Chapter Twelve: Reason and Emotion at Odds

  Chen Taizhong saw that the situation was unfavorable, and he could only choose to retreat - he wanted to fight with the Snake King and the Snake Queen, and he believed that he wouldn't lose his life, but they had younger brothers, and he didn't!

  After retreating into the territory of the Winged Snakes, he also attempted to kill two Winged Snakes.

  For him, harvesting the Winged Snake was not that important; what mattered most was probing the limits of his own stealth and concealment techniques.

  Unfortunately, the winged snakes had extremely good eyesight and the ability to sense sound waves, so in the end, he was chased by a large group of winged snakes for a full twenty miles.

  "You can fly, and you can also spit poison... How are people supposed to live like this?" Chen Taizhong finally escaped, looking at the rusty long knife, he was so sad that he wanted to cry.

  The Changdao is a mid-to-low-grade standard-issue sword, which means that even a fourth-level Youxian would be considered quite stylish with this thing. However, after this trip to Fanshe Valley, the Changdao was basically rendered useless.

  The snakes in the valley are not only scaly, but also spit venom, a good knife has become like this.

  Chen Taizhong's heart ached, he had truly suffered a loss. One snake gall was only worth sixty spirit stones, but he had killed eight wind snakes and taken seven snake galls, which added up to four hundred and twenty spirit stones. But this knife was now useless, two hundred spirit stones gone.

  After all these life-and-death struggles, I've only earned a little over 200 spiritual energy... it's really not very economical.

  He calmed down, found a vacant lot, pulled out a pot, and brought out a liquefied gas tank. He chopped up some pork ribs and threw them into the pot with boiling water.

  The ribs were the Thunder Deer's ribcage, and in these days, that wild boar had been dismembered and roasted to be eaten - the pork was oily and fragrant when roasted, while the deer ribs were stewed to be eaten.

  Although he hunted some wild animals, most of them were eaten by himself and didn't make any money. After all, the energy contained in the body of a fierce beast is something that ordinary food can't replenish.

  After eating and drinking his fill, he rested for a while, but the spiritual energy in the wilderness was ultimately no match for that of the city. As he sat cross-legged, he made up his mind: once things were more relaxed, he would buy a Spirit Gathering Array to use.

  The Spirit Gathering Array requires a spirit stone to activate, and those who can carry it with them are not ordinary wealthy individuals. Just like the rich on Earth, when they go out to play, they want to rest well too, so they need to buy an RV - gasoline is naturally self-sufficient.

  Chen Taizhong also knew that he still had a long way to go if he wanted to buy an Aggregation Array, but he didn't give up - even those who flew up from the Lower Realm could have their own dreams.

  It was around 4 or 5 in the morning when he finished his meditation and planned to head back to Qing Shi City at noon.

  After completing his task, he can buy some things and then continue to cultivate, his goal is very simple.

  But he walked for about an hour, suddenly feeling that something was wrong, and immediately stopped in his tracks, cautiously looking around, then slowly drew the long knife from his waist.

  "Hey, this kid really has some skills," a soft laugh sounded, and two people emerged from behind the big tree in front, both dressed in strong attire. One of them, a burly man with a curly beard, had a three-meter-long spear slung over his shoulder.

  Just by looking at his weapon, it can be guessed that this person is a master of close combat.

  A bearded man swaggered along, carrying a rifle on his shoulder. As he walked, he shouted, "Robbery! Hand over your belongings, kid. If you behave yourself, I might spare your life."

  Chen Taizhong's face turned even uglier, these two blocking the road were at least mid-tier Youxian, he took a deep breath and slowly asked, "Bullying the weak with the strong... is it glorious?"

  "Who let you come out alone?" Another guy laughed from a distance, with his bare hands and empty fists, laughing very happily. "You're a third-level cultivator of the Traveling Immortal Sect and yet you dare to come here alone... You're just asking to be robbed."

  "You've got a mid-grade lower-tier long sword in your hand, the moment you stepped into the third level of the Immortal Realm," said the burly man with a hint of self-satisfaction, "Let me take a guess... You must have a storage pouch on you, right?"

  "I am Qing Shi Zhou's family," Chen Taizhong's face sank, gripping the long knife even tighter, with veins bulging on the back of his hand. He gritted his teeth and asked, "Are you sure... you want to bear the wrath of the Zhou family?"

  "Zhou family?" The bearded man heard this and couldn't help but take a deep breath, then looked at his companion sideways, hesitated for a moment before nodding, "Since you're from the Zhou family, I'll give you a chance... as long as you can withstand my three moves, I won't rob you."

  As he said this, his shoulder moved and the tip of the long spear leapt up. Then, with a flick of his wrist, the handle of the long spear struck the ground heavily, "You make the first move... come on!"

  At the same time, Chen Taizhong suddenly shifted his body sideways and quickly darted into the thicket beside him.

  A loud "thud" echoed, a long arrow was inserted in the place he had just left, more than half of the arrow shaft had entered the ground, leaving only the outer tail of less than half a foot long, which was trembling violently.

  "This is what you call letting me have three moves?" Chen Taizhong's voice rang out in the forest, shouting in a loud tone, "I've seen many shameless people, but I've never seen anyone as shameless as you... You're done for, prepare to face the wrath of the Zhou family!"

  "Big brother," the whiskered man turned his head in surprise, looking at another man, "what should we do?"

  He looked formidable, but in fact he wasn't the main person in charge. In reality, he wasn't even the strongest fighter, he just had a majestic appearance. Usually, it was him who stepped forward to attract people's attention.

  One of their ambush killers was the guy who shot arrows from behind. The big man said so much at first, just to create conditions for the archer. The last pause on the gun handle was a signal to take action, but he still said he wanted to try three moves.

  Unexpectedly, the three-level Youxian on the opposite side became extremely vigilant and directly jumped towards the roadside.

  "What else can we do?" The elder brother sighed and waved his hand, "Search, the people of the Zhou family... must not leave any survivors!"

  "In a family as big as the Zhou's, there are still experienced and skilled young people like this?" The bearded man was slightly astonished, having come into contact with many young masters of families who were generally not very vigilant.

  It's easy to understand, family is their backing, whoever wants to move them has to weigh the consequences.

  In his impression, only those insignificant people without a foothold would be exceptionally sensitive to every gust of wind.

  "This might be the child that the Zhou family has been focusing on cultivating," said the eldest brother in a deep voice, his face looking very unsightly. "If we can't keep this guy down, we'll have to make a quick escape."

  The two of them were talking here, but the archer who shot the arrow did not show up.

  As a long-range strike force, it is naturally more intimidating without showing its face, which goes without saying.

  Chen Taizhong stumbled and staggered, running a long distance before finally exhaling - thanks to his innate sensitivity to the flow of air, he was able to feel the murderous aura behind him.

  Especially at the moment when the bow and arrow leave the string, the killing intent behind is as thick as if it has a physical presence.

  So he ran away without hesitation.

  After his initial fright had subsided, he felt an unending surge of anger in his heart.

  These bearded men are not just robbers, they're murderers!

  Robbery is something that Chen Taizhong actually takes very lightly. In the vicinity of Qing Shi City, he has already been robbed by the same group of people twice, once successfully and once unsuccessfully.

  He was also very angry about being robbed, but ultimately did not rise to the level of indignation, for a simple reason: he was a low-ranking wandering immortal, and his ability seemed insufficient to protect his own property. Others came to rob him, if he didn't want to fight to the death, he could only resign himself to it.

  But this time it was different, he knew very clearly that the arrow shot from behind was meant to take his life.

  Murder can be forgiven, but this is beyond reason and principle. If you're going to be so unscrupulous, don't blame me for being unscrupulous too.

  So he rested for a while, and then his stealth and concealment skills were fully restored, and he quietly snuck back.

  Before he escaped, he had already locked in the approximate position of the archer - this person's explosive killing intent at the last moment was too strong, and he couldn't casually throw a divine sense over, but remembering this breath wasn't a problem.

  Chen Taizhong didn't know where his heritage came from, but the art of concealment and stealth were extremely useful. Even a 9th-level Lava Turtle couldn't detect his presence. Deceiving these people in front of him wasn't a big problem either.

  He stared at the archer, who was a short and small figure, wearing all green clothes, with extremely light footsteps, moving through the forest without making any sound.

  Chen Taizhong quietly crept up and covered the other person's mouth with one hand, and in the next moment, a long knife slashed through the person's throat.

  The archer struggled desperately, then turned his head with great effort to look over, and it was a pair of beautiful big eyes, with extremely long eyelashes, but there was an extremely long burn scar at the corner of his eye, which destroyed several points of appreciation.

  Holding this bow is still a woman.

  "On the battlefield... there's no ladies first," Chen Taizhong curled his lip, gently laying down the corpse. He was originally a man with a heart of stone, let alone this woman who had tried to kill him first."

  Then he quietly disappeared, and behind him, the trachea of the corpse was still "hissing" with fresh blood.

  Next, it's time to deal with that bare-handed big brother. Chen Taizhong was completely unaware of this person's realm, so he carefully put away his long knife and pulled out a long sword - this sword hadn't been damaged yet, its killing power was even greater.

  Big Brother searched in the jungle but still came up empty-handed. Chen Taizhong seized the opportunity and his long sword sliced down with a whooshing sound.

  "Ah, I've been waiting for you," the man chuckled, his wrist flicking, and a small, exquisite pagoda appeared.

  Immediately afterwards, a red light burst out from the treasure tower, enveloping his entire body, and another white light flew straight towards the sneak attacker.

  At this moment, Chen Taizhong was faced with a choice - to retreat or advance?

  Who would have thought that advancing and retreating were not within his control. Just as he dodged the white light, it suddenly turned a corner and chased after him - it was a snow-white little snake.

  It can't be a fifth-level wild beast, right? Chen Taizhong raised his hand, and with a swift sword move, he chopped down fiercely.

  But just as the two were about to collide, he recognized the origin of the small white snake - a third-level Wild Beast, the Tuo Xiang Snake! (Something's come up, but I still need recommendations.)