Riding in the glider, Shen Feng felt very at ease. After learning that Yuzhou was safe and sound, he was incredibly relaxed. He flew towards the southwest, gazing at the magnificent landscape below.
Shen Feng planned to take two days to return to Yuzhou and then rest for a while. Having drifted outside for more than half a year, he greatly missed his hometown.
As Shen Feng flew out of the North China region, the sky suddenly cleared up, devoid of dark clouds and heavy rain. Shen Feng felt refreshed and, looking at the sunset clouds on the horizon, he murmured to himself, "It's time to rest. Let's find a place to land!"
Ever since the incident where he was attacked by a flock of sparrows, Shen Feng knew that he had to be cautious of mutated birds in the sky. Tens of thousands of sparrows alone were enough to give him trouble, so conserving energy was important. Since there was no urgent matter, he shouldn't travel at night, to avoid wasting energy.
Shen Feng estimated that he had entered the Nanyang region but couldn't find any inhabited areas. He had no choice but to rest in the wilderness. There were quite a few mutated beasts in the wild. An unwary mutated wild dog charged towards Shen Feng, likely wanting a meal. However, on its charge, Shen Feng casually unleashed two wind blades, ending its life.
Afterward, Shen Feng cut open the mutated dog with his Meteorite Longsword, skewering large chunks of meat onto the blade to roast. As the saying goes, "Dog meat boiled thrice, and even immortals can't stand still." Shen Feng found the roasted dog meat to be truly delicious.
After eating his fill, Shen Feng rummaged through the glider's storage box and found a copy of Journey to the West in a box. Beside it was a long, narrow box containing an authentic calligraphy piece by Su Shi.
"Huh, Xiao Yue didn't take this calligraphy with her. Heh, lucky me. I'll hang it in my study and brag about it to everyone, see who doesn't admire me!" Shen Feng couldn't help but say.
Of course, in Shen Feng's opinion, the most precious gift he brought back was the rare edition of Journey to the West. If nothing unexpected happened, this was the earliest surviving copy of Journey to the West in the world. This was undoubtedly a national treasure, and it was a great merit to bring it back from Japan!
After resting for a night, Shen Feng set off again. The sky was clear and vast, and Shen Feng's mood was excellent as he continuously flew southwest. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and flying in the sky allowed for the shortest route.
However, as Shen Feng flew, he looked down and saw many people with swollen bellies sitting by the roadside. Calculating the distance, he realized he had already passed south of the Qinling-Huaihe line, an area notorious for schistosomiasis. Two years had passed, and the problem of schistosomiasis had still not been resolved.
"How pitiful. If only there were enough medicine to save these people! How long can they live?" Shen Feng murmured to himself.
A hundred years ago, schistosomiasis had indeed been eradicated. The main measure at the time was to eliminate the intermediate host of schistosomiasis, the Oncomelania hupensis snail. Without the intermediate host, schistosomiasis was difficult to spread. It sounded simple, but it wasn't. Eliminating the snails wasn't just about catching and killing them; it involved fundamentally changing their habitat. For example, building dams, digging ditches, and spreading lime powder directly prevented the snails from surviving in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, completely cutting off the propagation path of schistosomiasis and thus controlling the disease.
At that time, all villages supported this endeavor. The entire village was mobilized to eliminate schistosomiasis. Even so, it took several years to achieve this. For this, a great man wrote the poem: "The sky connects to the Five Ridges, silver hoes fall; the earth shakes the Three Rivers, iron arms swing."
However, such a scene was unlikely to reappear. The world was in chaos, a doomsday scenario. Everyone was living in constant fear, unsure of their next meal. In such circumstances, it was impossible to eradicate the root cause of schistosomiasis. Moreover, schistosomiasis had mutated, and the intermediate host was no longer just the Oncomelania hupensis snail.
As Shen Feng was contemplating, the glider had entered the Wudang Mountain region. At this speed, Shen Feng believed he would reach Wushan soon.
However, at this moment, a large swarm of dark shadows flew out of the forests of Wudang Mountain with a rustling sound. The flapping of their wings reached Shen Feng, who was three hundred meters in the air. Looking down, he was greatly surprised. A vast flock of birds had taken flight from the forest; upon closer inspection, they were countless sparrows!
Shen Feng slapped his forehead and said, "I'm so scatterbrained. My teacher was ambushed by these sparrows when he passed here before, how could I not learn my lesson and pass through here again? I should have taken a detour!"
Last year, Shen Feng was prevented from returning to Yuzhou to see Professor Chu's last moments by these sparrows. This was a great regret for Shen Feng. Their parting was hurried, and it turned out to be a final farewell. Shen Feng deeply resented these sparrows, but now, the sparrows had reappeared!
"Damn beasts, I have plenty of energy now. You still want to ambush me? Don't even think about it!" Shen Feng gritted his teeth.
Times had changed. Previously, Shen Feng lacked strength, and the sparrows were numerous. With their numerical advantage, the sparrows surrounded Shen Feng like an iron bucket, constantly attacking. It was only the appearance of the golden eagle that indirectly took Shen Feng away. Now, Shen Feng had ample energy and was piloting a large glider, so he wasn't afraid of these sparrows at all.
The mutated sparrows were as before, the size of chickens and ducks, but without unified leadership, they chirped and flew towards Shen Feng in the sky, a black mass like a tide.
Shen Feng was not nervous. He unleashed the move "Dong Feng Hao Dang" (Vast East Wind), immediately blowing a large swarm of sparrows off course, making them unable to distinguish east from west.
Next, he simultaneously employed "Ju Feng Zhi Yan" (Eye of the Hurricane) and "Kuang Nu Zhi Feng" (Furious Wind). The whirlwinds instantly scattered the sparrows' formation, and countless wind blades pierced through the dense bodies of the sparrows. Feathers flew through the air, and sparrows rained down from the sky, as if it were raining.
The beasts on the ground, witnessing this scene, immediately hid. These beasts were not foolish. Although they lived in the forest, they never dared to provoke these sparrows. While the sparrows' individual strength was small, their sheer numbers were overwhelming. Angering these sparrows would result in endless retaliation.
Seeing that he had killed countless sparrows, Shen Feng couldn't help but reveal a smug expression, taunting, "You ignorant beasts, all of you should obediently get out of my way, or I will kill you all without mercy!"
Shen Feng was no longer particularly afraid of such concentrated attacks, as he had many area-of-effect attacks. Moreover, in the sky, with no cover, it was easy to be killed by wind blades. Even if they dodged the wind blades, the subsequent strong winds and whirlwinds would blow them dizzy, making them completely disoriented.
However, just as Shen Feng felt victory was within his grasp, more sparrows began to respond from the distant forest. With a rustle, sparrows continuously flew into the sky from the forest. The sheer number of sparrows created a sense of darkening the sky. Shen Feng was stunned. He had just killed over twenty thousand sparrows, and the remaining ones were scattered by the strong winds. Shen Feng thought he was about to win, but even more sparrows flew into the air. Such a scene was astonishing.
"Damn it, their numbers are ten times more than a year ago! There must be at least a million sparrows. Do they breed this fast?" Shen Feng's eyes were wide with shock. He had expected the number of sparrows here to be similar to a year ago, so he was confident. But now, sparrows were flying up from all directions. He wondered if there were even more sparrows in the mountains, making him suspect he had stumbled upon a sparrow's nest.
"Forget it, let's go! Their numbers are too great. Even though my stamina is much better than a year ago, I'll be exhausted to death!" Shen Feng wasn't stubborn and knew he couldn't win, so he immediately prepared to escape.
But now, sparrows were everywhere, forming an ambush from all sides, ready to quickly surround Shen Feng. Shen Feng quickly raised the glider's altitude to five hundred meters, which was an unreachable height for sparrows.
Sparrows' wings are naturally not suited for flying too high; their wings are relatively short and suitable for short-duration flights with rapid flapping. In contrast, the wings of white cranes and eagles are broad and naturally designed for flying at high altitudes.
However, while sparrows couldn't fly to Shen Feng's altitude in large numbers, they relentlessly pursued him, as if they had marked him as their mortal enemy. Shen Feng hadn't expected that a group of weak creatures united would possess such immense power. With so many sparrows, even the golden eagle from a year ago wouldn't dare to provoke them casually.
Shen Feng felt that continuing this stalemate was not good. If he brought a large group of mutated sparrows back to Yuzhou City, it would bring danger to the people of Yuzhou.
After much thought, Shen Feng came up with a good idea: the Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell.
Shen Feng nimbly gathered the important items from the glider onto himself, even holding the two sandalwood boxes. Then, Shen Feng let the glider fly into the distance, while he himself leaped down, activated the "Wind King Barrier" to protect himself, and rapidly descended.
In the eyes of the many sparrows, their enemy was the flying glider. Although these sparrows had mutated, only their bodies had evolved; their brains hadn't changed much, and their intelligence was not high. They chased after the flying glider.
As Shen Feng descended, he wasn't noticed by the sparrows. They all thought the glider was his true form. Little did they know, Shen Feng had passed through the dense flock of birds and landed in the forest.
Upon landing, Shen Feng used "Water Walking" and gently supported himself with the wind, landing safely.
Looking at the sparrow flock flying away in the sky, Shen Feng couldn't help but say, "Evolving the body is useless. It's better to evolve the brain!"
After orienting himself, Shen Feng quickly sprinted towards the southwest, his speed not slowing down at all. In fact, he was even faster than when flying in the sky.
Shen Feng no longer cared about the fate of the glider. He assumed it would be torn apart by the sparrow flock. However, this glider was the equipment that accompanied Shen Feng and Yue Hengyi across the ocean from Japan; it had completed its mission.
In the afternoon, Shen Feng arrived outside a city on the banks of the Yangtze River. This was Wanzhou, the gateway to the east of Yuzhou.
"Phew, I've finally reached my territory. Not bad. Let's go in and take a look. It's getting late, so I'll rest here for the night!" Shen Feng murmured to himself.
To avoid attracting attention, Shen Feng wore a mask. However, upon entering the city, he was stopped for inspection.
A soldier pointed at Shen Feng's mask and said, "You, take off your mask! Don't be sneaky!"
"Say that again? You think you can tell me to take off my mask?" Shen Feng asked impolitely. As he spoke, he placed his hand on a brick of the city wall and squeezed hard. The blue brick immediately turned into powder like tofu dregs.
"You… you're an Evolver?" The soldiers were startled, not expecting the person in front of them to be able to crush stone bricks with a casual squeeze. Ordinary Evolvers couldn't do this.
"I'm also a mercenary. Get out of the way, this is your reward money!" Shen Feng took out a golden button from his person and tossed it over.
The soldiers guarding the city saw the gold appear and were still hesitant. They put it in their mouths and bit it, finding it soft and the internal color golden yellow, indicating high purity of gold!
"Please come in, sir. We didn't recognize your eminence!" The soldiers, seeing the money, became overjoyed. Their attitude towards Shen Feng improved significantly, and they quickly invited Shen Feng into the city. As for the mask, it was no longer important!