A Visit

"Bang!"

The sound of cracking bone rang out. Zhou Wu's head lolled to one side, a look of disbelief still frozen on his face.

His body slumped limply to the ground, kicking up a spray of snow.

Everything had happened in the blink of an eye.

The two lackeys standing nearby were completely stunned. They were used to throwing their weight around alongside Zhou Wu, always the ones doing the bullying.

Who would have dared to resist, let alone strike back?

By the time they snapped out of it and tried to flee, Li Yuan had already turned toward them.

With a sudden burst of speed, he caught up to one of them and, with a single move, slammed his fist hard into the man's back.

The lackey spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed, clearly beyond saving.

Immediately after, he used the same technique on the other, leaving him unable to even beg for mercy.

The mountain forest fell silent once more.

Li Zhi and Chen Quan were already pale as ghosts, trembling as they stared at the scene before them.

The two looked at the three corpses on the ground, then back at Li Yuan, their minds completely blank.

"Yuan-wa, you've killed someone from the Zhou Family..." Chen Quan's voice trembled, filled with terror.

In Chen Quan's eyes, if a young master from a noble family wanted to rob them, they should have just handed it over.

They couldn't resist anyway; as long as they stayed alive, that was all that mattered.

Li Yuan turned around slowly, his face slightly flushed.

He looked at his terrified uncle and Uncle Chen, saying in a low voice, "Uncle, Uncle Chen, how could we just give them what we worked so hard to get?

If we didn't give it to them, we would have had to kill them, or else we would all be dead, and our families would be implicated."

It was true; Zhou Wu's words just moments ago had been crystal clear—he would never have let them go.

"Dispose of the bodies." Li Yuan took a deep breath. "And search them for anything they have. We can't leave a single clue behind!"

Li Zhi and Chen Quan sighed. The men were already dead; there was no point in arguing now. They had to deal with it quickly.

The group immediately dragged the bodies to the side, stripped them of their belongings, and dug a shallow pit to bury them.

By the time they finished, both men were nearly exhausted.

Li Zhi said, filled with worry, "Will... will this stay hidden? If the Zhou Family finds out Zhou Wu is missing, they will definitely send people to look for him."

"We'll hide it for as long as we can. Don't worry, I will handle it."

Li Yuan didn't expect to keep it hidden for long. When Zhou Wu died, he had been there to sell bear meat; anyone with half a brain would be able to piece together what happened.

He paused and looked at the massive black bear carcass. "Now, we need to move this Black Lump and get rid of it, then leave this place as soon as possible."

The two men said no more. They cut a few wooden poles nearby, tied the bear's limbs to them, and the group carried it back, one in front and one behind.

The three of them carried the black bear into the county town.

The four-hundred-pound bear eventually sold for sixty taels. After the commission was taken out, Li Yuan ended up with just over thirty-nine taels of silver.

Li Yuan took out five taels for each of them and gave them to Li Zhi and Chen Quan.

The two tried to refuse, but eventually accepted under Li Yuan's firm gaze.

Li Yuan kept thirty taels for himself, along with thirty pounds of prime bear meat and the bear heart he had specifically set aside.

He remembered that a Steward Lin from the Lin Family had once told him to come sell to him if he ever hunted something big.

But Li Yuan needed the meat and the heart for himself; there was no way he was selling them.

After what had just happened, he didn't think these people from noble families were good people anyway.

If he had gone to sell to Steward Lin, he probably wouldn't have even been able to keep the bear heart.

He had already offended the Zhou Family; he wasn't afraid of offending one more.

As the saying went, having many skills doesn't weigh you down, and neither do many debts.

The only thing Li Yuan could trust was his own strength.

Back at Blue Stone Village, Li Yuan immediately got to work. He portioned out the thirty pounds of bear meat, cured it with coarse salt and simple spices he could find, then lit a charcoal fire to slowly smoke it into long-lasting jerky.

The rich aroma of meat filled the small stone house, drawing a few barks from the dogs next door.

Once the jerky was ready, Li Yuan wrapped the bear heart in oil paper, planning to store it safely when he returned to the county town.

Walking into the area of low, densely packed shanties, a pungent, mixed odor rushed to meet him.

On the muddy path, the smell of excrement and urine, the sour stench of rot, and the musty odor wafting from the shacks all intertwined.

Li Yuan held his breath, hurried through the area, and arrived in front of his own house.

He pushed open the wooden door to find nothing but a bed, a stove, a table, and a chair.

Li Yuan placed the Bear Heart inside the room, intending to return in the evening to boil and consume it.

It was still early, only midday.

After resting for a while, he rose and hurried toward the Martial Arts Hall.

Today's life-and-death struggle and the mastery of the Bear Form Fist had given him a deeper understanding of the martial path.

In the afternoon, Li Yuan returned to the courtyard, assumed his stance, and began to temper his blood and qi.

As he unfolded the Tiger and Bear Form Fists, they possessed a bit more focus and ferocity than before.

There was a faint sense of ease in his movements; once he finished the set, he looked at his panel:

[Skill: Consumption (Minor Mastery)]

[Progress: 110/1000 points]

[Skill: Archery (Minor Mastery)]

[Progress: 600/800 points]

[Skill: Five Animals Tiger Form Fist (Minor Mastery)]

[Progress: 150/1000 points]

[Skill: Five Animals Bear Form Fist (Entry)]

[Progress: 120/500 points]

[Note: Heaven Rewards Diligence; as long as you are willing to practice, there will be a return.]

Recalling the sparring session with the black bear back in the courtyard, he realized his progress in the Bear Form Fist was significantly faster than it had been for the Tiger Form Fist.

It seemed that observing beasts of the same form to grasp their intent and shape was the key to faster progress.

Li Yuan understood this clearly, then stopped overthinking and practiced until dusk, before heading to the study to read for a while to increase his literacy progress.

[Skill: Literacy (Entry)]

[Progress: 200/500 points]

Returning to his room in the Shanty Town, Li Yuan lit a fire in the earthen stove, preparing to stew the bear heart to nourish his body.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

Just then, a heavy knocking sounded at the door.

Li Yuan felt a surge of alertness and stood up.

At this hour, who could it be?

He had just killed someone from the Zhou Family; could they have tracked him down this quickly?

He walked silently to the door and asked in a low voice, "Who is it?"

"Chen Xiao." A deep, hoarse male voice came from outside.

Chen Qing's older brother? Li Yuan narrowed his eyes.

He had assumed Chen Xiao had given up on the matter of Chen Qing's death, but he hadn't expected him to show up after all.

Li Yuan pondered for a moment, then opened the wooden door.

Standing outside was a burly man in his thirties, wearing a white top and sporting a thick beard. His features bore a resemblance to Chen Qing, but his eyes were much sharper.

He was dressed in the refined silk clothing of the Inner City. He looked at Li Yuan, then glanced at the clay pot on the stove inside.

"I couldn't find you in the village, and it was only after asking your uncle that I learned you had rented a room in the county town," Chen Xiao said, his voice not deep, but rather raspy.

"A few days ago, Chen Qing died in an alley. The cause of death was a small stone striking the back of his head, leading to excessive blood loss.

I have questioned everyone in the village about that day, so I have come to ask you: what were you doing then?"

Chen Qing was Chen Xiao's only younger brother, so Chen Xiao was determined to find the killer and avenge him.

Chen Xiao stared at him intently, saying every word clearly: "I heard from others that on the day Chen Qing died, someone saw you hurrying toward the county town."

Li Yuan did not step aside to let him in, but Chen Xiao forced his way into the room. Li Yuan's thoughts raced instantly.

He closed the door and said directly, "Brother Chen, please accept my condolences. As for Chen Qing's matter, I know nothing about it."