Heavenly Luster Mountain,
Suppressing his laughter, Xue Hui eyed Xiao Ning'er at his side, whose gaze was locked onto the scene in front of them.
A mixture of bewilderment and wonder could be seen dawning on her beautiful face as she tried to comprehend what was happening before her.
"What!?.. What's going on? Why are they dancing?" Xiao Ning'er asked confusedly. She tilted her head from side to side, seemingly trying to see if the things in front of her would make sense if she looked at them from a different angle.
Which made her look rather cute.
In front of them were tens of thousands of small crabs dancing together in a synchronized manner.
The clicking of their claws and the clattering of their legs on the sand beneath them created a rather upbeat rhythm, resonating throughout the entire sandy plain. Their colorful carapaces glistened under the rays of the sun, resulting in a stunning light show that fascinated Xiao Ning'er greatly, leaving her stunned.
Hearing the stifled laughter beside her, she pursed her lips and moved her hand to gently pinch Xue Hui's side, making him jump in surprise. "Xue Hui, stop just laughing, and tell me what's going on with them."
"Haha.. haha.. okay!! Sorry! Sorry! Ning'er, I'll tell you! J-just stop pinching me, I'm ticklish there!" Xue Hui waved his hands frantically as he begged for mercy, making Xiao Ning'er let out a soft laugh.
While also making sure to note about that little information about his ticklish spot.
Scratching his side, Xue Hui tearfully gazed at the crabs tirelessly moving rhythmically without stopping even a bit.
"They're not dancing, they're actually trying to intimidate us into not entering their territory. Those synchronized movements they're doing are actually an effective way to scare off demon beasts. Unfortunately for them, we are not beasts but humans, so those moves can only be perceived by us as dancing."
"Oh!" Xiao Ning'er nodded, finding the reason rather hilarious. "So that's what it is. They're rather large in number, so I guess I can see how other demon beasts would find them intimidating." Xiao Ning'er exclaimed. Going out into the outside world really widened her horizons, and she felt grateful to Xue Hui for bringing her along.
"So what are we going to do next? Leave them be? Find another way to traverse?" Xiao Ning'er asked, only to receive a puzzled look from Xue Hui.
Making her cheeks flush red, she immediately turned her gaze away, avoiding Xue Hui's gaze.
Inwardly, Xiao Ning'er found the dancing crabs rather adorable and wished not to disturb their habitat.
Feeling awkward, she hid her face behind her hands and turned her back to Xue Hui.
"X-Xue Hui, stop looking at me like that, it's embarrassing," Xiao Ning'er protested.
"I guess it can't be helped." Xue Hui let out a chuckle, finding her reaction quite endearing. "Those little pincers are quite painful. One of them is enough to make you cry in pain, but a thousand of them at once will definitely kill you."
Hearing those words, Xiao Ning'er's face turned ashen, realizing that those little crabs might be cute to look at, but were still demon beasts and quite dangerous in their own way.
They avoided the small creatures and looked for another way up the mountain instead.
Xiao Ning'er was treated to the beautiful scenery of the forest inside the Heavenly Luster Mountain, the place was filled with various kinds of plants and demon beasts that she had never seen before in her life, and it amazed her.
But for Xiao Ning'er, the best part of this journey was being together with Xue Hui.
The way Xiao Ning'er felt safe, cared for, and free from any worries whenever she was with Xue Hui made her wish to stay by his side forever.
The night Xiao Ning'er kissed Xue Hui and made him aware of her feelings for him was something she would never forget.
At first, it scared Xiao Ning'er, thinking that she had just made things awkward between herself and Xue Hui.
But to Xiao Ning'er's surprise, Xue Hui began treating her more warmly afterward.
Holding her hand, embracing her, and even the fond looks she received from him made her think that her feelings were reciprocated.
The only issue was that Xue Hui was engaged to Chen Linlin. It took Xiao Ning'er a while to realize that Xue Hui was the same person to whom the Divine Family had engaged their sole princess.
A discovery that put a lot of pressure on Xiao Ning'er.
In terms of wealth, influence, and talent, Chen Linlin was far superior to her.
Chen Linlin was someone many people did not wish to offend, let alone try to steal from her.
But Xiao Ning'er couldn't help it. She liked Xue Hui, and she couldn't imagine herself not being with him.
Xiao Ning'er's fists tightened. She knew what she needed to do once they returned to Glory City. She only hoped that she would not cause too much trouble for Xue Hui, when she did so.
The two of them continued their hike, stopping occasionally to collect herbs and fruits, all of which were stored in Xiao Ning'er's interspatial ring.
Things remained relatively peaceful for Xiao Ning'er and Xue Hui. All the demon beasts they encountered were easy to handle.
Mostly because many of them were herbivores, like those crabs earlier.
Eventually, Xiao Ning'er and Xue Hui stumbled upon a giant boulder that attracted Xue Hui's attention.
Investigating it, Xue Hui began probing the boulder while Xiao Ning'er stood at the side, watching him fondly while he did so.
"Definitely man-made," Xue Hui muttered, tapping the surface of the boulder and discovering the unusual sound it made.
Xue Hui walked toward Xiao Ning'er and held her hand, pulling her a few steps away from the boulder.
Stopping, Xue Hui summoned a black sphere the size of a fist, which quietly appeared in thin air.
Xiao Ning'er's eyes lingered on the floating object. If she recalled correctly, Xue Hui called it the Power of Origin. Specifically, the black one was the Origin of Space, one of the twelve Origins he possessed.
Xiao Ning'er did not know everything about it, only that inside the Origin of Space was a vast expanse of empty land that Xue Hui used to store all his belongings.
With a single flick, the fist-sized black sphere flew toward the surface of the giant boulder, sinking into it like a stone thrown into water.
Without making any sound, a human-sized opening appeared on the face of the boulder, allowing Xiao Ning'er to see the hidden staircase beneath it.
"Like I thought, this is a hidden entrance," Xue Hui exclaimed, grinning excitedly at the discovery.
"Y-you made a hole? How can you do that?" Xiao Ning'er asked, blinking repeatedly in surprise as she stared at the staircase hidden underneath the boulder.
"Not a hole, a space. I made an open space between us and the staircase. Luckily, I have my Origin Sphere. If not, it would take days or even weeks before we found all the necessary materials to unlock this entrance," Xue Hui explained enthusiastically.
Which made Xiao Ning'er nod absentmindedly. She barely understood everything Xue Hui said, but the gleam in his eyes and the excitement in his voice were the only things she was focusing on.
"Shall we look inside?" Grinning, Xue Hui spread his arm toward Xiao Ning'er, gesturing for her to take it.
"Mm," she replied with a shy nod, her cheeks slightly red as she stretched out her hand for Xue Hui to hold.
The two entered the open passage and carefully climbed down the stairs, making sure not to trip on their way down.
Once they passed through the entrance, the opening Xue Hui had made, disappeared in an instant, leaving the boulder in its original state as though it had never been touched.
As they descended, Xiao Ning'er and Xue Hui were greeted by the sight of various runes drawn all over the walls, which only excited Xue Hui even more.
"It's actually a labyrinth made by dwarves, an extremely old one at that. If I were to guess correctly, this was built even before the establishment of the Sacred Empire Era. And everything still looks to be in pristine condition," Xue Hui said while scanning all the runes.
"D-dwarves? Like the ones in storybooks?" Xiao Ning'er asked in bewilderment. She never knew dwarves actually existed in real life until now.
Xue Hui nodded in reply, not finding Xiao Ning'er's reaction strange at all.
Dwarves, elves, beastfolk, and naturefolk were long extinct in the Tiny World.
Filthy thousand of years ago, demihumans were as common as humans, scattered all over the world, creating their own empires, living, expanding, and coexisting with other races.
But all of that changed when humanity began gaining more power.
They started with small kingdoms, labeling certain races as evil, then waged wars against them until humanity wiped out entire races.
Once humanity finished annihilating one race, they would turn their sights toward the next target, conveniently finding reasons why humanity was righteous while the others were evil.
Humanity repeated this tactic until they trampled all their enemies into extinction, claiming the legacies of those fallen races as their own.
Leaving behind only a few well-hidden remnants, like this dwarven labyrinth they had discovered.
Funnily enough, what humanity did to the demihumans was the exact same thing demon beasts were doing to humanity now, hunting them toward extinction.
Knowing the history of the Tiny World and discovering what kind of monsters humanity could become definitely gave Xue Hui an existential crisis back during his time inside the [CREATION ORIGIN ANCESTRAL MANUAL]. Fortunately for Xue Hui, he managed to regain control of himself before darkness clouded his heart.
"Ning'er, this labyrinth is quite a dangerous place. There might be traps hidden everywhere, so just follow my lead and avoid touching anything," Xue Hui instructed, pulling Xiao Ning'er closer to him.
"Okay," Xiao Ning'er nodded. She herself found this labyrinth rather sketchy.
Xue Hui and Xiao Ning'er stood in front of a metallic door.
Unlike the surrounding walls, which were made out of chiseled stone, the door before them was crafted from pure high-quality metal. It was dense and sturdy, capable of withstanding the strength of a Legend-rank Demon Spiritualist.
The process used to create this kind of metal had been lost for tens of thousands of years and was considered a form of ancient engineering.
At the top of the door were runes Xiao Ning'er could not understand, but Xue Hui definitely could.
"SOUL PRISON LABYRINTH," Xue Hui read the runes engraved above the door.
Which only made him roll his eyes.
"Well, that's pretty ominous," Xue Hui remarked.
"I think I have an idea what this labyrinth is all about, but let's head inside and see what's there."
Following his lead, Xiao Ning'er tightened her hold on Xue Hui while he used the Origin of Space to create an opening they could pass through.
Stepping inside, they had to shield their eyes from the light assaulting their vision.
After adjusting to the brightness, Xiao Ning'er and Xue Hui were finally able to see what lay behind the door.
The room was surrounded by at least twenty different kinds of bronze statues, each one beautifully sculpted.
Humans, birds, horses, small demon beasts, and other races were scattered all throughout the room.
"So I guessed right, it's a Soul Puppet Laboratory after all. And not just any ordinary laboratory, it's actually one of Xan Kang Hang's creations." Realizing what kind of labyrinth they had entered, Xue Hui grew more alert.
Based on everything he had read about Xan Kang Hang, the man was an eccentric craftsman who would not shy away from doing questionable things in pursuit of his craft.
That included using people as materials for his soul puppet creations.
"Xue Hui, this place i-"
"WOOSH!"
"GRAB!"
"SNAP!"
Before Xiao Ning'er could finish her question, an arrow cut through the air straight toward her face.
With keen senses and quick reflexes, Xue Hui, despite being deep in thought, moved instantly and grasped the arrow mid-flight before it could strike Xiao Ning'er.
Caught off guard, Xiao Ning'er stood frozen in horror, realizing how close she had come to losing her life.
Creaking sounds echoed around the room.
Her eyes widened when all the statues suddenly began moving on their own, slowly turning toward them.
"WOOSH!" "WOOSH!" "WOOSH!"
BOOM! CRACK! THUD!
But before the statues could even take their first steps, fist-sized objects slammed into them, destroying them into pieces.
When Xiao Ning'er finally snapped out of her shock, she was greeted by the sight of Xue Hui surrounded by several colorful fist-sized spheres floating around him like trained beasts.
"You really went after Ning'er, huh!? Now I'm pissed," Xue Hui said in a serious tone.
Which Xiao Ning'er found rather hot.
End of Chapter 49