Wind and Rain Manor

Hearing Lu Mian's words, Shen Ruiwen nodded. "In that case, we'll do as you wish."

"If there's nothing else, you may leave."

Lu Mian and Sun Feifei took the hint and said their goodbyes.

On their way back, Sun Feifei couldn't help saying, "Lu Mian, it's too dangerous to leave the city alone to clear out Weird Beings and Evil Spirits."

"Why don't you join the Ninth Squad with me instead?"

"Most of the Ninth Squad come from backgrounds like ours. No one will single you out."

Lu Mian still declined her kind offer. "But I really don't like interacting with other people... I'll pass."

Sun Feifei hadn't expected Lu Mian to remain so stubborn. Helplessly, she said, "All right... then all I can do is wish you a safe return."

"If you need any help, you can come find me at the Ninth Squad."

She knew that without Lu Mian back in Xu Family Village, Han Can would have sacrificed her long ago.

Though they had chosen different paths, Sun Feifei still remembered what she owed him.

"All right."

"I will."

Lu Mian nodded gently.

They soon reached the end of the corridor.

Sun Feifei headed left.

Lu Mian went in the exact opposite direction.

He planned to return to his quarters and continue training.

On the way back, he happened to pass the Sixteenth Squad's former station and went inside to take a look.

After more than ten days, the place already looked somewhat derelict.

"I never thought I'd be the only one left so soon."

Lu Mian felt a touch of melancholy.

Apart from Sun Feifei, it seemed he had slaughtered everyone else.

At that thought, he couldn't help chuckling, then turned and left the station.

Over the next few days, Lu Mian spent almost all his time practicing Iron Shirt.

He repeatedly battered his muscles, bones, and skin with an iron hammer, then absorbed medicinal broth through his Gluttonous Stomach to recover.

As the cycle repeated, Lu Mian's muscle fibers grew increasingly tough, like iron wire, while his vitality steadily rose.

Six days later.

Lu Mian stood bare-chested in the courtyard and drew a deep breath.

Pshh!

In that instant, the muscles and blood vessels throughout his body seemed to burst outward, swelling considerably as a dense web of blood-red lines appeared.

Lu Mian deliberately raised a hand and slapped his chest.

Clang!

His chest gave off a metallic sound.

"Muscles like iron wire... I've finally reached minor mastery in Iron Shirt."

Aside from his firmer muscles, Lu Mian felt an extraordinary abundance of strength throughout his body.

He summoned the system.

Name: Lu Mian

Remaining lifespan: 35

Talent: Ten Thousand Ghost Furnace

Weird Being abilities: Starvation Wraith Stomach, Scholar, Sickness-Death Wraith Miasma, Deluded Monk Truth

"Hmm... minor mastery in Iron Shirt added another five years to my lifespan... not bad."

"All these days of hard training have gotten a little dull."

"I'll head out of the city later and see if I can find any Evil Spirits or Weird Beings."

Although Lu Mian's emotions were stable, he wasn't a machine. Naturally, his mood still fluctuated.

But danger lurked everywhere beyond Thousand Chimes Commandery City, so he wouldn't leave recklessly.

After packing his things, Lu Mian also visited the Guard Hall's storeroom to collect some Talisman Water and a fresh Evil-Sensing Talisman.

Under his agreement with Shen Ruiwen, he had to kill ten Weird Beings or Evil Spirits every month.

Naturally, the best proof was an Evil-Sensing Talisman.

Only after finishing all his preparations did Lu Mian leave Thousand Chimes Commandery City and head into the countryside.

According to the Guard Hall's experience, the area within a hundred li of Thousand Chimes Commandery City was relatively safe. Evil Spirits and Weird Beings that had crossed the threshold into a cultivation realm rarely appeared there.

But venturing beyond that area was extremely dangerous.

So Lu Mian didn't dare get too reckless, keeping to an area roughly seventy li outside Thousand Chimes Commandery City.

As evening approached, he spotted a manor-like building ahead.

When Lu Mian drew closer, he found a broken, rotten signboard hanging askew, its edge touching the ground.

"Wind and Rain Manor..."

"Quite a poetic name."

"What a shame."

Lu Mian planned to look around the manor that night.

The manor was still within a hundred li of Thousand Chimes Commandery City, so the chances of encountering an Evil Spirit that had entered a cultivation realm weren't particularly high.

"I hope the Falcon Guard haven't been here."

"Otherwise, I'll have to look somewhere else."

Lu Mian was actually worried that the Falcon Guard had already cleared the place out.

After all, their duty was to eliminate the Evil Spirits and Weird Beings around Thousand Chimes Commandery City.

If they had visited recently, there wouldn't be so much as a scrap left for him.

The manor wasn't very large, roughly the size of a residence with three successive courtyards. Its white walls and blue-gray roof tiles looked sinister and eerie in the evening's fading light.

Lu Mian walked through the entire manor, front to back. Once he was familiar with the layout, he settled in what looked like a reception hall in the front courtyard.

The manor's former residents had cleared things out thoroughly when they evacuated. The reception hall was practically empty, with only a few odds and ends remaining. Dust covered the floor, and numerous patches of mold had appeared on the walls.

Lu Mian cleared a patch of floor, gathered some dry firewood, and lit a campfire.

Evil Spirits and Weird Beings only became active after dark. Before the daylight faded completely, Lu Mian wanted to drink some water and eat something.

Out in the wilderness, food was generally chosen for how well it kept, not how it tasted.

This time, Lu Mian's food was once again hard, dry, cold jerky.

Just as he was roasting the jerky, a fierce, icy wind suddenly rose outside.

A few snowflakes drifted into the hall on the wind.

"It's snowing again..."

"There seems to be especially heavy snow this year, and it's getting colder and colder."

"Could the weather be growing more extreme after the Day of Heaven's Death?"

Lu Mian opened his hand and held it out.

A snowflake happened to land in his palm, bringing a faint chill.

"I didn't expect it to snow right after nightfall."

"It's so cold!"

"There's a building ahead. Hurry inside and get out of the weather!"

Several overlapping voices sounded outside the hall.

A few breaths later, five or six ragged refugees rushed inside, their faces sallow and their bodies emaciated.

They were startled when they saw Lu Mian warming himself by the fire at the back of the hall.

"Are you... a person or a ghost?"

A cross-eyed man watched Lu Mian warily.

"Of course I'm a person."

"Where did you flee from?"

Lu Mian asked with a relaxed expression.

"We fled all the way from Liuhe County City."

"We heard Thousand Chimes Commandery City has powerful experts guarding it, so we came here specifically."

"Brother, you must be from Thousand Chimes Commandery City, right?"

The cross-eyed man was fairly perceptive. Judging by Lu Mian's clothes and healthy complexion, he looked nothing like a refugee.

"You guessed right."

Lu Mian admitted it openly.

At his words, the refugees' eyes lit up. With the weather so cold that they could barely stand it, they hurried over to the campfire.

Lu Mian didn't stop them. He even made room for them of his own accord.

Once, he had been much like these people.

Having suffered himself, he wanted to offer others a little shelter.

Seeing this, the refugees quickly sat down to warm themselves by the fire, then began asking about Thousand Chimes City all at once.

"Don't rush."

"You look hungry."

"I still have some jerky here. Eat first."

Lu Mian gave each refugee a strip of jerky.

The refugees could scarcely believe it.

They didn't even soften it over the fire, instead tearing into it with great bites.

Clearly, just as Lu Mian had said, they were already ravenous.