Just Follow the Yellow Qi Road

Ever since they had found the Genesis Beast prints, the small group of three had been both tentatively and carefully following the path of yellow Yang Qi that had been strewn across the land. They had been traversing the barren wastelands for over 2 hours now and there was an apparent issue arising. Not one from Qingchan or Julong, no it was from their tracker Xiao Dai herself.

She was getting bored.

"Arrgh! This is so insufferable!"

The sudden scream caught the other two off guard, making them recoil slightly at the sheer magnitude of her voice. Julong was honestly just surprised it could be so loud. Even if she was only attempting to be a graceful well-mannered woman, you'd think that some habits would catch on.

...right?

"We've been walking for nearly three hours and there's still nothing!"

Her voice echoed throughout the horizon like some form of battle cry.

All of a sudden, all too comedically, she was blasted in the back. What immediately ensued was the loss of her centre of balance, and, with a decent amount of force, the flopping of her body face first into the dirt.

"Eek~!"

A girly scream escaped her previously whiney self, accompanied by a small growl of anger at the realisation that she had been forced into her current position by one of the two behind her.

Julong wore a blank expression as he stared at the scene in front of him. There was only one other person here, meaning there was only one other possible culprit. Yep, none other than Li Qingchan was the perpetrator. She had seemingly deliberately ignored his earlier words about them not taking abusive courses of action from when they had first entered the wastelands.

"Hey, what did I say earlier?"

Qingchan paused for a minute trying to remember before scratching her nape with a nervous chuckle.

"Right... sorry."

Julong raised his eyebrows. She shouldn't be apologising to him of all people.

"If you're going to apologise, at least apologise to Xiao Dai."

"Yeah!"

Xiao Dai was now standing, though she was gently holding her face with a wince. Obviously, she was not very happy with what had happened, though she had to admit that screaming like she was doing probably wasn't the greatest idea.

Just like how they had no clue how much further away they were, they similarly had no idea how close they were. Her yells could have alerted the Genesis Beasts to their presence had they been close enough, which obviously, could have been quite troublesome. While they had made only some distance, they were getting closer to the city walls with each step they took - not that they would be able to see the walls for another few days if they were to continue at such a pace. However, being this far out, it was undeniable that they were nearing the original spot the Genesis Beasts were sighted so it was probably a good thing Qingchan forcibly shut her up.

"Though thinking about it now, I want to say sorry for yelling, it probably wasn't the greatest idea in hindsight."

A smug grin overcame Qingchans apathetic lips.

"And that's precisely why I stopped you."

Xiao Dai abruptly crossed her arms in annoyance at her words.

"Oh yeah? Well, guess what."

"What?"

"No, I want you to guess."

"I don't want to."

"Okay, fine then! I'm not going to forgive you!"

She then looked away with a small grunt, almost reminiscent of a child pouting because they didn't get what they wanted.

Julong looked at Qingchan expectantly. While she wasn't facing him, and as such couldn't see him, she could definitely feel his expectant gaze upon her. In response, she just sighed with a slight roll of her eyes. She couldn't quite believe just how childish Xiao Dai could be.

"I'm sorry Xiao Dai. I won't do it again."

Betraying her words, Xiao Dai instantly turned around and faced Qingchan with a slight amount of adoration in the depths of her eyes. It was obvious that she admired Qingchan greatly, so her saying that must have meant a lot. Trying to disguise her feelings toward it, she quickly tried to compose herself and spoke in a low voice.

"Y-You are forgiven."

Qingchan was about to immediately rebut about Xiao Dai forgiving her, but she again felt Julongs stern gaze on her and gave up. Thanks to this Julong opted to say something himself.

"Just a quick question before we keep going, Xiao Dai."

Her attention was brought toward Julong momentarily.

"You're absorbing the Yang Qi as we go, right?"

She remained silent. Coming to think about it, it was quite embarrassing for her that she of all people was the bored one even though she was technically the only one currently being rewarded for the walk.

"A-Aha. Yes."

Julongs eyebrow twitched, but quickly let it go. It kind of freaked Xiao Dai out that he went through such a quick fluctuation of emotion, but she remained composed.

In the ensuing moments, Julong just walked past her.

"Well come on, let's keep going you lazy Qi glutton."

Xiao Dai, for the second or third time in the same day, became a rosy pink. She had once again lost her composure. After doing so, she just resigned herself to the insult. It was a correct judgement after all.

"Okay..."

She lowered her head and followed Julong as Qingchan trailed behind with a cheeky grin. It's not that Qingchan thought that Xiao Dai deserved any of the teasings she was receiving, it was simply because she found her reactions incredibly amusing.

After another hour or so of walking, Xiao Dai couldn't help but notice the trail of Yang Qi become a lot more profound. Not only had it become thicker in diameter, but it had also become richer in contents. While it was still akin to specks of dirt on the earth in comparison to the core of Yang the Alpha Genesis Beast held, it was a very obvious difference and one which signified their proximity to the Genesis Beasts.

Low and behold, as they finally toppled over an artificial-looking ridge that had been in the distance for some time, their journey had definitely shown progress. In front of them on the barren plains of the wasteland was a large pack of Genesis Beasts. Right in the middle of them all the trail finally came to a stop, finishing right on the biggest and most muscular Genesis Beast of the pack. One which Julong immediately recognised.

Well, hello there.