In Cahoots

Aunt Li didn't know that Chu He had never actually left.

On the rooftop, a gentle breeze brushed his face, yet it could not dispel the icy chill on it.

Looking out, every household was sending up wisps of smoke as though they were lighting fires to cook. Before long, a thin veil of smoke would probably hang over the village.

Too strange. It was as if, after Hong Shou left, the entire village had begun to spiral out of control.

Chu He jumped down from the eaves and hurried home.

The unease in his heart was like a giant hand clamped around his throat, tightening bit by bit until it became harder and harder to breathe.

He had wanted to lie low and develop in secret, but it seemed that would not work. He had to find a way to grow stronger as quickly as possible.

Actually...

It was not as though he had never considered quietly pulling out the stone spikes atop the walls, but doing so would only make matters even more uncontrollable.

As for investigating the origins of those stone spikes, he had no mind for it right now, much less going to the village chief. The strange statues of the Land God that the chief had distributed instinctively made Chu He feel there was something wrong with him.

"Damn it, even the village isn't safe anymore."

A fierce wind blew, tossing Chu He's hair into disarray. Just as he was about to return to his residence, he spotted a burly man waiting at the entrance.

"Junior Brother Chu, you're back."

"Senior Brother, were you waiting here specifically for me?"

Upon seeing him, Chu He halted and smiled. Yet the muscles beneath his hemp clothes were taut as steel wires. Chu He trusted no one now.

At the first sign of anything unusual, he would flee at once.

"Ever since Master left, I've been so busy I'm nearly dizzy with it. I should have given you these after your breakthrough, but I'm only getting around to it now." As he spoke, Han Zhong handed him a bundle.

Chu He froze. He opened it and found two detailed martial arts annotations, along with a palm-sized black wooden box.

"These are?"

"These two martial arts notes were written by Master. Every disciple who breaks through receives copies. As for the wooden box... there are two pills inside. Taking them can raise your cultivation realm."

Hearing that, Chu He reached out and stroked the wooden box.

Was this the thing Liu Ci wanted?

"Senior Brother, don't just stand there. Come in and sit."

Han Zhong's act of delivering the bundle eased the tension in Chu He's heart somewhat. At least, he was no longer quite so guarded against him.

"I won't sit. I still have things to do." Han Zhong smiled and patted Chu He on the shoulder. "When you get back, cultivate properly. Those two pills can't be kept for too long, or their medicinal effects will fade."

"Mm, I'll remember. Then take care, Senior Brother."

Han Zhong nodded. As he passed Chu He, he quietly lowered his head and said, "Things may be a little unsettled lately. Try not to go out at night. You can worship the clay statue, but don't light the incense. Leave everything else until Master returns to decide."

Chu He's eyes widened slightly. "Understood. Thank you."

"Then I'll be going."

With a wave of his hand, Han Zhong's back disappeared into the alley.

After standing there for a long while, Chu He turned and pushed open the courtyard gate. Sure enough, on the stone table beneath the old willow tree sat a large clay statue of the Land God, along with four black incense sticks as thick as thumbs.

Sitting on the stone bench, he set the bundle beside the statue and tapped his fingers on the tabletop as he stared at it, lost in thought.

After a while...

Smack!

Chu He swept his arm out, deliberately knocking the statue off the table like a gust sweeping away fallen leaves. It crashed onto the earthen stone floor.

"What kind of material is this? It didn't even break?"

Seeing that only one corner had chipped off, Chu He raised his right foot and brought it down like an iron hammer. "Then how about this?"

Bang!

A cloud of dust rose as chunks of dirt and stone scattered in all directions.

The intact statue was crushed to pieces beneath his foot. Chu He lowered his head to inspect it, but before he could make anything of it, that electronic synthesized voice that delighted him rang out in his mind again.

"Ding! Absorbed eerie energy. Energy +2!"

That worked too?

Chu He's eyes lit up. He immediately turned to the four incense sticks, stretched out his hand, and decisively snapped them all in half.

But after waiting for ages, there was no reaction at all.

"Only the statue held eerie energy..."

Then the target was clear. He could not touch the stone spikes on the walls, but he could steal the Land God statues from his neighbors' homes.

Glancing at the sun still hanging high in the sky, Chu He suppressed his restless emotions, swept the broken incense aside, opened the bundle, and laid the two sets of notes and the wooden box on the table.

"With these annotated notes, I can shorten the time needed to get started with the Red Line Fist even further." Chu He was brimming with confidence, itching to start practicing his punches at once.

But when his gaze swept over the black wooden box, something stirred in his heart.

Chu He twisted open the lid. Inside lay two marble-sized hand-rolled pills, rough on the surface and grayish-white throughout.

He casually picked one up and sniffed it beneath his nose. The next moment, the pill instantly came apart, revealing a black strand of hair twisting madly like a venomous snake. It tried to rush at Chu He, but along the way, it gradually turned to ash and vanished into the air.

"Ding! Absorbed eerie energy. Energy +1!"

Bang!

His large hand came down like a hammer, smashing into the stone table. The dozens-of-jin bluestone slab instantly split apart, sending chips and fragments flying.

"Snakes and rats in the same nest!!"

Chu He's eyes turned icy. Thinking of Han Zhong's sanctimonious appearance, an inexplicable fury blazed uncontrollably in his chest.

He felt deeply betrayed!

"I never should have held out any hope!" Chu He cursed. He picked up the manuals and raised his foot to crush the other pill.

The same notification sounded in his mind once more.

But this time, it felt different.

[Chu He]

[Martial Art: Golden Bell Shield (First Layer) ↑]

[Energy: 5]

The crude panel appeared before Chu He's eyes, and the "↑" symbol for upgrading emerged again. This meant Chu He could upgrade the Golden Bell Shield once more and achieve a leap in strength.

His earlier displeasure and anger were buried beneath the sudden delight. Remembering the perilous situation of being attacked from both front and back, Chu He did not hesitate in the slightest. His consciousness heavily pressed down on the "↑".

"Upgrade!"

A warm, comfortable current welled up from his heart. Chu He felt as though he had returned to the womb, his entire body relaxed and at ease.

The sensation lasted for more than ten seconds. When the warm current spread through his whole body, every layer of his flesh began to undergo violent changes.

Crack, crack, crack—

His bones and muscles ground and transformed violently. Listening closely, he could even hear his blood rushing like floodwaters bursting through a dam. His heartbeat boomed like war drums, as though it might leap from his chest at any moment.

Chu He's originally thin body seemed to inflate, becoming noticeably more solid in a short time. Fortunately, the outward change was not too dramatic; he merely looked fleshier, not overly conspicuous.

At that moment, it was not only his body. Even his mind was experiencing a storm of thought. Countless memory fragments of cultivating the Golden Bell Shield flooded into his mind, as if he had practiced this technique for years and knew it by heart.

Hum—

With a soft tremble, brilliant golden radiance appeared over Chu He's body. The next instant, that radiance rose into the air and condensed into a golden bell around him. The bell seemed almost solid, radiating an astonishing heat.

Standing within the bell, Chu He raised his hand and flicked its inner wall. A clear sound capable of cracking stone and scattering clouds echoed beside his ears for a long time.

Invisibly, it gave one the feeling of cleansing the soul.

This upgrade seemed to have shattered some kind of bodily bottleneck. The golden radiance that formed the bell all came from the surging vitality and blood within Chu He's body.

It also confirmed the verse from the manual—

As long as blood and vitality did not fail, the golden bell would never perish!

Please bookmark and keep reading.