First-Order Peak Beast, Rockhide Mountain Monkey

"You're being far too overbearing!"

Lu Qing glared furiously at the bandits.

But Liu Tieshan hurriedly shielded Lu Qing behind him.

"What does this have to do with you? Get back inside."

Liu Tieshan barked at Lu Qing.

"Well now, Old Liu, how long can you keep hiding?"

"You've got such a pretty granddaughter—why didn't you say so sooner?"

"If our boss is in a good mood, he might even waive your household levy."

Zhou Hu had been about to lose his temper.

But when he saw Lu Qing,

his eyes lit up instead.

Although Lu Qing wore a coarse cloth dress,

her features were picturesque and her skin fair. Out here in the wilderness, she was a lotus blooming from the water.

Especially now, with anger and urgency flushing her lovely face red, she became all the more alluring.

"Come, let Big Brother have a look."

Zhou Hu reached out to lift Lu Qing's chin.

"Bastard!"

Liu Tieshan could endure no more.

They could lay hands on him, but if they humiliated his granddaughter, he would gladly throw away his life.

But he was only a one-armed old man. Even if he had some strength among ordinary people,

against mounted bandits—and Zhou Hu, a Second-Grade Realm martial artist—

how could he possibly be a match?

"Old Liu, you really don't know what's good for you."

Zhou Hu kicked Liu Tieshan squarely in the chest.

With a bang.

Liu Tieshan was sent flying, crashing into the earthen wall.

Blood sprayed violently from his mouth.

"Father!"

Madam Liu's eyes nearly split with fury as she rushed over and held Liu Tieshan.

"Grandfather!"

Lu An also charged out from the crowd. His small body stood in front of his mother and grandfather as he clenched his fists, his red-rimmed eyes glaring at the mounted bandits.

He had been training his strength at the Withered Wood Fist Hall recently.

But he was only ten years old. Before these wolfish, tiger-like mounted bandits, he was as weak as a fledgling bird.

"Move!"

Several mounted bandits closed in on Lu An.

Eyes red, Lu Qing struggled desperately against them.

"Third Master, this little lady's got quite the fire."

Several mounted bandits were about to lay hands on Lu Qing and tear apart her clothes.

"Don't touch her yet. Present her to the boss."

Zhou Hu stopped them.

Naturally, the finest things had to be saved for his eldest brother.

"Write it down. The Lu Family's young lady is to be personally sent up the mountain when the time comes."

"If they dare run, kill her whole family."

Zhou Hu sneered.

He pulled out a register and handed it to a mounted bandit beside him.

Then he had all the mounted bandits gather.

Every household had a name listed.

What had just happened was already enough to fill these mud-legged peasants with terror.

That was precisely the effect he wanted.

"You have three days to gather the money. If the money is ready, nothing will happen."

"If it isn't, then the person must be sent up the mountain."

"Remember, you only have three days."

Afterward, Zhou Hu called the bandits together.

Then they mounted up and left Green Mountain Village.

On the road, one of the mounted bandits asked Zhou Hu,

"Third Master, are we calling it a day just like this?"

"When they pay, do we let them go?"

Zhou Hu laughed at that.

"Leave a few men behind to watch the village. Whoever dares flee, kill them."

Zhou Hu continued with a vicious grin, "This is to force them to scrape together the money, but we can't release the people afterward either—especially Old Liu's granddaughter."

"Old Liu's family was specifically named by the boss."

"Not one of them can be allowed to escape."

At Zhou Hu's words, the dozen or so mounted bandits

all began rubbing their hands together in anticipation.

Three days later, the zombies of Black Wind Stronghold would have a wild feast!

Green Mountain Village was a scene of devastation, with cries and wails unceasing.

The faintly visible mounted bandits watching Green Mountain Village

made everyone shudder in fear.

"Mother..."

Lu Qing crouched down to help her mother up, and at last, tears spilled uncontrollably from her eyes.

Madam Liu held her daughter, then looked at her father lying unconscious and vomiting blood. Her lips trembled for a long while, but she could not utter a word.

"Mother, what do we do?"

Lu An wept bitterly.

"Find Lu Yuan. Send a letter to the county town. He works at the county office—he'll surely have a way."

After a long while, Liu Tieshan slowly regained consciousness and said weakly.

"Mother, Grandfather, Second Sister, I'll deliver the letter."

These past few days of tempering

had made Lu An's body stronger as well.

At a time like this, it was his turn to hold up the family.

"I'll go with you."

Xu Shengnan's gaze was resolute.

The two of them secretly slipped out of Green Mountain Village.

At that moment, deep within the dense forests of Black Triangle Mountain, more than a hundred kilometers from its outskirts,

Lu Yuan slowly opened his eyes.

Yesterday, he had once again familiarized himself with several newly upgraded cultivation methods and martial skills.

These days of killing demons

had truly improved his martial path considerably.

"I'll scout a little farther ahead. If the beasts are too strong, I'll turn back."

Lu Yuan cleared away all traces around the cave entrance.

Then he headed deeper in.

"The miasma and venomous insects seem to have increased."

The deeper Lu Yuan went, the more he noticed this.

Fortunately, he had antidote pills and miasma pills prepared.

"The demonic aura here is much heavier than in that previous area."

After walking for an hour,

Lu Yuan sensed the dense demonic aura suffusing this region.

At the same time, he discovered on the ground a massive claw print as large as a washbasin and over an inch deep.

"This claw print is more than twice as large as the Blackwind Bear Demon's..."

Lu Yuan rose to his feet, his gaze solemn.

Having truly found traces of a beast,

he grew somewhat nervous again.

He was currently at the First-Grade Middle Realm.

A single punch carried eight hundred jin of force. With the combined power of his various martial skills, he could unleash nearly two thousand jin in an explosion of strength.

With the Blood-Baleful Demon-Slaying Saber added to the mix, he believed he might not be unable to fight an ordinary Second-Tier beast.

But believing it was one thing.

Actually fighting one was another.

He had once exchanged blows with Xiang Cang of the Mountain-Calming Martial Hall.

Xiang Cang was a Second-Grade Lower Realm martial artist, born with divine strength and astonishing skill in body-tempering arts.

But Lu Yuan could tell Xiang Cang had not gone all out in that battle.

And a beast's physical strength was inherently greater than that of a martial artist at the same tier.

"I absolutely can't be careless."

Lu Yuan took a deep breath, restrained his aura, and continued cautiously feeling his way forward.

His current target was not a Second-Tier beast, but a First-Order Peak beast first, to test what he was truly capable of now.

After passing through a swamp thick with miasma, a Rocky Slope appeared ahead.

Black rocks jutted about like interlocking canine teeth, with low shrubs growing between their cracks.

Just then,

a gray shadow

darted through the rocks.

It was incredibly fast.

Lu Yuan focused his eyes.

It was a monkey the size of a calf.

Its entire body was covered in gray fur.

Its eyes were blood-red.

Fangs protruded from its mouth.

Its arms hung down to its knees.

Its claws were black and gleaming, its fingertips curved like hooks.

"Rockhide Mountain Monkey!"

Lu Yuan recognized the beast at once.

The Beast Compendium recorded: Rockhide Mountain Monkeys were social beasts that usually inhabited rocky mountains. Their fur was like stone, they were powerful and agile, savage by nature, and enjoyed tearing their prey apart alive before sharing the flesh.

Quite a few martial artists had been torn alive by these beasts.

Ordinary Rockhide Mountain Monkeys were merely First-Order Low-Grade, but the aura emanating from this one had clearly reached First-Order Peak.

"No wonder it dared to wander alone."

Lu Yuan's eyes brightened slightly.

The monkey wine he had found before had likely been brewed by this Rockhide Mountain Monkey's troop.

"Perfect. I'll use it to warm up."

Lu Yuan did not intend to use his saber, but his fists.

He would use the first level of the Withered Wood Fist to test himself.