Volume Three: Rising Fame Chapter Forty: Playing the Bandit for Once

Since we're here, we might as well make the best of it!

Li Yu glanced at Tumanxiang. She had clearly stumbled into his cave by accident.

Moreover, had it not been for her stomach growling and giving her away, Li Yu probably wouldn't have noticed that someone was lurking nearby. At most, it would have startled him, but if anyone thought Tumanxiang could ambush and kill him, they'd be dreaming.

Besides, someone who commanded the art of earth遁 like she did—if she were one of the schemers, she wouldn't have risked coming this close. She'd have simply gathered her accomplices and struck directly. So Li Yu decided to give her words some credence.

"You..."

"I don't snore when I sleep!" Tumanxiang spoke up first, her eyes pitiful and pleading.

"..."

Li Yu understood that the night was fraught with danger. Even he had to tread carefully, let alone a girl he could crush with one hand.

"Then sleep in the corner!"

Tumanxiang was a clever one. Despite having the appearance of a young girl, she was actually twenty-five years old. In her daily life, besides cultivating, she also handled a portion of her clan's affairs.

Setting that aside, she prided herself on being a good judge of people.

Seeing that Li Yu had indeed agreed, she nodded obediently. "Alright, young master, I promise I won't disturb your rest!"

He actually agreed!

All those allied clans before entering the secret realm could go hang!

She was secretly delighted.

Most clans had files on Li Yu, and Tumanxiang had naturally seen his as well. It could be said that everything about Li Yu's outward behavior had been studied and analyzed by numerous clans.

A seed-level prodigy from a major clan, and the world's only Thunderblood lineage—this was someone many clans coveted. If she could latch onto someone like him, what problems could there be in this secret realm?

With such thoughts swirling in her mind, Tumanxiang tossed and turned until midnight, unable to fall asleep.

But hearing the calm, steady breathing from Li Yu's side, she felt a pang of loss. He didn't even have the slightest romantic inclination... and had just gone to sleep like that?

Good heavens, was this how a story of a man and woman alone in a room together was supposed to go?

She had steeled herself mentally before asking to stay.

And this was all she got?

...

By the time Tumanxiang groggily woke up, she found herself alone in the cave.

"He just left like that?"

Tumanxiang gritted her teeth.

She had slept far too deeply last night because her mind was too full of thoughts. If Li Yu had wanted to do anything, she wouldn't have had any power to resist!

...

On the other side.

Li Yu headed in the direction Tumanxiang had indicated. By noon, he had arrived at the mountain forest she had described.

"The temperature is almost down to freezing!"

"Looks like what she said was right—that should be a snow mountain over there!"

Li Yu stood atop a tree canopy, sweeping his gaze across the vast forest. Even at the outskirts, he could sense several profound auras of fierce beasts within.

Tumanxiang must have relied on her earth遁 technique to quickly pass through many places, right? Li Yu actually envied that skill quite a bit. He had to avoid numerous threats along the way.

"What a lively commotion!"

Just as Li Yu was about to make his move, he sensed something. His brow arched, and he muttered to himself.

A moment ago, one of those fierce beast auras had suddenly exploded outward and begun moving around.

Then one side of the forest seemed to boil over—many beasts began moving rapidly, as if chasing something.

The shift from stillness to motion happened in an instant!

In the blink of an eye, the forest was like scalding water, quickly coming to a roiling boil.

Li Yu didn't rush to act. Though he couldn't see what was happening with his own eyes, based on the flow of the beasts' auras, he conjured the scene in his mind.

Some unknown, fast-moving creature was at the front, with a pack of beasts chasing behind it. Did this creature also have the ability to attract beasts?

Many beasts had sprung into action, all wanting to claim this creature, surrounding it from every direction.

But the creature moved swiftly and hadn't been caught yet. Not only that, it was seizing every gap, nearly breaking free from the encirclement!

"What are they doing?" Li Yu murmured.

Still, seeing that this creature had lured most of the beasts to one side, accidentally creating a "vacuum zone" on the other, Li Yu didn't linger. He shifted his feet and leapt between the treetops.

"Squeak squeak!"

A monkey hidden in the canopy burst out suddenly, baring its teeth and screeching at Li Yu.

"A baby monkey... this should be a twin-tailed monkey?"

Li Yu looked at the monkey blocking his path. The tip of its tail was forked, making it look as if it had two tails.

Only a ninth-rank spiritual fluctuation... this twin-tailed monkey hasn't even been weaned yet, has it?

Li Yu looked at the little monkey that was trying to pounce on him with a speechless expression. He waved a hand—didn't even make contact, just exhaled a wisp of spiritual power—and sent it flying into the distance!

Even with both hands tied behind his back, he could easily thrash a whole troop of these things.

"Did all the big monkeys go chasing after that unknown creature?"

With a thought, Li Yu's thunder spiritual power pinned the baby monkey, which was trying to leap back up, against the tree trunk.

...

He was admittedly a bit curious about that creature. After all, it had riled up an entire forest of beasts—even twin-tailed monkeys, famously protective of their young, had abandoned their babies to chase after it.

That showed just how strange—or precious—that creature was!

"Little monkey, you can scream until your throat is hoarse, but no one's coming to save you!"

Li Yu stopped woolgathering, grinned viciously at the baby monkey, and walked toward it.

Then, just as he was about to reach it, he pivoted and came to the large tree the baby monkey had been guarding all along.

"You were protecting this, weren't you?"

Right in front of the baby monkey, Li Yu pulled out an extremely ugly clay jar from the tree hollow—one so crude it could barely be called a jar.

"Squeak squeak squeak!"

The twin-tailed monkey screeched even louder.

"Stop your screaming. I left a few jars behind for you!" Li Yu waved his hand and walked off under the gaze of the baby monkey, whose eyes looked ready to spit fire.

A little while after the figure disappeared, the twin-tailed monkey was finally able to move again. It scrambled with hands and feet, darting straight to the tree hollow. Seeing that some jars remained, it breathed a sigh of relief.

Then it crouched down inside.

From the look of it, it was clearly prepared to live or die with that fruit wine!

"It really is just as the records say!" Li Yu took a sip of the clear liquid from the clay jar, shaking his head in satisfaction.

The twin-tailed monkey was most famous for two things: first, within their communal groups, the adults were fiercely protective of their young, safeguarding every baby in the tribe!

Second was winemaking. Twin-tailed monkeys were renowned among all monkey species for their brewing skill—it seemed like an innate talent. Every twin-tailed monkey could brew wine, and they never once botched it!

The flavor was absolutely top-notch!

"Forgive me, forgive me—today I went and played the bandit!"

Li Yu shook his head, amused. This fruit wine had a low alcohol content, so drinking it felt no different from having a beverage.

As he raced along, he suddenly felt something strange.

He looked back. Unknown to him, several adult twin-tailed monkeys had caught up from behind, one of them carrying a baby on its back—the very same one Li Yu had flicked away just moments ago.

"..."

Li Yu's pace quickened immediately. "Damn it, poke the little one and the big ones come out!"