Translator: Panda_Penn Editor: Chrissy
Patriarch Lu only explored in the three nearest counties. There were many more he didn’t search. Nobody could tell whether there were Yu Family warriors in those counties.
Yu Family was a Fifth-rank Family, same as the three Royal Families.
Even though the Yu Family was not as reputable as the three Royal Families, it was not weak since it was a Fifth-rank one. The resources of such a Super Family would be more than powerful.
What the Yu Family controlled was a region located at the east of the Heaven Martial Kingdom. The Liu Family now was at the southwest of the Heaven Martial Kingdom. Normally, the Yu Family warriors would not be here. It went without saying that they were targeting the Liu Family.
As a matter of fact!
These men were here for the Liu Family and Lu Li indeed. Ghost Snake Granny practically slapped Yu Feijia in his face, which was an equivalent of slapping the Yu Family’s face. The Family Patriarch of the Yu Family sent out pursuing troops as soon as possible in a fit of rage. He even managed to invite a powerful warrior of the Zi Family. These warriors used the Teleportation Formation to try to intercept Ghost Snake Granny at the Heaven Frigid Kingdom in the south. Countless men were sent out to find out Ghost Snake Granny’s whereabouts, but eventually, nothing was found…
Much time had passed. Since they could not find her now, it would be difficult to find her at all. The Iron-armored Ship had a very powerful Inhibition Formation which could hide the tracks. Average people could not find it. The Yu Family was not a Royal Family, so they could not mobilize all the powerful warriors of all Big Families at the Northern Desert. It was actually not surprising that they could not find Ghost Snake Granny.
Yu Feijia felt humiliated. He then sought to let his anger off on Lu Ling’s brother and the Liu Family to save his face. He didn’t send some to hunt them down, but just deduced where the Liu Family was going from a small amount of intelligence.
Actually, it was not a deduction…
In the Northern Desert, the only place to shy away from being hunted down was the Thousand-island Lake. Only by fleeing into the Thousand-island Lake would mean ultimate safety.
Therefore, Yu Feijia gave a random order and the Yu Family mobilized some men to wait for the Liu Family falling into their traps at the counties to the northeast side of the Thousand-island Lake. Lord Yu didn’t feel too concerned for such a small family as the Liu Family. As long as they could locate the Liu Family, they could put them down easily.
“How many are there? Which Realms?”
Patriarch Seven asked with a gloomy expression. There were three men sitting in his chariot. All were at the latter stage of the Spirit Sea Realm. They were the only warriors of the latter stage of the Spirit Sea Realm left of the Liu Family.
Patriarch Lu answered with knitted eyebrows, “Not too many, about three or five in each county. I didn’t have the courage to get too close. However, there is at least one warrior of the Soul Pond Realm in each county.”
“…”
Patriarch Seven, Patriarch Nine and Patriarch Thirteen looked at each other. None of them knew how to respond. The resources of a Fifth-rank Family were so powerful that they could send out warriors of the Soul Pond Realm randomly. Only one, let alone several of them, could wipe out the entire Liu Family.
Patriarch Lu offered another news which made the Patriarch Seven look more awful, “According to the information I got, this time, the Yu Family has asked the nearby counties to send out countless scouts to lurk at the outside of the Thousand-island Lake. If we dare to go to the Thousand-island Lake, we will probably be discovered before we are 30 miles from there.”
Counties were usually controlled by Second or Third-rank Families. When the Yu Family came forward, those Families would be more than happy to offer their assistance. After all, it was an honor to help the Yu Family.
The several Liu Family Patriarchs realized that they only had two ways to go after discussion—one, they could spread out and sneak into the Thousand-island Lake. The people sent by Yu Feijia had never seen the Liu Family warriors before. The Liu Family warriors had some chance to worm their way into the Thousand-island Lake under disguise. However, many of them had the risk of being killed.
Or, they could take a detour and get to the south side of the Thousand-island Lake and enter there. The Thousand-island Lake was so big. How could the Yu Family dispatch more than 100,000 warriors to surround the entire Thousand-island Lake?
Of course, for the same reason, if the Liu Family were to take a detour, they would have to spend another seven or eight days on the road. Since the Yu Family warriors were here already, they wouldn’t wait in the county doing nothing. The Liu Family would be found during the seven or eight days.
Patriarch Nine and the rest admired the vision of Patriarch Seven. If they hadn’t given up Liu Family’s Silver Wolf chariots and disguised as a caravan twice, they would have been detected a long time ago.
After several rounds of discussion, they decided to make a compromise between the two ways.
They divided the 300 people into three teams and disguised them as three caravans. The three teams would go towards the southeast side along the Thousand-island Lake taking three different routes. Patriarch Lu would continue to probe around with some warriors. Once they found that there were not so many scouts from the Yu Family any more, the teams would force their way to the Thousand-island Lake. As long as they were inside the Thousand-island Lake, they would have their security guaranteed.
The three Patriarchs at the latter stage of the Spirit Sea Realm would lead a team respectively. All the warriors of the Spirit Sea Realm and the Xuan Wu Realm were divided into three teams. Liu Yi and Lu Li, of course, followed Patriarch Seven who had the strongest fighting capacity.
When the 300 people were divided into three teams, they were less of an obvious target. They would look like regular caravans now.
The three teams decided a location of rendezvous and then went their separate ways. The three teams moved towards the southeast along their respective route. Patriarch Lu had more than 20 scouts with him. They were utterly busy this time as they had to gather intelligence about the enemy and learn about the situation on their own side so as to be informed as soon as something happened.
The regular warriors of the Liu Family were not notified of the fact that Yu Family had sent troops out. Only Patriarchs of the Spirit Sea Realms were in the know. Liu Yi and Lu Li were qualified to learn about this. Liu Yi was very nervous and terrified. Lu Li was poker-faced. He didn’t express any sentiments after he heard the news.
He knew the Yu Family were not only targeting the Liu Family but him as well. Maybe the Liu Family now even had his portrait.
As a result, Lu Li had chosen not to fight single-handed all by himself. The Liu Family could resist for a bit if Lu Li followed the troops, then he could have a window of time to escape.
That was right, to escape!
It was not that Lu Li was heartless. He believed that he now owed the Liu Family nothing. It should actually be the Liu Family that owed him and his sister much. He had no warm feelings towards the Liu Family. The only person he had some friendly sentiments to was Liu Yi.
Lu Li had made up his mind that he would flee as soon as things went south. If Liu Yi wanted to go along with him, he would bring her together. If she wished no such things, then he would walk away immediately.
His parents were still in the Ice Abyss. Lu Ling disappeared without a trace to the Cyan Plains far away. Lu Li felt he had so many responsibilities on his shoulder.
He told himself to be merciless. In this ruthless world, goodness could only bring along sooner death.
The carriages moved on fast, day and night all the same. Lu Li cultivated every second except for sleeping and eating.
He learned about the cultivation of the Spirit Sea Realm at the Hall of Cultivation Methods at the Liu Family. The priority of the initial stage of the Spirit Sea Realm was the cultivation of Xuan Energy. His Xuan Energy was not profound enough. Without the assistance of any pellets, it would take him years of cultivation before he could reach the standard of the middle stage of the Spirit Sea Realm.
Liu Yi was perturbed and on pin and needles. She would look to observe the situation outside every now and then. Luckily, it was quiet. No scouts or enemies were found.
After travelling for five threatening but not dangerous days, the team had now covered more than 310 miles across rivers and mountains. Now, they had reached the eastern side of the Thousand-island Lake.
Patriarch Lu passed along some good news. There were fewer scouts by the eastern side of the Thousand-island Lake. He suggested that they should force their way into the Thousand-island Lake now lest something wrong would happen later.
Patriarch Seven thought about it for the time it took for an incense stick to burn and then he had Patriarch Lu to notify the other two teams to turn around and charge towards the Thousand-island Lake and get inside as fast as they could. Then they would meet at a small island called the Sundown Island at the east side.
Liu Yi was even more nervous when she heard the news. She grabbed a silver sword in her hand, ready to engage at any moment. Seeing Lu Li opening his eyes, she asked while swallowing down some saliva, “Lu Li, do you think we can get into the Thousand-island Lake without a hitch this time?”
“No!”
Lu Li said with certainty, “If the Yu Family were to let us rush in so easily, the Fifth-rank Family would enjoy undeserved fame.”
Liu Yi took a deep breath. She asked when she saw the calm face of Lu Li, “Lu Li, why aren’t you nervous.”
Lu Li cast a sidelong glance towards Liu Yi and said with indifference, “What will being nervous do? It will only let you die faster. Lady Yi, later on, if something is off, you just follow me closely. I will kill my way into the Thousand-island Lake and take you with me. But you have to obey my orders completely. Otherwise, don’t blame me for leaving you behind.”