The next morning, Long and Liu resumed their journey.
They didn’t travel faster than they did at first, but it wasn’t very slow.
Maybe because they had thought it through, they didn’t look very anxious.
However, for the next five days, they were still travelling in the desolate area.
They still didn’t get out of the bleak and uninhabited land!
That night, Long and Liu lay side by side on the haystack again.
“Another five days passed and it’s still like this,” Liu said.
“Mhmm.” Long curled his lips. “What’s the matter? Are you worried?”
Liu also curled his lips. “I guess you’re worried. If you don’t worry, I have nothing to worry about.”
Long laughed. “Just keep calm and go on.”
Liu also laughed. “I didn’t expect that you’d be more optimistic than me.”
Long patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t think too much.”
Liu stopped speaking and they both fell asleep…
Three days later, things began to change.
They found there was a significant increase in the number of wild animals!
Long and Liu looked at each other. “There are much more wild animals.”
“That’s right.” Long nodded. Earlier, they rarely saw animals here, so they hadn’t had a good meal for a few days. Surprisingly, they saw a lot of animals this day.
Since there were animals, there must be humans nearby.
At least, animals wouldn’t live in a completely deserted place.
Long and Liu felt they finally saw hope!
They kept walking and hunted some animals for lunch.
Liu had regained his martial arts, so he could eat anything he wanted!
Hunting large animals wouldn’t be difficult for him.
However, there were only the two of them, so they didn’t need to eat too much. Some small animals would be enough!
At lunch, they had two hares, two pheasants and some water. That was enough for them.
Maybe because there was hope and change, Long felt much happier and had a good appetite for lunch.
So did Liu.
When they were having lunch, a wolf went to attack them!
Fortunately, there was only one wolf. If there was a pack of wolves, they would get into trouble.
It wasn’t hard for Liu to kill the wolf.
Later, the two of them buried the dead animal.
It wasn’t because they wanted to do some good deeds. They were just afraid that the bloody smell would attract some other large animals and made them follow them, which would cause a lot of trouble…
After burying the wolf, they had a rest for a while and then set out on the road.
They kept walking and found things were getting better.
One day later, they saw much more animals and… they finally saw a man!
That was a hunter, an ordinary middle-aged man. He was hunting with a bow and arrow.
He must be an experienced hunter, because he could shoot very well. But Long and Liu didn’t think he could do martial arts.
As he shot an arrow, a fawn fell to the ground.
The hunter ran over happily and carried the fawn on the back.
Liu and Long went over.
“Sir, wait a minute,” Long opened his mouth.
“Oh?” The hunter turned around and was surprised to see Long and Liu. “Young men, you’re really so bold. How dare you come to the depths of the desolate place? Many beasts here eat people.”
Long said with a wry smile, “Sir, let me explain to you. We were originally at the edge of this place, but we were separated from our friends and then lost our way. That’s why we’re here now. I’m so happy to see you here.”
“Oh, you lost your way. No wonder. It’s a very complicated place. How long have you been lost?”
“It’s been five or six days. I think our friends have already left this place. Perhaps they thought we had left. Sir, to be honest, we came out with our friends to do business, but we were really unfamiliar with this area. Sir, what’s this place? Why do I feel it’s so strange?”
“It turned out that you came here to do business.” The hunter nodded his head and understood them. He must’ve met a lot of people who got lost at this place.
“You are lucky to meet me today. You know, you will die if you run into some beasts. I’ve got enough today. Let’s go. Follow me and I’ll protect you. You look so vulnerable. I’m sure you haven’t suffered much.”
“You’re right…” Long said with a bitter smile. “Sir, we are not the eldest in our family. Our brothers and sisters help us a lot. This time, we came out to broaden our horizon. Who would have thought it would happen?”
“Don’t worry. Just follow me and you’ll be fine.” The hunter comforted him.
“Mhmm. Luckily we’ve met you. Otherwise, we wouldn’t know what to do!”
Liu just stood there, listening to Long in admiration.
Liu thought that this emperor was so capable that he could make up stories without any preparation.
Under the guidance of the hunter, Long and Liu travelled for more than a day. At night, they slept in the open air again. The place the hunter found for them was quite good. It was on the leeward and there was a lot of hay.
So Long and Liu didn’t suffer at night.
“Sir, hunting is hard work. You can’t even go back home at night.”
“Oh, I’ve got used to it. Every time I come out, I can gain a lot which is enough to feed my family for several days. I can also earn some money! Compared with other people, I’m really having a good life now!”
Obviously, the hunter was very proud when he said that.
It could be seen that the hunter was the breadwinner in the family and relying on his hunting skills, he supported the whole family!
Long praised the hunter sincerely.
At noon the next day, Long and Liu, as well as the hunter, finally got out of the wasteland!
When he saw humans and houses, Long, who had been living as a primitive man for twenty days, was almost moved to tears!
Although Liu tried to control himself, he was still very excited.
The hunter said enthusiastically, “Young men, come to my home with me. You’ve been wandering for so many days. I bet you haven’t eaten well or even washed yourselves. If you don’t mind, you can come back with me. Although my place is shabby, it’s better than staying outdoors.”
“Sir, please don’t say that your place is shabby. You support the whole family with your ability. I really admire you very much. We don’t mind it. We’ll come with you!”
“Haha.” Hearing Long’s words, the hunter was very happy. He laughed and led the two men to his home.
The hunter was very straightforward. His wife and mother were also kind-hearted.
The two ladies welcomed Long and Liu to their home.
Both Long and Liu had a bath comfortably. Then, after twenty days of hard life, they finally had the chance to have some rice.
Their eyes were suffused with warm tears.
Since they’ve come out, it was much easier for them to contact others.
After lunch, Long and Liu asked about where this place was, how to leave, and so on. Then, they said goodbye to the hunter.
If they had money on them, they would definitely give it to the hunter as a reward.
But it was a pity that all their belongings had been taken away and they didn’t even have any jade ornaments. They had nothing, except Liu’s magic dagger that would cut iron. So they didn’t give the hunter anything.
On the contrary, the hunter knew that they were in a tough spot and kindly gave them three taels of silver.
For an ordinary family, three taels of silver was almost a month’s income!
Before they left, Long held the hunter’s hand and said sincerely, “Sir, we’re impressed by your enthusiasm. Thank you for your kindness. We’re leaving. I promise I will repay you in the future!”
“Haha.” The hunter didn’t care about that at all. He waved his hand and said, “It’s okay. Be careful on the way.”
“Yes. Thank you very much!”
Ten days later, a senior official appeared in the hunter’s home.
Everyone in the hunter’s family was trembling, wondering what crime they had committed. However, they didn’t expect the official to be very kind. He asked them if they wanted to move to the city and what they wished to do…
The hunter’s family was very frightened.
The official said that one good turn deserved another. They helped an influential person earlier, so that person sent him here to repay them.
The hunter was stunned. Then, he thought of Long who left several days ago.
He hurriedly said that he didn’t need anything and also didn’t want to leave the place that he’d lived for decades.
At last, the official gave five hundred taels of silver to the hunter and appointed a man in the hunter’s clan as the leader of the district.
The official directly told that man that he became the leader just because of the hunter.
That man was naturally very grateful to the hunter, so he promised that he would take good care of the hunter’s family.
After dealing with everything, the official left…
All the villagers were envious of the hunter’s family and the hunter became very famous in his hometown…
Of course, that was what happened ten days later.
At this moment, Long and Liu were still on their way back!
Both of them felt very relaxed and how they wished they could fly back with wings!
It was understandable that they were so anxious. They’d been away for such a long time, so Shi Qingzhou and Ouyang Chuan must be worried sick about them!