The Voyage In The Blizzard - Chapter 78

“Yun Qi stop!”

No sooner had they stopped her than she was holding out her hand and exclaimed, “This is the forest!”

Climbing out of the strange icy dungeon, the air on the surface felt warm. Inhaling a fresh wind that immediately dispelled their desire to sleep, they silently looked around.

“Strange. Where has the steppe gone?!” Longwei asked, stretching.

“It looks like we’ve cut the path. This tunnel must have been made to cross this steppe.”

“Do you see the solitary mountain?”

“I seem to see the moon!” Yun Qi exclaimed, pointing to a faint round disc that immediately disappeared behind the clouds.

“So we are going in the right direction..”

“Yes, the mountain is on that side. Another forest and we’ll be in some other place.” said Lei, covering his neck with a fur collar.

Hearing the distant screams that immediately died away, Yun Qi held her sword tightly and said, “They are still following us.”

Hurrying and entering the forest with low trees which had bare branches, they moved along a strange path which was covered with large stones.

“And why do I have such a feeling as if someone specially made this path?” asked Lei picking up one stone.

As night fell, the small forest became even more terrible. And with each step forward, it seemed as if many small eyes were watching them, and sometimes hearing the rustle or clatter of small hooves, they were thrown into shivers.

“What are these sounds?” Yun Qi asked while snuggling into Longwei.

Feeling as if someone was running quickly behind them, they simultaneously turned back, but did not see anyone.

Without showing that he flinched from a small bush in the form of a little man Lei said, “It’s all the wind. Let’s move on.”

The further they went, the more it seemed to them that behind them someone was running with the speed of the wind. Once even feeling someone’s faint touch on his back, Longwei continued walking without paying attention to it.

“It is getting darker and darker. Do you still have candles in your backpack?”

“Yes.”

“Strange. The wind died down.” Yun Qi added, listening to the silence.

Quickly lighting a candle, Longwei stretched out his hand forward and tried to see what was ahead, but the dense darkness and branches that stretched out like the hands were all they could see.

“I hope you won’t die the way I died.” suddenly a quiet voice was heard.

Looking back in horror, Longwei dropped the candle.

The clink of Lei’s sword blade broke the next silence.

“What was it?” Yun Qi whispered, squeezing Longwei’s hand.

“Who is there?” shouted Lei.

Unable to move further, they stood in one place until they heard the next sound.

The quiet laughter, more like a malevolent laugh, echoed from all directions.

“Who is there?”

“They must be Sun’s soldiers. Yun Qi, don’t let go of my hand.”

Taking a few steps forward, in the pitch darkness, Lei was still able to make out the outlines of trees. And there was no one else.

“Maybe it’s a ghost.” said Yun Qi.

“Whoever it is, let’s go rather.”

Briskly making his way through the thorny branches, gradually feeling a certain warmth, Lei unbuttoned his vest and said, “It’s warm here.”

“Even hot.”

“I wonder who it was? Like some kind of ghost. Could it be the ghost of Warrior Wu? We summoned him and he must be following us now.” said Yun Qi.

“Do not be silly.”

“Are you afraid of? Lei, I thought you were such a tough warrior, and you are afraid of ghosts.”

“Hush. Touch the ground. Can you feel it? It’s hot!” Longwei said putting his palm on the ground.

“Yes. Indeed.”

“What could be next, the land of dragons?” Lei asked and, as if answering his question, behind a wall of branches and trees, a loud cry was suddenly heard, after which everything around was lit up with bright fire.

“You’re right.”

“Dragons?!” Yun Qi screamed happily and ran forward.

“Yun Qi! Stop!”

Before she was at the edge of the rocky mountain, Longwei grabbed her and shouted angrily, “Why do you keep acting like a child?! What if you fell down!”

Covering their ears from the deafening cry of dragons that flew far in the red-black sky, they bent down and closed their eyes from the blinding fire that passed over their heads.

Yun Qi, not paying attention to the danger around, with admiration looking ahead, for the first time in her life, saw such bright colors that warmed and made her heart flutter.

If earlier their whole path was just forests and steppes, now they have a view of the immense mountainous terrain that had its own sun at first glance.

Sharp reefs and smooth stone mountains and hills were home to many dragons.

They, while Yun Qi’s gaze slid over the stone mountains, flying high in the sky, painted patterns and smoothly landing somewhere disappeared from the sight.

Sitting on the very edge of a cliff that led down to the sharp rocks, they could not pass by and not give due attention to the beauty in which the danger lurked.

“How beautiful it is.” Yun Qi said while watching the flight of the small dragon.

“They can see us. We need to hide.”

Finding shelter behind a large round stone, Longwei took out the paper with the words of the spell and thereby dropped the sheet torn from the book, which was wrapped in leather cloth. Without noticing this, he said, “Three-headedness means that we have to go through the lands of dragons. So we are going right.”

Noticing the scratch on Yun Qi’s face, he touched her cheek in panic. “I told you to be careful. Look, you got a wound.”

“It’s a trifle. It’s just a scratch.”

“Now a scratch and then what? If you keep running away from me, then …”

“Dad, calm down. I’m fine. Better think about how we get through all this wonderful creatures?” she asked in amazement at the playful flight of the three dragons.

“They seem beautiful, but in reality they are no different from monsters. We just need to wait until they fall asleep and then we will move on. The moon is in that direction, so we need to keep going straight.” Longwei said.

“Longwei, what is this?” Lei suddenly asked with horror on his face showing him a torn sheet of paper.

Seeing it in his hand, Longwei abruptly snatched the sheet out and put it in his pocket. After making sure Yun Qi hadn’t noticed, he turned to Lei and shook his head.

“Yun Qi, sit here. Don’t go anywhere.” Lei said and grabbing Longwei’s hand, he pulled him aside.

“Explain to me. What is it and why did you hide it?”

“Hush. Lei.”

“What Lei? You hid it from me! Longwei how could you!” pushing him asked Lei. “And when did you manage to hide it from me? Answer!”

“It does not matter.” Longwei said, bowing his head.

“You read this before Yun Qi was sent to school? Didn’t you?! How dare you hide it from me?” Lei shouted, raising his voice.

“Hush. Yun Qi shouldn’t know about this.” Looking into Lei’s eyes, Longwei tried to squeeze out a smile and said, “Don’t worry, it might not be true. This piece of paper was not part of the book, I just found it …”

“Just found it! Longwei, do you even understand what is written there?! It’s part of the book. Longwei, why did you hide it from me?”

“And if I told you, what then? What would you do then? Lei, don’t shout at me. You can’t do anything. Yun Qi is already in this world, and therefore I must die.” Longwei said.