The party headed home.
Hooves clopped and the cart creaked, piled high with the spoils from Wild Boar Ridge.
The corpses of several boar demons lay stacked together, giving off a heavy reek of blood.
Tang Jun rode on horseback, the two baked flatbreads still tucked against his chest, already cold and hard.
He took one out and bit into it. After a couple of chews, his teeth ached from its hardness, but he ate with relish.
Looking at Lu Guan's back up ahead, he suddenly felt that his future was bright.
The demons of Weasel Grave had fled, and Wild Boar Ridge had been flattened.
Yellow Flower Ridge and White Bone Mountain had already been wiped out. In other words, no demon force of any consequence remained anywhere in Qianqiu County.
Day had dawned; the seas were calm and the rivers clear!
When the news reached the city, the people on the streets did not believe it at first. Once they saw the officers escorting the boar demons' corpses through the city gates, the whole street erupted.
"It's true! They really killed them all!"
From this day onward, there would be no more demons nearby. No household would ever again have to worry about a family member mysteriously vanishing or dying at a demon's hands.
In the teahouses and taverns, storytellers slapped their wooden clappers down and improvised a tale of "Commandant Lu Slaying the Boar Demons with a Single Saber."
The sun sank westward, and night gradually fell.
The young commandant pushed open the courtyard gate, leaving the dust of his journey outside.
Seeing Lu Guan return, Yu Qianqian handed him a cup of hot tea and asked softly, her brows drawn together:
"How did you get covered in blood?"
Lu Guan took the cup and drained it, then replied with a smile, "Demon blood, not mine."
The boar demons had been enormous, and they really had held a great deal of blood.
When his saber struck, blood had gushed out like a fountain. However careful he was, he could not avoid getting it all over himself.
"Of course I know it's demon blood." Yu Qianqian rolled her eyes, took the empty cup, and turned to pour him another. "After all, what demon could hurt you?"
She had an inexplicable confidence in the young commandant before her.
Even when she had met prodigies renowned throughout an entire province, she had never felt this way.
Those people were proud and flamboyant, their sharp edges fully exposed, like unsheathed swords, eager for the whole world to know how formidable they were.
The youth before her was different.
He was like a deep well, tranquil on the surface, yet unfathomable when one looked down.
"Well, thanks for having so much faith in me."
Lu Guan laughed despite himself at her words, a trace of dazed wonder flickering in his eyes.
Somewhere along the way, he had gone from a boy whose demon-slaying examination even worried Uncle Zhao to a commandant who had swept an entire county clean of demons.
It seemed... only a few short days had passed.
He knew that all of this depended on his extraordinary talent and the Cultivation sponsored by the demons beneath his blade.
So he could not grow complacent.
Without enough Cultivation, he was nothing.
"So... when will you come back?"
Lu Guan murmured to himself, but a fierce glint flashed deep in his eyes.
The demon he had frightened away was very likely the only source of Cultivation available to him near Qianqiu County.
Once he passed this village, there would be no other inn; he would have to find other ways to obtain Cultivation.
With no demons left around Qianqiu County, he could only make up for it elsewhere.
"Perfected True Qi Realm. Don't disappoint me."
While he was thinking, Yu Qianqian had already heated some water and ushered Lu Guan off to bathe and change.
"You reek of blood. Use plenty of soap pods to wash your hair."
Lu Guan sniffed himself.
"..."
Yes, he did smell awful.
After bathing, Lu Guan changed into fresh robes.
A good martial artist had to be presentable in the reception hall and capable in the kitchen.
"Miss Yu, what would you like to eat tonight?"
The woman reclined in the rocking chair, swinging her feet and counting on her fingers.
She had rolled up the sleeves of her loose black robe, exposing her slender, pale forearms. Tilting her head, she thought for a moment, her eyes sparkling:
"I want rouge goose breast, eight-treasure duck, crab-stuffed oranges, flower-steamed quail..."
She had only named a few dishes when Lu Guan said expressionlessly, "You're really letting your imagination run wild, aren't you?"
"Braised beef noodles. Only beef, no noodles."
The woman's Qi and Blood had not yet recovered. When it came to dietary nourishment, all Lu Guan could offer was as much beef as she wanted.
Anything else was beyond his abilities.
At the same time, he was inwardly astonished.
Just what was Yu Qianqian's background?
Never mind cooking these dishes-there were some he had never even heard of.
She truly did have an extraordinary background and a wealthy upbringing, able to casually produce a Gang Condensation Realm martial art.
So how exactly had she ended up captured by the White Bone Demon?
The surname Yu...
Lu Guan narrowed his eyes slightly.
If he remembered correctly, the imperial family of Great Li seemed to be surnamed Yu.
He wondered whether there was any connection.
His steps paused, and he turned his head to glance at Yu Qianqian.
The woman was propping up her cheeks, gazing eagerly toward the kitchen, practically drooling.
It was genuinely difficult to connect that appearance with a member of the imperial clan.
"Slurp." Yu Qianqian wiped the corner of her mouth. "Only beef, no noodles. Lu Guan, you certainly know how to make beef noodles."
Her face was full of anticipation, and her stomach growled.
She had truly suffered from hunger. Only those who had gone hungry knew how precious a full meal was.
Before long, a large platter of braised beef was served.
Cut into cubes and stewed until tender, it sat in a thick sauce with a layer of gleaming red oil floating on top.
Yu Qianqian's eyes fixed on it. She snatched up her chopsticks and began eating.
She ate extremely quickly, her cheeks bulging and sauce staining the corners of her mouth. Not a trace remained of a noble daughter from a princely household.
Lu Guan sat opposite her, picked up a piece of beef, and chewed slowly.
Watching the way Yu Qianqian ate, the corners of his mouth twitched.
"Slow down. No one's fighting you for it."
"Mm, mm." Yu Qianqian gave two muffled replies and stuffed another piece into her mouth.
In a stretch of wilderness outside Qianqiu County.
A black wind swept in as a tall, powerfully built figure walked slowly forward.
The black wind wrapped around the figure, completely shrouding its form, only occasionally exposing a patch of deathly pale fur.
It came to a rock wall and tapped it lightly several times.
The next moment, ripples like those on water spread across the stone, expanding in ring after ring.
Without the slightest hesitation, the burly figure stepped inside.
Beyond the rock wall lay a world of its own.
Clear springs and waterfalls cascaded through it, their murmuring especially clear in the night. Moonlight spilled down from overhead, passing through the mist and glittering with specks of firefly light.
Lush bamboo groves surrounded it, their stalks translucent and lustrous, as though carved from jade.
As soon as it entered, it suddenly froze.
Before it stood a handsome young man draped in a snow-white cloak, a saber hanging at his waist.
Most striking of all were his eyes.
His ice-blue slit pupils resembled cold jade that had not thawed for a thousand years. Meeting their gaze was like standing within a boundless white abyss.
The burly figure quickly realized who the young man was, dropped to one knee, and called out:
"Greetings, Lord Mountain Lord!"
"Rise," the young man addressed as the Mountain Lord said mildly.
Under the moonlight, the burly figure raised its head.
It was an old white ape, dressed in a loose black robe.
Moonlight fell across its face, illuminating pupils like two amber beads.
Deep furrows crisscrossed its face, and its fur had already grayed. Only its eyes remained clear and bright.
"Comparable to the Perfected True Qi Realm, a mere hair's breadth from breaking through to the Gang Condensation Realm."
With a single glance, the Mountain Lord had discerned the old ape's exact realm. His tone was even, betraying no emotion.
"Neither here nor there, painfully stuck. What a pity."
Before his words had faded, the young man pointed a finger, and a passage of demon script appeared in the old ape's mind.
"I came to visit your ancestor. Since I've met a junior of his, I ought to give you a first-meeting gift."
It was a Secret Method.
It could absorb the vital essence within the great medicine of the human body and refine it into a potent restorative medicine, directly helping the ape break through its bottleneck.
The only aftereffect was that it would lose all its potential for the rest of its life, unable to advance another inch.
But the old ape understood.
As the least talented of the ancestor's descendants, without this Secret Method, it might never break through to the Gang Condensation Realm in its entire life.
Perhaps Lord Mountain Lord had seen precisely that.
"Thank you, Lord Mountain Lord."
Tears suddenly slipped down the furrows of the old ape's face.
But no one answered.
It felt only a gust of wind pass. Before it stood nothing but the waterfall beneath the moonlight; the Mountain Lord was nowhere to be seen.