"You better shut your mouth, I’m sick of it!"
This isn’t the first time Dragon Spirit has thrown a tantrum, but it’s definitely different from the past.
In the past, Dragon Spirit’s tantrums were playful; now, it seems genuinely angry, more like the frustration after a big setback.
Ginsengfruit immediately thought of Xuan Chu being injured earlier and realized Dragon Spirit had indeed suffered a loss.
He promptly changed the topic: "The room is ready, why don’t you go have a rest?"
Saying this, Ginsengfruit took the lead down the path. This wasn’t supposed to be his task, but he couldn’t help it since he was the most energetic.
"Let’s go!"
Knowing that Yun Ran and Xuan Chu had already returned to their rooms, Dragon Spirit completely dispensed with his previous attempts to show off and grab attention.
He pushed open the door and shut it quickly, like he’s avoiding someone.
Ginsengfruit was left baffled.
However, he had no interest in what Dragon Spirit was thinking, and he turned to wait for Gu Yuan and the others.
After all, there were only so many of them, and two were already wounded.
Ginsengfruit silently prayed, hoping the next two would have better luck.
Otherwise, they’ve lost more than half of their strength at the start, and it doesn’t bode well!
The sky gradually darkened, and a new round of night exploration began.
There were noticeably more people around, making it quite lively.
If this weren’t on the midway of Five Emperors Mountain, the scene could pass as the bustling night market streets of a city.
The air began to fill with the aromas of various foods, making Ginsengfruit a bit hungry.
Just as Ginsengfruit was about to buy some food, he turned and felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Hey, kid, your eyes aren’t sharp, are they? I saw you from afar, but you kept looking elsewhere!"
Ginsengfruit: ...
Upon hearing the voice, he knew it was the seemingly unserious yet highly capable Gu Yuan.
Gu Yuan was still in his work clothes with a baseball cap, and if it weren’t for the fact that his face was still the same, he’d be unrecognizable due to his changed demeanor.
So, it wasn’t really his fault for not seeing him, but Gu Yuan’s fault for being so versatile.
"Don’t tap my shoulder — don’t you know kids’ shoulders shouldn’t be tapped casually?"
Gu Yuan immediately burst out laughing.
He treated Yun Ran like his little sister, and Ginsengfruit, being Yun Ran’s only disciple.
Naturally, in his heart, Ginsengfruit was also one of his closest juniors.
Now, this little guy actually knows to stand up for himself and assert his rights.
Gu Yuan looked at Ginsengfruit approvingly: "You’ve got spirit, that’s great!"
Ginsengfruit: ...
Forget it, he couldn’t be bothered with any more idle chatter.
"Are you hurt?"
You could roughly judge based on the voice, but Ginsengfruit thought it was best to ask cautiously.
If both Gu Yuan and Wanqi Yu were injured, it would mean that apart from the Host and him, the others all suffered.
They’d have to be even more careful moving forward; Five Emperors Mountain was much more complicated than anticipated.
Gu Yuan wasn’t sure why Ginsengfruit was asking, but it wasn’t a secret.
"Does it seem like I’m someone who’d get hurt? I’m doing fine!"
With that, Gu Yuan gestured vigorously, full of vitality.
"Your eye for these things isn’t great, huh."
As the leading disciple of Qingfeng Temple, future heavyweight, he couldn’t even tell if he was injured or not.
Hmm, he’d have to talk to Yun Ran later about pampering disciples, as it’s unwise.
While the kid’s still young and doesn’t have much resistance, he should be trained well.
Ginsengfruit sensed Gu Yuan’s gaze on him and felt inexplicably uneasy, as if Gu Yuan wanted to cause mischief.
"Let’s go back to the hotel first."
Ginsengfruit sent Gu Yuan and Wanqi Yu to their room doors and rushed off to find Yun Ran.
After sleeping the afternoon away, Yun Ran was sitting by the floor-to-ceiling window, refreshed, looking at Five Emperors Mountain’s night view.
When Ginsengfruit opened the door, he instinctively softened his steps, intending not to disturb Yun Ran.
Seeing Yun Ran already up, Ginsengfruit hurriedly poured a glass of water and handed it over.
"Host, they’ve all arrived, but Xuan Chu and Dragon Spirit are injured, and it looks quite serious. Gu Yuan and Wanqi Yu, however, are fine..."
Yun Ran took the glass, sipped from it, then set it on the small round glass table beside her.
Ginsengfruit’s expression screamed ’ask me about what happens next’.
"If you want to say something, just say it directly!"
Ginsengfruit chuckled, moved the nearby coffee table, and sat down.
"I’m just curious. To talk about skills, Dragon Spirit and Xuan Chu should be a notch above Gu Yuan and Wanqi Yu.
But the results show the two strongest got injured while the other two are seemingly doing fine, and things went pretty smoothly for them."
"Naturally it’s because their paths are different, the tasks differ, so outcomes differ.
And who told you that the skilled won’t get hurt, and the less skilled can’t protect themselves?"
Ginsengfruit sighed once more: Truly, dealing with people is complicated, even more than handling vast and complex data.
"I’ll go check on Xuan Chu and Dragon Spirit."
Xuan Chu paused at the knock on the door, then stood up to open it.
Seeing Yun Ran at the door wasn’t much of a surprise to him.
He stepped aside to let Yun Ran in.
Xuan Chu’s complexion had improved greatly; at least from the outside, nothing seemed awry.
However, he could only hide it from the uninformed; Yun Ran saw through it immediately.
Her brow furrowed: "How did you suffer backlash?"
Once, when she helped Xuan Chu investigate Heavenly Dao Origin’s secrets, she ended up having to seal the Spirit Platform to survive.
Even though Xuan Chu was gravely wounded, he quickly recovered.
Despite asking for aid from Heavenly Dao Village, it demonstrated that even retaliation through secret techniques inflicted limited damage on them.
But now, Xuan Chu’s injuries clearly seemed to have affected his very foundation.
Xuan Chu had no reason to hide anything from Yun Ran.
He quietly revealed his arm, covered earlier by long sleeves, showing a thin black line spreading down his meridian.
Yun Ran found the sight quite glaring.
"How did it come to this!"
Contrary to Yun Ran’s shock, Xuan Chu was rather composed: "The person behind Five Emperors Mountain had already prepared countermeasures for the secret being discovered."