Inside the ruined temple, Liu Jinghe stared blankly at the crackling fire before her, worry filling her heart.
She had no idea whether Uncle Gu and the others were doing well.
Although she had witnessed Kong Wu's immense strength, Liu Jinghe was still worried that he might act too rashly.
Whether her illness could be cured was secondary. She just hoped her affairs would not bring trouble down on him.
Since childhood, Liu Jinghe had grown up listening to the stories of her father's youthful travels as a merchant, so compared with ordinary people, she knew somewhat more about strange and supernatural matters.
Apart from the Daoist who had visited her earlier, an old abbot in Zhushui County was also rumored to be a cultivator.
But in her eyes, Kong Wu did not look like a cultivator.
Neither monk nor Daoist, he lacked the aura of a cultivator.
Instead, he resembled a fierce general from the battlefield.
Though his strength was astonishing, when faced with those strange things, his methods were ultimately inferior to those of a cultivator.
As she pondered, her brows suddenly knitted, and she began coughing violently.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Xiao Tao, who had been dozing beside her, was startled awake by the violent coughing. She hurriedly rose and said, "Miss, you... ah!"
The moment she stepped forward, the sight before her frightened her.
Liu Jinghe kept coughing, and countless fine hairs began sprouting from her face and arms.
Then Liu Jinghe began dry-heaving.
"Ugh!"
As she vomited out the foreign object in her throat, her coughing abruptly stopped, and she felt considerably more comfortable.
Looking down, she saw a tangled clump of white fur on the ground.
At the same time, she noticed the long, fine hairs that had grown on her arms.
In the next moment, those fine hairs fell away one after another. Before they even reached the ground, they turned to ash.
"What... is this?"
Fear mingled with bewilderment on Liu Jinghe's face as she took several helpless steps backward.
For some reason, those fine hairs gave her an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
That was... right!
After thinking for a moment, Liu Jinghe recalled the source of that familiar feeling.
It was the fox-fur shawl her father had brought back for her from outside a year ago.
The fur on it had been soft and smooth, and she had liked it very much.
Yet less than half a month after she began wearing it, the fur started falling out. In under a month, it had become nothing more than a bald patch of ragged hide.
Before she could continue thinking, Xiao Tao suddenly cried out in surprise from beside her. "Miss... your complexion is much better!"
Hearing this, Liu Jinghe realized it too. The tightness in her chest brought on by that strange illness had suddenly vanished.
Her breathing had become smooth, and her hands and feet felt much lighter.
Liu Jinghe happily spun around several times where she stood, discovering that she did not feel tired at all.
"Congratulations, Miss! Congratulations! It looks like Uncle Gu and the others succeeded."
Xiao Tao called out happily from the side.
After a while, a figure entered the ruined temple.
"Uncle Gu!"
Liu Jinghe hurried forward and bowed deeply.
"Many thanks to Uncle Gu and..."
Halfway through speaking, she suddenly noticed that there was no one else behind Liu Gu and froze.
Liu Gu gave a bitter smile and waved his hand. "It was your good fortune, Miss, to encounter that expert. Without him, all of us would have ended up as food for the fox demon."
He turned around and looked at the night sky outside as he continued, "That expert said he had to continue on his journey, so he parted ways with me halfway there."
Upon hearing this, Liu Jinghe said wistfully, "He accomplished his task, brushed off his clothes, and left. He truly isn't an ordinary man..."
By then, Kong Wu had already descended the mountain and was walking through the wilderness along the main road.
Ever since his Strength attribute had gradually increased, he had discovered that the amount of rest he needed each day was also slowly decreasing.
Now, even if he went a full day and night without sleeping, he could still maintain an excellent mental state.
Thus, he continued on his journey beneath the night sky.
The dim roads at night, which would have been difficult for ordinary people to see, were as clear as broad daylight in his eyes.
Striding forward, Kong Wu could not help sighing that leaving Qingshan County had indeed been a wise decision.
It was only his first day, yet he had already gained more than ten attribute points.
At this rate, wouldn't his Strength attribute exceed one hundred by the time he reached the provincial capital?
Carrying his hopes for the future (attribute points), Kong Wu walked and stopped along the way, deliberately plunging into remote mountains and ancient forests in search of a few more decent demons.
Five days passed in the blink of an eye, but Kong Wu gained little after that.
Although he encountered a few cultivators among the bandits, all the attribute points they provided added up to only 0.5 points.
At that moment, he was bare-chested, carrying a huge burlap sack over his shoulder beneath the blazing sun.
During those five days, Kong Wu had not found even a single demon or evil spirit, but he had encountered quite a few bandit strongholds.
So, with the thought that he was already there anyway, he helped the nearby authorities clear out the bandits in the surrounding area.
The sack on his shoulder was his spoils.
After walking for a while, he spotted a tea stall in the shade by the roadside, where quite a few people were resting.
Feeling a little thirsty, Kong Wu walked over.
Bang!
He set the sack on the ground, found a seat, and shouted, "Bring me ten bowls of tea!"
The waiter, who was serving tea to another table, froze. He had just been wondering whether ten bowls might be a little too much, but when he turned around and saw Kong Wu's build, he understood. He called back:
"All right, sir! Just a moment!"
There were two other tables of people seated in the tea stall. Although they were not sitting together, the occasional glances they exchanged made it clear that they were all part of the same group.
From the swords and blades casually placed on the tables, they were clearly heroes of the greenwood.
At that moment, they were watching the burlap sack Kong Wu had brought, whispering among themselves.
"Sir! Your tea! Twenty wen in total."
The waiter held up a tray and placed ten bowls of tea before Kong Wu.
"Here! Keep the change!"
Kong Wu opened the sack, casually took out a piece of broken silver, and handed it to the waiter before beginning to drink heartily.
The waiter stood there dumbly holding the piece of broken silver and instinctively bit down on it.
Clink.
The real thing.
He had seen some generous customers before, but he had truly never encountered anyone like Kong Wu.
That piece of broken silver had to weigh at least three liang.
At this moment, the people at the other two tables could no longer sit still.
When Kong Wu had opened the sack just now, the golden and silvery glimmer inside had nearly blinded them.
Although they were wary of Kong Wu's sturdy body, the thought that the sack might be filled entirely with gold and silver—and that there were seven or eight of them on their side—made the greed in their hearts impossible to suppress.
Thus, led by a scar-faced man, they silently picked up their swords and blades and surrounded Kong Wu.
Clang!
After drinking the last bowl of tea, Kong Wu set the empty bowl on the table, wiped his mouth, and shouted at the waiter, "Bring me another ten bowls!"
Then he bent down, lifted the burlap sack from the ground onto the table, and opened it.
Inside was nothing but gold, silver, and precious jewels.
The scar-faced man swallowed, and just as he was about to step forward, he saw Kong Wu reach inside.
Kong Wu took out a silver ingot and casually kneaded it into various shapes in his hand.
When he was finished, Kong Wu said indifferently, "Throw in everything valuable on your bodies, and then you can leave."
Before you continue