beast complained.
It was the lazy Lee Tao who was resting as he pleased, leaving all the killing and tedious work for Deng Lijuan to do.
Deng Lijuan ignored the usual remark from Lee Tao as she started dissecting the corpse.
"Anyway Master, shouldn't we be arriving at the Inner Zone already?" She asked calmly.
Lee Tao shrugged his shoulders.
"If you want to know, then you should be asking these two useless captives." Lee Tao said and pointed at Zheng Wenling and Zhou Jingjing.
"We're not useless!" Zheng Wenling snorted coldly.
"Senior-Apprentice Sister is more capable than you are." She added.
"Enough of it, Zheng Wenling." Before Lee Tao could even respond, Zhou Jingjing had held her by the arm and told her to stop.
It is true that they are captives, but being useless is another thing.
However, there was no point in arguing about it, so why should they waste their breath defending themselves?
"At the current pace we are in, we should be arriving in the Inner Zone in another 3-5 days." Zhou Jingjing replied, answering Deng Lijuan's initial question.
"Sigh, this is so exhausting." Deng Lijuan pouted as she stored the dissected parts in her spatial ring.
Afterward, she kicked the sand softly, propelling herself upward as she landed behind Lee Tao, who was sitting on top of Da Mung, the Chimera beast.
"Why did you hop up here?" Lee Tao asked in annoyance. He was enjoying the free space available on top of Da Mung. Yet with her joining in now, the space became limited.
"Master, how can you be so greedy? Da Mung's back is large enough to fit at least 4-6 people, but you're hogging it all to yourself." Deng Lijuan complained.
"That's because I'm the master of Da Mung and I prefer to be alone. Now get back down there and walk with those two captives."
"I won't move back down. I've been fighting monsters nonstop daily. I'm exhausted right now and I just want to rest."
"How dare you disobey my words!"
"Hmph, you don't even acknowledge me as your disciple. So why should I listen to your words?" Deng Lijuan crossed her arms and pouted.
Lee Tao twitched his lips at her fierce comeback.
Her remark, action, and demeanor reminded him very much of his youthful age.
'No wonder why I didn't just ditch her…' Lee Tao thought. Every time he glanced at her, he felt like he was looking in a mirror.
It reminded him of his past life and the early struggle he faced. And how he shamelessly regarded that person as Master despite the constant rejection.
'Master must have really wanted to punch me back then,' Lee Tao showed a rare smile as he reminisced about his past.
Deng Lijuan raised an eyebrow in confusion when she suddenly saw Lee Tao smiling.
'What's going on with Lee Tao?' She wondered silently.
Sometime later, Xiao Chu suddenly reappeared in front of Lee Tao after disappearing for a while.
"Lee Tao, I detected some abnormalities ahead." Xiao Chu warned. "The energy fluctuation seemed to differ from everywhere else."
Lee Tao showed a confused expression.
Instead of pondering over her words, he was more dumbfounded by her sudden appearance.
"Where have you been this entire time?" Lee Tao asked. "I kept trying to contact you, but you kept giving me the cold shoulder treatment."
Xiao Chu felt her anger rising when she was trying to warn him out of kindness yet Lee Tao was changing the topic.
"Can you not hear me saying the energy fluctuation up ahead is dangerous." She shouted.
"I heard you for the first time already. I'm more curious as to where you went the past few days."
Xiao Chu gnashed her teeth at his response.
'When did you become so caring?' She cursed inwardly.
As much as she wanted to tell him that she was recuperating from overusing her profound qi to activate Function One ability, she didn't want him to worry.
Just because she did something great to help Lee Tao doesn't mean she would be eager to proclaim her achievement directly. In fact, Xiao Chu would rather Lee Tao continue to think that she belonged solely to Tian Meifen and not rely on her.
She did not want to be the hindrance or obstacle that would block Lee Tao from reaching the apex.
"Hmph, I merely went to sleep and woke up." Xiao Chu crossed her arms angrily.
"Tch, as expected of a lazy person like you." Lee Tao snorted coldly.
Afterward, Lee Tao opened the map and changed it to thermal temperature.
And sure enough, Lee Tao saw the abnormal energy fluctuation up ahead in their path.
"Seems like the closer we get to the Inner Zone, the crazier the energy fluctuation is." Lee Tao muttered.
Unable to detect much with just a map, Lee Tao snapped his finger and levitated Zhou Jingjing up.
Zhou Jingjing was forcefully floating mid-air unwillingly as she glared at Lee Tao. It was a good thing she was not wearing any skirts, otherwise, all of her private parts would have been exposed.
"What do you want now?" Zhou Jingjing asked. Her face was filled with anger and resentment.
"I just want to ask, what was the air pressure and energy fluctuation when you were in the Inner Zone?" Lee Tao asked calmly, ignoring her current state.
"How would I know?" Zhou Jingjing scoffed coldly.
"By the time we entered the Inner Zone, there was danger everywhere that we couldn't even take a breather to relax." She added.