The next morning, Zhang Ling left White Stone Town and headed towards Ming City. He didn't have a specific goal. He just wanted to see if there were really any martial artists who cultivated internal energy. Ming City was located south of White Stone Town, a distance of over a thousand miles. It would take an ordinary person more than half a month to walk there. That night, the full moon hung high, casting a bright light. Somewhere in the forest, Zhang Ling sat beside a large tree, resting. "It's appearing." Suddenly, Zhang Ling murmured, flipped over, and sat up. His right hand reached to his waist and pulled out a small, earth-yellow bead. After twelve full days since the last change, this magical bead changed again, emitting a faint coolness. Zhang Ling carefully observed the changes on it. The yellow earth bead lay motionless in his hand, with a bit of translucent ice appearing on it. He vaguely felt that the bead was also emitting a strange, ethereal light. In just a few breaths, the ice layer on the bead was the thickness of a fingernail. Then it stopped changing. Zhang Ling stared at the mysterious bead for a while, but still couldn't figure out how the thin ice condensed on it, as if it appeared without any warning.
Under his observation, the thin ice on the bead only lasted for a quarter of an hour. His hand felt a little damp, and the thin ice on the bead began to melt. He knew that these water droplets could cause plants to mutate. Watching the gradually melting thin ice, Zhang Ling rubbed his hands and found several foxtails in the nearby weeds. To verify the effect of these water droplets, he once again focused on these weeds. This time, he put some thought into it, finding several foxtails growing in different locations, and applying different amounts of the water droplets to the weeds. He used half of the water on the first foxtail, and half of the remaining water on the second. For the third foxtail, he didn't apply the water droplets directly to the weed, but dripped them onto the soil below. After doing all this, he sat down to rest under a nearby tree, waiting to observe the changes in these weeds the next morning. Nothing happened overnight. All three foxtails had changed. The first foxtail had grown to over one person's height, with a thick stem and a fluffy foxtail head the size of an arm. The fluff on it had turned cyan-black and was an inch long. Zhang Ling used a lot of force to pull out this foxtail. With a forceful swing, the weed hit a tree with a 'smack'. The grass broke in the middle, but what surprised him was that the fluff at the front end, which looked like a foxtail, had pierced into the tree, leaving a dense array of small holes in the wood. He touched the lengthened and hardened fluff. The dense fluff had become like fine needles, exceptionally hard. It could definitely be used to hit people; if it hit someone's face, it would create countless bloody holes. The second foxtail had also grown to the height of a person, but the fluff on it hadn't changed. Although it felt a little prickly to the touch, when he hit it against the tree with the same force, the fluff scattered all over the ground. The third foxtail only grew to half a person's height, but the other weeds nearby had grown much more vigorously overnight. Zhang Ling immediately understood the reason: it was because he had dripped the water droplets on the ground, dispersing their effect. However, he was already very satisfied with these discoveries. It seemed that this mysterious bead could really change weeds. If it were used on some medicinal herbs, he wondered if it would work. If it were also effective, then he could earn a lot of money. This yellow bead was definitely not an ordinary object. Zhang Ling carefully put the bead away. The top priority now was to study the changes in his own body and the vines on his arm. That was what was bothering him.
Then he took the thick, hard foxtail in his hand and headed towards Ming City. Walking quickly, with his speed, he would be able to reach Ming City in two more days. Three hours later, Zhang Ling hid behind a large rock, looking at a group of people in front of him with a gloomy expression. In front of him, a group of strong men wearing various colors of clothing were excitedly shouting around several carriages. These people were also holding long knives and other weapons, and there were already dozens of bloody corpses on the ground. This was a group of bandits. The reason he was so sure was because there were two people he remembered vividly: a middle-aged scholar and a bald man. "Second Master." Zhang Ling squeezed these two words out from between his teeth. This was the bandit who had slaughtered the entire Qing Tian Village. He didn't expect to encounter him here. Originally, he had thought about finding these bandits to take revenge, but he didn't know the details of this group of bandits and couldn't find them. Now he had actually encountered these people here. The bandits seemed to be robbing a merchant caravan and were taking stock of their loot. Zhang Ling stared at the middle-aged scholar. This man was talking to the bald man. Zhang Ling hid in the distance, activated the Qi in his body, and circulated it to his ears. His hearing immediately increased, and he faintly heard the conversation between the two. "Second Master, look, these wealthy merchants have a lot of good things. With these riches, the brothers can enjoy themselves for a while longer." "Xiong Da, don't just think about these riches. Did you get anything out of that kid's mouth?" "Second Master, that kid is a coward. Before the brothers even used any methods, he told us everything. He even clearly described a few of his father's mistresses." "Oh? Then tell me, is this Lin family related to Black Wind Fortress?" "Hehe, Second Master, you are truly a brilliant strategist. The batch of hard crossbows that the Lin family obtained by colluding with the government was provided by the government." "Hmph, that's good. The last time we moved out, we suffered heavy casualties, leaving only these of us. I will slowly settle this score." "Yes, Second Master is right. These people dared to harm us, they all deserve to die." The bald man looked at the scholar's expression and quickly echoed. "Is that kid still alive?" "He's still breathing." "Then according to the old rules, cut off his head, wash it clean, and send it to Black Wind Fortress." "Understood." The bald man shrunk his shoulders and quickly responded. Then the group packed up their things, pulled the carriages, and headed into the distance. Zhang Ling watched them go away with cold eyes, and quietly followed them. In the middle of the night, somewhere in the forest. The fire illuminated a patch of ground, and there were three tents nearby. The night was silent, and only the sound of burning wood could be heard. Ah! Suddenly, a scream startled everyone, and several strong men rushed out of the tents. "What happened?" "Someone is dead." "What's going on?"
"Second Master, it's bad, two of our brothers are dead, and the three on night watch are missing." The scholar walked out of a tent. He first came to a corpse and looked at it, his face gloomy. The corpse lying on the ground was a black-faced man. His body was extremely twisted, his head was tilted to one side, his eyes were protruding, and his face was blood red, looking like he died with grievances. At this moment, the remaining people were gathered around the Second Master, their faces full of fear, holding weapons and guarding their surroundings. And behind a large tree a few dozen feet away, Zhang Ling breathed softly. The black-green vine on his left hand was still dragging the body of a black-clothed man. This man was motionless and had already been strangled to death. Although it wasn't the first time he had killed someone, there was still some resistance in his heart. There were thirteen people in this group. He had followed them from noon until night. Originally, he wanted to solve them silently, but when he strangled one person with the vine, that person struggled and made a sound. Zhang Ling released the corpse in his hand and looked at the remaining bandits with cold eyes. These people must die today, that was something that would not change. Especially that Second Master must die.
