Chapter 24: Thunder Fog Forest
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Mo Wuji saw a young lady in red staring at him. Although she was not as beautiful as Wen Manzhu, this lady possessed beautiful features and had a very proportional figure. She was skinny but Mo Wuji could feel a strong energy surging from her.
This lady must be Han Chengan's precious daughter, Han Ning. Han Chengan looked very old so Mo Wuji never expected his daughter to be so young and beautiful.
"I am Mo Wuji. Nice to meet you," Mo Wuji replied politely.
"Since you are here in the Han Residence, why didn't you gather with the rest when the morning bell rang?" Han Ning's tone suddenly became serious.
Mo Wuji gave an innocent look and replied, "Little miss, I initially thought the bell was for us to gather for breakfast. As a newcomer, how could I possibly queue with the rest for breakfast? I was planning to eat after everyone had taken their food. If I knew the bell was for us to assemble in the morning, I would have been the first to reach the martial arts training field."
Chang Hongcai, the one who woke him up, thought to himself, "I almost tore your door apart trying to wake you up and you still dare to say such things without feeling ashamed?"
However, Chang Hongcai did not dare to express his unhappiness towards Mo Wuji in front of Han Ning. He had previously seen Han Ning break all four limbs of a house attendant and throw him onto the streets to feed the dogs. As long as Han Ning did not question Mo Wuji any further, he would not get himself involved.
Han Ning nodded her head, "I am planning to bring you with me into the Thunder Fog Forest as I've heard you know quite a bit about drug refinement. I must warn you that the Thunder Fog Forest is a very dangerous place. The 11th Prince of Cheng Yu State once brought people into the Thunder Fog Forest and none of them returned alive. Do you dare to follow me?"
She believed that Mo Wuji was not lying; Mo Wuji was indeed a newcomer. Coupled with the fact that he used to be from the nobility, he would not want to fight for breakfast with the rest. She could also understand that Mo Wuji probably didn't know that breakfast was not provided so early in the Han Residence. This was because they had to wait for things to be done properly before they could start eating.
Mo Wuji's expression immediately turned serious and he said, "I, Mo Wuji, may be afraid of death. However, to have the chance to work for little miss, I will dare to go through the toughest of mountains and the most dangerous of seas, let alone the Thunder Fog Forest."
Mo Wuji knew very clearly that he had to go even if he did not want to. He knew he had to impress Han Ning if he wanted to stand a chance to be selected to go to the Spring Immortal’s Gate Conference in a few months' time. At the same time, he felt that Han Ning's real intention of asking him along was not for his knowledge on drug refinement. He was dead sure he had told Han Chengan that he knew nothing about drug refinement.
Han Ning invited Mo Wuji because her Father told her that Mo Wuji could be useful to her. Now that Mo Wuji accepted her invitation, Han Ning was very pleased and said, "Since this is the case, please step aside."
Han Ning's eyes fell on an energetic young man in the group of guards, "Chief Guard Peng, pick eight more guards for me. Including Mo Wuji and yourself, we will leave immediately once we have ten guards in total."
This energetic young man was Han Residence’s Chief Guard Peng Maohua. He stood up in a hurry after he heard Han Ning's words, “Little miss, are you sure you will only bring ten guards into the Thunder Fog Forest?"
Han Ning replied, "This time we will only be going to the outskirts of the Thunder Fog Forest to practice for a few days. At the same time, we will also be looking for a certain herb. We will not be going too deep into the forest."
"Yes, I understand," Peng Maohua answered and immediately looked back to the hundred over trainees, "Yu Zhi, Chang Hongcai, Ding Bu’Er, Cai Jiu..."
The eight guards were selected quickly, but much to Mo Wuji's surprise was the inclusion of Ding Bu’Er.
Ding Bu’Er walked over faintly to Mo Wuji and whispered in his ears, "Brother Mo, you must be the reason why I was chosen."
Mo Wuji questioned the decision to include Ding Bu’Er. Logically speaking, Ding Bu’Er would not have qualified to be chosen. He looked over to Peng Maohua, who coincidentally was also looking at him and saw that Peng Maohua nodded at him.
Mo Wuji understood his intention. Peng Maohua guessed that Mo Wuji was important to Han Ning and hence wanted to make use of Ding Bu’Er to please him.
"Bu’Er, please address me as Wuji. In fact, you are older than me," Mo Wuji whispered.
Ding Bu’Er nodded his head, "Yes, Wuji. From today onwards, you will be my best friend."
After Peng Maohua picked 8 guards, a lady in blue riding on a yellow horse behind Han Ning announced, "Everyone pick a horse and prepare yourself. We will leave in a while."
"That is little miss’s personal maid, Shao Lan. She is Han Ning’s favourite, we better not offend or neglect her," Ding Bu’Er whispered into Mo Wuji's ears.
"I need to go back and take some things first," Mo Wuji nodded his head. He was not so brain-dead as to offend people around Han Ning.
Mo Wuji went back to bring the few bottles of channel opening zolution he had with him as he had no idea how long he will be gone for in the Thunder Fog Forest. He was afraid he would never be at ease if someone were to find out these solutions could actually open a channel halfway.
Mo Wuji picked a tall black horse and rode it back to the martial arts training field to familiarise himself with the horse.
When all 12 of them left Rao Zhou City, the sky was still bright.
These horses seemed well trained as they could run at very high speeds. At such a high speed, Mo Wuji felt a little uncomfortable riding it.
"Bu’Er, why didn't we drive a car instead?" Mo Wuji knew there were cars here and they were mechanically-powered too. Logically speaking, a car would be much more convenient and less tiring.
Ding Bu’Er replied, "You'll understand why soon."
There was no need to wait for long before Mo Wuji found out. The road became narrow and uneven. They even had to travel on the edge of a cliff. The width of the road was barely a metre wide, which made Mo Wuji very worried. He was sure that if the horse were to miss its step, he would fall off the cliff.
Fortunately, that did not last long. Half an hour later, they entered a canyon and Mo Wuji broke into a cold sweat as he was just glad he did not fall off the cliff.
When the sky turned dark, Han Ning finally gave the order to stop.
As Mo Wuji dismounted his horse, he felt an excruciating pain in his thigh with blood gushing out.
"Have we arrived?" Mo Wuji bore with the pain and asked.
"We have not reached the outskirts of the Thunder Fog Forest. Also, have you not ridden a horse before?" Ding Bu’Er noticed Mo Wuji's injury as he stood near to him.
"It's been a long time since I rode one. Let's go help," Mo Wuji said as he saw the rest helping to set up the tents.
Ding Bu’Er understood Mo Wuji's wish to hide the fact that he could not even ride a horse because he would not stand a chance to follow Han Ning if she found out.
After working for over an hour, Mo Wuji followed the rest to eat some biscuits before heading into the tent to rest. Each tent could fit two people. Therefore, there were five tents which surrounded Han Ning's tent in the middle.
Mo Wuji and Ding Bu’Er shared a tent as they were the most familiar with each other.
"Are you okay? I have some medication over here," Ding Bu’Er passed a bottle of medication to Mo Wuji.
Mo Wuji waved it off and said, "I am okay. What dangers will we actually face in the Thunder Fog Forest? Will we be able to reach tomorrow?"
Ding Bu’Er replied, "You don't have to worry. We will only be at the outskirts of the Thunder Fog Forest, it will not be dangerous. You just have to remember to never step foot into the Thunder Fog Forest itself."
"Why not?" Mo Wuji asked instantaneously.
Ding Bu’Er's face turned serious, "Do not ask why. 90% of those who risk their life to enter the Thunder Fog Forest do not make it back out."