Chapter 36

"Bang!"

Li Hu's body went limp on the ground, and Xu Yang began to pant heavily.

Having killed three people in a row, although it took less than half a minute, this was his first time killing, and it was a fierce man like Li Hu; how could he not be nervous?

Added to the fact that he had been holding his breath, now that he let it out, he felt his hands and feet go weak, his heart beating like a drum, and he could even hear the "thump-thump-thump" sound, as if his heart were about to jump out of his chest.

"Too bloody!"

Looking at the blood and white brains all over the ground, he couldn't help but feel a bit nauseous.

Originally, he hadn't wanted to make it so bloody, to avoid being discovered at the crime scene and to make it easier to dispose of the bodies, but since all three appeared together, he couldn't worry about that if he wanted to kill them all.

Fortunately, it was night and outside the village, so the possibility of being encountered was almost zero, and he could dispose of them slowly.

He dragged Li Liang and Li Jian to the nearby field ridge to drain their blood and took the opportunity to loot their bodies.

After searching for a while, Xu Yang found that the money on the three of them added up to less than two taels, only one tael and some odd coins, even poorer than him.

There was also a dagger, but it wasn't worth much.

After another while, he had recovered, and Li Jian and Li Liang had been drained of most of their blood.

He immediately hid Li Hu's body in the nearby forest, then picked up Li Liang and Li Jian's bodies and headed into the mountains.

During these past few days, he hadn't just been lying in ambush; he had also dug a place to bury the bodies in advance.

The weight of the two bodies was about 130 jin each, making them a bit heavy to carry. It took him half an hour, but he finally buried the three bodies in the mountains several kilometers away.

He returned to the scene to sweep away the bloodstains with tree branches and covered them with some soil.

He knew the cleanup wasn't perfect, but as long as he covered up part of it, no one would know who had died here.

Even if people from Big Tree Village passed by here tomorrow and knew that someone might have been killed here last night, no one would care.

When He Shicai was forced to his death, his family didn't even report it to the officials, let alone a scene where no one knew who had died; those who saw it would only stay away, fearing trouble.

Returning home, Xu Qing didn't notice he had been out; he cleaned the blood off his hands and went to bed.

The next day, the first thing Xu Yang did upon opening his eyes was to look at the panel:

【Martial Dao Longevity Points: 43】

"Killing people actually has rewards?"

During this period, other than adding one point to the Mountain-Shaking Xiong Quan every day, he hadn't touched the points at all.

When the Mountain-Shaking Xiong Quan reached entry-level, he was rewarded with ten points; he remembered the points were thirty-three yesterday, which meant the panel had settled ten points for him last night.

"That's right, Li Hu and the others wanted to kill me, so killing them is also a matter beneficial to martial dao longevity."

Xu Yang quickly figured this out and then invested all the points into his innate talent, raising it to "34."

On this day, no one realized that Li Hu and the others were dead; neither their families nor the Three Harmonies Gang realized it.

They thought Li Hu and the others were still hiding, thinking they were hiding well and were capable of taking responsibility.

On this day, the outer sect disciples of Weiyuan Hall noticed that Xu Yang was no longer slacking off and sleeping, but had become diligent again.

The next day, Li Hu and the others still didn't appear, and the Three Harmonies Gang and their families all thought they should have come out by now.

After all, five days had passed, and He Shicai's family hadn't reported it to the officials, so they could come out.

"Why has Li Hu become so cowardly? Why hasn't he come out yet!"

On the sixth day, Li Hu and the others still didn't appear, and some in the Three Harmonies Gang began to mock them.

"Li Hu must have had an accident!"

On the seventh day, someone in the Three Harmonies Gang finally realized that Li Hu and the others might have had an accident and sent people to search everywhere, and then everyone knew that Li Hu and the others had disappeared.

"Good riddance, Heaven has finally taken these three beasts."

He Shicai's family clapped and cheered, and the fellow villagers of White Stone Workshop also called it a relief, though they didn't dare to show it openly.

After another few days, Li Hu and the others still didn't appear, and the Three Harmonies Gang sent someone else to take over Li Hu's affairs, and no one cared about the life or death of the three anymore.

In the blink of an eye, it had been a month since Xu Yang and the others entered Weiyuan Hall.

On the plum blossom stakes, his Qi and blood calmed down, and Xu Yang slowly withdrew from the Turtle-Snake Great Stance.

【Turtle-Snake Great Stance · Entry-level (30/100)】

【Mountain-Shaking Xiong Quan · Entry-level (61/150)】

Xu Yang exhaled a breath of turbid air; the progress of the Turtle-Snake Great Stance was now only half that of the Mountain-Shaking Xiong Quan.

At this moment, he was confident that his progress in the Mountain-Shaking Xiong Quan was no lower than Lu Ren's, and perhaps even surpassed him.

It had only been half a month since the Mountain-Shaking Xiong Quan reached entry-level, and except for adding one point of progress via the panel every day, it was all his own cultivation, meaning he could improve by three points of progress on average every day.

At this rate, even without using the panel to add points, he would be able to cultivate the Mountain-Shaking Xiong Quan to the point of reaching the first gate of martial dao by next month at the latest.

"Xu Yang, come down and spar with me!" Zhang Hong shouted.

To this day, the Mountain-Shaking Xiong Quan of their batch had long since reached entry-level.

For the cultivation of the Mountain-Shaking Xiong Quan, Weiyuan Hall required disciples to spar and practice combat frequently; although he lost every time, Zhang Hong still often sparred with Xu Yang.

"Alright!"

Xu Yang leaped down from the plum blossom stakes, throwing a punch in mid-air, and Zhang Hong was shaken back repeatedly.

"The strength of you guys is truly terrifying."

Shaking his numb arms, Zhang Hong rushed over with a bear-pounce move, and the two quickly tangled together.

"Stop, stop, I admit defeat."

After twenty moves, Zhang Hong shouted his surrender and lay on the ground panting.

"Haha... Brother Zhang Hong, you're sparring with Brother Xu Yang again." A voice sounded, and a youth wearing a cyan practice uniform walked over with a smile.

His name was Qiu Wenjie, a new disciple of Weiyuan Hall.

In a month's time, Xu Yang and the others had long since become old disciples of the outer sect.

When Qiu Wenjie first arrived, it was exactly when Xu Yang was sleeping every day; seeing that Xu Yang was relatively idle, he came to ask Xu Yang about the Turtle-Snake Great Stance, and after some time, he became familiar with Xu Yang and Zhang Hong.

The three chatted for a while, and Zhang Hong got up to practice his fists; Xu Yang also stood up, but was grabbed by Qiu Wenjie.

"Something up?" Xu Yang asked suspiciously.

Qiu Wenjie nodded: "My father knows that Brother Xu has been quite helpful to me recently, so he plans to host a banquet tonight to thank you. I hope Brother Xu will do us the honor."

Xu Yang frowned slightly; he had given Qiu Wenjie a few pointers, but it hadn't reached the point where the other's father needed to host a banquet to thank him.

To host a banquet to thank him, the cost of the banquet would be at least one or two taels of silver; he didn't think the few pointers he gave Qiu Wenjie were worth that much money.

What did he have that was worth the other party plotting for?

The only thing Xu Yang could think of was the Three Harmonies Gang; after all, he had slaughtered people from the Three Harmonies Gang before, but he thought carefully, and the Three Harmonies Gang didn't have any high-level figures surnamed Qiu, and if the Three Harmonies Gang wanted to deal with him, they wouldn't need to go through so much trouble.

"Speak plainly!" Unable to figure it out, Xu Yang asked directly.

Qiu Wenjie said honestly: "Alright, it's that my father heard about your situation and has something he wants to talk to you about. He should be wanting to help you with your martial arts training."

Time quickly reached the afternoon; Xu Yang didn't want to waste it and planned to eat that bowl of meat before going to the banquet, but Qiu Wenjie said his father had already prepared wine and meat, and dragged Xu Yang away.