Chapter 20

Early the next morning…

The three departed.

Three palm-sized skylarks stood on the shoulders of each of the three siblings.

Lu Qingyu grabbed a fingernail-sized Yellow Millet Pill from a small cloth bag around her waist and placed it in her palm.

Chiirrpp!

The skylark on her shoulder let out a gleeful chirp, flew in a circle, swallowed the Yellow Millet Pill, showed contentment on its tiny face, and returned to stand on Lu Qingyu’s shoulder.

“Good bird, Chewy.”

Lu Qingyu played with the little bird, soothing much of the nervousness she was feeling about entering a country town.

Chiirrpp!

Chiirrpp!

Seeing that their friend had had a Yellow Millet Pill to eat, the skylarks on Lu Qingfeng and Lu Qingshan’s shoulders got anxious and started chirping.

“Qingyu, the skylarks are still so little. Two pills every day are enough. Stop feeding Chewy! Look, now Gooey’s screaming!” Lu Qingshan complained as he now had to feed Gooey a Yellow Millet Pill.

“They have worked so hard! What’s wrong with them eating a little more?” Lu Qingyu responded. Chewy also gave Lu Qingshan a dirty look to provoke him.

Lu Qingfeng was long used to their behavior. He shook his head helplessly.

A few months ago, when they had been escaping, they’d seen a nest of skylark eggs in a tree, and an adult skylark was lying nearby who had died of poison.

Lu Qingyu had taken the eggs and carefully hatched them.

After Lu Qingfeng had discovered them, he got an idea. He had delved into the Beast Taming Technique for a while in “Primitive”. Although he only knew the very basics of the technique, taming a few skylarks wasn’t that difficult.

The nine skylarks that were hatched were raised by Lu Qingfeng with Yellow Millet Pills that had a bit of Spirit Energy in them. The skylarks developed some wisdom. They could understand human language and were quite agile in their movements.

[Pill: Yellow Millet Pill]

[Grade: Low]

[Ability Upgrade: Five-time Enhance]

[Description: Bird food. For skylarks.]

At the beginning, when they were in the deep mountains, they would get surprise attacks by wild beasts, accidentally venture into the territory of beasts, or be overtaken by hunters of the Truth Sect. They had a very hard time sleeping.

But ever since the skylarks had been tamed, the situation had improved greatly.

The skylarks were only the size of a palm and had no combat effectiveness. Their advantage was that they were fast and well-versed in human language. Hence, there were most fit for scouting.

If there was any danger, the skylarks would warn them immediately, allowing the three of them to prepare for the situation.

The simple map Lu Qingfeng was holding had also been completed with the help of the skylarks.

Chiirrpp!

As the three of them were walking, a skylark was investigating the area ahead. Now he returned, drawing a graceful arc in the air before landing in front of Lu Qingfeng and shaking its head.

By shaking its head, it meant that there were no humans or large beasts ahead, and they could pass safely.

With the skylarks to explore the path ahead, the three of them were able to avoid beasts as they headed toward the northeast.

About ten days later…

They finally sensed that something was different.

“Humans?”

“Five of them?”

Lu Qingfeng stopped as he looked at the skylark who was reporting to him.

“Qingfeng, what should we do now?” Lu Qingshan asked.

“Let’s go out and meet them to find out exactly where we are. If they are from the Truth Sect, we’ll kill them immediately! If they are too powerful, we’ll use the Earth Talisman to escape.”

[Talisman: Earth Talisman]

[Grade: Low]

[Ability upgrade: Five-time Enhance]

[Description: Used to perform an Earth Attribute technique.]

There were many risks in coming out of the mountain recklessly and entering a human assembly point. If they could acquire some basic information from these five people, it would undoubtedly be much safer.

With Earth Talismans, they could advance and retreat. He didn’t think anything really big would go wrong.

“Prepare the talismans. Put them in an accessible location,” Lu Qingfeng looked at Qingshan and Qingyu and reminded them.

“Rest assured, Qingfeng! I’m finished placing it!” Lu Qingyu patted her waist and answered.

Lu Qingshan nodded likewise.

After they’d readied themselves, the three followed the skylark and hurried to the place where the five people were located.

…

“Are we already in Lanjiang County?”

“Nope, but almost. We have to go around the mountain and head east to arrive at the border of Lanjiang County. but if we head north, we will arrive within the borders of Hengshan County.”

Soon they came across the strangers in the mountains. They were five men who were dressed in clothes made of burlap. They looked like ordinary villagers, but seemed able to maneuver nimbly in the forest.

Listening to their conversation, it seemed that they were heading to either Hengshan County or Lanjiang County.

It was just that they were oblivious about where the boundary between the two counties was.

Suddenly, a man with a hook nose in his 30s who was leading the five raised his hand and whispered, “I hear movements!”

The other four stopped immediately and kept quiet.

In a while…

Thud!

Thud, thud!

Thud, thud, thud!

The sound of heavy footsteps approached. Yan Zhang, the man with the hook nose, looked terrified and he said in shock, “It’s a bear!”

Aside from a mountain bear, nothing else could make such loud footsteps.

Yan Zhang held his breath.

Chiirrpp!

However, a skylark suddenly chirped from the sky right on top of his head, breaking the quiet.

Thud!

The sound of the footsteps was coming nearer.

“D*mn it!”

“Run!”

Yan Zhang cursed, yelled to his companions, and sprinted away frantically. Mountain bears are very defensive and are extremely powerful. Although he had sharp blades and he knew kung fu, he dared not confront it head on.

“Run!”

The other four were taken aback. Seeing Yan Zhang running away, they desperately followed him.

Anyone who’d been half a step behind would become fodder for the mountain bear.

Thud, thud, thud!

Hearing more movements from behind, Yan Zhang turned around and saw a black bear that was nearly ten feet tall leaping high up into the air and bouncing over toward them.

It was terrifying!

The five fled in a panic.

Suddenly, at this moment, three figures appeared in front of them: two teenagers and an 11- or 12-year-old little girl.

It was peculiar to see such a combination in the depths of the mountains.

“Are they people from a nearby village?”

“Let them lure away the bear for us!”

Yan Zhang had a brainstorm and immediately ran toward the three. The four others understood what he was up to and followed him.

Lu Qingfeng looked at the oncoming five people and breathed a sigh of relief.

He had been in the process of worrying about how to get information about the boundaries of the counties from these five people. He didn’t want to resort to violence for no reason. Now, since he realized that these five people had vicious minds, there was no need to worry about what kind of method he would use.

“Qingshan, Qingyu, protect yourselves.”

Lu Qingfeng swept across them with the Celestial Eye and discovered that the cultivation attainments of these five men were similar to those from the Truth Sect’s Peripheral Law Enforcement Unit. The strongest among them, the middle-aged man with the hook nose, was just a level 3 in the Fetal Phase.

With his current power level, even if the man had been three or even five times stronger, he could still take him down easily.

“All right!”

Lu Qingshan and Lu Qingyu responded and they pinched the Golden Ray Talisman in their hands to guard against all enemies.

Lu Qingfeng stood at the forefront, holding the gleaming Nine-ringed Blade in his hand.

The Authentic-grade Verdant Sword Art with the Mantle Sword Style that had been enhanced five times was more than enough for him to deal with these men who were afraid of a black bear.

“Kids! Move aside!”

Not only did Yan Zhang charge forward, leading the black bear in the direction of Lu Qingfeng and his siblings, but he also made a loud shout, wanting to go through the three siblings directly.

In his hand, half a segment of a short blade emitting a cold light was revealed.

He was enveloped in the intent to kill.

Evidently…

This person thought of Lu Qingfeng and his siblings as nothing.

It did make sense, however. After all, they were just two teenagers and an 11- or 12-year-old girl with yellow hair. What could they possibly do?

…