nownovels Chapter 13 The Tale of the Roaring Beast
Chapter 13 The Tale of the Roaring Beast
As night fell, Chen Luo walked along the country road home, where he could still see many soldiers patrolling with torches, their expressions tense.
The monster tide that broke out last month, and the disaster caused by the Huan beast last night, have put everyone in Qingshan County on edge.
About an hour later.
It got completely dark.
Chen Luo returned to the outskirts of Chengxi County, but did not go home immediately. Instead, he went to a house near his home and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" The door opened, and Huang Chen came out. He was a little surprised to see Chen Luo. "Luo, what brings you here?"
"I'm here to pay my taxes." Chen Luo took out four hundred and eighty coins from his pocket and handed them over. "These are four months' worth of taxes."
Huang Chen was slightly taken aback, but didn't seem too surprised. He silently accepted the tax money, carefully counted it, went inside to get a receipt, signed it, and handed it to him. "Well, I'll go and remove your name from the tax account tomorrow. Keep this receipt safe."
"Thank you for your trouble." Chen Luo nodded, took the receipt, and turned to leave.
Huang Chen watched him disappear into the night, remained silent for a moment, and then turned around and closed the door.
Inside the house, his mother was boiling water at the stove. Seeing her son come in, she hurriedly asked, "Was that Xiao Chen? What's he doing here?"
"Pay back the taxes." Huang Chen sat down in front of the stove.
"Tsk tsk." His mother clicked her tongue. "Who did he borrow the money from? He's only been here two days and he's already scraped together almost five hundred coins."
"It must have been borrowed by Song Ruokui," Huang Chen said in a low voice.
"Song Ruokui?" His mother paused, "The Song girl who used to play with you all the time?"
"Who else could it be?" Huang Chen's expression was complicated. "I ran into her at the county office yesterday. We chatted for a bit, and she asked me about A Luo's recent situation. I mentioned the tax arrears, so I guess A Luo's money was borrowed by Song Ruokui."
"No wonder he was able to pay back the money so quickly; it turns out his old flame helped him." His mother smiled disdainfully.
"What old flame? That's all in the past." Huang Chen sighed. "Song Ruokui is quite something now. Even the county magistrate treats her with great respect. I heard she's destined to be a talent for the Qingyun Martial Arts Academy."
"Comparison is the thief of joy." His mother shook her head. "You may not be as good as Miss Song, but you're still much better than Chen Luo and Zhou Xiaoliang."
Huang Chen shook his head, "Xiao Liang is talented, it won't be difficult for him to get into the Mountain Guard in the future."
"So what if he's in the mountain guard? Things aren't peaceful in the mountains right now. He might not even outlive you! Your family went to great lengths to get you a job in the county government. If you work hard, you can eventually become a tax official. Wouldn't that be better than risking your life in the mountain guard? Besides, if Zhou Xiaoliang can get into the mountain guard, can Chen Luo do the same?"
"Hmph, I remember he and that Miss Song used to have a past relationship. Now, they're worlds apart. This is what happens when people are useless."
"He's just got a pretty face, just like his short-lived father!"
Mentioning Chen Luo's father seemed to remind his mother of some past events, and her breathing quickened.
Huang Chen didn't reply, but just stared blankly into space, lost in thought, his pupils reflecting the flickering flames.
At the same time, half a mile away from the Huang family.
Not long after Chen Luo arrived home, people from the Mountain Guard came to his door.
Moreover, he recognized the person who came; it was Wang Lan, who had delivered herbs to him a few days ago.
However, despite their past relationship, Wang Lan remained meticulous, asking detailed questions about the details of the battle with the Huan beast. She even had Chen Luo recreate the scene of the fight with a kitchen knife, showing no sign of perfunctoriness.
Only after he had thoroughly understood the situation did his serious expression soften, and he said apologetically, "It's my duty, Xiao Chen, please don't take offense."
"What's the big deal?" Chen Luo grinned and casually asked, "Brother Wang, is the cat demon I encountered related to the one in the south of the city?"
"The Mountain Guard is still investigating, and there's no conclusion yet." Wang Lan shook his head and said, "This matter is too strange. We don't know if it's a genuine coincidence or if there's something fishy going on."
"Understood," Chen Luo said knowingly.
The Mountain Guard Commander wasn't stupid; as expected, he also had some doubts about this matter.
After Wang Lan left, Shan Wei came several more times in the following days to inquire about the details, and Chen Luo cooperated by giving a full account.
Anyway, as long as it doesn't involve the Mountain and Sea Scroll, there's nothing to hide.
The investigation into the Huan beast ultimately yielded no results, and the Mountain Guard could only attribute it all to coincidence. At the same time, they increased the number of patrol personnel in the shallow mountainous areas of the Northwest and South Mountains, maintaining vigilance day and night.
The only good news was that there were no large-scale disturbances from wild animals in the foothills of the three mountains to the southwest and north. After the Mountain Guards cleared out some of the large wild animals, the situation basically stabilized, and there were no further signs of a beast tide.
Thus, Chen Luo was able to continue catching snakes in the mountains as usual.
However, the gloom in his heart still lingered, and he dared not relax for days on end, using almost all his spare time to practice martial arts.
Even his hunting work was no longer spent all day in the mountains. He would stop after earning about two hundred coins a day and spend the rest of his time practicing the Nine Yang Strength.
Thus, the Nine Yang Strength technique made remarkable progress.
On the fifth day, at Shenshi (3-5 PM), at the Zhengyang Martial Arts Academy's training ground.
Chen Luo took a deep breath, lowered his waist and exerted his strength, and threw a punch!
The old strength conceals the new strength; the two forces combine, and with the whistling wind of the punch, a fierce and powerful momentum is generated!
"Holy crap, A Luo, that punch must have been made with the force of a thousand pounds!" Zhou Xiaoliang exclaimed in astonishment.
"Didn't you just break through to the first level of strength? How come you've improved so quickly? I can't even generate this much power." Lu Qun was also surprised.
Since the calamity of the Huan Beast, he may have made up his mind about something. He has been practicing martial arts with a ruthless spirit and is much more diligent than before. Moreover, he has been practicing the Nine Yang Force for a full six months.
However, Chen Luo's current level of cultivation is still higher than his.
"Keep your voice down." The two of them were making a lot of noise, which attracted the displeased looks of many disciples around them. Chen Luo glared at them and made up an explanation: "After entering the sect, I feel that it is much easier to make progress. I have become like this without realizing it."
As he spoke, he looked at the progress panel.
【Nine Yang Strength (Beginner): 46/300】
After days of relentless practice, my progress in Nine Yang Strength has increased from 17 points to 46 points, a rise of 29 points.
This progress is quite remarkable, but it doesn't satisfy Chen Luo.
"Based on the first day's growth rate of 17 points, I should be close to 70 points by now."
"The reason it only has 46 progress points..."
"One reason is that the difficulty of mastering a single level of strength increases as you progress, so the speed naturally slows down."
"But secondly, and most importantly, Instructor Li finished explaining the key points of the first level of power a few days ago, and has been practicing the third level of power recently. The effectiveness of cross-border 'insight' and seeing the big picture from small details has greatly decreased." Chen Luo pondered to himself.
His current goal is the second level of strength, and trying to understand the mysteries of the third level of strength demonstrated by Instructor Li by focusing on subtle details is like scratching an itch through a boot.
To gain highly efficient insights, we can only wait a few more days for Instructor Li to rehearse the double force.
This will undoubtedly slow down his cultivation pace, but there's nothing that can be done about it.
After all, you can't expect Instructor Li to practice Double Force all day long, and the martial arts academy wasn't set up just for him.
"I can't take it anymore, even A Luo has surpassed me. I really need to step up my efforts." After the evening practice, before parting ways with Chen Luo, Lu Qun shook his head and sighed.
"What do you mean by 'Lian A Luo'? Am I that bad in his eyes?" Chen Luo complained to Zhou Xiaoliang, watching his back.
"It's alright, see you tomorrow."
Zhou Xiaoliang waved goodbye absentmindedly, then turned around and muttered without any hesitation, "Zhou Xiaoliang, you need to be more ambitious. It would be a huge embarrassment if A Luo caught up with you."
"..."
Chen Luo gave the two guys the middle finger as they walked away.
He immediately picked up the bamboo basket and went home.
The evening breeze was cool and refreshing, carrying a dampness from the mountains, which felt pleasant on my face.
As Chen Luo rode the wind to the western suburbs, he was stunned when he got close to his house.
There stood a woman on the steps of his house.
The woman was about eighteen years old. Unlike the hemp clothes worn by ordinary people, she was dressed in exquisite clothes. Her upper body was a wide-sleeved robe with peony embroidery on the left and right slits, revealing her long black trousers.
Her appearance was even more refined and beautiful, with a pair of phoenix eyes beneath her smoky eyebrows, her black hair tied up in a high bun without a single strand of hair left on her forehead, her skin as white as snow, and her whole body exuding a cool and aloof temperament.
Overall, she seemed like the kind of rich girl who should only appear in the homes of wealthy families in the east of the city, not in front of a farmer's house in the west of the city.
Chen Luo was indeed quite surprised to see her.
Why is Song Ruokui here?