71: Grandfather and granddaughter

Ning Ruogong looked at the two stronger mantises and thought, “How am I going to get past this?” They were both at Qi Condensation Stage 4, one stage higher than the previous mantis.

While his new skill, ‘Mind Control’ + ‘Attack’, might work on one of them, he wasn’t foolish enough to think it would work on both.

“This is going to be a problem, isn’t it?” he thought.

The mantises charged forward, intending to cut him in half.

He dodged again, barely making it.

He immediately used his ‘Double Step’ movement technique to flee.

He ran deep into the forest, forgetting about the fruits he wanted to get.

He looked back, hoping he had lost the two mantises, but he was terrified when he saw them both hot on his heels.

“There’s only one thing I can do now,” he thought, and that was to teleport somewhere else.

He needed to quickly choose a location and a distance.

The mantises were right beside him, drawing back their scythes to attack him, when suddenly,

Two ‘whoosh’ sounds came from afar, and he heard two ‘thud’ sounds behind him.

Through his Energy Vision, he saw that both mantises were dead.

“What?” he exclaimed in surprise.

He looked closely and saw two large holes in the mantises' heads.

Ning Ruogong looked in the direction of the holes and saw two arrows deeply embedded in a thick tree.

“Who…” Ning Ruogong didn't understand.

He immediately turned to check his right side but saw nothing.

“Who would attack them?” Ning Ruogong started to become more confused.

Just then, two people emerged from deeper within the forest, about 200 meters in front of him.

One of them was a bald old man with a kind face.

He wasn't very tall, but not very short either.

He wore an all-white robe.

It matched the old man's flowing white beard.

He held a bow that looked quite ordinary.

“Is he the one who shot the arrows?” Ning Ruogong wondered.

Next to the old man stood a young lady who looked to be around Ning Ruogong's age.

She wore a pink robe with a black sash, and a sword was tied at her waist.

“Young man, are you alright?” the old man asked in a raspy voice.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine.

Did you shoot those monsters, sir?” Ning Ruogong still couldn't believe this person could shoot from such a distance.

“Yes, it was this old man,” the old man said.

“Thank you, sir, you saved my life,” Ning Ruogong bowed slightly, a gesture he had learned from his basic cultivation knowledge.

“Hey, sir, what are you doing deep in the jungle?

You don’t look very strong,” said the young lady beside the old man.

“I… I was stranded near this island, coming from the beach over there,” he said, pointing in the direction of the beach.

“I’ve been trying to get out of the forest, so I walked in this direction.”

The young woman narrowed her eyes, trying to scrutinize his answer, but the old man just smiled kindly.

“Is that so, young man?

Then why don’t you come with us?

We can lead you out of this place,” the old man said.

Ning Ruogong was a little wary of the offer.

He thought, “Should I accept this offer?

He seems genuine.

Whatever… I guess.

If I feel something is wrong, I can just teleport out.”

“It would be my honor, if you allow it, sir,” Ning Ruogong said.

Thus, the three of them began walking in the direction Ning Ruogong had originally come from.

“So, I was walking in the right direction, huh?” he thought.

Ning Ruogong looked at the old man again, at his hands.

His bow was gone too.

Ning Ruogong didn’t know where he put it, but he guessed it was probably in a storage pouch or storage ring, similar to his interdimensional storage.

“What’s your name, young man?” the old man asked after a while.

“My name is Ning Ruogong,” he said.

“What about you two?” he asked.

“This old man is Qezir Brooke, and this is my granddaughter, Mi Kai La Brooke,” the old man said.

“Where are you from, young man?” the old man asked.

Ning Ruogong didn’t know where he was from.

He had been to many places, but he figured the only place he was from was...

“I’m from Clavis,” he said.

“Oh, Clavis.

I heard that’s a good place,” the old man said.

The young lady also nodded.

“Is Clavis popular or something?” Ning Ruogong thought.

Along the way, more and more monsters appeared, but the old man killed them with ease.

The old man displayed so much capability that Ning Ruogong even started to worry about checking his information, lest he fall into a coma again and miss another 164 years.

The young woman beside him just looked around.

Ning Ruogong didn’t realize what she was doing, thinking she was just there for sightseeing.

He thought, “She must just want to take a stroll in the forest with her grandfather.”

“Over there!” the girl suddenly shrieked, pointing at a tree not far from them.

Ning Ruogong looked at the tree, trying to find anything noteworthy about it.

“Is there an animal on it?” he wondered.

“Yes, that’s the tree.

Good job, Mi Kai La,” Qezir said, walking towards the tree.

Once he reached the tree, he pulled out two items from somewhere: a small knife and a small vial.

He used the knife to pry open the bark, saw the sap flowing, and then carefully collected the sap, storing it in the vial.

“Our work here is done, let’s go home,” the old man said.