Chapter 212: Little Burden

When the dizziness passed, Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi found themselves on a wasteland.

Everything was engulfed in a white mist as if they were in a forest in the early morning. The air was humid and foggy; they couldn't see anything beyond two meters.

Dressed in the thin Taoist robes, they felt cold. Hao Ren circulated the Spirit Concentration Scroll to keep warm, but Zhao Yanzi, without her Dragon Core, was shivering.

Hao Ren reached out and held her hand. She was about to shake his hand off when a surge of warmth traveled from his hand into her body. Realizing Hao Ren was trying to keep her warm, she nestled her hand into his palm more securely.

In this unfamiliar environment, Hao Ren didn't dare to move aimlessly. Standing at where he was, he took out the map Zhao Hongyu gave him and began to study it.

Looking up at Hao Ren, Zhao Yanzi took out a mini-compass from her bracelet and pointed. "This is east."

Hao Ren turned to look at her, happy with her contribution. He set the map in the right direction and found that they needed to move west since Zhao Hongyu had told them that the place they landed on was to the east of the Origin Dragon Grand Palace.

"Follow me." Hao Ren put away the map and pulled Zhao Yanzi toward the west.

Zhao Yanzi stumbled along with him like a reluctant follower.

"Zi." Hao Ren stopped abruptly and turned to look at her.

"Yeah?" Zhao Yanzi looked up.

"I need you to understand one thing before we move forward. We are not here for fun. As you have seen, the cultivators who have entered the Nine Dragon Palace are all selected elites of the Four Ocean Dragon Palaces, and it's a rare opportunity for us to come here since this place only opens every 50 years." With his eyes locked on her, Hao Ren said the words with emphasis.

Zhao Yanzi pouted when Hao Ren continued, "For me, it's not a leisurely tour. I want to find some godly elixirs to help your Third Uncle recover his cultivation strength."

Zhao Yanzi had been defiant at Hao Ren's lecture. Hearing his last sentence, she froze and bit her lip slightly.

"We have only six hours, which is only one afternoon. I hope you will work together with me since what we are doing is related to the recovery of your Third Uncle's cultivation strength and related to the power balance between West Ocean and East Ocean." Hao Ren looked very earnest.

Zhao Yanzi looked at him, and a determined expression appeared.

"Let's go." Hao Ren tugged on her hand and continued forward.

This time, Zhao Yanzi didn't wait for him to drag her along. Instead, she quickened her steps and followed him closely.

She turned to look at Hao Ren and found his serious expression quite cool.

Hao Ren consulted the map while silently counting his steps. He estimated that one step covered a distance of about 50 centimeters, and the product of 50 centimeters and the number of steps would be the distance between the initial position to the Origin Dragon Grand Palace.

This data may not be useful to this trip, but it would be important information for future use.

Zhao Yanzi didn't know what Hao Ren was mumbling about. If she had known that he was estimating and measuring the distance, she would have admired his attention to detail.

The atmosphere was gloomy while the dense white mist reduced their visibility. Zhao Yanzi clutched Hao Ren's hand and leaned closer to him, absorbing the warmth from his body.

"Zi, check if our direction is right," Hao Ren said.

"Ok!" Taking out the compass, she checked carefully. "We are still walking to the west."

"We have walked 12,859 steps now, which is about 6,000 meters." Hao Ren calculated in his mind. "With the walking speed of 5 kilometers per hour, we have spent about one hour here already."

"Of the six hours allocated to us, one hour has passed." Hao Ren told Zhao Yanzi.

"Really? One hour already?" Zhao Yanzi was astonished.

"Let's hurry!" Hao Ren began to jog, dragging Zhao Yanzi along with him.

While jogging, Zhao Yanzi put away the compass, still surprised that one hour had passed already.

They needed to save their energy in the Nine Dragon Palace, but time was more precious!

With the ancient array formations still operating in the Nine Dragon Palace, they couldn't fly using Dharma Treasures in here.

Even walking was consuming their Nature Essence! Zhao Yanzi got the Nature Essence transferred to her from Hao Ren and didn't feel the loss, but Hao Ren was conscious that his Nature Essence was dwindling with each step they took.

The ordinary-looking wasteland was not ordinary at all! Hao Ren had been absorbing the essence from this space and turning it into his own Nature Essence. Otherwise, he would have been exhausted.

That was why the Four Ocean Dragon Palaces used to send cultivators who were between 50 to 60 years old instead of younger cultivators even though the younger ones could enter twice. After all, the weak cultivation strength of young cultivators was not even enough to be consumed by the wasteland in the Nine Dragon Palace!

While they were running, Hao Ren felt like his Nature Essence was pouring out like the water in a waterfall!

His Nature Essence was not abundant, to begin with, and it was now almost running out!

Hao Ren stopped immediately and took several deep breaths. He calculated and found that they had just run about 200 steps!

"What? You're tired so soon?" Zhao Yanzi looked back at Hao Ren in surprise since she knew his physical strength was way better than hers.

Hao Ren released her hand. "Try and run by yourself!"

"Running is not difficult for me!" As the best runner in her school, Zhao Yanzi swung her arms and began to run.

Six steps later, she felt a heavy pulling force on her legs. She lost her balance and fell to the ground.

Seeing her awkward posture, Hao Ren couldn't help but laugh. He walked over and pulled her up.

Zhao Yanzi's face reddened, realizing that Hao Ren had dragged her along with his Nature Essence for so long.

"Let's continue," Hao Ren said mildly as he grabbed onto her hand.

Zhao Yanzi nodded and blushed.

She even felt like her hands were hot.

Zhao Yanzi turned to look at Hao Ren while walking. "Do... Do you think I'm a burden?"

"What?" Hao Ren froze and then said to her. "No. You know how to read a compass, right?"

Red-faced, Zhao Yanzi pursed her lips and gave him a fierce look, baring her white teeth at him. "Is that all I can do?"

"Let's move on. Burden or not, you are with me today." Hao Ren quickened his steps and tightened his grip on her soft hand, dragging her to the west.

Zhao Yanzi slowed down a bit and looked at Hao Ren's side face, suddenly feeling touched.