Chapter 434: Seeing Them Off

The pursuit lasted the entire afternoon—renting carriages, buying bows and crossbows, purchasing herbs… The scarred youth wandered around the streets, forcing Lin Dong and the others to follow him everywhere.
Fortunately, Lin Dong’s ability to cultivate his spiritual energy independently was now no slower than that of meditation cultivation. Moreover, his stay in Hualang City was to wait for Sister Yu Linglong and Yu Mudan to take revenge.
Yu Linglong’s strength had now reached the eighth level of the Mind Spirit Phase—enough to defeat the head of a mid-tier sect. Yu Mudan had also reached the seventh level of the Mind Spirit Phase, making her more than capable of competing with a mid-tier sect’s leader. With their combined strength, they might not be able to overcome all the elders of the Taqing Sect, but with ninth-tier spiritual weapons, ninth-tier spiritual techniques, and numerous high-grade spiritual pills crafted by Lin Dong with Yun Lan’s help, as long as they didn’t foolishly step into the sect’s spiritual arrays, they could break through even if surrounded by all the sect’s disciples and elders.
Yu Linglong and Yu Mudan weren’t foolish. By attacking one by one, their chances of avenging themselves stood at over 90%. Of course, over 90% didn’t mean 100%. Lin Dong stayed in Hualang City to wait for news from them, giving them twenty days. After that, he would go to the Taqing Sect to rescue them. As for their feud with the Taqing Sect, Lin Dong wouldn’t interfere. If they failed this time, the sisters would have to continue their journey with him and return when they had time.
It was only the first day, meaning there were still nineteen days left. Following the scarred youth was just boring—there was plenty of time.
In the evening, the scarred youth finally finished purchasing everything he wanted. This time, he spent quite a bit of money—over ten thousand silver taels on a cart full of herbs and weapons.
Then, before the city gates closed, he left through the east gate.
Watching the carriage leave, Yun Lan sighed in relief, “Good news. It’s almost certain now.”
“Really? What good news?” Lin Dong was overjoyed. Since Yun Lan was so worried he might be disappointed, the news must be significant.
“I’ll tell you when it’s 100% certain,” Yun Lan said with a smile.
Lin Dong had no choice but to endure, despite his eagerness.
After leaving the city, the scarred youth headed east, probably eager to gather the so-called longevity fruits. He traveled day and night, resting only for two or three hours a day. Unfortunately, to Lin Dong and the others, his speed was still as slow as a snail’s.

On the third day, Lin Dong could hardly bear it any longer. The origin of the spiritual fruits was undoubtedly in dense forests or deep mountains. They had already passed one forest along the way, and further ahead, the nearest place was Tongtian Mountain, the largest in Hualang Commandery. Not to mention that Tongtian Mountain stretched for hundreds of miles, even if they reached it, it would likely take several days just to get to the source. Even for the distance before that, at the speed of the scarred youth, it would probably take another ten-odd days to arrive. In other words, just waiting for the scarred youth to reach the foot of the mountain would take thirteen or fourteen days, and it might take a few more days to reach the source. Moreover, with numerous sects on Tongtian Mountain, any conflict with one of them could likely add more days to the journey. With all this back and forth, even if Windy Peak could head ahead to wait for the Yu Linglong sisters, taking just an hour or so, twenty days still seemed insufficient.

“Yun Lan, come closer!” Lin Dong suddenly shouted from the back of the eagle-beast bird that was slowly following the carriage below.

Not far away, Yun Lan, who was in a meditative state, slowly opened her eyes and murmured something. The eagle-beast bird moved closer to Lin Dong.

Lin Dong leaned forward slightly and shouted a few times at the bird. As the bird dived toward the carriage below, he leaped and jumped onto the back of the eagle-beast bird where Yun Lan was.

“What’s wrong?” Not only Yun Lan but everyone else was puzzled by Lin Dong’s actions.

“Descend and use the spiritual sword to cut the wooden poles,” Lin Dong shouted against the strong wind.

Yun Lan was momentarily stunned, then nodded with a smile. “That’s a good idea.”

Under Yun Lan’s control, the eagle-beast bird chased after the one Lin Dong had originally been on and dived downward.

Fifty meters, forty meters, thirty meters… Just as the scarred youth below seemed to sense something and was about to look up, a glint of light shot down silently, instantly cutting through both wooden poles. The carriage separated from the horses ahead and began to shake violently. As the scarred youth was filled with panic, the eagle-beast bird stretched out its claws and grabbed the edges of the carriage on either side. Lin Dong focused intently, and in the next moment, the scarred youth’s body tumbled uncontrollably into the carriage.

By the time the scarred youth managed to steady himself and pull back the curtain, the carriage had already risen over ten meters in the air. Watching the road below shrink, he was completely stunned, trembling and disoriented.

Yun Lan patted the back of the eagle-beast bird, which then took off quickly with her and Lin Dong, quickly putting hundreds of meters between themselves and the eagle-beast bird holding the carriage.

The carriage stopped rising about thirty meters above the official road, then rushed toward Mount Tongtian. Inside the stable carriage, more than half an hour passed before the scarred youth finally regained his composure from his panic. Looking at the eagle-beast bird, which was even larger than the carriage, and then at the ground below that seemed utterly terrifying just to look at, the scarred youth struggled for a long time before taking out a crossbow arrow. With his eyes closed, he stretched his right hand out through the carriage curtain and shot upward. With a sharp sound, his eyelids tightened further. After a moment, since the large bird above didn’t fall plummeting as he had expected after being injured, he cautiously peeked out. There was no sign of an arrow wound on the eagle-beast bird’s abdomen, let alone an arrow stuck in it. Seeing no signs of anger from the bird, the scarred youth grew bolder. He picked up another arrow, stuck his head out, aimed at the bird’s head, and firmly pressed the trigger. Another sharp sound. This time, the scarred youth saw clearly—the arrow, like it had hit steel, plummeted rapidly after touching the bird’s head. After waiting inside the carriage for a while and still seeing no signs of anger from the bird, his courage grew even more. He fired arrows continuously, trying almost every part he thought was vital, but to no avail. After all that fuss, in the end, the scarred youth gave up. If he didn’t die today, such a strange experience would be worth boasting about for a lifetime—more valuable than swindling hundreds of thousands of silver taels from some gullible person. A day later, the scarred youth was surprised to find that they had arrived at Mount Tongtian. What surprised him even more was that the eagle-beast bird flew higher for a while before slowly descending, then releasing its claws and dropping the carriage from a height of about a meter onto a rocky area. After waking up from the chaotic fall, his mood was beyond anyone’s understanding. After being in a daze for over half an hour, he bowed in all directions, thanking heaven for its help. Then he packed up the items in the carriage, slung the bundle over his shoulder, determined his direction, and headed up the mountain. Two days later, the scarred youth arrived at a misty cliff and leaped straight down. In midair, Lin Dong and the others were stunned—suicide by jumping? Or perhaps this person concealed his true strength, being a peak-level warrior unafraid of dying from a fall? Neither of these possibilities seemed plausible. “Down!” Lin Dong slapped the back of the eagle-beast bird.

The eagle-beast bird clearly felt some unknown fear, chirping nonstop and refusing to descend from above the cliff. Unable to persuade it, the group had no choice but to climb down from above the cliff. “What should we do?” Lin Dong was at a loss as he tried desperately to use his spiritual energy to explore the bottom of the cliff, which remained hidden in darkness. The scarred young man could jump, so there shouldn’t be any danger below, but that was just a guess. Who knew if there were any peculiarities in the timing or direction of the jump? If they accidentally chose the wrong timing or direction, only Feng Yue, the newly risen peak expert, could ensure safety. Feng Yue! Lin Dong couldn’t help but look at Feng Yue beside him. Without saying a word, Feng Yue leaped downward and vanished from everyone’s sight in an instant. The next moment, Qiao Tianhao closed his eyes and muttered something. Vaguely, one could hear the words “May the heavens bless them” repeated over and over. As for what they were blessing for, only his lip movements could be seen; even Feng Yue’s sharp hearing might not be able to catch it clearly. After waiting for over an hour, a figure finally jumped up from below the cliff. When everyone focused their attention, aside from Qiao Tianhao’s extreme disappointment, the rest showed relief. That figure was Feng Yue. “There’s no danger. There are dozens of meters of dead leaves at the bottom. An ordinary person falling won’t be in life-threatening danger. Someone with the strength to defy the natural laws can land safely even without the dead leaves,” Feng Yue explained. “Elder Feng, what’s down there?” Yun Lan suddenly asked. “Many of those fruits, then some spiritual snakes, and also a big bird—a very big bird,” Feng Yue replied, slightly embarrassed. He didn’t come from a sect, and his sect hadn’t left any ancient texts about spiritual beasts or materials, so his knowledge of them was even less than that of ordinary sect disciples. Yun Lan breathed a sigh of relief. Good news—now it was 100% certain. “Yun Lan, are you referring to the spiritual snakes or the big bird as the good news?” Lin Dong asked. Yun Lan replied calmly, “The Tianpeng Bird!” “Tianpeng Bird?” Lin Dong frowned slightly. He remembered hearing this name somewhere but couldn’t recall where. “We’ll know once we go down and take a look,” Yun Lan said with a smile. Feng Yue’s loyalty had now reached 40 and was steadily increasing. He wouldn’t set a trap for himself. There was no doubt that jumping down wouldn’t be dangerous. Lin Dong gritted his teeth, pushed off with his legs, and soared downward toward the cliff. With the wind howling in his ears, it took him over a dozen breaths before he could barely make out the dull yellow ground below.

Twenty meters, ten meters, five meters…
When he was less than three meters away from the dead leaves, Lin Dong twisted his waist and forcefully stopped his falling body, landing gently on the leaves.
Before long, everyone else fell one after another.
Feng Yue pointed to the left and said, “The giant bird is right ahead.”
Everyone immediately rushed forward, flying in the direction Feng Yue indicated.
In just a few breaths, Feng Yue stopped, and the others followed suit. They glanced ahead past Feng Yue—and aside from Yun Lan and Feng Yue, everyone’s mouths hung open, unable to close.
“It’s not just a giant bird; it’s an absolutely massive bird…”
Qiao Tianhao exclaimed in utter astonishment.