Yin Hui and Yu Zhuwa were extra cautious on their journey to the Storm Province. The outer regions of the Tang Province were littered with small families and sects desperately looking for cultivators to recruit. Most of these factions were allied with either the Tang or the Yan, while some were independent.

Often, those recruiting for the Tang and those recruiting for the Yan would meet in the same village. These encounters almost always sparked fights between the two sides, which usually left the village destroyed. Sometimes, both parties would leave empty handed due to accidentally killing the entire population by collateral. To avoid all this, Yin Hui and Yu Zhuwa stuck to the forests and occasionally roads. The only time they ever went to a nearby settlement was to stock up on food and supplies. This was only necessary in the more domesticated parts of the outer regions, where there were few wild animals for them to hunt.

Yin Hui applied some salve to an infected injury he had on his leg. The wound was purple as it was poisoned by an arrow shot at him during one of their supply runs. Yu Zhuwa took out a few bandages and helped wrap them around Yin Hui's leg to stop the bleeding.

"Sorry Big Brother Yin Hui, if I didn't accidentally drop that box of talismans when I stole from that minor sect cultivator this wouldn't have happened." While Yin Hui was gathering supplies, Yu Zhuwa saw cultivators of a minor sect recruiting children with potential in cultivation. They showed off their usage of bomb talismans and concealing talismans to woo the children into joining.

Seeing an opportunity, Yu Zhuwa pretended to be another mortal and joined the crowd. Because he hadn't broken through to the Spirit Waking stage yet, his cultivation could only be determined by his physical strength. He simply adjusted his strength to be that of a mortal and instantly passed their tests. However, on the night before they were about to leave, Yu Zhuwa snuck into the head recruiters tent and stole the entire supply of talismans.

Unfortunately, his clumsiness got the better of him and he accidentally dropped it on the way out. This alerted the entire group and Yin Hui had to go save him. The group was comprised of ten three aspect Spirit Waking cultivators, so Yin Hui could not fight them all by himself. Using the Living Earth spell and Beast Suppression, Yin Hui just barely managed to escape with both their lives.

"It's only been two weeks since we left the Scattered Leaf Village. To get to the border will require at least two months of travel time. We can't get careless until we finally make it out, so don't steal everything you find valuable okay?" Yin Hui advised.

Yu Zhuwa nodded. At this point Yin Hui was the only person he could rely on. If he died because of his carelessness, he wouldn't know what he would do.

"Since we have some downtime until my leg heals, we should change our names to hide our identities. Your name is especially uncommon, so if we cause trouble somewhere and they find out your name you'll be identified quickly."

"Okay. I still don't have my own name really so I guess you could just call me Xiao Yu like Grandma Yu did."

"Alright, then from now on call me Li Feng." Yin Hui declared.

"Li Feng? I mean it works, but how did you come up with a name so fast?" Yu Zhuwa asked.

Yin Hui shrugged his shoulders. He chose the character 'Feng' because it stood for wind, which symbolized freedom. As for the surname Li, It just felt right to him, not to mention it was pretty common as well.

"Whatever, sounds good to me. Nice to meet you Big Brother Yin-- I mean Big Brother Li." Yu Zhuwa corrected.

Yin Hui rubbed his temples. It didn't even matter if they had the most common names in the world. The names were only as good as Yu Zhuwa's capacity to remember to use them.

"Sigh, just try to remember as well as you can while I go find a place to set up camp." Yin Hui stumbled to his feet and went off to find a suitable area to rest before it got dark.

Luckily for Yin Hui and Yu Zhuwa, the road to the Storm Province involved passing through thick forests and steep mountains. Because of that, it was rare for them to see any travelers on their journey. However, those they did meet they had to be extra careful with. This was because those passing by were often cultivators belonging to a sect allied with either the Tang or Yan. While the Yan were not after them specifically, they would most certainly complicate matters if Yin Hui were to tell them that they were planning to leave the province. Cultivators traveling to other provinces without the authority of a major power was a very shaky situation, given the current circumstances. If one of the major powers found out, they could be executed for desertion or accused of being a spy for one of the rival provinces. Right now, the elites of the Tang Province needed as many cultivators in the land as possible to support their plays for power. They could not afford to let any escape, no matter the allegiance.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Yin Hui walked for about half an hour until he came across a flat clearing that was perfect for setting up camp. He took out a few protective talismans and applied them on the tree's around the area. After finishing up the rest of the camp, Yin Hui took a step back to admire his handiwork.

"Sigh... I envy the day my cultivation will be high enough that I won't have to eat or sleep anymore."

"Ahh!"

Yin Hui heard a faint scream a decent distance east of his camp. He immediately ran towards the scream at full speed, wondering if it was from Yu Zhuwa running into some cultivators.

As he got closer, Yin Hui heard the scream once more. While the scream was shirill, it did not sound like Yu Zhuwa. Instead, the pitch was a bit higher like that of a girl. Yin Hui swiftly dodged to the side as the body of an old man flew past him at blinding speed. He quickly hid behind a tree and peaked over to see two slightly injured men looming over an exhausted young girl lying on the ground. The girl was extremely pretty, having long tied up black hair and soft white skin covered by a purple robe. Her face was youthful and her eyes contained a mischievous cuteness to them.

"You bitch! You'll pay for injuring elder Luo Mo!" One of the injured men angrily said.

"Damn it. Another battle between cultivators. They're so close to my camp too." Yin Hui cursed in his heart. Whatever those two planned to do with that girl was not his concern. With his current situation, he had no time to play hero and risk his identity to save one helpless girl. In fact, who was he to judge if she was helpless or not? According to them, she had just killed one of their elders. Yin Hui backed up and was about to return to his camp when he heard a high pitched voice say the worse thing he could possibly hear under those circumstances.

"My backup is hiding behind that tree! I'm just giving you a heads up because even if you know he will still clobber you!" The girl shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Fuck. These guys are right. This girl really is a bitch." Words could not describe the amount of anger and spite Yin Hui was currently feeling towards the girl.

The two cultivators turned around with a mix of surprise and anger on their face.

"Backup?! In that case, he will die as well!" One of the cultivators slapped his bag of holding and took out a massive broadsword. He swung at the tree Yin Hui was hiding behind and cut it completely in half.

Yin Hui used his spiritual sense to analyze the two cultivators he was up against. Disregarding the power of the broadsword, his opponents were only Spirit Waking cultivators.

The two cultivators felt a chill go down their spine as Yin Hui's spiritual sense enveloped them. It felt as if an evil demon was breathing down their necks with a knife held to their throats. Combined with Yin Hui's dark aura and fierce eyes, the two cultivators trembled slightly. Eventually, the cultivator holding the broadsword couldn't take it anymore and lunged at Yin Hui.

As the cultivator came within a meter of Yin Hui, a bright flash blinded his eyes. While the cultivators were hesitating due to their fear, Yin Hui was charging the Wind Bullet and Blinding Light. With the small opening he created with Blinding Light, Yin Hui got up close and sent a max power Wind Bullet right into the man's jaw. Cracking sounds could be heard as the cultivator's neck dislocated from his head, killing him instantly. The remaining cultivator panicked and started to run away, but before he could get far Yin Hui trapped him by wrapping roots around his legs with Living Earth. He then picked up the broadsword and finished the last cultivator with a precise stab through the forehead.

"Hmph. I hope your grateful girl. If I was merely a passing mortal, you would've killed me just now by sending those two on me."

Yin Hui turned back to where the girl laid, but she disappeared. He was stunned for a moment and used his spiritual sense to sweep the area for her. However, even with his spiritual sense she was nowhere to be found. Believing that she was genuinely gone, Yin Hui took the bags of holding from the cultivators he just killed and activated the Evil Fiend Devouring Technique. His qi reserves expanded greatly with the addition of two more Spirit Waking cultivators, and he now had three separate souls housing qi for him.

Just before he decided to return to camp, Yin Hui searched for the body of the elder the two cultivators were referring to earlier. He came across a large pile of blood on a tree a couple meters away, but there was no body. At that point, Yin Hui decided that it was too dangerous to stay in the area any longer. There was a chance that the elder of the two cultivators saw everything and was going to return with reinforcements.

On his way back to the camp, he bumped into Yu Zhuwa who was collecting water at a nearby stream.

"Oh Big Brother Li your back! Did you get lots of spoils from those cultivators you defeated?"

Yin Hui was dumbfounded. He was sure Yu Zhuwa was not in the area when he fought the two cultivators.

"How did you know I fought a couple cultivators?" Yin Hui asked.

"Big Sister Su told me. She helped me fend off a couple bears I stumbled across. She's really nice and said she owed you something so I offered to let her stay with us for the night."

"What?! You revealed our identities and offered to let her stay?! Do you know how risky that is? I don't even know an Elder Sister Su! Show me this girl at once!" Yin Hui was exasperated.

"Don't worry, I remembered to use our fake names. Why are you so angry?"

By the time Yu Zhuwa and Yin Hui got back to the camp, the sun had already set. At the camp, Yu Zhuwa pointed to a beautiful girl wearing a purple dress sitting near a small fire next to their tent.

"There she is. A pretty one don't you think?"

Yin Hui almost coughed out blood in anger when he saw the girl. It was the same girl who schemed against him earlier in the day!