Drinking tea and robbing people, how did I get robbed?

Inside the dilapidated temple, Liu Jinghe stared blankly at the crackling bonfire before her, a sense of worry clouding her mind.

I wonder if Uncle Gu and the others were successful.

Although she had witnessed Kong Wu's formidable power, Liu Jinghe still worried that he might have been too impulsive.

Whether her own illness was cured was secondary; she just hoped she hadn't implicated him because of her situation.

From a young age, Liu Jinghe had grown up listening to her father's stories of his travels as a merchant. Compared to ordinary people, she had some understanding of supernatural and strange affairs.

Besides the Daoist priest who had visited their home before, an old abbot in Zhushui County was rumored to be a cultivator.

However, in her opinion, Kong Wu didn't seem like a cultivator.

He wasn't a monk or a Daoist, and he lacked that aura cultivators possessed.

Instead, he seemed more like a fierce general of the battlefield.

While his strength was astonishing, when facing those strange entities, his methods were ultimately not as skillful as a cultivator's.

Lost in thought, her brow suddenly furrowed, and she began to cough violently.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Xiao Tao, who had been dozing nearby, was startled awake by her violent coughing and quickly got up, saying, "Miss, you... ah!"

As soon as she stepped forward, she was terrified by the sight before her.

Liu Jinghe was coughing continuously, and countless fine hairs were emerging from her face and arms.

Then, Liu Jinghe started to gag.

"Gag!"

As she expelled the foreign object from her throat, her coughing immediately stopped, and she felt significantly better.

Looking down, she saw a clump of tangled white fur on the ground.

At the same time, she noticed the fine hairs growing on her arm.

The next moment, those hairs detached and turned to ash before they could even reach the ground.

"What is... this?"

Liu Jinghe, a mixture of fear and confusion, stumbled back a few steps, feeling helpless.

For some reason, those hairs gave her a strange sense of familiarity.

It was... that's right!

With a moment's thought, Liu Jinghe recalled the source of this familiarity.

It was the fox fur shawl her father had brought back for her a year ago.

The fur on it was fine and smooth, and she had loved it.

However, after wearing it for less than half a month, the fur began to fall off, and within a month, it had become a bare piece of hide.

Before she could ponder further, Xiao Tao beside her exclaimed in surprise, "Miss... your complexion has improved so much!"

Hearing this, Liu Jinghe also realized that the chest tightness caused by her strange illness had suddenly vanished.

Her breathing became smooth, and her limbs felt lighter.

Liu Jinghe happily spun around in place a few times, finding no trace of fatigue.

"Congratulations, Miss! Congratulations! It seems Uncle Gu and the others succeeded," Xiao Tao cheered happily from the side.

A short while later, a figure entered the dilapidated temple.

"Uncle Gu!"

Liu Jinghe hurried forward and bowed deeply.

"Thank you, Uncle Gu, and..."

She trailed off as she realized no one else was behind Liu Gu, and she froze.

Liu Gu let out a wry smile and waved his hand, saying, "It's also fortunate for you, Miss, that you encountered that expert. Without him, all of us would have become food for the fox demon."

He turned and looked at the night sky outside, continuing, "That expert said he needed to continue his journey and parted ways with me halfway."

Upon hearing this, Liu Jinghe sighed wistfully, "He left without a trace after his task was done; truly not an ordinary person..."

Kong Wu had already descended the mountain and was walking along the main road in the wilderness.

Since his [Strength] attribute had gradually increased, he found that the amount of rest he needed each day was also decreasing.

Now, even without sleep for a day and a night, he could maintain an excellent state of alertness.

Thus, he took advantage of the night to continue his journey.

To ordinary people, the dimly lit night road was as clear as day to him.

Striding along, Kong Wu couldn't help but feel that leaving Qingshan County had been a wise decision.

Just the first day, and he had already gained over ten attribute points.

If this continued, wouldn't his [Strength] attribute break a hundred by the time he reached the prefecture city?

Carrying the anticipation of the future (attribute points), Kong Wu walked, stopping and starting along the way, deliberately venturing into the deep mountains and old forests, all in search of a few more decent demonic evils.

Five days passed in the blink of an eye. Kong Wu had gained very little since then.

Although he had encountered a few cultivators among those mountain bandits, the attribute points they provided added up to only 0.5 points.

At this moment, he was walking under the scorching sun with his upper body bare, a huge sack slung over his shoulder.

In five days, Kong Wu hadn't found a single demonic evil, but he had encountered quite a few bandit camps.

So, with the mindset of "since I'm already here," he helped the nearby government officials clear out the surrounding bandits.

The sack he was carrying was his spoils of war.

After walking for a short while, he saw a tea stall under the shade of trees by the roadside, with many people resting there.

Feeling a bit thirsty, Kong Wu walked over.

Bang!

He placed the sack on the ground, found a random spot to sit, and then shouted, "Ten bowls of tea soup!"

The waiter, who was serving tea to other tables, was stunned. He was just thinking that ten bowls might be a bit much, but when he turned around and saw Kong Wu's physique, he understood and replied, "Certainly, honored guest, please wait a moment!"

There were two other tables of people sitting in the tea stall. Although they weren't sitting together, the occasional glances exchanged between them indicated they were all part of the same group.

Judging by the swords and sabers casually placed on their tables, they were all outlaws.

At this moment, they were looking at the sack Kong Wu was carrying, whispering amongst themselves.

"Honored guest! Your tea! That'll be twenty coins."

The waiter, holding a tray, placed ten bowls of tea soup in front of Kong Wu.

"Here! Keep the change!"

Kong Wu opened the sack, casually took out a silver fragment, handed it to the waiter, and then began to drink heartily.

The waiter, holding the silver fragment blankly, instinctively bit it.

Hiss

A real one.

Although he had seen some generous customers before, he had never seen anyone like Kong Wu.

This single silver fragment was worth at least three taels.

At this moment, the two groups of people sitting at the other tables could no longer sit still.

Just a moment ago, when Kong Wu opened the sack, the glint of gold and silver had almost blinded them.

Although they were wary of Kong Wu's robust physique, the thought of that sack potentially being filled with gold and silver, and the fact that there were seven or eight of them, made their greed impossible to suppress.

So, led by a scar-faced man, these people silently picked up their swords and sabers and surrounded Kong Wu.

Clang!

After Kong Wu finished the last bowl of tea, he placed the empty bowl on the table, wiped his mouth, and shouted to the waiter, "Ten more bowls!"

Then, he bent down, lifted the sack from the ground onto the table, and opened it.

Inside were various gold and silver treasures.

The scar-faced man swallowed, and just as he was about to step forward, he saw Kong Wu reach into the sack.

He pulled out a silver ingot and casually kneaded it into various shapes in his hand.

After doing all this, Kong Wu said indifferently, "Throw whatever valuables you have on you in here, and then you can leave."