When Riyue laid eyes on the beautiful woman with vine hair, green eyes, deer horns, and a dress made of plants, he felt his heart sink a little.


    A Stage 4, the start of the middle stages, it is a monster on a different level than the ones he had faced before. Even if it’s not as drastic as a Stage 6 to a Stage 5, it is still mildly despairing.


    “What do you think we should do?” Xia said. Riyue looked around. After the shaking of the mountain brought them all here, the monsters, the Dryad, and the humans were all at a standstill.


    “The best-case scenario is to have them all fight while we watch, but I don’t think that’s possible.”


    Just as not all humans are friends, not all monsters are friends with each other. With that said, they still would rather kill the humans first than fight against each other.


    ‘...It can’t be helped.’


    Riyue reached the inside of his clothing and grabbed the Qilin’s Horn and resonated his Qi with it. A similar pressure then came out of Riyue’s body. Xia turned to look at him with widened eyes and a slightly gaping mouth. While the goblins and orcs had already started to run away in fear, the Dryad stepped back and fell on her butt as she trembled. It created a big opening; however, Riyue disregarded the thought of fighting.


    “Let’s run upwards.”


    Xia nodded, even when she was still confused about everything, and ran with Riyue upwards to the mountain and away from the Dryad. The Dryad got out of her shock and gritted her teeth as plants and vines grew all around her, heading towards Riyue, intending to tie and grasp his legs. It was because his speed couldn’t rival that of Xia, so it was inevitable that he was left behind. Riyue clicked his tongue, and as he was about to do a full-power Convergence Tiger’s Lunge by sacrificing his legs...


    Xia grabbed his body and picked him up with her petite body before she used Wind Qi to boost herself up and scale the mountains, using the tree branches as her foothold. As a result, the vines only grasped air, and the Dryad, mad at the prey that ran away and even humiliated her, formed a Qi Blast in front of her palm and fired it off at the retreating figure. It uprooted trees and destroyed branches on the way towards them.


    Xia looked back in shock before she used the entirety of her Qi to slash at the powerful Qi Blast. Fortunately, she managed to offset it, but not without consequences. Her feet slipped as her body fell. However, instead of crashing into the hard ground, Riyue, enhanced the entirety of his body with the convergence of Sun and Moon Qi, grabbed Xia’s body, and ran away.


    They got lucky, they really did. If the Dryad hadn’t hesitated and decided to fully attack instead of just testing with a Qi Blast, they wouldn’t have gotten away. Riyue continued to run until after a certain distance had passed by.


    By that time, Xia had already gotten off from Riyue’s embrace and was running alongside him by that point. Their steps soon slowed down, and Riyue looked around. After confirming that they were safe, he collapsed to the ground while breathing haggardly.


    Headaches nudged at his head, his vision blurred and tilted as if he was on the deck of a swaying ship. He then reached into his pocket to grab an Ice Spirit Grass and consumed it directly. After his body cooled down, he checked on the status screen.


    Name: Zhang Riyue


    Age: 20


    Constitution: Sun and Moon Qi Constitution


    Qi Stage: 1


    Qi Purity: 78%


    Qi Amount: 213/1003 (recovery 3/minute), (Qilin’s Horn +300 Qi), (Next Stage requires 2000).


    Martial Arts and Mastery Gauge: Mountain Tiger Martial Technique 43% Sun and Moon Breathing Method 26%This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Training Room


    His mastery had risen up tremendously due to him escaping a Dryad and scaling up a mountain while his Qi had also increased quite a bit after a few days. It was a very fast growth; however, due to recent troubles, he only became even more impatient about making the Qi Increasing Pill to finally reach Stage 2.


    “Why did you save me if you do not trust me?”


    Xia said while sprawling on the grass fields in the forest, her face turned towards Riyue. Instead of it being sarcasm, she genuinely sounded curious. Riyue had felt a bit weird while speaking to Xia, and he had finally realized why that was the case.


    ‘She feels like a child with little to no common sense in certain areas.’


    “It’s not as if I don’t have any shred of trust with you. If that was the case, I wouldn’t have even cooperated with you in the first place. Besides, there are a myriad of other reasons to save you even if I didn’t trust you.”


    “...I see.”


    Xia then turned her face away before she mumbled.


    “...Sorry.”


    “Huh? For what?”


    “...For being weird… When I was a child, everybody also said so except for my father. It’s been a while since I met someone good, so even if I don’t know the reason why, I’m sorry.” Her voice trailed off at the end as her voice grew weaker.


    Riyue closed his mouth before he thought of the words he should choose. He still didn’t know much about Xia, but he could at least paint a bit of a picture. Weird social boundaries, her unique past, insecurities, and such. Riyue scratched his head and said.


    “I’m not sure about anyone else, but you do not need to apologize for being weird.”


    Xia turned her face towards Riyue again, so he continued.


    “Also, in regard to trust, it is not wise to trust anyone entirely… I have some bad experiences in that regard, so that is sort of the mindset I am going with. I think it is wise, and it’s what I intend to do for the rest of my life. However, it is to be separated from whether I dislike a person or not.”


    “I see? Uh, so, does it mean that you trust me as well?”


    “Not fully, and I already said the reasons why.”


    “...But, do you think that I am a good person?”


    “Yes, but I’m not sure about the future. People change, after all.”


    “...You are a complicated person.”


    “It can’t be helped, that’s just how I am. But I do trust you to a certain extent and think that, currently, you are a good person.”


    “...I see. I see!” Xia smiled brightly.


    Riyue sighed in his mind. It seemed like speaking simply to her would work better, like speaking to a child.


    After a while of resting, they decided to head to the peak. After all, it was already quite nearby, as they were running in that direction.


    Xia didn’t ask anything about Riyue’s item that allowed their escape, much to his surprise, and he didn’t intend on explaining it either, so it worked for him. After walking for another one or two hours, completely avoiding any monsters on the way, they finally arrived at a place full of golden flowers that bloomed like the sun.


    Riyue’s heart beat fast as he ran towards the golden flower and picked one up. He could feel the Qi flowing from the flower, and he let out a grin.


    Just how much trouble had he gone through just to get this one damned flower! Riyue held back tears of joy as he grabbed as many flowers as he was allowed to by the government laws. He was cautious about the government laws and such because his bag would actually get checked when he returned from the mountain.


    As Riyue and Xia were picking up the flowers, Riyue caught a glimpse of the view below the mountain, and his breath caught as he stopped picking the flowers. The blue sky stretched across the horizon, and mountains of various sizes spread across the land. Plants of various colors could be found in some parts of the forest, and the sun that shined through the world made the view extraordinary.


    ‘If this was a tourist place, it would not lack visitors at all.’


    Riyue smiled and continued picking the flowers until he had a pouch full of them. After that, they immediately headed down, relying on the limited amount of Ice Spirit Grass to control their body temperature. On the way down, Riyue headed to a place that had the Mountain Spring Water, took it, and then headed back to Baizhu City.


    After getting down from the mountain, it felt as if the world had turned on its AC, as even the normal temperature felt cool. Riyue and Xia had the guards check the things they received, and eventually, they were allowed to go back to the city.


    Riyue held out a hand towards Xia.


    Xia tilted her head, and Riyue smiled.


    “It’s a handshake.”


    “Ah.”


    Xia then shook his hand before she asked, “Are you interested in doing other types of work?”


    “Stealing?” Riyue grinned.


    “N-not so loud, but yes.”


    Riyue thought for a moment as he put his hand to his chin. Honestly, it was tempting. After calculating his expenses, he would be left dead broke after getting the ingredients for the pill, so this was perfect timing.


    “I will think about it after hearing about the job later.”


    “Sure. Then, I will see you after I find a target,” Xia said with a slight smile as she turned back.


    “Aren’t you going to ask where I live and where you could contact me?”


    “Ah.”


    After getting Riyue’s house address, as well as giving out her own means of contact, she turned back and half-ran away with a faint blush on her face. Riyue smiled seeing her and grinned even more after seeing the Golden Lotus pouch.


    It was finally time to reap the rewards.