Struck It Rich

Long ago, Zhang Yuan had learned that this world was far from ordinary.

He had once witnessed a bearded giant being besieged and killed by a group of Wandering Martial Artists on the streets of the County Town.

Using nothing but his bare hands, the bearded giant had killed seven men in succession within the span of ten breaths, then leaped onto a city wall three or four zhang high and strode away!

At the time, one of the Wandering Martial Artists had fallen only a few steps from Zhang Yuan. The man's entire chest had caved in, and the blood spraying from his mouth had even splashed onto Zhang Yuan's face.

The horrific sight of death, along with the thick stench of blood, had left an extremely deep impression on Zhang Yuan.

It had also extinguished certain thoughts and ambitions in him, keeping him vigilant at every moment.

The knowledge and experience of a transmigrator reborn into another world could instead bring about fatal disaster when one was still far too weak.

That highly skilled bearded giant had also given Zhang Yuan a powerful desire to train in the martial path.

That was why he had gone to such lengths to curry favor with Hunter Gao.

And now, Zhang Yuan, who had never been able to step through the door of martial arts, was facing a true martial artist.

This Chen Family Guard could not possibly be mentioned in the same breath as that bearded giant, but how could an ordinary person ever hope to match a martial artist?

The way the man looked at Zhang Yuan carried the pride and contempt of someone looking down from on high.

It was confidence in his own strength, and scorn for Zhang Yuan!

In his eyes, Zhang Yuan, who had just killed Chen San, was no more than an ant.

Yet Zhang Yuan felt no fear, nor did he retreat.

Because he knew that fear and retreat would only make him die faster—and more miserably!

Zhang Yuan charged at him without hesitation.

The Chen Family Guard was startled at first, then found it amusing.

He was an Entry-Level Martial Artist. With one glance, he could tell that Zhang Yuan had no foundation in martial arts whatsoever—only a bit of wild, brute strength.

Seeing Zhang Yuan swing his Firewood Knife at him, the Chen Family Guard sneered and raised his arm, thrusting out his palm toward Zhang Yuan's knife-wielding wrist.

He intended to toy with Zhang Yuan as a cat toyed with a mouse. He did not plan to finish him off immediately. First, he would make Zhang Yuan suffer, then humiliate and force him into submission. Perhaps he might even gain an unexpected harvest.

This Chen Family Guard had used such methods many times before.

He was exceedingly practiced at them.

His palm strike came later yet arrived first, packed with force. Before the Firewood Knife could fall, it slammed heavily into Zhang Yuan's right wrist.

Smack!

Zhang Yuan's Firewood Knife flew from his hand, spinning into the bushes beside them.

But the Chen Family Guard, having landed his blow, was greatly startled.

He had used seventy percent of his strength in that strike. Though he had knocked Zhang Yuan's weapon away, he had not only failed to shatter the latter's wrist bones, but his own palm now throbbed faintly from the recoil.

Zhang Yuan's strength far exceeded his expectations!

The next moment, a spray of powdered dry grass struck the Chen Family Guard in the face, instantly blinding him.

The Chen Family Guard immediately lost all composure and instinctively stepped backward.

Yet amid the howling rush of wind, he took another heavy kick to the crotch.

Pfft!

In that instant, the Chen Family Guard vaguely heard the sound of something cracking.

It was as though he had seen his great-grandmother.

Then an incomparably violent pain surged up like mountains collapsing and seas overturning, instantly drowning his entire body.

All the way to the crown of his head!

The Entry-Level Martial Artist's vision went black, and he abruptly lost consciousness.

Looking at the formidable enemy lying on the ground, already unconscious, Zhang Yuan did not hesitate in the slightest.

Gathering all the strength in his body, he drove a fist into the man's Adam's apple.

Crack!

The Chen Family Guard's eyes flew open. His body arched like a cooked shrimp, his limbs twitching uncontrollably.

He opened his mouth and spat out a cloud of blood mist.

Even as his breath ceased, he could not believe that he would die at the hands of an ordinary person.

Zhang Yuan withdrew his fist.

His entire body was shaking. His face was flushed red, veins bulging from his forehead, and sweat had soaked through his clothes.

Killing two men in succession, one of them even a martial artist, had affected Zhang Yuan far more than when he had chopped a Wild Boar to death.

In truth, there had been a great deal of luck in this victory.

The Chen Family Guard had believed Zhang Yuan was just an ordinary person, but he could never have dreamed that Zhang Yuan could cheat too, activating the Black Giant Ant's power to bless himself and directly doubling his strength.

He had mainly died because he underestimated his enemy!

Of course, Zhang Yuan's fearless ferocity had also been one of the factors behind his victory.

After calming the churning blood and qi within him, Zhang Yuan searched the Chen Family Guard's corpse as quickly as possible.

Kill someone and fail to loot the body, and your head must be full of lumps. He had no intention of missing an opportunity he had traded his life for!

Zhang Yuan found a money pouch, an animal-hide bag, and some miscellaneous items such as tokens on the man.

The money pouch was heavy, filled with loose silver and copper coins.

It probably weighed seven or eight taels.

But compared with that money, what truly delighted Zhang Yuan was the book inside the animal-hide bag.

The book was two fingers thick. Its pale yellow cover bore four vigorous, powerful characters: "Boulder Foundation Skill." The edges of its pages had already frayed, clearly showing its age.

Zhang Yuan casually flipped through a few pages, and his heart began pounding uncontrollably.

A cultivation manual!

This was exactly the martial arts cultivation method he had dreamed of obtaining!

But excitement was excitement. Zhang Yuan did not lose his reason because of it, quickly putting away the martial arts manual.

He was preparing to run.

This was the entrance to the mountain. Villagers returning from gathering herbs might suddenly appear at any moment.

If the matter were exposed, Zhang Yuan would surely die without a burial place!

Yet just as Zhang Yuan was about to leave, a bold thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

Zhang Yuan crouched down again.

He first took several taels of loose silver from the money pouch and tucked them into his clothes. Then he placed the pouch, along with the other miscellaneous items, back into the Chen Family Guard's robes.

Next, he reached out his left hand and pressed it against the corpse.

Sacrifice!

According to the settings of "Phantom Traces," sacrifices offered by Divine Nest Hunters to the Divine Nest had to be spoils personally hunted down.

Zhang Yuan did not know whether, in reality, the corpse before him could serve as a sacrifice!

After all, it was a life he had hunted himself.

The next moment, the Divine Nest Emblem on the back of Zhang Yuan's left hand silently emerged.

The Chen Family Guard's corpse withered and shrank at a visible speed. In the blink of an eye, it had become a weathered dried corpse, and its dehydrated skin began to peel away.

Stop!

Zhang Yuan abruptly lifted his left hand, forcibly interrupting the sacrifice.

Source Essence +2.3

It really worked!

Zhang Yuan was instantly overjoyed and hurriedly dragged over Chen San's corpse to do the same.

But that idle thug had only yielded 0.6 points of Source Essence.

Not even as much as half a Wild Boar!

Zhang Yuan did not care. Nor did he search Chen San's corpse.

The fellow had been so poor he had resorted to highway robbery. It would have been stranger still if he had possessed anything valuable!

Zhang Yuan then retrieved his Firewood Knife and completely sacrificed the half of the Wild Boar he had discarded earlier, feeding it to the Divine Nest.

He gained another 0.8 points of Source Essence.

This time, he had struck it rich!

Glancing at the two horrifying dried corpses lying at the road entrance, Zhang Yuan gave a cold smile, then slipped into the woods without looking back.

Taking another secluded path, he quietly returned home to Chen Family Village.

He washed away the stench of blood and changed into another set of clothes.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

As the sky gradually darkened, a burst of frantic gong-beating suddenly startled everyone in the village.

"Something terrible has happened! Someone has run into a ghost!"