Ning Family Village, at the village entrance,
Beneath the ruins next to Ning Chuan's home.
A child of eight or nine slept in the cellar. He was Ning Chuan's cousin, Ning Dagou.
Ning Dagou's lips were dry and black, split with bloody cracks. He had not had a drop of water for several days.
Beside Big Dog was a low bed, upon which lay a little girl around four or five years old.
"Big Brother, Big Brother, I'm so scared, boohoo... boohoo..." The little girl whimpered softly in her dream.
Suddenly, Big Dog opened his eyes and struggled to his feet, gently patting the little girl's back.
"Xiao Hua, don't cry. Big Brother is here, Big Brother is here!" Xiao Hua gradually stopped crying, opened her big eyes, and woke up.
"Big Dog, when will Daddy come back? And when will Brother Ning Chuan come to see Hua Hua?" Xiao Hua still spoke in a childish voice. Looking at Big Dog, her eyes brimmed with hope.
Big Dog revealed a dazzling smile, patted Xiao Hua's back, and said softly:
"Don't worry. Once Hua Hua sleeps a little longer, Daddy and Brother Ning Chuan will come back!"
"Really? Big Dog, you're not allowed to lie to me!"
"Of course I'm not lying. When has Big Dog ever lied?"
"But, Big Brother, Hua Hua is so hungry. I can't sleep!"
"Be good. Big Brother will give you something to eat."
"But the old rule still applies. You have to cover your eyes before eating. You're not allowed to look!"
"Okay, Big Dog!" Xiao Hua obediently closed her eyes.
Big Dog picked up another piece of cloth and covered Xiao Hua's eyes. Then he extended his wrist, wrapped in strips of cloth, and unwound layer after layer, revealing a vicious wound.
He tore hard at the wound, and blood immediately flowed out. He hurriedly held it over Xiao Hua's mouth, letting the blood flow into her mouth.
Xiao Hua gulped it down noisily. After a while, Big Dog staggered and nearly fell. Only then did he wrap the cloth around his wrist again and lean against the wall.
Looking again at the little girl, she had already fallen asleep once more, clearly weak to the extreme as well.
After resting for a while, Big Dog walked to the cellar entrance, picked up a small iron shovel, and dug upward with all his strength.
"Daddy, Big Dog will definitely take Little Sister out of here. We'll survive!" Big Dog gritted his teeth, his little face full of determination.
He kept encouraging himself. "Soon, soon, I'm almost through to the surface!"
Yet his legs grew weaker and weaker... his head grew dizzier and dizzier...
"I can't pass out! Little Sister is still waiting for me to save her. I'm a man—I can do it! I definitely can!"
Big Dog suddenly bit down on his tongue. The pain briefly cleared his mind, while blood slowly trickled from the corner of his mouth.
But Big Dog was only an eight- or nine-year-old child. He was far too weak; no matter how hard he tried, he could not dig open the exit.
On top of that, after starving for so long and giving blood so many times, he was already too frail!
"Daddy... Little Sister Xiao Hua... Brother Ning Chuan..."
Big Dog muttered, his voice growing lower and lower as endless darkness swallowed his vision.
At the end of the village,
There was unexpectedly still one household there, with red tiles, brick walls, curling smoke from its chimney, and the fragrance of food drifting through the air. It stood utterly out of place amid the village's desolation and ruin.
Though the bandits had raided repeatedly, this household had somehow remained untouched.
The reason was simple: this was the home of Ning the Flayer, the Village Chief.
At that moment, Ning the Flayer's three sons—Ning Dajin, Ning Dayin, and Ning Datong—were drinking in the courtyard and playing finger-guessing games.
The three were notorious village ruffians, men who bullied men and women alike and committed every evil under heaven!
Ning the Flayer's wife, Gao Lanzhi, was slaughtering a chicken in the courtyard.
Gao Lanzhi was a shrew renowned far and wide. From eighty-year-old elders to three-year-old children, everyone in the village had been slapped by her.
Even Ning Chuan had received several hard slaps from her when he was young.
Her eldest grandson Xiao Wu and eldest granddaughter Xiao Lan played in the courtyard.
The wives of her three sons were cooking in the kitchen.
The family was having a merry time, utterly unaware that a pair of eyes, like those of the god of death, was watching them from beyond the wall.
"Grandma, Grandma!"
Her youngest granddaughter Xiao Lan called out to Gao Lanzhi!
"Oh, my good granddaughter, what is it?" Gao Lanzhi scooped Xiao Lan into her arms.
Xiao Lan's eyes rolled about as she said:
"Grandma, they all say Ning Xiao Hua's hands are prettier than mine. Can you have Grandpa chop them off and give them to me?"
"Fuck," Ning Chuan muttered, sweat beading on his forehead. At such a young age, she was already this rotten!
Gao Lanzhi lovingly stroked her granddaughter's head and said:
"Oh, silly child. Even if we chopped them off and gave them to you, we couldn't attach them back on. Besides, those two little bastards probably fled to escape the famine long ago and starved to death somewhere else!"
Ning Chuan's heart clenched, and memories of Ning Dagou and Ning Xiao Hua surged through his mind in waves.
He had transmigrated into this body, inheriting the original owner's memories and emotions alike.
Big Dog and Xiao Hua were his eldest uncle's children—his cousin and cousin sister. His eldest uncle had been killed by the bandits of Three Tiger Mountain not long ago.
Just then, Xiao Wu spoke from nearby:
"Grandma, I know it. Xiao Hua and her brother didn't flee to escape the famine. They hid in the cellar, but the bandits pushed down their house and buried the cellar entrance!
After we eat, have Daddy, Eldest Uncle, and Third Uncle dig open the cellar for us. If Xiao Hua is still alive, Big Brother will chop off her hands for you to play with!"
"Hahaha... Is that so? Fine! In a while, Eldest Uncle will take you to dig Xiao Hua out and chop off her hands for you!"
Ning Dajin, who had been playing the drinking game, stopped and laughed loudly.
Boom...
Ning Chuan's mind thundered.
"Chop your mother's ass! Rotten to the core at such a young age—I'll send you on your way, so you don't grow up to plague others!"
Ning Chuan roared, kicking a gap in the brick wall with a thunderous strike. In the next instant, he was already before the three brothers who had been playing their drinking game.
Splat! Splat! Splat!
Three heads soared into the sky!
"Ah!"
Gao Lanzhi let out a shrill scream.
Splat! The scream ended abruptly!
"Mother-in-law, what happened?"
The three daughters-in-law rushed out of the kitchen in panic, only to be met head-on by a spinning table flying toward them. They were smashed into three heaps of mangled flesh.
In the courtyard, only the two little demons remained, frozen with terror!
"Amitabha. The Buddha taught us to eliminate evil thoroughly. Kill one rotten seed, save countless people! I'll consider it an act of charity!"
With a flick of his hand...
Raging flames filled the sky, illuminating Ning Chuan's silhouette as he raced toward the village entrance.
Half an hour later, Ning Chuan dug Ning Dagou and Ning Xiao Hua out of the cellar.
He felt their bodies. They were still alive, merely unconscious!
He hurriedly took out his waterskin and gave each of them some water. Then he found a battered iron pot in the ruins, cooked a handful of millet, and fed each of them some porridge.
Seeing that their breathing had steadied and that they had fallen into deep sleep, he examined their bodies again. Apart from weakness, there was nothing seriously wrong with them.
Ning Chuan had naturally noticed the cloth wrapped around Big Dog's wrist. When he opened it, then connected it with the blood around Xiao Hua's mouth, he immediately understood what had happened.
"Heh, little guy, well done!" Ning Chuan was deeply shaken.
While the two rested, Ning Chuan checked the system panel. It showed that he had 1 Sign In attempt remaining, and that he could not Sign In at his current location.
He then looked at his remaining 16 Attribute Points and added them all in one go.
His physique instantly rose to 124 points, and his realm reached the twelfth level of the Body Tempering Realm.
Not knowing when the two would awaken, he found an open patch nearby and practiced Iron Shirt.
As soon as he began, Ning Chuan was overjoyed. Increased physique gave him an enormous boost to martial arts practice as well.
Following Iron Shirt's cultivation method, Ning Chuan's blood and qi vibrated continuously at a certain frequency, while the great tendons throughout his body strengthened at an unbelievable speed—then strengthened again.
This sensation of his strength skyrocketing was truly beyond words!
"My great tendons are becoming tougher and more flexible, as though they're about to come alive!"
After his great tendons strengthened, his agility increased enormously. His body became more nimble, easily pulling off all kinds of incredible movements.
If Ning Chuan returned to his previous life, those masters of contortion and yoga prodigies would not even be worth mentioning.
As a circle of silver light spread across his body before slowly fading away, the third level of Iron Shirt—the Silver Tendon Realm—officially reached perfection, and his strength surged.
After practicing for a while, he came over to check on Ning Dagou and Ning Xiao Hua again, and his head felt like it had grown two sizes.
"Ah, if I were alone, killing monsters and leveling up, how carefree and happy would life be!
Now I've got two burdens. I can't abandon them, but I have no way to raise them either. What am I supposed to do?"
"I can't exactly drag two little deadweights around while fighting and killing everywhere, can I?"
"Do I really have to go to the county city and join the Imperial Guard, becoming the court's hunting hound? ...That actually sounds pretty good."
When the two little deadweights woke up, Ning Chuan comforted them at length.
He found a pair of baskets in the ruins, used an iron rod as a carrying pole, loaded his younger cousin and cousin sister into them, strapped a long saber to his waist, and headed for Qingshi Town.
Just as Ning Chuan carried his younger cousin and cousin sister toward Qingshi Town, many townspeople had gathered beneath the notice board at the town gate, pointing and talking.
"Come look! A wanted notice issued by the Qingshan County Magistrate!"
"What? Is there anyone who can read? Read it aloud for this old man!"
A scholar stepped forward and read aloud for everyone:
"Hereby announced: The notorious bandit Ning Chuan killed ten men of the Joint Defense Camp. His crimes are heinous. Whoever takes his head shall be rewarded one hundred taels of silver! Seal of the Qingshan County Yamen."
"Hiss! What a huge reward!"
"What a sin! Such a handsome young man—why did he become a notorious bandit?"
Beside the wanted notice was a portrait of a handsome youth of sixteen or seventeen. It was Ning Chuan.
Within the crowd, quite a few people had quick minds, their eyes darting everywhere through the throng.
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