Chapter 146: Invisible barrier

In the back of the moving armoured car, several exhausted figures lay disorderly on the floor. Using Long Zhanye's arm as a pillow, Huo Zaiyuan clutches a milk powder container full of ant crystals to his chest.

"I finally understand why the zombies in this village are so strong."

The fact that sesame seed sized crystals are able to fill such a big container to the brim shows exactly how large that swarm of ants had been. Who knows how many ants those zombies absorbed to be able to evolve so far in a short period of time. If the previous mercenary squad had not stumbled across this village and the Long Yuan squad was not dispatched to take care of it, these undead would have been a terrible force to reckon with in the future.

"Mhm." Lowering his chin to look at the vulnerable youth currently running on the last few drops of inner spiritual power, Long Zhanye's heart finally eases when he sees that fair complexion remains the same, condition not worsening.

He hasn't forgotten the last time this child exhausted all his energy sealing a poisonous swamp away and fainted immediately after the deed is done. This time, he not only managed to seal away a bigger swamp, but use quite a few explosive talismans, lay another seal around the village and burn the wave of ants. And he hasn't lost consciousness at the end of it all.

Now, the largest haul of crystals resides in the glass bottle in Huo Zaiyuan's hands.

"Boss, little Yuan, why were you so afraid of those ants?" You Nuandong asks curiously as soon as he regains his breath and calms his racing heart.

As far as his knowledge of insects goes, those red ants don't look like carnivores. Although facing a huge wave of them can frighten anyone, Long Zhanye and Huo Zaiyuan's reactions were too exaggerated.

"Those ants is one reason why zombies are rampaging across this country right now," Long Zhanye answers.

When Huo Zaiyuan had told him this all those days ago, he too, thought it was inconceivable. However, he believed Huo Zaiyuan without the slightest hesitation.

"Those ants are the cause of humans turning into zombies?!" Zuo Hanyang exclaims in shock, eyes wide.

"No, the ants themselves are not the reason. Rather, they carry a more potent demonic energy within their bodies that cause a human to transform after they enter the victim's flesh." Lifting the glass bottle up to eye level, Huo Zaiyuan stares at the sparkling crystals. "Hence, after the corpses of zombies are burned, crystals are left behind. On top of that, the demonic energy stored within the skulls of undead can be increased. Why those few undead in the village were so difficult to deal with ought to be because they absorbed demonic energy from more than a few ants.."

"That's enough, you are exhausted. Get some rest first. There's still some time before we reach the safe zone." Long Zhanye interrupts as the youth's eyelids begin to droop and his speech slurs. A doting smile curves his lips and he lifts his free hand to stroke Huo Zaiyuan's soft hair.

"Un. Wake me up when we reach the safe zone." Yawning, Huo Zaiyuan sets the glass bottle of crystals on the floor. Turning on his side, he snuggles into Long Zhanye's embrace and falls asleep right away.

He is dead tired today.

When night falls, the armoured vehicle reaches the gates of the safe zone at long last. After going through the usual series of checks and inspections, the team of six is allowed to enter. For the entire journey, Huo Zaiyuan remains sound asleep. When he eventually awakens, it is already past 1am.

Looking down at Long Zhanye sleeping next to him, he glances out the window at the pitch-black night sky. Lips curling upwards slightly, he disappears in flash of silver.

As always, a clear, azure sky greets him as soon as he enters the space. Spotting its human, the little tree spirit happily throws itself into his arms, rubbing a soft, chubby cheek against Huo Zaiyuan's.

"You're alone? Where's Liu Ying?" Huo Zaiyuan asks softly as he pats the spirit affectionately on its head.

Typically, whenever he enters the space, he will always see that imp Liu Ying bullying the little tree spirit. It is rare indeed that this little creature doesn't pounce on him as soon as he appears to seek refuge with tears in its eyes. In fact, from the expression on its face, it is in a very good mood today.

Could it be Liu Ying sustained some injuries when it helped Huo Zaiyuan hold back the swarm of devil ants this morning?

After the entire fiasco was over, Huo Zaiyuan collapsed to the ground in exhaustion as soon as the armoured car started moving, completely forgetting about Liu Ying. He only remembered to send the silver jian back into his space before dropping off.

Ai..isn't he too irresponsible as a master?

"Chee..chee.." The little spirit gathers a tiny handful of Huo Zaiyuan's hair and gently tugs on it as it hovers in the air before the human, expressing that Huo Zaiyuan should follow it somewhere.

Allowing the little being to lead him by tugging on his long hair, Huo Zaiyuan follows it out of the bamboo house towards the open field. Distantly, he can see a small white figure hovering in mid-air.

"What is Liu Ying doing there? Is there anything good to see?" When in his space, Huo Zaiyuan has never once tried to walk to the edges of the plains. Because simply by standing outside the bamboo house, he can see the distant mountains and refreshing scenery all around.

Hearing Huo Zaiyuan's voice, Liu Ying glances over its shoulder and shakes its head. Extending a hand, it seems to be feeling something in front of it.

Not seeing anything there, Huo Zaiyuan thought it is pointing towards something in the distance. He has only taken two steps forward when he smacks into an incorporeal wall, the force of this unexpected collision mixed with stunned surprise causes him to land on his bottom. A hand automatically goes to his forehead as he tries to rub the pain away.

"What..what is going on?" Sitting on the ground with a hand on his red forehead, Huo Zaiyuan stretches out the other arm and hesitantly reaches towards the air before him, trying to feel for the invisible wall.

His palm is met with a smooth, flat surface. Surprisingly, there is a layer of invisible barrier here.

Originally, he believed that this space is only as big as the naked eyes can see, but never did he imagine there is a boundary line around it.

"Does Liu Ying wish to go across to the other side of the barrier?" Huo Zaiyuan asks from where is sits on the ground, palm still slayed out on the surface of the barrier.

A pair of bright azure eyes stares back before Liu Ying vigoriously shakes his head in denial. Squeaking something Huo Zaiyuan doesn't understand, a tiny hand slaps the barrier a few times. A little later, the sword spirit's face falls as it dejectedly drifts back to stand on Huo Zaiyuan's shoulder.

Huo Zaiyuan ends up sitting before the barrier for a long while with the downcast, white-clothed sword spirit Liu Ying on his left shoulder and the adorably innocent, green-clothed tree spirit on his right shoulder.

Who knows how long passed before he finally stands up and heads back into the bamboo house. Placing the two little creatures down onto the low table, he busies himself with other matters.

Being the hardworking child that it is, under the tree spirit's care, the three peach trees reach full maturity once more. The first one requires the shortest amount of time to bear fruit, averaging around nine days. As for the second tree, it takes approximately eighteen days, with the third one at being the longest at twenty-seven days. Now that each one has a ripe fruit on its branch, he plucks the three peaches down to make peach juice.

Pouring the juice into bamboo tubes, he buries them outside the house in order to let them ferment naturally. He returns to the scene of Liu Ying once again staring dazedly at Huo Tianji's portrait. Off to the side, the tree spirit clutches a red apple to its bosom, inching towards the sword spirit.

As soon as Liu Ying notices the little green-clothed being sidling closer, its blank expression instantly morphs to a fierce one, scaring the tree spirit so badly it jumps in fright and hides behind the apple.

Seeing the interaction between the two little creatures, Huo Zaiyuan lets out a small, helpless smile before walking towards the doorway to mediatate.

The invisible barrier in the space that Liu Ying wants to cross..what exactly is hidden on the other end?

For some reason, Huo Zaiyuan is extremely curious..

When he opens his eyes again, he notices a green and white figure floating above the field near where he had bumped into the invisible wall. But what really catches his attention is the harmounious air between the two spirits. No tears, no bullying, no fights. And Liu Ying appears to be happier than it was a while ago, making Huo Zaiyuan sigh in relief.

As time-flow inside the space is slower than the outside world, Huo Zaiyuan doesn't know exactly what time it is now. Getting up, he boils some hot water for a bath before exiting his space.

As soon as his back hits the soft mattress, another body rolls over and presses him into the bed. One doesn't need to think in order to guess who this person is.

"You..why are you still sleeping?"

"It's only six in the morning. What else would I be doing if not sleeping?" Burying his face in the juncture between Huo Zaiyuan's neck and shoulder, Long Zhanye sighs in contentment, not resisting the urge to kiss that slender neck. "Baby, you smell really good."

"I just took a shower." Frowning lightly, Huo Zaiyuan pushes at the body above him. "Get up, you're really heavy."

"It's called "bearing a sweet burden," Long Zhanye murmurs sleepily.

Huo Zaiyuan: "囧"

What kind of sweet burden is this? If he allows this to continue, he will surely be flattened. Confronted by this sleepy and shameless man, Huo Zaiyuan doesn't bother wasting his breath. Bunching his muscles, he half-push, half-shoves the person off before getting out of bed.

Don't see that Long Zhanye's body is lean and fit, making one think his weight would be comparatively light. Thanks to his healthy bones and firm muscles, his body weight is really heavy if Long Zhanye allows himself to go completely lax.

Glancing back at the man still sleeping soundly, Huo Zaiyuan pads lightly over and pulls the blanket up, tucking it around Long Zhanye. Satisfied with his handiwork, he walks out of the room and closes the door softly behind him. As soon as the door shuts, a mischievous smile appears on the sleeping Long Zhanye's face.