CHAPTER 69: CHAPTER 68: DEPARTURE (PART 1)

"So amazing!"

"Ah Hei is truly the bravest warrior of our tribe."

Fifteen years later.

In the primitive tribe, the dark-skinned boy from back then had become a bearded middle-aged man, draped in tiger skin, sitting in the center of everyone with an imposing presence.

"It’s not good, Chief, the giant army is attacking!"

A panicked shout came from afar.

There were dozens of giants towering over ten feet tall charging towards them, causing the ground to tremble.

The leading giant was more than three feet taller than the ordinary giants.

"It’s over!"

Everyone in the tribe was panic-stricken.

The giants were extremely troublesome; it took many people to besiege even one, let alone a full army now attacking.

Caught off guard as well.

The tribe members were scattered, captured, and slaughtered; in a blink of an eye, the ground was covered with corpses.

"We must kill that Giant King!"

The dark-skinned middle-aged man who had become the chief showed a determined look in his eyes.

His axe skills had improved several levels from back then.

He picked up a splendid silver axe and weaved through the ordinary giants, heading towards the Giant King.

In an instant, the two sides were engaged in battle, with the middle-aged chief clearly at a disadvantage.

’Bam!’

At one point, he was struck by the Giant King into the air, spitting blood, about to fall to the ground and be stomped to death by the awaiting giants.

Despair filled the hearts of everyone in the tribe.

If the chief died, the destruction of the tribe would be inevitable.

However, a glimmer of light appeared in the middle-aged chief’s eyes.

As he was in mid-air, his right hand still tightly gripped the axe, his body bent into a bow shape, like a longbow ready to be released.

His waist and abdomen suddenly twisted, and with a movement like reaching for the moon in the sky, he swung fiercely with his right hand.

’Whoosh whoosh whoosh!’

At the same time, the axe in his hand spun like a whirlwind, fiercely striking the Giant King!

The unprepared Giant King was hit on the neck without any suspense, a huge wound split open, and blood spurted like a fountain into the sky.

"It’s done!"

The middle-aged chief rejoiced and led the tribe members, whose morale had been restored, in a counterattack.

The memory stopped here, and Lou Yi opened his eyes.

A familiar energy from the void entered his body, enhancing his physique, increasing his strength once more, further improving his physical fitness.

Of course, with his currently terrifying physical foundation, the improvement was limited.

Lou Yi speculated that his physical body had reached a bottleneck and that ordinary skills would no longer suffice; he needed to find something at the martial artist level.

The main improvement was in the axe skill level.

The axe skill, having reached the mastery realm, could now be used as he wished, no longer confined to fixed moves, often achieving an untraceable elegance like the horns of an antelope.

If he faced Chief Ma again, Lou Yi was confident he could kill him in ten moves without using Splitting Mountain.

But the changes didn’t stop there.

In the lower right corner of the Lou’s Axe Skill, a second inverted triangle black solid symbol appeared, similar to a dropdown hint in software.

Could it be?

Lou Yi mentally pressed that symbol, and a line of small characters appeared: Lou’s Axe Skill reached the mastery level, obtaining the advanced skill [Vortex].

[Vortex]: To a certain extent, a connection can be formed between person and axe, allowing the axe to return to the user’s hand at the intended trajectory and speed after being thrown. Upon returning, the speed can reach 120% of its limit state (usable only once in a short time).

’Ingenious!’

This essentially became a long-range means of attacking the enemy, not only more powerful than Stone Throwing but also more covert and cunning.

Lou Yi looked at a small yellow bird perched on a tree tens of meters away, only the size of a fist, its black eyes rolling around.

’Whoosh!’

He directly threw the axe in his hand towards the bird.

The bird, quite alert, flew to the right upon hearing the sound, dodging the axe’s strike.

But at that moment, Lou Yi mentally invoked ’Vortex’.

In an instant, there seemed to form a faint connection between him and the axe.

Lou Yi felt he could command the axe to follow his desired trajectory.

’Fly back.’

Lou Yi controlled the axe in his mind.

Immediately, the forward trend of the axe halted, it turned around in mid-air.

Then, flying back at a faster speed, it hit the unsuspecting bird, easily slicing it in two!

’Woo woo woo!’

Finally, it spun and flew back to Lou Yi’s hand.

’Great, another card added to my deck,’ Lou Yi thought with satisfaction.

From then on, the axe skill had entirely surpassed martial arts, becoming his strongest means of attack.

...

Next, Lou Yi took Zhu Darui, Lu Yang, Liu Yuan, and their subordinates back to Sunset Mountain.

The few loyalists of Xu Xi stationed on the mountain tried to incite a rebellion among others and were forcefully slain by Lou Yi.

Thus, Sunset Mountain underwent a reshuffle, with Lou Yi becoming the new leader.

Most of the bandits didn’t possess loyalty; who became the boss didn’t matter to them.

Lou Yi then promoted Zhu Darui to the second leader position and said to him, "In a couple of days, I need to escort the Su Family’s young lady back to the main city.

During that time, you will handle all matters on the mountain, and make sure not to cause any trouble."

Zhu Darui pounded his chest, "Rest assured, Brother Yi, I will surely keep those brats in line!"

"Haha, good!" Lou Yi patted his shoulder and turned to leave.

He didn’t tell Zhu Darui that once he left, he might not return for a while.

Not that he didn’t trust him.

But because going to Tai City to train in martial arts inherently carried risks, it’s only natural that the fewer people who knew, the better.

Lou Yi returned to his own yard.

The Su family, with the maidservant and the injured old servant, resided together with him in the other rooms of the courtyard.

That evening, two people secretly visited, one burly and the other fair-faced and clever, precisely Lu Yang and Liu Yuan, who were most loyal to him in the past.

"What is it?" Lou Yi asked.

"Boss, we also want to accompany you in escorting the Su Family’s young lady to the main city!" said Lu Yang.

Seeing Lou Yi’s contemplative expression, the two of them knelt down.

"I know the Boss’s ambitions aren’t here; once you leave this time, you won’t easily return," Liu Yuan’s eyes shone with wisdom, seeing through Lou Yi’s intentions, "We don’t want to remain bandits either, just want to follow you.

We vow to reform ourselves and serve loyally, never harboring any deceit!"

"If I ever break this vow, may thunder strike me dead!" Lu Yang swore fiercely.

"There are great risks involved in this journey; we might lose our lives," Lou Yi said, seeing the two still determined. Past events also proved their reliability.

After some thought, he agreed.

Before going down the mountain, he left the incomplete Breathing Technique he had obtained from the Hu Family Manor with Zhu Darui.

It was a compensation of sorts.

Zhu Darui was one of those on the mountain with the best physical talent; with the Breathing Technique, breaking through to a martial artist shouldn’t be a problem.

...