“You’re up early to head into the mountains,” Cheng Qi said with a smile as he carried a large kettle to pour tea for the warriors outside the house.

“Yes,” Han Wei accepted the tea from him, nodded, and thanked him, “Thank you, little shuanger.”

“Hey, little shuanger, you may look thin, but quite strong. Are you interested in joining us as a warrior?” A burly warrior joked upon seeing how effortlessly the shuanger lifted the large kettle.

“Yan Wu, trying to take on another disciple? The little shuanger is already married,” another warrior chimed in.

“What’s wrong with being married? If he became a warrior, the little shuanger might be able to protect his husband in the future,” Yan Wu replied with a hearty laugh.

“Ignore him, everything he said is nonsense,” Hu Xin said, then promptly stepped on the person who was talking nonsense. Despite being half the size of the other male warriors, her kick could make a grown man jump and scream in pain.

“My husband and I also want to go into the mountains. Can we join you?” Cheng Qi took the opportunity to ask the female warrior.

Hu Xin hesitated for a moment upon hearing this, then said to the young shuanger with some embarrassment, “Little shuanger, Qiluan Mountain is not a playground, especially now; it’s very dangerous. I’m afraid even for us it would be hard to survive.”

“In the past, warriors would take villagers into the mountains for hunt, but now, it’s uncertain whether we can even protect ourselves, let alone two ordinary people,” Hu Xin added.

“Yes, little shuanger, this is no joke,” Yan Wu agreed.

“We are  doctors. We want to go to the mountains to collect herbs. We can protect ourselves and won’t hinder you,” Cheng Qi insisted.

“This…” Hu Xin glanced at Han Wei in embarrassment, but the latter didn’t feel embarrassed. He simply said to the young shuanger in front of him, “We have a mission this time, and we can’t accommodate you and slow down for you. If you can keep up, then follow.”

Upon hearing this, the other warriors glanced sideways, sizing up the little shuanger who was less than their arm’s height. Han Wei’s words were clearly a way to discourage him.

Cheng Qi smiled and continued to pour tea for the other warriors. One of them, a younger-looking warrior, took the tea and threw it away with a backhand motion. Cheng Qi merely glanced at him and said nothing.

.

After drinking their tea and packing their belongings, the group walked out of the village gate and prepared to set off into the mountains. However, after walking for a while, they noticed two more followers at the back of the team. They had assumed the two would be left behind after leaving Hejia Village, but since the road was still passable at this point, they didn’t think much of it and continued forward.

The path into the mountains was treacherous. They had to either climb steep hillsides or cross rickety bridges over rivers. Han Wei chose the latter, leading the group through the waterway. However, to reach the bridge, they first had to navigate a rugged mountain road. Moreover, the wooden bridge itself was dilapidated and old, making it difficult to traverse. If they weren’t careful, they could fall into the river below, and even the group of warriors found it challenging to walk.

Until the team successfully crossed the empty bridge and entered the mountain, the young couple behind them steadily fell behind. The warriors saw the two had walked a long mountain road without changing their expressions, and even the clothes on their bodies were devoid of wrinkles. They suddenly felt like something was wrong.

Having already entered the mountain, it was too late for Han Wei to tell the young couple to go back. He could only ask them to follow closely. If he still had the strength left, he would protect the two. However, there were also several warriors in the team who showed dissatisfaction. The young man regarded them as a person who did not know what was good and what was wrong.

“Brother Han, these two people have been following us. They can’t do anything and only hinder us. I think you should drive them away,” Chen Fei was the first to object.

As soon as someone spoke, others immediately followed suit, “They must think we are easy to talk to, so they keep sticking close. I don’t think we should give in to them anymore.”

Cheng Qi found that the first warrior to speak was the one who had poured out his tea. Cheng Qi only curled his lips.

Although Han Wei also felt bad for inviting the two in, the young couple did not trouble them along the way, so naturally, it was not easy to chase them away.

Cheng Qi and Li Tianyan had always kept a distance from the group of warriors, neither following them nor leaving.

.

As the group of people climbed over the surrounding hills and went deeper and deeper, they were gradually submerged in the black mist, and the visible range of the field of vision also shrank a lot.

As soon as Li Tianyan stepped into the area covered by thick fog, he immediately felt that there was evil energy trying to seep into his body. He immediately used his spiritual power to wrap around his body to prevent the evil energy from invading. On the other hand, Cheng Qi seemed not to be affected by the evil energy.

“Are you okay?” Li Tianyan asked with a frown when he saw traces of black energy entering Cheng Qi’s body.

“I seem to be able to transform this evil energy into Yin energy,” Cheng Qi said to Li Tianyan with a smile. It happened that all the Yin energy was transferred out yesterday. Now it seemed that there was no problem to absorb a little evil energy and he could fill his energy saving.

“Then it’s up to you,” Li Tianyan also encountered this situation for the first time, and he didn’t know whether it was good or bad.

“Young master, why didn’t these evil energies spread out?” Cheng Qi glanced behind him. The black mist seemed to be covered by something invisible and could not spread outside.

“There is a blockade formation in the mountain,” Li Tianyan had already discovered it when he stepped into this blockade boundary.

However, although the range of the blockade formation was wide, the spiritual light above it was very weak, and it could only withstand evil energy and some weaker beasts. If the evil beast escaped, this formation would be useless.