Meanwhile, with Su Mo having recently become quite well-known, many people from the surrounding villages started asking about his family background and age. His family background was poor, and his parents had died early, leaving him with no one to rely on.
But Su Mo's superb hunting skills were his greatest support. Whenever he went into the mountains, he could bring back more prey than he could eat. Even the Black Wind Stockade's guards didn't dare provoke him lightly.
As a result, many matchmakers wanted to arrange a marriage for Su Mo, since people from several neighboring villages had taken a liking to him.
They believed their daughters would be cherished if they married Su Mo and wouldn't be mistreated.
Su Mo, naturally, turned them all down. Right now, he only wanted to obtain a Body Tempering Cultivation Technique. He had never considered getting married.
But so many people came to make introductions that Su Mo had no choice but to leave the refusals to Uncle Chen Shan and have him send the matchmakers away. At the same time, to keep them from gossiping, he asked Uncle Chen Shan to give each departing matchmaker a pound of Green Wolf Meat to seal her lips.
This gesture made the matchmakers exclaim that Su Mo was generous.
They felt that Su Mo was destined for great things.
As time passed, the matchmakers who had received Green Wolf Meat to keep quiet felt too embarrassed to bother Su Mo again. This let him focus even more on cultivating his physique and tempering his body.
But recently, Uncle Chen Shan had told him something.
"I heard Zhang Tieshan wanted to arrange for his daughter, Zhang Qian, to marry you, but she refused. She said she'd only marry a Martial Artist, not a hunter."
This had been revealed by a villager who lived next door to Zhang Tieshan's family. Zhang Qian and Zhang Tieshan had already argued about it more than once.
Su Mo just smiled and didn't take it to heart.
After that, Su Mo continued going into the mountains to hunt while tempering his body there.
One day, the village chief, Yang Baishu, excitedly told the villagers that Li Xian was coming back. He would also invite his senior brothers and sisters from the sect to help wipe out the Black Wind Stockade.
The news made everyone in Shuanglin Village very happy.
At the same time, the village chief, Yang Baishu, brought back another piece of news: everyone should be careful when entering the mountains for the time being. Apparently, a Cultist Fugitive wanted by the authorities had fled into their Qingliang Mountain.
They said this Cultist Fugitive was also a Martial Artist, and very powerful.
In the coming days, county constables and officials might come to Qingliang Mountain to hunt down and kill the Cultist Fugitive.
The village chief, Yang Baishu, urged everyone to be especially careful when hunting in the mountains during this time.
Su Mo took this very seriously. He figured that if even the authorities' constables from Anyuan County Town were treating the escaped Cultist Fugitive so cautiously, then the fugitive must be powerful. So he drastically reduced the number of times he went up the mountain.
As he encountered more Martial Artists, Su Mo learned that this world had an imperial court and official authorities. The nearest authorities to Qingliang Mountain were in Anyuan County Town, and many of the constable positions there could only be held by Martial Artists.
Powerful Martial Artists also held important posts in the authorities.
In other words, even the authorities ran on strength.
Anyuan County Town had not only the imperial authorities, but also many martial arts schools and sects, as well as prominent clans that monopolized countless martial arts cultivation resources.
Su Mo had considered going to Anyuan County Town to obtain a Body Tempering Cultivation Technique. But Li Xian had told him that many sects there had strict requirements for accepting disciples. Even martial arts schools checked a student's bone structure; if it didn't meet their standards, they wouldn't take them.
Meanwhile, the old Tendon Changing Realm martial arts master who was about to return from Anyuan County Town to open a martial arts school in Qingshan Town reportedly wouldn't be as strict about accepting disciples—at least, not as strict as those sects and schools in Anyuan County Town.
That was why Su Mo had kept waiting.
Su Mo had even thought that since he currently had a lifespan of a hundred years, as long as he broke through to the Meridian Opening Realm before his lifespan ran out, he could extend it by at least thirty years, perhaps even more.
After all, breaking through to the Body Tempering Realm had added thirty years to his lifespan. Breaking through to the Meridian Opening Realm would only add more.
Because Su Mo's physical foundation was simply too robust, every breakthrough marked an extreme transformation in his very level of life, which was why his lifespan increased.
Perhaps Su Mo was the only person in the world who could do this.
In the outside world, Bone Refining Realm Martial Artists weren't guaranteed to gain even thirty years of life when they broke through to the Blood Changing Realm. If they gained twenty years, they'd be overjoyed.
That showed just how solid Su Mo's physical foundation was.
On top of that, he tempered and honed his body every day, no matter the weather. Although his cultivation remained stuck at the peak of the early Body Tempering Realm, his physical strength kept increasing.
Just as Su Mo was quietly building up his strength,
the village chief, Yang Baishu, brought back earth-shattering news.
Li Xian was already on his way back to the village.
Traveling with him were two of his senior fellow disciples, reportedly powerful Martial Artists far beyond the ordinary.
From the description, Su Mo guessed that Li Xian's senior brother and sister were probably both Meridian Opening Realm experts.
Li Xian himself was at the peak of the Body Tempering Realm, yet even he had been no match for the Black Wind Stockade and had escaped with severe injuries. It was clear that defeating the stockade would be extremely difficult without Meridian Opening Realm experts.
After all, several Meridian Opening Realm Martial Artists were entrenched in the Black Wind Stockade, and its Great Leader, Huang Heilong, was an elite among the Meridian Opening Realm experts.
Li Xian must have had tremendous confidence to dare return to the village this time, and that confidence most likely came from his two senior fellow disciples.
Only Meridian Opening Realm experts could deal with Meridian Opening Realm experts.
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