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There was no official farewell or whatsoever.

When the helpless and teary Ro Li was at the door, ready to leave, Ro Yan called him back. He walked over and hugged his son and also gave the unconscious Ro Xin a gentle kiss on her forehead. He also patted Tang Ling’s shoulder strongly.

An unknown emotion rose in Tang Ling’s heart. He had no idea what it was, but it was transformed into words that he muttered, “Don’t worry.”

It was Tang Ling’s promise to Ro Yan who smiled. He was relieved and happy when he heard Tang Ling’s promise. “I won’t.”

Night in autumn arrived a lot earlier, especially in the mountains. It was not just breezy anymore in the mountains. Instead, there was a spine-chilling cold that roamed the bumpy paths. The people in the camp were in their respective mobile homes and only a handful of people knew that three people had snuck out of the camp, two of which were Ro Yan’s children.

Ro Li was leading the way. According to Ro Yan, leaving through the west exit of the camp would lead them to two iron-scaled horses which had been prepared by Ro Yan’s men.

The night was windy and the sky drizzled as Tang Ling tied his luggage to the horse before he leaped up.

Ro Li wiped his tears as he strapped Ro Xin onto the horse before he got up. However, he was reluctant to leave and kept looking back at the Ro Drifter Camp.

“Let’s go,” said Tang Ling.

Ro Li wiped his face with his sleeve, still refusing to go.

“You said you’d follow me wherever I went and I’m going now. If you can’t keep up, you can just throw your bottom line away, so man up.” Tang Ling did not look at Ro Li when he said that. He just gazed into the night to confirm the direction before he shook the reins and squeezed his legs. The iron-scaled horse then galloped away.

“You!” Ro Li got agitated, but he could not do anything about it. He shook the reins on his horse and chased after Tang Ling. The two horses disappeared into the night.

...

A blazing fire was dancing in front of Ro Xin and a teardrop rolled down her cheek. Beside her, Ro Li cried like an idiot.

Tang Ling did not say a word. The cigarette remained lit at his mouth as he lay down on the pile of dried iron thorn grass, peering into the drizzling night sky quietly. They were on a ledge, or more precisely, the lair of the demon apes.

Despite the Ro Drifter Camp having roamed the mountain ridge for many, many years, no one knew that the demon apes built their lair on a ledge.

Firstly, the Drifters dared not engage a demon ape. They avoided the apes like the plague.

Secondly, they were not as lame as Tang Feng who had searched for the lair of the demon apes.

Although Tang Ling already knew where the Ninth Ruins was, he did not follow the route Ro Li pointed out. Instead, he used the detailed map Tang Feng provided him and set a route himself. The first stop before the Ninth Ruins was the lair of the demon apes.

Tang Ling’s own consideration was also added to the decision. Firstly, this empty lair was safe. Only he knew that the demon apes were away from their lair to hunt the raging bulls at this time of the year. Therefore, the Santos Branching Ridge was free of demon apes for the time being and the lairs were safe.

On top of that, it was Tang Ling’s small effort to make up for the brother and sister duo. Although the lair was quite far away from the Ro Drifter Camp’s valley, the camp was still visible from up here.

What might seem near was actually far. Furthermore, they were on the top of the ledge, which was a great vantage point in the Santos Branching Ridge. Despite the distance, they were able to get a clear view of the Ro Drifter Camp.

Ro Yan had bid farewell to his children in a hurry, so Tang Ling thought of making it up to the children through this little idea of his. Even though the ending would be a tragedy, it would be better than keeping it a secret from the two of them.

Lastly, it was because Tang Ling wanted to take a shortcut since it was necessary. Tang Ling had asked Ro Li for some details along the way. The Ninth Ruins was not a secret within the camp since many of them knew where it actually was and the secret that revolved around it was another thing altogether.

Therefore, it was inevitable that the Stardust Council would make their way there soon. If Tang Ling and the duo had followed the original route, they might end up in danger and lose their advantage.

Judging from the current situation, the map and details that Tang Feng had left behind became utterly important. The doubt in Tang Ling’s heart grew heavier. Did he foresee all this?

“I’ll avenge you! I’ll avenge you, Dad...” Ro Li’s sobs interrupted Tang Ling’s thoughts. Although it was impossible to know what had really happened back in the camp, judging from the blazing fire and the messy scene, the outcome was self-explanatory.

Ro Xin hugged her brother from behind, then turned around to Tang Ling to say, “Thank you.”

“Are you okay with it?” Tang Ling raised a confused brow.

“I have my reasons.” Ro Xin had no desire to talk, so her answer to Tang Ling was curt and simple.

Meanwhile, as Ro Li sobbed on and off, the autumn wind at night seemed a lot sadder. Tang Ling just remained quiet.

Ro Xin continued to comfort her brother to the point that he fell asleep. She then looked at Tang Ling with a serious look. “What’s next?”

“It’s a race against time. We’ll rest here for two hours and avoid the most dangerous time in the night when the vicious beasts roam. After that, we’ll continue our way to the Ninth Ruins.” Tang Ling’s mind was always clear.

“What about the long term?” Ro Xin pressed the topic. She was not worried about herself but thought of her brother.

“My destination is Darkness Port. What do you think?” Tang Ling pulled some dry grass and chewed on it after he answered her question with a question of his own.

Ro Xin was a smart girl, so there was no need to overexplain things since she should be able to understand Tang Ling. “Darkness Port? It’s a great place albeit being messy and disorderly. While most of them govern themselves, there are many great people too,” she answered briefly.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. What about you?” Tang Ling looked at her.

“Me? You know better than anyone what I’ll do. I have arrangements for myself. I’ll follow you to Darkness Port and settle down there to learn more medical knowledge. Like I said, there are many great people there.” Ro Xin did her best to hold back the heavy grief and grudge in her eyes while remaining calm. From a certain aspect, she was similar to Tang Ling but not entirely. She did not share his recklessness to go all out.

“Are you trying to ask me about Ro Li? Is that it?” Tang Ling truly admired Ro Xin and her intellect.

“Yes.”

“You’ve said it yourself. The Darkness Port has many great people there. I’ll give him my bone marrow and it will be enough for him to make it to 22 years old. Given his talent, he won’t even have to worry.” Tang Ling did not hold back anything from Ro Xin.

“But my brother is a stubborn man.”

“So am I. If I don’t acknowledge him, this isn’t going to happen. Besides, from another angle, Ro Li isn’t losing out in this deal, is he?” Tang Ling sat with his legs crossed, really looking and behaving like a young boy although sometimes, the aura around him and the words he said were mature and steadfast.

“Can we just...leave it to fate?” Ro Xin went silent for a while before muttering something vague.

With a nod, Tang Ling could not reject what she said and had no reason to.

...

The Ninth Ruins was located at the edge of the Santos Branching Ridge, and the journey there was everything but short. After traveling day and night for three continuous days, the three of them had only covered a tiny part of the distance. The facts proved that Tang Ling was correct.

Tang Ling plotted a rather secluded path beforehand, and aside from saving time and distance, the group avoided many dangerous encounters, including the Stardust Council’s large scale search for them.

The closest encounter was when the group was only 500 meters away from the Stardust Council’s soldiers. Fortunately, because Tang Ling managed to locate an empty nest of a Level 3 mutated insect called the poisonous ice spider, they avoided the potential conflict.

Tang Ling’s vigilance and action shocked Ro Xin. She felt like he was almighty and all-knowing. He might have understood the mountain ridge better than her despite her being the one who had grown up in the mountains.

He only gave her a simple reply, “There’s a naggy man who provides me with all the details.” Indeed, Tang Feng’s notes and maps, including those that seemed like useless mockery and sneers, proved to be vital information that was useful during critical situations. Despite a lot of them remaining as pure taunting, Tang Ling absorbed lots of precious knowledge from the notebook.

On the fourth day, he brought the siblings to a relatively safe place where Ro Xin finally had the chance and time to continue the second healing session.

Bathing in the steamy hot bath, Tang Ling started the painful process again, but compared to the first, the second session bore obvious results, so he was able to consume a lot more of the blue active energy than before. To begin with, the healing session was a long and tedious process, but thankfully, the condition was better than Ro Xin’s expectation.

After the second healing session, Tang Ling realized his strength was only a little shy from the standard of seven bulls. With just a little bit more, he could break through the strength of seven bulls.

At night, a fire was built. Ro Li was busy tidying some menial stuff while Ro Xin was busy reading the Ro family’s teachings. When Tang Ling walked over to her, she gave him one of the books.

As a matter of fact, whenever they were free during the journey, Tang Ling would ask her for the Ro family teachings to read. The family teachings were complicated and most of them were ancient knowledge passed down from ancient Huaxia.

Many of the knowledge was about some vague divination, some feng shui, and geographical knowledge, but there was a little part that piqued Tang Ling’s interest: the part about the medical knowledge and another part about a profound way of cultivating.

In terms of medical knowledge, Tang Ling was not as gifted as Ro Xin though learning more could do no harm. As for the profound cultivation method, despite his intellect and wisdom, he could barely understand any of it. Nevertheless, he had a feeling that it was vital and might be very beneficial if he could learn it, so he paid extra attention while reading.

He realized that this profound cultivation seemed to be cultivating one’s spirit but it was not just the spirit alone. It also seemed to match Ro Li’s strange talent a lot. Therefore, whenever Tang Ling understood any part of the family teachings, he would take notes to explain it in detail. He did it as a token of appreciation for Ro Xin who shared the family teachings with him.

The journey was exhausting and nerve-wracking, but no matter the danger, one had to grow stronger.

It had been eight days since they left and the three of them were very close to the Ninth Ruins. Throughout the eight days, Tang Ling had gone through four sessions of healing and almost half of the strange blue energy in him had disappeared. It also granted him the strength of eight bulls.

As for the profound cultivation knowledge from the Ro family teaching, Tang Ling miraculously deciphered the first part and made a summary about it.

After all that, the relatively peaceful days came to an end. Soon, the three of them would have to face the strange Ninth Ruins.