After walking for two long and extremely boring two hours, Xie Feng still had not found a way to leave this place, let alone a way to go up to the next floor.
Because the Earth Scale Tigers appeared too suddenly, Xie Feng did not dare to casually take out the Ferghana Horse. After all, the horse was a very weak mount and a few casual attacks were enough to kill it.
Even if Xie Feng had obtained the Ferghana Horse for free after completing the quest entrusted by King Hu Yi with more than expected success, the price of that mount was thirty thousand gold coins; although such an amount was nothing in Xie Feng's eyes, for an ordinary person thirty thousand gold coins was the equivalent of half a year's hard work and effort. It was precisely for that reason that he was unwilling to act wasteful.
Xie Feng's movement speed was really fast and when the Earth Scale Tigers appeared to attack him, they were killed without even being able to react.
The hunters had become the prey.
"No. This can't go on like this."
After another thirty or forty minutes more, Xie Feng stopped dead in his tracks and frowned deeply.
At this rate, he might well go days, weeks, or even months, without even seeing a sign of departure. How could he afford to waste time like that?
After a moment's consideration, he called Ling Long out of the pet space.
"Ling Long, please use Accelerated Growth."
The little dragon nodded with a friendly smile and her body began to glow.
Xie Feng stepped back and watched in wonder as Ling Long's body size and shape constantly changed. When the glow completely disappeared, the formerly small Ling Long had turned into a dragon twenty meters long and approximately ten meters tall.
She crouched down and lowered her head, allowing Xie Feng to climb more easily onto her back.
After a mighty flap, the grass shook wildly and Ling Long's huge body shot skyward.
Although the maximum height Ling Long could reach was fifty meters above the ground whenever she flew, Xie Feng could appreciate the map much better from the height and thus look for any clues that could help him get out of here. Besides, while flying through the skies he did not need to worry about the attack of the ground monsters; after all, the Earth Scale Tigers did not possess any kind of long range attack and even if they did there was no way they could hit Ling Long, who moved at fast speeds and flew at an unreachable height for practically all ranged attacks.
While flying and paying attention to his surroundings, Xie Feng also spent his time telling all sorts of stories and tales to Ling Long as he sat on her head... Although Ling Long could not speak in her current form, it was quite obvious that she enjoyed listening to his voice as her blue eyes sparkled like two beautiful sapphires.
"Ah! What's that? "After two hours of peaceful flight and a total of almost five hours of constant movement, Xie Feng's eyes lit up as he noticed something different on the map.
So far, all he had managed to see was nothing but yellowish grass, yellowish trees, and tigers with yellowish scales... However, about four hundred meters ahead, there was a strange, normal-looking gate.
But the most surprising thing was that this door was in the middle of nowhere, as if when you opened it you could see the same thing you would see if you walked around the door.
Sensing her intent, Ling Long flapped her two huge dark wings towards that spot and in just a few seconds the gap had closed. She began to slow down and soon had reached the ground.
Xie Feng jumped off her head and walked slowly and carefully toward the door. However, to his surprise, there was no danger. After opening the door, a dark hallway and an ascending staircase appeared.
Curious, Xie Feng walked around the door and, as he expected, it really was some kind of magic door that led to another space or place.
After considering it for a moment, Xie Feng decided to temporarily disconnect to eat something and take a shower. He had already spent the whole day online and hadn't even moved from the bed, which just thinking about it made him feel uncomfortable.
* * *
After disconnecting from Samsara world, Xie Feng saw Han Xue Nai with her eyes closed in his bed, seemingly asleep. However, thanks to the faint green light from the pink necklace around her neck, he knew that she was actually playing.
Xie Feng inspected the rooms one by one and except for Shen Xinya who was nowhere to be seen, Xie Yao and Gu Qianxue were connected to the virtual world as well.
If it could be called a virtual world...
It was currently about 6 o'clock in the evening, so it was relatively early. At this time, Xie Feng and the girls usually spent their time having fun playing Samsara Online, so the house was extremely quiet.
As he walked down the stairs with light steps, Xie Feng saw Shen Xinya sitting on the sofa. She was currently gently sipping a cup of tea while looking at the scenery outside the window.
Seeing her like this, so calm and quiet, Xie Feng couldn't help but stop his steps to appreciate such a view a little more.
He had no choice but to admit that Shen Xinya was truly exceptional in every way; intelligent, kind, talented, and extremely beautiful and charming... Of course, she was also grumpy, a bit jealous, proud, and even a bit bossy. But every little detail made up her existence, and Xie Feng wouldn't change it for anything in the world.
"Looks like someone finally decided to go out..."
Shen Xinya's soft and charming voice ringed out, like heavenly bells, bringing Xie Feng out of his thoughts.
Seeing her looking at him with a faint smile, he walked over and sat down next to her as he apologized honestly, "I'm sorry I couldn't come out earlier in the game... It's just that I was in the middle of something important."
"It's not me you'll have to apologize to." Shen Xinya shook her head softly and pointed out, "Your Yaoyao was really upset with you. Although I don't know her too well, she gave me the impression of a soft, kind, and gentle girl... So I was a little surprised to see her so angry."
Xie Feng was slightly surprised before a bitter smile appeared on his face... In fact, such carelessness was practically the only reason why Xie Yao would be angry with him.
However, Xie Feng did not feel that she was annoyed for this reason. On the contrary; he was extremely grateful to her and his heart could not help but feel a wave of warmth.
The fact that Xie Yao would get angry with him when he didn't eat his meals at the correct time, or when she scolded him for skipping sleep hours, this was all because she cared about him... If Xie Yao didn't cherish him, didn't love him, then she simply wouldn't care about his well-being.
Xie Feng made a promise to himself in secret to apologize to Xie Yao later about his mistake.
However, because of the fact that he was now with Shen Xinya, he wanted to focus completely on her, cherish their time together, and make her see how important she was to him.
"So... Why are you here alone?" Xie Feng changed the topic.
"Yin Yue is about to arrive." Shen Xinya pointed and looked at the time on her watch. "She should be here in ten minutes at most."
"Right... Yesterday you said Yin Yue would bring your belongings." Xie Feng nodded to himself, remembering her words.
Shen Xinya looked at him silently and suddenly asked, "Xie Feng, do you know how old I've known Yin Yue?"
"Em?" Xie Feng frowned slightly, not knowing how to react to the abrupt question. However, he replied, "No, I don't know. Since when?"
"Since the first moment my family adopted me, Yin Yue became my personal bodyguard. At that time, she was in her early twenties approximately." Shen Xinya answered. Her gaze seemed slightly unfocused, as if she was remembering something far away. "At that time, I was heartbroken at having to leave you behind. I was frightened by the sudden change of home... However, Yin Yue was my friend and later became a kind of big sister to me."
Xie Feng listened to her silently and hugged her gently.
She did not refuse and rested her head gently on his right shoulder, letting her long hair fall like a waterfall over the side of her face and allowing him to smell her sweet scent as she said, "Although Yin Yue was hired by my father to protect and serve me, although she was my manager during my time as a singer, I never treated her like a servant, much less allowed anyone to disrespect her."
"Yin Yue is very kind." Xie Feng honestly admitted. "Although I have only known her for about twenty days, I can say that she is not only kind and good-natured, but also a dedicated and loyal woman."
In fact, from his conversation with Yin Yue on the plane that day, Xie Feng knew that she was a strong but at the same time extremely kind woman who had a golden heart.
After all, even though he had only known her for such a short time, Yin Yue was a person who managed to influence Xie Feng's personality and made him change for the better after giving him some advice during the trip to Beijing.