Walking for two days within the forest was not a comfortable experience. The exact opposite. Even with all the treasures and resources he carried on him. It was just wrong. Not a home he would be willing to live in. The girls barely got any rest sleeping in the pavilions.

The food seemed dry and unseasoned even though it was the same exact rice he had been having ever since the beginning of the tutorial.

It made Yin Hu feel grimy.

None of it made sense to him, but it was the truth of the matter. Shui was the most vocal about it. Complaining the whole time about how the branches dug into her when wading through them. A bug crawling on her skin. A squirrel coming too close and zipping by her head. Rocks getting into her little shoes.

Always having a bad time on the trek to their destination. The poor girl was just bored. Utterly and completely bored out of her mind. Unable to find a source of entertainment except to continually bemoan her situation. Loudly.

But that did not stop their forward momentum.

Yin Hu was dedicated to the idea of crossing the Bleak Forests and breaking past the blockade of Demonic Cultivator armies that happened to be stationed at all easy routes. Even if it meant being uncomfortable for a little bit of time. Or maybe a lot bit of time. He had no clue how far the forest stretched, only that it would end if they kept moving along with the compass he had given Jun.

"Jun." he said, turning to look at the two girls.

The older girl was struggling to free Shui from her entanglement with a dozen vines and long stemmed ferns. None of them could figure out how she got stuck. Nor was she willing to let them know either, mortified. Face red from embarrassment.

"Yes," Jun grunted as she cut another difficult fern. "Master."

He considered waiting to ask, but it was too late at this point. He had already spoken up. "Do you know how long until we reach the Bleak Forests? It's been two days of hard travel."

"Not for another—"

Shui yelped as a thorn scratched her skin. Her face showed the amount of regret she was feeling at the moment for her poor choices.

"—three weeks or so. It'll be obvious when we reach the Bleak Forests. The whole forest changes."

Three weeks!? I thought this was a town on the edges of the frontier?

Shui shouted as she dropped from the vines and ferns holding her. Tumbling into a mess of limbs. It took a few moments of Jun patting her down and cleaning her of branches and leaves stuck in her hair before they were ready to move again.

Yin Hu looked up through the small openings in the canopy. It was getting dark again. The fog would come back like a surging tide, covering the entire forest completely from tip to end. Being in the gloomy shadows of a thousand creaking trees, howling wind, and the occasional scared animal cry did little to soothe his nerves.

Not that he was worried for himself. More for the girls.

Even Jun had started to notice the inky darkness around them and how thick it was. She forced Shui to keep close to her at all times. It made navigating difficult for them. Unlike Yin Hu. If anything, the strange shadows seemed transparent to him. It gave him an amount of depth perception that allowed their travel to continue during the nights.

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The girls rarely needed to rest every day. What with all the body purification and the start of the katas they were committing to. Each one could keep going for a long while. Endurance many realms above their own level.

It meant they could keep going. Make even more distance between them and whoever the Green Door Palace or whatever their names were.

Hopefully their plan to leave from the wrong direction and loop around the long way towards the east would keep them a good distance away from anyone they would need to fight. Meeting people out here wasn't an issue. However, it was if they found a group they would need to fight to get away from.

For now, they would follow this plan until fruition.

"Jun, are the shadows coming again?" Shui said as they began their trek one more time.

"Maybe," Jun copied his expression as she looked through the canopy. Nodding just like him too. "We best assume it will. Prepare for it. If it doesn't then that's fine as well."

Good. She's already getting better with her PR answers. Maybe the Gang Boss's damage to her development wasn't as bad as I thought it was.

"You don't need to protect me!"

"Shui."

Her massive hammer was strapped to her back. She pulled it out and began to swing it wildly left and right. "I'm serious! I have Mr. Mo Mo and can protect myself all the time against everyone in the world!"

Yin Hu and Jun laughed. Shui could say some of the darndest things.

That was to be expected from a kid.

"Of course, Shui," Jun said, patting the girl's head once she stopped swinging the hammer. "We still need to stick together. Stay a group and make the journey in relative safety. No straying from us. And absolutely no chasing imaginary friends."

Wonder how much of it is imaginary friends and how much of it is real? Where does the line cross for Shui?

It was getting more difficult to tell if what she saw were actually spirits or just imaginary things all little kids seemed to have. Little friends they would make up because they didn't have anyone their age to connect to. It was a sad situation. One beyond them until they settled in the Righteous Bloc of the two opposing forces.

On the other hand, YagWan and his disciples had made it clear that Shui had connected with her Weapon Spirit. Awakening it and somehow capable of using it too. An accomplishment that should not have been possible for anyone a few centuries her senior much less her age.

It left many questions. Was Mr. Mo Mo the little cute animal friend Shui claimed it was? Or was it the towering monstrosity that nearly gave YagWan's fat disciple a heart attack? It couldn't be both, could it? Shapeshifting?

That felt worse than if it was a towering monster that doted on Shui.

Did Jun have one too?

Or was she not special enough to connect with hers without something special. He planned to look through the Compendium. Find some information he could use to make a decision on this matter. Yin Hu might be forced to momentarily take Shui's weapon if he found anything he did not like.

It would not be wise to let her keep the large hammer if it was going to eat her spirit. Eventually corrupt her. Perhaps even harm others in the process if it could take over her physical body.

Hopefully the Compendium would shed some light on the matter.

"We are wasting time and whatever remains of daylight. Let's get some distance in before we stop for the night. It's been a few days since we rested. I'm sure you girls are tired. You need some sleep and rest for another few days of hard travel."

Jun and Shui looked at each other for a moment. Silently communicating.

Yin Hu blinked. He found their reaction strange. "What is it? Is there something on my face? Don't be shy."

"Ancestor," Jun said hesitantly as she gave Shui a look he couldn't figure out. "Don't you sleep? Tire? Need a moment or breather? Not even a moment to recover from battle or using Qi?"

"Well, I…"

Yin Hu paused trying to remember the last time he actually fell asleep. It certainly wasn't while he was in this cultivation world. How long had it been? He couldn't even remember at what point he had taken a proper nap on the tutorial island. Not even a light snooze.

He turned away from the girls to think.

Am I broken? Is my circadian rhythm not fixable? Is it a melatonin problem? When was it that I actually fell asleep? Or do I recover differently now after being on the island for so long?

Every question he asked himself did not seem to have an answer. Only birthing even more questions. Each one more difficult to answer than the previous question, sending him down a spiraling loop. Question after question he couldn't figure out and what they had to do with the tutorial and the system.

It left him dazed. Walking forward while his mind kept track of the girls, who followed him closely, but dazed nonetheless.

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