Taoist Antecedent of the Yellow Court - Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Leaving the Mountain

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

The prime of his youth had gone by ever so quickly in the game.

In reality, however, only six months had gone by.

“Whoa!”

“Hah, hah!”

In the dense forest, the cries of youngsters could be heard.

Two figures were spinning and shifting around, the lights from their blades flickering as they trained against each other.

“Way to go, Qingfeng!”

Lu Qingyu was standing on the sidelines, dancing with excitement. On her shoulder stood a palm-sized bird that was tweeting nonstop along with her.

“Qingfeng! Qingfeng! I need a break!”

In the middle of their intense confrontation, Lu Qingshan shouted and jumped out of the ring.

His face and entire body were covered in sweat, and he looked as if he was on the verge of collapse. On the other hand, Lu Qingfeng, who was standing opposite him, only had his hair messed up. He wasn’t showing any signs of fatigue.

“Qingshan, you’re too weak!”

Lu Qingyu ran over to Lu Qingfeng, used her sleeve to wipe the nonexistent sweat off her elder brother’s face, and turned to wink at Lu Qingshan.

“Lu Qingyu! You ungrateful little chipmunk!” Lu Qingshan slumped on the ground, pointing at Lu Qingyu angrily.

“I’m happy, and you can’t do anything about it!” Lu Qingyu stuck out her tongue.

Lu Qingfeng left the two to play around and found a place to sit down.

The decades in the game hadn’t left any traces on Lu Qingfeng’s face, but the end of a lifetime had still left an unimaginable impression on him.

He had gone through many vicissitudes of life.

Molded by the tides of time, he didn’t resemble a teenager of 16 who was supposed to be full of vitality.

Lu Qingfeng sat down with his back leaning against a tree and took out a thick book.

The book was made of yellow paper. These were all Runic Papers that weren’t up to the standards that Lu Qingfeng had refined in the past six months. He had made a book out of them to write down the conditions in the forest. In the book, there were various markers, as well as simple and scattered lines.

It was the topographic map of their journey over the past ten days or so.

It only marked their approximate course and basic information such as whether there were any large beasts.

“There hasn’t been any movement from the Truth Sect for a very long time. With just me, Qingshan, and Qingyu collecting medicinal herbs, our efficiency is way too low. The Yellow Dragon Pills we’ve refined completely are not enough for our cultivation.”

Lu Qingfeng was currently in Level 3 of the Fetal Phase, while Lu Qingshan was in Level 2 of the Fetal Phase.

Lu Qingyu had also began cultivating and had just stepped into Level 1 of the Fetal Phase.

With three people cultivating, the demand for Yellow Dragon Pills had surged. It was hard to satisfy them all with only the three of them collecting herbs.

“It’s time that we go out.”

Lu Qingfeng studied the map and figured out a route.

Over the course of six months, at first, the three of them had gone through three nerve-wracking months of being hunted by the Truth Sect. Then, they had been able to experience more than two months of stability.

At the beginning, they could still rely on the medicinal herbs they collected nearby to refine the Yellow Dragon Pills they needed to support Lu Qingfeng and Lu Qingshan’s cultivations.

Lu Qingfeng had experience from the game.

In the past six months, he’d stayed in the game for 48 years. As Updating techniques, magic, pills, and talismans required experience points, his cultivation level had always been between Level 1 and Level 5 of the Fetal Phase.

After Level 5 of the Fetal Phase, the Yellow Dragon Pill, Breath Fostering Pill, Essence Pill, and other low-level pills would become ineffectual.

Hence, to acquire experience points in the most efficient and economical way, Lu Qingfeng would usually cultivate to Level 5 of the Fetal Phase, expend all of his experience points, and then start cultivating again.

Over and over again, he repeated this process for a whole 56 times over the course of 48 years.

Lu Qingfeng was certain that no cultivator in the world could match up to him in terms of cultivation perception in the first 5 Levels of the Fetal Phase.

Even with his eyes closed, Lu Qingfeng knew how to cultivate from Level 1 of the Fetal Phase to Level 5 of the Fetal Phase.

Despite having poor innate talent, his cultivating speed was faster than Lu Qingshan’s.

Level 1 in a month!

Level 2 in two months!

Level 3 in three months!

In a little more than half a year, he’d already attained Level 3 of the Fetal Phase. If it hadn’t been for the limited amount of Yellow Dragon Pills, Lu Qingfeng would’ve at least reached Level 4 of the Fetal Phase.

Lu Qingshan’s progress was a bit less.

After all, he doesn’t have his elder brother’s overpowering experience in cultivation. Even with 2 points in his Innate Talent Level, it was difficult for him to close the gap. Hence, after six months, he was still in Level 2 of the Fetal Phase.

The medicinal herbs nearby have not decreased too much. The amount they could find every day was more or less similar to that of the past.

However, due to their progress in cultivation levels, their consumption of Yellow Dragon Pills had become higher. Thus, despite the same amount of harvesting of medicinal herbs, it was gradually progressing toward a state where it could no longer satisfy the three siblings.

“We need to get out of this forest and find a human assembly point. There is strength in numbers. As long as we have enough money, we can get as many medicinal herbs as we want to refine Yellow Dragon Pills.”

“Lingering around the forest is a total waste of time,” Lu Qingfeng muttered to himself.

He had experienced the frustrations of not being able to attain a breakthrough even after the depletion of his life span in the game. He didn’t want to leave regrets that were past mending for the sake of a peaceful life in reality.

Taking advantage of the 16 years that he would be reincarnating in the game, which corresponded to a two-month gap in real time, he wanted to exit this mountain.

Once they’d resettled themselves, it would almost be time for him to reenter the game.

Lu Qingfeng was still very much looking forward to where he would appear after reincarnating to a random place.

“Qingfeng, are we going to relocate again?”

Lu Qingyu had left Lu Qingshan and run over to Lu Qingfeng to ask this question. Every time that her elder brother studied the map with such concentration, it would usually imply that they were about to move on.

“Yep.” Lu Qingfeng nodded.

“But aren’t there a lot of medicinal herbs around this place? Besides, there hasn’t been any movement from the Truth Sect for a long while.” Lu Qingshan came over, feeling somewhat puzzled.

After more than six months of recuperation, his and Lu Qingfeng’s bodies have become strong. Although the scars on his body were still there, his injuries have completely healed with herbal medication.

“This time, we will leave the mountain and find a nice quiet country town.”

Lu Qingfeng shared his thoughts with his siblings. Lu Qingshan and Lu Qingyu would usually just listen to him, but this time they seemed a little hesitant.

“What’s the matter? Are you afraid?” Lu Qingfeng looked at the two who had become quiet all of a sudden and asked with a smile.

“As if! To the country town, we will go!” Lu Qingyu straightened up, trying her best to conceal her nervousness.

When Lu Qingshan heard her, he hurriedly echoed, “With my current power level, I don’t have to be afraid even I bump into a true disciple of the Truth Sect. What is there to be afraid of in a small country town?”

“Good. Get yourselves ready tonight. We will set off at first light,” Lu Qingfeng said forcefully.

He knew that after having spent more than six months in the mountains, Lu Qingshan and Lu Qingyu have gotten used to this lifestyle. Needing to go to an unfamiliar country town and making contact with many strangers all of a sudden, it was inevitable that they would feel a little afraid.

What’s more, they had escaped from places such as Blackwood Village and the Truth Sect. It was completely natural for them to be on high alert toward a new environment. They would definitely be wary of returning to an environment similar to that of Blackwood Village and the Truth Sect once again.

However, the three of them were still quite far away from having to cultivate in seclusion.

Even if they cultivated to a high level, they still couldn’t do so without dealing with people. With the Innate Talent Levels of these three siblings, they would require the power of a society to obtain various resources to elevate themselves.

If they blindly depended on hard work, it would be inevitable that they would end up squandering their lives.

…

This last night in the forest…

Both Lu Qingshan and Lu Qingyu were acting a little abnormal. They weren’t as lively and active as usual. Lu Qingfeng didn’t care and left them alone to adjust themselves. He, on the other hand, was packing up.

After six months in the mountains, he hadn’t accumulated much.

The only precious item he had was the Wolf Hair Runic Brush, which was used for drawing talismans.

There were nine talismans engraved on it. Among Tier-1 Runic Equipment, it was still one of the lowliest in existence. He could barely make a living by using it to draw talismans.

Aside from the Wolf Hair Runic Brush, everything else were all small items: Fasting Pills, Yellow Dragon Pills, Yellow Millet Pills…a dazzling collection of pills.

Stealth Talismans, Earth Talismans, Fireball Talismans…and various other types of talismans.

There was also the Nine-ringed Blade that he had taken from Wu Yuan. This was everything Lu Qingfeng had.

…