Taoist Antecedent of the Yellow Court - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Hiding in the Wilderness

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The tiny boat sailed east.

At an unknown distance from the Ganoderma Mountain, they abruptly entered into a section of the river with extremely turbulent waters. Massive rocks could be seen protruding from the bottom of the river, but many more of them were submerged.

“Qingyu, hold tight!”

Lu Qingfeng reminded her to be careful, and, with the oar in his hands, he concentrated on controlling the boat and avoiding the rocks.

Whoosh!

Whish!

The rushing river crashed onto the protruding rocks. The noise of the water was a clear and pure sound.

This tiny rowboat was carrying the three siblings of the Lu family, flexibly shuttling through the rocks.

The boat was swaying badly. Lu Qingfeng was afraid it might tip over at any time.

Lu Qingyu firmly grasped the handles on the sides of the boat with both hands and pressed Lu Qingshan down under her body for safety.

Lu Qingfeng was perspiring.

He’d only practiced rowing for some two to three months in “Primitive”. He felt as if he could guarantee that the boat would not turn over, but he was far from being an expert. This kind of complicated terrain had far exceeded his abilities.

Bam!

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The number of submerged rocks was increasing. Now, after constantly colliding with rocks, the tiny boat began to leak.

“Qingfeng! It’s leaking!”

Lu Qingyu yelled as she saw that the river water was already over her feet.

“This is not going to work. We must get to shore. If this continues, we will die in the river!”

Lu Qingfeng quickly changed the direction of the boat and approached the riverbank on the northern side.

The southern region was perilous, infested by demons. Even a true disciple of the Truth Sect could die if they went over there. With Qingshan and Qingyu to take care of, Lu Qingfeng wasn’t bold enough to disembark on the southern riverbank.

Bam! Bam!

Lu Qingfeng’s decision was not at all untimely. When the boat arrived at the riverbank, it sank completely.

The turbulent Chengyang River was just as magnificent as the Yangtze River, which Lu Qingfeng had seen in his previous life.

As the Chengyang River passed through Jiuzhai County, its violent currents had formed a lofty, magnificent, and unparalleled gorge, which was quite similar to the famous Three Gorges.

At this moment…

The three siblings were in a pathetic state as they stood on a protruding rock over the riverbank looking at the rushing river just three feet below where they were standing.

“Qingfeng, how are we going to be able to get up?”

Lu Qingyu grabbed her elder brother’s arm, looked up at the almost vertical cliff behind her, and wondered.

“Qingyu, stand here and don’t move. Watch your second brother. Make sure you guys don’t fall. I’m going to go up and find a vine for us to climb. Then I’ll come back to you.”

Lu Qingfeng placed Lu Qingshan, who was soundly asleep, on a flat rock.

This cliff was too steep. He probably could have climbed up on his own, but he definitely wouldn’t be able to carry Qingshan and Qingyu. Hence, he needed to go and see if he could find tools to help them.

“Okay!” Lu Qingyu nodded and sat down next to her brother on the rock.

Lu Qingfeng knew that time was very pressing, and there must be no delay.

Aiming for a foothold, he leaped into the air and landed steadily. After reaching Level 1 of the Fetal Phase, his body felt light. Half an hour later, he’d finally climbed up the cliff.

Only after climbing up did he realize that this cliff was 100 feet high.

Standing on the edge of the cliff, he looked around.

The river below was violent and rushing in a turbulent manner. Mighty waves were striking the riverbank with incredible force.

Massive rocks were piled up everywhere, cliffs stood up, facing each other, and the gorge was locked in a cloud of mist.

He had no idea where he was.

Lu Qingfeng didn’t have time to admire the beautiful scenery. After getting up the cliff, he headed right into the jungle. A quarter of an hour later, he’d cut dozens of vines, woven them into braids, and placed them on his shoulders.

Subsequently, he returned to the cliff.

Lu Qingyu was leaning on the rock holding on to Lu Qingshan with one hand. She looked up toward the top of the cliff. Seeing Lu Qingfeng, happiness broke out on her face.

…

After Lu Qingfeng had pulled Lu Qingyu and Lu Qingshan up one by one, two hours had passed. It was already afternoon.

Since midnight of the day before, Lu Qingfeng’s nerves had been all tensed up.

Killing Wu Yuan, rowing the boat downstream, climbing a cliff, helping his siblings climb the cliff…

His physical strength had been taxed to its limits.

After Qingyu and Qingshan had gotten up the cliff, Qingfeng collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath.

And, not long after they’d reached the top of the cliff, before they could even really regain their senses, several boats had stopped in the upper reaches of the rocky section of the river. More than a dozen people were looking around, scouring the area, but they didn’t notice the three members of the Lu family on top of the cliff.

Lu Qingfeng rested for a while and recovered his stamina.

At the same time, Lu Qingshan also woke up.

“Qingfeng, Qingyu, where are we?” As Lu Qingshan woke up, his face was pale, and he seemed a little blurry.

“We are on top of a mountain.”

“We have left Blackwood Village and Ganoderma Mountain already!”

Lu Qingyu had spent her whole life looking after her second brother. Seeing that he had woken up, she replied crisply.

“We…”

Lu Qingshan soon recalled everything.

They’d killed Wu Yuan, five labor disciples, and hopped into a boat.

“Qingfeng, did we succeed?” Lu Qingshan looked at his elder brother who was standing at his side, feeling excited.

“Almost. But I don’t know where we are now. We have to go through this forest and cross several hills to be truly safe.”

Lu Qingfeng pointed to the east.

Climb high and gaze afar!

To the east and north were endless forests with tall trees and flourishing vegetation. Nothing could be seen when one was under them. One could only see the peaks that went on one after another. There were tall ones and there were short ones, but no one could tell where they would end.

They couldn’t head north, because they would probably run into the Truth Sect’s forces.

Lu Qingfeng had decided to head east to open up their distance from the Truth Sect. This forest was equally dangerous, but getting away from the colossal mountain of Ganoderma, even if one were eaten by a jackal, a tiger, or a leopard, Lu Qingfeng would still gladly accept it.

“This is great!”

“This is awesome!”

“This is splendiferous!”

…

Lu Qingshan was so excited that he couldn’t say anything else but to utter words all meaning the same thing. Then, he became quieter and quieter. Sitting on the ground, he buried his head between his knees and began shrugging his shoulders.

The sound of sobbing arose.

Lu Qingfeng watched quietly. He didn’t go to comfort him.

The pressure he’d endured in Blackwood Village was much less than what Lu Qingshan had endured in the Truth Sect. Just from the dense wounds on his body alone, one could tell what kind of life Lu Qingshan had been living these last few months in the Truth Sect.

Lu Qingfeng felt somewhat regretful for not executing this plan earlier and rescuing Lu Qingshan from the Truth Sect.

“You can cry today, Qingshan. I cried today too.”

On this rare occasion, Lu Qingyu didn’t proceed to insult her second brother. Instead, she reached out her hand and gently patted Lu Qingshan’s back.

…

Lu Qingfeng took Qingshan and Qingyu and headed east into the deep mountains.

Initially, he was thinking about venturing through the mountains with haste and looking for human gathering points while distancing themselves from the Truth Sect.

But the facts showed that Lu Qingfeng had overestimated himself and he had not clearly anticipated the perils in the jungle.

Within the dense forests, ancient trees towered to the sky, covering the sky and the sun.

Being in the forest, it was impossible to distinguish the directions of north, south, east, and west. In a brief while after they went into the forest, he became dizzy, not knowing where he was.

Loitering around would lead them into the territorial lands of ferocious beasts.

Lu Qingshan wasn’t fully healed from his injuries yet, and Lu Qingyu was only a 12-year-old with a frail body.

Under these circumstances, with no other options, Lu Qingfeng took the two of them and found a flat terrain to stop at.

“Anyone who comes into a dense forest like this will lose their way. Even if the Truth Sect dispatched all their people, it won’t be easy for them to find us either.”

After all, Lu Qingfeng had lived under the iron-booted tyranny of the Truth Sect for 16 years. His fear of them was deeply rooted.

In fact, regardless of whether the Truth Sect would invest such a huge effort to hunt down the three of them, even if they did so, they would never find them in a short period of time.

Rather than going around the dense forest rashly, it was better to stop, cultivate for some time, and leave again when his strength was elevated.

For a day in reality, Lu Qingfeng had a full 100 days in “Primitive”.

As long as he stayed in the game for a few days, even if his cultivation attainments might not increase sharply, he would definitely get to enrich himself with various methods of combat and lifesaving.

…

Above the cliff of an unidentified mountain…

The forest was dense at this mountainside.

Holding one of the short swords that he had brought with them, Lu Qingfeng found a small tree about as wide as his waist and started cutting it down.

Theoretically, it should have been easy to find caves in mountain forests. However, Lu Qingfeng had walked around for quite a while and found no cave. Having no other choice, he had to take matters into his own hands and build a simple wooden shack to shelter them from the wind and rain.

“Qingfeng, I’ll help you.”

Lu Qingshan struggled to get up. But before he could do so, Lu Qingyu pulled him down.

“Ouch!”

Unprepared, Lu Qingshan landed hard on the ground which shook the wound on his chest, leaving him in so much pain that his facial features became distorted.

“Stop pretending as if you’re fine now! Your body hasn’t recovered yet. You need to rest. Otherwise, if you are not able to get out of bed, I will need to serve you.”

Lu Qingyu curled her lips and glared at her second brother. “Sit down! You are not allowed to go anywhere!”

Lu Qingshan put on a wronged expression and looked up at his elder brother.

“Listen to Qingyu. Focus on recovering.”

Lu Qingfeng wiped the sweat off his face and answered Lu Qingshan with a smile.

Having left Blackwood Village, he could feel himself becoming slightly lighter and more comfortable from head to toe.

While he worked and listened to Qingshan and Qingyu quarreling with each other, the sky soon darkened.

At this moment, the mist had already arisen. The dark of night was pale in color.

A bright moon hung at the corner of the mountain, shining brightly, illuminating their surroundings.

Seven or eight long wooden logs has been stuck on the surrounding trees, forming a simple wooden house only a few feet high.

The wooden house was ventilated on all sides, and a bonfire was burning outside.

“How wonderful.”

Lu Qingyu was sitting by the bonfire, with her two brothers, one on her left and one on her right, and smiling ever so vibrantly.

She found this kind of life very interesting. It was so many times better than her life in Blackwood Village where she couldn’t say or do anything.

“Yeah! This is wonderful.”

Since joining the Truth Sect, a smile hadn’t appeared on Lu Qingshan’s face for a very long time. At this moment, he was also smiling unreservedly.

“Qingshan, here’s your miraculous encounter. I kept it for you for a few days. Now I’m returning it to you in one piece.”

“And also, your little notebook that you used to jot down stuff.”

Lu Qingfeng took out a cyan jade pendant and a palm-sized notebook and handed them to Lu Qingshan. When he was talking about the notepad, Lu Qingfeng deliberately stressed the word.

Lu Qingshan glanced at Lu Qingfeng. “Qingfeng, did you look at it?”

“Yes, but it’s better to use your brain to record this kind of thing. If you record it on paper, it won’t be good if somebody else picks it up,” Lu Qingfeng said.

“I know. But I’m just afraid I won’t remember it. And then I’m won’t be able to return it to them when the time comes,” Lu Qingshan said with a grin.

“Qingfeng, what’s written in it? Let me have a look!”

Lu Qingyu poked her head out.

“You wanna let her read it?”

Lu Qingfeng looked at his brother.

“I made this notebook because I listened to Qingyu’s words.” Lu Qingshan scratched his head and revealed a familiar silly smile.

“Hmph! As if he dares to not let me read it!”

Lu Qingyu snorted, took the notebook from her eldest brother, and looked at it via the faint firelight.

As she was looking at it, she read it out crisply:

“7th of March. Zhang Chong. 3 lashes.”

“9th of March. Zhang Chong. 3 lashes, 1 kick.”

“9th of March. Qian Han. 1 Biscuit, 1 fist.”

“10th of March. Zhang Chong. 10 slaps.”

“12th of March. Zhang Chong. 3 lashes.”

“13th of March…”

…