This Sword Cultivator is Somewhat Dependable

Chapter 479: Chapter 16: Thunder and Vitality

“You mean the Duke of Thunder Pond,” Yang Qing’er realized suddenly.

“Duke of Thunder Pond?” Lu Qingshan, who had successfully bribed Yang Qing’er with a ‘mooncake,’ couldn’t help but frown.

Just hearing the name gave him a sense that it was anything but simple.

Following the map he had bought in Dongque City, it had taken him three days to arrive at the outskirts of the Thunder Forbidden Zone.

And within the canyon that housed the Thunder Forbidden Zone, there existed a small tribe named ‘Sheep.’

Living so close to the Thunder Forbidden Zone for many years, Lu Qingshan believed that the people of the tribe must be very familiar with it.

...

Although he had come prepared, it would be better to get a clearer understanding of the general situation of the Thunder Forbidden Zone before entering.

“Mhm,” Yang Qing’er nodded her head. Fueled by the ‘mooncake,’ she spilled everything about the Duke of Thunder Pond to Lu Qingshan like pouring beans out of a bamboo tube.

Even without the ‘mooncake,’ it would not have been a problem, since in her heart, she was already very willing to talk to the handsome man before her.

The Duke of Thunder Pond was the name the ‘Sheep’ tribe gave to that forbidden area.

The reason was that within the zone, thunder arcs flowed continuously from its core, causing the entire ground to be filled with roving thunder, making it look like a thunderwater pond from a distance.

Furthermore, thunderbolts and raging thunder arcs would often descend from the heavens within the zone, making it highly unstable.

Therefore, in the eyes of the ‘Sheep’ tribe members, a Duke of Thunder must be slumbering within the zone.

Hence, the Duke of Thunder Pond was so named.

According to Yang Qing’er, the Duke of Thunder Pond would intermittently undergo massive thunder explosions.

When these explosions happened, everyone in their clan could hear deafening thunder that lasted for an unpredictable duration, though the longest was just an hour and the shortest less than fifteen minutes.

But it was said that a long, long time ago, these massive thunder explosions would only happen once every one or two months.

By the time she was born, however, the frequency had shortened to daily occurrences.

In the past year, the frequency had increased so much that there were two or three thunder explosions every day.

“Many old people in our clan say that the Duke of Thunder might be waking up,” Yang Qing’er looked up at Lu Qingshan, her eyes blinking rapidly.

Lu Qingshan reached out and rubbed the small girl’s hair, which was dry and yellow like weeds due to malnutrition, and said with a smile, “Then why aren’t you scared?”

He noticed that there wasn’t a trace of worry in Yang Qing’er’s eyes.

Bashfully, Yang Qing’er’s voice softened after being patted on the head by Lu Qingshan, but she firmly said, “Because the Duke of Thunder is a good person. If it weren’t for the Duke of Thunder Pond, our tribe would have long been devoured by the Sand Wolf Demons…”

At this point, Yang Qing’er’s voice trailed off with a hint of loss, as if some unpleasant memory had come to mind.

“Sand Wolf Demons?” Lu Qingshan asked again.

Yang Qing’er, who had barely interacted with outsiders, didn’t have much wariness towards Lu Qingshan.

And with Lu Qingshan’s kind smile, in the young girl’s mind, he couldn’t possibly be a bad person.

So when Lu Qingshan asked, Yang Qing’er began to prattle on again.

The Sand Wolf Demons were one of the most numerous Sand Demons in the Mogao Desert and, along with sandstorms and Sand Bandits, were known as the three calamities of Mogao.

Within this vast desert, packs of Sand Wolf Demons roamed and preyed.

If their numbers exceeded a hundred, they could slaughter an entire small tribe.

Near the ‘Sheep’ tribe, a large pack of Sand Wolf Demons inhabited an oasis, its numbers close to several thousand or even tens of thousands.

Normally, a small tribe with not more than a thousand members like the ‘Sheep’ tribe, located beside the den of the Sand Wolf Demons, would have been gnawed to the bones. @@novelbin@@

But it seemed that out of fear of the Duke of Thunder, the Sand Wolf Demons never dared to enter this canyon or even approach it.

And of course, the people of the ‘Sheep’ tribe didn’t dare leave the canyon easily either.

The two parties had ended up in a standoff.

In Yang Qing’er’s heart, the Duke of Thunder was the Guardian God of their tribe.

Given this circumstance, what was there to be afraid of if the Duke of Thunder was to awaken?

“I see,” Lu Qingshan said as he looked toward the deep, bottomless canyon with a shimmer in his eyes; he ruffled Yang Qing’er’s hair again and smiled, “You’ve told me so much, thank you.”

“It’s nothing,” Yang Qing’er’s sallow cheeks blushed slightly as she looked up at the sky. Suddenly panicked, the girl said, “I have to hurry back now, otherwise the little lambs will go hungry.”

“Go back,” Lu Qingshan said with a smile.

Yang Qing’er scampered away, taking little hurried steps. After running a few steps, she stopped abruptly, turned her head to look at Lu Qingshan and asked, “Do you want to visit our tribe…”

Facing Lu Qingshan’s gaze, Yang Qing’er became a bit flustered, “What I mean is, the Clan Leader grandfather might know more about the Duke of Thunder Pond. He is a Cultivator and has lived for a very, very long time.”

The sharp little girl had realized Lu Qingshan’s identity as a Cultivator at first sight.

Lu Qingshan waved his hand, “No need, what you’ve said is enough, and you’ve told me everything I wanted to know.”

Seeing that Lu Qingshan had refused her, the girl didn’t say anything more, waved her hand, and carrying a bamboo basket that was taller than her, hurried away.

….

Having inquired about the situation of the Thunder Forbidden Zone, Lu Qingshan pondered for a moment before his Sword Control converted him into a flash of Radiance. Keeping a low altitude, he followed along the crevices of the canyon towards the slowly approaching Thunder Forbidden Zone.