Chapter Eighteen: The Guest in the Forest

  The night forest seemed a bit chilly, even with the warmth of the bonfire, but Xu Hua's strong physique had already reached the point where he could ignore this chill. Leaning against the dead tree root next to him, which had been drained of its life force by him, he gazed up at the starry sky and gradually fell asleep.

  At this moment, Luo Cheng felt a surge of heat throughout his body. The python that Xu Hua had killed had been alive for over 20 years, and its snake gall had a powerful medicinal effect on ordinary people. As soon as the snake gall entered his stomach, Luo Cheng felt waves of heat spreading through his body, and even the circulation of the "Na Qi Jue" seemed to speed up. A look of joy appeared on Luo Cheng's face, and he thought to himself: Indeed, it is useful. He continued to circulate the "Na Qi Jue" with renewed vigor, not feeling the slightest bit of coolness in the evening air.

  ……

  For six consecutive days, Xu Hua and Luo Cheng have been slowly advancing in this remote mountain forest. After absorbing the life energy of a patch of grass and trees, they would immediately move several miles away before absorbing more life energy again. If not for this, with Xu Hua's speed of absorbing life energy, it would be enough to form a dead zone of several miles within these six days, which could be seen by strong warriors flying over from high altitude at a glance. Xu Hua naturally did not want this, so he adopted such tactics.

  For six days, apart from cultivating their vital energy, the two of them also encountered many things they had never seen before - various wild beasts, various landscapes, and various delicacies that enriched their dull cultivation lives.

  Of course, the progress of both was quite remarkable. Since that night six days ago when Luo Cheng discovered that snake gall had a great effect on his cultivation of "Na Qi Jue" and his perception of spiritual energy, the snakes in this forest were unlucky. Originally, it was not easy to search for these hidden guys in this vast mountain forest, but who let Xu Hua cultivate "Shi Sheng Gong", which can perceive life aura? Catching these guys became much easier.

  In fact, the snake gallbladder of more than 20 years is also very effective for Xu Hua's cultivation. After all, he is only a pre-warrior. The spiritual energy contained in the 20-year-old snake gallbladder is still considerable for him. As for the first time, it was just that Xu Hua gave it to Luo Cheng. In these six days, the two of them caught many snakes, and even caught a demon snake that reached the level of a first-class demon beast. At that time, when they encountered this guy, they were both shocked.

  This big fellow was over three zhang long, and its appearance seemed even more ferocious than an ordinary python. Luo Cheng almost got into trouble when he fought with it, and his strength of over 400 jin was no match for it. In the end, it was Xu Hua who stepped in and killed it.

  First-class demon beasts are not much different from wild beasts, only in terms of body size and strength surpassing their peers. Ordinary wild beasts, even ferocious tigers and bears, do not pose a great threat to warriors. Only when they reach the level of first-class demon beasts can they be considered opponents for warriors. However, demon beasts are born with stronger physiques than humans, and it takes two or three ordinary warriors to match one first-class demon beast, showing the huge difference between wild beasts and demon beasts.

  Under the effect of taking a large amount of snake gall, Luo Cheng successfully gathered a group of spiritual energy in his body. As long as this group of spiritual energy accumulates enough, Luo Cheng can become a warrior in the early stage. As for Xu Hua, after taking that one-stage snake demon's inner gall and some other snake galls, he has successfully entered the middle stage of martial arts. If it were in the family, even if he practiced hard every day, it would not be possible to break through in such a short period of time, which made Xu Hua feel very fortunate deep down.

  "Master, this first-class demon beast meat is also extraordinary. If I eat it every day, I'll be able to enter the early stage of a warrior in two or three days!" Luo Cheng gnawed on the roasted strip made from that first-class demon beast, and as the demon beast meat entered his belly, the true energy within him rapidly increased, already possessing considerable fire power. He was likely to attempt to become a warrior within two days.

  Next to him, Xu Hua had the same feeling. Although he was already a mid-term warrior, after consuming a large amount of demon beast meat, he could still feel his true energy slowly increasing inside his body. However, breaking through to the late stage of being a warrior wasn't that easy. Even with the help of the demon beast meat, it would take two or three months. "I didn't expect the effect of the demon beast meat to be so strong. Why haven't I heard about this before in the clan? The clan's elders should know about this, right? Why didn't they go hunt some first-grade demon beasts to nourish the bodies of the younger generation?"

  "It's probably not easy to encounter a demon beast in Qing Shan Town, after all. There are only a large number of demon beasts in the Taihang Mountains, but it's too dangerous there, so those people gave up... ... Lu Cheng this guy only respects Xu Hua, and has no feelings for other members of the Xu family."

  "Never mind, I don't want to think about it anymore. Luo Cheng should eat a bit more, who knows when he'll be able to capture another first-class demon beast again."

  "Sir, as long as we want to eat, we can go hunting in the Taihang Mountains. I suppose you have this intention too!" Luo Cheng said with a smile while eating.

  "You rascal," Xu Hua laughed, "Even if I wanted to go, I would take you with me. However, your current strength is not enough, and you still can't protect yourself in front of a first-tier demon beast, let alone a second-tier one. Wait until you're strong enough to contend with a second-tier demon beast, then I'll take you together. Demon beast meat is a great tonic for warriors..."

  Clang, Clank

  As they were eating and chatting in the woods, a faint sound of fighting came from ahead, causing both of them to slow down their movements slightly.

  "Lord, I'm itching to hear the sound of fighting... " Luo Cheng said, putting down the roasted meat in his hand.

  Xu Hua nodded and said: "From what you're saying, I can confirm that there's someone fighting ahead, and they're approaching in our direction."

  "Master, what should we do? Should we hide for a while? The newcomer doesn't seem to have good intentions..." Luo Cheng was very cautious in his heart.

  Xu Hua furrowed his brow and finally said: "Let's go take a look anyway, maybe someone needs help..."

  Xu Hua's mindset has changed and he is no longer as foolishly kind as before, but the habits of many years are not so easily changed, deep down he is still the same.

  "Prince......" Luo Cheng's heart was slightly anxious, obviously disapproving of Xu Hua.

  "Go take a look, with my current strength, I can mostly take care of myself, and I don't necessarily need to intervene in this matter, it's fine to just watch from the side." Xu Hua seemed a bit too optimistic, he was still too naive when it came to dealing with people. Luo Cheng wanted to stop him, but looking at the young master's eagerness, he couldn't bring himself to refute him.

  "Alright, but young master, you can't just act recklessly. When we're outside, if we offend someone, no one will be able to help us."

  Two people rode horses without reins, rushing forward quickly in the forest...

  "What's going on? These scoundrels are relentless in their pursuit. Once our true energy is exhausted, we'll have no choice but to surrender."

  In the woods, two middle-aged men were sprinting forward, leaving behind footprints a few inches deep, and many weeds were trampled by them. Behind them, five burly men with sinister faces were rapidly closing in, their distance between each other no more than 200 yards apart. They could even hear the menacing laughter and threatening voices coming from behind.

  "Surrender quickly, you can't escape. For this mission, our leader has mobilized the five of us. With the five of us here, you absolutely can't get away..."

  "If you don't surrender, once I catch up with you, I'll definitely let you taste the thirty-six kinds of cruel torture of Lao Tie Shan Qing Feng Village. Damn it, causing me to chase for so long..."

  "Still not stopping, grandma's, running for so long, I don't believe your true energy is endless anymore, catch me..."

  A sentence full of murderous aura made the two people who were desperately fleeing in front even paler, but their footsteps didn't slow down one bit.

  "Hei Zi, let's fight them! Although they are also late-stage martial artists, it's clear that they have only recently entered this stage. We two, on the other hand, have been stuck in the late stage for many years. If we really fight, I don't think we'll lose to them." The man running on the left had a face full of anger and was about to collapse from exhaustion. Although the Replenishing Qi Powder was supplementing their energy, their true qi consumption wasn't much, but the physical strain was still making him urgently want to stop.

  The man running on the right gritted his teeth and said, "Shi Tou, you must remember what our mission is. We've been stuck in the late stages of martial arts for many years, and although our true energy has become thicker, you should all be clear that if we only rely on ourselves, it's hopeless to break through to the Martial King in this life. We can only rely on external forces. As long as we complete this task, the reward will be enough to allow us to enter the Martial King. No matter how great the cost, I am willing to pay it. Chuanzi has already sacrificed for this, and you don't want to see him die in vain, do you? As long as we both become Martial Kings, we can close our doors and cultivate bitterly for two years, and then come back to exterminate Qingfeng Village and avenge Chuanzi. You must think clearly about the consequences..."

  Those words of Hei Zi shocked Shi Tou, thinking about the temptation of becoming a Wu Wang, Shi Tou's heart became eager, all the anger in his heart disappeared completely, and he sprinted forward desperately, his speed increasing by several degrees, causing the five pursuers behind him to curse loudly.

  "How did these two suddenly run so fast, it's really strange. And their true energy looks like it's not small either." One of the five men, a bald and muscular man, shouted with his bulging muscles.

  "Don't underestimate these two guys, the Snow Eagle Three Brothers have a reputation in this area that's not to be trifled with. Although they're only late-stage martial artists, if the three of them join forces, they can even rival a strong Martial King. If we hadn't taken out one of the three brothers in one move, the five of us wouldn't stand a chance against them."

  Next to the bald and robust man, a man with scars all over his face, with fierce light in his eyes, wearing a black robe, spoke in a hoarse voice. He seemed to be the leader of these five people, as he spoke, the other four nodded their heads. Apart from the bald and robust man and the man in black, the other three were a one-eyed, curly-bearded guest, a beautiful and poisonous woman, and a talkative scholar. These five were the five great generals under the owner of the Clear Wind Fort on Iron Mountain, with the man in black as their leader. This time they came for the task of escorting Snow Eagle's three brothers, originally their boss was going to take action himself, but unexpectedly the power behind the scenes of the Clear Wind Fort called him away at this time, so the task fell on these five people.

  "Huh... I didn't think there would be living people in this godforsaken place... and more than one at that." Meiyan Duanniang's charming eyes gazed fixedly at the small forest ahead, her voice filled with flirtatious laughter.

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