: The Zhang Family, Ambushed on the Road

Chapter 8 Returning to the Family, Encountering an Ambush

Hongyafang Market.

After discussing Zhou Chun's return to the family, Zhou Fei took the initiative to talk about their mission in Hongyafang City.

It turns out that after the Zhou family established their family residence in Jiufengling, they began to lay out their businesses.

The mission of Zhou Fei and his two companions in Hongya Market was to gather information about the market's commerce, to see which items would sell well there, and which items the Zhou family could get involved in.

After learning about this, Zhou Chun offered to help with the investigation.

So the four of them split up and went to stake out and investigate near various shops.

After spending about seven days in the market, the four of them had basically gathered all the basic business information in the market and were ready to return to their families to report back.

This time, with three Zhou family cultivators accompanying him, Zhou Chun no longer needed to worry about encountering bandit cultivators as he had when he arrived.

After the four of them left the market, Zhou Fei immediately patted the spirit beast pouch at his waist and released a dark blue-green wolf that was over ten feet long to scout ahead.

At the same time, Zhou Jingwen took off her spirit beast pouch and flung it out, releasing more than a dozen red birds the size of doves. These birds scattered around the four of them in all directions, taking on the role of guards.

With such coordinated ground and air reconnaissance, the vast majority of bandits and cultivators would have no chance of ambushing them.

Even ordinary bandits would avoid them upon seeing this display of strength, lest they become their prey.

This situation is a complete reversal of the previous perilous journey Zhou Chun had taken when he first came to the market.

This also made Zhou Chun secretly determined that once he returned to the Zhou family, he would definitely get one or two more spirit pets to raise.

It should be noted that when the Zhou family was still part of the Three Absolutes Sect, they were famous for their beast taming techniques, and almost every member of the family had one or two spirit pets.

These spirit pets can not only greatly increase the strength of cultivators, but also provide various other uses such as transportation and guard duty when traveling.

Therefore, when the Three Absolutes Sect was still around, the Zhou family was the strongest of the three families most of the time.

Although the Zhou family is now much weaker than before after the split, it shouldn't be a problem to provide Zhou Chun with one or two more demonic beasts as spirit pets.

And so, with their spirit pets clearing the way and keeping watch, the group swaggered along, using their "lightness technique" to travel.

The reason they didn't use the "Wind Control Technique" for faster travel was, of course, because it consumed more mana, and Zhou Fei and the others dared not absorb spiritual energy from the outside world to restore their mana like Zhou Chun did.

Even with the "Lightness Technique" buff, the group left the Red Rock Mountains in less than a day.

Once they reached a flat area, Zhou Fei found several top-quality warhorses in the mortal city for the group to ride.

Then, the warhorse was given a secret medicine to stimulate its potential, which increased its speed by 40% to 50% out of nowhere, as if it had inexhaustible stamina.

However, the consequence of this was that after only half a day and three or four hundred miles, several warhorses collapsed and died from exhaustion.

If this behavior had occurred in Zhou Chun's previous life, and it had been exposed, those people would have been immediately killed.

But in this world of cultivation, no one cares about human life, let alone the lives of a few animals.

"We're less than 300 li away from Jiufeng Ridge now. Let's use the Wind Riding Technique to travel from here on out."

Without even glancing at the dead warhorse lying by the roadside, Zhou Fei simply looked up at the sky and then solemnly announced the next course of action.

They could cover less than 300 miles in less than a day by continuously using the "Wind Control Technique".

Once they return to their family's residence, which is protected by the purification array, they can naturally meditate and recover their magical power with peace of mind.

Zhou Chun had been eagerly anticipating this. You see, all along the way, he had been galloping wildly on horseback, enduring both the pain in his buttocks and the psychological agony in order to prevent the others from noticing anything unusual. He even used his magic to barely keep from making a fool of himself.

If you switch to "Wind Control" to travel, you rely entirely on the power of the spell to carry you, which consumes very little physical strength, just like taking a normal walk.

The group immediately made hand seals and cast spells, each riding the wind as if they were immortals on a journey. Their sleeves fluttered as they danced gracefully in the mountains and fields, their postures incredibly unrestrained.

By chance, some farmers who were out working witnessed this scene and were so shocked that they knelt down and kowtowed, thinking they had encountered a real immortal.

After traveling nearly two hundred miles by wind, just as the group was about to make their way to the Zhou family at Jiufeng Ridge, they finally arrived.

A mournful howl of a wolf suddenly rose from the mountains several miles ahead as a warning.

"Oh no! Danger ahead!"

Zhou Fei, who was leading the way, changed his expression and immediately stopped. He let out a long howl to summon back the demon wolf spirit pet that was scouting ahead.

At this moment, Zhou Chun and the others, who had received his warning, also stopped, some casting spells to enhance their own protective abilities, others taking out magical artifacts and releasing their spirit pets to prepare for battle.

A short while later, Zhou Fei's demon wolf spirit pet knocked down several trees as thick as a wrist and returned to his side.

After hearing the demonic wolf spirit pet's low growl, he said to Zhou Chun and the others with a solemn expression, "They are cultivators, and there are five or six of them!"

Upon hearing his words, Zhou Jingwen immediately analyzed, "We're less than a hundred li from Jiufeng Ridge now, and when we passed through here on our way here, we didn't see anyone living on the mountain. These guys probably didn't come here specifically to target us!"

"Whether they are or not, just prepare for battle. They'll be here soon anyway."

Zhou Fei shook his head slightly, then reached into his storage bag at his waist and took out a magical artifact.

Sure enough, after only a few dozen breaths, six figures dressed in various colors of clothing chased after them from the direction the demon wolf spirit pet had returned.

Upon seeing each other, Zhou Jingwen immediately exclaimed, "They really came specifically for us! These guys are all former rogue cultivators from Jiufeng Ridge."

On the opposite side, upon seeing the four Zhou family cultivators, a burly man in black robes roared with bloodshot eyes, "You Zhou family scum, you occupied my cave and killed my fellow cultivators! Today, you will pay for your crimes in blood!"

"That's right, blood for blood! We must let these outsiders from the Zhou family know that we, the rogue cultivators of Jing Kingdom, are not to be trifled with!"

"A blood debt must be paid in blood! Kill them!"

……

The six rogue cultivators roared and shouted as they launched an attack on the four members of the Zhou family.

These six rogue cultivators were all quite powerful. One of them, like Zhou Fei, was at the tenth level of the Qi Refining stage. There was also a ninth-level Qi Refining cultivator and two eighth-level Qi Refining cultivators. The remaining two were also at the seventh level of the Qi Refining stage.

Faced with the attack of six people, the Zhou family members could only fight back with all their might.

However, before the actual confrontation, Zhou Fei, just to be on the safe side, quickly launched a communication firework into the sky.

These communication fireworks are not powered by gunpowder, but are made using the refining techniques of cultivators. They can fly hundreds of feet into the sky, and the patterns formed after the explosion can last for a quarter of an hour without dissipating. The sound of the explosion can reach hundreds of miles away.

This place is less than a hundred miles from Jiufeng Ridge. Once the communication fireworks explode, the Zhou family cultivators on Jiufeng Ridge will definitely be able to discover it, and reinforcements will certainly arrive immediately.

Upon seeing the communication fireworks explode, the few rogue cultivators instantly realized the danger of the situation.

Therefore, they went all out, using every means at once to quickly kill Zhou Fei and his companions and then flee the area.

In this situation, Zhou Chun suddenly became the unluckiest person.

Because he was the youngest and his cultivation level seemed quite high, he was directly mistaken for a genius disciple of the Zhou family by several rogue cultivators and was besieged by a Qi Refining Level 8 cultivator and a Qi Refining Level 7 cultivator.

The two men looked like they wanted to kill him, and immediately attacked him with their magical weapons and talismans.

Zhou Chun had only cast an earth-elemental protective spell, "Earth Spirit Shield," on himself. Upon seeing this situation, he was so frightened that he immediately used the "Diamond Shield" talisman that he had bought at great expense from the market.

A burst of fire and the sound of heavy blows rang out. Zhou Chun's first "Earth Spirit Shield" vanished into thin air, and the "Diamond Shield" that followed it up also shook violently.

Because his protective shield was broken, he felt a tightness in his chest and almost vomited blood due to the pull of his qi.

At this moment, several Zhou family cultivators also saw through the plans of those rogue cultivators.

Seeing this, Zhou Yong, who was fighting a rogue cultivator at the seventh level of Qi Refining, immediately shouted, "Brother Chun, hold on! I'm coming to help you!"

As he spoke, he instructed his spirit pet, the "Red-tailed Monkey," to abandon its attack on the opponent and instead help Zhou Chun restrain an enemy.

Meanwhile, Zhou Jingwen promptly dispatched five crimson birds to help.

Zhou Yong's spirit pet, the "Red-tailed Monkey," is a mid-grade first-tier demon beast, equivalent to a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator. It can cast several fire-based spells and possesses the immense strength to split tigers and leopards.

Although Zhou Jingwen's five "Firebirds" were only first-tier low-grade demonic beasts, their combined strength was comparable to that of a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator.

With the help of these two spirit pets, Zhou Chun focused on defense and quickly regained his footing. No matter how hard the two rogue cultivators attacked, they couldn't take him down in one go.

He even had time to take a look at the battlefields of other people.

Zhou Fei faced off against both a Qi Refining Level 10 rogue cultivator and another Qi Refining Level 8 rogue cultivator all by himself.

He and a demonic snake spirit pet that he released later dealt with the rogue cultivator at the tenth level of Qi Refining, while the demonic wolf spirit pet dealt with the rogue cultivator at the eighth level of Qi Refining alone. Both sides seemed to have the upper hand.

Meanwhile, Zhou Jingwen was dealing with a rogue cultivator at the ninth level of Qi Refining who was a level higher than her. With the help of the nine "Firebirds," she was not at a disadvantage at all and beat her opponent into submission.

On Zhou Yong's side, because he sent his spirit pet "Red-tailed Monkey" to help Zhou Chun, he struggled a bit when dealing with the Qi Refining Level 7 rogue cultivator on his own, and the fight was evenly matched.

All of this seems normal.

After all, the Zhou family members were all formal disciples of the Three Absolutes Sect. The spells they mastered, the magical artifacts they possessed, and the spirit pets they had were far superior to those of rogue cultivators.

If we were to be defeated by a few rogue cultivators like this, it would truly be a disgrace to the Three Absolutes Sect and the Zhou family.

After fighting for a while, seeing that they couldn't gain any advantage, they worried that reinforcements from the Zhou family in Jiufengling might arrive at any time.

The rogue cultivator who had been fighting Zhou Fei immediately shouted at the top of his lungs, "This guy's tough! Brothers, let's retreat first. We'll find another chance to get revenge next time!"

After saying that, they put away the bento boxes one after another.

Seeing this, the other rogue cultivators dared not stay any longer and immediately followed suit, quickly abandoning their opponents and fleeing into the mountains.

Upon witnessing this, Zhou Fei did not give chase, but merely let out a cold snort: "Hmph, trying to run? Do they really think they can escape?"

(End of this chapter)