Chapter 978: Wretched Trio

On the outskirts of the Boundless Realm.

On a secluded street, three figures wearing bamboo hats moved through the drizzling rain. Rain pattered softly on their hats. Despite their conspicuous appearance, the passersby seemed completely oblivious to their presence. They drifted through the gloom of the Boundless Realm like ghosts from another world.

Finally, the three figures simultaneously stopped in front of a small restaurant at the corner of an alley.

Tap, tap, tap—

One of them stepped forward and gently knocked on the restaurant's glass door.

The owner, who had been dozing at a table, was startled awake by the knocking. He looked blankly towards the door but, seeing nothing, suspiciously laid his head back down.

The one who had knocked paused, as if realizing something, then turned and smacked the white-haired figure's bamboo hat. "Idiot, put your bandages on! He can't see us!"

The white-haired figure let out a soft "Oh" and slowly began to wrap bandages around his arms. He looked at Jian Changsheng with a hint of resentment, apparently offended that his hat had been knocked askew. He rather liked that tattered hat.

"...What kind of look is that?" Jian Changsheng was a little speechless. "If you hadn't secretly buried yourself in the ground in the middle of the night to play hide-and-seek, causing us to spend the next day frantically searching for you and drawing the pursuit of calamities, we would have arrived much earlier!"

Jiang Xiaohua quietly lowered his head in an aggrieved manner. After more than ten seconds, he whispered: "It's warmer sleeping underground... I just accidentally overslept."

"Alright... let's eat first." Sun Bumei parted his chapped lips, his voice hoarse as if he had just emerged from a desert. "If I don't eat soon... I'm going to... starve to death."

With that, his legs gave out, and he nearly collapsed onto the ground.

Tap, tap, tap—

Jian Changsheng frantically pounded on the glass door. "Owner, help!"

The owner jolted awake from his dream. He saw three figures at the door in tattered clothes, one of them clinging to the wall, face deathly pale, as if on the verge of collapse. He immediately sprang from his chair and hastily opened the door. "What's wrong? What happened to him? Do you need any medicine??"

Jian Changsheng scanned the menu on the wall, rattling off his order like a machine gun: "We need braised lamb, local-style chicken pot, hot and sour cabbage, wolfberry black-bone chicken soup..."

The owner was speechless. He had thought it was a heart attack; turns out they were just starving. He gave them a silent look, tied on his apron, and walked into the kitchen. "Wait, it'll be quick."

Jian Changsheng and Jiang Xiaohua helped Sun Bumei to the nearest table. The latter, however, seemed to have no bones, slumping onto the tabletop as soon as he sat down, looking as if his soul had departed his body.

Seeing this, Jian Changsheng couldn't help but say: "You're so hungry, why don't you have a hawthorn candy to tide you over..."

At the mention of "hawthorn candy," Sun Bumei's eyes widened. He sharply turned his head away and started retching violently!

"Don't even mention those words," Jiang Xiaohua interjected, trying to save Sun Bumei's fragile life. "He's so hungry, if he keeps throwing up, he'll be expelling bile..."

Jiang Xiaohua paused after speaking, his throat starting to convulse lightly. "And when you say it, I also..."

"Ugh—"

Jiang Xiaohua turned to retch into another trash can.

Jian Changsheng: ...

The journey through the Grey Realm had undoubtedly been a hellish ordeal for the trio. The first few hours after entering the Grey Realm from the Tian Shu Domain went smoothly. Thanks to Jiang Xiaohua's abilities, they managed to shield themselves from all calamities, even cooking a hot pot meal on the road with newly purchased ingredients and a pot.

The nightmare began when Jiang Xiaohua silently buried himself in the ground...

After that night, Jian Changsheng and Sun Bumei woke up to find Jiang Xiaohua missing, feeling as if their world had collapsed. They frantically searched for Jiang Xiaohua nearby, believing some powerful calamity had overcome his abilities and dragged him away under the cover of night. During their search, they accidentally attracted a group of calamities. They had no choice but to bravely fight them off. Fortunately, these calamities were only fourth-tier, and they ultimately secured a narrow victory. However, in the process, all their accompanying cooking equipment, vegetables, and meat were destroyed.

Just as Jian Changsheng and Sun Bumei were covered in sweat from their struggle, Jiang Xiaohua slowly crawled out of the ground, even stretching leisurely in front of the calamities...

At that moment, Jian Changsheng's desire to kill reached its peak.

After that, Jiang Xiaohua seemed to realize his mistake and obediently followed Jian Changsheng and Sun Bumei the rest of the way. Although they didn't encounter any more calamity attacks, the trio had lost all their provisions. With no other options, they had to resort to eating the candied hawthorn skewers Sun Bumei conjured to sate their hunger.

However, while Jian Changsheng and Jiang Xiaohua could stomach the candied hawthorn, Sun Bumei himself absolutely refused to eat them. He endured the journey for several days, relying solely on his physical endurance.

After eating candied hawthorn for so many consecutive days, Jian Changsheng and Jiang Xiaohua's opinion of it evolved from "quite tasty" to "a bit monotonous" to "hard to swallow"... Eventually, they reached a point where merely mentioning it made them feel nauseous.

Finally... they arrived at the Boundless Realm!

As platters of fragrant dishes were brought to the table, the trio's eyes gleamed with hunger. Sun Bumei, in particular, resembled a dying lion, almost shoveling the food into his mouth along with the plates.

With no other chefs, the owner had to cook one dish at a time. Each time he brought a freshly stir-fried dish to the table, the previous one had already become a sparkling clean plate. Beside the empty plates, three pairs of eerie green eyes stared intently at him.

Sweat beaded thicker on the owner's forehead. His wok spatulas were practically smoking from how hard he wielded them in the kitchen, but no matter how hard he tried, he only collected a stack of relentlessly clean plates. In all his years of business, it was the first time he'd experienced "bullying" in his own restaurant.

The owner was busy for a full ninety minutes before the three "ancestors" outside finally sated their hunger.

"Burp..."

Sun Bumei leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and let out a satisfied burp. "I'm alive again..."

"What's the next step?" Jian Changsheng wiped his greasy lips. "We've reached Boundless. How do we rescue Hongxin?"

"...Good question." Sun Bumei replied honestly, "I don't know either."

"You don't know??"

"Why would I know? Weren't you the one who insisted on coming to rescue Hongxin? I thought you had a complete plan."

"I..." Jian Changsheng was speechless. "I was thinking we'd make detailed plans once we arrived at the Boundless Realm... You see, we're not familiar with the Boundless Realm. How could we deploy anything in advance? Don't we have to come here first?"

"Fair enough." Sun Bumei picked his teeth with a toothpick and asked, "So now, do you have a plan?"

"...I'm not familiar with the Boundless Realm... but... Plum Blossom should be very familiar!" Jian Changsheng changed tack, turning to look at Jiang Xiaohua, his eyes filled with hope. "Plum Blossom, this time, we really have to rely on you!"

Jiang Xiaohua, who had been silent, looked blankly at the two. After sensing their earnest gazes, he blinked... Then innocently pointed to himself:

"Me... defeat the Silver King?"