Chapter 67: Lesson one.
“Alright, so what do you want us to do first?”
Yao Jun looked at the surroundings while he asked Guo Luo. The trees in Zhenya valley were all placed very densely. There was enough space for a person or two to walk shoulder to shoulder, but there was no way he would have place to summon Little Thunder or Little Gray. This meant that they would have to rely on themselves as well as Sirius.
“I think the first thing we should do is bring out Sirius. He should be the only one who will be able to walk with us in this dense forest, he also has the best nose, so he can be used for scouting.”
Guo Luo thoroughly examined the surroundings before she hesitatingly spoke out. She had seen the size of Yao Jun's Demonic beasts before. Little Thunder had a good nose, but he didn't seem like he would be able to walk normally when the trees were so dense, he would probably have to break down the trees as he walked.
Little Gray would have to fly above the valley to be of any use, but that was too dangerous, as there was no telling what sort of Demonic beasts made their home in the air above the valley. That only left Sirius, who was small enough to fit between the trees, and also had a nose that was good enough for scouting.
Yao Jun nodded his head and an azure light flew out from his chest, quickly turning into Sirius. After Sirius appeared, he looked to Guo Luo, waiting for orders. All of Yao Jun's Demonic beasts were connected to him mentally, he could easily send them orders while they were still inside the gate, so Sirius already knew that it would be taking orders from Guo Luo while they were inside the valley.
“Little Sirius, can you travel a short distance ahead of us and use your nose to let us know when you find enemies that we can kill?”
Guo Luo crouched down and stroked the head of Sirius as she spoke. She knew that Yao Jun could increase the strength of his Demonic beasts by absorbing other Demonic beasts. So she also wanted to use this chance to strengthen his other Demonic beasts, not just to acquire another one.
Sirius looked at her a bit strangely, but quickly nodded it's head. It had been ordered to follow her orders, so it would have no choice but to do so. After it nodded it's head, it started walking around 500 meters ahead of them. At this range, it would have enough time to warn them about any danger, as well as give them time to react to the danger.
“Let's go.”
Guo Luo stood up and sent a quick smile at Yao Jun before she started following behind Sirius. Yao Jun dared not be negligent, immediately going into battle mode. He referred to it as battle mode, but it was really only him summoning his sword and the armor granted to him by his Demon God's Gate.
When he first got the armor, it consisted of a pair of crystalline gauntlets that were purple in color, with a few black stripes and a gray armor that covered his back, engraved with an image of unfolding wings. But after he acquired Sirius, a pair of boots was added to the armor.
The boots were also gray in color, but they had azure stripes that meandered around the boots, almost like veins. The tips of the boots were slightly elongated, ending in sharp curves, resembling the claws of a wolf.
Donning the pieces of armor, Yao Jun's body felt lighter than it did normally, his entire body brimming with power. This was another function of the armor he had discovered, increasing his strength whenever he wore it. Off course, the armor also drained his Qi to recover itself whenever it took damage.
They did not have to walk for very long before Sirius let out a low howl, indicating that it had spotted an enemy that they could kill. Guo Luo and Yao Jun both rushed forward silently, crouching down next to Sirius and peering through the trees ahead. Ahead of them was a small clearing, but there were no Demonic beasts resting there. Instead, there was a group of five people sitting and resting.
“No Sirius, when I said enemies, I meant Demonic beasts. You don't have to tell us about any human parties you see.”
Guo Luo slightly chided Sirius, but what she did not know was that most Demonic beasts did not see a difference between humans and other Demonic beasts, everyone was their enemy. This was especially so for any Demonic beast that Yao Jun absorbed, as they knew that he could absorb both humans and Demonic beasts to strengthen himself and the Demonic beasts inside the gate.
But Sirius could obviously not tell Guo Luo this, as she had no way of understanding his words, only Yao Jun and other Demonic beasts could. He gave another nod of his head and sniffed the air for a short moment before setting off in a different direction.
This time they managed to travel for a few hours before Sirius stopped once more. There was a small clearing not far ahead of Sirius. The clearing was completely empty, with no signs of humans or Demonic beasts. A few colorful flowers bloomed inside the clearing, making the entire area look like a perfect place for resting.
Sirius sniffed at the air a short distance from the clearing and cocked his head to the right, looking slightly confused. Yao Jun and Guo Luo both moved closer to Sirius, crouching down next to him. Sirius continued to sniff at the air in apparent confusion for a short while longer before shaking his head in what seemed to be exasperation, and started moving around the clearing.
“I think this one should be safe as well.”
Guo Luo carefully examined the clearing ahead, moving her eyes between the clearing and Sirius a few times. This was not the first time that Sirius had been openly confused as he checked out a place. She followed him around the first few times, but after it happened an eight time, she decided to see if there was any danger, she passed straight through the area that Sirius had been confused at.
Ever since then, she had begun to carefully inspect the areas where Sirius was confused, she had already found five areas where Sirius was confused, but ended up being completely harmless. She did this mainly to see if there was a specific reason that Sirius was confused whenever he sniffed the air at those specific areas. So far, she had indeed found something that linked all the areas that confused Sirius, the flowers growing there. Every area that confused Sirius ended up having the same colorful flowers growing there.
Hearing her words, Sirius seemed to let out a little sigh as he turned around and came back to them. After Sirius returned to them, Guo Luo stood up and started slowly walking forward, Yao Jun following right next to her. They had just walked a few steps into the clearing when all the warning bells in Yao Jun's head started ringing.
Without bothering to spend any time thinking, he put his arm around Guo Luo's waist and pulled her into an embrace, burying her face in his chest. He put all his force into his legs, even mixing in as much wind and lightning energy into them as he could, and shot backwards. Sirius had noticed something as well, as he moved in front of Yao Jun and let out a low howl, summoning several blades of wind that shot forward, before he himself also dodged backwards.
As the blades of wind shot forwards, and Yao Jun and Sirius dodged backwards, the ground in the clearing started cracking up, deep green vines shooting out from the ground, aiming for Yao Jun and Guo Luo. Luckily, by the time the vines broke through the ground, Yao Jun had already pulled Guo Luo out off the clearing, and the wind blades from Sirius prevented the vines from moving any closer.
Yao Jun shot out from the clearing and his back hit a tree, stopping his momentum. As he sank down to the ground, he scanned the clearing again. After the vines were cut by the wind blades, they meandered around the clearing for a short while before moving back into the ground, the cracks that had appeared quickly fixing themselves. Clearly, this clearing was the abode of a plant type Demonic beast.
Plant type Demonic beast were slightly different from normal Demonic beasts. While a normal Demonic beast would have a core that they used to store and purify their power, often called a Demon Core, Plant type Demonic beast did not have this. Instead, they were plants that had absorbed enough Qi to gain a modicum of sentience. With time, this sentience would continue to grow, allowing the plant type Demonic beast to one day be as intelligent as a human.
“Alright, lesson one. Trust is imperative between allies. If we can't even trust our scout, there is no point in sending them ahead.”
Yao Jun spoke up after the vines retreated, still holding Guo Luo tightly. He had considered telling her this the first time she chose to ignore Sirius. But after giving it some thought, he figured that it would be more impact full if he said it after something that proved his point true happened.
“Mhm.”
Guo Luo had nothing to say to refute him, so she gave a tiny nod of her head and let out a sound of agreement, burying her face deeper into his chest out of embarrassment and shame.