Trouble

The next day.

Under the Cautious Punishment Division's handling, all the corpses in the courtyard were carried away. Yet even after being washed, traces of blood still remained on the bluestone tiles, impossible to clean away completely in a short time.

After learning of what had happened the previous night, Chen Gui was equally shocked beyond measure. When he had befriended Wu Ming, he had valued Wu Ming's courage and wits—or rather, he had valued Wu Ming's mind even more. He had never expected Wu Ming's martial prowess to be so astonishing as well. Relying on the advantage of his long spear, Wu Ming had found it effortless to kill martial artists of the same First Blood Forging realm; even a seasoned Second Blood Forging martial artist had died at his hands.

As a result,

the way Chen Gui looked at Wu Ming changed.

As a young master of the Chen Family, Chen Gui had lived to this age and naturally seen dead people before. Yet he had never personally had a life on his hands, while Wu Ming had slain ten bandits in a single night. That required both calmness and ruthlessness.

Especially after learning that Wu Ming had earned the appreciation of a Cautious Punishment Division inspector and had been invited to work under the Cautious Punishment Division, Chen Gui finally sighed inwardly. Sure enough, someone like Wu Ming was not a figure who could be easily controlled.

However,

Wu Ming entering the Cautious Punishment Division was also a good thing for him. Their friendship would remain, and if Wu Ming could build up some seniority in the Cautious Punishment Division in the future, that too would become a useful connection for Chen Gui.

People like him, born into the Chen Family and deeply tied to the Seven Martial Alliance, basically had no chance of entering the Cautious Punishment Division. They could never pass its scrutiny. Only someone with a clean background like Wu Ming had such an opportunity. Being able to forge some friendship with Wu Ming before he entered the Cautious Punishment Division was also a stroke of good fortune.

After all, even a great household like the Chen Family would find it exceedingly troublesome if something happened and they needed to buy connections within the Cautious Punishment Division. The price they had to pay was often considerable.

In any case, the brother he had chosen to win over had entered the Cautious Punishment Division. With this matter, he could finally cut a figure at home. He remembered how his second brother had rebuked him last time for idling away his days and mingling with a pack of fair-weather friends. Now he wanted to see what his second brother had to say.

At the same time,

news that Wu Ming had killed ten bandits in one night quietly spread through the Seven Martial Alliance Outer Hall. Many people who knew Wu Ming, including Li Cui and the others who had once sparred with him, were greatly astonished.

Perhaps the news had been somewhat exaggerated, and those ten bandits might not all have been Blood Forging martial artists. But when they had sparred with Wu Ming in the past, they had indeed been thoroughly convinced by his spear techniques. And with ten lives on his hands, he truly had made a name for himself.

Just as this news quietly circulated within a small circle,

Wu Ming left Jingye City alone, passing through the city gate and heading back toward Wu Village.

"Phew."

After leaving the city gate,

Wu Ming let out a soft breath and turned to glance at the towering, majestic city walls behind him.

Several months earlier, when he had first arrived in Jingye City, he had merely been an inexperienced martial artist newly entered into Blood Forging. He had the realm but no martial strength. He could not be called destitute, but his purse had been painfully thin, and he had even needed to use the silver his family had scraped together.

But by the time he left the city this time, he had truly gained a foothold here. In a few days, he would enter the Cautious Punishment Division and possess a genuine official post and official status. He also had powerful soul perception, allowing him to pick up some side opportunities and earn some silver, freeing himself from the dire straits of extreme financial shortage. He could even rent a courtyard in Jingye City to live in.

"On this trip back, I can tell the two elders about the Cautious Punishment Division and bring them into the city to settle down."

Wu Ming calculated inwardly.

Moving into the city was no small matter for village households outside the city, nor was it an easy one.

When silver was not plentiful and one lacked status or backing, living in the city might not be any more comfortable than living in an outlying village. That was why older martial artists from Wu Village, such as Wu Yang and Wu Sanbai, had not moved their families into the city.

As for clan head Wu Qu, he did have the means to bring his family into the city. But he had farmland near Wu Village and was the clan head of Wu Village, so traveling back and forth to the city was highly inconvenient. Moreover, he was not at Third Blood Forging and lacked the qualifications to establish an estate. There was not much difference between living inside or outside the city.

As for Wu Ming, he had always worried that the two elders would not live peacefully in the village. Now that he had escaped the predicament of an empty purse, he could always head to North Street to pick up some easy money whenever he lacked silver. Getting a small amount of silver was not difficult. Bringing the two elders into the city to settle down was a very proper arrangement, though he still needed to discuss it with them after returning.

Wu Village.

Inside a fenced courtyard, Wu Qi and Liu Shi were packing up.

"Child's father, bring the hemp rope over."

"Coming."

Wu Qi brought over a length of hemp rope.

Several clean, intact straw mats were stacked before Liu Shi. She took the hemp rope from Wu Qi, rolled up the straw mats, and tied them securely.

Wu Qi hoisted the straw mats onto his shoulder and said, "Child's mother, your legs aren't nimble. Let's leave early, or we might not make it in time."

Although their son Wu Ming had become a martial artist and would have a reliable means of support in the future, Wu Qi and Liu Shi had been honest, dutiful people for most of their lives. They still felt their limbs were capable and had not yet reached the point where they needed Wu Ming to support them.

Even though Wu Ming had sent some silver home some time ago, they had put it away and could not bear to spend it. In her spare time, Liu Shi still wove straw mats to sell and supplement the household income, while Wu Qi occasionally took on short-term repair work in several nearby villages.

Today happened to be market day, so the couple went out together to sell straw mats at the market several li away.

Very soon,

they arrived.

Stalls had already been set up in many places along both sides of the road.

Wu Qi helped Liu Shi find an empty spot and laid down the straw mats. Then he had Liu Shi watch the stall while he walked through the market, looking to see whether there was anything worth buying.

As time passed, more and more people filled the market, which gradually became crowded. The sounds of haggling rose and fell one after another.

"How much are these straw mats?"

Someone squeezed over and asked while looking at the mats spread out on the ground.

Liu Shi gave an honest smile and said, "We wove these straw mats ourselves. They're cheap—just four hundred copper coins for a roll."

"Four hundred copper coins? Too expensive."

The person shook his head and walked away without even bargaining.

Liu Shi was not anxious. She had woven straw mats for years and knew roughly what price was appropriate. After waiting a while, another person came to ask the price, and this one seemed genuinely interested in buying.

"Four hundred copper coins is a little expensive. How about this? I won't bargain too hard—three hundred and sixty copper coins. What do you think, elder sister?"

An older man asked.

This price was within Liu Shi's expectations. She smiled honestly and was about to agree.

But at that moment, amid the crowding of the market, a large foot suddenly stretched over and stepped squarely onto the straw mats. Not only did it smear a large patch of mud onto them, it even split one small section.

The older man who had been about to buy immediately stopped.

"Hey, you stepped on our mat."

Liu Shi grew anxious at once. A perfectly good straw mat had been stepped on, and it pained her terribly.

However, just as she hobbled forward and tried to pull away the large foot that was stepping on the mat, its owner shot her an impatient look and directly lifted his foot, sweeping it aside.

"Shut up already!"

"Ah!"

Liu Shi's legs were already inconvenient, and she immediately staggered and fell. Her forehead struck a stone on the ground, and blood flowed out at once.

Wu Qi, who had returned carrying a bag of coarse grain, happened to see this scene. He was instantly shocked and enraged. He rushed over, first helping Liu Shi up, then saw that the man who had kicked her down had not even spared her another glance and was about to leave. Unable to restrain himself, Wu Qi stepped forward and grabbed him, saying:

"What are you doing? How can you hurt someone like that!"

The man who had been grabbed had a fierce face. He turned and swept Wu Qi with a glance. Seeing Wu Qi dressed like a common farmer, irritation flashed in his eyes. "Damn it, you still dare to yammer at me and grab at me? Looks like you're tired of living too!"

With that,

he raised his foot and kicked.

The kick swept out with a gust of force. In that instant, Wu Qi, standing so close, knew that the man before him was no ordinary person—he was most likely a Blood Forging martial artist.

But at that moment, it was already too late. He only had time to raise an arm to block before the large foot struck him squarely. An unbearable force crashed into him. His arm gave a crack, and his entire body flew sideways, slamming down on the ground several meters away.

At once,

the noisy crowd nearby fell silent.

The previously packed area immediately opened up into a large empty space.

The man who had kicked Wu Qi away merely spat disdainfully onto the straw mats beside him before striding off.

The many villagers and neighbors nearby stared at the scene, exchanging looks of dismay.

"Isn't that Wu Qi from Wu Village?"

"Quick, go see how they are."

"I remember Wu Qi's son seems to have become a martial artist too. Oh dear, this really is... How did they provoke Guo Huai?"

The crowd was in an uproar. Some went to check on Liu Shi, while others hurried to inspect Wu Qi's condition.

"Quick, Old Wu is badly hurt. Go find a physician."

Someone who knew Wu Qi had already run toward a nearby village.

"That man just now was Guo Huai?"

Others heard the name of the man who had just beaten someone and immediately showed fearful expressions. Everyone else also changed color.

Guo Huai was no good man. Throughout these villages within ten li, his evil reputation was notorious. He was a tyrant no one dared provoke, habitually running roughshod over the local villages and committing every sort of wickedness. Everyone turned pale at the mention of him; he could stop children from crying at night.

He himself was a Blood Forging martial artist, though that alone was not much. The main issue was that he had an elder brother, Guo Xiang, who was rumored to be an inner disciple of one of the two sects, the Black Fiend Sect, and even held some standing within it.

With that connection to rely on, even though Guo Huai himself was only a First Blood Forging martial artist, no one dared provoke him as he ran rampant through the surrounding villages. Even Clan Heads of villages such as Wu Qu often gave him a wide berth.

Wu Qi's son Wu Ming had also become a martial artist, so ordinarily, few people in these villages would dare bully them. But this time, they had provoked Guo Huai. The trouble was no small matter.

If Wu Ming was young and hot-blooded and went to seek revenge against Guo Huai in a fit of rage, the mess would only grow worse. No one knew what might happen—perhaps in the end, the entire family would suffer!