Monster Paradise

Having completed the refinement and integration of the gravel world, as well as eliminating the threat from the Myriad Tribe Palace temporarily, Lin Huang started contemplating returning to the great world.

Before doing this, however, he was prepared to keep Lin Xin company for some time. After all, with the time spent in closed-door cultivation, both of them have not seen each other much for about a year and a half.

In truth, it was also a convenient excuse to give himself a relaxing holiday.

During these one and a half years, he spent most of his time on the go, cultivating, and elevating his abilities. Due to the crisis within the gravel world, he was almost always highly strung. Now, he could finally slow his pace down slightly.

Early in the morning, Lin Huang dragged Lin Xin along with him to Mrs. Fatty’s soup dumplings shop.

It was the end of October already; the autumn season in Emperor City was nearing its end. The weather was gradually turning colder.

This change in temperature did not affect cultivators much, but ordinary people have been forced to layer up with thick outerwear.

The tables and chairs that Mrs. Fatty usually arranged outside her shop entrance had been taken back indoors, with only two empty tables left within the shop. After all, soup dumplings were the sort of food that should be eaten hot and did not taste as good cold.

Lin Huang and Lin Xin entered the shop and immediately sat down at one of the empty tables.

“Bro, you woke me up first thing in the morning just to eat dumplings?” While Lin Xin did enjoy eating Mrs. Fatty’s soup dumplings, she did not particularly like waking up early.

Especially since graduating from the Martial Hunter College, she organized most of her schedule by herself. She normally slept until a little past nine in the morning. Since moving to Emperor City, this routine turned into a lifestyle, and no one in Dynasty dared to disturb her lie-ins.

“We haven’t had a proper chat in almost a year and a half.” Lin Huang smiled.

“Yeah, it’s been a year and a half already,” Lin Xin lamented.

She still remembered how difficult it was to adjust the year Lin Huang left for the great world. Even though in the past Lin Huang was often away from home, at least she could use her Emperor’s Heart Ring to contact him anytime. It was common for them to send messages or converse with each other directly through a digital screen. However, during the year that Lin Huang went to the great world, he went completely off-grid, hence the feeling was not the same.

“You should have been to a number of places in the gravel world already. Is there anywhere in particular you would like to visit but never got around to?” Lin Huang grinned.

“You want to travel?” Lin Xin felt slightly bewildered. It was a rare sight for Lin Huang to be so carefree.

“It’s not easy to get time off. It would be good to travel and get some fresh air.” Lin Huang nodded.

Hearing this, Lin Xin could not help but smile. “It’s rare to see you this laid back.”

“The crisis in the gravel world has been eliminated. And I don’t have any way to upgrade my combat level here. During this time before I return to the great world, let’s treat it as a holiday then.” Lin Huang explained merrily, casually looping his hands behind his neck and leaning back into the chair.

“Moreover, you have evolved into a Virtual God rank-9 in a single breath. It isn’t a good idea for you to evolve to the true god-level at least for a while. You should first familiarize yourself with using Divine Power as a Virtual God rank-9,” Lin Huang added.

“Hmm…rather than using this as an excuse to take a break, I think that someone is worried my combat level ranking has become too high and will leave him in the dust.”

“What’s there to be smug about? If I were to have your physique, I would have evolved to the heavenly god-level by now at the very least, if not the lord-level.” Lin Huang pouted. “Besides, combat levels are virtual, only abilities are real. As a Virtual God rank-9, you can’t even beat me, a Virtual God rank-6. There’s nothing to brag about.”

“Who wants to compete with you?!” Lin Xin had witnessed first-hand Lin Huang’s abilities on the battlefield. She felt that her own brother was completely out of a normal person’s league.

“Alright, let’s change the topic. Give me a list of the places you want to visit in these two days. I need to spend some time on the walkthrough.” Lin Huang returned to the initial subject.

“No need to go through the trouble. I’ve already listed them out, and I’ve also completed the walkthrough.” With that, Lin Xin made a digital file appear before them.

Lin Huang stared at it. Sure enough, there were more than thirty places listed clearly on it.

“Choose the places that you want to visit the most first. We’ll spend the next two months touring around these places. As for the remaining ones, let’s wait until next time.” Lin Huang did not want to visit any of these places in passing.

If he deemed a place interesting, he did not mind staying there for a month. To meet his ideal pace, visiting thirty tourist spots over a span of two months was an impossible feat.

“Alright…” Although Lin Xin was slightly unwilling, she knew that it was difficult enough for Lin Huang to carve out two months’ worth of time.

“It should be snowing in Winter City by now…” Lin Xin raised her head to look at the cloudless skies above. “My first stop would have been Winter City, but Xiaoxuan is in closed-door cultivation.”

“His closed-door cultivation should not take too long. Two months should be enough. We can put Winter City as the last stop.” Lin Huang knew that Lin Xin wanted to relive the moments the three of them shared four years ago.

“Let’s make Wulin Town our first stop then,” Lin Xin suggested.

“Wulin Town it is then.” Hearing this, Lin Huang blinked in surprise but immediately nodded in agreement.

Respawn point No.7D101—Wulin Town was the first place that he had arrived at after crossing over to this world. It was also the place where Lin Huang’s former self and Lin Xin had grown up together.

Although it was a barren grade-D foothold with almost no tourist attractions, it bore many of Lin Huang and Lin Xin’s childhood memories.

Lin Huang could easily understand why Lin Xin wanted to return to have a look.

“I don’t even know what has become of Wulin Town now …” Lin Xin murmured to herself.

“Once we’ve had our breakfast, we shall start our journey!” Lin Huang announced, just as Brother Fatty cheerfully served two trays of dumplings over to them.

After ten minutes or so, the siblings finished their breakfast.

As they were leaving the shop after having paid the bill, Lin Huang glanced to check the time. It was not seven-thirty yet. He craned his neck to look at Lin Xin, “Do you have anything you need to prepare, or shall we set off straight away?”

“Let’s start our journey right now!” Lin Xin also looked at the time, a faint smile etched upon her face. “In the past, I used to leave for school around this time.”

Lin Huang waved his hand, and a black whirlpool-like dimensional portal appeared before them.

“What is this?” Lin Xin blinked in surprise. Of course, she knew that this was not a dimensional portal.

“I’ll explain later,” Lin Huang said, pulling Lin Xin along to step into the whirlpool.

In the blink of an eye, both of them arrived right in front of the house in Wulin Town that the siblings had lived in at the very beginning.

The door plate with the number 23, as well as the sidewalls of the three-story villa, was creeping with vines. The partially shaded rooftop garden was also completely covered with plants.

“Want to go in to have a look?” Lin Huang said, taking the first step toward the house.

After keying in the door password, he was surprised to hear a “beep” sound signaling that the door had been unlocked.

He initially thought that the password had long lost its use and was even prepared to force the door open. Clearly, there was no need for that.

Pushing the door open, the siblings stepped forward one after another.

“Looks like nothing much has changed.” Lin Xin sounded gratified.

The layout inside the house was evidently the same as before. Even the couch, carpet, as well as the tables and chairs in the dining hall, looked the same as when they had left them.

The only change was that there were lots of mushrooms growing from underneath the floorboards. Also, the household furniture was coated with a thick layer of dust, and there was a faint moldy stench in the air.