Chapter 309: Chapter 26 Persistence in Character Development Quick Leveling Guide
“Long Long.” The little fox was already trembling, “Are they here to catch us?”
“Of course not.” Long Long pulled Long Hu’s hand and quickly headed to a nearby cloth store.
The two of them purchased traditional attire characteristic of the Feathered Clan from the cloth store, adorned with various colorful patterns of birds and flowers.
Long Long also procured two wide-brimmed hats with veils made of semi-transparent, downy fluff that hung from the edges, obscuring their faces behind a veil of mystery.
Leaving the cloth store, the two continued on their way.
Long Hu noticed sharply that Long Long deliberately avoided the main roads, preferring to slip through the smaller alleys instead.
Moreover, the direction they were moving in was intentionally the opposite of where the port for ships was located.
“Long Long,” she called out fearfully, then asked in a low voice, “Who is trying to kill us?”
“We need to leave this city as fast as possible,” Long Long replied, not answering the question directly.
However, Long Hu understood:
Those hunting them were not the Feathered Clan’s forces that blocked out the sun, but the rulers of this city—the Azure Bird Clan.
Thinking back to the tavern, the questions and attitudes of those two cultivators, Long Hu finally realized the key point.
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The giant horned captain of the merchant ship was from the Horned Deer Race!
Given the captain’s appearance, not even bothering to disguise his antlers, he probably hadn’t made it a few steps into the city before drawing the attention of the Feathered Clan cultivators within!
Soon, all the sailors on that ship would be captured and interrogated.
Not to mention, the two of them had boarded the ship halfway through its journey, and from any perspective, they would be considered the most suspicious kind—once in jail, one’s life and death were in others’ hands, regardless of whether you were a spy or not!
No sooner had the two left South Wind City than several Feathered Clan cultivators emerged from the City Lord’s Mansion, circling high above the city to search for suspicious cultivators.
Another team of Feathered Clan cultivators rushed towards the city gates in all directions.
After confirming that two people, one tall and one short, with veiled wide-brimmed hats, had left the North Gate and entered the deep, dusky woods not long ago, this team of Feathered Clan cultivators did not dare to delay. One cultivator was sent back hurriedly to report, while the others spread their wings and flew towards the dusky woods.
In the water dungeon beneath the City Lord’s Mansion, the human-shaped giant-horned Deer Race captain was chained by the arm bones and bound to a stone pillar under torture.
“Although we of the Feathered Clan are quite verbose, we never hesitate in our actions,” said the middle-aged female City Lord of the Feathered Clan, extending her claw-like palm and gripping the Deer Demon’s head in her hand, “I’ll give you one more chance.”
“Tell me where the Qilin Prince is.”
“I don’t know!” the giant-horned captain shouted in despair, “I don’t know!”
“Heh,” the City Lord hummed lowly,
Her voice, mournful and plaintive, entered the giant-horned captain’s ears, twisting in his mind like a drill.
Unable to endure the tormenting sound, the Deer Demon captain soon rolled his eyes and fainted, his body limp as mud.
The City Lord retracted her claws leisurely, thinking that although the Horned Clan’s hides were tough, their resistance to sound-based spells was pitifully weak.
What spell should she try next?
Lost in thought, she was suddenly interrupted by a Feathered Clan cultivator who rushed in and whispered a few words beside her ear.
A sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy from the Serpent Clan and a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl from the Fox Clan? The City Lord was slightly taken aback before scoffing to herself.
The Qilin Prince they were seeking was an eight or nine-year-old boy, accompanied by an elderly figure.
Although their appearances did not match, the Fox Clan girls were often petite, making it easy for the Qilin Prince to disguise himself using illusion techniques.
As for the Serpent Clan boy who had skillfully handled the interrogations by the cultivators and then immediately realized the danger, quickly disguising and fleeing with his companion… that was no ordinary demon.
Most likely, he was the elderly figure who had been with the Qilin Prince!
“Send out the Feathered Hunting Squad,” she ordered icily.
Soon, the elite cultivators of the Azure Bird Clan took off from South Wind City and headed straight for the dusky woods to the north.
………
Long Long, leading Long Hu, wove through the forest for several days, swiftly understanding why this place was called the “dusky woods.”
The forest here was so dense that visibility within was dim, making daylight seem like dusk and nighttime utterly impenetrable.
Fortunately, he had ventured deep into the Southern Border jungle several times, and was so familiar with trekking in similar environments that he suffered no discomfort at all.
Sounds of otherworldliness occasionally drifted down from above, likely the Feathered Clan Cultivators swiftly flying overhead.
At this time, the dense foliage above shielding them from light became the best natural camouflage for the two of them.
Ever since Long Hu had begun fleeing for safety, the fox had been so scared that it didn’t dare to maintain its Transformation form, reverting back to a small fox, cowering and trembling in Long Long’s embrace.
All Long Long could do was to stroke her fur from time to time to calm the little fox down, all the while lamenting to himself.
He had perused many books in the Gui Xu Palace and was aware that the Transformation Tribulation of the Demon Race is actually even more challenging than the Core Condensation Tribulation of the Human Race.
But the problem is… the number of the Demon Race is simply too overwhelming.
Flowers, grass, trees, birds in flight, and beasts on land, all stand a chance to absorb the essence of the sun and the moon to become Demonic Beasts—a number so vast it could leave one dumbfounded.
Given such a base, even if the Transformation Tribulation is exceptionally demanding, the number of true lords of the Demon Race that are cultivated is still far greater than the number of Golden Core Cultivators of the Human Race.
In a power of moderate influence like South Wind City, they could effortlessly gather twenty or thirty transformed Cultivators, leaving Long Long with no courage to engage them in battle.
Forget it, I’m tired, it’s time to run.
He found a huge tree nearby and carved a hole in its trunk with his Dragon Chant Sword, then took the little fox inside to rest and recuperate for a short while.
This Long Hu is truly useless, I’ve carried her so steadily as we fled, yet her body shakes so fiercely. What’s there to be scared of?
I don’t understand, I really feel like punching her.
“Long Long, Long Long!” The little fox cried out with a weeping tone when she noticed he was motionless, “What’s wrong with you? You’re not dead, are you…?”
Her tears were falling pitter-patter, alarming Long Long into quickly wiping them away:
“I’m fine, what’s wrong with you?”
“I remembered…” The little fox clutched his shoulders with her paws, sobbing as she spoke, “This is just how it was with my mother…”
“She had suffered severe injuries… there was so much blood, and she carried me as we fled through the forest for so long… so long…”
“Later, she took me to a cave, then just held me without moving anymore…”
Long Long covered its mouth with a complicated expression, remaining silent.
He finally understood why Long Hu’s mother had been pursued to death, forced to flee with Long Hu to the depths of the Nanlan River where she later perished in a cave.
No wonder Long Hu was so intensely phobic about “being taken flight,” a stress reaction triggered by that very incident.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said softly, “I’m not injured.”
“Have you forgotten? I made a promise to your mother, to take you to the North Sea Mystical Realm.”
These words seemed to hold a magical power, as the little fox immediately stopped her sobbing and said with a trembling voice:
“Mother said… lying is wrong, so you didn’t lie to me, did you?”
Long Long: ………
So that’s it! My Long Hu is so intelligent, how could she be so easily fooled?
Turns out the mother-in-law didn’t teach her very well! What’s this about “because ‘lying is wrong’, so others shouldn’t ‘lie to her’”? That’s a joke, right?
Has she never heard of “white lies”? What about “expressive art”? What about a “necessary evil”?
“I didn’t deceive you,” Long Long said seriously, holding the tear-stained little fox.
“You won’t ever abandon me, will you?” asked the little fox with a shaky voice.
“Mhm, I will never leave you,” declared Long Long solemnly.
[Steadfast Persona: Synchronization Value +1.]
[Steadfast Persona: Synchronization Value +1.]
[Steadfast Persona: Synchronization Value +1.]
The long-missed prompt of an increasing Synchronization Value suddenly began to sound rapidly in his ears.