Epoch of Twilight

The night was still like water, without the slightest hint of movement in the forest, not even light. Everyone was hiding in the tree hole and fell fast asleep, snoring loudly.

Luo Yuan remained alert for a little longer, closing his eyes as he did not sense anything out of the ordinary. He began to gather his Will and scanned every inch of his body including the blood in his veins. This was what he did on a daily basis.

Ever since he realized that his Zhanmadao was already something akin to a magical weapon due to the influence of his Will, he had become more aggressive in his pursuits.

At times, he even felt as if his body had been imbued with magical properties just like his Zhanmadao. Even if his arm was chopped off by an enemy, it would not mean he would lose control of the arm. Just like the gods and demons in the tales of legends, he would still be able to control his dismembered arm, floating it around in the air before reconnecting it with his body again. On top of that, the arm would not even be bleeding.

However, that was just speculation and he would not want to try it out.

The night wind blew, causing the tree to sway. He suddenly felt something was wrong and quickly woke up. He looked at his body which was sitting down near the entrance of the tree hole with his leg crossed. He was shocked as he realized he fell asleep unconsciously. He was dreaming himself looking at his own body.

He immediately felt a sense of fear, becoming highly alert. The surrounding was very quiet. He could not hear any other sound besides the trees swaying. He turned around and looked at the rest, they were still sleeping.

"Wake up! Wake up! Don’t sleep anymore!"

Luo Yuan tried to wake them up gently, but none of them responded. Although his voice was very soft, they were supposed to remain slightly conscious even if they were sleeping. And now they still could not respond even when someone was trying to warn them. Apparently, they were in deep sleep.

Luo Yuan looked nervous, he quickly grabbed his Zhanmadao. He wanted to get up but he sat down again after he thought about it.

There was no sign of anything out of the ordinary. Aside from making everyone fall into a deep sleep, no other harm had come to them. Everyone was fast asleep, even the mutated beasts outside. If he simply rushed out, he was not sure if he could find the enemy, but it was a definite fact that they would be able to attack his teammates if he was out. That would be a disaster. At that moment, all he could do was to observe, just in case something happened.

He had not realized but the mist in the forest had grew thicker and thicker. It was thin as a veil when it began to appear but soon, it became so dense it seemed like the surface of a glass of milk. Due to the density of the mist, he could barely see objects 10 meters away.

It was getting late and he was getting tired. His eyelids grew heavier as his vision blurred. Feeling as if everything around him had doubles, he could not wait to close his eyes for some well deserved sleep. Even though he could stay awake for three days and nights based on his physical condition, he felt extremely sleepy at that moment and could not resist.

Rubbing his face, he got off the ground and started pacing in the tree hole. It worked, making him more alert but he eventually started to feel sleepy again. Finally, he took out a piece of Wailing Herb in desperation and put it into his mouth, chewing it slowly. He no longer felt sleep as the pain from the Wailing Herb stung him.

...

He was awaked by the heat. It was already noon when he opened his eyes.

He spat out a bunch of herbs which he did not get to swallow before he fell asleep. He was calm and could not remember what happened last night. However, he thought he fell asleep at midnight when he lost focus on gathering his Will.

He did not expect he would sleep until noon. He felt scared by thinking about it. He felt lucky as the environment here was not what they were used to. They could have even been attacked!

He checked the time, it was about 10 am. He walked out from the cave and checked all the plants and rocks again. He frowned as he did not find anything abnormal. He felt stressed.

If they fell asleep due to environmental factors, it would be totally fine as they would have only been asleep but not in danger. However, the worst thing was that they fell asleep due to certain mutated beasts, making it a disaster.

Luo Yuan was confident with his hearing abilities. However, he had not been able to hear anything since yesterday. That would mean that there was a fearsome mutated beast living in the forest that carried out its activities within a 10 kilometer radius. Luo Yuan could not even imagine the scale of the beast’s power that it could affect him from such a distance. Perhaps, he was unable to even approach it.

He could not stop himself from thinking. After giving it a thought, he woke everyone up.

Everyone woke up as fast as they could and was shocked when they saw the sky. They were panicked as they usually slept between 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. and woke up at 5 a.m to 6 a.m. It has already become a habit and this was the first time they woke up so late.

"What happened last night?" Huang Jiahui asked Luo Yuan.

Luo Yuan shook his head and said with a serious expression, "I just woke up a few minutes ago. We can’t stay here anymore, we need to leave as soon as possible."

Everyone was shocked as they knew Luo Yuan encountered the same thing. They knew they were in trouble. Luo Yuan walked out from the tree hole and kicked both of their pets which were still sleeping. They departed again and the giant lizard kept increasing its speed as he was urged. The atmosphere was very quiet along the journey.

"What time is it?" Cao Lin suddenly asked.

"It’s 3 p.m. now!" Huang Jiahui checked the time and said.

"It means we have been running for almost five hours! What a huge forest!" Huo Dong said.

Luo Yuan frowned as he felt something was wrong but he was not sure. Time flies, the sun was going down to the west. He checked the time and it was 5 p.m.!!

"Stop!" He shouted.

The giant lizard quickly stopped as it received the order.

"What’s wrong, Luo Yuan?" Zhao Yali asked nervously as she felt something was wrong.

"We are running in a circle!" Luo Yuan said. "The ground is flat and based on the speed of the giant lizard, it should be able to run 400 to 500 kilometers away. If we combine the journey yesterday, we have ran 600 to 700 kilometers. With such distance behind us, we would have crossed the Jiangnan Province already." He continued to say.

Luo Yuan then took out the bark where he drafted a map and said, "Look! It was all mountains around us and the farthest one is less than 100 kilometers from here but we haven’t seen any so far. In other words, we’re running in a circle!!"