An Unwelcome Visitor

Mount Dayan, Tian Cang Slope. More than twenty hunters were sorting through their haul, while another two or three stood watch around the perimeter.

The sun had taken on an orange glow. Teng Qingshan stood atop a large bluestone, gazing into the distance. Though he had faith in Teng Qinghu's strength, there was still no sign of him by dusk, and he could not help feeling worried.

"Something's happening!"

Suddenly, a hunter raised the alarm. Everyone turned to look and saw a black tiger-shaped shadow flickering among the rocks to the west, moving in their direction.

"Hum hum~"

The black shadow moved slowly. Only after it emerged from the layers of boulders did they realize something was amiss. What reached their ears was not a tiger's roar, but... the grunting of a wild boar.

"Qinghu!"

One sharp-eyed hunter spotted a human figure behind the huge tiger shadow. Who else could it be but Teng Qinghu (Gu Sheng), who had gone off alone?

Teng Qinghu appeared and called to Teng Qingshan, who was already walking over. "Qingshan, come lend me a hand!"

"Cousin, it's a Black Tiger!"

With a pull of both hands, Teng Qingshan dragged down the Black Tiger, which weighed well over a thousand jin. Beneath it, a plump wild boar snorted and grunted. Its body was not much smaller than the tiger's, so no wonder it could bear such a huge load.

"Qinghu, well done! You took down such a huge tiger by yourself!"

A burly man circled the Black Tiger once. "Must weigh a thousand jin, right? You've got some brains, kid. You even knew to get a wild boar to carry it."

"This wild boar isn't small either!"

Another large man stared at the boar's round body and swallowed, silently drawing a gleaming cleaver.

"Hum hum~~"

The wild boar seemed to sense his killing intent. It kept snorting as it fled to Gu Sheng's side, rubbing against his thigh as if begging him not to kill it.

"Hey, Uncle!"

Gu Sheng patted the wild boar's large, fat head and stopped the hunter. "This one's a sow, and she's carrying piglets. I'm planning to bring her home for my mother to raise!"

"Hey, she really is!"

The hunter examining the Black Tiger also noticed the boar's round belly. After casually patting the tiger hide, he spotted the large bundle Gu Sheng carried on his back.

"Qinghu, why did you gather so many flowers and weeds? You can't eat this stuff, and it doesn't look like medicine either!"

"It's useful!"

Gu Sheng did not explain further. He had no choice. For training in Internal Fist, resources were an extremely important factor. To cultivate quickly without damaging the body, an ample supply of meat was not enough; medicinal herbs were also essential.

The Nine Cauldrons World was not some Western fantasy world. Things like Ginseng growing like radishes or Solomon's Seal being as common as sweet potatoes were naturally impossible. The outskirts of Mount Dayan had long been picked clean by generations of hunters. To obtain suitable herbs, one either had to venture deep into Mount Dayan or find another way.

Although Gu Sheng was always mocking the System Sprite and calling the Great Reincarnation System a lousy system, it was still reliable when it mattered. Many of the flowers and plants he had collected contained elements beneficial to the human body. He simply needed to experiment carefully to figure out how to extract them.

At the foot of Mount Dayan, Teng Village's Hunter Squad returned with their prey after a day of hunting. More than half a month had passed since Gu Sheng had hunted that Black Tiger, and he had been in this world for nearly a month.

The hunters chatted and laughed, while four of them carried the corpse of a large black bear together.

One hunter pointed at the black bear and praised Teng Qingshan. "Qingshan, that spear strike of yours today was fast as lightning! It pierced straight through that bear's skull in one blow."

"This bear wasn't that big." Teng Qingshan smiled. "Didn't you say that our ancestors once saw a giant bear over ten feet tall, one that could snap a tree with a single slap?

"This bear may have had the strength of a thousand jin in one paw, but it was far slower than that Alpha Wolf. Killing it wasn't difficult. Not just me—even Qinghu could do it."

When Teng Qinghu (Gu Sheng) heard Teng Qingshan mention him, he merely looked up and gave a foolish grin without responding. Then he lowered his head and continued sorting through the plants he had gathered that day.

His Inner Force had now achieved some success, and he was considered an expert among Third-Rate fighters. Though he could not match Teng Qingshan's thousand-jin strength, each of his blows carried six or seven hundred jin. So long as he handled it properly, killing a black bear without injury would not be difficult.

"We're home," Teng Qingshan said with a smile.

But when Teng Qingshan looked ahead, his expression changed. Teng Village's gates stood wide open.

"Not good. Hurry!" Teng Qingshan shouted. Teng Qinghu immediately looked up. Seeing the open gates, his expression also changed abruptly. Then, as though he had recalled something, he rushed over with the others.

When they reached the gates, Teng Qinghu glanced over and saw that the thick, sturdy iron gate bar had been split in two. The cut was sharp and smooth.

Beside him, Teng Qingshan's pupils contracted. "Such a sharp weapon, such tremendous strength! To sever an iron gate bar like this in a flash, even I would need to use my Inner Force at full power and wield a good weapon to achieve it."

"Brother Qingshan!"

"Brother Qinghu!"

Quite a few people came to greet them at the training ground. In recent days, Teng Qingshan and Teng Qinghu (Gu Sheng) had led the Hunter Squad to great success, greatly elevating their standing within the clan. Many youths regarded Teng Qingshan and Teng Qinghu (Gu Sheng) as idols and admired them deeply.

The adults also respected them, regarding Teng Qingshan and Teng Qinghu as two of the people capable of making decisions for the clan.

"What happened?" Teng Qingshan hurriedly asked.

"Qingshan," a burly man said quickly, "it was a cavalry unit, all riding tall horses! Their leader split the iron gate bar with a single sword strike. But they said they wanted to do business with Teng Village. The clan chief has already brought them over to his place."

"Business!"

Gu Sheng narrowed his eyes. If nothing unexpected happened, this was the leader of the Yangzhou salt merchant's guards from the original story—the man who had swindled Teng Village out of a payment.

That bastard had been ruthless and greedy in the original story. First, he had tried to cheat Teng Village out of the remaining payment, then he had sent men to ambush and kill Teng Village's party. He deserved to die. In that case, he could...

Gu Sheng rubbed two fingers together, a plan forming in his mind. He immediately grabbed Teng Qingshan's wrist. "Qingshan, go tell Grandpa and the others first. I'll bring tea over later. Visitors are guests—we can't let them say Teng Village has no manners."

"Qinghu!"

Teng Qingshan abruptly turned his head, looking at his cousin with uncertainty and suspicion. His cousin had seemed somewhat strange ever since he began fiddling with herbs. At times, Teng Qingshan could no longer read his thoughts.

He knew very well what Teng Qinghu's tea was. Once that stuff took effect, then...

Gu Sheng pointed at the gate bar that had been cleaved in two. "Qingshan, we live in troubled times. We must always guard against others. Do you think people who come knocking like this could be friendly guests?"