Killing

Xu Shengnan lowered her head, nervously twisting two fingers together as she said timidly, "Big brother... back at the ancestral hall, I was too nervous and couldn't find any clean cloth, so... so I tore off a rag used for mopping the floor in the ancestral hall and tied it around you..."

"..."

Lu Yuan immediately rolled his eyes so hard they nearly went skyward, utterly speechless.

Using a mop rag to bandage a wound clawed by a demon beast—if he had not died straightaway from tetanus, that already counted as his life being tough!

"Pfft!"

Seeing Lu Yuan's deflated expression, his second sister Lu Qing was the first to lose control and burst out laughing. Right after that, his mother Liu Ying, his younger brother Lu An, and even his usually stern grandfather Liu Tieshan could not stop the corners of their mouths from curving wildly upward.

For a time, the courtyard was filled with cheerful air, and the family's originally oppressive, stifling atmosphere relaxed considerably.

Night gradually fell, and Green Mountain Village slowly sank into silence.

Lu Yuan recuperated from his injuries indoors until the latter half of the night.

After his Wild Bull Force reached great mastery, his recovery ability seemed to have improved considerably as well.

Although he had not fully recovered yet.

He felt much better overall.

Then, Lu Yuan changed into a set of tight black clothes.

He wrapped the Rusty Saber in black cloth.

He quietly opened the window, climbed over the wall, and darted toward Mountain Spring Town.

Warm Spring Pavilion in town was a famous haven of tenderness throughout the surrounding villages.

At that moment, Jia Ke and several lackeys were embracing prettily dressed girls.

Their faces flushed red as they staggered out through the doors of Warm Spring Pavilion.

They had enjoyed themselves immensely.

Even after they had gone quite far from Warm Spring Pavilion.

They were still savoring that haven of tenderness.

"Brother, Xiaocui's waist today was really slim! So smooth, so tender..."

"Haha, once those mud-legged peasants from Green Mountain Village learn their lesson in a few days, they'll send us more money. Then we'll come again... again..."

Jia Ke burped contentedly, his complexion rosy.

The group also arrived at a turn on the street corner.

The moment they rounded the corner, they abruptly stopped in their tracks.

Within the shadows ahead stood a tall, slender black figure.

He stood silently, holding a long saber still in its sheath.

"You... you're that brat from Green Mountain Village?"

Although Lu Yuan was dressed entirely in black.

Jia Ke still recognized him at a glance.

Of course, Lu Yuan had only made a simple disguise.

"What, a little constable wants to make a move?" Once he saw who it was.

Jia Ke sobered up halfway. He was startled at first, then his face darkened. Pointing arrogantly at Lu Yuan, he cursed, "It's the middle of the night. If you don't dare make a move, then get lost."

"Let me tell you, we belong to Master Jia. Even if we bully mud-legged peasants like you, you can only endure it."

"If anything happens to us, everyone in your family will be dead by tomorrow. And the mud-legged peasants of Green Mountain Village definitely won't have it easy either."

"You'd better think carefully about whether you want everyone around you to suffer along with you."

Jia Ke unleashed a stream of furious curses at Lu Yuan.

"Brother, has this brat drunk even more than we have? He actually dares block our path."

"If you're drunk, then get lost. Are you waiting for us to invite you to dinner or something?"

Jia Ke's lackeys also shouted at him.

"Is that so?"

Lu Yuan's voice was somewhat cold in the darkness.

But he did not waste any more words.

Lu Yuan's figure suddenly burst forth. With his great mastery Wild Bull Force erupting, he was like a hunting leopard, crossing several zhang in an instant.

"Clang!"

The black cloth fell away in an instant.

The Rusty Saber left its sheath.

A savage streak of saber light suddenly flashed through the night.

Jia Ke only felt a faint chill at his neck.

Then his vision spun as heaven and earth overturned, and he saw his headless body spraying blood.

"Thud! Thud!"

Along with Jia Ke's fallen body, several heads dropped to the ground.

The lackeys did not even have time to scream before Lu Yuan cleanly and efficiently cut them down as well.

"Killing people... the psychological burden didn't seem that heavy. Perhaps these fellows did not count as human in the first place!"

Lu Yuan watched the blood drip from the Rusty Saber in his hand.

He stood stunned for a few seconds.

Then he came back to his senses.

"I need to speed things up."

Lu Yuan knew that wasting any more time would be greatly disadvantageous to him.

Then, expressionless, he searched the corpses and tucked the only 500 copper coins they had between them into his clothes.

He then kicked the bodies into a nearby nook and cranny before turning and vanishing into the night.

Before returning to Green Mountain Village, Lu Yuan washed himself by a small stream.

Then he discarded the black clothes.

He quietly returned to his bed as though nothing had happened.

The next day, after waking in the morning.

He took stock of his supplies on the bed.

But there seemed to be nothing much to count.

Aside from that enormous Azure Fish head, he had two Demon Cores in his possession: one was the red Bristle-Haired Boar Demon's Demon Core, which carried an earthy, fishy smell; the other was the blue Azure Fish Demon's Demon Core, which carried the fresh fragrance of water plants.

Previously, he had consumed the Gray-Skinned Rat Demon's Demon Core.

Apart from recovering some strength and obtaining some information from the Gray-Skinned Rat Demon's mind.

It seemed not to have greatly improved his physical body or cultivation realm.

"This Demon Core may have other uses, but it isn't that useful to me right now."

"Even if I consume it, it has little value. I should keep it and find a good place to sell it for a good price later."

"Trading it for cultivation resources is what really matters."

After pondering for a while, Lu Yuan.

Prepared to set out for Mountain Spring Town.

He would first sell the fish head, then find a martial arts school and take a master.

After eating a sorghum bun with pickled vegetables.

Lu Yuan deliberately swaggered through the streets, carrying the enormous Azure Fish head wrapped in burlap toward town.

This was to create a perfect alibi for himself.

He had killed Jia Ke and his group last night. Today, he was parading around town with a fish head on his shoulder, so no one would connect last night's murder case to him.

At least for the time being, no one had evidence proving that he had killed Jia Ke and his group.

This could buy him quite a bit of time to improve his strength.

After arriving in town, Lu Yuan made some inquiries and learned that Heavenly Fragrance Tower was one of the finest restaurants in town.

When Lu Yuan carried the fish head to the entrance of Heavenly Fragrance Tower.

A sharp-witted waiter.

Immediately came forward. "Customer, are you here for a meal or lodging?"

"I'm neither eating nor staying. I'm here to sell ingredients," Lu Yuan said bluntly.

Then he set the burlap bundle from his shoulder on the ground, lifted one corner, and revealed the enormous Azure Fish head.

When the waiter saw the fish head, which was larger than a water vat.

His eyes immediately lit up.

After all, the bigger something was, the more it could attract customers.

"Young sir, please wait. I'll go get our manager."

With that, the waiter darted back into the restaurant.