Chapter 283 - Seizing the compass (Part 1)

Translator: Sparrow Translations  Editor: Sparrow Translations

In the era when magical energy just started recovering, it was rare to see anyone with the ability to control swords. To wandering people with ambiguous identities like Li Dian, they had only heard of such abilities in legends.

Therefore, when Lu Shu used The Corpse of the Dog to pick his identification card, Li Dian saw how a sword flew past in a blink of an eye and thought in shock: it had not been easy for him to survive in the relics and why did he have to meet an expert of C-grade or higher?

Then again, were all C-grade experts of the Heavenly Networks so free that they could act as a Tree Demon in the middle of the night?

Regardless, Li Dian had already lost all hope. Initially, he even suspected if that person had some special abilities to avoid all the weird tree and perhaps was not too strong. After all, the expert was definitely now an amateur.

Li Dian no longer thought so. A C-grade expert who could control a sword could kill him anytime.

Actually, Lu Shu did not dislike Li Dian too much. If it was not for the coincidental meeting, Lu Shu would have neglected this person’s existence quickly as he did not know who he was. Although the head-turning calabash was used initially used to cheat him, it coincidentally matched perfectly with Lu Shu’s ability to expose real names.

This person was different from Liang Che. Liang Che was shameless and evil, and disrespectful to life but Li Dian was not. He was simply a conman who was trying very hard to survive. Not that Lu Shu sympathised with him as what sympathy was there for someone who cheats and steals?

It was just that he did not deserve to be executed.

“Alright, I am not some evil tree, I won’t take your life”, Lu Shu said laughingly. Spare the fact that this guy used the tattered linen cloth to conceal his identity, it was also not of much use to Lu Shu so he decided not to snatch it.

However… he was curious what means did Li Dian use to search for the Sun-moon Mountain’s treasures? He himself was of sensory type. Was Li Dian of sensory type too?

Li Dian was about to thank the Tree Demon for sparing his life but then Lu Shu said, “But… other than this piece of tattered cloth, what other treasures do you have on you? Take them all out. One item in exchange for your life. That isn’t too much, right?”

“From Li Dian’s distress, +555!”

Li Dian whimpered, “I really don’t have any other treasure, only this one!”

What a joke. Who would believe this guy who had been lying all these while? Even his whimpering sounded fake. How could he thought that he could deceive this Best Actor, Tree Demon?

“Oh”, Lu Shu nodded his head while sitting on the tree, “If you don’t hand any over, I will take this tattered cloth.”

“I suddenly remember I have another piece of treasure passed down by my ancestors…”, Li Dian clearly knew that under such threatening circumstances, he had no room for negotiations.

Shivering, he took out a palm-sized geomantic compass from his clothes and threw it out. Li Dian cherished his life a lot as he understood that once he was dead, it was useless to have any treasure.

To be honest, based on Lu Shu’s ability, it was clear that he could easily kill him then take away all his things. Li Dian already felt very lucky that Lu Shu was willing to spare his life…

It was common in the grey world to have incidents of killing then theft. The national black market had several secrets for some time but that was where the largest criminals hung out. To enter, one needed three people’s recommendation and even so, it was unpredictable if he could make it out alive whenever he went there to purchase items. Therefore, he chose to search for treasure in this small-scale black market in Xijing City.

Lu Shu did not hurriedly pick up the compass but instead, asked happily, “When you know my true identity will you take revenge?”

This scared Li Dian who quickly covered himself totally with the linen cloth, “I don’t know your identity, I really don’t, please let me off.”

“How do you not know my identity?”, Lu Shu was not happy.

Li Dian was confused, “When did I know your identity?”

“Hahaha, I am yours truly, the Tree Demon!”

“From Li Dian’s distress, +999!”

Lu Shu jumped down from the tree and picked up the compass, “What is this for?”

“The direction the needle points too is where magical energy is the most concentrated within a radius of 500 metres,” Li Dian explained while shivering beneath the tattered linen cloth as he and Lu Shu were too close and he feared Lu Shu would kill him!

Lu Shu held the compass and felt it was quite heavy. It seemed like Li Dian used it to find the Sun-moon magic mirror. He looked at the compass needle and it really was pointing towards where he thought was the core of the relics.

This thing was quite useful. With it, at least Lu Shu did not have to waste energy figuring directions out. After all, humans sometimes are unable to clearly sense the minute changes of magical energy in the relics. This could save him some trouble.

Lu Shu had no intention to waste more time on Li Dian as he had to continue to look for more animals. Honestly, although Li Dian provided him with a large amount of distress values, the total energy was incomparable to the animals…

Li Dian hid under the cloth for a while and did not hear anything for a while. He slowly lifted it slightly to peek out and realised that the Tree Demon had disappeared without a trace…

Having been in the underworld for so many years, Li Dian had never felt so wronged!

What rubbish that it was the best era. Obviously, the rule that only the strongest in the world survives had been reinforced!

…

Lu Shu walked and admired the compass like a child who found a new toy. He could be in awe with it for quite a while.

Just then, he suddenly saw the distress value in the system’s back-end and froze.

“From Lu Xiaoyu’s distress, +13, Lu Shu, where are you?”

“From Lu Xiaoyu’s distress, +21, why haven’t you come for me!”

“From Lu Xiaoyu’s distress, +19, Chen Zuan, this fatty, is not reliable!”

Distress values with captions appeared again. Lu Shu did not know why Lu Xiaoyu was so special to him. Perhaps it was due to their cultivation technique. After all, this celestial map and system had too many aspects for exploration.

Lu Shu was happy when he saw these distress values as to say he was not bored wandering around the forest was a lie. Being alone in the forest and not knowing what he would encounter next, he also did not know where he would ultimately end up.

To receive Lu Xiaoyu’s news then, Lu Shu felt fortunate as in this lonely yet turbulent world, there was someone who still thought about him.

This sort of feeling was amazing.

He had no clue as to where Lu Xiaoyu was and did not know where to start as he only knew that she was with Chen Zuan and was safe. That was all that mattered.