112: Go up the mountain

Chu Jingyu's voice was light, yet it was loud enough for the Villagers at the front and back of the entire procession to hear.

Qixia Mountain was much shorter now because the Chu Family had leveled the entire mountaintop when constructing their residence.

Even though the Villagers were carrying a lot of luggage, Chu Jingyu estimated that they would only need about an hour to arrive.

However, on the mountain path, the speed at which the Villagers traveled grew slower and slower. Chu Jingyu observed them closely.

They occasionally clutched their chests, appearing to be in great discomfort.

What was this? If only one person had this problem, it could be attributed to individual Physique, but with such a widespread occurrence, Chu Jingyu immediately realized something was wrong.

Thinking of the closed rift, the thin mist surrounding them, and finally the different environments of the area within and Beyond the Border, Chu Jingyu considered the high concentration of energy particles lingering in the air.

He immediately realized the source of the problem. The simplest way to solve the issues they were experiencing was to perform Spirit Opening for them, improving their Physique so they wouldn't react so strongly to the high concentration of particles in the air.

But Chu Jingyu certainly wouldn't do that. Setting aside whether the spirit opening page could even achieve this, even if it could,

performing Spirit Opening for ordinary people on such a large scale—if the news spread—not only the other two families in Heyu Town but also the county and prefecture cities would send people to investigate.

Chu Jingyu called a halt to the procession, allowing the Villagers to rest briefly. His gaze fell upon the gurgling mountain stream beside them.

He took out a Ginseng Leaf from the Ginseng Baby inside his jade pendant, instructed the Golden Armored Jade Pupil Beast to block the stream, and create earthen walls both upstream and downstream of the section where Chu Jingyu stood.

Chu Jingyu crushed the ginseng slice into juice and dripped it into the blocked section of the stream. The juice mixed with the stream water, turning it a greenish-blue color.

He took a spoon out of his jade pendant, scooped up some water, and took a small sip, tasting the medicinal power contained within. He felt it was within the range the Villagers could handle.

He nodded in satisfaction, then said to the Village Head, whose face was abnormally flushed red: “I added medicinal liquid to that section of the stream. It can alleviate your symptoms. Go arrange for some people to distribute it.”

The Village Head nodded with difficulty. He glanced around and saw that only his grandson, Chen Xiaohui, who had just become a Contract Master, was still full of vitality.

He arranged in a hoarse voice, “Xiaohui... hurry up, *huff*... do as the Main Family says.”

Chen Xiaohui glanced at the rest of his family, who were also suffering. He quickly took off his Water Gourd, poured out the water inside, and rushed to the blocked stream to fill a pot.

He first offered it to his grandfather's mouth, intending for him to take a large drink, but Chu Jingyu spoke up nearby to remind him,

“Don't drink too much. Two sips are enough.”

Chen Xiaohui glanced at Chu Jingyu, answered “Yes,” and instead fed his grandfather two small sips, followed by his grandmother, and then the rest of his family.

After drinking the water, the unnatural flush on Chen Zhengchang's face immediately subsided. He looked at the other Villagers and called upon his slowly recovering family members to fetch water back and forth and feed it to the other Villagers.

After quite a long period of effort, the symptoms on all the Villagers finally slowly dissipated.

Seeing that they had recovered sufficiently, Chu Jingyu spoke like an iron-faced, merciless judge: “Move out.”

The Villagers dared not delay. They hoisted their luggage and continued their journey up the mountain. As they walked further up, fist-sized, umbrella-shaped Jellyfish gradually descended into their procession.

Although these Jellyfish looked beautiful, the adults knew they were Source Beasts, and their small bodies might possess strange abilities. Thus, they tried their best to avoid these small Jellyfish and not make contact with them.

However, there were many children in the group, and if the adults weren't careful, the children would instinctively poke the small Jellyfish floating in the air.

When their parents saw this scene, their hearts leaped into their throats. Only after realizing that the small Jellyfish did not exhibit any aggressive behavior did they quietly breathe a sigh of relief.

They then stretched out their palms and slapped the restless little hands, causing muffled cries to echo through the procession.

Chu Jingyu didn't intend to interfere with this. Even if the Villagers genuinely angered those small Jellyfish into attacking, the damage caused by these low-level Mortal Rank Jellyfish would be extremely limited. In any case, it shouldn't be enough to take the Villagers' lives.

But when they reached the final stretch of the mountain path, a Colorful Cloud Jellyfish, bearing a massive canopy with a radius of at least twenty meters, blocked the path ahead.

Its dozen or so tentacles, nearly ten meters long, swayed slowly and silently above the road surface. Nearby trees had been utterly battered by its tentacles.

Chu Jingyu naturally wasn't afraid of an Uncommon Rank Colorful Cloud Jellyfish. Thus, the three eyes above the procession instantly brightened, shining their radiance onto the Colorful Cloud Jellyfish's canopy.

This was a warning from Chu Jingyu: if it didn't move aside, it would face the attack of the Golden Armored Jade Pupil Beast.

Although these Jellyfish-type Source Beasts appeared to have exceptionally simple minds and thoughts, their perception of danger was still acute.

The moment after the eerie light from the three eyes shone upon its body, its form rapidly ascended and then drifted down toward the foot of the mountain.

Chu Jingyu cast a complex glance at the Colorful Cloud Jellyfish drifting down the mountain. Although it was huge, if he truly wanted to attack, the Golden Armored Jade Pupil Beast could achieve a one-hit kill.

There were two main reasons for letting it leave. First, Xiao Yuan had mistakenly entered their territory but hadn't encountered any attacks, allowing him to return safely. Chu Jingyu was inwardly grateful to this type of Source Beast.

The second reason was that he didn't know if there was any connection between the species of Source Beasts. Killing this one might cause all the Colorful Cloud Jellyfish and Floating Jellyfish that had descended here to riot, which would be bad.

Furthermore, he didn't know if any Spirit Rank Illusion Light Cloud Mother had descended in the shadows. Generally speaking, the size of these Jellyfish increases with rank, but this was just speculation; who knew if they could freely control their size after reaching a certain Realm.

If he provoked a riot among high-rank Jellyfish hidden in the shadows, Chu Jingyu, a Contract Master who had just advanced to the Spirit Rank, wasn't confident he could guarantee everyone's safety.

With the departure of the Colorful Cloud Jellyfish, the Villagers finally arrived at the plaza in front of the Chu Family residence.

The numerous Villagers dazedly placed their luggage on the hard flagstones beside them, unsure of what to do next.

Chu Jingyu walked to the edge of the plaza, looking down the mountain. Then, he took a step, steadily walking into the Void Realm. It was as if an invisible staircase supported his feet, carrying him as he continued to stroll into the high altitude.

Only when he reached an altitude of nearly a hundred meters did Chu Jingyu turn around and look back at the entire Qixia Mountain.

“Golden Jade, you may begin.”

Hearing Chu Jingyu's mental command, the Golden Armored Jade Pupil Beast on the hard ground suddenly sank down, disappearing beneath the surface.