Killing

Xu Shengnan lowered her head, nervously twisting her fingers together as she said timidly, "Big Brother... back in 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 vanished, utterly speechless.

Using a mop rag to bandage a wound clawed open by a demon beast—if he hadn't died outright from tetanus, he was already extraordinarily lucky!

Snort!

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 turning up.

For a time, the courtyard was filled with cheerful air, and the family's formerly oppressive, gloomy atmosphere eased considerably.

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

Lu Yuan remained indoors nursing his wounds until the latter half of the night.

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

Although he had not fully recovered yet,

he was much better overall.

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

He wrapped the rusty blade in black cloth.

Then he quietly opened the window, vaulted over the wall, and sped toward Mountain Spring Town.

Warm Spring Pavilion in town was a famous paradise of pleasure throughout the surrounding villages.

At that moment, Jia Ke and several lackeys had their arms around flamboyantly dressed girls.

With ruddy faces, they staggered out through the doors of Warm Spring Pavilion.

The group had enjoyed themselves immensely.

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

they were still savoring that paradise of pleasure.

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

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

Jia Ke let out a satisfied burp, his face flushed red.

The group had also reached a turn at the corner of the street.

As they rounded the corner, they abruptly stopped in their tracks.

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

He stood quietly, a sheathed long saber hanging from his hand.

"Y-you're that kid from Green Mountain Village?"

Although Lu Yuan was dressed all in black,

Jia Ke still recognized him at a single glance.

Of course, Lu Yuan had only put on a simple disguise.

"What, a petty yamen runner wants to make a move?" After recognizing who it was,

Jia Ke sobered up halfway. He was first stunned, then his face darkened as he arrogantly pointed at Lu Yuan and cursed, "In the middle of the night, if you don't dare make a move, then get the hell out of here."

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

"If anything happens to us, your family will be wiped out tomorrow. And those mud-legged peasants in Green Mountain Village definitely won't have it easy either."

"You'd better think this through. Do you really want everyone around you to suffer calamity?"

Jia Ke unleashed a torrent of abuse at Lu Yuan.

"Brother, has this kid drunk even more than us? He actually dares block our path."

"If you're drunk, then piss off. Are you waiting for us to invite you to dinner?"

The lackeys beside Jia Ke also shouted.

"Is that so?"

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

But he said nothing more.

Lu Yuan suddenly exploded into motion. With his mastered Wild Bull Force erupting forth, he was like a cheetah, instantly crossing several zhang.

Clang!

The black cloth fell away in an instant.

The rusty blade left its sheath.

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

Jia Ke only felt a trace of chill at his neck.

Then his vision spun around, and he saw his headless body spraying blood.

Thud! Thud!

Along with Jia Ke's collapsing body, several severed heads fell to the ground.

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

It seemed that killing people did not weigh so heavily on my mind. Perhaps these fellows did not even count as human!

Lu Yuan looked at the blood dripping from the rusty blade in his hand.

He stood dazed for several seconds.

Then he came back to himself.

"I need to move faster."

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

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

He then kicked the bodies into a nearby nook and vanished into the night.

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

Then he discarded his black clothes.

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

The next morning, after waking up,

he took stock of his supplies on the bed.

But there did not seem to be much to count.

Aside from the enormous azure fish head, he had two Demon Cores in his possession: one was the red Demon Core of the Bristle-Haired Boar Demon, which carried an earthy, fishy smell; the other was the green Demon Core of the Azure Fish Demon, carrying the fresh scent of waterweed.

Previously, he had swallowed the Demon Core of the Gray-Skinned Rat Demon.

Aside from recovering some strength and gaining certain information from the Gray-Skinned Rat Demon's mind,

it did not seem to have greatly improved either his physical body or his cultivation realm.

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

"Even swallowing it would have little value. I should keep it and find a good place to sell it for a good price later."

"Exchanging it for cultivation resources is what truly matters."

After pondering for a while,

Lu Yuan prepared to set off for Mountain Spring Town.

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

After eating a sorghum cornbread with pickled vegetables,

Lu Yuan deliberately swaggered toward town with the enormous azure fish head wrapped in burlap slung over his shoulder.

This was to create a perfect alibi for himself.

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

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

This could buy him plenty of time to increase 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 up to him. "Sir, are you here for a meal or lodging?"

"Neither. I'm here to sell ingredients," Lu Yuan said bluntly.

Then he set the burlap bundle from his shoulder on the ground and lifted one corner, revealing the enormous azure fish head.

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

his eyes immediately lit up.

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

"Young man, wait here. I'll fetch our shopkeeper."

With that, the waiter darted back into the restaurant.