"Big Brother, Big Brother, wait for me! Don't walk so fast." Less than half a day had passed before Lu Chen began regretting why he had kept this person around yesterday.
Nantian Yijian was a complete chatterbox. Watching Lu Chen's smooth, flowing moves along the way, he kept crying out in amazement and bombarding Lu Chen with questions.
"Big Brother, Big Brother, what realm are you at now? How are you this strong?"
"Qi Gathering Fifth Layer."
"Big Brother, Big Brother, how long did it take you to cultivate to this level?"
"Half a year."
"Ten years of Qi Gathering, and you only took half a year? That's really amazing! It took me a full five years just to reach my current realm, and I still can't beat these demonic beasts."
"Big Brother..." Before Nantian Yijian could finish, Lu Chen stopped him. He knew Nantian Yijian was merely curious, but he feared that if he kept listening, he truly would go mad. Yet Nantian Yijian did not stop, continuing to yell loudly.
Lu Chen could only vent all his resentment upon the demonic beasts. One, two, three—the number of demonic beasts he killed steadily rose. Suddenly, Nantian Yijian fell silent. Lu Chen turned to look at him and saw him staring behind a large tree, dumbstruck.
Following Nantian Yijian's gaze, Lu Chen saw a group of cultivators surrounding an old man and a youth a hundred meters ahead. The old man looked ordinary and shielded the youth behind him. It seemed certain that some young master from a Lineage had come out to sightsee, only to be surrounded here.
The youth wore a dark orange checkered brocade robe patterned with beast motifs, with a green barbarian-patterned belt around his waist. His black hair gleamed, and his tiger eyes gave him an appearance of righteousness that could move heaven and earth.
Lu Chen was drawn to him at a glance. That bearing was clearly far from ordinary.
Facing the group, the youth showed not the slightest fear. He pulled out a black spear from his storage pouch, pushed the old man aside, and pointed it at the cultivators before him. "Do you know who I am, that you dare come and block my way?"
Seeing the youth's manner, the cultivators were not afraid. Instead, they burst into loud laughter. "Hahaha! You're exactly who we're after, Young Master Jun. Don't you know? Your elder brother has put out warrants for you everywhere. Once we catch you, us brothers won't have to worry about resources for the rest of our lives. Tell me, do we know who you are or not?"
The color drained from the youth's face. He had thought that revealing his identity would scare off the cultivators before him, but he had never expected that they had come specifically for him.
This was already the fourth group of people he had encountered since entering the Demonic Beast Forest. He no longer had much strength left to deal with them. Hopefully, there would be no more after this group, and he could finally rest.
The youth raised his black spear overhead, spun it into a flourish, and charged straight at the cultivators ahead. The old man also drew a spear and tangled with the enemy.
Lu Chen saw that the youth's attacks were exceptionally pure. His thrusts, stabs, and blocks were all flawless. Such skill could not be achieved without undergoing extremely harsh training.
Though the youth's offense was strong, two fists could not fend off four hands. There were only two of them, while their opponents were a whole group of cultivators. If this continued, the youth and the old man would gradually be unable to hold on.
Lu Chen felt that victory and defeat had already been decided. He prepared to leave quickly with Nantian Yijian. To him, this was an internal Lineage conflict, and he had no desire to interfere.
"Little Lu, wait. Look at that youth's chest." Feng Tiancheng's voice entered Lu Chen's mind, stopping him from leaving.
Hearing Feng Tiancheng's words, Lu Chen looked over. The youth's clothing at the chest had already been torn open, revealing a token.
There was nothing remarkable about that, but the token's design was of the same make as the one in his hand. Only the images engraved upon them differed.
Yet with that one look, Lu Chen knew that he had to act. This was the only clue he had found regarding his grandfather.
Lu Chen's aura slowly changed. He wanted to understand what connection all this had, but first, he had to save this master and servant pair.
Watching from the side, Nantian Yijian was astonished. How had Lu Chen become like an entirely different person in the instant he turned his head? "Big Brother, where are you going?"
Lu Chen ignored Nantian Yijian and charged forward with Star Serpent Hidden in Clouds.
Seeing Lu Chen rush in, Nantian Yijian did not know whether he could defeat that group of cultivators. But for Lu Chen, even if he had to die, he had to charge in as well.
Nantian Yijian shouted, "Death it is, then! Die early, reincarnate early!" Then he followed Lu Chen into the fray.
The youth and old man had already exhausted their strength and were slowly forced into a corner. At that moment, they suddenly sensed another group rushing over from afar. Though they did not know whether these newcomers had come to capture them, a more complicated situation would make escape easier. As long as they recovered a little more stamina, these cultivators would no longer be a threat.
Lu Chen paid no attention to the master and servant pair. He charged directly before the remaining four or five cultivators and unleashed his strongest attacks.
The Azure Emperor Divine Tree extended its tentacles and began attacking the cultivators without cease. Meanwhile, Lu Chen himself used Dragon Descends to the Sea, releasing three phantoms to battle different enemies. Silver Serpent Emerging from its Lair, Star Serpent Hidden in Clouds, Six Yang Palms that Split the Heavens—Lu Chen ignored the expenditure. He only wanted to eliminate the cultivators before him as quickly as possible, then ask the youth about the token.
Nantian Yijian also brought out his magical artifact and tangled with one opponent.
The youth watched Lu Chen's movements in astonishment. At first, he had merely thought Lu Chen would hold them off until he regained his strength and could help them kill the cultivators. But now, it appeared that Lu Chen's combat power was not weaker than his own, and in terms of combat methods, he even surpassed him somewhat.
Then he saw that without any hand seals or incantations, tentacles appeared beside Lu Chen.
"A divine ability? But how could someone who possesses a divine ability appear in a place like this?"
The youth immediately grew even more curious about Lu Chen's origins. He himself possessed a divine ability, and he knew how difficult it was for one to appear. Only those with extraordinarily high talent could use secret arts to cultivate a divine ability upon breaking through to a major realm, and the higher one's talent, the more divine abilities one might possess.
Under the fierce joint assault of Lu Chen and Nantian Yijian, the four or five cultivators gradually fell into defeat and began begging for mercy.
Lu Chen was just about to stop attacking and let them leave when Feng Tiancheng's voice rang in his mind. "Kill them quickly, lest something unexpected happen. When fighting enemies, remember never to be softhearted."
Seeing Lu Chen's movements slow as though he had become distracted, the cultivators immediately slashed at him with a sword. Nantian Yijian saw this and shoved Lu Chen away, but his thigh was struck, and blood immediately poured out.
Lu Chen's eyes turned red in an instant. His family had already died before his eyes once. Now that he had finally gained a brother like this, that brother had been wounded because of him. Lu Chen directly controlled the Divine Tree Tentacles to tear the cultivator before him into pieces, then killed all the remaining cultivators as well.
Lu Chen ran to Nantian Yijian, filled with self-reproach, and hurriedly fed him a pill. Only then did the bleeding slowly stop.
Only then did he understand why Feng Tiancheng had said that one must never be softhearted toward enemies. Evil had to be eradicated to the root. Mercy without sufficient strength was irresponsibility toward those around oneself. This was the second lesson of his cultivation.
At this moment, the youth and his servant walked over, cupped their hands toward Lu Chen and Nantian Yijian in thanks, and took out another pill.
"Fellow Daoist, this is a Minor Returning Heaven Pill. It can rapidly heal wounds. You may let this brother try it."
Lu Chen accepted the pill, inspected it, and fed it to Nantian Yijian. Nantian Yijian's wound slowly began to heal.
The youth spoke again. "My name is Young Master Jun, and I come from Tianfeng..."
Before he could finish, the servant behind him interrupted and continued, "We are from Fengtian Prefecture and were preparing to return when we unexpectedly came under pursuit."
As he spoke, he handed Lu Chen a token engraved with a long spear.
"Little Brother, this is my identity token. If you need help in the future, you can come find me in Fengtian Prefecture."
Lu Chen accepted the token. Looking at Young Master Jun's expression, he naturally knew that the servant was lying.
But he did not care. For now, he only needed to clarify the matter of the token. Lu Chen was unconcerned with everything else. Besides, he would need somewhere to go in the future, and this token came at just the right time.
"Then thank you, Fellow Daoist. If I come seeking help in the future, I hope Fellow Daoist will not find me troublesome."
"Not troublesome, not troublesome," Young Master Jun quickly said.
Lu Chen put away the token and helped Nantian Yijian sit beneath a tree.
He took out the token from before and asked whether the two knew its origin. Both Young Master Jun and the servant shook their heads, but Young Master Jun said to Lu Chen, "In two months, Fengtian Prefecture will be recruiting disciples for this year. With your strength, you will certainly be chosen as an inner disciple. At that time, you can search the sect's Scripture Repository. It contains records of all sorts of sects across the continent."
"And when the time comes, I can have my second uncle thank you properly."
Hearing Young Master Jun's invitation, Lu Chen agreed. "When I leave this place, I will certainly visit Fengtian Prefecture."
Young Master Jun was delighted to see Lu Chen agree. "Then you must come when the time comes."
Since he had not obtained any information about the token, Lu Chen no longer had any desire for idle conversation. He exchanged a few inconsequential words with Young Master Jun.
Suddenly, the servant whispered something into Young Master Jun's ear, then pulled Young Master Jun away.
Only then did Nantian Yijian voice his doubts. Lu Chen did not want to place his hatred upon Nantian Yijian.
"Big Brother, didn't we agree? Brothers should avenge each other's grudges and shoulder each other's hardships."
"Big Brother, do you not consider me a brother?"
Only under Nantian Yijian's persistence did Lu Chen slowly reveal how his grandfather had been taken away and his entire village slaughtered.
Watching Lu Chen speak of his past, Nantian Yijian had once thought his own past was already miserable enough. But now, hearing Lu Chen's story and thinking of how bravely Lu Chen faced it, he realized how insignificant his own suffering was.
"Big Brother, don't worry. I'll cultivate properly. One day, we'll save Grandfather together."
"What matters most now is finding news of Grandfather."
As he spoke, Lu Chen stripped all the equipment and magical artifacts from the cultivators' bodies, then walked over to Nantian Yijian and began sorting through the spoils.
Though there were many items, only a few were actually useful.
Lu Chen picked out a set of armor for himself, then tossed all the remaining weapons and equipment to Nantian Yijian for him to put away.
Nantian Yijian hurriedly caught them. Lu Chen saw that Nantian Yijian was still using a standard-issue Heavenly Net, while he himself had no need for one. So he took out the Heavenly Net magical artifact he had stored from the previous Secret Realm within the Twin Fish Plate and gave it to Nantian Yijian as well.
Seeing this, Nantian Yijian felt that he had not followed the wrong person.
Not only had Lu Chen not seized his magical artifact, he had even given him his own spoils and such a fine Heavenly Net. Nantian Yijian was deeply moved.
Before you continue