Ten minutes later.

Zhao Luo's bag was more than full.

"I could have been faster if all the trees had at least two fruits."

Zhao Luo complained as most of the trees had only a single fruit on one of the branches at the top of the tree.

His luckiest encounter with the most fruits on a tree was the first tree, the one Zhao Luo had started his gathering hustle from.

That was the only tree with three fruits.

"What about the others?"

Zhao Luo wondered since he had been too focused on gathering.

Looking around, he found out that Senior Cutie and Pi Hao were already done with collecting fruits.

To be more accurate, even though their bags weren't close to being full, they couldn't collect anymore since there was no fruit left hanging.

"You two are monsters at collecting fruits."

Senior Cutie shouted while exchanging glances between Zhao Luo and Xiao Yu.

"It is what it is."

Zhao Luo said while smiling from ear to ear.

Xiao Yu didn't have any emotional display like Zhao Luo but his eyes were slightly curved as he barely hid his delight.

Soon the four gathered at the middle and filled the four bags equally to adjust the weight.

"We will have to carry them since we can't store these bags because of the fruits. They contain pure internal energy so the spaces of the storage rings won't work."

Senior Cutie explained to them as Elder Gay had already told them.

"We can carry them on our back for now."

Zhao Luo told them and tied the bag around his back with a rope that he whirled around his chest and waist.

The others did the same too, after which they started walking towards the way that took them outside of this cold region of the dread forest.

The moment Zhao Luo, Senior Cutie, Xiao Yu, and Pi Hao left that place, three disciples entered the cold region from the other side.

"Princess, this is the area where the fruits are."

One of them spoke while sneakily eyeing the girl he was addressing as a princess.

The princess in question was thick to the extreme so thick that even the thick white trees paled in comparison.

Her beauty was no joke, with pale snowy skin, she stood out from the two male disciples that had accompanied her.

The two male disciples looked like they were her subordinates which was indeed the case.

The princess with the level nine black badge looked around.

Soon a murderous look appeared in the eyes of her other subordinate.

"Is this really the location? I can't seem to find a single fruit?"

The one addressed as princess asked the subordinate who had the cold murderous look in his eyes.

"This inferior subject of yours is ashamed that your time had to be wasted like this. Let me check the situation while you wait here."

The subordinate instantly bent his knee as he bowed in front of the girl while looking down.

"Brother Lee, when will you stop overreacting like this?"

The princess complained to her subordinate who was kneeling in front of her while being on the bronze tier.

"I-its my d-"

Brother Lee tried to say something but he couldn't even complete it before the other guy who had a dirty look in his eyes walked towards him.

He grabbed Brother Lee from his shoulder and helped him up, forcefully.

"Audacious."

Brother Lee shouted at him but before he could do anything else the princess stepped up.

"Stop acting like a stuck-up slave. Just go and find what happened to the fruits."

She told him while also looking at the other subordinate.

They both disappeared from there and dived towards the middle of this area.

A few minutes later, both of them returned, and 'Brother Lee' moved up respectfully and gave a detailed report to the one he called princess.

"There are footprints around the left area and the middle area, which is leading from one tree to another and can be connected to almost every tree."

Brother Lee told the princess with an embarrassed look on his face.

"So someone must have collected the fruits before us."

The princess understood the situation and sighed.

The other subordinate waited for this moment and moved up to give his piece of reason.

"I think it's too early to give up."

"What do you mean?"

"From the footprints, it's clear that there were three people here."

"So?"

"Since the footprints are still fresh, they could still be somewhere in the dread forest." 

The subordinate grinned evilly.

He was indeed right as the footprints did show that three people had been gathering in this area.

But he was wrong.

Since Xiao Yu had been jumping from tree to tree like a monkey which these subordinates could have never guessed.

The other subordinate, Brother Lee, suddenly opened his mouth while the princess was lost in her thoughts.

"It could be too dangerous to continue anymore. Just collecting the fruits under these conditions would have already been hard for us three, but now do we have to fight with others to snatch them away?"

Brother Lee looked around to feel the coldness that was surrounding the area and showed his reluctance to the other subordinates' viewpoint.

"Hmm."

The princess looked torn between the two subordinates while thinking hard about her two choices.

Yet a few seconds later, she looked away from Brother Lee.

"We will follow the footprints out of this area and if we find them, we shall wait and inspect them."

The princess told them and stopped here.

"Princess we must turn back if they seem even a little bit dangerous."

Brother Lee added his condition before the three started making their way out of the cold region while following the footprint left behind by Zhao Luo and the others.

-

Just a little bit away from the middle region of the dread forest, Zhao Luo could be seen carrying a bag of fruits while walking in front of Bimba.

Bimba's footsteps were heavy as was carrying the corpses of the spies and the unconscious leader.

In front of him were Xiao Yu, Pi Hao, and Senior Cutie.

The four had no idea of the closing danger that they will be facing soon.

"I feel strange."

Zhao Luo mumbled while looking at their backs.

He didn't say to them since it was just a gut feeling.

'Whatever.'

Zhao Luo shook it off and walked along the way.