Half an hour later.
The bus pulled over beside a mountain road.
Hu Long got off, along with several others, including the young man who had vomited earlier.
"Hey, are you heading to Wulin Village too?"
The young man asked Hu Long, who was standing nearby with a black backpack on his back.
Hu Long glanced at the young man before him.
He was dressed in clean clothes, but his skin was dark, and the rough hands protruding from his sleeves had thick calluses over the knuckles.
As he walked, his upper body leaned slightly forward, and his steps landed firmly. Each one came with a noticeable dip of his body, his heel touching the ground first. That way of walking helped him keep his balance. He probably did hard labor regularly.
In the past, he would never have been able to observe someone in such detail.
But ever since he'd downloaded Master-Level Unarmed Combat, as time went by,
Hu Long found that his understanding of the human body's joints and points of force was growing ever deeper, to the point that it had become instinctive.
So with just one glance, he'd easily reached that conclusion.
"Yeah, I'm here to look around and do some sightseeing."
"What a coincidence. My family lives in Wulin Village. Let's go together."
The dark-skinned young man acted as if they were already old friends.
He pointed farther down the road.
In the distance, a few grayish-white concrete utility poles were faintly visible by the roadside, with wisps of cooking smoke drifting even farther away.
At the invitation,
Hu Long thought it over and decided not to refuse.
He wanted to ask around and get a clearer picture of the situation anyway.
The two of them set off down the road.
Along the way, they introduced themselves.
The dark-skinned young man was called Niu Lei.
Hu Long said his name was "Wang Ting."
Before coming, Hu Long had looked up some basic information about Wulin Village.
Now, through Niu Lei,
his knowledge of the village gradually became more concrete.
It had over two hundred households, making it a fairly large village.
Backed by Wu Mountain, it was now being developed into a scenic area, taking advantage of its location.
Its proximity to a major transportation route had also made it a key recipient of support for new rural development and rural revitalization.
Niu Lei himself had been struggling out in the wider world. After hearing that his hometown was doing well, he'd decided to come back and start an orchard.
As the two walked and talked,
Wulin Village soon came into view.
Beneath the large camphor tree at the village entrance, old folks chatted while holding their water pipes.
Several new-style houses faced with white tiles stood beside old homes with yellow mud walls, and wisps of cooking smoke rose from between their black roof tiles.
The whole village was built along the mountainside.
The most eye-catching building was the three-story structure at the village center, with a sign that read "Tourist Service Center."
Its white walls and gray roof looked dazzlingly new in the afternoon sun, and the windowpanes reflected the light in blinding flashes.
Several tour buses were parked in front. A red banner billowed in the wind, bearing the words "Welcome to the Mysteries of Wu Mountain."
As they followed the flagstone path deeper into the village, the signs of daily life grew clearer.
Now and then, they passed the occasional tourist.
Most of the homes along the road had opened their front rooms for business. Some sold local produce, while others displayed signs advertising "farmhouse stays."
Dried bamboo shoots and cured meat glistened with oil on bamboo trays. The scents of Sichuan peppercorns and chilies mingled, wafting over hot and pungent.
Farther up the slope, there were more old houses, their doorframes still bearing faded Spring Festival couplets.
Some wooden doors stood ajar, and every now and then they could hear a television or a few barks.
The village was backed by lush, verdant Wu Mountain.
Farther away, a newly built hiking trail, like a gray-white ribbon, wound into the forest.
At the foot of the mountain, work was underway at several construction sites. The roar of cement mixers carried across the small river.
"What's that place? It looks pretty grand!"
Hu Long reached out and pointed toward a distant residence as if the gesture were casual.
It was a double-courtyard compound with white walls and a gray-tiled roof. It stood out among the ordinary village homes.
Not only was the compound spacious, but the foundation of the house alone stood far higher than those around it, giving it a distinctly imposing air.
"That's our village chief's place."
Niu Lei followed his gaze, and a note of rueful envy crept into his voice.
"When it comes to making something of yourself, no one beats his kid..."
He paused, and a flicker of undisguised envy crossed his eyes.
Xue Wu was the same age as him, but had excelled in school from an early age, gotten into a prestigious university, and established himself in a big city, where he'd started his own company.
Word was, he was even dating the daughter of a wealthy family.
Any one of those things would be enough to make people green with envy.
Soon, after Niu Lei explained more, Hu Long gained a clearer understanding of the family.
"By the way, Brother Wang, my place is nearby. Why don't you come over for some water and sit down for a while?"
Niu Lei pointed ahead, inviting him warmly.
"No need. I'd like to look around on my own."
Hu Long refused outright.
"All right. If you need anything, just give me a call!"
Niu Lei said.
Hu Long only nodded in response.
After they parted,
he headed straight into the village.
Every so often, villagers greeted him as they passed.
Clearly, they were already used to seeing unfamiliar faces like his and weren't surprised.
But they all spoke with local accents, and he couldn't understand much.
Hu Long simply nodded in reply.
He didn't wander around the village for long, instead taking a mountain path to one side.
He stopped to rest on a rocky outcrop on a high slope.
He looked at the building not far away.
It had white walls and a gray-tiled roof, with a wall surrounding it and a huge iron gate several meters tall. It looked far grander than an ordinary home.
It was Xue Wu's family home, where his parents lived.
From what Hu Long knew so far, Xue Wu's parents were no ordinary family in Wulin Village. They even held a certain degree of standing.
His father, Xue Hai, was the village chief, while his mother, Liu, was a spirit medium famous across the surrounding villages.
But that was all they were, when it came down to it.
With a background like theirs, there was no way they could marry into Hu Long's family.
A daughter wasn't something to be sold, of course, but a wealthy heiress worth hundreds of millions marrying a young man from a mountain village seemed unrealistic no matter how you looked at it.
That was precisely why Hu Chengwen hadn't agreed outright to the relationship between Xue Wu and Hu Zhao.
He'd only said that they should first see whether Xue Wu could make something of himself. There'd be no harm in deciding after that.
Of course, none of this mattered to Hu Long.
Even if Xue Wu really did marry Hu Zhao and become his "brother-in-law,"
Hu Long still wouldn't go easy on him.
There was something else on his mind.
Liu was a spirit medium.
If it weren't for the eerie shadow clinging to him and the Green Bag Fragment skill,
he might not have thought much of it.
But now, he had to be on guard in case Xue Wu's parents possessed some kind of supernatural ability.
So he needed to be cautious before making his move. He couldn't afford to let things go wrong.
Still, he wasn't entirely unprepared.
With that thought, he opened his backpack, revealing an object made of black steel pipes welded together.
He weighed it in his hand, then stuffed it back inside.
He'd acquired it through some special channels, and it was a precaution.
But the thing couldn't be brought into the open. The Yu State had strict laws against firearms, too.
So unless it was absolutely necessary, he didn't want to use it.