Liu Xiaolou found several green vines and tied them together, making a length of some seventy or eighty feet. He fastened one end to a nearby tree trunk and wrapped the other around his arm, then leaped down. When he was still about a hundred feet above the ground, the vines ran out. He abandoned them, fixed his sights on a protruding rock, and landed there. Borrowing strength from his feet, he continued bounding downward.
On his next leap, however, the section of old tree root beneath his feet was rotten through. It snapped at once, and Liu Xiaolou plunged straight down.
Having cultivated for ten years, he did not panic. His hands curled into claws as he searched everywhere within sight for something to grasp and borrow strength from—whether a blade of grass, a rock, or a crack in the stone. After doing so several times, he glanced down from the corner of his eye and judged that the ravine floor was less than forty or fifty feet away. He flipped through the air and plunged into the stream below, sending water splashing everywhere.
He had jumped off too few cliffs and lacked experience. His landing posture was wrong; he hit the ground butt-first, pain making him bare his teeth and grimace.
Liu Xiaolou rubbed his backside, then continued on after recovering. A few steps later, he began climbing.
With his cultivation, climbing a cliff was far easier than descending one. Though it took some time, it was steady and safe. After the time it took to burn an incense stick, he had climbed to the Old Pine at the cliff top. True essence circulated through him as he flipped himself up.
Looking back at such perilous terrain, which he had crossed as though walking on level ground, a surge of pride rose within him.
Just as he was feeling proud, a green vine suddenly flew over from the opposite side. It wrapped several times around a branch of the Old Pine beneath his feet, then was pulled taut.
A figure drifted over along the vine, stepping lightly upon it. He wore a bamboo hat, hiding his features from view. He glanced at Liu Xiaolou and asked, "Traveling?" Without waiting for an answer, he went on his way.
Liu Xiaolou let out an "Ah" as he watched the man's carefree departing figure, then looked at the vine that had become a rope bridge. He smacked his forehead, and all that lofty excitement vanished without a trace.
He turned and continued on. After only a few steps, the bamboo-hatted man who had set up the rope bridge stopped ahead of him and eyed him suspiciously. Liu Xiaolou immediately grew alert, circulating his true essence as he prepared for battle.
Don't think Master is afraid of you just because you can build a rope bridge. At worst, we'll have a round!
"Brother Liu?" the man suddenly called. Then he burst into laughter. "The night is too dark—I nearly failed to recognize you. It really is you, brother!" As he spoke, he removed his bamboo hat.
Liu Xiaolou was startled. "Chieftain Zuo? This really is... quite a coincidence..."
This man was Zuo Gaofeng, also a Wulong Mountain rogue cultivator. His cultivation dwelling was in Half-Acre Gorge, seventeen or eighteen li from Liu Xiaolou's Qianzhu Ridge, with five or six great mountains between them. They rarely encountered each other.
In the past, when Liu Xiaolou happened to meet Zuo Gaofeng, they would usually ignore one another, at most exchanging a nod. But after Wei Hongqing had swindled them out of congratulatory gifts half a year ago, they now shared the bond of fellow sufferers.
"Half a year since we last met. Has brother Liu been well?"
"Thanks to Chieftain Zuo's blessings, I've been getting by."
"In the middle of the night, where is younger brother headed?"
"I'm going to Xiangdong to visit a friend. And Chieftain Zuo?"
"I'm going to Stone Gate to visit relatives. To encounter younger brother tonight really is quite the coincidence, haha."
"We truly are fated, haha."
"Since that is so, we may as well travel together."
"I would be honored to accept!"
Thus, the two traveled together, crossing Wuling Mountain.
The mountains were indeed thick with insects and snakes, and they encountered quite a few along the way. Zuo Gaofeng was at Qi Refining Level 7, four whole levels above Liu Xiaolou. Now that they traveled together, ordinary insects and snakes posed no threat to them. Yet an Ironhead Silver-ring Snake they encountered in the forest was truly troublesome. If Liu Xiaolou had met it alone, he likely would not have come away well. But with Zuo Gaofeng at his side, one lured the enemy from the front while the other circled behind to strike from the flank. After some effort, they subdued the venomous spirit snake.
The snake gall went to Liu Xiaolou, and he swallowed it in one gulp without delay. It was the most spiritually potent part of the Ironhead Silver-ring Snake. Once he swallowed it, dense spiritual power coursed through his body. After Liu Xiaolou refined it into true essence, it surged straight toward his eyes and gathered at the Jingming Acupoint, breaking it open in one stroke.
The Jingming Acupoint was an acupoint of the Foot Greater Yang Meridian. Liu Xiaolou had yet to cultivate this meridian, yet a single snake gall had unexpectedly opened its acupoint barrier. For a time, he was both delighted and uneasy. Would this affect his future cultivation of the Foot Greater Yang Meridian?
Liu Xiaolou carefully recalled his cultivation art. There seemed to be nothing wrong with this, and only then did he set his mind at ease.
All the remaining parts aside from the snake gall went to Zuo Gaofeng, who packed them into the bundle on his back. He planned to use the snake's hide and tendons to refine a magical artifact.
Each had taken what he needed, and both were delighted.
By noon on the second day, a fierce tiger appeared before them. Man and tiger confronted each other for a long while.
"Chieftain Zuo, this tiger seems somewhat different, doesn't it? Have you ever seen a tiger that large? Its tail is long too..." Liu Xiaolou asked softly.
Zuo Gaofeng's expression was grave. "It is indeed different, but for the moment, I cannot see through it."
Liu Xiaolou asked, "What should we do?"
Zuo Gaofeng said, "You and I should discuss this at length... In any case, we must not show weakness."
As they were discussing it, the tiger suddenly lashed its tail. With a crack, it snapped a tree as thick as a bowl at the waist behind it.
Liu Xiaolou was horrified. He drew the Three Xuan Sword from his back and flourished it before him, while Chieftain Zuo also drew his hand axe and gestured at the tiger, roaring, "Roar! Roar!"
Liu Xiaolou slashed his sword toward the side. True essence circulated as sword light swept past a tree of equal thickness and cut it down. Meanwhile, Chieftain Zuo held his axe and hacked wildly at the vines around him. Wherever the axe light flashed, the surroundings became a complete mess.
Amid their mutual intimidation, the tiger gradually retreated. It leaped onto the treetops and vanished after several bounds.
Both men were drenched through with sweat.
After this experience, they became even more cautious along the road ahead.
Night always fell earlier in the mountains and forests. Though the setting sun still hung slantwise over the mountaintops, the woods had already grown dark. The two kept to opposite sides, each remaining vigilant in one direction against the unknown dangers around them.
Unfortunately, they had focused too much on the distant forest and failed to watch their footing. With an enraged roar from Zuo Gaofeng, a great net suddenly sprang open from the soil and scooped him up, hoisting him high into the air.
Zuo Gaofeng struggled desperately within the net, gripping his axes in both hands as he tried to cut through its ropes. Yet this net was no ordinary object; it could not be cut.
Liu Xiaolou was about to go forward and rescue him when a figure pounced down from a tree. With a black scarf covering his face, he viciously swung an iron staff at Liu Xiaolou. "Take this, you blind fool in the dark!"
This strike was powerful and heavy. The fierce wind it carried was savage beyond measure, and a faint gleam of force-light flashed around it, showing that the opponent's cultivation was at least mid Qi Refining—perhaps Qi Refining Level 5 or Qi Refining Level 6.
It was already too late to dodge. Liu Xiaolou clenched the sword hilt with both hands, frantically pouring true essence into the blade. He dropped to one knee to brace himself and desperately raised the sword to meet the blow.
"Break!" the opponent roared again, bringing the staff straight down upon the Three Xuan Sword.
Liu Xiaolou felt his tiger's mouth shake violently. His body sank abruptly, and the sword blade followed, nearly pressing against his scalp. His left foot and right knee sank evenly three inches deep into the soft earth!
No matter how wretched he looked, he had at least blocked that strike.