Chapter Twenty-Four: Outside Hei Yun Ridge

  At the end of September, on a clear morning when the first rays of sunlight began to shine on the mountain valley. An ordinary four-wheeled carriage stopped beside a dense forest at the foot of a certain mountain peak.

  "Master, if you go further ahead, it's Hei Yun Ridge——"

  When he got off the carriage, Rong Li still had no idea that Yue Yu's purpose was to go and get familiar with those monsters outside.

  He was just wondering at the moment, wasn't it said earlier that he would go to inspect the fields outside the city and replace Zhang Shi to count the losses? How did this carriage come here all of a sudden?

  Yue Yu didn't respond, and instead began to take out the things he had placed in the car, one by one, and hand them over to the two of them to equip. First were the two bows, along with sixty arrows made from cloud swallow bones that matched them.

  The bones of the strange bird are extremely light, not only incredibly hard, but also mostly hollow, making them the best material for crafting arrows. However, finding suitable bones to work with is no easy task, and this cloud sparrow bone arrow, despite being one of the most common types, had cost Yue Yu nearly two taels of silver.

  Next is Yue Yu's Tang-style horizontal knife, which is a must-have item, considering that it may be damaged in the subsequent battle. Previously, when they were in the city, Yue Yu bought three horizontal knives and three long swords each from the clan's weapon shop with one breath. These things, Yue Yu plans to hang them on Rong Li's neck. This is a mobile artillery platform, also a mobile warehouse.

  Of course, food and medicine are also indispensable.

  This time, Yue Yu brought out a few pieces of flatbread and dried meat. He hadn't planned on spending the night outside, so he didn't prepare too much. As for medicine, aside from the usual wound remedies, there were also two bottles of Qi-replenishing pills, which he had made for his own use rather than to sell to Yue Zhangshi. Naturally, Yue Yu was unscrupulous in choosing the most potent formula to brew them with. He estimated that these should be about 60% stronger than those sold on the market.

  Finally, there were the two men's leather armors, which didn't cost any money. Their fathers had each left behind a high-quality fourth-level white alligator armor, which was not only lightweight and didn't hinder movement, but also had extremely powerful defensive capabilities.

  And it wasn't until Ran Li was locked in a metal armor outside the White Alligator's shell, and the straps behind him were tightly tied by Yue Yu, that he suddenly realized Yue Yu's purpose this time. For a moment, the big man's face, which was covered with stubble, lost all its blood color.

  He wasn't worried about their safety, with his immense power and Yue Yu's knife skills. As long as they didn't go too deep, it was enough to guarantee their lives were safe.

  What's truly worrying is Jin Xu

  "Master, do you think those guys will follow us?"

  Ran Li attempted to remind the young master beside him in a somewhat obscure tone, but as soon as he spoke, he himself didn't hold out much hope. And sure enough, Yue Yu heard this and let out a faint smile.

  "Of course I'll come with you, did you think I wouldn't have thought of that?"

  Several days ago, Yue Yu had already discovered that someone was paying attention to his actions. Whether it was the procurement of external materials or inquiring about the situation outside the valley, there were people investigating afterwards. Yue Yu also firmly believed that the Jin family father and son, as well as some other individuals, would probably be delighted to see the two of them die at the hands of those "monsters" outside the valley.

  Yue Yu slung the quiver over her back and waved to the cart driver, indicating that he could leave. Then she turned around and looked towards the mountain peak in front of her.

  This is the Black Cloud Ridge that Rang Li just mentioned, one of the surrounding mountains outside this canyon. The demonic beasts above the fourth rank have been basically cleared by the Yue organization's manpower. However, beyond the Black Cloud Ridge, there are still vast tracts of pristine forest. Countless demonic beasts breed and inhabit here. There are also a small number of third-rank and fourth-rank existences that occasionally venture deep into this mountain to hunt for food.

  For both of them, it was indeed an extremely dangerous place.

  Yue Yu glanced back again, at the foot of Hei Yun Ridge was a large expanse of good paddy fields. At a glance, it stretched endlessly without any sign of anything unusual. However, Yue Yu firmly believed that at this moment, in the dark, there were probably over ten pairs of eyes watching from the side.

  Yue Zhang's Shunfu Pharmacy has gradually gotten on track in recent days. On the very day that those pharmacy apprentices learned various wound medicine brewing processes from him, he hired six martial artists and a full eighteen high-level warriors, stunning the entire city.

  Just when everyone thought that Mrs. Yue was going crazy because of the closure of the farm outside the city, her mother made another shocking move on the day the pharmacy reopened. For several days in a row, she gave away various wound medicines from the Yue family to travelers at the city gate for free. This move seemed crazy, but it also caused the business of Shunfu Pharmacy to explode in the following days.

  Interestingly, Yue Zhang placed more importance on keeping his talent in medicine a secret than even Yue Yu himself. Before the pharmacy opened, he even went to great lengths to escort an elderly man in his eighties, dressed as a pharmacist, into the city with several martial artists, diverting almost all suspicious gazes away from him.

  Yue Zhang's only unexpected thing was probably that several exclusive medicines in Shunfu Pharmacy would be sold out almost.

  But with the current booming business of Shunfu Pharmacy, Yue Yu didn't believe that Jin Xu and his few allies could sit still.

  At this moment, Yue Yu's own heart also had some regrets. If he could give him a little more time, then whether it was his strength or the medicine formula, he would now be able to prepare even more thoroughly.

  Unfortunately, Jin Xu was forced to hand over the few prescriptions to Yue Zhangshi early on. He also had no choice but to face more risks in this trip outside the valley.

  Seeing the horse carriage had thoroughly disappeared from view, Ruan Li reluctantly pulled out the large axe behind him, his expression still somewhat pale.

  At this moment, Ruan Li's heart was struggling, wondering if he should find an opportunity to knock Yue Yu unconscious and then drag him back. Just as he thought of this, he saw Yue Yu turn around and walk into the forest ahead. Glancing at the horizontal knife pressed against Yue Yu's left hand, Ruan Li's pupils constricted, and after a deep sigh, he hastily followed up with quick steps.

  When they first entered the forest, both of them were almost running with all their might. It wasn't until they had gone more than twenty miles into the dense woods and were about to leave the Black Cloud Mountain range that Yue Yu gradually slowed down his pace.

  From here on, the two had encountered some demon beasts, mostly below mid-second grade. Apart from their physical strength and size, there was no essential difference between these demon beasts and those fierce beasts in Yue Yu's previous life. Demon beasts at this level hadn't grasped any special powers yet, and Rong Er's large greataxe could easily take care of them.

  Yue Yu himself began to pay attention to finding medicinal materials while setting up some small mechanisms along the way without leaving any traces.

  He is not a professional medicine collector, nor does he have any experience. However, with the help of the auxiliary system's graphic comparison function and other visual aids, they have already collected many types of precious medicines on this road that has not yet been deeply explored.

  However, Yue Yu was more concerned about what was behind them at this time. His small traps had been triggered about ten times in the past half hour. Although the wind in the forest was very strong and the sounds were mixed together, Yue Yu could always separate these sounds through the auxiliary parasitic system.

  After comprehensive analysis, he found that those guys following him should be between three and five people.

  "This result left Yue Yu slightly surprised, his enemy shouldn't be so lightly regarded. And with Jin Xu's displayed style, he should also know the principle of a lion catching a rabbit, and must use all his strength."

  Yu Yu thought of what Yu Zhangshi said more than a decade ago, about the level 5 Lion Crocodile Beast going south. Could it be that the crisis from back then hasn't been completely resolved?

  He shook his head slightly, and Yue Yu opened the map he had drawn. The people behind him were getting closer and closer, and most of them couldn't wait any longer. Whether he could safely get through this crisis now depended on whether what that old hunter who sold him the bow said was true or not.