Catching Up

Ever since then, my father carried that treasure with him at all times. And indeed, just as that old beggar said, no matter how many fights my father got into since he was young, win or lose, his body never suffered any serious harm!

But this time, it cost him his life! The people who killed my father could not have been ordinary mortals! Otherwise, I would never believe that my father could be so easily killed by a mere handful of mountain bandits!

Hearing this, Fang Mancang thought for a moment and said,

No wonder. Dali, the only one who escaped back then, said that your father held them off alone at the rear for a long time to buy them time to flee...

Fang Manliang asked her in confusion,

Why didn't you tell Jianghe about this before he left?

Gu Yuxiao was furious.

When my father passed away, I was busy with the funeral arrangements and overwhelmed with grief. Besides, this was something my father had casually mentioned to me a few years ago. How could I have remembered it in the heat of the moment? It was only because I recently heard about the bandits running rampant again that I suddenly recalled it. I originally planned to tell him today, but who would have thought he would trick me and go there ahead of time by himself!

Speaking of this, she was extremely angry, her words laced with gritted teeth.

If the other party really are cultivators, what if their cultivation base is higher than Boss Qin's!

Listening to their back-and-forth, Lin Xiao understood the gist of the situation without even needing to ask. He immediately inquired,

Do you know the rough location where those bandits might appear?

Fang Manliang quickly stepped forward and said,

I know!

Lin Xiao nodded at him.

Alright, then you lead the way and we'll chase after him.

I want to go too!

Seeing that Gu Yuxiao also wanted to go, Lin Xiao noted that although it had only been a month or so, she was already at the second level of Qi Condensation. It was just that she had clearly only recently advanced, and her realm was not yet entirely stable.

So he thought about it and asked,

Have you learned the Concealment Spell?

Gu Yuxiao nodded vigorously.

I have! I also know the Immobilization Spell! Although she could only immobilize an adult for a single breath of time, she kept that part to herself.

Lin Xiao figured that since those bandits could be stalled by Gu Yuxiao's father, a mortal putting his life on the line, long enough for an escort to escape, their cultivation levels couldn't be too high. When the time came, he would just have them stay on the spirit boat. If the situation turned south, he still had his newly acquired teleportation array.

Thus, he agreed to let Gu Yuxiao come along.

Meanwhile, Fang Mancang stayed behind at the escort agency to watch over the business.

After taking them out of the county town, Lin Xiao led them into a secluded forest and then took out the spirit boat he had refined previously.

Bringing along Fang Manliang and Gu Yuxiao, two people who were only at the first and second levels of Qi Condensation, he certainly couldn't have them travel on foot. The speed would be far too slow.

Under the amazed gazes of the two, Lin Xiao tossed the palm-sized spirit boat onto the ground. The spirit boat instantly swelled, growing in the blink of an eye to a size capable of accommodating six or seven people.

This spirit boat could adjust its size according to their needs.

Lin Xiao didn't make it too large, wanting to save some of his spiritual energy.

Jiang Youfu, on the other hand, showed no surprise on his face. Looking at Gu Yuxiao and Fang Manliang's astonishment, he felt secretly smug: Isn't his Brother Xiao amazing?

This morning, because Brother Xiao thought he walked too slowly, he had also used this spirit boat to carry him over.

The four of them boarded the spirit boat. Guided by Fang Manliang, Lin Xiao steered the spirit boat, flying swiftly forward.

The current Lin Xiao was quite different from when he had just reached Foundation Establishment. Although he had not yet advanced to the mid Foundation Establishment stage, his cultivation was now much more solid and profound.

It was just that because he had been cultivating too little recently, relying entirely on the idle function for automatic cultivation, he was still some time away from advancing to the mid Foundation Establishment stage.

However, Lin Xiao glanced at his data panel in the system:

Host: Lin Xiao (Idle Cultivation Enabled)

Aptitude: Dragon Among Men

Gender: Male

Bone Age: 12 years old

Cultivation: 92996/100000 (Early Foundation Establishment to Mid Foundation Establishment)

Mind Methods: Origin Heart Sutra (Comprehension 1024/10000), Peach Blossom Ten Thousand Voids Incantation (Comprehension 30/100)

Cultivation Method: Cloud Sword Art

Spells: Purification Spell, Beast Language, Immobilization Spell, Cloud Soaring Spell, Concealment Spell, Heaven and Earth Net...

As long as he focused on his cultivation recently, advancing to the mid Foundation Establishment stage wouldn't take much longer.

Therefore, steering this spirit boat to carry three people over a distance of several hundred miles was completely effortless for him now, consuming not even one percent of his internal spiritual energy.

Moreover, as he controlled the spirit boat, he expanded his divine sense outward to ensure there was no one around, preventing others from seeing their small boat flying in the sky and being frightened out of their wits.

Half a sichen later, the spirit boat had flown nearly two hundred miles.

When they arrived near the location where the bandits had recently been active, following Fang Manliang's directions, Lin Xiao lowered the spirit boat and let everyone off.

Gu Yuxiao hurriedly ran to the side, hugged a tree, and began to vomit.

Lin Xiao felt a bit awkward.

When they first got on, he saw that everyone seemed fine, and this Miss Gu had sat there motionless with a stern expression.

At the time, he had even praised the girl's composure in his heart. He hadn't expected her to actually be seasick from the spirit boat. Thinking back now, she hadn't been sitting sternly at all; she was clearly stiff-faced, too afraid to move for fear that any motion would make her throw up.

He figured that although she had cultivated to the second level of Qi Condensation, she definitely hadn't properly studied how to use spiritual energy to soothe her body, which was why she got motion sickness on the spirit boat.

Remembering that she had already learned several spells despite only being at the second level of Qi Condensation, Lin Xiao guessed that the girl must have spent all her time on spells.

Seeing her in such discomfort, Jiang Youfu took a green fruit from his pouch and handed it to her, saying,

Here, for you. This fruit is full of juice and has a sweet and refreshing scent. Eating it might help settle your stomach.

Gu Yuxiao cast a Cleansing Spell on her mouth after vomiting, took the fruit, and thanked him.

While Fang Manliang was checking the surroundings, Lin Xiao also spread his divine sense outward, searching for traces of Qin Jianghe.

However, during his first rough sweep, Lin Xiao found absolutely nothing.

Could Jianghe have used the Concealment Spell?

Coupled with the Peach Leaf Pendant he had on him, which could hide his cultivation and spiritual energy, Lin Xiao felt a bit of a headache.

He expanded his divine sense once more, this time carefully searching every corner.

Although the Concealment Spell was very useful, generally speaking, as long as the user's cultivation wasn't vastly superior, and as long as they didn't use spiritual energy elsewhere, others basically couldn't detect them.

But for Lin Xiao, the creator of this spell, if he seriously wanted to find some clues, he could still manage it.

Yet, after he had searched the entire vicinity, and even changed several spots to search thoroughly, he still found nothing.

And it wasn't just Qin Jianghe; he couldn't even find a single trace of those so-called mountain bandits.

According to what Fang Manliang said, Jianghe had set off last night. With his travel speed, this distance of less than two hundred miles shouldn't have taken him more than a few hours.

It was impossible for him not to have arrived by now.

Could it be that these mountain bandits were not here, and Fang Manliang had led them to the wrong place?