82: Moonlit Forest

Regarding Chu Qinhui's prayers, Chu Mu lay within the space inside the stone book and shrugged helplessly; he really could not help even if he wanted to.

Of course, he also sincerely hoped that Chu Jingyu would return safely. It was just a pity that the Chu Family had not been given enough time to develop, such that it had only been a short three months since Chu Mu became the Chu Family's Origin Artifact.

The Chu Family had actually encountered so many incidents; he only hoped that this time, like the previous incident with the Liu Family, it would not affect their Chu Family.

...

By the time Chu Jingyu arrived at the Town Chief's Mansion with the two elders, the Shi and Zhang Families living in the town had mostly arrived.

One could see that the atmosphere in the group was quite solemn. Even the teams from the two families stood quite far apart, not at all looking like they came from the same Family.

Chu Jingyu understood in his heart that these two families had also hired extra hands, unwilling to let their own Family members take the risk.

However, compared to the two elders Chu Jingyu had hired, most of the hands they hired were young Contract Masters. It was unknown what benefits they had been promised to make these young Contract Masters willing to take such a great risk.

"Everyone is here, so let's set out."

Tang Cheng waved slightly, and twenty-some heavily armed Guard Soldiers marched out in formation from the Town Chief's Mansion, then stood still behind Tang Cheng. Although there were only twenty-some people, they seemed to march with the Aura of a massive army.

A tiger-like Source Beast appeared in front of Tang Cheng, and he straddled it.

Then, they slowly walked toward the street that led Beyond the Border.

Tang Cheng was at the very front, followed closely by the Guard Soldiers, and at the very back were the Zhang Family, Shi Family, and Chu Family.

This group of nearly a hundred people marched grandly along the bluestone-paved road, causing the commoners and Contract Masters on the road to move to the sides, whispering about what major event this group of nothing but Contract Masters was going to do.

Amidst the whispers, the group arrived at the street guarded by the Guard Soldiers.

Seeing Tang Cheng at the front of the group, the guarding Guard Soldiers immediately made way, allowing Tang Cheng to lead the group inside.

After walking a distance into the street, Chu Jingyu looked at the grand vortex portal leading Beyond the Border, and his heart became increasingly calm.

As the group slowly crossed the portal, the wild Aura of the Beyond the Border instantly enveloped every Contract Master.

Standing upon the city wall that was so long its boundaries could not be seen, Chu Qinhui could see many figures suspended in the Void Realm outside the wall, nearly a hundred of them.

It was common knowledge that only after reaching Spirit Rank Contract Master would one possess the ability to hover in the air. It seemed that most of the Spirit Rank Contract Masters in the entire Zhiyao County had been gathered here.

Standing densely on the city wall were the low-rank Contract Masters who had been summoned by the transfer orders.

Furthermore, within the vortex portal, new Contract Masters were constantly arriving on the city wall.

After waiting for nearly another hour, as far as the eye could see, the high sky above the entire city wall was covered by a substance like brightly colored oil ink painting, instantly unfolding like an oil canvas doodled on by a child above all the Contract Masters.

A terrifying and oppressive Aura instantly enveloped the hearts of all the Contract Masters present, as thousands of threads of different colors slowly dripped down from the oil canvas that had replaced the original sky.

These threads slowly descended in the air, then settled three feet above each Contract Master's head, like swords of divine punishment about to fall, watching every Contract Master with restless intent.

"These are Colored Ink Threads, acting as the supervisors for your journey Beyond the Border this time. If anyone dares to disobey orders, they only need to drop lightly, and your lives and fortunes will surely vanish into nothingness."

This seemed to be some kind of voice transmission relying on a Source Beast. The speaker could not be seen, but their voice sounded as if it were ringing directly in one's ears.

Hearing these words, a commotion broke out among the ranks standing on the city wall, and someone even shouted:

"I'm not going anymore, I'll refund the money to you!"

A light sigh came from the Void Realm, "It is already too late to think of withdrawing now."

The colored ink thread standing above the speaker's head drifted down lightly. The person who spoke tried to dodge to the side.

But that colored thread remained close to him regardless. Even though his Source Beast was summoned and cast a seemingly very solid shield over him.

With a light "puchi" sound, the figure who had just spoken was already lying silently on the ground along with his Source Beast.

Then, under the gaze of many, he and his Source Beast slowly melted into a pool of colored oil ink and flew back up into the oil ink scroll in the firmament.

"Is there anyone else who doesn't want to participate? You can say so now, to avoid the trouble of having to kill you one by one later."

The voice spoke lightly, but the killing intent within it was not hidden in the slightest.

Silence fell upon the city wall. After a moment, the voice rang out again, "Today, you have only one mission."

"After leaving the city wall, kill every Source Beast you see that has not been contracted by the Human Race."

"The oil ink threads above your heads will guide you in the direction each person should go."

Chu Jingyu raised his head and glanced at the oil ink thread floating above him. It was roughly the length of a palm, and the one above his head was formed from cyan, blue, and grey colors bleeding and twisting together.

After another ten minutes or so, the voice rang out again,

"Depart."

Then the oil ink threads slowly descended, floating in front of everyone, and their upper halves curved to point outside the city.

It really did guide the way. Chu Jingyu made no special movements and followed the pace of the large group, walking down the gentle slope and setting foot on a ground of pitch-black ash.

Over a month ago, the influence of the [Three-Flame Star Domain Bird] on this forest outside the city still persisted, and there were still no new plants born on the ground.

Only the black ash that drifted up lightly with every step made the vicinity look lonely and desolate.

Pulling a slight distance away from the others, Chu Jingyu summoned the [Golden Armored Jade Pupil Beast] and had it attach a layer of [Golden Jade Armor] to him.

Then he had it hide beneath the ground, scouting the surrounding environment while silently guarding against potential dangers.

Xu Yinghui and Chen Feng, another elder recruited by the Chu Family, followed not far behind Chu Jingyu; it seemed that only in this way could people like them, who had rarely been Beyond the Border, feel a slight sense of security.

The initial long stretch of the road was very safe. After all, the ground was bare with no trees or any cover, and no Source Beast would hunt or forage in such a place.

During this time, Chu Jingyu looked up and silently observed those Spirit Rank Contract Masters in the sky. They were scattered randomly above the heads of all the Contract Masters on the ground, also slowly advancing with the main group.

In this way, the group advanced for half an hour, and plants finally appeared ahead. Moreover, just a step away, the trees were exceptionally verdant without any traces of fire scorch on them.

There was no transition, as if they had directly crossed into another space.

However, it was possible that the Human Race's movement this time was too grand; even after entering the Chenyue Forest, they still had not encountered any Source Beasts.

The oil canvas in the firmament spread throughout the Chenyue Forest along with the Human Race's steps.

This was an invasion, a provocation to all the Source Beasts in the entire Chenyue Forest.

Seemingly enraged by the Human Race's behavior, or perhaps simply to defend its territory, a bright and clear moon slowly rose from the depths of the Chenyue Forest, emitting bright moonlight that blocked the radiance constantly spreading into the forest depths.

Chu Jingyu narrowed his eyes, seemingly seeing a bird with its wings spread within that moonlight.

A shrill voice rang out, "Human Race, are you trying to start a war with our Chenyue Forest?"