Chapter 13: Out of Danger

Zuo Qianqian had started learning various hunting skills from her grandpa when she was very young. When one’s own strength was insufficient, learning to set traps was especially important. With Lei Qing’s assistance, setting up various traps became an easy task, and all sorts of ingenious ideas were displayed one by one.

Such methods even filled Lei Qing with admiration. If he had possessed these methods earlier, he certainly would not have suffered so much these past few months. The ones who should have suffered were those bastards from the Free Mercenary Group who had tracked him like stubborn shadows.

“Brother Lei, actually using traps against people is much simpler than against beasts.” As she laid traps along the way, Zuo Qianqian was in high spirits and explained: “Beasts are actually very cunning and suspicious, because it concerns their lives. Their reaction and perception of many dangers are also much stronger than humans. Just like that Scar-Head Wolf, its perception of danger was very sharp. It escaped my carefully laid traps time and again. Of course, I mean ordinary people who haven’t had much wilderness training or anti-trap abilities. My grandpa said that if it were some specially trained scouts or assassins, they would often possess very strong abilities in detecting and setting traps.” At the mention of her grandpa, Zuo Qianqian’s expression inevitably became somewhat dim.

“Your grandpa was certainly no ordinary person. I also once learned some battlefield scout subjects, but they were just superficial basics, lacking who knows how many levels compared to yours. I think, even that guy Ghost Wolf Scott’s ability might not surpass yours.” Lei Qing patted her shoulder and comforted her: “Although your grandpa has died, you must live on well for him. Only by living can you avenge him.”

“Mn, I understand, Brother Lei.” Zuo Qianqian looked at Lei Qing’s sincere eyes, her emotions calmed considerably, and she gritted her silver teeth saying: “These vicious bandits are definitely One-Eyed Dragon’s men. I will definitely kill One-Eyed Dragon to avenge my grandpa.”

“Good, I will help you take revenge together. These people are too vicious; keeping them in this world is nothing but a scourge.” Lei Qing had been chased and killed all the way until now, and he had long held a pent-up breath of anger in his heart. Especially during those few months pursued by the Free Mercenary Group, he was truly like a stray dog.

By now, they were already at the edge of the Heavenly Ridge Mountain Range, where the terrain was complex and hiding tracks was very easy. Moreover, he was now a High-stage Bronze Fighter. Relying on the profound secrets of his Heavenly Thunder Fighting Qi and combat techniques, he dared not say he could definitely defeat An Feifei, but at least saving his life in her hands was no problem. After the death of their reconnaissance squad leader Ghost Wolf Scott, Lei Qing did not believe that within the Free Mercenary Group, there was still an expert in tracking and ambush comparable to Scott.

Now he was no longer what he used to be, especially with the help of Zuo Qianqian, who was skilled in tracking and traps. Unless An Feifei and the others did not come to chase him. As long as they dared to come, Lei Qing was even confident in counter-killing. Lei Qing was not exactly a good-tempered person to begin with. How could he not avenge the hatred of being chased like a dog in such a wretched state?

“But before that, we first need to get out of our current predicament.” Lei Qing said calmly: “We must adjust our condition to the best before we can start taking revenge. Qianqian, it’s about time, let’s retreat.”

Hearing that Lei Qing was willing to help her take revenge, Zuo Qianqian’s innocent and pure eyes lit up, and her gratitude towards Lei Qing increased greatly. She nodded obediently and said: “Brother Lei, you support me, I will clear some traces, and then set up some false signs to mislead them.”

While she cleared traces and set up misleading signs, Lei Qing also watched and learned carefully. He had to admit that the little girl probably had a unique talent in this aspect. Of course, he estimated that the late Old Man Zuo had also taught her meticulously. That Old Man Zuo was probably really not a simple person. At least, before he died, he entrusted him to send Zuo Qianqian to her Grandma’s place, mentioning the Wan Family Fort of the Free Alliance.

Although it was on the other side of the Heavenly Ridge Mountain Range, Lei Qing had more or less heard of the power called Wan Family Fort. It should be considered a famous power within the Free Alliance. If Old Man Zuo was really just an ordinary person, how could he have any connection with Wan Family Fort?

Not mentioning these, once she finished setting up, Lei Qing picked her up. He began to use the Thunder Flash movement technique at full speed. The Thunder Flash movement technique, famous throughout the Tianlan Empire, once cultivated to the extreme, would be as fast as lightning, treading snow without leaving a trace. Clearly, the current Lei Qing was still far from this realm.

But he had his own method, which was to use the advantage of the forest. His foot kicked off a tree trunk as thick as a thigh, and his figure glided forward using the reaction force, flying to another tree over three meters away, then kicked off again, flying away like a large bird. Even while holding a person, Lei Qing’s movement was agile and elusive, looking very dashing. The life-and-death tempering of the past few months made him value this life-saving skill even more, and with increasing proficiency, he reached the Small Success realm of the Thunder Flash movement technique.

As a High-stage Bronze Fighter, unless one was also proficient in movement techniques and focused on speed, under fair circumstances, catching up to Lei Qing was not an easy task.

Movement techniques were not just for escaping. In combat, they were also very important; dodging and shifting, showing off one’s position was effortless.

However, even with Lei Qing’s cultivation and movement technique, purely shuttling and flying between trees without touching the ground at all was also an extremely exhausting task. After flying out for just a few hundred meters, more than half of his Fighting Qi was depleted. He had to land, and carrying the leg-injured Zuo Qianqian, started walking on foot.

From afar, a few miserable shrieks were heard. Obviously, some unlucky ones among the pursuers had fallen into the traps set by Zuo Qianqian. Because of extreme hatred in her heart, the traps Zuo Qianqian set were vicious and ruthless; those who triggered them would lose half their life even if they didn’t die.

As a result, the enemy would certainly be fearful that there might be other traps in the forest. Even if they didn’t retreat, they would be more cautious. Such dilly-dallying pursuers were far inferior to those elusive members of the Free Mercenary Group.

After tossing about for an hour along the way, Lei Qing finally found a relatively dry cave within a small mountain range in the woods. Thinking that even if the enemies chased, it would probably take them several hours to search this place, Lei Qing rubbed a snowball and ate it, then instructed Zuo Qianqian to protect him, and began to heal and regulate his breath. One was to restore his Fighting Qi, and the other was to treat his damaged meridians and body.

Zuo Qianqian was also extremely exhausted, but she still had to stay alert and act as Lei Qing’s eyes. At the same time, after eating a few bites of cold roasted wolf meat and resting briefly, she gathered some withered branches and fallen leaves around. Although they couldn’t light a fire in the current situation, it didn’t mean they couldn’t be used later. At the very least, they could be used to conceal the entrance of this cave.

This time, she watched over Lei Qing for over two hours straight. Just as her eyelids were fighting each other and she was extremely sleepy, Lei Qing woke up. In his originally tired eyes, a sharp light flashed, and his spirit was very vigorous. His Fighting Qi had recovered considerably, and even his injuries had healed a lot.

Of course, although Fighting Qi possessed a decent ability to stimulate wounds and induce healing, what helped Lei Qing more was the only Jade Pendant left to him by his father from childhood. This Jade Pendant had excellent healing effects. Of course, it would not treat minor injuries. Only when one had experienced a life-and-death battle, exhausted their Fighting Qi, and suffered trauma would the Jade Pendant’s effect automatically trigger, using its gentle, water-like energy to help the Master heal.

Because Lei Qing was a pampered Young Master since childhood, rather spoiled, how could he have experienced such life-and-death calamities. Thus, the effect of this seemingly unremarkable Jade Pendant had repeatedly displayed miraculous effects in the past few months, helping him pass through these difficult hurdles one by one. Otherwise, no matter how capable Lei Qing was, he would have long been captured alive by the Free Mercenary Group after being injured, and brought before Yu Shanshan to endure endless humiliation.

……