Heavenly Rebellion: The Human Race's Rise to Prominence
Chapter 48: Elena

Chapter 48: Elena

When the blonde-haired girl saw the strange look on Feng’s face, her eyebrows raised slightly, as if she were offended.

Yet, she quickly calmed down, her expression returning to its usual impassiveness.

"Did I make a mistake in saving you?" she asked in an even tone, implying that Feng was upset about her stealing his bounty.

"You can have all of the Red-Faced Gorillas if you want," she added as she began walking away, clearly dismissive of the value of the dead spiritual beasts.

However, Feng himself wasn’t particularly interested in gathering corpses to sell for money.

When Feng realized she was leaving without giving him a chance to repay the favor, he quickly shouted out.

"Hey! Wait, I’m really grateful you saved me. If you hadn’t, I would’ve been in a bad spot—even if I had managed to kill off those Red-Faced Gorillas." He forced a smile.

The girl stared at Feng for a few seconds, as if trying to gauge his sincerity, before simply responding,

"I’m not very hungry right now."

Then, without another word, she turned and continued deeper into the forest.

Clearly, she had saved him on a whim.

Now that she had determined he was safe, she was returning to whatever she had been doing.

But before she could get too far, Feng called out,

"Hey, miss! I don’t know where you came from, but this is the Blackwood Forest—it belongs to the Blackwood Ruler.

From what I see, you’re probably here for personal training.

I don’t know if you have any Dao protectors with you, but you should be careful about going too deep inside.

There are spiritual beasts here at the half-step Foundation Establishment realm." His tone was serious, clearly wanting to warn her about the dangers of the Blackwood Forest.

The blonde girl paused, her expression turning thoughtful.

Then, looking back at him, she simply said, "Thank you," before continuing on her way.

When Feng saw that she was still heading deeper into the forest, he grew anxious.

Although this girl was clearly powerful, if she encountered the Blackwood Ruler, no matter how strong she was, she would be dead beyond a shadow of a doubt.

And since she had saved him, he couldn’t just leave her to die.

"Damn it," Feng cursed, quickly chasing after her.

But before he could get far, a sharp, stinging pain flared at his throat—like his head was about to be separated from his body.

The blonde-haired girl’s spear was suddenly at his neck.

His instincts went into overdrive, screaming at him to dodge—or he would die.

"What do you want?" the blonde-haired girl asked, her voice now a bit colder as she pointed her spear at his throat.

It was clear that if Feng didn’t give her a satisfactory answer, his head would fly off his body.

"This place is the territory of the Blackwood Ruler.

At the very least, he’s a Foundation Establishment-level spiritual beast, which means that no matter how strong you are, if you run into him, you’re definitely dead.

Also, this area belongs to three different villages, one of which I’m certain has a Foundation Establishment cultivator as its leader—making it even more dangerous for you," Feng said quickly, trying to get as much information out as possible to save his life.

"Why should I believe you?" the blonde-haired girl responded, her blue eyes shining with a cold light.

"Because I come from one of those villages. It’s called Raincloud Village, and the elder in question is Elder Zhou.

He fought against the Blackwood Ruler quite some time ago and caused havoc across this entire area.

If you don’t believe me, you can ask around if you find someone from the villages," Feng replied.

When the girl heard Feng’s words, she paused, thinking for a few seconds before finally lowering her spear and moving it away from his throat.

Feng gasped, breathing heavily.

Although he was used to fighting for his life, he had never before felt as if his head was on a platter, just waiting to be slaughtered.

Realizing what had just happened, the girl hesitated for a moment before speaking softly.

"I’m sorry."

Feng’s eyes widened in shock. He quickly looked up and stared into her blue eyes.

Though her words were spoken softly, they were unmistakably an apology—something he hadn’t expected at all from someone who had seemed so frightening.

"All right, it’s fine. You saved me, I gave you some advice so you don’t suddenly die—we’re even.

Although, I hope you don’t randomly try to kill me from now on," Feng said, a bit disgruntled.

It was clear he was still somewhat pissed off about her pointing a spear at his neck and threatening his life.

The girl looked at him and slowly nodded, seemingly aware that she had gone too far.

A hint of guilt flashed across her face.

"All right, my offer still stands. Why don’t we walk for a bit? From what I know, there’s a tributary of the river nearby. We can both get some food and drink fresh water," Feng said, pointing to the left.

He knew this because, during his time with the Blackwood Ruler, he had observed how water flowed through the forest.

That way, he could estimate where it would be when leaving the area.

He hadn’t expected this knowledge to be useful so soon.

Once again, the girl fell into thought, but her response made Feng freeze, as if a bone had suddenly gotten stuck in his throat.

"My father said I shouldn’t trust strangers, especially men," she said, her blue eyes staring at him as if waiting for a reaction.

Feng’s mouth twitched.

Though her words were reasonable, he still felt a little offended by how casually she had said them. Still, he quickly responded.

"It’s fine. I doubt I could do anything to you anyway since I think you’re stronger than me."

Even though he spoke casually, it was clear he meant it.

Even if they were equal in strength, he probably still wouldn’t be able to do anything to her.

After all, he still believed she had a hidden Dao protector watching over her.

If that was the case, it would be better to make allies than enemies.

Maybe he could even earn the favor of that unknown senior and receive some kind of reward for his efforts.

When the girl heard Feng’s words, she quietly nodded.

It seemed she also agreed with his assessment.

But her response made Feng’s mouth twitch for the second time.

"I agree. I think you’re weaker than me, at least," she said with a straight face.

It was clear she didn’t mean anything offensive—it was just her personality.

She seemed to be very blunt.

If a man had said something like that, he would probably be seething with rage.

But because of her pretty face, Feng found it hard to feel any sort of negative reaction.

Sigh.

"My name is Feng. What’s yours?" he asked, realizing that despite talking for a while, they still didn’t know each other’s names.

"Elena," the girl answered with a calm expression.

Feng found it cute, but when he realized he was being biased because of her beauty, he quickly tried to shake the thought away, reminding himself:

"A beautiful woman is truly a source of disaster."

Feng hadn’t believed this saying when he first heard it, but now, in the same situation, he completely understood its truth.

What made his headache worse was the realization that followed.

"I can’t believe I let my guard down so quickly," Feng sighed to himself.

Ever since leaving Raincloud Village, nearly everyone he met had tried to kill him—not one of them had been friendly.

The fact that he had grown so comfortable with this girl’s presence despite all of his experiences made him shake his head in disbelief.