Chapter 557: Rendezvous

As Feiyan walked deeper into the forest, the tiger cub sleeping soundly on his back suddenly woke up.

She opened her sleepy, hazy eyes and looked around. Suddenly, she spotted a faint, looming face up ahead. The face abruptly expanded, opening a massive mouth toward them as if to swallow them whole. Yet Feiyan acted as if he couldn’t see a thing, walking straight toward the gaping, bloodthirsty maw.

The tiger cub suddenly grabbed a handful of Feiyan’s hair. “Face! Face!”

“Ouch!” Stung by the sudden pain, Feiyan stopped in his tracks and caught the tiger cub’s hand. “An’an, what’s wrong? Let go first, hurry and let go.”

The bloody maw vanished the moment Feiyan halted. The tiger cub blinked in confusion and released her little hand.

“AWOO!”

Feiyan untied the tiger cub and brought her around to his front. “Why are you awake? Are you hungry?”

The tiger cub babbled, her little finger pointing straight ahead. Feiyan looked up, his pupils suddenly contracting.

Before him lay a wide river. He was standing right on the bank; just one more step, and he would have walked straight into the water. Feiyan was astonished, wondering how he had suddenly ended up by the river when he had clearly been walking through the woods just moments ago.

Realizing something, Feiyan hugged the tiger cub tightly. “An’an, did you see something just now?”

The tiger cub yawned and pointed at Feiyan’s face. “Face! Face!”

Feiyan frowned. “What’s wrong with my face?”

Seeing that he didn’t understand, the tiger cub puffed out her little cheeks in anger.

Feiyan was about to press further when he suddenly heard a slight rustling behind him. His narrow fox-like eyes darkened as he looked warily in the direction of the noise. Just as he was about to enter a combat-ready stance, a familiar figure stepped out from the darkness.

Feiyan’s eyes lit up. “Sunxiao?”

Sunxiao’s crimson snake pupils quickly swept over Feiyan. After confirming his identity, he nodded. “Why are you here?”

Having also verified that Sunxiao was real, Feiyan walked over with the tiger cub in his arms. “I saw on the tracker that you and Sangze were nearby, so I thought I’d come find you. Strangely enough, I was clearly following the tracker’s direction, but who knew I’d end up in this godforsaken place? If An’an hadn’t stopped me, I would have walked right into the water.”

Sunxiao’s snake pupils narrowed slightly. Although Feiyan wasn’t the brightest, he wasn’t so stupid that he couldn’t tell directions. If he took the wrong path, it was highly likely he had been bewitched by something.

“Did you notice anything unusual just now?” he asked.

Feiyan shook his head. “No. It’s just that right before I stepped into the water, An’an suddenly grabbed me, and that snapped me out of it.”

Sunxiao shot him a cold glare. How was that not unusual! “Why did you suddenly bring the cubs this way?”

Feiyan started explaining from the moment Qiao Xixi passed the message to him. “Maybe there’s a problem with the tracker. We can ask Xixi what’s going on once we see her.”

With Qiao Xixi’s safety confirmed, the heavy weight lifted from Sunxiao’s chest. “You go back first. Sangze and I will go over to regroup.”

“Alright.”

On the way back, Feiyan stayed on high alert, terrified of another mishap. Fortunately, the journey was smooth.

Qiao Yi had already finished boiling the meat broth. Seeing Feiyan return empty-handed, he frowned. “Weren’t you going to gather firewood?”

Feiyan placed the tiger cub on the animal skin mat, not daring to meet Qiao Yi’s eyes. “I ran into Sunxiao as soon as I entered the woods. He and Sangze are nearby. I told them to hurry over and meet up with us, and I completely forgot about the firewood.”

Qiao Yi was a bit surprised. “Sunxiao and Sangze are nearby?”

“Yeah, they should be here soon.”

Though Qiao Yi was surprised by their slow speed, it was still good that they could regroup first.

After eating their fill, the cubs lay down on the animal skins. Feiyan had just tucked them in when Sunxiao and Sangze emerged from the darkness.

Sunxiao’s gaze quickly swept over Sunxuan, who was currently guarding Qiao Lie’s side. It seemed Qiao Lie was willing to accept this grandfather. As he slept, he was positioned only a very short distance from Sunxuan, completely lacking the vigilance a snake cub should possess.

Qiao Yi glanced at them and said, “You all should rest first. We’ll continue our journey first thing tomorrow morning.”

Sunxiao and Sangze nodded and walked over to the cubs. After a day of traveling, the cubs were already exhausted. They had just been holding on; once they lay down, they all fell into a deep, heavy slumber.

Seeing Sunxiao approach, Sunxuan spoke in a low voice, “The cub is already this big, and you didn’t even tell me.”

Sunxiao didn’t even bat an eyelid. He simply crouched down and shifted Qiao Lie further onto the animal skin mat.

The moment he moved, Qiao Lie opened his eyes and looked at him groggily. “Father…”

Sunxiao placed his palm gently over the cub’s eyes, his voice soft. “Go to sleep. Father is here.”

That deep, slightly cool voice made Qiao Lie feel incredibly secure. He rolled over and went right back to sleep.

***

Perhaps due to the high altitude, Qiao Xixi found the sky over Fire Feather Mountain to be exceptionally blue.

Qiao Xixi checked the tracker. Yesterday, she had seen Sunxiao’s and the others’ locations overlap with the cubs’, meaning they had already regrouped. Right now, their locations were getting closer and closer to her. If they moved a bit faster, they could reunite today! Qiao Xixi could hardly wait.

Jin Ling walked in carrying firewood and stoked the campfire to make it burn brighter. The fire had to be kept alive constantly so the indoor temperature could remain somewhat warm.

“Jin Ling, has Yun Ji not returned yet?”

“Not yet. It should still take some time.”

Yun Ji had led a few members of the Wing Clan to fly over Fire Feather Mountain before dawn, saying he needed to check the situation on the other side of the mountain. Although he was the Holy Priest, his beast soul had been damaged previously while suppressing a monster. Because of this, he hadn’t been to Elephant Beast City in a very long time, having only heard about its changes from Lei Lie.

However, since no major malicious incidents had been reported from Elephant Beast City over the years, he hadn’t sent anyone to investigate.

Fire Feather Mountain wasn’t just a single peak; it was the highest among a continuous mountain range. The closer they got to the mountain, the more piercing the oncoming freezing winds became, with temperatures dropping to an absolute extreme.

Even Yun Ji, when faced with such extreme weather, had to consume a massive amount of beast soul energy to stabilize his body. The Wing Clan males following behind him also quickly used their beast soul powers to fend off the bitter cold.

“No wonder it’s so hard for our side to get any information about Elephant Beast City. In this godforsaken place, even we have a hard time flying over, let alone those Land Beasts.”

“Holy Priest, look over there quickly! Is that a person?”

Hearing this, Yun Ji lowered his altitude and looked down. Sure enough, he spotted an orange silhouette on the snow-capped mountain. Because the distance was too great, it was impossible to see clearly whether it was a person or an object.

“Let’s go down and take a look.”

Yun Ji led the Wing Clan beast soldiers to lower their altitude further, eventually landing on the thick snow. He shifted back into his human form and walked over. Upon seeing the figure’s appearance clearly, his expression darkened.