Trouble

"No need to become his disciple?"

"The Daoist master gave you a cultivation method for entering a realm?"

"The Daoist master said your Root Bone was excellent, and that he was ashamed of his own inferiority and couldn't take on a student with such boundless prospects?"

"You entered a realm?"

"You can even treat injuries?"

"You unfilial son, don't cut me with that knife! It's sharp!"

After all that nonsense, Zhang Xuezhou managed to put the matter of Zou Bugui behind them and stop Zhang Zhong from entertaining the wild notion of bringing a pig to become his disciple.

His body was a little sore, but his strength and endurance had improved considerably, and he could even help Zhang Zhong carry the saber as they walked.

The change in Zhang Xuezhou was obvious, leaving Zhang Zhong and Lady Yourong clicking their tongues in wonder.

"Dad, have you heard the name Ten Yin Holy Son?"

Determined not to waste anything, Zhang Zhong and Lady Yourong decided to carry the mountain boar back to Zhang Household Village.

Of course, if they ran short of food on the way, they could always slaughter it and have a bite.

Zhang Zhong had been turning over his little plans when Zhang Xuezhou's question brought all his calculations to an abrupt halt.

"Where did you hear that name? Did the Daoist master mention him?" Zhang Zhong asked gravely.

"Yes!"

Zhang Xuezhou nodded.

"Do you know the Ten Yin Holy Son?"

"He's an important figure from that vicious kingdom to the northwest," Zhang Zhong said after some thought. "They say his techniques are sinister and vicious. A brush with them will wound you, and a touch will kill you. He can slaughter a whole crowd at once. Several of my old commanders spoke of him as though he were a god of pestilence. I heard even Grand General Li doesn't dare let his guard down against him!"

"Just how strong is Grand General Li?" Zhang Xuezhou asked.

"They say he's the best archer in the world," Zhang Zhong ventured uncertainly, before adding with conviction, "At the very least, he's the best archer in our Great Han Kingdom, one of the very top figures!"

"Are there many top figures like Grand General Li in our Great Han Kingdom?"

"People like Grand General Li are already as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns. How could there be many? At court, he's this!"

Zhang Zhong raised his muscular arm emphatically. Seeing the mountain boar take advantage of his movement to struggle a couple of times, he promptly slapped it.

"In short, Grand General Li is formidable, and so is the Ten Yin Holy Son. In front of them, we'd be just like this mountain boar in our hands," Zhang Zhong said by way of comparison. "If we made enemies of them, we'd be no different from this boar, left at their mercy to be slaughtered!"

"This mountain boar can still struggle a little in our hands. If we ran into someone as important as the Ten Yin Holy Son, we wouldn't even have a chance to struggle. We'd be worse off than the boar," Lady Yourong corrected him.

"Right, that's it," Zhang Zhong said. "Now you understand what kind of person the Ten Yin Holy Son is!"

"I understand!"

Zhang Xuezhou nodded.

"If we beat the Ten Yin Holy Son to death, would we be rewarded or would disaster befall us?" Zhang Xuezhou asked.

"Beat the Ten Yin Holy Son to death?" Zhang Zhong asked, puzzled. "Is that your lifelong ambition?"

"My lifelong ambition should be a little bigger than that!"

Thinking of the Ten Yin Holy Son, who had most likely already been eaten, Zhang Xuezhou felt there was no way he could set his lifelong ambition on a dead man.

After mulling it over several times, he changed tack and mentioned some of the relevant details.

"You're saying you entered a realm entirely because you ate that bite of venomous snake meat, and the Daoist master said the presence on you was identical to the Ten Yin Holy Son's?"

The account was not particularly complicated, but Zhang Zhong's expression changed drastically when he heard it, and his hands and feet began to tremble slightly.

"You mean the Ten Yin Holy Son's true form was very likely that venomous python?" Zhang Zhong asked.

"Putting it together with what the Daoist master said, I think so," Zhang Xuezhou replied with a nod. "If possible, I hope our whole family can go somewhere safer to take shelter!"

Ordinary people could not see the Ten Yin Holy Son's Yao Qi with the naked eye, but to certain exceptional great cultivators, the presence on them was as conspicuous as the bright moon, and a sweep of perception would make everything clear.

"How could such a thing happen?" Zhang Zhong said, frowning.

"No wonder those mountain boars ran as soon as they saw us. They were probably frightened by the presence on us," Lady Yourong said, her face grim.

"I need to find Baojia at once and see what he plans to do!"

Zhang Zhong thought for a few seconds. Merely imagining the Ten Yin Holy Son's presence lingering on them for two or three years made him shudder.

He knew full well that a major figure like the Ten Yin Holy Son was bound to have many people behind him, and that someone would surely investigate his whereabouts. In all likelihood, the trail would lead them to Zhang Household Village.

But dispersing or relocating everyone involved more than three hundred people in Zhang Household Village. He was only a reserve elder and had no authority to make that decision.

In this matter, Zhang Zhong could only go to Zhang Baojia and see what he, another man who had served in the army, planned to do.

A decisive man, he immediately took the Wind-Breaking Saber from Zhang Xuezhou's back.

The Wind-Breaking Saber's edge flashed, and the mountain boar, which was still struggling faintly, breathed its last.

Zhang Zhong swiftly cut off several good pieces of meat, and they set off with a lighter load.

Compared with the great calamity the Ten Yin Holy Son might bring, a mountain boar meant little.

The three traveled much faster with their lighter load.

The journey out had taken five days, but the return to Zhang Household Village took three.

A week later, Zhang Xuezhou saw the familiar village once more.

But the closer they drew to the village, the more solemn their expressions became.

"Something's happened!" Zhang Zhong said in a low voice.

"Don't rush. Be careful, there could still be people lying in ambush!"

The village, once filled with the constant sound of voices, was so quiet they could hear birds calling in the distance.

There were no voices, no cooking smoke, no sound of bows being drawn for shooting, no shouts or cheers...

Of all the sounds, only their whispers outside the village remained.

Zhang Zhong gripped the Wind-Breaking Saber tightly. After acknowledging Lady Yourong's warning, he crept forward on light feet.

When he reached the village gate, he slipped the Wind-Breaking Saber nimbly into the gap between the doors.

But before Zhang Zhong could exert any force to cut through the wooden bar, the village gate moved with a gentle push from him.

He peered through the gap, then looked out over the entire village.

The village was utterly silent. Not a person was in sight.

"No one!"

After looking several times, Zhang Zhong finally confirmed that there was no one in Zhang Household Village, once so lively.

There were no enemies, nor any sign of the villagers he had once known.

The village was deathly still, as if everyone had vanished into thin air.

"Go!"

Once Zhang Zhong had ascertained the situation, he did not take a single step into the village. Instead, he retreated cautiously, step by step.

He called softly to Lady Yourong and Zhang Xuezhou, clearly sensing a danger they could not withstand.

"Perhaps the Northern Border Military Region fought a major battle with the people of that vicious kingdom, and the conscription officers forcibly drafted everyone in the village and took them away!"

"Or perhaps Zhang Household Village was in danger from landslides and the earth splitting open, and Baojia and the others heard about it and took everyone in the village away!"

"Or perhaps..."

Zhang Zhong's expression was extremely grave.

He chose only the hopeful possibilities, but everything he said was implausible, even far removed from reality.

The most natural guess was that the Ten Yin Holy Son's people had already come looking.

The Ten Yin Holy Son was a yao, and so were his subordinates. Perhaps the many people of Zhang Household Village had already been swallowed whole by the yao using their arts.

That was the guess most likely to be close to the truth.

Had he been alone, Zhang Zhong would surely have carefully examined every trace left in the village, then relied on a hunter's tracking skills and his own combat instincts to follow the trail until he learned the truth.

But now, Zhang Zhong could not afford to gamble.

Only after settling his family somewhere safe would he have a chance to get to the bottom of the matter.