Chapter 41: Homecoming
Chapter 41: Homecoming (Seeking Follow-up Reading)
Lu Chengfeng regulated his breathing for about an hour, and he felt a warmth in his chest, as if he was soaking in a hot spring. His whole body felt relaxed, and the previous minor injuries were no longer a problem.
He slowly stopped practicing and stood up. Looking up, he saw that the pile of firewood had been burned out, and only a pile of scales, a tattered snake skin and a few fangs were left of the huge snake's body.
The remains of these snake demons were collected and placed aside. There was a thick layer of black slag in the fire, all of which were left after burning those poisonous insects.
"Junior Brother Lu, are you awake?" At this time, Tan Xiong was gnawing on the beef jerky that he had prepared in advance, with a wine gourd in his hand, eating and drinking happily.
Seeing that Lu Chengfeng had woken up, he took out some dried beef from his bag and handed it to him, "I guess you didn't prepare any food in advance. The beasts in this forest were infected by the evil spirit during the beast tide and cannot be eaten. Just eat something to fill your stomach.
Lu Chengfeng had fought a fierce battle and used his internal energy to heal his wounds, which cost him a lot of energy. He felt a little hungry at this moment, so he took it with a smile and said, "Thank you, Senior Brother. I won't be polite."
The other three people next to them also brought dry food with them, most of which were meat. People who practice martial arts consume a lot of energy, and fighting in the jungle is even more exhausting, so most of them brought some dried bacon, and some wine, which was convenient and could replenish their physical strength.
"Junior Brother Lu, drink our Fiery Roast and Ice Spring Brew again. It's a mouthful of ice and a mouthful of fire. This taste is not something that ordinary people can taste."
Xu Changge said this without caring whether Li Tong disagreed. He directly took a red gourd from his hand and handed it to him together with the jade gourd in his own hand.
"Then I'd like to try it!" Lu Chengfeng's eyes lit up. After taking the two wine gourds, he first took a sip of the Liehuoshao in the red gourd.
It tasted warm and mellow when it first entered his mouth, but once the wine entered his stomach, it was as if a ball of fire was burning all the way to his internal organs, making his entire cheeks turn red.
"Hahaha, junior brother, don't just stand there, drink the ice spring brew quickly." Xu Changge seemed to have expected this and quickly reminded him with a smile.
Lu Chengfeng then hurriedly poured the wine in the jade gourd into his mouth in big gulps. The wine tasted icy and refreshing as soon as it entered his mouth, yet it also exuded the fragrance of plants and trees.
When it entered the stomach, a chill suddenly spread out, and the two auras flowed together, one cold and one hot compared to the raging fire. The feeling was simply torturous.
After about a dozen breaths, the feeling of heat and cold gradually dissipated, leaving only a little aftertaste, blending into a warm breath that nourished the spirit.
Lu Chengfeng suddenly felt as if his whole body was immersed in the hot spring, and every part of his body felt comfortable.
"Good wine, it really is good wine!"
He couldn't help but blurt out that this novel experience was fine, but what was even more rare was that even his internal strength had improved a little. This wine was obviously not an ordinary thing, but a rare treasure.
Tan Xiong shook his head and said, "Junior Brother Lu, you must not be greedy. You can only drink three sips of these two kinds of wine at most. You must not drink more than that."
"This Fiery Flame Brew and Ice Spring Brew are unique spiritual brews of the Baihong and Chixiao peaks. They are made from two strange springs, one ice and one fire, on the mountain, combined with various precious medicines. For the disciples of these two peaks, they are the most precious treasures to assist in the cultivation of internal strength."
"If other people only drink one of the two, the yin and yang will be unbalanced, which will do more harm than good. Drinking the two together will give you a unique taste and can help to increase your internal strength, but it's quite a waste, and the aftereffects are long, so you'll get drunk easily."
Lu Chengfeng then realized how precious these two kinds of wine were, and quickly handed the wine gourd back, "Even if it's such a treasure, how can we waste it so casually? Brother, take it back quickly."
"Hey, Senior Brother Tan, what you said is not right. Good wine tastes good only when you drink it with others. We are fighting together, so what does a few sips of wine mean?" Xu Changge did not take the gourd handed over, but advised: "Junior Brother, you can drink as much as you want, but you can only drink three more sips, otherwise if you get drunk, Senior Brother Tan will definitely make trouble for me."
Lu Chengfeng couldn't help laughing when he heard that. "It wouldn't taste good if I drank alone. Let's drink together."
He handed the jasper gourd to Duan Li, held the red gourd in his own hand, and said to him, "Brother Duan Li, I toast to you."
Duan Li was a taciturn person, and a bit aloof, but he was not the kind of person who looked down on others. After taking the wine gourd, he tilted his head back and took a few big gulps.
“Hahaha!” Lu Chengfeng also drank directly, and took another sip of fire. His chest felt like a furnace. “It feels so good!”
After they drank it in one gulp, they exchanged wine gourds. The combination of ice and fire was truly a unique experience.
"Brother Tan, let's go together!" Xu Changhe snatched the wine gourd from his hand with a smile and gulped down a few mouthfuls.
The few of them chatted and laughed while exchanging drinks. After having just experienced a fight side by side, they suddenly became much closer.
Lu Lingxi did not drink with them. She was a cold person. She only ate a few bites of the cakes she brought with her, drank some water, and then meditated and practiced her internal energy on the side, without joining in.
After everyone rested, they packed up the remains of the demon snake. Tan Xiong said, "The remains of this demon are also rare treasures. They can be made into soft armor and weapons. In addition, we just killed a snake demon, and it is contaminated with demonic energy. Other demons and beasts dare not approach."
"Let's go back first and hand the things over to the sect. Then we will be rewarded with honors."
Lu Chengfeng knew that these words were actually an explanation to him, and asked in surprise: "Are we going back now? Isn't it too early?"
Xu Changge laughed and said, "Junior Brother Lu, do you really think that other teams can kill monsters as quickly as we can?"
"If it weren't for Senior Brother Tan, we would have to fend off dozens of waves of beasts and spend several days and nights tracking them before we could locate the monsters."
"You have seen how terrifying that snake demon is. If it weren't for Senior Brother Tan, we would have no choice but to form a sword formation and keep chasing it, causing its injuries to become more and more serious, and eventually exhausting it to death."
"On normal days, it takes at least three to five days to encircle and suppress the monsters, and at most ten days to half a month to capture some spoils."
Lu Chengfeng was stunned when he heard this, but when he thought about the strength of the demon snake, he felt that this was normal. If those monsters were easy to kill, he would not have mobilized all the true disciples to encircle and suppress them.
"We were lucky this time. We encountered the monster just outside this swamp."
"And I have captured the snake demon's aura, so I can locate its location directly. Otherwise, it wouldn't be so smooth." Tan Xiong said, "Let's go back first. Junior Brother Lu, remember to use soap beans and sulfur stones to wash off the contaminated demonic aura when you go back."
"We will meet at Broken Dragon Stone at 5:00 am tomorrow. We should kill a few more monsters during this beast tide to accumulate some merits."
Lu Chengfeng naturally had no objection. Thinking of his beautiful wife at home who must have been worried to death, he suddenly felt eager to go home.
(End of this chapter)