Chapter 193

Su Fan took out paper and brush and tossed them to Liu Xiaolou: "Sign it. If you and I come to blows, you can't blame anyone else, and it will save Fifth Sister from coming back to cause me trouble. But rest assured, I won't kill you; I'll just make you suffer a little."

Liu Xiaolou took it and glanced at it twice. Seeing it was a formal challenge letter with Su Fan's signature already on it, he couldn't help but smile. He then picked up the brush, signed his name, and tucked it into his robe.

Su Fan frowned and demanded, "Hand it over."

Liu Xiaolou turned to the cart to retrieve his Three Mystical Sword, saying, "This challenge letter is useful to me, but you have no use for it. Wait until I get my sword—"

Su Fan let out a cold laugh: "Heh heh, what exactly are you relying on?" As he spoke, a white light appeared in his palm, and following the appearance of the light, a soft, snake-like fork faintly appeared beside him.

Just as he was about to launch a sneak attack from behind Liu Xiaolou, he was caught off guard by a rope that inexplicably shot out and bound him, instantly feeling that ninety percent of the acupoints on his body were sealed. He had very little experience in combat; wanting to ambush others but failing to prepare for being ambushed himself, he fell into a sudden panic, thinking only of reaching out to tug at the rope, but he couldn't budge it at all.

In fact, if he had just stayed calm, he would have discovered that although the Mystical Truth Rope had sealed ninety percent of his acupoints, the remaining ten percent were still enough to satisfy the movement of his true qi, and the restriction on his strength had dropped by at most half a level.

But Liu Xiaolou wouldn't give him time to adapt. His body suddenly flew backward, slamming hard into him and knocking him and the fork to the ground. Immediately after, the Three Mystical Sword spat out a five-inch-long sword glow, which wrapped directly around his neck.

Su Fan was instantly stunned; how could he dare to move even a fraction? He had no choice but to throw away the water snake fork. He still wanted to be stubborn and say a few words, such as accusing Liu Xiaolou of a surprise attack and winning dishonorably, but Liu Xiaolou didn't have that much time for nonsense. He punched him in the waist and abdomen, one after another, until his meridians were in chaos, his eyeballs bulged out like a dead fish's, and he kept spitting white foam from his mouth.

After landing more than a dozen punches, Liu Xiaolou saw he was about to faint, so he stopped, climbed off him, and sneered: "With your measly weight, let alone that your Master Liu isn't at Stage 5, even if I were, it wouldn't stop me from beating you!"

He rummaged through his belongings for a moment and actually found three spirit stones. He weighed them, took them away, and spat on his face: "What kind of trash are you? Did you come over just to deliver money?"

He got on the cart and called out to Dabai: "Let's go, to the General's Temple to pick someone up!"

"Ding-dong... ding-dong..."

The wind chime swayed with the breeze, emitting a series of clear, crisp sounds. Amidst the sound of the wind chime, a large white goose was pulling a small cart, struggling to move upward along the mountain path.

The cart was loaded with a wooden box, and Liu Xiaolou sat on the box, flipping through a Daoist book—it was the "Secret Method of Snake Gu." Since he had captured this magic treasure, he naturally had to study it. If his own Mystical Truth Scripture technique could use it, wouldn't that be another means of saving his life?

Further up was his home at Dry Bamboo Ridge. When passing a dirt ridge, the wheel got stuck underneath it. He tried charging twice, but couldn't get over it.

Liu Xiaolou, sitting on the cart, was disturbed. He moved his gaze away from the "Secret Method of Snake Gu," leaned forward to check, and asked, "What's going on?"

Dabai looked up to the sky and "honked." A black shadow leaped down from the bushes by the road—it was Xiao Hei. Xiao Hei glanced discontentedly at Liu Xiaolou, who was sitting calmly on the cart, then helplessly came to the back of the cart, stood up on its hind legs, and placed its two front paws on the wheel.

"Meow~"

"Honk~"

"Push hard!"

"Meow~ meow~"

"Honk~ honk~"

"One more time! Push hard!"

The sound of the wheels moved again, and the cart finally cleared the dirt ridge and continued upward. Liu Xiaolou went back to flipping through the Daoist book.

Before long, the cart drove onto a platform. Dabai honked happily, let go of the cart rope, flapped its wings, and flew onto the fence wall. Xiao Hei also leaped onto the wooden gate.

"Honk—?"

"Meow—?"

The sounds they made this time were different, with a sense of abruptness.

Liu Xiaolou stepped down from the wooden box on the cart, moved his gaze away from the Daoist book, looked up, and couldn't help but be stunned: "Hmm?"

The small courtyard was still his own, but there was an extra person in the yard—a complete stranger, about twenty years old. He looked young, but had a square face, with the upper half slightly narrow and the lower half slightly wide, as if carved by a knife and axe, with quite a bit of bravery. At this moment, he was starting a fire in front of the stove in the yard, and hot water was boiling in the iron pot on the stove. The gaze he turned to look over was slightly fierce.

After staring at each other for a moment, Liu Xiaolou cupped his hands: "My friend, why are you here?"

The young man glared at Liu Xiaolou, got up to take a long sword down from the roof beam, gestured with a sword flower at Liu Xiaolou, and said viciously: "Go! Don't disturb this Daoist's quiet cultivation!"

This... Liu Xiaolou couldn't help but become a bit more serious. He sized the person up, but for a moment couldn't see through his depth. Just as he was thinking of asking a few more questions to probe the other's background and also inquire about the reason for him forcibly occupying his cave dwelling, a large man ran over from the foot of the mountain and reached Dry Bamboo Ridge in the blink of an eye.

"Xiaolou! Xiaolou, you're back?"

It was his good friend Tan Bazhang.

Tan Bazhang came up and gave Liu Xiaolou a bear hug, infinitely happy: "Xiaolou, I heard from the Left Valley Master that his woman had returned and even brought him a son, so I knew it was your doing, and hurried over... It really was your doing, haha..."

Liu Xiaolou was startled and quickly corrected him: "Don't talk nonsense, it wasn't me!"

Tan Bazhang laughed: "How long are you staying this time?" Before Liu Xiaolou could finish speaking, he had already seen the young man in the yard, and his face darkened: "Little Fang, I allowed you to find a place for yourself, I didn't tell you to find this place. Do you not know whose place this is? Huh? Get out quickly, the owner is back!"

The young man was quite unconvinced and said in a muffled voice: "Senior Tan, it was hard enough for this junior to find this place, and I just spent several days cleaning up the yard..."

Tan Bazhang laughed coldly: "Little Fang, no matter how well you clean it, it's still someone else's yard, understand? Go ask around all of Wulong Mountain, whose Dry Bamboo Ridge is! Next time you occupy a place, make sure you find out clearly first. Before I opened my cave dwelling back then, I often came and went with the brothers of Wulong Mountain, and I also made sure to find out clearly before going up the mountain!"

The young man held his breath, but finally packed up his things, packed his bedding, bamboo mat, and a few pieces of clothing, and stuffed them into a large bamboo basket.

Tan Bazhang said to Liu Xiaolou: "This guy is called Fang Bu'ai, from the Xiangnan Row Sect, the third branch. His master died in this battle at Zhuoshui, and he was squeezed out by the sect, so he couldn't stay there and came to our Wulong Mountain. His cultivation is a bit low, but he is quite brave. In the several battles at Zhuoshui, he was always at the front. We felt sorry for him, so we agreed to let him come to Wulong Mountain to make a living."

Liu Xiaolou asked: "What stage has he cultivated to?"

Tan Bazhang replied: "Stage 3."

Liu Xiaolou was surprised: "He went to the front line at Zhuoshui at Stage 3? What was his master thinking?"

Tan Bazhang sighed: "His master didn't get along with several hall masters in the sect and didn't dare to leave him behind, so he had to take him with him. He was also thinking of fighting to the death for a future in cultivation, but the future wasn't won, and he died fighting..."

While they were talking, the young man Fang Bu'ai had already packed his bags and came out, looking angry, muttering: "Ghost Dream Cliff was cleaned up, but they wouldn't let me stay. This place is cleaned up, and they still won't let me stay..."

Liu Xiaolou heard about his situation and couldn't help but think of himself back then. Seeing that he had indeed cleaned the small courtyard very cleanly, he stopped him: "When you go down the mountain, you can see a few old pine trees halfway. There is a small path behind them. Go through the path, and there is a small mountain terrace. It's a place where a good friend of my master once cultivated. There are two rooms, though they are a bit dilapidated. If you are willing, you can clean them up yourself and live there."

Tan Bazhang said: "Let him live at Half Ban Song Ping? Isn't that still your territory at Dry Bamboo Ridge?"

Liu Xiaolou sighed: "Let him live there. Seeing him is like seeing myself in the past..."

Fang Bu'ai stiffened his neck and said: "I don't need your pity..."

Liu Xiaolou smiled: "I'm not pitying you, I just feel that you are very similar to me in the past, that's all." As he spoke, he took out ten silver taels: "Take it, you can't clean up for me for nothing!"

Fang Bu'ai hesitated and took the silver, asking: "I'll consider it a loan... from the senior. I will definitely repay it double in the future... May I ask the senior's name?"

Tan Bazhang said unhappily: "Do you need to repay it? You want to live here without even asking who the owner is? Let me tell you, this is Sect Master Liu of the Three Mystical Sect, the son-in-law of Mount Shenwu. Didn't you admire him very much when you were at Zhuoshui? He's right in front of you! Heh heh, and you even occupied his house, you really have no eyes..."

Fang Bu'ai scratched the back of his head: "Ah..." He bowed and cupped his hands to Liu Xiaolou: "So it's Senior Liu..."

Liu Xiaolou smiled and waved his hand: "Go quickly, take advantage of the fact that it's not dark yet, and hurry up to clean up. Those two old houses at Half Ban Song Ping haven't been repaired for several years, you'll have plenty to keep you busy!"