Another World Trip: Journey with My Cat and an Otaku Loli Goddess Chapter 191 - Hand In Mouth

I wasn’t sure if what I saw was truly what I saw. I saw a flash of purple, but I could be wrong. Plus, the boy matches the description of someone who was causing a lot of waves in the Demon Region, but the number of people travelling with him doesn’t match what I’ve heard.

Still, if I played my cards right, I would be able to benefit from this immensely.

****

“Are you sure you made the right decision back there?” asked Yaomu Shou.

“It was never my plan to stay in the Demon Region. Now that I have a good reason to leave, I might as well take it and go.”

There were few things that were as jarring to discover as yourself being a criminal, which I was now apparently. Go figure.

If you’re wondering where we are, we kinda entered one of the caverns that covered this mountain. As of now, there was a small burning rune on the beast skin that was traversing the vein-like pattern. I was using this thing to traverse this place, which was labyrinth-like by the way.

Even with this, there was a pall that hung over the heads of the group. Even I could tell, so you know it’s bad. It’s probably because of the news that Yaomu Shou dropped before we came in.

It’s what I mentioned before. The royal family deemed me a criminal of the highest calibre. The urgency of my capture and preferred death rivalled that of any confirmed sightings of an Abyss Ghost.

Again, go figure.

I’m pretty sure murder isn’t the reason here, so what could I have done that warranted this?

Everyone wore serious expressions the whole time they thought about it too.

Something suddenly came to mind in the midst of all this. I looked at Xiannu Liang. “Are you sure you want to continue the journey with me?”

I had a shield of spiritual essence around her specifically to keep her safe. Call me a softie at heart.

“It’s fine. I’m not necessarily a person who’s welcome wherever I go myself, so I’ll… stick with you,” Xiannu Liang replied.

I then turned my attention to Shen Ling who replied with. “Don’t even think about it.”

Well, that said everything.

This was the group at the moment. Jia Yan was accompanied by Zi Yu to cultivate in the caverns atop Cavern Flame Mountain, so he didn’t follow along with the rest. I left Lord Whiskers with em too just in case.

“So, what’s your next move?” Shen Ling finally asked.

I thought a bit before answering. “Well, I’ll leave the Demon Region, pass through the human region, since they shouldn’t be so hostile… hopefully. Then, after I get some details from them regarding the location of Emerald Forest, I’ll Uber Xiannu Liang to drop her off while looking for details on that mission I have from my Master and a sale of the earth ghost and then be on my way to Saber Mountain for further training, maybe pick up some alchemy along the way. But before any of that, I need to get myself that earth flame.”

“I see.” Yaomu Shou nodded.

“You took all that better than I expected.”

Her expression turned strange as soon as I said that. She then asked me. “Do you know who you are? Do you know what I’ve experienced since I’ve been with you? What you just said is like a Tuesday Long Di.”

I couldn’t argue against that. Between the heavens and Lord Whiskers, everything does seem out of pocket.

“Oh yeah,” Yaomu Shou spoke up when she remembered something. “I said nothing about it since you seemed prepared when you heard of the Earth Flame. However, those things aren’t easy to acquire. If you want to gain an Earth Flame with your own strength, I heard ‌you need to be at the peak of the Star Creation Stage at the very least, and that’s for the weakest Earth Flame. I’m aware of some tools that can allow you to take it in, but it isn’t without risks.”

“Oh, I have none of those things,” I told her.

Yaomu Shou stopped walking when she heard that. And she said she couldn’t be shocked anymore. She’s lucky she doesn’t have a heart condition.

Yaomu Shou fished around in her storage and took out a palm-sized block that was dull grey in appearance.

“Wait a minute!” She ran after us when she realised I didn’t stop.

I stopped and got a really good look at what she held.

“Is this really what I think this is?” I took it up to feel the weight of it in my own hands.

When I grabbed it, Yaomu Shou revealed a pained expression, but it was fleeting.

“Yeah, that’s an unrefined space stone,” she advised.

“I heard these were priceless.”

“What’s a space stone?” Shen Ling asked. Her curiosity got the better of her.

Yaomu Shou gave a wry smile and answered, “It’s what they use to make things like storage rings.”

Xiannu Liang stuck her head out from the back to take a peek before asking. “is it really that valuable? It just looks like a block of metal or stone.”

“I’ve only heard it was valuable,” I admitted. “I don’t know what makes it valuable myself.”

“It can allow one to grasp the laws of space more easily through studying it. Of course, the space stone exists in small amounts and it’s unbelievably rare, and small amounts like what you find in storage rings can’t help in that regard so much. However, when it’s as large as this, that changes, and the comprehension of space becomes possible. I wanted to use it for something like that later on, but this dimwit…!” she glared at me as she said this.

“Will need something that will be able to contain the destructive energy of an Earth Flame. So here…” she sighed as she looked at Long Di.

I looked at the space stone in my hand and then at Yaomu Shou, then back at the space stone before settling on Yaomu Shou. I placed the space stone in her hand and closed her hands around it with mine. “Hold on to this for a while, I already have a plan… ish.”

“Ish!? This is no time for ish! Ish can go screw itself! You could die!” Yaomu Shou explained with flailing arms.

“Just… trust me. I mean, you kinda told me why you’re accompanying me for the most part, and with this kind of collaboration, trust is kind of necessary.” After I said this, I took the beast skin back out to continue our journey.

Yaomu Shou stared down at the space stone with a complicated look before revealing a satisfied smile. She put the space stone away before running off to catch up with us again.

This thing was taking us lower and lower when the gradient of the cave we were travelling in just dipped and the heat rose sharply with it.

Now I could just use my spiritual essence to stave off the heat. Or since there’s a lot of fire-attributed spiritual energy in this place, I could just run the Foundation Forge Body Tempering Art to passively cultivate my physical body while I travelled.

Whoosh!

A large shield of spiritual essence covered the entire group.

Don’t judge me, the dao path of sadomasochism is long and hard (sounds dirty) so I’ll take my time.

I wonder if I could use this opportunity to somehow find a way to use both somatic essence and spiritual essence.

Welp, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

“Ack!”

A mouthful of blood erupted along with pieces of flesh. Crap.

“Long Di!”

Senior brother Long Di!”

“L-Long Di!”

“I-I’m good.” I waved them off.

“No, you’re not! What happened!?” Yaomu Shou Shen Ling and Xiannu Liang crowded over me with worry dotting their features.

“I didn’t realise it before, but it seems to be an effect of circulating both my somatic essence and spiritual essence,” I told them.

“Oh,” Yaomu Shou said, nodding to herself, seemingly in understanding.

“Huh!?”

“Haagh!?”

Several cries were blurted out from the void, compelling me to look around in confusion, trying to locate the source.

“Hold on…” Yaomu Shou then stopped before she looked at me in horror. “What did you just…?”

I saw in real time, what it looks like when realisation of any kind sets in. It’s pretty hilarious.

Yaomu Shou then held up trembling fingers in my direction, even her lips trembled as she struggled to get the words out. “D-D-D-D-D-D-D-Did you—”

Boom!

Before she could fail her language any further, a massive explosion came from further down the tunnel.

“Hold that thought,” I told her calmly. Lord knows she ain’t finishing that for now.

I double-layered the shield then triple-layered it for good measure.

Now the weirdest thing happened during my decision to quadruple-layering it or not, someone’s hand was rubbing my chest before it made its way up to my face.

Now, you’d think it would stop there, but no. The hand then rubbed my cheek, eyes, nose, nostrils, and ears and even tried to get in my mouth.

“What kinky crap are you tr—mphf…!?”

People, there’s a hand in my mouth. There’s a fricking hand in my mouth. When and how?

The shock was so great that it took me a while to trace the hand back to its source.

Of course, it was her. It was Yaomu Shou. The woman’s hand needs lotion because it’s ashy as all hell.

Yaomu Shou didn’t even care that her hand was in my mouth. She just stared at me in a dazed manner, as she used her other hand to feel me up.

I didn’t sign up for this.

I’m eleven, damn it.

“D-D-D-D-D-Did you j-j-j-j-ju…” So not only is my innocence being attacked, it’s also by someone who can’t speak.

Fwhoosh!

Suddenly, The darkness of the tunnel ahead lit up before a massive wall of red flames came barrelling toward us.

Not having a choice, I just shrugged my shoulders and sat down with the hand in my mouth all the same and quadruple-layered my shield to withstand the wall of flame.