Nanyang Prefecture, Ninglang County, outside Big Willow Tree Village.
As evening approached, Kui Tuo, along with more than ten brawny men, walked carelessly to the entrance of the village.
“Helmsman, what are we doing in this village?” A dark-faced man with a scar on his right cheek asked.
“Nothing much, just staying for the night before leaving,” Kui Tuo said as he stroked his full beard, looking puzzled.
He had received an order from the hall master, Zhang Ye, as soon as he woke up in the morning. He was to bring more than ten people to stay in Big Willow Tree Village for a night.
He wasn’t told to chop anyone or collect protection money, and he was told to be careful and pay attention to safety. He had been reminded for half an hour before being allowed to leave.
It left him utterly confused to this day.
“There won’t be anything wrong with this village, will there?” Another man with a long face said worriedly from behind.
“I heard that a few days ago, a lot of people at Tianqi Hall died mysteriously.”
“It’s said that they all went to some very strange places.”
Upon hearing this, a tension gripped everyone, and they stood at the village entrance, scrutinizing the village interior.
Under the big willow tree at the village entrance, five or six elderly people were leisurely gathering to play chess and chat.
Seven or eight snotty-nosed kids were playing around them.
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One of the children, wearing a patched shirt and bare-bottomed, walked over to a little pile of soft mud, lifted the hem of his shirt, and began to urinate.
Before he could finish, a chubby child rushed over, grabbed the wet mud from the ground, and ran off.
While still urinating, the bare-bottomed kid shouted at the chubby one, “Dog Egg, come back! It isn’t soaked through, it won’t mold properly!”
Kui Tuo and his brawny men: “…”
What could possibly be strange about this broken village!
“It really won’t mold properly,” the man with the scar said, as though he had experience with the matter.
This comment instantly drew sidelong glances, and the men looked at the scar-faced man with a weird expression.
“Was it indeed not sufficiently soaked?” The man with the scar said defensively.
Kui Tuo: “…”
What kind of player is this?! Why are you studying peeing and molding mud for no reason?!
It seemed the commotion at the village entrance had caught the attention of the urinating child, who looked over at the men, bewildered.
Kui Tuo grinned at the child, his full beard making him look quite fierce and scary, immediately making the little boy cry.
“Haha! Let’s enter the village!”
…
“Good sirs, have you come to our village for some matter?” an emaciated old man at the village entrance asked as he clasped his hands together.
“Just passing through,” Kui Tuo said casually: “Where can we stay the night?”
The old man chuckled, glancing at the crying child: “There’s no one in the village daring enough to take you all in.”
Kui Tuo was aware that no ordinary household would dare to let him and his men through their doors, given their intimidating appearance.
“Is there no inn in the village?” the man with the scar asked.
“There’s a small shop near the bridge to the east of the village, but it’s a pity they only serve food and alcohol. If you want to stay the night, you’ll have to make do with the Land God Temple to the north of the village,” the old man said.
“Then we’ll stay at the Land God Temple,” Kui Tuo said indifferently.
He didn’t care about poor accommodations; as long as they made it to the morning, the mission would be completed. They could rest well for quite some time.
“Let’s go, it’s time to eat and I’m buying,” Kui Tuo gestured to his men to follow.
“The Helmsman is generous!” The more than ten men cheered and made a ruckus.
…
An hour later, Kui Tuo and his men arrived at the Land God Temple, looking somewhat displeased.
The food only consisted of coarse-grained pancakes with bits of grassroot mixed in.
There was no shortage of meat, as an old sheep had died the day before, but unfortunately, it had been poorly processed, tasting both tough and gamey.
The alcohol was even worse, as sour as vinegar, enough to make teeth fall out, completely upsetting to the stomach.
Kui Tuo sighed, longing for the days spent with Brother Chen.
The men didn’t eat much before they hastily left to rest at the Land God Temple.
The Land God Temple was a lone main hall with peeling and dilapidated walls.
Fortunately, the ground was still fairly clean. In the center stood a statue of a kind old man.
Kui Tuo arranged for some people to find dry grass to spread on the ground and to look for firewood to light the campfire; he then set the order for the night watch. He walked over to the window beneath the main hall entrance and lay down comfortably on the freshly spread dry grass.
He only intended to rest his legs, but ended up falling asleep without realizing it.
After sleeping for an unknown amount of time, he was woken by a burst of lively chatter.
Opening his eyes, he saw the campfire burning in the middle of the Land God Temple.
Around the fire sat a circle of over ten burly men, apparently someone had just told a joke and several were laughing out loud.
A skinned goat, pierced from head to tail, was enduring the roasting flames, the oil sizzling out of its crisping skin.
“Helmsman awake?” Long-faced man just happened to see Kui Tuo sitting up, and raised his hand in greeting.
“It’s about ready, Helmsman, come over and have a bite,” scar-faced man said, holding a small curved knife and constantly cutting slits into the roasted goat, sprinkling on seasoning. An enticing aroma immediately filled the tiny Land God Temple.
Next to the scar-faced man by the fire, a pile of bones took Kui Tuo by surprise. Seeing the sheep skull stacked at the top, he couldn’t help but curse with a laugh, “You have food and don’t call me?!”
“I can’t be blamed for that, they didn’t believe in my cooking skills and insisted on tasting it for you first,” said the scar-faced man with a cheeky grin, and casually cut a piece of crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, goat meat and handed it to Kui Tuo as he approached.
Hungry already, his stomach couldn’t help but growl upon smelling the aroma of the roasted goat.
“I didn’t see this coming? You actually have this skill,” said Kui Tuo, his face full of surprise as the tempting aroma kept wafting into his nose.
“It’s a family secret, just a little something,” laughed scar-faced man.
Kui Tuo brought the meat up to his nose again and couldn’t help but praise, “It’s almost as good as Brother Chen’s cooking.”
As he said this, he was about to put the meat in his mouth.
But he suddenly stopped.
He took a closer sniff of the roasted goat leg, “Why does it smell so much like Brother Chen’s cooking?”
He had tasted Chen Mu’s roasted goat leg. It was streets ahead of anything from Sihai Tower. That’s why he had shamelessly kept going back for more meals.
After all, he was paying for meals, so of course it was more worth it to eat the delicious food at Brother Chen’s place.
But how could Brother Chen have possibly come here to this run-down village suburb to roast meat for him?
At that thought, his mind suddenly cleared, as if a black cloth covering his eyes had been abruptly removed. Only then did he feel something on his chest heating up in waves.
He suddenly remembered that he and his men had camped and roasted meat more than once, but scar-faced had never lifted a finger before! How could he suddenly have such high cooking skills?
He looked up in puzzlement, only to find that over ten of his men were now silently staring at him with the same smile.
“Helmsman… eat,” said the scar-faced man with the small curved knife, looking friendly and affable.
Kui Tuo’s whole body stiffened, and his scalp exploded.
The object on his chest suddenly became burning hot, as if it were a red-hot branding iron!
“I’ve been holding in a piss and it’s killing me, you guys eat first, I’m gonna go relieve myself!” he said as he quickly rushed out of the Land God Temple.
After running seven or eight meters away, he couldn’t help but look back.
He saw over ten men lined up at the entrance of the Land God Temple, staring at him expressionlessly.
Kui Tuo immediately got goosebumps all over his body.
Too damn creepy!
Through the gaps between the legs of several men, Kui Tuo caught another glimpse of the pile of dry bones by the fire.
But he realized that what he had thought was a slick sheep’s head was actually the bloody head of scar-faced man!?
But when he looked intently again, the bones on the ground had disappeared without a trace!
“F*ck!”
Kui Tuo turned and ran for his life!
…
In Shanglin Neighborhood, Chen Residence.
Jie Jia leisurely picked up a slice of tender boiled fish with his chopsticks, “Body Protection Aura comes from the activation of the bloodline.”
“Impervious to swords and guns, nothing can break it. Although hard to control, it’s even tougher than Shell Soul.”
Chen Mu immediately envied, drooling.
Soul Strength was already impervious to weapons, and the Body Protection Aura was even stronger than Shell Soul?
Children of noble families really are blessed by their ancestors with good fortune.