First sect upgrade
Just as Ning Qi, Yi Ran, Jia Li, and Li Ping set up their tents and made a small bonfire along with two local hunters plus guides, Ning Qi received his sweetest notification at around 10 p.m. on Saturday.
"Ding! The system found that a direct disciple, Kang Xuan, has successfully broken through to the Qi refining realm 5. The host will receive the 300% bonus from the disciple's cultivation."
"Ding! The sect upgrading mission has been successfully completed, as the sect master is in the foundation establishment realm and at least one disciple has reached the Qi refining realm 5. All the requirements are met... Issuing the rewards... Rewards were issued successfully, please check them, host."
"Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully leveling up to foundation establishment realm 3."
A flurry of notifications came as Ning Qi just leaned forward to put the hare that the hunters bought for their 'barbeque' session as part of their package.
"What happened? Why are you smiling like that?" Yi Ran, who is sitting beside him, couldn't help but ask, as she is the only one who is concentrating on him here. The hunters set up their bonfires separately, while Li Ping and Jia Li are too busy with their sweet talks.
"Oh! It's nothing, I have just thought of something extremely good." Ning Qi spoke a bit vaguely, making Yi Ran misunderstand his words, which instantly turned her face red and confused Ning Qi.
His light bulb went off as he realized this girl had misunderstood his words. But if he tries to explain himself, it will make things even more obvious. As such, he simply concentrated on the hare, deciding to check the rewards later.
Everything went well from the moment they started trekking, even though Yi Ran and Jia Li were a bit stressed by the hard paths, which let them take many breaks along their paths.
As such, they have only explored the mountains for five or six kilometers from the time they started in the evening before tenting in this location. And everything went well with Yi Ran too, as Ning Qi expected a bit of awkwardness between them, but she is quite friendly with him and also sticks with him, as she needs to give space to Li Ping and Jia Li.
"Here! Try this one..." Ning Qi said this as he sprinkled salt and pepper over the cleanly dissected hare's leg before handing it to Yi Ran. He also held on to the other leg, completely ignoring the couple, who don't have much interest in the food now.
"It's delicious! If we have some more seasoning to make a complete dish, that will make an excellent dish." Yi Ran couldn't help but compliment them as she tasted the barbeque. She even made cooking gestures, as though she were ready to cook an entire meal here.
"Oh! But having a complete dish here and in the current situation we're in won't be so good compared to this, haha." Ning Qi laughed, as he saw the gestures made by Yi Ran, as though she is ready to set up a restaurant here.
Yi Ran also felt that she was expecting a bit too much. She came here to experience the wilderness, not the other way around, and as such, she also felt that her thoughts were a bit funny, before laughing at herself a bit softly, which kind of charmed Ning Qi. He thought this girl was a little too lovely when she laughed without putting her hand over her mouth, as she usually does.
But he soon shook his head to control himself and immediately changed the topic to something else.
The next day, early in the morning, Ning Qi and all of them woke up in their tents, with Li Ping and Ning Qi in one. While Jia and Ran are in one, and the hunters are in one... But they took turns staying on the watch for any wild animal attacks, as that is one of their responsibilities.
"Here! Take my hand... "
Ning Qi extended his hand to Yi Ran, as they needed to climb approximately one meter of terrain. But Yi Ran blankly looked at him, as if there were a wall in her mind that kept her from taking that hand, making Ning Qi smile wryly before withdrawing his hand.
Normally, offering a hand is a pretty casual gesture, but their history has built a wall that can be blown down at any time if they want while also being as hard as a metal wall enough to keep them apart. Of course, if Ning Qi wanted it by himself without any other distractions, he would be easily able to blow that wall away.
Just as his hand was about to withdraw, Yi Ran, who was initially hesitating, couldn't help but rush her hand into Ning Qi's hand, as though she had become afraid of something.
Ning Qi himself didn't know, but his face lit up with a smile. He gently helped her to get upside down, and the same thing is happening parallel to them with Li Ping helping Jia Lia. But there is a mistake with the 'force' used by Li Ping, causing Jia Li to fall into his embrace before both of them fall.
Yi Ran hurriedly rushed to help them, as she thought they may get hurt. But Ning Qi slowly walked to them, as he understood they were taking their 'sweet' time.
Seeing Yi Ran coming to help them, Jia Li hurriedly wiggled herself from Li Ping's arms with a red face, while Li Ping simply stood up with an embarrassed expression.
Ning Qi secretly gave a thumbs-up gesture to his buddy, who was slowly walking towards him, before saying anything.
"It's a pure accident..." Li Ping whispered, making Ning Qi roll his eyes.
"I got it, bruh! Don't worry, everything you do is an accident."
Ning Qi said, making Li Ping even more embarrassed. If these two girls were not there, he would have started a bout with his best buddies there and then for not even leaving him with a thin face.
"This is as far as we can go, and we should go back now quickly so that we can reach the town before night." One of the hunters stated that they had trekked until 2 p.m.
"Oh! I still want to do some more. It's too early to go back, isn't it?" Jia Li couldn't help but raise a complaint, as she was having one of the best 'dates' she's ever been on.
"Even if we stay here for some more time, we can't go anymore into the forest, as it will be extremely dangerous from here onwards. You all see those danger signs on those trees, right? It was the government that informed all the licensed hunters about the endpoint. So, we can't go inside anymore."
The second hunter said that knowing how all these tourists behave, he directly pulled the government card, which is the only thing they will listen to.
"Oh! What kind of danger is inside? Is it a dangerous animal? If they can make it there they can also make it inside this forest right?"
Li Ping asked, as he also wanted to spend some more time, while Yi Ran also gently nodded her head, as she felt that she wouldn't have much time to spend with Ning Qi.
She wanted to explore her feelings towards him, which are quite positive so far. But Ning Qi, who is about to say something, couldn't help but widen his eyes, as he felt an enormous amount of spiritual Qi coming from the side where those signs are marked.
"It is unmistakably golden core realm-level spiritual energy, or a natural spring of the same level. But on earth, the spiritual energy is vague, and the chance of them encountering one such spiritual spring or spiritual treasure is very rare. So, it's a golden core realm cultivator, and that too at a very high level, right, system?" Ning Qi couldn't help but ask the system, as he already made a conjecture of his own.
'Ding! It's the same as the host thought.' The system simply affirmed Ning Qi's thought without any more explanation, which means that he needs to explore it himself.
"Right, Ning? We are going to explore a bit more of that. It will be very thrilling to explore past those dangerous signs." Li Ping said a bit excited because, as usual with many human beings, it is always a thrill to break something that is marked as the limit, unreachable, or unexplorable.
Yi Ran simply waited for Ning Qi's reply, as she knows that he isn't the same as her in one aspect, and that is that he is afraid of trouble. She decided to go with whatever he suggested.
Jia Li also looked at him a bit expectantly and knew the final decision would depend on him. Even the hunters looked at him, as these were the kind of rich guys that they had taken trekking in the past few months, which paid them a lot.
And even if it is dangerous, they decided to take them inside if they insisted on extra money. They know that greed for riches is an extremely dangerous thing, but they still decided to take a chance.
"No! I have a bad and dangerous feeling about going inside that area. It's better if we decide to stop here for now. If you want to go on a trek again, we can go again next time. But we should stop it here today."
Ning Qi said solemnly that he didn't want to take a chance on his friend's safety. He doesn't know yet whether that guy is a good one or a bad one.
Yi Ran, who had been holding her breath and waiting for Ning Qi's response, couldn't help but sigh in relief. But she also felt that Ning Qi is still the calmest person here and that everyone else was influenced by their adrenaline. Even though she felt like exploring such a dangerous place, even these hunters are kind of afraid to go.
"Alright then! Let's sit for another half hour before we make our way back, then."
Li Ping said this without uttering anything against Ning Qi, as his trust in him was at its peak. He knows his friend better than anyone there, as Ning Qi would never make decisions in the heat of the moment.
Jia Li got a bit disappointed, but she also felt an unknown relief as she almost decided to do something, even knowing it was extremely dangerous. Even the hunters' hearts, which were swaying, settled down after Ning Qi's decision.
All of them know it's dangerous, but they were all too hooked up with either excitement for the thrill or the money, without taking any consideration for their lives. What they desired was a simple rejection from someone before forcing them to come to their senses.
These kinds of things happen in many ways in normal life. People are aware that what they are doing is extremely dangerous, but they will make hasty decisions because their minds were not in the right frame of mind at the time. What they lacked was someone to stop them, causing many casualties out there.