Name: Bai Yu. Aptitude: 5 Vitality: 15.6 Strength: 30 Cultivation: Second Rank Muscle Forging Realm. Cultivation Technique: Five Elements Fist (Practice Makes Perfect, 33/1000) Divine Ability: Eternal Life. Skills: Playing the Suona (Practice Makes Perfect), Literacy (Beginner's Glimpse), Hunting (Beginner's Glimpse), Meng's Herbal Compendium (Not Yet Initiated).
Bai Yu was quite satisfied with this.
With his strength reaching 30, he possessed three hundred jin of force.
With an aptitude of 5, each time he practiced the Five Elements Fist, his proficiency increased by 0.3.
The only problem was that it consumed a bit too much vitality.
Although Essence Nourishing Powder could replenish vitality, it was far too expensive for him to afford.
The vitality he gained from funerals was not enough to cover the consumption either.
After all, this was a small mountain village. Sometimes, there would not be more than a few funerals in an entire year.
But Bai Yu was in no hurry.
He simply continued farming, hunting, and practicing his fists.
Unhurried and unruffled, with peaceful years passing by.
During these days, he sought out Uncle Dazhuang's youngest son, Tiezhu, and taught him how to play the suona.
The Peach Blossom Village funeral band could not be allowed to lose its inheritance.
Tiezhu asked curiously:
"Brother Changsheng, why do you always look so young?"
Bai Yu answered blandly, "Because I never meddle in other people's business."
That day, after Bai Yu finished a round of boxing, his whole body felt refreshed.
His Tendon Forging Realm cultivation had completely stabilized and was steadily rising.
The corner of Bai Yu's mouth crooked upward.
"The twenty-year term has ended. The avenger has returned!"
Over the years, the Chen family had never taken Bai Yu seriously.
After all, what could a suona player do? Turn the heavens upside down?
The Chen brothers had devoted most of their attention to cheating and swindling, staging accidents to extort others, preying on childless households, and seizing farmland.
Bai Yu shouted:
"Old Mo, come avenge our grievances with me!"
"This time, when we go to the Chen family, we'll snap their crutches, split even earthworms lengthwise, and dig up the ancestral graves of all eighteen generations of their family!"
The little Black Dog had already grown into a large black dog.
Hearing that they were going to take revenge, he leaped out excitedly.
Bai Yu's enemies were his enemies too. He would not rest until he killed them.
This grudge—let alone twenty years, even two hundred years—would be recorded firmly in his little notebook.
Over the years, Bai Yu had thoroughly mapped out the ancestral graves of all eighteen generations of the old Chen family.
Bai Yu changed into a set of professional equipment.
A White Banner was tucked diagonally behind his neck, and a white sash was tied around his waist.
He picked up the suona and played a funeral tune.
Then he rushed all the way to the Chen Family Estate.
At the entrance, a little boy sat on a small stool, diligently doing his homework.
"Oh, doing homework? How much have you written?"
Without even raising his head, the little boy replied:
"Just five more copied characters, and I'll be done."
Without another word, Bai Yu snatched away his homework notebook and tore it to shreds.
The little boy immediately burst into tears with a "Waaah!"
"Grandpa, Grandpa! Someone tore up my homework!"
An old man rushed out, raising his crutch.
"Who is it? Who dares bully the Chen family?"
This man was the Chen family's third brother.
During those twenty years, the Chen family's eldest and second brothers had both already been outlived by Bai Yu.
Bai Yu glared at him furiously.
"You old bastard, drop your coins!"
With a raised hand, he struck the old man to the ground. Several copper coins spilled from the old man's chest onto the floor.
At that moment, two more old men rushed out. They were the Chen family's two First Rank martial artists.
As martial artists, their bodies were tougher than ordinary people's, and they moved with considerable agility.
Without a word, Bai Yu lunged at them.
"White Tiger Pounces!"
He leaped into the air like a ferocious tiger pouncing on prey and slammed down with his palm.
Chen Fourth had no time to react before the palm struck his chest. He staggered back several steps, fell to the ground, and could not even crawl back up.
Chen Fifth shouted:
"Young man, you have no martial virtue! You cheated and launched a sneak attack on old men in their sixties!"
"Iron Horse Charging Fist!"
He planted his stance firmly and threw a straight punch at Bai Yu's face.
Bai Yu was utterly fearless.
"Black Tortoise Guards the North!"
He crossed his arms before himself, like a mysterious tortoise seated in command of the northern pole, his defense invincible.
"Bang!"
Chen Fifth's fist slammed into Bai Yu's arms. Instead, his own arm was jolted numb, and his body shuddered.
Seizing the opening, Bai Yu's leg shot out like a snake, kicking Chen Fifth to the ground.
In an instant, all three old men had been crippled.
Bai Yu led Old Mo on a rampage through the Chen Family Estate.
They beat up old men and chased children. Even dogs passing by got two slaps, noodles were crushed into powder, and boiling water was poured into anthills.
After smashing things up for a while, Bai Yu was about to leave when he spotted a plum tree planted by the entrance, and fury rose in his heart.
"What kind of status do you have, planting the same kind of plum tree as me?"
He threw a punch. With a crack, the plum tree, as thick as a bowl, snapped at its roots.
Only then did Bai Yu leave grandly with Old Mo.
When several young members of the Chen family returned home, they found their house looking as though bandits had come through.
Old men lay scattered all over the ground. Pots, bowls, ladles, and basins had been smashed to pieces. Even the potted plants in the courtyard had been scalded with hot water until their roots died.
The household's land deeds and silver had been swept away as well.
The young and able-bodied men instantly flew into a rage. Grabbing a neighbor by the collar, they demanded:
"Who did this evil deed?"
The neighbor jumped in fright and hurriedly said:
"It was Changsheng, the one whose house your family occupied before."
"He seemed to be heading toward your family's ancestral graves."
The Chen family's young men hurriedly chased after him, only to find that their ancestral graves had all been dug open and their coffin boards smashed apart.
At that moment, Bai Yu turned a corner and arrived before the old Bai family house.
The old house had been occupied by the Chen family and later became the residence of Chen Third's family.
Bai Yu immediately set it on fire.
The flames blazed fiercely, swallowing the old house.
"Burn it, burn it. Once and for all."
He laughed loudly, but two streams of clear tears ran down his face.
"Bai Changsheng, the karma between you and me has ended. You can depart in peace now."
Bai Yu felt his entire body lighten, while his mind became incomparably clear. His control over his body rose to another level.
It was as though glass covered in mist had been wiped clean and polished bright.
From then on, there was no longer any Bai Changsheng in this world—only Bai Yu.
At that moment, the Chen family's young men saw the firelight and hurried over to put out the blaze.
Bai Yu was like a tiger entering a pack of wolves, knocking them all down with one punch each.
Even Old Mo charged back and forth, pouncing fiercely and beating them until they cried for their fathers and mothers.
A moment later, Bai Yu walked away without looking back.
The next day, when many villagers opened their doors, they discovered something extra outside.
Some found land deeds for farmland that the Chen family had forcibly seized.
Some found strings of copper coins that the Chen family had extorted from them.
Now that the Chen family's two martial artists had been crippled and their young men severely injured,
the villagers they had bullied naturally would not spare them.
Of course, none of that had anything to do with Bai Yu anymore.
He went to Master Meng's grave and burned paper offerings for him.
"Master, I'm leaving Peach Blossom Village."
"Over these years, I've been deeply grateful for your teachings."
"Rest assured, I will pass down Meng's Herbal Compendium for you."
Before Master Meng's grave stood a short berry bush, bearing several berries like strawberries.
As Bai Yu spoke, several berries rolled down to his feet.
He picked up the berries, his heart filled with countless complicated emotions.
"Is Master worried that I'll go hungry on the road?"
He took out his suona and played a tune called "Farewell," then turned and left.
A breeze passed by, and the bush before Master Meng's grave swayed gently, as though waving goodbye.
After paying his respects to Master Meng, Bai Yu packed his belongings.
He glanced at the plum tree before his door. Its blossoms were in full bloom.
In the season when plum blossoms drifted down, the young man departed, treading upon the flowers.
One man and one dog walked into the dawn-lit mountains, toward the rising sun.
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