Chapter 279 - 126: Lord Saint Monarch, Your Most Loyal Subordinate Has Found You

Chapter 279: Chapter 126: Lord Saint Monarch, Your Most Loyal Subordinate Has Found You

Yang Mo handed him a medicine vial. "This is Tracking Medicine. Sprinkle a little every hundred paces or so, and I’ll find you. The beasts in this forest aren’t that ferocious. I’ll be fine."

With that, he shot a sidelong glance at the Boatwoman and turned to leave.

Xiao Shenke looked lost. "Da Yong, what should we do?"

"We do what Brother Mo says!"

Zhang Da Yong gripped his long spear and signaled for the others to follow, but his eyes remained on Yang Mo for a long time.

Just moments before, he had attached a wisp of Soul Mist to the back of Yang Mo’s head, allowing him to share all of Yang Mo’s senses.

...

HUFF... HUFF...

Yang Mo panted heavily, searching for footprints as he moved through the woods. He’d actually learned a few tracking skills from following Xiao Shenke.

But they were skills he had only just picked up.

He was bound to make mistakes.

It was autumn, and the mountains were covered in fallen leaves, obscuring the footprints in many places.

The same was true for rocky areas.

As a result, he took the wrong path several times.

Fortunately, he realized his mistakes quickly.

Otherwise, he might have gotten lost himself. If that happened, he wasn’t sure he’d make it out alive.

A sense of panic began to spread through him. He had only brought one vial of Tracking Medicine, and it was meant as a failsafe for Xiao Shenke’s group. He never imagined he would end up separated from them.

’Steady!’

’Stay calm!’

Yang Mo kept telling himself to calm down, and he managed to push back the rising panic. But it was replaced by an overwhelming sense of frustration.

’Putting myself in danger just to be called a "good person."’

’Is it worth it?’

’What good will saving them do me?’

’No wonder...’

’No wonder my family is treated like we’re invisible in the Yang Family.’

’Maybe that’s how everyone else sees us.’

Yang Mo felt like giving up.

But something felt wrong about that. After all, Zhao Ci hadn’t given up on him.

’If I give up now, how can I ever become someone like Zhao Ci?’

He gritted his teeth and pushed onward, leaving marks along the way as he navigated the forest as if treading on thin ice.

Thankfully, at long last...

By the light of the setting sun,

he found the three of them hiding in a mountain cave.

Two of them, dressed in scholars’ robes, were sprawled on the ground. They had clearly died from the poison.

The Boatman’s face was a deathly blue, a sign of deep poisoning. He was lying in a pool of blood, his right leg a mangled mess, torn apart by some unknown beast. Heaven knows what he had endured. A man once so powerfully built now looked as pathetic as a beaten dog.

But from a distance, it seemed he was not yet dead.

Yang Mo’s face paled, but he ran over to check the Boatman’s pulse anyway.

Phew...

He breathed a sigh of relief. The pulse was steady; it wasn’t a hopeless case yet. He could neutralize at least half of the miasma poison in the man’s system.

’But this leg...’

THUMP!

Yang Mo jumped, his wrist caught in the Boatman’s death grip.

The Boatman’s eyes were shut, his mind already fading, but the will to survive remained. He begged deliriously, "Save... save me! Save me!"

Yang Mo instinctively tried to pry his hand away. "Let go!"

But the Boatman’s strength was astonishing. Yang Mo couldn’t break his grip.

"Save me! Save me!"

"Let go!"

"Please, I’m begging you, save me!"

For such a large man, his voice was laced with sobs.

But the more he listened, the more agitated Yang Mo became. His gaze drifted unconsciously to the man’s right leg.

Most of the flesh on the calf had been gnawed away, and the wound was already festering.

’With my medicine, he won’t die.’

’But then what?’

’Carry him down the mountain?’

’Judging by the Boatman’s burly, bear-like build, he had to weigh at least two hundred pounds.’

’I’d have a hard enough time getting out of here by myself. Carrying a two-hundred-pound man...’

’Would I even make it out?’

"Save me! Save me!"

"..."

Yang Mo felt as if he had a bone caught in his throat. His face twisted in a knot as a war raged within him.

But the longer he stared at the pleading Boatman, the more disgusted he felt.

’Even if I was pathetic when I faced Zhao Ci, at least I had more backbone than this.’

’But... in essence, it’s the same, isn’t it?’

’Equally pitiful.’

’Equally wretched, like a dog!’

’So this is the price of being a good person.’

’But what do I get out of it?’

Slowly, Yang Mo’s expression grew calm.

With his free left hand, he took out a medicine vial and poured its contents onto the Boatman’s wound.

"Save... save me!"

"Save!"

"Save..."

"AHHH!"

The Boatman shrieked, his body convulsing violently.

Yang Mo seized the chance to yank his right hand free and scrambled back several steps.

He gasped for breath.

The emotions he had suppressed for so long finally found an outlet.

"BWAHAHAHAHA..."

He couldn’t help but burst out laughing as he watched the Boatman howl in agony from the scorpion poison. The man’s cries were like a breach in a dam, allowing all of Yang Mo’s pent-up emotions to flood out.

’So liberating!’

’Without the weak dragging me down...’

’It feels so liberating!’

Gradually, the Boatman’s wails ceased.

Yang Mo felt as if something inside him, something that should never have been there, had died along with the man.

The smile never left his face.

He had finally figured something out.

’I had never hated the people who saw me as weak.’

’I hated being the weakling they saw!’

’The only thing I despised...’

’...was the weak!’

...

「Elsewhere.」

Zhang Da Yong, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly snapped them open.

’Lord Saint Monarch!’

’I... I think I’ve found you!’

~~~~~

Two Chapters, 14,000 characters.

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Also, a quick announcement.

Qidian’s recommendation system is based on average subscription numbers. This book’s initial performance was a bit weak, so to boost the average, I’ll be publishing super-sized Chapters from now on. Otherwise, I might not get any recommendation slots.

Basically, instead of two Chapters totaling 10,000 characters,

it will now be one Chapter of 10,000 characters.

I promise not to pad the story and to maintain the quality.

I hope everyone understands.