Ambush

When they brought up Iron Brush Old Man, the villagers of Yangcun seethed with anger. Iron Brush Old Man had asked for lodging for the night, and worrying that the old man would die outside, they had kindly taken him in, never expecting that the old man would use the lives of four children from their village to fuel the lamp oil of a life-extending lamp!

Seeing the commotion below, the bearded Imperial Guard behind Zhao Yue let out a "hmph." The sound was not loud, but channeling high god-embryo divine power, it made the eardrums of all the villagers ring.

The flash of anger from just a moment ago was blasted away by that single hmph.

Zhao Yue scanned the surroundings, quite satisfied, and said, "Who will confess?"

No one below made a sound.

Chen Shi had saved Liu Fugui and avenged the three children of the village. Country folk might not understand what the Great Ming laws were, but they certainly knew the difference between grace and enmity. Chen Shi had shown grace to the village, so how could they betray him?

"Not talking? Sticking to loyalty? Country folk truly are naive and cute."

Zhao Yue could not help laughing out loud, saying leisurely, "Do you think he showed you grace, so you don't want to rat him out? Ignorant. No matter how great grace and loyalty are, can they surpass the king's law? Foolish people! If you don't say who carried out the act, you are all accomplices and will all be thrown into the grand prison!"

His voice suddenly turned stern, chilling as he said, "Once you enter the prison, even if you don't die, you'll be skinned alive!"

Still no one below moved.

Zhao Yue slowly stood up, walked through the kneeling villagers, and came before Liu Fugui. He scrutinized the child for a moment, smiling, "Little kid, the wounds on your lips, eyes, and nose look like they were hooked out by claws. Your vital essence was harvested by someone, and they probably used it to refine life-extending lamp oil. You must have suffered quite a bit, right? Do you still remember who saved you?"

Liu Fugui knelt on the ground, not daring to move, but stiffened his neck and said, "I won't say!"

Fugui's mother frantically pulled the child into her arms, terrified as she cast a glance at Zhao Yue, then hastily pulled her gaze back.

Zhao Yue understood instantly.

"Everyone, Iron Brush Old Man using children to refine life-extending lamp oil is one matter; he committed crimes, and state law will naturally deal with him. He was killed by someone you invited, which is another matter. You invited someone to kill him, using private punishment, which already violates the Great Ming laws. My Zhao family avenging Iron Brush Old Man and the Zhao family steward is a third matter. You are country folk, ignorant, and can't tell right from wrong."

Zhao Yue stood among the crowd, surveyed the area, raised three fingers, and said, "I will count to three, and if still no one confesses, don't blame this official for applying punishments. One!"

He retracted one finger, and a crowd of Imperial Guards completely surrounded the villagers.

"Two!"

Zhao Yue retracted his second finger, and still no one betrayed the murderer of Iron Brush Old Man.

He sighed and retracted his third finger: "Three! He Lian Zheng, punish these unruly subjects!"

He Lian Zheng was the bearded Imperial Guard. Just as he was about to give the order, a rugged man suddenly stood up from the crowd, blocking Zhao Yue's path. It was none other than Sanwang.

Sanwang spread his arms and shouted at the top of his lungs, "You are not allowed to touch them! Do you have any sense of reason? Your Zhao family's Iron Brush Old Man killed three children from our village to refine lamp oil, so your Zhao family is in the wrong! Since ancient times, killing a life requires..."

He Lian Zheng swung the Three-Eyed Firearm, smashing it with a dong against Sanwang's forehead, and cursed viciously, "Disrespectful to superiors, you're courting death!"

The Three-Eyed Firearm was forged from fine iron, weighing over a dozen catties, comparable to a heavy hammer. Smashing into Sanwang's forehead, it instantly left Sanwang dizzy and disoriented, his head and face covered in blood. His body swayed, but he did not fall.

The crowd of Imperial Guards all gasped in surprise, praising, "A countryman's skull really is hard; he didn't die from that blow!"

He Lian Zheng saw that his single strike had already claimed Sanwang's life, yet this countryman had clearly died without falling, making him lose face. He immediately swung the firearm and struck down hard again.

"Dong!"

Sanwang's brains instantly splattered, his knees went soft, and he dropped to the ground, collapsing face-first.

Zhao Yue took a step back to avoid getting the splattered brains on himself and soiling his clothes.

He stepped over Sanwang's corpse and walked out from the crowd, while the sounds of whip lashes and miserable shrieks immediately came from behind.

Zhao Yue did not look back. His gaze was stern as he looked toward the temple in the central ruins of Yangyang Village.

He represented the laws of Great Ming in this body, and his majesty could not be violated. Even when intruding into the village to commit violence, the village deity of Yangyang Village did not dare to resist, only able to watch helplessly as its subjects were bullied.

After a long while, He Lian Zheng and several Imperial Guards, their faces and bodies covered in blood and stains, came behind him with smiles and bowed, saying, "My lord, a woman couldn't hold up under torture and confessed!"

Zhao Yue put his hands behind his back and said indifferently, "No one can kill a member of my Zhao family and still stay outside the law. Who is the person they invited?"

He Lian Zheng said, "A minor talisman master named Chen Shi, residing in Huangpo Village. There is also a grandpa in his household, who is likewise a talisman master."

"A minor talisman master?"

Zhao Yue was greatly surprised, asking in bewilderment, "Iron Brush Old Man and Steward Zhao Ming's strengths are not weak. Could this minor talisman master actually kill them?"

Night.

A gust of ghostly wind blew by, and amidst the yin wind, a bloody figure drifted over, arriving outside Huangpo Village. But Godmother of Huangpo Village brandished her branches to block it, preventing it from entering the village.

"I want to see Master Chen! I want to see Master Chen!"

That ghost wept and pleaded in the wind, begging Godmother to let him in, but the sixteen-year-old maiden on the ancient tree remained unmoved.

"Let him in." Grandpa appeared under the moonlight and said coldly.

The maiden on the ancient tree had a cold and detached gaze, her voice carrying a hint of sternness: "If he comes in and harms people, who will bear the responsibility? I guard the village and will never allow external evils to invade!"

"If you don't let him in, I'll uproot your tree roots." Grandpa said indifferently.

The maiden let out a hmph and no longer blocked the way.

A gust of yin wind blew over carrying a heavy bloody stench, and with a whoosh, it drilled into Chen Shi's courtyard, heading straight for Chen Shi's bedroom.

Grandpa let out a soft sound of surprise; he had originally thought this wronged soul was coming for him, but hadn't expected it to be looking for Chen Shi.

In his sleep, Chen Shi suddenly saw Sanwang of Yangyang Village walking toward him, disheveled with blood all over his head and face, weeping as he pleaded, "Benefactor, run quickly! They are coming to kill you! I wanted to stop them, but I couldn't. I could only come and tip you off! Hurry up and leave—"

Before he finished speaking, a long tongue suddenly flew out from the darkness, wrapping around Sanwang's neck with a shua and dragging him into the darkness.

Chen Shi was startled awake from his dream, glanced around, and felt extremely puzzled.

"This dream feels so real, just like Sanwang really came. Truly bizarre..."

He lay back down, unable to fall asleep for a moment, and recalled the slender tongue wrapped around Sanwang's neck, causing him to chuckle. As expected, dreams have everything; they don't follow logic.

Not long after, he fell asleep again.

Chen Shi woke up in the early morning, washed up, ate breakfast, and went out to pay respects to Godmother. He also consulted Scholar Zhu on classic ancient texts before heading in the direction of Gangzi Village.

He still had to go to the Mountain Lord Temple today. Although he had finished changing his true blood, his five viscera had yet to be fully perfected, so he could not be considered a Saint Embryo Body. Cultivating inside the Mountain Lord Temple was far faster than cultivating at home.

As Chen Shi walked along the road, he saw two people wearing bamboo hats fishing by the roadside, one on the left and one on the right, staring intently at the water's surface.

"There are no fish in this water." He kindly reminded them.

"Mind your own business?" One of the fishermen had a very bad temper and snapped harshly at him.

Chen Shi paid no mind and continued walking, only to see someone catching cicadas on a tree, standing on a high branch with a net bag in hand. Under the tree, another person was tilting their head up and gazing, terrified that the person in the tree might fall.

At that moment, he heard one of the fishermen joyfully say, "Got a bite!"

Chen Shi turned back to look, feeling puzzled: Could there really be fish? Weren't the fish in this ditch all caught by me?

He had been too hungry a while ago and searched everywhere for food. In the ditch, let alone fish, even loaches had been caught clean by him.

Just as Chen Shi turned his head back, his body suddenly tightened fiercely, followed by a sensation as if mountainous heavy objects were pressing down on him, squeezing his bones until they creaked!

"Got a bite!"

The laughter of the cicada-catcher came from above his head, and the person standing under the tree also laughed, "I caught one too!"

Chen Shi was shocked and looked at his body, only to see golden strands of light winding around him, as thick as fingers, covered in scales, wrapping around him a dozen or more times to bind his hands and feet, rendering him unable to exert force.

When he tilted his head up to look, he saw the phantom of a golden little mountain above his head, pressing down right above his spirit platform. It was this golden mountain that was pressing down so hard his bones creaked!

Behind him was a large tortoise-patterned shield, also composed of golden light, sealing the back of his head and attempting to block his divine shrine, preventing him from mobilizing his cultivation.

Meanwhile, one of the fishermen had a burning talisman floating quietly in front of him. The talismanic power erupted, flying golden light out of the paper like a golden python thrashing its body.

The cicada-catcher in the tree also had a burning talisman in front of him, the talisman taking the shape of a mountain peak.

In front of the person under the tree floated a talisman painted with shield patterns, which was likewise burning.

Spirit Snake Talisman! Mountain Moving Talisman! Sealing Talisman! Chen Shi recognized the three types of talismans.

He had learned these three kinds of talismans from Grandpa, but they belonged to combat-type talismans, which Grandpa rarely drew. The talismans the grandfather and grandson sold were usually for warding off evil and averting disasters.

"So this is the little brat who killed Iron Brush Old Man and Steward Zhao?"

The other fisherman dropped his fishing rod, removed his bamboo hat, walked straight up to Chen Shi, looked him up and down, and asked in bewilderment, "I thought he had three heads and six arms, but it turns out to be a little brash kid. Iron Brush Old Man is also an old hand in the rivers and lakes; how could he die in his hands?"

He could not help shaking his head: "Third Young Master made us disguise ourselves and lie in ambush here to plot against him. Truly too cautious."

Chen Shi panicked inwardly: The case I committed has been discovered. They are people from the official yamen, coming to catch me and behead me... Wait, I still have two Jia Ma Talismans! I can escape!

Just as he thought of this, the fisherman in front of him frantically patted him down all over, found two Jia Ma Talismans, and stowed them into his robe.

"Is this brat even a talisman master?"

That fisherman grew even more puzzled: "Which talisman master doesn't have dozens or hundreds of talismans on them? Yet he only has two Jia Ma Talismans on his person. Is he really the true culprit who killed Iron Brush Old Man? Iron Brush Old Man's strength is extremely formidable, no weaker than mine. How could he be killed by him?"

The other three were all Imperial Guards of the Zhao family, and they chimed in with flattery: "Among talisman masters, Fu Shank's ranking is even above Iron Brush Old Man. With Fu Shank making a move, he will naturally capture him with ease."

Hearing this, Fu Shank was quite pleased and smiled, "I can gain a foothold in the Xuan Ying Mansion of the Zhao family by relying on my true skills, not like that bootlicking mediocrity Iron Brush Old Man."

Just as he finished speaking, the sound of a rushing mountain torrent suddenly echoed in his ears. That was the sound coming from inside Chen Shi's body, like a flood surging within him.

Fu Shank widened his eyes. The Chen Shi before him was rapidly growing taller, stretching the golden spirit snakes wrapped around his body tighter and tighter, widening the gaps between the snake scales!

"Not good!"

Fu Shank's expression changed abruptly. With a bang, the golden spirit snake formed by the Spirit Snake Talisman was stretched by Chen Shi until it snapped inch by inch, turning into red cinnabar that splattered in all directions.

"He shattered my Spirit Snake Talisman! Such immense strength! Could this kid be a humanoid evil sui?"

Remaining calm in the face of danger, Fu Shank took a step backward. The moment he took this step, a cool breeze naturally arose from the soles of his feet, lifting his body and sliding him backward by over a zhang.

At the same time, protective talismans flew out from his left sleeve, and divine power erupted from within the talismans!

Talismans likewise flew out from his right sleeve, caught in his hand—it was the Strength Talisman.

With calm and easy adaptability, the Jia Ma Talisman at the soles of his feet, the Six Ding Six Jia Protective Talisman in his left sleeve, and the Strength Talisman in his right hand were fully sufficient to give him the strength for close-quarters combat in a short span of time!

The very instant the divine power of his various talismans erupted, Chen Shi lifted his foot, spun around, and brought his step down heavily, closing the distance to Fu Shank to within three feet. While turning, he swung his right hand backward to slash out.

This strike was as fast as thunder, chopping into Fu Shank's throat bone.

Fu Shank's throat bone shattered. Chen Shi's palm edge acted like the heavy back of a blade, striking his fourth cervical vertebra and knocking this neck bone backward out of the cervical spine!

Fu Shank's upper back instantly bulged out with a large lump, and he immediately lost control of his body, watching helplessly as Chen Shi abruptly halted and then slammed backward.

A rush, a halt, a retreat, as if devoid of any momentum whatsoever, impossibly fast.

Wearing a golden mountain and still moving this fast?

Fu Shank was horrified, his body falling out of control. More air was exhaled than inhaled, and he was clearly not going to survive.

Compared to Iron Brush Old Man, he died even faster!