This time, Mu Ye started explaining without waiting for her to ask. "This is the Devil's Pond that exists below the Sacred Tree. In order to emphasize the fearsomeness of the Devil's Depths, the Saint Tribes encouraged the growth of poisonous bugs on the shore of Devil's Pond. The path we came by was a cavity made by the poisonous bugs. A lot of poisonous bugs would emit poisonous miasma, which was what created the scene we saw on the Sacred Tree."

  "That black fog was poisonous miasma?" Tang Doudou remarked with surprise. then she started silently cursing the Seven Great Saint Tribes for being mental cases. They've sure put in a lot of effort for the sake of making the Devil's Depths seem unfathomably deep and the Sacred Tree look as if it was suspended in fog.

  There was so much fog surrounding that Saint Tree, it must have taken countless poisonous bugs.

  When Tang Doudou's thoughts reached this point, she realized that something was strange. The Seven Great Saint Tribes was a really despotic sounding name, but these people didn't seem to have done anything impressive at all. All they did were shady little things like planting and growing poison. They seemed more like a bunch of poison makers than a saint tribe!

  Tang Doudou was tactful and didn't ask Mu Ye why he knew so much about the Saint Tribes and just continued walking with him. After a little while, she was able to see the so-called Devil's Pond.

  It was not much different from a normal pond except for the fact that it was much colder. The water was clearly in its liquid state, yet it gave off more of a chill than ice did.

  When Mu Ye got to the pond, he wrapped his chain around his arm, then leapt over the pond.

  He didn't tell Tang Doudou to follow before he left.

  Tang Doudou thought about it, then stopped walking. She had interacted with Mu Ye for quite a while, so she knew his personality well enough. If he wanted her to follow, he would definitely tell her. Since he didn't say anything to her, then it meant that he wanted to her stay where she was and wait.

  Then she'll just wait!

  Since she didn't have anything to do, she crouched down next to the pond to look into the water. She wanted to see if anything was living in a pond this cold. She found it strange that they hadn't seen any black fog despite the fact that they were walking through the area where the poisonous bugs lived.

  Could it be that the people of the Saint Tribes knew how to isolate the bugs?

  Had they purposefully isolated them away from the pond? But what was the point of that? It couldn't have been out of boredom, right?

  The water in this pond didn't seem any different from normal water aside from the fact that it emitted a strong chill. However, that aspect by itself was already quite strange.

  Other than that though, no matter how she looked, there was nothing unusual about the water or rocks at all. The water was very clear so she could see all the way to the bottom. There were no fish or other living things in sight. After looking for a while, she started to lose interest. Mu Ye still hadn't returned, so she was starting to wonder if she had misunderstood his actions.

  Just as she was considering whether or not to try and chase after him, a gust of wind came from the direction Mu Ye had disappeared in. Tang Doudou hastily dodged to the side to avoid a black thing that was flying this way.

  It crashed into the wall and fell down not far from where she was. When she got a clear look, she was surprised to discover that it was a person, and even a person she knew!

  It was Shen Moru!

  Why was he here!?

  Shortly after, Mu Ye came back as well and landed nearby. He glanced coldly at Shen Moru, then started walking over.

  He grabbed the iron chain that was binding Shen Moru and dragged Shen Moru over as he questioned, "Why was it a dead end?"

  Shen Moru currently looked very dispirited as if he had suffered a heavy psychological blow. His white eyes were blank and lifeless. However, when he heard what Mu Ye said, strange guttural laughter came from his throat. "It's a dead end? Perfect! Everyone can die together!"

  When Mu Ye heard this, his eyes turned colder and he kicked Shen Moru hard before using the chain to drag him back again. "Where exactly did the road go?"

  Shen Moru gave a cold humph and closed his eyes. "I don't know! Even if you kill me, I wouldn't know!"

  He acted like a dead pig that was no longer afraid of scalding water which infuriated Mu Ye. Mu Ye kicked Shen Moru to the side, then walked to Tang Doudou. "Are you scared?"

  Tang Doudou shook her head. Other than death, what else was there to be afraid of?

  "Why don't we try heading back to take a look?" Tang Doudou looked around and felt that it was better to stay in the forest outside rather than in here.

  Mu Ye was silent for a while before he said, "Look after yourself and be careful."

  Tang Doudou looked towards him in confusion. "You're not going?"

  Mu Ye didn't reply and just walked over to lift Shen Moru. The meaning was clear enough. He was going to bring Shen Moru with them, so she would have to follow behind them and walk by herself.

  She rubbed her chin as she thought about it. She had gotten pretty used to walking through this terrain and there didn't seem to be much danger, so she might as well follow!

  Thus, the two walked around Devil's Pond and returned to the cave again.

  Since there was Mu Ye to lead the way this time, they soon returned to the fire that Tang Doudou had started. When Tang Doudou saw that the fire was still lit, she concluded that they actually hadn't been gone for a very long time. However, it was still storming outside, so she started becoming worried about Lil' Gray.

  "I wonder if Lil' Gray had been able to find a place to hide from the rain."

  Mu Ye said, "He'll think of a way."

  Tang Doudou nodded. All animals had strong instincts and would find places to take shelter from storms. Lil' Gray was exceptionally intelligent, so he'd definitely be able to take care of himself. Thus, she stopped worrying about Lil' Gray for now and didn't say anything else. The cave became silent again. The only sound was the crackling of the fire.

  __________

  Credits: Translated by Chiyomira

  [Chiyomira's Corner]

  Enjoy~