“Is this your cat?”
Miss Chloe Yin asked softly, reaching out to touch Mia, but the orange and white cat sniffed and immediately made a "threatening" sound.
"This cat is quite shy."
Xia De said this, patting Mia's head affectionately. Miss Chloe Yin probably remembered the last time she turned into a cat and curled up in Xia De's arms, and a barely noticeable blush appeared on her face.
"I brought a lot of vegetables this time. Oh, and the spell materials you asked for... I almost forgot about it."
Shade didn't notice the young witch's expression. He patted his head.
"I also brought you something good."
As he spoke, he imitated Sister Defulin's previous movements, placing his hands on the ground in a holding position. As the first cracks appeared on his palms, the remaining traces of the First Fire extended from his hands to his arms, but only extended to his arms.
Dense and fiery red cracks covered Shad's hands and sleeves. This unusual scene attracted the attention of the witch, Mrs. Marquez, and the cowering man.
In the palm of Xia De's hand, a faint golden flame trembled slightly. The flame was very weak, but the golden light was so eye-catching:
"This is the flame of the sun's fire."
Shade explained, smiling and holding the flame towards Miss Chloe Yin:
"This is for you. I think you need this."
"Meow~"
The cat poked its little head out from Shade's coat, staring at the golden flame held by Shade with a fierce look, but no one here paid any attention to it.
"This fire..."
The witch stretched out her hand towards Shade's palm, but suddenly retracted it, as if she was afraid of being burned:
"This is too precious. I can't have it."
The red-gold eyes looked at Xia De and she shook her head slightly:
"This is a flame extracted from the flame of the sun. If you find a suitable witch, you can even exchange this flame for a wealthy duchy from her."
"I brought it here just for you."
Xia De moved his hand closer to Miss Kro Yin. Although this was precious to him, it was a renewable resource. He even planned to give this to Yin Luna as a year-end gift:
"Take it. I came here to help you reach the top of the mountain. To be honest, compared to the people I helped in the past, your needs are almost the least."
Xia De said with a smile, and Miss Chloe Yin pursed her lips, then stretched out her right hand and placed it in Xia De's palm. She really had the ability to absorb special flames, and the tiny golden flame turned into a dazzling fire rope that wrapped around her right hand until it penetrated into her heart.
Xia De could clearly feel that the witch's body temperature had risen a lot, but her complexion did not improve much:
"Thanks."
After a moment's hesitation, he simply said this, still looking a little embarrassed.
This flame can help the three witches continue to climb the mountains. Although she did not ask Shade for it when she left last time, Shade was still happy to provide this help to the best of his ability.
He was about to continue asking about the current situation here, but Miss Chloe Yin suddenly raised her hand to tell Xia De not to speak. She frowned and looked outside the tent, where a dark shadow was approaching.
The tent provided by Shade was very thick, and they couldn't see who was outside. They could only confirm that it was a humanoid creature.
“Here I come.”
Miss Chloe Yin said softly.
Mrs. Marquez immediately put down the teapot in her hand, huddled in a corner of the tent like the man, and lowered her head to cover her ears.
Xia De used his fingers to push Mia's head into his clothes, and then he and Miss Chloe Yin looked outside the tent.
Soon, the shadow was outside the tent, separated from the four people and the cat by only a layer of cloth. Judging from the figure, it was a woman.
Miss Chloe Yin made a gesture to silence Shade, and she herself did not speak, and the woman who trudged through the snowstorm did not speak either. After three minutes of stalemate, a faint voice came into his ears from outside. The voice was very dull and panicked:
"Chloe Yin, oh, is that you? I never thought I could see you alive! Let me in, I'm really cold, tired and hungry, please let me in."
"What's out there?"
Xia De asked softly in his heart.
It's unclear, but it's definitely not a demon this time.
"She" whispered softly in Shad's ear.
"Are you Wanda?"
Miss Chloe Yin asked in a low voice. After receiving a positive response from outside, she said in a trembling voice:
"Ma'am, I won't let you in. I remember clearly that after we just entered the Silver Mountains, you were curious about the big silver rock glowing in the distance and fell into the forbidden abyss. You died."
The young witch grabbed Shade's hand, as if this could calm her down. Shade felt that her mental state was not normal at the moment:
"I know that you followed the team into the Silver Mountains to fulfill your teacher's last wish. Don't worry, I will help you realize your wish, so please leave."
A woman's sobbing voice came from outside the tent:
"Chloe Yin, oh, my little Chloe Yin, you are the most powerful witch in the team..."
Shade raised an eyebrow.
"You are the strongest and most determined one among us. I know you can make it to the end. Please let me in. I really... ... feel very uncomfortable. It's so cold here."
"Whether you are Wanda or not, you should leave now."
Miss Chloë Yin continued, but the way she bit her lip showed that she was not as strong as she thought.
"I can't leave, I should go in."
The woman outside was still begging.
Shade held Miss Chloe Yin's hand tightly and shook his head at her, indicating that she didn't need to continue.
"Death's Door!"
As his fingers slid through the air, a dark crack opened up in the tent. Behind the crack was a mudflat illuminated by the dark moon, the final resting place of the souls of this world.
Xia De said to the figure outside the tent:
"Ma'am, if you really want to come in, I have a place you should enter."
He stared at the dark figure on the tent, who stood silently in the snowstorm. At a certain moment, as if erased by an eraser, the figure suddenly disappeared.
“Huh~”
Xia De let out a sigh of relief. There were too many strange things in this snowy mountain. He had just threatened the other party, but he didn't expect the other party to really retreat.
“It will come back.”
When Mia squirmed out of Shade's chest again, Miss Chloe Yin hugged her legs and said:
“I can feel it coming again.”
The man who had been shrinking in fear stood up at this moment, opened the tent and went out in front of Xia De's surprised eyes. After a while, he came back trembling:
"It left, and there were no footprints in the snow."
He retreated to his position after the inspection, trying to prove that it was worthwhile to carry him forward.
"How did you drive away these things disguised as your friends the last few times?"
Shade asked curiously.
"Instead of driving us away, it will follow us and absorb our positive emotions, such as happiness, warmth, and joy. When they are satisfied, it will leave. This time, it was the closest it has come. I can't imagine what will happen if it really comes in."
“Absorbing positive emotions?”
Many relics have similar characteristics, and in an environment like the snowy mountains, this characteristic is particularly dangerous.
"We can't just let it come back again and again, we need to find a way to solve it."
Xia De suggested, but Miss Chloe Yin shook her head:
"Even if I'm at the eleventh level, I still don't think I'm a match for that thing. It's very likely not an evil spirit from outside, but an evil creature born from this snowy mountain itself."
She mentioned that she was at the eleventh level, and Shade once again thought of the god's evaluation not long ago.
"Didn't you investigate the dangers here before entering the Silver Mountains?"
Xia De asked, and Miss Chloe Yin pursed her lips and said softly:
"There is indeed a way to deal with that thing, but it is very dangerous. It reflects death and appears after it peers into our hearts. We are definitely no match for it in a head-on battle, but perhaps we can rely on our wisdom."
She pointed to her head:
"First, we must determine what its true form is. After that, the party that sees it and the party that doesn't see it will jointly attack it. The appearance of that thing is a phenomenon that is difficult to explain. It can even be said to be a natural phenomenon. We must attack its true form and its illusion at the same time. These are two 'shells' that support each other."
Although it sounded a bit complicated, Xia De understood it:
"So, someone needs to wait outside for it to appear again?"
Before Miss Chloe Yin spoke, Shade had already stood up:
"Let me do it."
The witch grabbed Shade's sleeve directly:
"I can't rely on you for everything."
The red-gold eyes stared at Xia De, and Xia De smiled:
"How much strength do you have left? Besides, I happen to have a magic that can deal with this situation... ... Magic is... ... Never mind, it's not important."
He pulled out Mia and handed her to Miss Chloe Yin:
"Please look after my cat for me."
The reason why we don't turn this cat into a toy is that since this cat is so willful and insists on following us this time, we have to let it see how dangerous this place is. This way, the timid Mia won't dare to follow us next time.
"Don't worry about me."
After Miss Chloe Yin hugged the reluctant cat, Shad had bent down and walked out of the tent.
He stood barefoot in the snow, took a deep breath, and recalled the things that made him angry. But he didn't seem to have anything to be angry about, until he thought of Mia being kidnapped by Miss Chloe Yin, and they were separated by two eras and could not meet again, and anger finally surged in his heart:
"Calm posture."