Chapter 48: Reunion with Zi Lei

  The grudge of Dashan has been avenged, and its heart is filled with nothing but sorrow. Since Yixie's death, this big fellow has not shown up again, perhaps hiding in the vast and boundless primeval forest.

  As they spoke, the crowd arrived in front of a large river. The river was crystal clear and flowed from south to north, with a width of over 20 meters. Although the water flow didn't seem very rapid, the fallen leaves that occasionally floated on the surface, spinning continuously, proved that this river wasn't as simple as it seemed. Its calm surface hid turbulent undercurrents, making people dare not wade in.

  "Not two steps? The name of this river is really strange…. " Yang Hao muttered to himself as he stared at the big river in front of him.

  "What does it mean? Hei Niu Ge? Why is it called 'not two steps'?" Yun Xue blinked her big eyes, looking at Hei Niu like a curious baby.

  "It's not 'haven't taken two steps', it's 'haven't taken mo two steps'. The meaning is that when you take the first step into this river, the water may only reach your ankles, but if you take another step forward, it will suddenly rise to above your head. So, our elderly people in the mountains call this river 'haven't taken two steps', it doesn't have an official name." Hei Niu took out the empty water bottle and filled it up again before continuing...

  "The old folks said that this river is like a separation zone between the human world and the animal kingdom, animals won't come to disturb people's lives, and humans can't go to disturb the animals either. But with modern technology being so advanced, this river can no longer hold back humans, however everyone still needs to be careful, there are hidden currents in this river, once you fall into it, no matter how good your swimming skills are, even if you're a fish, you'll be stirred to lose your life. So everyone must be extremely careful..." Hei Niu stared at the seemingly calm river surface and began to worry...

  "Is there a rope?" Tiger Head asked loudly.

  "Of course, what are you going to do?" Yunxue's face was full of question marks as she looked at the tiger head.

  "What else can I do? I swam over and tied the rope... otherwise how would we get across?"

  "Haven't you heard of Hei Niu? Even a fish would lose its life if it fell into this river. Do you think your swimming skills are better than a fish?"

  "How would we know if we don't try... Are we going to stand here like fools?"

  "Don't be impatient... look at this..." Kerry intercepted Hu Tou's words and took out a nail gun-like object from his backpack, with thick hemp rope wrapped around it. At the end of the rope was an iron arrowhead.

  Kerry aimed at a large tree on the opposite bank of the river and slowly pulled the trigger. "Bang~~~" After a dull sound, the arrowhead in front of the rope rushed forward and steadily passed through the large tree that had been aimed at. After passing through the big tree, the arrowhead immediately turned into a cross hook from behind. Kerry suddenly used force to pull back, and this cross hook was firmly stuck on the other end of the big tree. After tying up this end of the rope, Kerry indicated that everyone could pass.

  The black cow stood up with a big thumb, the first one on the rope, Yunxue second, and Tiger Head next. Yang Hao naturally didn't need to say much, and he floated over easily. When everyone saw that everyone had passed, Kairui untied the gun from this end. She saw her holding the gun tightly with both hands, and after pressing a switch with her thumb, the rope quickly retracted, pulling Kairui towards the other side like flying. The last empty flip landed steadily, putting away the rope gun.

  A group of people arrived at the other side of the river with Kerry's help, only to find that the road ahead was even more difficult to walk on. The originally neat grassland had turned into a tangled and bumpy path, hard to tread on. Tall and lush trees were disorderly arranged, their dense leaves filtering the strong sunlight during the day into thin beams of light, like flashlight rays. The surrounding air was heavy with moisture and seemed dark...

  "Let's go, we'll try to find a safer place to settle down before nightfall, once it gets dark, all the beasts will come out...". Hei Niu took out the military dagger allocated by Kerry and said while swinging his hand to chop off the twigs and leaves in front of him, preparing to clear a path for the people behind.

  "What beast can be more fierce than my Tiger Head? I said, Tiger Head, this isn't the city district, you can show your true form!" Yang Hao stood by, smiling slyly at Tiger Head.

  "It's true indeed...” As the tiger head spoke, it revealed its true form.

  "You didn't mention it and I had almost forgotten, haha, I reckon no animal will dare to disturb us now." Hei Niu turned his head to look at the transformed Hu Tou, chuckled and said two sentences before continuing with his chopping work.

  Kai Rui smiled and didn't say a word, leading Yun Xue to follow behind Hei Niu, advancing slowly.

  After Hu Tou transformed, it indeed had a certain effect. Some animals that had been eyeing Yang Hao and the others as soon as they stepped onto this land were about to make their move when they saw a white tiger, bigger than an adult tiger, appear beside them. These ill-intentioned guys were immediately scared off.

  The forest was filled with the sounds of various animals calling out and the rapid footsteps of those fleeing. Just when everyone thought it was funny, Hu Tou suddenly stopped moving, and Hei Niu's footsteps also came to a halt. Yun Xue looked puzzled, while Kairui and Yang Hao instantly spread their consciousness after seeing Hu Tou's reaction... Yes, all the animals had run away, but Hu Tou felt a pair of eyes, a pair of cold eyes staring tightly at itself.

  The gaze contained chilliness and ruthlessness, making one feel uncomfortable all over. However, when Yang Hao and Kairui spread their consciousness, this unique gaze suddenly disappeared, as if nothing had happened at all.

  "Tiger head, what's wrong? Did you find something?" Yang Hao also asked curiously.

  "Nothing, I think someone is staring at us... maybe it's just an illusion..." The tiger shook its head, it also couldn't judge whether the feeling from earlier was real or fake, after all, the time was too short, and that feeling appeared and disappeared in no time.

  Everyone saw the tiger's head and didn't think much of it, continuing to walk forward. Suddenly, a muffled thunderclap came from the sky... Yang Hao raised his head to look at the sky, not knowing when the blue sky had become overcast with dark clouds, with flashes of lightning emerging one after another.

  "Oh no, it's going to rain!!!!!"

  "Ah... everyone find a place to take shelter from the rain nearby, it looks like the rain is coming soon..." Hei Niu replied to Yun Xue and quickened his pace, Yang Hao and others followed behind him. Just after taking a few steps, the clouds seemed to have reached their limit, and large raindrops started pouring down...

  "Hurry...there's a cave ahead, let's go there to take shelter from the rain..." As soon as he finished speaking, Black Cow suddenly started running, and everyone followed behind him, rushing into the cave like a whirlwind. Just at this moment, the heavy rain poured down, and the sound of the water was like a faucet, roaring loudly.

  "It seems we won't be leaving for a while~~" Hei Niu found a dry and comfortable place to sit down, and flipped open his backpack.

  "Just take a break... and look at our Yunxue's..." Kairui considerately took out a piece of canvas from his bag and spread it on the ground. The two people then sat down on it.

  "Oh no... my food bag is gone..." Hei Niu rummaged through the entire bundle, but still couldn't find the bag with food in it. As soon as Hei Niu shouted, Yun Xue also started searching through the bundle, revealing a similarly gloomy face.

  "What can we do now~~~~ The food is gone~~~~ Are we going to starve to death??" Yunxue said with a bit of despair.

  "Give... eat this first... there will be a way...". Kairui took out his own food bag and divided the food inside to Heiniu and Yuxue.

  "Never mind, it's no big deal, Black Cow. From now on, you might have to work a bit harder and find your own food." Yang Hao smiled faintly at the black cow.

  "No problem... I'm not hungry, in this mountain, catching a wild rabbit or a pheasant is no problem at all, it's just the taste..." "No big deal, as long as we can make do... Alright, you guys eat first, I'll go with Tiger Head to take a look inside." Yang Hao and the others exchanged greetings before heading into the depths of the cave with Tiger Head. This cave was naturally formed, although it was a masterpiece of nature's craftsmanship, but the air inside was dry and well-ventilated, making it very comfortable. The surrounding stone walls were thick and hard as steel, making it absolutely safe to live here. Yang Hao and Tiger Head walked for a long time in the winding cave before arriving at an open area filled with fresh flowers. These flowers didn't seem to be growing naturally, but rather seemed to have been planted by someone. There were all sorts of colors and fragrances, covering the entire ground. Further away, a white horse lay among the flowers.

  "That... that is~~~~that is a strong wind???" Tiger Head recognized the big white horse in the flower cluster at a glance, Yang Hao was stunned by Tiger Head's shout and floated over, carefully identifying it again after which he confirmed that Tiger Head's words were not false.

  "It's really a strong wind~~~ It... how can it be here???" Before Hu Tou could respond, a soft voice came over.

  "Who are you? Why did you sneak into my residence?" A slender figure appeared before the two of them.

  "Zi Lei ??? Are you ???" Hu Tou and Yang Hao exclaimed the name of the woman in front of them in unison, while the woman was also stunned by the sudden visit of the two...