“Save me!” Wang Hao hadn’t even steadied himself when Wang Yanfeng’s cry for help reached his ears.

“Ah, I really owe you!”

But Wang Yanfeng still had to be saved. Although he wasn’t very capable and was down on his luck, in previous years, he had always insisted on buying Wang Hao’s pills at high prices and had taken good care of him on ordinary days. This uncle was decent enough.

Wang Hao ordered the Golden-Eyed Duck to rescue Wang Yanfeng. Yaya was quite reluctant but still carried out Wang Hao’s command.

Only after Wang Yanfeng was seated on the Golden-Eyed Duck’s back did Wang Hao realize he had misunderstood Yaya. It wasn’t that it didn’t want to save him; it just didn’t have the ability. Carrying one person was already strenuous, let alone two. Even though it flapped its wings with all its might, the two men and the duck were still continuously descending.

At this speed, Wang Hao and Wang Yanfeng might survive with serious injuries, but the Golden-Eyed Duck underneath would be in a terrible state. The duck was trying to save him, and Wang Hao absolutely did not want to see it die.

He turned his head and said to Wang Yanfeng, “Eighth Uncle, you’re at least a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator. Don’t you have any trump cards?”

“I’ve always been stationed at the market square refining pills. The next beast tide is still far off. What would I need trump cards for? Wouldn’t that just waste Spirit Stones?” Wang Yanfeng said this with righteous indignation, making Wang Hao so angry he wanted to throw him off.

Wang Hao recalled scenes from his previous life of airplanes making emergency landings. An idea struck him, and he ordered the Golden-Eyed Duck to spread its wings wide and glide forward along the canyon.

The rate of descent indeed slowed considerably, converting into forward momentum.

“Damn momentum conservation!” Wang Hao cursed aloud. If they crashed into anything, both men and the beast would still die!

Fortunately, although the Golden-Eyed Duck couldn’t carry two people, it could still control its direction. It steadily avoided the cliff walls all the way, skimming close to the ground along the canyon.

“Eighth Uncle, jump off when we’re about a hundred zhang from the ground!” Wang Hao said. The canyon was a thousand zhang deep. They currently possessed enormous potential energy and couldn’t brake at all. If they continued gliding down like this, with the uneven ground and the Golden-Eyed Duck having no wheels, they would be ground into mincemeat. The only way was to reduce weight early so the Golden-Eyed Duck could fly!

For a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator, a hundred zhang height was still dangerous but not fatal. Wang Yanfeng also understood the gravity of the situation. The Golden-Eyed Duck had saved his life; if he caused its death, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself either.

“Alright, understood. I see trees at the valley floor. I’ll jump onto one then!”

The hundred-zhang distance arrived in an instant. At a look from Wang Hao, Wang Yanfeng understood. Spotting a tall tree, he gathered his strength and leaped towards it with a powerful push-off. The Golden-Eyed Duck staggered for a moment before regaining its balance.

However, their speed was too great; it still couldn’t take flight. But at this speed, it could at least survive.

Wang Hao also didn’t want to see the Golden-Eyed Duck get injured. When they were about thirty zhang up, he also pushed off forcefully and jumped down, raising a protective shield as he crashed towards a patch of shrubs!

Crash-boom!

Trees as thick as bowls were directly broken by Wang Hao’s impact. The protective shield also collapsed. Luckily, beneath was soft ground. Wang Hao was somewhat disheveled but hadn’t sustained serious injuries.

Freed from its burden, the Golden-Eyed Duck flapped its wings vigorously and landed steadily, quickly flying to Wang Hao’s front and affectionately nuzzling his arm.

“I owe you big time this time!” Wang Hao stroked the Golden-Eyed Duck and took out a Golden Thread Spirit Apricot. “Eat this! Yaya, you need to advance quickly. Otherwise, with such a deep canyon, I won’t be able to get out.”

“Quack quack,” responded the Golden-Eyed Duck before swallowing the Golden Thread Spirit Apricot.

“Right, go find Eighth Uncle first. I hope he’s alright!” Wang Hao ordered the Golden-Eyed Duck to search for Wang Yanfeng while he himself sat down to heal his injuries.

The two previous major battles and falling off the cliff had resulted in multiple injuries piling up, forcing him to heal immediately. Otherwise, even if he could fully recover later, it would take considerable time!

A short while later, the Golden-Eyed Duck returned with Wang Yanfeng. Wang Yanfeng’s condition wasn’t good; he had broken one leg and, judging by his complexion, probably had internal injuries as well.

Still, being able to keep their lives in such a situation was already good enough.

Seeing Wang Hao meditating and circulating his energy, Wang Yanfeng didn’t say much either and similarly sat down nearby to begin healing. Cultivators’ bodies had strong self-healing abilities, and neither lacked pills for treatment. As long as they treated themselves promptly, they wouldn’t be left with permanent disabilities.

Wang Hao didn’t put the Golden-Eyed Duck back into the Spirit Beast Bag but had it stand guard from a high point. And so, the two meditated continuously for five days before finishing their healing sessions. The injuries on Wang Hao’s body were mostly healed; what little remained could only recover slowly over time.

Wang Yanfeng had only been injured during the fall into the valley floor; his injuries weren’t more severe than Wang Hao’s either. Seeing Wang Hao get up, he also rose and said, “This canyon is so deep; your spirit beast will have difficulty flying up with people on its back. What should we do next?”

“When we reach the mountain, there will be a road ahead; there’s always a way out anyway,” said Wang Hao calmly. Since he possessed a farm system, he felt no panic at all. Even if they stayed here for several years, once Yaya advanced to Tier 1 High-Grade, it would naturally be able to carry them and fly upwards! “We don’t lack pills anyway; I still have plenty of spirit rice in my storage bag—enough for us to last one or two years—so we can slowly figure something out!”

“That might be our only option,” sighed Wang Yanfeng. “I’ll go scout around first; maybe there are other exits!”

“Not so fast,” said Wang Hao, remembering something from his earlier observation while descending. “When we were coming down earlier, I saw what seemed like buildings ahead—perhaps left behind by some senior from before—let’s check them out first!”

He noticed that the building marker on the map wasn’t far away now. It was actually quite close, relatively speaking, compared to his earlier position above the canyon where he originally stood directly above. However, due to the gliding path taken by the duck, they had actually moved further away somewhat during the descent. Without seeing the ground clearly nor unlocking map details along the way, currently only the building location plus their own position were displayed as two points. Though clearly visible now, the distance between them was not insignificant either—perhaps several li apart, maybe more, depending on terrain features unknown yet until explored properly.