Lü Bufan rose and stood in the empty, dilapidated courtyard, drawing a deep breath... A thin layer of acquired gang qi flowed over his skin.
The Thirty-Six Fists were simple, even somewhat crude. Zhong Huan watched the routine carefully and shook his head inwardly.
After completing the routine, Lü Bufan settled into his finishing stance, slightly out of breath, and said bashfully, "That's all I know, Uncle Zhong."
He truly knew no other martial warrior fist techniques. Apart from that... there was carrying the huge iron ball...
Zhong Huan nodded. "Not bad! Your foundations are fairly solid... Keep working hard and try to reach the first realm soon! If you need to, you can study our sect's Martial Scripture, too, but you'd have to formally acknowledge a master and offer tea... Hahaha!"
Lü Bufan smiled. "You're teasing me, Uncle Zhong. I'll probably still have to search for my master someday... I wouldn't dare burden you."
Zhong Huan nodded. "It's up to you... Dozens, perhaps even a hundred secluded villages around Two-World Mountain must have been destroyed this time... I hope your master is safe and sound..."
A night breeze seemed to pass through the sky overhead, accompanied by a faint, disdainful snort. Then... everything fell silent again.
Zhong Huan, a Fifth Realm martial warrior, let out a slight breath of relief and looked up at the silent night sky...
Just now, a faint presence had been concealed overhead, watching the two of them like a hawk!
It must have been an Immortal Sect cultivator who had been monitoring their party all along! An expert of at least the middle five realms...
It seemed the Taihua Sect had indeed grown suspicious of this little beggar-like fellow, Lü Bufan. But their conversation, along with the level of martial cultivation Lü Bufan had displayed, had dispelled the visitor's doubts...
That was close!
Even Zhong Huan wasn't sure. Although he had received a considerable benefit from Lü Bufan's master, if the Immortal Sect truly decided to kill this young mountain martial warrior rather than risk letting a suspect slip away... would he step in to save him?
Zhong Huan lowered his head with a bitter smile... Perhaps he no longer had that spirit of drawing his blade to help whenever he saw injustice.
Yet Zhong Huan failed to notice that Lü Bufan, crouching beside the fire, also raised his head slightly and glanced toward the horizon... As though even a mere second-realm martial warrior like him could sense that hidden presence in the sky!
"Daddy! There are so many wild animals around Two-World Mountain... Look how fat this deer is!"
Zhong Duo'er skipped into the courtyard with the two senior brothers who had gone hunting with her. Eldest Senior Brother Feng Hu carried a sizable wild deer over his shoulder, while Liu Zhi followed with a bundle of dry firewood tucked under his arm.
"You've already got the fire ready? You're quite capable for a little martial warrior... Hehehe!"
Zhong Huan shot her a stern look. "Young Lü will be staying at our Vigorous Martial Gate from now on, as an attendant! Mind your manners... And all three of you, remember this: young Lü joined us in the town outside the mountains. Under no circumstances are you to reveal what happened to him in the Ice Cave!"
"I'll remember, Daddy..."
"Yes, Master!"
Lü Bufan stood and bowed to the three young people. "I'm Lü Bufan. Greetings, senior brothers... and young senior sister..."
"No problem, no problem! Once we're back in Guangling Commandery, I'll look after you... Hahaha!"
Zhong Duo'er beamed with delight.
Second Senior Brother Liu Zhi and Feng Hu returned his greeting with cupped fists. Liu Zhi said, "Junior Sister, Brother Lü is our attendant... You mustn't be too rude."
"Mind your own business... Even my father didn't say that much!"
Lü Bufan smiled, then deftly gutted the deer, cut up its meat with the crude short sword he carried, and set it over the fire...
Zhong Duo'er examined the blackened short sword. "Your master's sect is so poor, little brother Bufan. They only gave you this blunt sword without a proper edge... Once we're back in Guangling Commandery, I'll find you a good weapon in the storehouse!"
As Lü Bufan sprinkled salt over the venison, he replied, "I don't know any sword techniques anyway... Having something to carry around is enough. Don't trouble yourself!"
Beside them, Zhong Huan drank from a wine flask and said with a smile, "Once you reach the Vigorous Martial Gate, you'll have to work with us to earn our keep! Don't neglect your cultivation or tempering your body, either... You'll receive one third-grade spirit stone and ten taels of silver each month! You can take pills instead, too. Don't think it's too little. We're a small sect, and making ends meet isn't easy!"
Lü Bufan smiled. "Food and lodging are enough! I don't need anything else..."
Beside him, Zhong Duo'er blinked her large eyes. "How could we do that? Our Vigorous Martial Gate only has six martial warriors who've reached a realm now. You'll have to help with the work!"
Lü Bufan nodded. "I'll do as you say, Young Senior Sister!"
"Hehehe... I just had my fifteenth birthday. How old are you?"
Lü Bufan thought for a moment. "I've wandered from place to place since I was little. According to my master, I should be fifteen this year, too..."
"Then we'll say you're half a year younger than me!"
They chatted and laughed as they waited for the venison to roast, but a flicker of complicated emotion passed through the eyes of Second Senior Brother Liu Zhi, who had remained silent.
Lü Bufan quietly noticed, but merely smiled without saying a word.
One heart earned another's trust. Clever people found it especially difficult to trust strangers; that was only human nature.
Zhong Huan's party had brought horses with them. This time, the Immortal Sect and Guardian City had taken control of such a vast stretch of Two-World Mountain that they lacked enough manpower. Only then had they lifted the restrictions on the sects below the mountain, allowing these minor sects to enter in search of treasure, explore, and march to their deaths...
Over the past two months and more, several thousand members of minor mountain sects had entered seeking riches. Some had indeed struck it rich overnight... But far more had encountered unknown fierce beasts or demonic beasts and been wiped out, without even whole corpses left behind.
A minor sect like Zhong Huan's, which had discovered a small mine producing ordinary spiritual materials and could reap a modest but steady stream of benefits, was already very fortunate.
The four horses were all tall and strong. Eldest Senior Brother Feng Hu offered his horse to Lü Bufan, but Lü Bufan declined, not knowing whether to laugh or cry... He couldn't ride at all.
"How about sharing a horse with me, Junior Brother?"
Zhong Duo'er grinned at her father. Beside her, Liu Zhi frowned and said, "You're a girl. If people see you behaving so carelessly, they'll gossip..."
"You're the one with all the rules... Hmph!"
Scratching his head, Lü Bufan said, "I can just run along behind..."
Zhong Huan smiled beside them. "It's a thousand-li journey. Don't talk nonsense! You learn to ride. As a Fifth Realm martial warrior, I'm rather good at leaping and bounding, so I'll head to the town ahead and wait for you!"
With that, Zhong Huan gave a low whistle and sprang into the air, soaring more than a dozen zhang like a great roc. The horse beneath him panicked...
Feng Hu hurried to soothe the horses, while Lü Bufan watched Zhong Huan's toes skim the treetops as he rapidly vanished northward.
Feng Hu chuckled. "Come on, Brother Lü! Master's warhorse has a fierce temper! You'll have to be careful..."
Lü Bufan stroked the spirited horse before him. The tall animal, already somewhat agitated, actually retreated several steps as though afraid, its large eyes filled with terror.
The other three horses fared even worse, not daring to approach Lü Bufan at all.
Lü Bufan smiled. "I've hunted in the mountains for years, so I probably carry quite a bit of wild beasts' scent. It's nothing..."
Reassured, the others calmed the horses and began teaching Lü Bufan the essentials of riding and traveling on horseback.
Looking at the dilapidated town in the distance, Lü Bufan felt a strange sensation... It was actually Huqi Town.
The four of them had traveled more than three hundred li, only to return to Huqi Town, where he had met Master Ming!
As they passed the ruined graveyard outside town, Lü Bufan excused himself and found the two little graves he and Liuzi had piled up with their own hands... He respectfully knelt and kowtowed several times.
As they entered Huqi Town, Duo'er quietly asked Lü Bufan, who had now learned to ride, "Were they your family?"
"No. I'm an orphan who's always wandered... Buried there are an old beggar who helped me and an elderly couple."
"This place is getting more and more chaotic. You probably won't have many chances to return... But you'll understand once you reach our Vigorous Martial Gate... We're not a great sect, but having one big family together is nice, too..."
Lü Bufan smiled and nodded.
Destroyed. Utterly and completely destroyed.
Lü Bufan surveyed Huqi Town, the familiar place where he had spent several years of his wandering life, and found that rioting rogue cultivators, impoverished people, and refugees had destroyed everything like an uncontrolled wildfire...
Although the bodies had already been removed, Lü Bufan could still smell the heavy stench of blood and rotting corpses... Broken walls stood everywhere, and the burned tiles and bricks still bore the black scars of the blaze.
Perhaps not even a third of the town's people remained? Those who did wore the expressions of walking corpses... Most people on the streets were cultivators and martial warriors from minor sects elsewhere, here to try their luck at Two-World Mountain, along with squad after squad of soldiers from Great Jin's Guardian City.
Zhong Duo'er pointed toward the northern side of town... "That way. There's a newly opened little inn over there! Little brother Bufan, do you know these places?"
Lü Bufan shook his head. "I've been away for a long time. I don't have any acquaintances left."
Lü Bufan glanced toward the old City God temple and found it relatively intact. But the once-bustling market and shops around it were all ruined, their buildings collapsed.
Lü Bufan sighed and followed Feng Hu and the others to the entrance of a large courtyard.
At the tea stall by the entrance, the martial warrior Zhong Huan was already seated with his legs planted wide, drinking tea... "You youngsters made pretty good time!"
Beside him, Liu Zhi glanced at Lü Bufan... "The horses seemed very frightened of Brother Bufan. They behaved themselves perfectly... Learning to ride went quite smoothly."
Lü Bufan chuckled. "I'm just a wild man from the mountains. The horses don't stand on ceremony with me!"
Zhong Huan pointed into the courtyard. "Go rest and wash up! I've got a horse ready for you. Go feed it properly yourself..."
"Yes, Sect Master!"
Beside them, Zhong Duo'er planted her hands on her hips and nodded. "Mm! Now that's how a sect attendant ought to behave..."
Zhong Huan tossed a small pouch over. "You're noisy! This is young Bufan's pay and some extra silver... Take him out later to buy a couple of outfits. He can't keep wearing animal skins..."
"Right away! Your daughter obeys... Daddy Sect Master, sir!"
"Get moving already..."