The Road Ahead

"Royal Uncle!"

He Min, who had chased out from behind, ran right into Wang Dajiang at the door. Seeing it was someone she knew, a look of pleasant surprise appeared on her face.

When she had been captured by the Imperial Court experts earlier, she thought she was certainly going to die.

She never expected that after falling unconscious inside, everything would be resolved when she woke up. The enemies who captured her were all dead, killed by that Senior Brother Apprentice she had only met once. This Senior Brother Apprentice was so ridiculously strong that even now she still felt a sense of unreality.

"Xiaomin, you're out?"

Wang Dajiang was also full of pleasant surprise when he heard her voice.

"How is it inside? Where's Big Brother! Why didn't he come out with you?"

"Inside..."

He Min recalled the Asura-like scene in the courtyard and for a moment didn't know how to describe it.

"Could it be that Big Brother is in trouble?"

Wang Dajiang immediately became anxious. Seeing He Min's expression, he thought his Big Brother had been killed.

"No, my dad is fine."

"He's locked up in the big prison. Royal Uncle, come with me!"

He Min came back to her senses and immediately turned around, leading Wang Dajiang towards the County Yamen's big prison. At this time, the other women also chased out. Seeing He Min return, they all looked puzzled. However, in this situation, they didn't dare to act alone, so they could only follow He Min and the other person towards the prison.

Chen Luo naturally didn't know that he had forgotten to rescue someone, but he had killed most of the people inside, and it was best to leave the remaining minor matters to the Sha Lake Gang people.

After leaving the County Yamen, he quickly returned to the He family courtyard.

"You're back?"

Crippled Ma was still sitting in the courtyard.

With the previous wave of killing, this place was very safe now. Even the soldiers who came out to search the streets didn't come over to cause trouble. When 'searching for people', they subconsciously avoided this area. The other Sha Lake Gang members, after confirming safety, had all gone to the County Yamen to rescue people. By the time calculation, they should have already arrived by now.

"I encountered a little trouble, but thankfully it's all resolved."

Chen Luo didn't elaborate on the process.

Anyway, the people who needed to be killed were killed, and the people who needed to be rescued were rescued. Today's objective could be considered achieved.

"What are you planning to do next?"

Crippled Ma looked at his disciple and asked.

No matter what secrets Chen Luo had, in Crippled Ma's eyes, the other party was his disciple. As a senior figure in the martial world, he felt it was necessary to guide his disciple in terms of experience, so that he wouldn't repeat his old path and waste time.

"I haven't thought about it yet, but I definitely won't stay in Qingya County."

Chen Luo really hadn't thought it through.

He had now cultivated the Black Tiger Fist to Great Completion. The highest level of martial arts that Crippled Ma taught him was only this far. He had no clue about the subsequent realms.

Even his Master Crippled Ma hadn't seen them.

He only knew that there were higher realms, but he didn't know what they specifically were, only vaguely hearing rumors of 'Grandmaster'.

In the final analysis, Black Tiger Fist was just a low-level martial art. It was unrealistic to enter the Dao through martial arts with just a Black Tiger Fist. Having reached this point, Chen Luo naturally understood that the stories of immortals that Crippled Ma told him when he first started practicing were just to motivate people.

The real Black Tiger Fist couldn't be cultivated to that level.

"Leaving Qingya County is the right thing to do. The enemies you faced this time were just casually arranged by those big figures. If they get noticed, the enemies who come next won't be so easy to deal with. Although you've broken through to Bone Forging, in a place like Yue Kingdom, the Bone Forging Realm is not enough to roam freely. As far as I know, there are experts in the Capital City who are beyond the Bone Forging Realm..."

Speaking of this, Crippled Ma seemed to recall things from his youth. So he thought for a moment and told Chen Luo all the rumors he had heard.

"If I had understood this when I was young, I wouldn't have ended up in this state."

When he was young, Crippled Ma was also once a prodigy in a certain area, reaching the Bone Forging Realm at a young age, with boundless arrogance and ambition. Unfortunately, he didn't understand his own position clearly, which led to offending some people he shouldn't have offended. In the end, he caused the death of all his family members and almost died himself in the wilderness. If it weren't for Chen Laosan's courage to drag him out of the pile of corpses, the grass on his grave would already be three zhang high.

After that incident, the spirited young expert died.

What remained was just a useless cripple.

"I plan to go back to Chen Family Village first. I was forced to flee north earlier and didn't even go home. I don't know how my father and the others are doing."

While Chen Luo said this, he was thinking about something else.

He planned to inquire about that mysterious 'mine'. Something that could make even princes turn against each other must not be simple.

It just so happened that the garrison force in Qingya County had been wiped out by him. If he didn't take the opportunity to do something, wouldn't he have killed them for nothing? Also, the Jade Slip he snatched from General Fan needed to be studied.

Chen Luo thought of Third Uncle.

As an experienced undertaker, he must be the clearest about the hidden terrain in Qingya County and the areas where a mine might be hidden.

Earlier, he had asked Third Uncle to go back to Chen Family Village first to report that they were safe.

He himself stayed behind to handle matters in Qingya County. Now that the matters were dealt with, it was time to go back, and he could also ask Third Uncle for advice along the way.

"Go ahead, don't worry. I'll explain things to the Sha Lake Gang people here, and they'll handle the cleanup."

Crippled Ma patted Chen Luo's shoulder and got up to walk into the house.

The conversation between the master and disciple ended there.

Chen Luo didn't stay long. After resting for a while, he left the city overnight.

The night passed uneventfully.

The journey back was smooth, and by the time dawn broke, Chen Luo had already returned to Chen Family Village.

Chen Family Village wasn't a place of wealth; it was truly a remote and impoverished area.

It was because they couldn't make a living there that his dad had sent him to the city to stay with Third Uncle. Chen Laosan, who was scraping by at the bottom of city life, was a big deal in this dilapidated place, Chen Family Village. When he went to the city to stay with Third Uncle back then, he also harbored dreams. Unfortunately, those dreams were later buried by Third Uncle with a shovel.

"You brat, you're finally back!"

As soon as he reached the village entrance, Chen Luo saw Third Uncle.

For the past few days, Chen Laosan had been waiting here almost every morning. Since Chen Luo had gone missing under his watch, it was only natural that he was responsible for finding him.

"Third Uncle."

Chen Luo's heart warmed. A place where someone cared was truly home.

Although Third Uncle Chen Laosan was often unreliable with his words, his affection for Chen Luo, his nephew, was absolutely genuine.

"You're not hurt, are you?"

Chen Laosan looked Chen Luo up and down. Only after confirming he wasn't injured did he finally relax.

After parting ways with Chen Luo last time, he had been constantly worried. Now, the weight on his mind was finally lifted. Once the people from the Sha Lake Gang finished handling the matters in the city, this incident would be considered resolved. He believed that important figures like Eunuch Wei wouldn't mention a nobody like Chen Laosan when reporting to Prince Ning. If they were to report the situation like that, they wouldn't be able to make a living under the Prince.

However, out of caution, Chen Luo still suggested that Chen Laosan move to a different place to develop.

Yanhu County, where they had fled to previously, was quite good.

It had no special mineral deposits, wasn't a large place, and with the help of Leader Cai and others in the mountains, life would definitely be safer than in Qingya County.

As the day brightened.

The news of Chen Luo's return to the village naturally caused a big stir again. His dad, Chen Dachuan, was so happy he drank an extra cup of wine, and his mother also pulled him aside and talked for a long time. His younger sister, who was still too young to understand, lay crying on the heated brick bed, likely scared by the unfamiliar faces in the house.

Chen Luo stayed in the village for a full three days. Only after the news from the Sha Lake Gang came, confirming that everything was calm, did he choose to leave.

This time, he planned to find a place to properly study the Jade Slip from General Fan and, while he was at it, dig up that mysterious mine. In these three days, he had already inquired about a few suspicious areas from Third Uncle and had also used General Fan's thought process to investigate the surroundings, ensuring everything was safe before setting off.

It was a good time to leave, as Prince Ning's subsequent forces hadn't arrived yet, and Qingya County was in a power vacuum, in utter chaos internally.

Leaving Chen Family Village, Chen Luo touched the Jade Slip in his怀中.

He had a feeling that this Jade Slip might very well be his chance to rewrite his life.