Chapter 19 Preparing to Come Out of Seclusion

```

A lifetime of beauty in the game flashes by in an instant.

And half a year has already passed in the real world.

"Hey!"

"Ha!"

In the dense woods, the light shouts of a young boy are incessant.

Two figures twist and maneuver, blades flashing, sparring against each other.

"Big brother is awesome!"

Lu Qingyu stands to the side, dancing with excitement. On her shoulder, a palm-sized bird stands, chirping non-stop along with Lu Qingyu.

"Big brother! Big brother!"

"Let's take a break!"

Amidst the rapid exchange, Lu Qingshan shouts out loud and leaps out of the fray.

Upon stopping, his face and body are covered in sweat; he's nearly exhausted. In contrast, Lu Qingfeng, standing in place, only has slightly disheveled hair and shows no sign of fatigue.

"Second brother, you're too weak!"

Lu Qingyu hops and skips over to Lu Qingfeng, using her sleeve to wipe non-existent sweat from her big brother's face, then turns her head to make faces at Lu Qingshan.

"Lu Qingyu! You ingrate!"

Lu Qingshan collapses onto the ground, pointing at Lu Qingyu and shouting angrily.

"I like it, and you can't control me!" Lu Qingyu sticks out her tongue.

Lu Qingfeng allows the two to play around and finds a place to sit down.

Decades of gaming life have left no trace on Lu Qingfeng's face, but the passage of time has still imparted an indescribable quality to him.

Steadfast! Experienced!

He emanates a sense of time worn by the ages, not at all resembling a young man barely sixteen years old.

Lu Qingfeng sits down leaning against a tree and takes out a thick booklet.

The booklet, made of yellow paper, contains all the unsatisfactory talisman paper produced by Lu Qingfeng over the past half year. He's compiled it into a booklet to record the conditions of the forest. It's marked with various symbols and simple, scattered lines.

This is a map of the terrain within a ten-day journey's distance.

It merely notes approximate routes and basic information, like the presence of large wild beasts.

"The Returning to Truth Sect has been quiet for a long time now, and just relying on Qingfeng, Qingyu, and myself to personally gather herbs is too inefficient. The Yellow Dragon Pills we refine are totally insufficient for the three of us to cultivate."

Lu Qingfeng's current cultivation is at the Fetal Breathing Third Level, and Lu Qingshan is at the Fetal Breathing Second Layer.

Lu Qingyu has also started cultivating, just stepping into the Fetal Breathing First Level.

The cultivation of three people significantly increases the demand for Yellow Dragon Pills. It's difficult to meet the demand with their own collection efforts.

"It's time to go out!"

Lu Qingfeng studies the map, contemplating a route.

Over the past six months, the three of them first spent over three months in a state of constant vigilance due to the Returning to Truth Sect's pursuit. Then they lived somewhat more securely for another two months.

At first, they could rely on gathering nearby herbs to refine into Yellow Dragon Pills to support the cultivation of Lu Qingfeng and Lu Qingshan.

Lu Qingfeng has the experience from the game.

He spent forty-eight years in the game over these six months, and due to consuming Experience Value for the Derivation of cultivation techniques, spells, alchemy, and talisman refining, his cultivation level always fluctuated between the Fetal Breathing First Layer and the Fifth Level of Fetal Breathing Realm.

After reaching the Fifth Level of the Fetal Breathing Realm, low-level elixirs such as Yellow Dragon Pills, Breathing Cultivation Pills, and Essence Qi Pills become ineffective.

Therefore, to gain Experience Value as quickly and efficiently as possible, Lu Qingfeng would usually cultivate up to the Fifth Level of the Fetal Breathing Realm and then expend all his Experience Value to start cultivating anew.

Back and forth, he repeated this process fifty-six times over forty-eight years.

Lu Qingfeng is confident that there are no cultivators in the world whose understanding of the first five levels of the Fetal Breathing Realm can surpass his own.

He knows the process of cultivating from the First to the Fifth Layer of the Fetal Breathing Realm so well that he could do it with his eyes closed.

Hence, even though his Root Bone is poor, his cultivation speed is even faster than Lu Qingshan's.

One level in one month!

Second Level in two months!

Third Level in three months!

In just over six months, he's already reached the Fetal Breathing Third Level. If not for the limitation of the Yellow Dragon Pills, Lu Qingfeng estimates he could at least reach the Fourth Level of the Fetal Breathing Realm.

Lu Qingshan is slightly behind.

```

```

  After all, he didn't have his elder brother's heaven-defying cultivation experience, and with only 2 points in Root Bone, it was difficult to make significant progress. Thus, after half a year, he was still only at the Second Level of the Fetal Breathing Realm.

  The nearby medicinal herbs hadn't decreased too much; the amount he could find each day was about the same as before.

  However, due to the improvement of their cultivation levels, the consumption of Yellow Dragon Pills had increased significantly. Even the same amount was gradually becoming insufficient for Lu Qingfeng and the other two.

  "We need to leave these woods and find a human settlement. With more people comes greater strength, and with enough money, we can have as many medicinal herbs for refining Yellow Dragon Pills as we want."

  "Staying here is a complete waste of time."

  Lu Qingfeng pondered.

  He had experienced the desperation of running out of Life Span in the game and being unable to breakthrough. He certainly did not want to leave irreversible regrets in real life due to a little comfort.

  It just so happened that during the sixteen years of Reincarnation in the game, which translated to a two-month gap in reality, it was a good time to leave these deep mountains.

  Once settled, it would be about time to go back to playing the game.

  As for where he would end up in the vast Primordial after the random Reincarnation, Lu Qingfeng was quite looking forward to it.

  "Big brother, are we changing locations again?"

  Lu Qingyu dropped Lu Qingshan and ran over to ask Lu Qingfeng. Every time their big brother was so focused on studying the map, it usually meant they were about to travel.

  "Yes."

  Lu Qingfeng nodded.

  "But aren't there still a lot of medicinal herbs around here?"

  "And it's been a long time since we've heard from the Returning to Truth Sect."

  Lu Qingshan walked over, somewhat confused.

  After more than half a year of recuperation, both his and Lu Qingfeng's bodies had become robust. The scars remained on their bodies, but thanks to the medicinal treatments, their wounds had fully healed.

  "This time we'll go straight out of the mountains and to the county town."

  Lu Qingfeng shared his plans with the two, and although Lu Qingshan and Lu Qingyu usually followed his lead, this time they hesitated.

  "What's the matter?"

  "Are you afraid?"

  Lu Qingfeng looked at the two, who had suddenly fallen silent, and asked with a smile.

  "I'm not afraid!"

  "Let's go to the county town!"

  Lu Qingyu stiffened her neck, trying to hide her fear.

  Hearing this, Lu Qingshan also said, "With my current strength, I'm not afraid even if I meet an Inner Chamber Disciple of the Returning to Truth Sect. What's there to be afraid of in a small county town!"

  "Alright then."

  "Let's adjust for tonight, and we'll set out early tomorrow morning."

  Lu Qingfeng didn't expose their facade and simply stated.

  He knew that after staying in the mountains for over half a year, both Lu Qingshan and Lu Qingyu had grown accustomed to that lifestyle. Suddenly going to a strange county town and dealing with many strangers was naturally intimidating.

  On top of that, they had escaped from places like Black Wood Village and the Returning to Truth Sect. It was only natural that they were wary of the new environment and feared falling back into a situation like before.

  However, a cultivation lifestyle of isolation was still quite distant from Lu Qingfeng and his siblings.

  Even when one reaches high levels of cultivation, interactions with others are indispensable. With their Root Bone quality, they especially needed the strength of a group to obtain various resources to enhance themselves.

  Toil away in blind solitary cultivation would inevitably lead to a wasted life.

  ...

  That night.

  Lu Qingshan and Lu Qingyu were both unusually quiet, lacking their usual vivaciousness. Lu Qingfeng did not intervene, allowing them to adjust on their own. He was busy organizing his possessions.

  After staying in the deep mountains for half a year, he didn't have many belongings.

  The only valuable item was the Wolf-hair Talisman Pen, used for drawing talismans.

  It contained nine Low-level Talismans, which were among the most basic in the First Rank of talisman tools, just enough to draw Low-level Talismans.

  Besides the Wolf-hair Talisman Pen, the rest were small items.

  Fasting Pills, Yellow Dragon Pills, Yellow Chestnut Pills... and a whole array of Elixir Pills.

  Invisibility Talismans, Earth Tunneling Talismans, Fire Bomb Talismans... and a variety of other talismans.

  There was also the Nine-Ring Saber obtained from Wu Yuan, which was all of Lu Qingfeng's assets.

  ...

```