Chapter 65: There's a Thief!

The human shadow looked pitifully in the direction of the courtyard, but unfortunately, there was no response.

Panic flashed across the shadow's face as it waited expectantly for a long time, only to finally collapse onto the ground in a daze.

To the great master, it was merely an exceptionally insignificant decoration, and now the great master didn't even care about it anymore... Since it could no longer serve as a decoration in the master's room, where should it go now?

Should it go and become a decoration for someone else? After all, it was originally just an ornament.

The moment this thought arose, a fierce and savage glint flashed in the shadow's eyes... Aside from the great master and the great master's family, those other ant-like snacks were not worthy of being adorned by it!

Following that flash of ferocity, the necklace lay blankly on the ground once more.

It felt as though it had lost the meaning of its existence. Should it just self-destruct? Without a self, there would be no more worries.

"Rustle, rustle..."

A faint sound rang out.

The necklace figure turned its head to look.

A weird, eerie paper doll that looked as though it were made of metal and clay drifted over.

The necklace merely glanced at it before losing interest.

It was different from this unfortunate paper doll... The paper doll had been willingly discarded by the master's sister, whereas it had been thrown away due to a misunderstanding by the master's brother-in-law.

It was naturally superior to the paper doll by a tier!

It remembered that the master's sister seemed to have thrown away many paper dolls... Sure enough, these paper dolls didn't even understand the meaning of their own existence; they were all fools.

The paper doll tilted its head, looking at the necklace figure, and seemed to say something.

The necklace figure bared its fierce expression: "I still have a chance to go back! Stay away from me! Otherwise, if you implicate me and prevent my return, I will definitely eat... I will definitely destroy you!"

It had to go back!

It must fulfill its meaning of existence as a decoration!

...

In a certain mountain recess

Zhao Yu stood not far from the Gale of Desperation, deep in thought: "How can there be black wind here?"

There was a small hillside nearby where he often came to gather herbs. As a result, that very spot was now shrouded in black wind.

With the black wind there, how was he supposed to go in and gather herbs?

Should he brave the black wind and walk right in?

Unwise, unwise. He hated pain.

Choosing between going further away to gather herbs and entering the black wind to gather them, Zhao Yu opted to take out his firewood chopper: "Chopper, didn't you swallow a rusted sword before? How about you go in and help me gather the herbs?"

Having devoured such a powerful rusted sword, the chopper couldn't possibly be without any changes.

The firewood chopper rapidly shook its head and waved: "No, no. You know very well that apart from you, I can't move even if I grow legs."

Zhao Yu thought for a moment and offered words of encouragement to the chopper: "Chopper, you swallowed the rusted sword, which means you've grown up. You need to learn how to mature! In the past, you couldn't move without me, but didn't you swallow the rusted sword earlier? That makes you different from before."

"If you don't try, how do you know you can't move?"

Seeing Zhao Yu's persuasive demeanor, it was clear he was entirely acting for the chopper's own good.

"Even if I could move, I wouldn't go in. The Gale of Desperation is not to be trifled with." The chopper became even more resolute.

Was the Gale of Desperation something a living person could touch?

If humans couldn't touch it, then a blade like him definitely couldn't either.

Zhao Yu couldn't help but look up at the sky.

He regretted it.

Had he known the chopper was so useless, he should have let the rusted sword swallow the chopper instead... Given the rusted sword's previous arrogance, helping him gather herbs surely wouldn't have been difficult, right?

The chopper cautiously suggested, "How about we go check out the next place? After all, we have over a dozen herb-gathering spots."

"With black wind covering mountains like this, I have a feeling the next place won't have any either."

Despite saying that, Zhao Yu silently raised his foot.

Since the chopper was so useless, he would just have to suffer and work hard himself.

After walking for the better part of the day, Zhao Yu arrived at another mountain recess.

Damn it all, there was black wind here too.

That impenetrable black wind shrouded the hillside containing the medicinal herbs tightly.

Subconsciously, Zhao Yu took out the firewood chopper once again.

This time, come hell or high water, he was going to make the chopper grow and become useful.

The chopper panicked and blurted out hurriedly, "Zhao Yu, Zhao Yu, don't be impulsive."

Zhao Yu rubbed his eyes, his expression resolute: "Chopper, as a tough blade, you must grow up. As your good friend, I have both the obligation and the right to supervise you."

He simply refused to believe that a chopper which had swallowed a rusted sword was still as useless as before! The reason it seemed useless now must be because the chopper lacked drive.

If experimentation showed the chopper was still useless, then... well, there would be no choice but to move on and check out the next place.

Realizing this ordeal was unavoidable, the chopper could only suppress its heartache and cry out, "I have a way to temporarily shield you from the black wind."

Zhao Yu, who was just about to force the chopper to grow, stared wide-eyed: "You weren't being honest, were you?"

If he hadn't forced the issue, the chopper would have kept holding back and hiding things?

As expected, wives were the best; they never lied to him.

The chopper blinked its eyes and silently changed the subject: "You just need to go kill a few people and let me devour their souls. Then I can use my origin to guide those souls into blocking the Gale of Desperation for you."

Zhao Yu wore a sinister look: "Does it look like there are any people around here?"

If there were people, the sheepskin scroll inside his shirt could do that just fine, alright!

The chopper thought for a moment, looking thoroughly proud: "If there are no people... I can still help. Although it won't completely shield you from the black wind, it can substantially reduce the black wind's impact on you."

"You mean the black wind won't blow hard enough to hurt me anymore?"

"I suppose it won't hurt anymore?" The chopper said with some uncertainty.

Though feeling a bit nervous, Zhao Yu urged, "Then hurry up and do it."

The chopper silently crawled onto Zhao Yu's shoulder.

Without any visible action from the chopper, a shimmering protective barrier appeared over the surface of Zhao Yu's body.

The chopper once again looked heartbroken: "It's done. Go into the black wind and try it out."

Its origin source...

It hurt so much it couldn't breathe.

Did a chopper even need to breathe to begin with? That wasn't important.

Zhao Yu reached out and poked the barrier; it felt somewhat soft...

He cautiously stepped into the black wind.

Countless gales of darkness blew past, piercing through the barrier... It seemed there were some changes, but it was still as pitch-black as before.

The wind blew against Zhao Yu's body.

There was a faint coolness, as if some blunt object was prodding him... He could feel it, but indeed, it didn't hurt anymore.

Even the force that kept trying to drag him down into the earth had lessened considerably.

Zhao Yu was overjoyed: "Chopper, I knew you wouldn't be as useless as before."

From now on, even if the black wind didn't recede, he wouldn't need to fear it anymore.

The hard work he previously spent helping the chopper find its origin source had truly been worth it.

Yet the chopper wore a mournful face: "Hurry up and go gather your herbs..."

He had used his origin source to condense that barrier... watching his origin diminish bit by bit broke his heart.

Zhao Yu couldn't help but complain: "Look at how stingy you are. Isn't it just a tiny bit of origin source? Once I have free time later, I'll go out and help you find some more."

The chopper's eyes immediately lit up.

Having successfully painted a grand picture of future rewards, Zhao Yu nodded in satisfaction, carrying his bamboo basket as he strolled leisurely through the black wind.

After walking for a short while, he reached the small hillside.

Just as he was about to gather the herbs, the smile vanished from Zhao Yu's face.

Where were his medicinal herbs?

He remembered there being quite a few herbs here, but now, aside from a few weeds swaying in the wind, there was absolutely nothing left.