Returning to the Lineage, Ambushed on the Road

Red Cliff Market.

After discussing Zhou Chun's return to the Lineage, Zhou Fei also took the initiative to explain the mission that had brought them to Red Cliff Market this time.

It turned out that after the Zhou Family established its family residence at Nine Peaks Ridge, it had begun laying out its industries.

The mission that had brought Zhou Fei's group of three to Red Cliff Market was to investigate the market's commercial information, to see which goods sold well here and which trades the Zhou Family could enter.

After learning this, Zhou Chun also volunteered to help investigate.

Thus, the four split up and began staking out and investigating the areas around various shops.

After remaining in the market for roughly seven days, the four had basically mapped out its fundamental commercial information and could return to the Lineage to report.

This time, with three Zhou Family cultivators accompanying him, Zhou Chun no longer had to worry about encountering bandit cultivators as he had on the way here.

Once their party of four left the market, Zhou Fei directly slapped the Spirit Beast Pouch at his waist and released a blue-black Demon Wolf over ten feet long to scout ahead.

At the same time, Zhou Jingwen removed the Spirit Beast Pouch from her waist and flicked it. More than a dozen scarlet sparrows the size of doves flew out at once, spreading in all directions around the four as sentries.

With this kind of coordinated aerial and ground reconnaissance, most bandit cultivators could forget about ambushing their group.

Even ordinary bandit cultivators would take the initiative to avoid them upon seeing such a formation, lest they themselves be treated as prey.

Compared to Zhou Chun's previous journey to the market, where every step had been fraught with danger, this was truly the complete opposite.

At the same time, it made Zhou Chun secretly resolve that once he returned to the Zhou Family, he would definitely get another one or two Spirit Pets to raise.

Back when the Zhou Family still belonged to the Three Absolute Sect, it had been renowned for its Beast Taming Arts. Almost every family disciple kept one or two Spirit Pets.

Not only could these Spirit Pets greatly increase a cultivator's strength, they could also serve numerous purposes during travel, such as providing transportation and keeping watch.

Therefore, when the Three Absolute Sect still existed, the Zhou Family had been the strongest of the three families most of the time.

Although the divided Zhou Family was now far weaker than before, providing Zhou Chun with another one or two Demonic Beasts as Spirit Pets should not have been a problem.

And so, relying on their Spirit Pets to clear the way and stand guard, the group openly used the "Light Body Technique" to travel.

The reason they did not use the faster "Wind Riding Technique" was naturally because it consumed more spiritual power. Zhou Fei and the others did not dare recover their spiritual power by absorbing heaven and earth spiritual energy out in the open as Zhou Chun did.

Yet even with the "Light Body Technique" enhancing them, it took the group less than a day to leave the Red Rock Mountain Range.

Once they reached the flatlands outside, Zhou Fei found several fine warhorses from a mortal city to serve as mounts.

He then fed the warhorses a secret medicine that stimulated their potential, increasing their speed by forty or fifty percent out of thin air and making them seem as though they possessed inexhaustible stamina.

But the consequence was that after running only three or four hundred li in half a day, the several warhorses exhausted themselves and collapsed dead on the ground.

Had such behavior taken place in Zhou Chun's previous life, once exposed to the public, the few of them would probably have died socially on the spot.

But in this Cultivation World, no one even cared about human lives, much less the lives of a few beasts.

"We are now less than three hundred li from Nine Peaks Ridge. Let's use the Wind Riding Technique for the rest of the journey."

Without even glancing at the warhorse corpses lying by the roadside, Zhou Fei merely looked up at the sky before speaking his next plan in a deep voice.

With less than three hundred li remaining, they could cover the journey in less than a day if they continuously used the "Wind Riding Technique."

Once they returned to the family residence protected by the Spirit Cleansing Array, they could naturally meditate and recover their spiritual power without worry.

Zhou Chun had long been eager for this. After all, during their wild horseback ride, to keep the others from discovering his abnormality, he had gritted his teeth through the double torment to his backside and his psyche, even using spiritual power to force himself to endure so he would not make a fool of himself.

If they traveled using the "Wind Riding Technique," the spell's power would carry them along. It consumed very little physical strength, no different from an ordinary stroll.

The group immediately formed hand seals and cast their spells, each traveling upon the wind. Like a procession of immortals, their wide sleeves fluttered as they danced gracefully through the wilderness, utterly free and unrestrained.

Whenever farmers working in the fields happened to see this scene, they were so startled that they repeatedly knelt and kowtowed, believing they had encountered true immortals.

After traveling nearly another two hundred li on the wind, just as they were about to press on in one burst and reach the Zhou Family of Nine Peaks Ridge—

A mournful warning howl of "Awoo!" suddenly rose from a mountain several li ahead.

"Not good, there's danger ahead!"

Zhou Fei, who was leading the group, changed expression. He hurriedly stopped and gave a long whistle, recalling the Demon Wolf Spirit Pet that had been scouting ahead.

At this point, alerted by him, Zhou Chun and the others also stopped one after another. Some formed hand seals and cast defensive spells upon themselves, while others took out magic artifacts and released Spirit Pets, preparing for battle.

Before long, Zhou Fei's Demon Wolf Spirit Pet returned to his side after knocking down several trees as thick as wrists.

After listening to a series of low growls from the Demon Wolf Spirit Pet, he said gravely to Zhou Chun and the others, "They're cultivators, and there are five or six of them!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jingwen immediately analyzed the situation. "We're less than a hundred li from Nine Peaks Ridge, and when we passed through here on our way over, there was no sign of anyone living on the mountain. These people are likely here specifically for us!"

"Whether they are or not, we just need to prepare for battle. They'll be here soon enough."

Zhou Fei shook his head slightly and immediately slapped his Storage Bag, taking out a magic artifact.

Sure enough, after only dozens of breaths had passed, six cultivators dressed in different-colored robes chased after them from the direction in which the Demon Wolf Spirit Pet had returned.

The moment the two sides met, Zhou Jingwen cried out, "They really are here specifically for us! These people are all Rogue Cultivators who used to live on Nine Peaks Ridge!"

On the opposite side, when a burly man in black robes saw the four Zhou Family cultivators, his eyes instantly turned bloodshot as he roared furiously, "Zhou Family scum! You took our cave residences and killed our fellow cultivators. Today, we'll make you repay blood with blood!"

"That's right, repay blood with blood! We must let these foreign scum of the Zhou Family know that Rogue Cultivators of the Jing Kingdom are not so easy to provoke!"

"Repay blood with blood! Kill them!"

The six Rogue Cultivators roared and shouted as they directly launched an attack against the four Zhou Family cultivators.

None of these six Rogue Cultivators had low cultivation. One was at Qi Refining Stage Ten like Zhou Fei, while another was at Qi Refining Stage Nine and two were at Qi Refining Stage Eight. The remaining two were both at Qi Refining Stage Seven.

Facing the attacks of six people, the Zhou Family group could only fight with all their strength.

Before truly engaging, however, Zhou Fei still swiftly launched a Signal Flare into the sky to be safe.

This Signal Flare was not propelled by gunpowder. It was refined through cultivators' artifact-refining methods and could rise hundreds of zhang into the sky. The pattern formed after its explosion would remain for a quarter of an hour without dispersing, while the blast could be heard for a hundred li.

This place was less than a hundred li from Nine Peaks Ridge. Once the Signal Flare exploded, the Zhou Family cultivators on Nine Peaks Ridge would surely notice it, and reinforcements would certainly arrive at once.

When they saw the Signal Flare explode, the Rogue Cultivators instantly realized the danger of the situation as well.

Thus, they held nothing back, unleashing every kind of method from the outset, intending to make quick work of Zhou Fei and the others before swiftly withdrawing from the area.

Under these circumstances, Zhou Chun immediately became the unluckiest one.

Because he looked the youngest and his cultivation did not appear low, several Rogue Cultivators directly took him for a genius disciple of the Zhou Family. He was besieged by one Qi Refining Stage Eight cultivator and one Qi Refining Stage Seven cultivator.

The two looked as if they could not wait to kill him. They attacked him at once with magic artifacts and talismans together.

Zhou Chun had originally only cast the earth-element defensive spell "Earth Spirit Shield" on himself. When he saw this situation, he was so frightened that he hurriedly used the "Adamantine Shield" talisman he had spent a fortune buying from the market.

Amid bursts of explosions, firelight, heavy impacts, and slashing sounds, Zhou Chun's initial "Earth Spirit Shield" vanished into thin air. Even the "Adamantine Shield" barrier he had added afterward shook violently.

And because the shield had been broken, the backlash of its disrupted energy made his chest tighten, and he nearly coughed up blood.

At this point, the Zhou Family cultivators could also see what the Rogue Cultivators intended.

Zhou Yong, who was fighting a Qi Refining Stage Seven Rogue Cultivator, hurriedly shouted, "Brother Chun, hold on! I'm coming to help you!"

As he spoke, he had his Spirit Pet, the "Crimson Tail Monkey," abandon its attack on its opponent and instead help Zhou Chun restrain one enemy.

At the same time, Zhou Jingwen promptly sent five scarlet sparrows over to help as well.

Zhou Yong's Spirit Pet, the "Crimson Tail Monkey," was a First-grade Mid-tier Demonic Beast, equivalent to a mid Qi Refining Stage cultivator. It could cast several fire-element spells and possessed the immense strength to tear tigers and leopards apart alive.

Although Zhou Jingwen's five "Fire Sparrowbirds" were only First-grade low-tier Demonic Beasts, together they were also comparable to a mid Qi Refining Stage cultivator.

With the aid of these two kinds of Spirit Pets, and with Zhou Chun focusing solely on defense, he quickly stabilized his position. No matter how fiercely the two Rogue Cultivators attacked, they could not take him down at once.

He even had time to glance at the others' battlefields.

Zhou Fei alone had taken on the Qi Refining Stage Ten Rogue Cultivator and another Qi Refining Stage Eight Rogue Cultivator.

He and an additional Demon Snake Spirit Pet he had released were dealing with the Qi Refining Stage Ten Rogue Cultivator, while the Demon Wolf Spirit Pet faced the Qi Refining Stage Eight Rogue Cultivator alone. Both sides appeared to hold the upper hand.

Zhou Jingwen, meanwhile, was fighting the Qi Refining Stage Nine Rogue Cultivator whose cultivation was one level above hers. With the help of nine "Fire Sparrowbirds," she was not at any disadvantage and fought until her opponent had no temper left.

Only Zhou Yong was struggling somewhat. Since he had sent the "Crimson Tail Monkey" to help Zhou Chun, he was having a difficult time fighting the Qi Refining Stage Seven Rogue Cultivator alone, and the two were locked in an inseparable battle.

All of this seemed perfectly normal.

After all, the Zhou Family cultivators had previously been formal disciples of the Three Absolute Sect. The spells they had mastered and the magic artifacts and Spirit Pets they possessed were not things Rogue Cultivators could compare with.

If they were overturned by a few Rogue Cultivators just like this, that would truly bring shame upon both the Three Absolute Sect and the Zhou Family.

After fighting for a while, seeing that they truly could not gain any advantage and fearing that reinforcements from the Zhou Family of Nine Peaks Ridge might arrive at any moment,

the Rogue Cultivator fighting Zhou Fei suddenly raised his voice and shouted, "These targets are tough! Brothers, withdraw for now. We'll find another chance to win back face next time!"

After saying that, he was the first to retreat.

When the other Rogue Cultivators saw this, how could they dare remain? They immediately followed suit, swiftly shaking off their opponents and fleeing into the forest.

Yet Zhou Fei, seeing this, did not choose to pursue. He merely gave a soft snort. "Hmph, trying to run? Do they really think they can get away?"