Half a quarter of an hour later, Jiang Yan, Tang Long, and Fei Shan hurriedly said their farewells to Ren Yuan.
Tang Long and Jiang Yan needed to go back and prepare some things, while Fei Shan had to pull some people out to send to Qingshan Village.
Just now, they had decided that Ren Yuan, Tang Long, and Jiang Yan would take some people to Qingshan Village.
Fei Shan would stay behind to maintain order in Yuyang Village.
Rustle, rustle.
Jiang Yan hurried back to his little courtyard, replaying Ren Yuan's words over and over in his mind along the way.
At last, he understood why Martial Apprentices couldn't kill monsters through their own strength alone.
It turned out that monsters were born with a Black Membrane whose nature was like the Inner Qi of the Body Refining Realm.
Ordinary people, including Martial Apprentices, had no way to break through a monster's Black Membrane without relying on talismans or possessing Inner Qi.
Martial Apprentices might be able to gain physical strength comparable to Body Refining Realm martial artists by cultivating External Cultivation, but with those resources, they could have advanced their martial arts to the Body Refining Realm already.
Jiang Yan shook his head. He had other ideas. If he had enough Weird Value, he decided he would spend some time cultivating External Cultivation.
After all, if one day he found himself in a difficult situation, with no talismans or other means of killing monsters, having enough physical strength to break through a monster's defenses would also be a way to protect himself.
When it came to ways and means of protecting himself, he only wished he could have as many as possible.
"If I could have, say... twenty trump cards, that'd be wonderful."
He opened the gate.
Cluck-cluck, oink-oink...
Jiang Yan spotted two big roosters and a little pig in the courtyard.
"Uh..." He smacked his forehead. He'd actually forgotten all about these three.
But he had no time to deal with them. He turned and went inside, packed a few things, then slung a small bundle over his shoulder and left.
He carried his other valuables with him at all times, so there was no need to pack them.
At the square, Fei Shan had already gathered everyone.
Jiang Yan looked over the patrol members who were heading to Qingshan Village and spotted Shan Renhu and Meng Neng.
He walked straight over. "Brother Shan, I didn't expect you'd be going to Qingshan Village too."
Shan Renhu had a long face. When he saw Jiang Yan, a wry smile tugged at his lips. "Leader Fei said I have plenty of experience and good luck."
Plenty of experience made sense. Shan Renhu was an old hand, after all.
But good luck...
Old Shan had been assigned night watch for over a year straight. How could anyone call that good luck?
Even a man with a face as dark as charcoal had better luck than him.
But Tang Long had said that after Shan Renhu had encountered so many monsters, he'd either managed to deal with them or escaped without a hitch every time.
From that perspective, he really was lucky.
Jiang Yan shook his head and glanced at Meng Neng. "Meng Sheng, why are you going too?"
Meng Sheng was a rookie. Since Qingshan Village was crawling with monsters, they needed patrol members with plenty of experience or a higher level of martial cultivation.
Those patrol members were usually old hands.
"I... I..." Meng Sheng's face turned bright red. He stammered again, unable to get the words out.
"He decided to go on his own," Shan Renhu answered for him.
Jiang Yan had left Shan Renhu's team, so he didn't know that ever since Meng Sheng had killed a monster with his own hands, it was as if his spirit had been set free.
When they occasionally encountered monsters, he and Shan Renhu worked together seamlessly, and they could usually kill them.
And every time he killed a monster, he would mutter to himself, saying things like, "When a monster is killed, it dies..."
"He decided to go on his own?" Was he really that reckless? Jiang Yan was speechless when he heard the answer.
He patted Meng Sheng on the shoulder. "Stick with me when we get to Qingshan Village."
Just then, a woman of about thirty came out from a corner, her head lowered so no one could make out her face.
She hurried up to Shan Renhu, pressed a bundle into his hands, blushed, and left without a word.
"Congratulations, Brother Shan. Looks like we'll be celebrating your wedding before long." Jiang Yan chuckled softly. He hadn't expected anyone to take a liking to Old Shan.
There was a carrot for every rabbit.
For once, Shan Renhu's weathered face reddened. He clutched the bundle tightly to his chest and stubbornly protested, "Nothing's set in stone yet."
Meng Neng took the chance to tease Shan Renhu too, nearly making the old man lose face.
But although Old Shan was always stern, his eyes were smiling.
"Brother Shan, don't you have enough contribution points yet?"
Shan Renhu froze, then understood what Jiang Yan meant: was he asking whether he had enough accumulated points to leave the patrol team and take another job?
"Well..." Shan Renhu faltered as he spoke.
By rights, Old Shan was an old hand and should have had enough contribution points long ago. But in reality, he didn't.
For the past year, his team had mostly been assigned night watch, and whenever they encountered monsters, there were always casualties.
When a team suffered casualties, they still earned some contribution points, but certainly not many.
So Shan Renhu was still short of the points he needed to leave the patrol team and choose a good, steady job in the Dahe Gang.
This time, although Fei Shan had directly assigned him to go to Qingshan Village, he had wanted to go too. He was hoping to earn contribution points for the gang.
He wanted to have a family.
The three of them chatted casually. In the meantime, people arrived at the square one after another, all of them set to go with Ren Yuan to Qingshan Village.
Suddenly,
a faint floral fragrance drifted into Jiang Yan's nose.
It was the scent of lilies.
He turned around. Ren Shurong was standing behind him, close enough that they were only a short distance apart.
Seeing her, Jiang Yan froze for a moment, then spoke quickly and clearly.
"You don't have to say anything. I'm not taking you with me."
You're a curious girl.
And a beautiful woman.
But I want to say no.
"Hmph!" Ren Shurong hadn't even opened her mouth. She hadn't expected Jiang Yan to be so blunt.
"I never wanted to go in the first place. That's Sha."
If only she'd thought of that sooner.
Since Ren Shurong had no intention of going to Qingshan Village, Jiang Yan had even less reason to talk to her.
He turned away and ignored Ren Shurong, instead giving Shan Renhu and Meng Neng a serious warning. "You two, I don't know what Leader Fei told you, but when we get to Qingshan Village, you must be extremely careful."
"There may be a High-Level Monster in Qingshan Village."
The two nodded to show that they already knew.
Jiang Yan looked at them. He could understand that Shan Renhu wanted to earn more contribution points so he could start a family and settle down.
But Meng Neng? Had killing a monster made him braver?
He hadn't expected that, with just a casual guess, he'd hit upon Meng Neng's thoughts.
"Hmph!"
Ren Shurong was a little annoyed. Aside from her older brother, she didn't know many people here.
Tang Long and Fei Shan were both older than her. Jiang Yan was about her age, and she was bored, so she'd only wanted to chat a little. She hadn't expected this man to ignore her.
At the sound of Ren Shurong's voice, Jiang Yan suddenly remembered something. He took out a key and handed it straight to her.
"What is this? What's it for?"
Jiang Yan's action caught her off guard.
"Nothing much. Just take care of that pig you gave me and feed it for the next few days."
Before you continue