Catalina and Ji Yijun followed Crete from a distance in the forest. One of them was good at hiding and tracking, with a very light body, and his gestures were really like a cat; the other had already achieved a small level of fighting spirit, and could accurately control muscles and movements, and walked silently. At this time, the sky was already very dark, the red clouds had retreated, and the starry sky slowly appeared, leaving only a little bit of the golden sunset on the treetops. Looking at people in the forest, there was only a vague shadow fifty meters away, so the two of them did not attract Crete's attention along the way.
Crete walked a little slowly, as if he was thinking about something, and he almost tripped over branches on the ground several times. But he stood up quickly, brushed off the dust on his clothes, and continued walking forward.
"He went up the mountain. There is a hunter's rest stop ahead. There should be no one there at this time." Katarina said in a low voice.
"It doesn't seem good to be hanging out so late at night." Ji Yijun scratched his head and said, "Could it be that he is here for a date?"
"Do you think he'll be like you? Crete has always been a very good boy."
"Hey, I don't need to run up the hill in the dark for a date."
Katerina ignored him and turned down a side road.
"There's a shortcut here, it's a little harder to walk, but we can get ahead of him. Let's go to the rest stop first to see who is behind this." Catalina said as she began to climb the steep mountain road. After a few steps, she encountered a situation where she had to use both her hands and feet.
Ji Yijun followed Catalina up the mountain and found that this was not a difficult shortcut, but rock climbing. Even though he was much better than before, he still felt a little scared. But Catalina was fearless and rushed to the stone wall without hesitation. However, she was agile and was born for this kind of situation. She used her hands and feet to quickly climb up along the cracks and protruding rocks.
"Beauty, take it easy. Be careful not to fall." Ji Yijun tried his best, but was still being pulled further and further away by the other party.
"Don't call me beautiful!"
"Then... girl! Wait for me."
"I'll go scout first, you crawl slowly." Catalina looked back at him and said, not knowing whether it was intentional or not, she stepped a little harder, and several small pieces of gravel and dust fell down, making Ji Yijun covered in dirt.
It took Ji Yijun nearly a quarter of an hour to finally climb up the hillside. Seeing that there was no one around, he quickly lifted up the hem of his clothes to wipe his face, brushed off the dust on his head, and then grinned. His image and lazy temperament were revived again.
He saw a small house in front of him, right in the middle of the winding mountain road, but the two of them had just avoided the mountain road and climbed out a straight path from the hillside.
The surroundings were very quiet. In the darkness, he tiptoed to the small house, pressed his body against the wall, and prepared to look in through the window. At this moment, he heard a creaking sound and the door was opened from the inside. He quickly jumped back, drew his sword, and was ready to strike, but he saw Catalina pushing the door open and coming out of the house.
"You scared me." Ji Yijun made a sword flower and put the sword back into the sheath.
Catalina frowned and said, "I checked, there's nothing unusual. There's only some water and dry food in the house. Hunters were here a day or two ago. Maybe he's not here to see anyone."
She looked at the dust on his face that had not been wiped clean and said lightly, "I'm sorry."
"Hehe, maybe they just haven't arrived yet." Ji Yijun didn't plan to talk about what happened just now. He looked around and observed the surrounding terrain while saying, "I can feel that you are very protective of him. You are anxious to see what he is going to do, while making excuses for him in words and deeds. Why is he so important to you?"
"I owe him." Catalina stared at the mountain road below. Crete was like a small black dot, moving slowly forward. "Everyone says that Crete's father saved Lord Xiao Chen's life, but in fact he saved my life that day. After all, I was standing in front of Lord Xiao Chen. This is a very pitiful child. He was an actor and a slave in the first half of his life. When he just saw hope, his father died again. I have to watch over him for his father. And then I hope he can live happily. It's that simple."
Ji Yijun didn't say anything. Catalina looked back at him and found that he looked a little serious. She didn't know what he was thinking. After a while, he said, "It seems that he lost a good father, but gained a good sister."
"I'm not a very good sister." Katerina looked down, "I don't know how I can help him."
"If I say you are, then you are." Ji Yijun said affirmatively, "Let's first figure out the situation." He looked around and saw a few big trees next to the house. The dense canopy was a good hiding place. He reached out and touched the treetops and said, "I think the view there is good. We can watch a good show."
About half an hour later, Crete finally arrived in front of the hut. Like the two who came before him, he looked around, then approached the house carefully and looked inside secretly. After walking around and finding no one, he sat on the steps at the door of the house.
"It's his first time here, and he's not familiar with the person he's going to meet." Catalina said while squatting on a large branch.
"You have good observation skills." Ji Yijun sat next to her, leaning against the tree trunk, holding the back of his head with his hands, looking leisurely.
"I am the best scout of the Blue Flame Mercenary Group." Katarina was still lurking motionlessly.
More than ten minutes later, a tall and thin man came from another forest path. The man seemed to be walking slowly, but he was actually moving very fast. He just appeared in the woods and arrived in front of the cabin in a short while. The man was holding an iron cage in his hand, and Ji Yijun couldn't see what was inside.
"It's a rabbit."
"rabbit?"
"It's indeed a rabbit, and it's alive. I wonder what he is going to do." Catalina said puzzledly.
"You can see clearly from such a distance?"
"As a scout, the God of Nature has gifted me with a pair of good eyes."
"That was given to you by your parents." Ji Yijun said.
"No, I don't know who my parents are. They didn't raise me when I was a child, nor did they save me when I was in dire straits. They also didn't teach me various survival skills, nor did they find ways to improve my abilities. All of this was given to me by sister Kalanda."
"Well, the two of them came together and started talking. Damn, it was totally inaudible."
Catalina raised her hand to ask Ji Yijun to calm down, then stared at his lips seriously and said one sentence at a time:
"The man was saying: '... to get power... it's simple, just give... a seed, and if you meditate on it every day... you can harness its magical powers.'
Crete asked: "Will this seed conflict with... the power of Master Xiao Chen?"
The man said: "Haha,... That's ridiculous... The seeds come from... the precious heritage... and the power of the mage... There will be no conflict."
Crete asked: "How does this magic work?"
The man is ready to show him…”
Sure enough, the man drew a circle on the ground with his bare hands, and then muttered something. The circle emitted a faint red light and appeared on the ground. He opened the cage and threw the two rabbits into the circle. The two rabbits jumped around in the light circle, but they could not leave that place. As long as they touched the light circle, they would be blocked.
"He's actually a magician? Is this a cage made of light?" Ji Yijun asked in surprise.
"I don't know either." Catalina stared at the red circle, but she didn't know much about magic and couldn't judge what kind of magic it was.
Crete below also found it magical. He tried to touch the red light with his hand. There was no obstacle. His hand went in easily and touched the rabbit's ear. He tried it several times and finally even lifted a rabbit out.
"Why would a magician suddenly appear in this godforsaken place? I think there must be something wrong." Ji Yijun pondered as he watched the performance below.
"Don't make any noise, they seem to be talking again."
"The magician continued, 'This is my... magic.... Although it is not... as powerful as others,... it is also useful at certain times. You can... slowly master it... There are more than a dozen different spells. As for Xiao Chen... Don't worry, a magician... The more you learn, the better.'
Crete nodded and said, 'Please teach me these.'
The magician said, "Okay. You need to relax your mind... Don't resist, don't be nervous,... Fluctuations will lead to failure, which will hurt your mind. Let me plant the seeds for you."
Planting seeds? What's going on! We must stop them. What is this unknown person going to do? "Katerina was shocked and was about to jump down. But Ji Yijun grabbed her.
"Whatever you do, I'm going to stop them."
"It's too late."
When Catalina saw it, a dark purple ball of light burst out from the magician's hand, and he quickly pressed it on Crete's head. The purple ball sank into the child's head.
She impatiently tried to break Ji Yijun's fingers.
The latter's hands were as still as steel. Ji Yijun shook his head slowly and said, "He said that emotional fluctuations may lead to failure. If you jump down now, they will be caught off guard. It will be troublesome if Crete is hurt. Besides, this man has spent so much time on these things. He must have some plan. If we show up now, we will alert the enemy."
Catalina's face was full of regret. She glared at Ji Yijun fiercely and had to continue clinging to the tree and observing.
The man pressed Crete's head for half an hour before he let go. During this process, Crete, who had his eyes closed like a puppet, slowly opened his eyes.
The man whispered something in his ear. Crete looked at the rabbits in the circle of light and waved his hand. A purple light flashed and the two rabbits, still full of energy, fell straight down.