Chapter 861

Yang wasn’t particularly polite when it came to waking Xiang up. Kat was planning to wait till he was awake to get moving once again... but Yang had other ideas. With a heavy kick to Xiang’s side Yang said, “Get up and cultivate we need to move!” of course, it was yelled, but at this point that was just normal for Yang.

The kick was actually pretty spectacular. The angle was sensational. Xiang skipped four times across the top of the water before he hit Kat’s raft, stopping his progress. Kat couldn’t help the part of her that wondered about how many bounces Xiang would have managed if he hadn’t been stopped in place. Xiang gave out an exaggerated grown as he pulled himself into a sitting position and looked around.

“CULTIVATE YOU DUMBASS. IF THE POISON GETS TO YOU I’LL BRING YOU BACK JUST TO KILL YOU AGAIN!” Yang ‘kindly’ informed Xiang once he was clearly awake. She had to make sure he got the message.

Xiang waved her off and started to cultivate as requested. His face instantly screwed up as he realised just how right Yang was. The toxin was abundant and invasive. It just got everywhere and slowly wore down the cultivator. He was also pretty sure that it’d take him weeks to clean his body out properly. A rather major problem. It seems regardless of how speedy the trek through this swamp was, he found the real reason most people get around. Sure, the wildlife looked scary but it really was the poison that’d kill you in the end. Without his cultivation he was certain that he’d already be dead.

Unlike Yang who got rid of the poison by throwing it up... Xiang’s cultivation allowed him to remove the offending poison from the... other direction. Was it more efficient? Who knew. Xiang would argue yes. On the other hand. Yang would argue her method was vastly superior. Kat would say they’re both idiots and neither process seemed pleasant. Kat might not have been looking at Xiang during the... removal process... but Kat could still hear and it did not sound pleasant.

While Xiang was busy with that Kat went about fixing her outfit up and moving the sleeping Lily back to her arms. It didn’t take super speed to get that done. This meant that she’d finished when Xiang gave the all-clear and Kat turned to see Xiang had moved back onto her raft and happened to be beckoning them over. Kat and Yang made their way over and he asked, “Kat, is there any way you can speed up our exit from this damned place?”

Kat frowned and considered the question. “Perhaps? I’m not sure how much faster I can run then you both while limited by the sludge this place uses as water,”

.....

“Can’t you fly?” cut in Yang.

Kat shook her head, “Well, yes but no. I can fly myself, and Lily no trouble at all but adding both of you... it’s just too much weight. I could probably carry one person while flying? But otherwise I’d just have to jump with style and glide down,”

Xiang tapped his sword as he thought it over. Yang noticed the sound and realised she didn’t have her club on her, so she looked around frantically for a few moments until spotting it and crawling over to grab the weapon in question.

“But you can carry us right?” asked Xiang again.

Kat shrugged. “I suppose so. Assuming you don’t mind how uncomfortable it will be. I’d have to hold you by the collar or something if I’m carrying both of you. Or maybe... hmm no...” *Can’t have them stacked on my back because of my wings. I mean... maybe? No... it’d be rather uncomfortable.* “... yeah I can’t see any way other than holding you by your clothes in each hand but then you’d have your faces awful close to the toxic sludge...”

Xiang grimaced and tapped the sword a few more times before looking down at the icy platform. “Hey... what about using this platform? Could you pick it up and have us stand on top? It’d keep us away from the poison pretty well...”

Kat looked over her icy platform. It might have looked fine to Xiang and Yang but she could see that it had already shrunk quite significantly just since she’d stopped providing it with a small amount of power to keep it cool. Kat chewed her lip for a few moment as she considered it. “Keeping it together might be hard... I... hmm...

“I just don’t know if it could stay together when I run with it. Right now it’s just in the water and already it’s melted a good deal. It also doesn’t have to deal with collapsing under its own weight. Hmm... I’d also probably need to use a bit of demonic energy to make sure my hands don’t destroy because of my grip... and maybe to carry it? I’m not sure how heavy frozen poison is... hmm...

“I think... the answer is a solid maybe. The two big issues I see with this are that I might need to take breaks to ensure the ice doesn’t collapse slowing us down somewhat overall. The second is that... even if I’m able to carry this all without issue the extra weight is going to make me sink deeper into the mud then you both. Instead of just needing to push aside water as I walk I might need to brush aside 10cm or more of mud. That’s going to really slow me down,”

Xiang clicked his tongue in dismay. He was all onboard to try and test out the idea at the very least. If Kat needed a few breaks, and it wasn’t too much slower it’d probably be worth it just to avoid the extra poison... but if Kat was sinking deeper into the mud... well that was another matter. It could potentially be even worse if the water level rose again near the edges. The question of how worth it the idea was turned out to be a difficult one.

“What about...” Xiang started, “No... but... hmm...” Xiang tapped his sword rapidly, “Perhaps...? It... hmmm. Kat perhaps it might be still worth it? Just to get us out of the worst of the muck? If the water gets too deep or you need to rest more than once we can just hop off the platform and get back to running ourselves. If you don’t mind too much...”

Kat nodded slowly, “It sounds... while not necessarily the most pleasing of ideas... at least passable...” *I wish I had Lily to workshop this. Maybe find a good reason to say no... but I mean I don’t want them to be sick or dying. Really the issue is I’d need to hand Lily over to Yang or Xiang because I don’t want her so close to the poison while I run and I can’t really use me hands. Then again that’s another point. If we get out of this damned swamp faster she’s probably at much less of a risk. I guess I’ll just have to trust that they know if anything happens to Lily I would be beyond furious.*

“I’d certainly have to shrink the ice block a bit... the weight isn’t an issue for me but it is for the mud... and on top of that it’d probably take too much demonic energy to keep it together if I leave it at the current size... it can be done though. If you are willing to wait the ten or so minutes it’d take... and... hmm... I’m not sure how bumpy the ride would be? I might need to make chairs or something for both of you just to make sure you don’t fall off and that’d really add to the time...”

Xiang cut in, “Kat. Look... we all want to get out of this place as fast as possible so just... make something quick and dirty that will work and we’ll worry about the problems it presents later. Yang and I will be happy enough just to be out of the fetid waters and if you’re willing to carry us we really shouldn’t be complaining,”

Yang looked very much about to complain in response to Xiang’s statement but a quick glare from Xiang silence those complaints. Yang still glared back of course but she didn’t seem to be willing to override Xiang on this issue. As much as it did grate on her that she wouldn’t be allowed to complain, or should simply be thankful... well... the idea of being forced to run through the mud again was not a fond one and she was willing to let Kat deal with that whole issue if she was offering to take it up.

Kat, seeing there was an agreement sighed and got started on the small ice platform. She needed to make it large enough for two people... the question was did she need to make proper chairs? Maybe just some handholds? Would they be at risk of her fire going for them if their hands were in the ice? Would chairs be good enough? If only she had a few straps to tie them down or something.