Chapter 42: The Practical Qin Family Zhai

This conversation came so unexpectedly that it instantly drew the attention of the others.

"Brother Zhao, what were you just saying? What girl with black hair?"

"Exactly, why didn't I understand what you meant?"

"I think I heard Brother Zhao ask if Lu Yu has someone he likes. Lu Yu looked completely confused, and Brother Zhao said he saw it all—the one with the black hair."

"No way? Really?"

As soon as these words were spoken, even Lu Guohao, who was walking in front, turned his head around.

"Zhao Shu, please don't talk nonsense." Lu Yu felt both annoyed and amused.

"Still pretending, just keep pretending, I saw it all with my own eyes." Zhao Shan looked smug. "Yesterday I noticed you kept staring at that girl, and just now when we set off, you looked again, making the poor girl shy."

"Whoa!" The crowd was startled and looked at Lu Yu one after another, the smiles on their faces instantly becoming meaningful.

"It's really not what you all think." Lu Yu shrugged helplessly; he knew that explaining at this moment would be useless, and might even make things more confusing.

"Right, right, right, it's not what we think."

"What is it that we think?"

"Exactly, Lu Yu, we didn't say anything."

"Don't worry, we'll definitely keep your secret." Everyone looked as if they understood perfectly, and some even quietly nudged Zhao Shan with their elbows, whispering to ask what the girl looked like and if she was very pretty.

Lu Yu shook his head helplessly; people loved to join in the fun, and since they didn't have much entertainment anyway, he would just let them be.

The excitement soon passed, and to conserve their energy, the group moved forward silently through the wilderness.

One hour, two hours; with the scorching sun high in the sky, Lu Yu's brows gradually furrowed.

No way, surely my luck today won't be as bad as yesterday? We've walked for so long and haven't even encountered a decent piece of prey.

Just then, a black shadow appeared three or four hundred meters away.

"There's prey!" The others noticed it too, and suddenly, like seeing a water source in the desert, their spirits were lifted.

"It looks like a Saber-Toothed Wild Boar." Lu Yu spoke, though a bitter smile played on his face.

"What? A Saber-Toothed Wild Boar?"

"Really?" Upon hearing this, the crowd instantly deflated like a pricked balloon. However, everyone still walked forward a bit to confirm it; it was indeed a Saber-Toothed Wild Boar.

"As expected of our master archer, Lu Yu, your eyesight is truly excellent." Zhao Shan gave a thumbs up in praise.

Lu Yu smiled; after all, he was already at the Body Tempering Third Layer, and his physical fitness had greatly improved, so his vision and hearing had naturally become better as well.

"Let's go around it." Lu Guohao said with some helplessness. It was better not to provoke such a ferocious creature if possible.

Lu Yu gripped his Long Bow tightly, an urge to shoot an arrow at it surging in his heart.

With his current strength, shooting and killing this wild boar shouldn't be much of a problem.

If he succeeded, not only would he gain a large amount of Experience Value, but such a large piece of prey would also be enough for the Zhai to eat for several days.

But he also had concerns; this Saber-Toothed Wild Boar was huge and had a violent temper, so even if he hit it, it would be difficult to kill it on the spot.

If it went berserk and chased them, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"Forget it, let's look for other prey." Lu Yu loosened his grip on the Long Bow; he would wait until he reached the Refining Flesh Realm and had full confidence in a Sure-Kill before trying.

"By the way, is this Saber-Toothed Wild Boar the same one we ran into last time?" Someone muttered quietly.

"Who can tell? These beasts all look about the same." Sun Gang curled his lip and said irritably.

"Yeah, it's a good thing we spotted it early this time; it was a close call."

"Let's walk for another hour or so; if there's still no prey, everyone can take a break and eat something." Lu Guohao arranged.

"Alright." Everyone nodded one after another.

"Lu Yu, are you tired? If you can't hold on, just take a break." Zhao Shan looked at Lu Yu with concern.

"I'm fine, Zhao Shu, let's keep going." Lu Yu responded with a smile. His Constitution was as high as 46 points, so this bit of long-distance trekking was nothing to him.

After walking for about another hour, they finally found some prey—two grass rabbits.

Lu Yu felt somewhat helpless; with only this little bit of prey, it was far too little to exchange for supplies.

"Two grass rabbits aren't bad either; it's enough for the people in the Zhai to eat for a day or two."

Lu Guohao seemed to see through Lu Yu's thoughts and offered comfort, then said to everyone, "Let's have lunch here; only after eating our fill will we have the strength, and maybe more prey will come this afternoon."

Everyone sat cross-legged one after another, took out dried meat from their bags, and ate it slowly with water. Since they were idle anyway, the group started chatting about gossip again.

"Brother Zhao, I remember now, that girl with the melon-shaped face and long hair you mentioned, her surname seems to be Ji, called Ji Bingyu." Sun Gang recalled.

"Little Yu?" Lao Zhang, the tall man beside them, immediately chimed in, "I know her, you should have said so earlier! That girl is indeed beautiful; Lu Yu has good taste!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Yu almost choked and rolled his eyes.

"Lao Zhang, you know her? That's great! Find a time to take Lu Yu to meet her; our Lu Yu is a man of talent and appearance, both cultured and martial, he'll definitely leave a good impression on the girl."

"Exactly, exactly." Zhao Shan fanned the flames from the side, just loving to watch the fun.

"I remember, this girl came to our Zhai alone." Lao Zhang recalled.

"Alone?"

"Then what about her family?"

"Sigh." Lao Zhang sighed, "She probably had an accident on the road and was left all by herself; this girl is quite pitiful."

"That's right, Lu Yu, what are you waiting for? Seize the opportunity, don't be shy like a man!"

"Exactly, you have to take the initiative to have a story."

"Maybe you could even have a happy family."

"..." Lu Yu was speechless; this group was getting more and more outrageous.

Suddenly, as if Lu Yu had sensed something, he turned his head to look toward the northwest, only to see a group of people walking toward them.

"Someone is coming." He spoke up to warn them.

The crowd, who had just been laughing and joking, immediately turned serious, grabbed the weapons on the ground, and looked in the direction Lu Yu pointed. After seeing who it was, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"They are people from the Qin Family Stronghold," Lu Guohao said while watching, introducing them, "That is a small Zhai with only thirty or forty people. The leader is called Qin Lianjun, and he is quite a solid person."

At this moment, the people opposite also noticed them resting, and both sides waved to greet each other, after which the people from the Qin Family Stronghold changed direction and continued forward.

Everyone was merely nodding acquaintances; in this wilderness, their wariness of one another was very heavy.

"Huh?" Lu Yu noticed one of the youths carrying a bow and arrows, and he could not help but feel surprised in his heart. That youth looked to be about the same age as him.

That youth seemed to sense something, exchanged a glance with Lu Yu from afar, and then turned his head to continue walking forward.

"This kid is a bit interesting," Lu Yu pondered to himself.