Chapter 139: Chapter 128: First Encounter with a Strange Creature_1
After leaving Snake City, he continued to move north, gradually approaching the area where Wei Family resided.
During this period, Lu Yan made his move once again.
Because this feudal lord controlled a top-tier martial arts technique, which was a knife technique.
Among the twenty or so Martial Marquis level feudal lords in Li’an County, it was the only one that mastered a knife technique.
The technique was called Purple Gold Xuanxiao Knife.
Lu Yan also had a good measure of this feudal lord’s strength, there were no existences at Martial Marquis Level Five.
Lu Yan attacked openly, striking fear into the feudal lord, compelling him to obediently surrender the Divine Intent Diagram and the knife technique manual.
Lu Yan chose a secluded spot, and after successfully understanding the technique, he returned the Divine Intent Diagram and the knife technique manual to them.
After that, Lu Yan did not make another move, crossed through the region controlled by the Wei Family, and entered Da’an County.
Inside Da’an County, Lu Yan made his move again.
And only once.
Regarding the feudal lords inside Da’an County, Lu Yan didn’t know much, so he didn’t dare to act rashly without a clear idea of their strength.
Only one family he had heard of, controlled a kind of speed type martial arts, named Cloud Walk.
Once mastered, strength passes through the body, making the body as light as a swallow, like walking through the clouds.
The stronger the bone strength, the faster the speed.
This was created precisely for someone like Lu Yan, and it stirred his interest.
After a meticulous investigation, he learned that the strength of this feudal lord wasn’t all that formidable, and was still far from the Master Level feudal lords. Lu Yan directly approached the feudal lord and got the Divine Intent Diagram and the secret book.
It took him a month to consolidate a Martial Arts Avatar after successfully understanding it, and he then returned them.
After that, Lu Yan didn’t make another move.
Traveling this far, making four moves, he acquired three top-tier martial arts, and five secondary archery martial arts, which were enough for him to enhance his skills for a significant period of time.
If he ’understood’ all the way, he may alarm the Master Level feudal lords, and if Master Level personnel come out to deal with him, it would be troublesome.
Wait till all these are elevated to Unity of Man and Martial Arts, then search for other top-tier martial arts.
He believed that by then, his strength would elevate again, and his confidence would be stronger.
Pushing on at full speed, his pace increased significantly. Finally, three and a half months after leaving Baicao City, he arrived at Dongshan County, approaching Lingwang City.
Three and a half months, during the majority of those three months, he was understanding martial arts, rushing on the road took a dozen or so days.
...
Mangwu Mountain, a lush mountain located south of Lingwang City.
The terrain was open, had an abundance of wild beasts, a few human inhabitants, and was more than two hundred miles away from Lingwang City.
On a narrow mountain path, a burly young man in his thirties was trudging along.
His pace wasn’t fast, but every step he took, he seemed light as a feather, landing ten meters away.
"Cloud Walk, it indeed is a top-tier martial arts skill, far beyond the Wind Chasing Step. Now it’s only the initial phase and has already displayed an extraordinary power. If I cultivate it to Unity of Man and Martial Arts, my speed will surely skyrocket. By then, even if I face a master who isn’t good at speed, I can still escape with my life, right?"
The young man thought to himself.
The person was naturally Lu Yan who had come from afar.
The appearance of a man in his thirties was a disguise, not his real appearance.
As he hurried on his way, he also cultivated Cloud Walk.
After advancing two more miles, suddenly a fragrant smell wafted over.
Lu Yan glanced ahead. By the side of the road ahead, there was a tavern.
There was one thatched cottage and a wooden shed built with logs. The roof of the shed was also covered with thatch to keep off the rain.
Under the shed, six wooden tables were scattered.
A pair of dark-skinned elderly couple who seemed to be in their fifties or sixties were busy working.
In front of the thatched cottage, there was a large pot with a steamer made of wood. It was emitting steaming heat, and the mouthwatering aroma came from the steamer.
Only one table was occupied. Two strong men and a woman who still retained her charm were seated there.
The three of them were all armed, at first glance, one could tell they belonged to martial arts circles.
The trio glanced at Lu Yan and paid him no heed.
"Sir, would you like a drink? I brewed this farmhouse wine myself. It’s mellow and the customers who drank it couldn’t stop praising it."
The old man saw Lu Yan and called out to him.
Having traveled all the way, nibbling mostly on Military Food, Lu Yan wanted to switch up the flavor and nodded, replying, "Alright."
He chose a table and sat down, asking, "Apart from wine, what else do you serve?"
"We also have freshly made donkey meat buns. The donkeys are reared in our farm, the buns taste great, but they have just been put in the pot, you’ll have to wait a while."
The old man replied.
Lu Yan nodded and sat quietly.
At the table next to him, the trio was obviously also waiting for the donkey meat buns.
Martial Artists only improve themselves by consuming martial food, but not all martial artists have martial food for every meal every day.
They usually mix in some regular food.
Even martial artists who have martial food for every meal sometimes eat regular delicious food to change their taste.
Just like Lu Yan, he isn’t short of martial food, but he occasionally eats some common food to enjoy the flavor of human life.
After Lu Yan had just been seated for a while, a group of people arrived from not too far away.
There were a total of five people, led by two young people, a man and a woman.
Lu Yan’s gaze was first attracted by the woman.
The woman was almost one meter eighty tall, which was quite normal among female Martial Artists. What truly attracted attention was her figure.
She was wearing a half-armored suit in bright red, but the half-armored suit failed to hide her proud figure. The attractive curves, coupled with her fine face, were pleasing to the eye.
A ponytail behind her head, holding a long spear in her hand, it gave her a neat and valiant demeanor.
Not only Lu Yan, the two strong men at the table beside also kept stealing glances at her.
After a while, Lu Yan’s gaze swept over the others.
Beside the woman was a handsome young man, carrying a longsword on his back.
As for the three strong men behind, they were obviously subordinates and there was no need to look too much into that.
The five people walked straight up and sat down at one of the tables next to Lu Yan.
"What would you five like to have?"
The shopkeeper, an old man, came over, his dark, old face decorated with a smile and his body bent as he asked.
"What can I do for you?"
The young man inquired.
"Our specialty is our homemade rural alcohol, and also donkey meat buns."
The shopkeeper replied.
"Then, let’s have three pounds of rural alcohol and five baskets of donkey meat buns."
The youth said.
"Alright, please wait a bit, the donkey meat buns will be ready soon."
The old man replied.
Soon, steaming hot baskets of donkey meat buns were served up to the table.
On Lu Yan’s table, there was also a basket and a jar of alcohol.
Lu Yan sniffed and a flash of surprise crossed his eyes, he didn’t eat, but sat quietly.
The woman with the ponytail at the other table also didn’t eat.
Only the first table, where the two burly men and the middle-aged woman were seated, began to eat and drink heartily.
"Shopkeeper, Lingwang City has been invaded by bizarre creatures, they may bypass Lingwang City and enter our rear at any time. This place is rather remote, aren’t you afraid of danger by opening a pub here?"
The woman with the ponytail suddenly asked.
The shopkeeper paused slightly, then piled on a simple-looking smile again, responding, "Of course, we fear danger, but we need to make a living, and our whole family depends on it. There’s nothing we can do. There seem to be more martial artists passing by recently, so we can earn a little more and feed our children."
"Where are you from?"
The woman with the ponytail continued to ask.
"We’re from the nearby Mangwu Village."
The shopkeeper answered honestly.
"Oh, we just left Lingwang City. We are patrolling the surrounding areas to prevent any bizarre creatures from sneaking in. We just happen to be heading to Mangwu Village, can you guide us there?"
The woman with the ponytail said.
"Of course, once you all have eaten and drunk your fill, I will lead the way."
The shopkeeper replied respectfully. Then he added, "Keep in mind that the donkey meat buns are best eaten hot. They’re not as good when they’re cold. These are made with our own donkeys, they’re really delicious."
"Donkey meat buns?"
The woman with the ponytail displayed a hint of mockery and said, "I think they’re human meat buns, and they’re filled with martial artist meat. We don’t dare to eat them."
This remark caused a slight change in the expression of the shopkeeper couple.
Lu Yan remained calm, as if he was already aware.
The three people at the first table, however, were stunned, and hurriedly spat the buns out of their mouths. One of them angrily asked,"Shopkeeper, is what she said true?"
"Heh heh, couldn’t you tell from the taste? Why do you need to ask me?"
The shopkeeper sneered coldly, a hint of gloom showing on his previously simple-looking face.
"You’re looking for death."
The two burly men and the middle-aged woman were infuriated, smashing the table with one palm and getting up to attack the shopkeeper couple.
But as soon as they got up, they felt dizzy, and their faces showed a hint of blackness.
"There’s poison, the buns are poisoned."
One of the burly men roared.
Shah! Shah!
At this moment, the shopkeeper couple suddenly made their move, throwing out handfuls of black powder towards the woman with the ponytail and Lu Yan and the others, enveloping them.
Poisonous powder.
Lu Yan had been prepared, he struck out with a burst of bone strength, a palm wind howling, scattering the poisonous powder.
The woman with the ponytail and the youth also made their move simultaneously, displaying bone strength, and scattering the poisonous powder.
The two of them were both at the Martial Marquis level.
After scattering the poisonous powder, the woman with the ponytail stabbed her spear towards the shopkeeper, while the youth unsheathed his sword, the cold sword light aimed at the wife of the shopkeeper.
At this moment, the expressions on the faces of the shopkeeper couple were filled with gloom, their bodies shrouded in a strange gray fog. It gave people a complex feeling of coldness, tyranny, resentment, terror, and so forth. One glance would suffice to stir up unrest in one’s heart.
The two of them, with their withering fingers, moved forward instead of retreating, pouncing towards the woman with the ponytail and the youth.
The three burly men who had accompanied the woman with the ponytail and the youth were holding their weapons in readiness, but found it difficult to intervene.
They were mere Limit Breaking Warriors.
Clang! Clang!
The two sides clashed once.
To Lu Yan’s surprise, the shopkeeper couple were strong on the outside but weak on the inside. After clashing with the woman with the ponytail and the youth once, their withered palms exploded.
The woman with the ponytail and the youth surged forward.
The woman with the ponytail pierced the body of the shopkeeper with her spear and gave her spear a shake. The shopkeeper’s body split apart.
The youth also cut the wife of the shopkeeper into two with one stroke of his sword.
But from the bodies of the shopkeeper couple, two shadows rushed out, like ghosts, pouncing towards the woman with the ponytail and the youth.
Lu Yan’s eyes became focused.
Those two shadows were not like ghosts, they were ghosts indeed.
"It’s a bizarre creature, be careful."
The youth shouted in a low voice, the bone strength surged, the sword light soared, rushing towards the shadow that emerged from the body of the wife of the shopkeeper, like a surging river.
After several successive clashes, the shadow retreated rapidly, its body was cut by the sword light, nearly split into two.
But the shadow’s body was rapidly wriggling, the gigantic sword wound was healing rapidly.
"Martial Marquis Level Two."
The shadow let out a raspy and piercing scream.
The woman with the ponytail was at Martial Marquis Level One, she had exchanged more than ten strikes with the shadow inside the body of the shopkeeper, neither side gaining the upper hand.
These shadows, with their strange methods and flexible attacks, were not easy to deal with.
"Sirong, hold on. I’ll help you once I deal with this creature. The three of you use your armor-piercing crossbows to assist from the side."
The youth said this as he swung his sword and charged forward.
