Just as Chen Lin felt his nerves were about to snap, a faint sound suddenly came from the back window.
Chen Dashan was back!
He moved with the same agility, slipping into the house like a shadow and quickly closing the window.
His tattered cotton padded jacket was stained with a few withered leaves, carrying the chill from outside.
In the dim light, Chen Lin's sharp eyes noticed several fresh, not yet fully dried, dark red bloodstains on his father's cuffs and front.
Chen Shisheng and Chen Qingfeng immediately gathered around him, anxiously scrutinizing him from head to toe.
Chen Dashan waved his hand, signaling he was fine, his voice low and hoarse: "It's done, it's resolved."
He didn't mention Gouzi, but the striking dark red on his cuffs explained everything.
A chill shot from Chen Lin's soles straight to the top of his head.
Two human lives, just like that, lightly gone.
His father's calm tone was as if he were talking about dealing with two hunted animals.
Chen Dashan walked to the edge of the heated brick bed, looking at the stiffening corpse, with no extra emotion in his eyes.
He reached out and began to carefully search the torn, blood-stained green robe.
His movements were practiced, carrying the ruthless efficiency of looting enemy corpses on a battlefield.
A gray pouch, the size of a palm, of an indiscernible material, was pulled out, feeling heavy.
Next was a flat jade box, smooth and warm to the touch.
Finally, there was a thin, yellowish, strangely textured beast skin scroll.
"Not many things, just these."
Chen Dashan placed the three items on the edge of the heated brick bed, his gaze sweeping over his three sons,
"How do we divide them?"
Chen Qingfeng, quick-eyed and quick-handed, grabbed the small gray pouch. It felt heavy in his hand, neither metal nor wood, and its surface seemed to have an extremely faint glow. His voice changed with excitement:
"Mustard... Mustard Seed Pouch!
The Storage Pouch of Immortals mentioned in storybooks!
The treasures must all be inside!"
He pulled hard at the mouth of the pouch, but it didn't budge, making his forehead sweat with anxiety.
Chen Shisheng, on the other hand, carefully picked up the flat jade box. It was cool and smooth to the touch, with simple cloud patterns carved on its body, subtly exuding a faint herbal scent:
"This... seems like it's for Medicinal Pills?"
Chen Lin's gaze, however, fell on the most inconspicuous, yellowish beast skin scroll.
It looked the oldest, the most ordinary, even a bit frayed at the edges.
An indescribable intuition, or perhaps a certain resonance from the Transmigrationer's Soul, made him instinctively reach out and pick it up.
The beast skin was tough and peculiar, carrying a sense of age.
He slowly unrolled it.
The moment the scroll unrolled, Chen Lin felt a sudden searing heat in his chest!
The sensation was sudden, like a red-hot branding iron pressed firmly against his flesh!
He groaned, nearly dropping the scroll in his hand.
He instinctively covered his chest over his heart. Through the coarse hemp clothing, the skin there was intensely hot, as if something was trying to bore out of his flesh and blood!
"Third Brother? What's wrong?"
Chen Shisheng noticed his abnormality and asked with concern.
Chen Qingfeng also stopped fiddling with the Mustard Seed Pouch and looked over.
"No... nothing,"
Chen Lin suppressed the turbulent waves in his heart, forcing out an ugly smile,
"Maybe... I'm a bit weak from hunger."
He lowered his head, concealing the surging horror in his eyes, his fingers tightly clutching the beast skin scroll.
In the dim light of the room, he clearly saw the ancient, simple characters at the beginning of the scroll:
"Spirit Beast Sect · Qi Guiding Technique · Elementary Beast Taming."
Immortal Arts!
At the same time, the burning sensation in his chest not only didn't subside but became clearer and hotter.
That feeling... was like a fifteen-year-dormant brand finally being awakened by a Qi from the same source!
A vague thought, like a bolt of lightning, split through his chaotic mind—
That mysterious ancient furnace mark that brought him to this world but had been dormant for fifteen years?!
It... came alive?
Chen Lin pressed hard on his chest, the burning sensation seemingly branded deep into his Soul.
He suppressed the gasp that almost escaped his lips, swallowing back the metallic taste in his throat.
His father, Chen Dashan's, eagle-like gaze swept over him, full of scrutiny.
"Third Brother?"
Chen Dashan's voice was low,
"Why is your face as pale as the snow outside? Are you really alright?"
"Really, I'm fine, Dad,"
Chen Lin tried to make his voice sound steady, even forcing a dry smile,
"It's just... a bit cold, and I'm so hungry. Seeing this Immortal item suddenly made me a bit... dizzy."
He shook the beast skin scroll in his hand, trying to appear natural.
Chen Dashan stared at him for two breaths, his gaze seemingly able to penetrate flesh and see into his bones.
Finally, he shifted his gaze, no longer pressing the issue, and turned to look at the items on the edge of the heated brick bed.
"Eldest Brother, keep the jade box safe on your person. It looks like an Immortal Pill; don't touch it unless it's a life-saving situation!"
Chen Dashan instructed, his gaze falling on the dusty little pouch in Chen Qingfeng's hand,
"Second Brother, can you open that Mustard Seed Pouch?"
Chen Qingfeng was struggling with the pouch, his face flushed, but the mouth of the pouch remained stubbornly shut, as if welded.
"It's cursed, Dad! Can't pull it open! It's like a lump of iron!" he grumbled in annoyance.
"If you can't open it, leave it be," Chen Dashan's tone was unquestionable. "That scroll in Third Brother's hand, is it Immortal Arts?"
"Yes,"
Chen Lin took a deep breath, trying to make his voice sound merely excited rather than horrified,
"Dad, Eldest Brother, Second Brother, it says 'Spirit Beast Sect · Qi Guiding Technique · Elementary Beast Taming' on it."
He carefully unrolled the scroll a little, revealing the ancient seal script at the beginning.
"Spirit Beast Sect? Beast Taming?"
Chen Qingfeng's eyes lit up. He threw aside the unopened Mustard Seed Pouch and crowded over,
"Immortal Arts for taming Spirit Beasts? Then wouldn't hunting... no, wouldn't subduing Yao Beasts be easy for our family from now on?"
"Qi Guiding Technique..."
Chen Shisheng, on the other hand, seized the more crucial words, a flush of excitement uncontrollably rising on his steady face,
"This... isn't this the introductory method for Immortal cultivation? Can it make people... produce magical power?"
"It should be."
Chen Lin nodded, his fingers brushing over the strange patterns on the beast skin. The burning sensation in his chest seemed to intensify with his touch.
The feeling was very strange, not just pain, but more like a long-dormant living thing awakening, craving, and transmitting vague intentions to him.
"Good!"
Chen Dashan slapped his thigh hard, his eyes gleaming. The previous gloom and murderous aura were replaced by an almost wild excitement,
"With this, our old Chen family will have hope! Heaven will not abandon Chen Dashan!"
He rose abruptly, his tall figure casting a highly oppressive shadow in the small earthen house:
"Eldest Brother, you are the most steady-minded. Keep this jade box close to you and do not use it unless it is a life-saving moment!
Second Brother, this unopened pouch also goes to you for safekeeping. Find a place to hide it securely! Third Brother,"
His gaze burned as he looked at Chen Lin,
"You take this Immortal Arts scroll! You are the only one in our family who has read for a few days and knows a few characters. You study this first!
Once you understand it, then teach it to us!"
Chen Lin's heart trembled, and his fingers tightened around the scroll.
His father's decision was within his expectations, but it also made his shoulders feel instantly heavy.
He nodded heavily: "Dad, I understand!"
"Yun Niang! Xiu'er!" Chen Dashan raised his voice, calling towards the kitchen.
The door was carefully pushed open a crack, and Chen Yunniang timidly poked half her head in. Sister-in-law Lin Xiu stood behind her, holding the sleeping Hu Wa, both their faces filled with unease.
"Come in, it's alright now."
Chen Dashan's tone softened, but the murderous aura in his brows had not completely dissipated,
"Xiu'er, go heat up the leftover gruel in the pot and bring it over.
Yun Niang, get the broom and dustpan and... thoroughly sweep the floor."
His gaze swept over the few dark brown stains remaining on the heated brick bed and the floor.
Lin Xiu and Yun Niang quickly assented, walking in cautiously.
Lin Xiu kept her head down, not daring to look towards the heated brick bed, and hurried towards the kitchen.
Yun Niang picked up the broom in the corner and silently began to sweep the floor, her small face still pale.
Chen Dashan walked to the edge of the heated brick bed, looking at the stiffening corpse, his brows tightly furrowed, as if dealing with a troublesome hunted animal:
"Eldest Brother, Third Brother, lend a hand.
Under the cover of night, take this 'thing' to the old forest in the back mountain and bury it deep.
Second Brother, go get our cart ready and cover it tightly with a tattered felt blanket."
"Dad, where do we bury it?" Chen Shisheng asked in a low voice.
"At the very end of Wild Wolf Gully, beneath the cliff."
Chen Dashan's voice was devoid of emotion,
"That place is shady, with thick snow. When the snow melts in spring, a mudslide will wash it away, and even an Immortal won't find a trace of bones."
The plan was ruthless and thorough.
Chen Shisheng and Chen Lin stepped forward, suppressing their physical discomfort and the turmoil in their hearts, and tightly wrapped the corpse in the blood-stained felt blanket from the heated brick bed.
The corpse was light, like a bundle of dry firewood, only its torn green robe silently spoke of the extraordinary it might once have possessed.
Chen Qingfeng had already deftly pushed over the family's old single-wheeled cart.
Outside, the night had fallen like spilled ink. The cold wind, carrying fine snowflakes, stung their faces.
The entire Cangshan Village was silent, only a few houses showing faint, dim yellow light through their windows, like fireflies in the darkness that could be extinguished at any moment.