What could be outside the valley?
Yu Sheng felt a natural curiosity about this matter.
The rolling mountains stood quietly in his view, looking far from being insurmountable.
The sky overhead was free of any terrifying barriers, so anyone here should wonder what sights lay beyond those mountains.
"Have you ever tried to climb over that mountain before?" Yu Sheng curiously asked Hu Li.
"I... tried a long time ago, when the Immortal was still around," Hu Li promptly nodded.
"Back then, I went with several adults, and we all tried to get over, but we couldn't make it to the top. Halfway up, a terrible sound would echo from the sky. If we kept climbing, we would begin to lose strength, and terrifying shadows would appear before our eyes.
The Immortal even tried to turn stones into dolls and sent them to climb the mountain, but we lost contact with them halfway up. The next day, pieces of the stone dolls rolled down from the mountain, each one bleeding. The adults who went to check said that flesh and bones had started to grow from those stones."
"A sound from the sky... It sounds like the influence of that ‘Gloomy Angel’ that covered the sky before," Aileen murmured, "But it’s hard to tell if it was intentional or just a 'passive effect.' After all, such a strange thing can cause a huge impact just by existing."
"The Gloomy Angel is gone now, we can try again," Yu Sheng looked at Aileen and Hu Li with a questioning gaze.
"What do you think?"
Hu Li nodded immediately, "I will follow the benefactor."
Aileen waved her hand, "I’m fine with anything. You always have some ideas and want to try the weirdest things; I’m used to it."
"Alright, that settles it. Let’s go."
"How do we get there? By opening a portal?" Aileen glanced at Yu Sheng.
"We need to walk," Yu Sheng waved his hand.
"That place is unfamiliar, and opening a portal directly is risky, especially if it’s at the edge of a strange realm. It's best to walk slowly so we can react if the environment changes."
Aileen was surprised by this, "You actually have the concept of 'safety'?!"
Yu Sheng replied, “Because I might throw you off! Yet you still ramble on my shoulder!”
Seeing Yu Sheng and Aileen bickering, Hu Li considered for a moment, then quietly said, "Um... The valley is hard to navigate, and you don’t know the way up. Let me guide you?"
Yu Sheng looked curious, "Guide us? How?"
Then he saw the fox girl stride away a few steps before suddenly dropping to the ground.
Accompanied by a burst of wind and light, her form swiftly transformed and vanished in a flash, revealing a massive silver-white fox spirit before Yu Sheng and Aileen.
Yu Sheng had seen Hu Li transform into a fox before, but it was Aileen's first time witnessing this.
Her tiny doll eyes widened in disbelief, and after a loud "Wow!" she exclaimed, "Wow! It’s bigger than two vans!"
"Is that really how you want to describe it?" Yu Sheng couldn’t help but glance at the doll on his shoulder, but he nodded, "It is definitely larger than a van… Just the tail alone is bigger than a vehicle."
As they spoke, the giant silver fox trotted over gracefully.
She gently nudged Yu Sheng's head with her chin, affectionately rubbing against him, "I can carry several people like this!"
Yu Sheng was momentarily speechless.
The “gentle nudge” from the big fox made his head spin, almost knocking him dizzy.
"Can you control your strength a little when you talk?!" Yu Sheng managed to catch himself, holding onto the fur under her chin to prevent her from nudging him again, "Goodness, you're really whacking my head..."
He felt still dazed, the impact lingering in his mind like a strong spiritual pressure.
Hu Li quickly apologized, lowering her head, "I’m sorry, benefactor..."
Yu Sheng hastily jumped back half a meter, narrowly avoiding being hit by her nose as she lowered her head.
Then he finally had the chance to scrutinize the appearance of the fox girl.
She was truly elegant and beautiful; he could see the phrase "national beauty" fit her well—yet more than that beauty, he sensed her unique aura.
The huge silver fox stood majestically on the ground; her golden-red eyes sparkled with a flowing light.
Her long tails waved slowly behind her, occasionally releasing tiny fox flames that danced around like ethereal spirits.
Maybe it was due to her recent good meals and bath; her tails looked shiny and smooth, much better than when they first met.
Hu Li bowed down, one of her tails resting beside her, the tip ending in front of Yu Sheng.
"You can come up now," she cheerfully said.
"This is a first..."
Yu Sheng hesitated but finally stepped onto her tail, wondering if he should take off his shoes since her fur was so beautiful, "Does it hurt to stand like this?"
"Almost nothing. Just a bit ticklish," Hu Li turned her head, watching as Yu Sheng awkwardly climbed up her tail to her back.
She added, "You can hold onto the fur beside you; otherwise, your feet might slip."
"I'm fine, I’m quite nimble," Yu Sheng said, carefully helping Aileen climb up before finding a relatively stable spot to sit cross-legged.
"I’m good now."
It was soft and warm.
With a subtle mood, Yu Sheng reached out to touch the fluffy fur around him, feeling as if he were seated on a luxurious soft blanket.
Before he could fully appreciate it, he noticed several of Hu Li’s tails curling around them, like a protective embrace.
Aileen poked Yu Sheng's head, "You’ve got armrests and a backrest!"
Then she added, "Can we have a seat on your shoulder too? A hard seat will do..."
Yu Sheng replied, "What do you think?"
"If it can't work, then it can't."
A slight tremor came from beneath them as the massive silver fox stood up slowly, turning towards the distant mountains.
"We're off," for some reason, Hu Li sounded particularly joyful.
"Hold on tight, benefactor! We're going to run!"
"I've got a grip..."
Yu Sheng barely managed to say a few words when he felt a jolt beneath him, and he almost lost his balance—Hu Li dashed forward like a wild beast released from its restraints.
One of her tails quickly caught Yu Sheng and Aileen, preventing them from losing balance, while another tail stretched out to block the headwind.
In the rush of sensation, Yu Sheng saw the surroundings blur into a sequence of retreating shadows.
The craters and ruins on the ground couldn't slow Hu Li down at all.
The fox spirit ran freely across the vast valley.
"Wow, ahh, ha ha ha—" Aileen squealed, gripping Yu Sheng's head tightly as she faced the wind blowing in through the gaps between the tails (even though it had already weakened considerably) and opened her mouth wide, "We’re- taking- off-!"
"I love to run!" Hu Li's voice came from ahead, bubbling with excitement, "I haven’t run like this in such a long time!"
Yu Sheng held onto one of her fluffy tails tightly and used the other hand to steady the tiny puppet on his shoulder to keep her from tumbling over in her excitement.
"Watch it! Don’t crash... Mountain! Mountain! There’s a mountain ahead!"
"Okay!"
Hu Li shouted gleefully and accelerated towards the approaching mountains—a dazzling swirl of fox fire began to burn fiercely behind her.
Flames clustered around her tails, followed by a series of impressive booms.
In the fierce blaze, sharp trails formed behind them like conical rockets!
Yu Sheng heard the commotion and quickly turned his head, gasping at what he saw through the gaps in her tails, "Wow—rocket-boosting fox!"
Then he felt an even stronger thrust pushing him forward, along with a violent vibration.
Even with his current physique, he nearly couldn't breathe properly.
Soon, he realized Hu Li had reached the slope of the mountain.
She wasn’t just running up; she was flying low along the terrain!
In the blink of an eye, the rocket-boosting fox reached near the mountain's waist.
Her voice cut through the wind and reached Yu Sheng and Aileen's ears, "Back then, we started hearing strange sounds here, and if we went further, we’d grow weak and see odd things—we're about to get over!"
Then, without obstruction, Hu Li dashed past the "mountain waist" line that had once blocked the Immortal, her parents, and all the survivors in her memories.
Nothing stood in her way anymore.
She could faintly see the scene at the peak, where bizarre tower-like stones stood like strange sentinels beneath the sky.
She began to slow down, the flames of her tails fading swiftly as her agile four legs landed between the rocks, running while stabilizing her form.
In the final few hundred meters approaching the summit, Hu Li's speed finally decreased to a jog.
She leaped between the stones a few more times before finally stopping in a relatively open area.
The tails on her back slowly unfurled, revealing a slightly dazed Yu Sheng.
It took him several seconds to regain his senses as he sluggishly gazed into the distance.
"Benefactor," Hu Li's voice reached his ears, "Outside... it’s still mountains, endless mountains repeating."
(End of Chapter)