72 Fighting the elements (part 2)
The underground of the canyon was dark and wet, the earth element danger zone was one of the oldest danger zones on the upper continents as it was the first which appeared.
It went like this, earth>water>wind>fire, the four elements amplified and restrained each other the earth came to create life but life couldn't be sustained without water, then oxygen was needed so air came and with air came the wind, the fire was the least, humans found it when the wind was too harsh on them, the combination of wind and water created ice then winter, for the ancient beings to survive they needed heat so fire appeared.
Since the earth element danger zone was the oldest it didn't mean it was the most dangerous one, on the contrary, it was the meekest one due to the nature of earth being accepting towards everyone.
Most of the beings that lived in the dark canyon were giant bats and yellow gigantic moles, the bats would hunger for blood from time to time, but as long as you didn't attract the mole's attention they wouldn't do anything to you as they were workaholics.
As long as they could create tunnels they wouldn't bother with anything else, the earth region also regenerated by itself so the tunnels that the moles made disappeared with time, but that didn't stop the moles, they loved to work more for some reason and they took the earth regenerating as a test of that Gaia the Earth Goddess gave them.
Yun Jhin didn't come here for the beings inside anyways, he came for the rare herbs infused with earthen energy hidden deep inside the canyon, and well the training expedition the Emperor forced him to take on.
As soon as Yun Jhin and Lulu's feet touched the ground a gravity field appeared that started to push down on them, while Yun Jhin was ok Lulu fell to her knees and started gasping for air, Yun Jhin's body was refined to beyond even it's maximum capability but for Lulu, only her ki cultivation was something noteworthy.
Yun Jhin sighed as he watched her struggle to get up from her knees but this was sort of tempering for her as well so he didn't help her as he started to walk further inside the canyon, Lulu gritted her teeth as she forcefully got up from the ground injuring her internal organs in the process, a little bit of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth as she followed Yun Jhin's footsteps.
Yun Jhin looked behind and he wasn't surprised seeing her following him, but her complexion was quite pale and she didn't bother to clean the blood seeping from her mouth as she used all of her willpower to follow him, she was trying to show him that she could endure everything that he would throw at her.
Yun Jhin liked this kind of attitude in a woman, it meant that she could do everything for him and she was easy to manipulate.
Yun Jhin decided to give her a helping hand as he threw her a pill from his spatial ring, she ate it without asking anything as she started to trust Yun Jhin, she didn't think that the pill he gave her would do anything to harm her.
The pill indeed healed her damaged internal organs and helped her to breathe easier in the high gravity environment.
Her body strengthened a bit due to the energy of the pill in combination with the heavy gravity.
Lulu smiled at Yun Jhin showing her pearly white teeth and then continued to follow behind him, she was quite disappointed as Yun Jhin ignored her smile but decided to do her best in any future confrontations.
Lulu frowned as she looked around, it's been almost 3 days and they found nothing, no herbs, and no living beings!
Yun Jhin knew where the moles and bats where but he didn't want to fight them, he didn't need Earth cores for the pill and only the herbs but due to the pill not needing earth cores for the pill composition to be balanced meant he needed rarer herbs or a higher quantity of them and he didn't find any herb up till now!
Yun Jhin frowned as he used his soul willpower to scan around the dark canyon, he couldn't identify any scent or spiritual energy that would resemble an earthen herb, all he could find where the moles underground them and the bats above them, however, the distance between them was very long so if he didn't aggravate them they wouldn't do anything to him.
Yun Jhin wasn't sure on what to do here, going in further would be the right idea but they were already quite far in, Yun Jhin wasn't sure if Black Blood was even following them anymore at this point, the surrounding gravity and darkness made his soul willpower quite fuzzy, even though his soul was quite strong right now it still wasn't up to par.
The gravity was tearing and slowing his soul willpower so he couldn't look in his surroundings for much time.
Lulu was in the same situation but it was way harder for her, the first time she released her soul willpower she collapsed to the ground and almost choked on blood, her soul was garbage compared to Yun Jhin's, even her body couldn't stand in the gravity for much time without Yun Jhin's and her armor help, how would her weaker soul fare?
Maybe she would be able to handle it after she constructed her soul jewel, but right now she was unable to.
Lulu wanted to sit down and rest for a bit but Yun Jhin didn't wait for her as he walked further and further away, Lulu frowned as he watched his silhouette disappear from her eyes then she gritted her teeth and continued to walk catching up to him.
Yun Jhin enjoyed 'training' Lulu it was quite the good past time activity besides searching for herbs and not finding any, it made him a bit happier.
After 7 days from the entrance, they finally found one herb that Yun Jhin could use but it was in a quite poor condition, but with some formation magic Yun Jhin restored it to its former glory and put it in his spatial ring, he could only do so because of the surroundings that were heavily infused with earth elemental energy, he also had to keep the herb grounded for the time he used his formation on it if it was removed before he finished nourishing it his efforts would be wasted.
Fortunately, the herb was quite of high quality after he restored it to its original power and he would only need a second one for his pill, however, after 3 more days passed he couldn't find any anymore!
He couldn't go further in or even his body would start to fail him and he would need to use his ki to protect it, meaning his battle power would take a hit, Yun Jhin knew that deeper inside the earth danger zones were gigantic demon toxins scorpions and he didn't want to deal with them.
He was missing an arm and his battle power would also drop the moment he went past a certain boundary, Lulu was already baggage and she wouldn't be of much help, but he also needed one last herb...
He could use his stealth to go inside but it would waste even more ki to keep it up, Yun Jhin looked at Lulu then told her:
"I will have to go in further and you will wait for me here, don't follow me as I will be unable to help you if you would encounter a deadly situation, I will use my stealth technique to go search for the last herb I need, just stay here and don't make any movements while you wait for me, meditate to heal yourself and restore your ki and take his pill."
He threw her the aforementioned pill and disappeared from her eyes as he went further inside the canyon, things started to change, from darkness, some light appeared here and there as certain fungi would lighten up the damp environment, however, the gravity also increased exponentially and even Yun Jhin's internal organs started to cry pitifully.
Yun Jhin ignored their cries and went further until he found what he needed, another earthen herb!
This herb was just like the snake from before, but instead of it being shaped like a snake it was shaped like a grey frog.
The frog was currently sleeping but Yun Jhin didn't believe it was this easy to gain a sentient herb, his soul willpower searched around the herb and his eyes narrowed as he thought:
"A demonic toxins scorpion is waiting underground for anyone to touch the herb, what a tricky situation, maybe if I take Lulu and throw her in as bait?"
Yun Jhin thought of taking Lulu and using her as bait to gain the herb, Black Blood wasn't seeing this so he could report to the Emperor whatever he felt like saying, the Empress also had another daughter, even though she was less talented they still wanted Yun Jhin's bloodline and it was for two reasons, it's purity and questionable origins plus his memories of his past life.
Yun Jhin made up his mind and went back to Lulu, she did as he instructed her and she immediately opened her eyes and got up from her cross-legged position on the ground when she sensed him, she gave him a small smile as she asked cheekily:
"Need my help?"
Yun Jhin nodded his head as he told her:
"You see I need you to take the herb, I'm not sure I could do it myself as my cultivation base is lacking, even though my body is strong there is a natural restriction there that I can't get through, don't worry about the gravity as I will protect you with my ki, I just need you to get near the herb so I can use a technique to seal it and take it away."
Lulu smiled as he patted his shoulder and puffed her chest forward giving a clear show of her cleavage as she said:
"Then let this little sister here to help you out."
Lulu had a big smile inside as she thought this would be the first time he would be of help in this training expedition, she didn't count the time back when she helped him fight the old man as she realized from her observations that he could have done in the old man by himself, it would only have taken him more effort.
As Lulu followed him she realized that his expression took a turn for the worse as he was using his ki to protect her, she made a vow to make sure she would take the herb for him, she told her that it would be used towards his cultivation base and she didn't doubt him, after all, he was a former God Realm expert, why would he need to lie to her?
Yun Jhin watched as they reached the location of the herb, it was still there 'sleeping', Yun Jhin pointed towards the frog and said:
"This is the herb, we are lucky that it's currently sleeping, go slowly near it and don't touch it, just hover your hand over it and I will do the rest."
Lulu complied with his request as she slowly got near the frog and put her hand over it, Yun Jhin used her as a conductor for his ki, the ki from his body went through hers then transformed into a formation that absorbed the frog into it, the frog immediately started shrieking like it was on its death bed and it didn't want to go yet.
But Yun Jhin easily retracted the formation as it flew towards him then into his spatial ring.
Lulu smiled as she watched this happening, she felt that it was something strange as she didn't feel any 'natural barrier' but she thought that Yun Jhin took care of it the same way as the time he used his ki to protect her.
Suddenly her vision started swimming as she looked down at her stomach and saw a giant claw inside of it, a mouthful of blood was vomited one after another, her vision started to darken as she looked a little bit upwards and saw the owner of the claw, a gigantic dark scorpion with a green stinger and countless eyes was looking at her, green saliva dripping from its toothless maw.
She slowly craned her neck to look behind her and saw Yun Jhin taking his katana out, she gave out a weak smile as she tried to say:
"R...u....n...."
So Yun Jhin did it, the moment he heard this word he ran away so fast that she couldn't see his silhouette anymore.
She chuckled sadly as tears fell off her cheeks, the scorpion opened it's maw and swallowed her alive!
Yun Jhin looked behind and muttered:
"You had to be used so early, quite a pity but I guess I will try to woo your sister."
The scorpion shrieked as it saw its second prey disappearing and then it shook its stinger, but it realized that it left it's sensing perimeters, it was quite angry it's luring bait was taken away but there was not much he could do now, he didn't want to leave the high gravity environment as it would make it uncomfortable.
Also, it running underground would trigger the moles, and the moles were in quite a high number, even though it would be able to kill thousands of them, it would die itself soon after in a sea of naked yellow moles, he would kill even more with his poisonous body but he would die in the end, he thought that it wasn't worth it.
So he decided to digest his current prey and go hibernate.
Yun Jhin sighed as he saw the scorpion not following him, that thing was a peak King Realm cultivation beast and had some intelligence, the peak King Realm scorpions were the most often met so it wasn't surprising one would try such a tactic to catch its prey. Yun Jhin was lucky he had a partner that he could use or else he wouldn't have been able to gain the herb he needed.
Hopefully, he wouldn't need to use anyone else in the other two locations or else he would have to think of a way to lure King Realm experts into the danger zones and make use of them.
Yun Jhin didn't do it in this zone because he already someone he could use without any repercussions, what if the one he lured was a big shot that would wage war on the Empire?
Even though the Empress might be heartbroken, she wouldn't kill him due to the two factors that made her sent her daughter in his hands, she might even ignore her death and send her second daughter to him instead, if she died as well then she might become suspicious.
Yun Jhin sighed as he reached the wall from before and started scaling it, as he reached the half of it he looked down at the darkness that engulfed everything and said:
"This is goodbye, Lulu."
After a short while, he reached the cliff then left towards the direction of the wind danger zone.
Hopefully, the next danger zone would have the herbs he needed.
Black Blood eyes widened in surprise and dread as he looked at Yun Jhin leaving the earth elemental danger zone then he sent a message to the Emperor:
"Your highness, there's bad news, Yun Jhin came alone from the Earth Elemental danger zone."
A sigh could be heard coming from the other part as he said:
"Don't you think I would know? I'm the one who inserted these formations core in them and Lulu's broke, that means she is dead, I already informed my wife and she seemingly took the news quite well, it's almost strange how well she took them, I will have to keep my eyes on her for a while from now on, just keep observing Yun Jhin and make sure he doesn't run away, if he does that means he is guilty."
Black Blood observed Yun Jhin's expression and saw how it morphed from anger to helplessness then to sadness then he sighed as he muttered to a volume that Black Blood could hear if he concentrated enough:
"These damn demonic toxic scorpions, I'm sorry Lulu..."
Black Blood reported his sighting to the Emperor but the Emperor said:
"He might have unlocked further memories in the danger zone, there's a chance he is acting, but for now there is nothing we can do, these types of training can turn deadly and we can only swallow our loss, fortunately even though Lulu is talented she isn't one of our core talents, she might have given birth to good descendants but her sister still exists, she might be missing 5 stages of cultivation base compared to Lulu but her bloodline is still the Empress's."
Black Blood finished reporting and continued to follow Yun Jhin from afar, he saw how he sighed continuously on the way until he steeled himself and stopped being emotional, to Black Blood all of it seemed pretty real, after all, he thought that Yun Jhin was hard on the outside and soft inside.
That's how he portrayed himself around Lulu and that's the personality that Black Blood thought he had, after all, if he truly didn't care about her he wouldn't have given her those pills to heal herself.
Black Blood sighed as he did a small prayer and bowed towards the earth elemental danger zone while saying slowly:
"I hope you will find happiness in the otherworld or you will be reincarnated in a better position your highness princess Lulu..."
Black Blood didn't have any beef with Lulu and even saw her as a granddaughter, after all, the Empress and Emperor didn't hate each other all the time, from time to time they would make some conjugal visits to each other and Black Blood was a guard, one of those times was when he met Lulu and played with her, she stuck to his heart a little bit as he couldn't have children or grandchildren himself.
Black Blood sighed as he buried those memories then made sure he knew which direction Yun Jhin took before he continued to follow him.
Today the Empire lost a big talent, not a vital one, but quite a big one, she will be dearly missed by those that she knew and loved.
Only Yun Jhin was smiling inside as he assessed the herbs he gained and counted how many others he would need to create the pill that would help him create the 4 elements jewel, just 2 more danger zones and he would be able to create the pill then he would reach the second stage of the King Realm!
