Chapter 3: The Troublesome Ghost of Li Family Fort

*Clang, clang, clang! *

"Blind Old San is dead!"

The sound of the copper gong, accompanied by shouting, broke the tranquility of Li Family Fort.

Not everyone had suffered from wolf attacks, but everyone loved to watch the excitement, especially in the village, where neighbors bickering could attract a crowd.

At this time, many people were already carrying hoes, preparing to go to the fields. Hearing that "Blind Old San" was dead, they all ran over one after another.

"Tsk tsk, is this 'Blind Old San'?"

"It's this beast, I've seen it!"

"I thought it was something else; it doesn't have three heads or six arms... look at how it scared you all..."

"Fu Gui, what kind of fart are you letting out? If you have the ability, why didn't you catch 'Blind Old San'? Waiting until it's dead to say sarcastic things here."

"I didn't have time..."

"My pig... it was scared to death, wuwu..."

Hei Dan's mother ran over. Looking at "Blind Old San's" corpse, the grief she had suppressed earlier welled up again, and she sat on the ground, wailing loudly.

Hei Dan's father, Li Baoquan, also came. After asking about the cause, his face turned red with anger. He waved his hand and, with a *slap*, gave Hei Dan a heavy ear-slap, scolding angrily, "You little rabbit, who told you to act on your own..."

He seemed extremely angry. Looking at the surrounding villagers, he gritted his teeth and said, "Brother Hu helped me a lot while he was alive. If something happened to Yan-wa, I... how would I answer for it?"

"Forget it, forget it, the matter is already over."

People nearby hurriedly persuaded him.

But Li Baoquan still had an angry look and wanted to beat Hei Dan.

Li Yan raised his hand to stop him, casting a faint glance. "The money has already been collected—one chicken."

"Chicken?"

Li Baoquan was stunned. He stopped his hand and then rubbed his hands in embarrassment, saying, "This... look at what this has turned into."

You can't blame Hei Dan's father for acting this way.

Although blade-wielders take "a word worth a thousand gold" and "keeping one's word" as principles, among those who dare to carry their heads on their belts, who is a kind person?

There are those who uphold justice, but there are even more who take money to kill.

And their prices are never cheap.

Of course, Li Yan's father, Li Hu, was heroic. When people in the village asked for help, he would mostly pat his chest and agree, so he was often taken advantage of by people using words to corner him.

But Li Yan's reputation wasn't that good.

The reason is simple: different concepts.

He was originally a modern person and had died once, so he didn't care about clan rituals or the relationship between ruler and subject, and he wouldn't be bound by other people's opinions, doing things only to seek peace in his heart.

When it's time to strike, he would never sheathe his blade.

As for the money he deserved, don't even think about getting a cent less.

No one should think about taking advantage of him.

In his view, this was normal, but in others' eyes, he was a troublesome ghost.

Unexpectedly, this time, he actually played the hero.

"I just said, it had to be Yan-wa who took action!"

"Just like his father, he'll be a hero in the future!"

The surrounding people gave thumbs up one after another, praising him in a jumble of voices.

Li Yan chuckled and didn't speak.

"The patriarch is here!"

Just at this moment, someone shouted loudly.

They saw a few people coming up the earthen road from the village. None were young. The leader was a lean old man with a goat beard and a pair of old-fashioned reading glasses.

Although there were many outsiders in Li Family Fort, the only large clan was the Li surname, so the Li family patriarch of each generation also served as the village head.

The patriarch of this generation was named Li Huairen, the only landlord in the village. His family had been farmers and scholars for generations, and he had passed the imperial exam as a scholar, being extremely particular about face and having a decent reputation.

He came near, circled "Blind Old San's" corpse a few times, and after hearing everyone recount what happened, he stroked his beard and nodded. "Not bad. It's the busy farming season, and with this scourge removed, the fellow villagers can farm with peace of mind. A good deed."

"Merit should be rewarded. Zhou Juezi, your pig died; I'll make the decision to buy it and give it to Li Yan and his family. It's a little token of the village's heart."

Li Yan chuckled. "That would be great. Many thanks, Patriarch."

Practicing martial arts consumes a lot; he was like a rice bucket, and he had been lacking oil and water in his stomach these days. A large fat pig would be enough to sustain him for a while.

This was the benefit of having a fierce reputation.

The village head knew he was troublesome, so he never assigned Li Yan and his family any hard labor, and the benefits that should be there were never missing.

Even happier was Zhou Juezi. He had been waiting to sell this fat pig for a good price during the New Year, and he couldn't bear to eat it himself.

The patriarch's decision was simply an unexpected surprise.

To avoid accidents, he immediately wanted to take Li Yan away to slaughter the pig first—one, because the meat was fresh now, and two, to take the opportunity to make the matter official.

"Look at how anxious you are!"

Li Yan mocked him, but still called Hei Dan to pull the pig.

After they left, the patriarch Li Huairen also breathed a slight sigh of relief.

An idle fellow in the village, with an envious look, smacked his lips and laughed, "Patriarch, Yan-wa has merit in removing the wolf, so it's natural to reward him, but this Blind Old San's corpse is a waste if thrown away. Why not skin it and eat the meat? It satisfies the craving and vents the hatred..."

"You glutton!"

Before he finished speaking, someone scolded him with a dark face. "How many people has this Blind Old San eaten? And you can still bring yourself to eat it? In my opinion, burning it is the end of it."

Hei Dan's mother burst into tears again upon hearing this, and others sighed along with her.

The patriarch Li Huairen stroked his beard and said thoughtfully, "In the old days, there were many wolves in Guanzhong. At that time, there were many veterans still alive. After killing them, they would all be hung on the crooked-neck tree at the village entrance as a deterrent, which could keep things stable for a while."

"Zhuzi, take a few people and hang this Blind Old San at the village entrance!"

"Yes, Patriarch!"

Immediately, several men stepped forward to drag the wolf corpse.

"No! Absolutely not!"

Just at this moment, a weak female voice rang out in the crowd.

Everyone looked over and saw a middle-aged woman standing behind the crowd. Her face was sallow, her hair disheveled, and she was covered in a foul odor that made people retreat three feet.

It was Widow Wang from the village.

Speaking of which, this Widow Wang was also a pitiful person.

Her husband was an outsider, and since he was a petty thief from a young age, he was never liked in the village. Widow Wang was also a wife bought from a human trafficker. But even after becoming a family, her husband couldn't settle down, often going to Changancheng to hang out with those fox friends and dog companions, coming back to beat his wife when drunk.

Later, he died on the official road outside Changancheng after a drunken brawl last year, leaving behind only Widow Wang and a four-year-old daughter.

By rights, in this situation, if Widow Wang remarried, the villagers wouldn't say much, and might even be happy to see it.

After all, it's not easy for a lone widow and orphan, and there were several bachelors in the village without a match.

However, this Widow Wang fell seriously ill after her husband died, and after waking up, she was muddled. She didn't tidy up her house, which was like a pigsty, and she herself was covered in a foul odor.

It was pitiful that her daughter suffered along with her, locked in the house all day.

"Better to find an ugly wife than a lazy ghost."

With this, those bachelors in the village lost interest, and even laughed at her behind her back.

In the whole village, no one was willing to deal with Widow Wang.

Seeing everyone's gaze, Widow Wang shrank her head, but still whispered, "This Blind Old San's corpse is unclean; it has bad luck on it. It must be burned, and then someone must be invited to perform a ritual..."

!.

"Shut up!"

Before she finished speaking, the patriarch Li Huairen's expression changed, and he scolded sternly, "Stop spreading heresy here. It's enough that you burn incense all day long. If you dare to believe in some White Lotus Mother and implicate the village, don't blame me for being heartless!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's faces looked ugly.

There were many folk witches and gods, and the incense at the various City God Temples was also prosperous. During some important festivals, the imperial court would even hold grand ceremonies, presided over by Daoists of the Tai Xuan Orthodox Sect.

However, they were absolutely merciless toward some obscene sacrifices and secret sects.

The most famous was the Maitreya Sect, which had many branches.

Two years ago, the commoners of a village secretly spread the sect. After the imperial court found out, they directly sent troops to suppress it, setting fire to the village and slaughtering it.

Over a thousand people didn't survive, and it remains a ghost village to this day.

Widow Wang was sloppy and superstitious, burning incense at home every day, looking exactly like those foolish people who joined the sect. Even without finding evidence, Li Huairen was very wary of Widow Wang.

For a time, everyone's gaze was somewhat gloomy.

Seeing this, Widow Wang didn't dare to speak again.

The patriarch Li Huairen snorted, ordered people to drag away "Blind Old San's" corpse, and left in a hurry.

He, this patriarch and village head, wasn't that idle. With the "Grain in Ear" solar term passed, the summer harvest was imminent. Not only did he have a pile of things in the village and his own home, but he also had to deal with the grain inspection official from Changancheng.

The matter of "Blind Old San" was just a small interlude for him.

Without the excitement, the crowd dispersed, going to the fields to get busy.

Only Widow Wang stood where she was, blankly watching the dragged wolf corpse, a glimmer of fear flashing in her eyes, and ran home quickly.

Returning to the small courtyard, she immediately closed the wooden door with a *bang*.

The room was dark and turbid. Widow Wang's expression changed—where was the cowardice from before? She lit three sticks of incense, held them to her forehead, knelt on the ground, and kept kowtowing to the main hall, muttering:

"Third Aunt, disaster is coming..."

Zhou Juezi's movements were very nimble. In less than an hour, a large fat pig was slaughtered clean.

Li Yan stuffed several pounds into Hei Dan's hands and had him run errands to send some to the neighbors he was familiar with in the village.

After finishing all this, Li Yan carried more than half of the pig back home.

His home was at the east end of Li Family Fort.

This was a typical Guanzhong farmhouse courtyard. The courtyard was large, and the tamped earth ground wasn't planted with vegetables but was filled with stone locks, stone balls, and other objects.

Li Family Fort was originally a military fort, and several families still retained the old heritage, farming and practicing martial arts. Li Yan's family was one of them.

The difference was that on the gate of his house hung a wooden plaque with the four large characters "Hundred Battles Mighty" written on it, vigorous and powerful.

Beside the threshold squatted an old man.

The old man had white hair, a hunched back, a face full of orange-peel wrinkles, and his eyes were turbid and lifeless, holding a large tobacco pipe and puffing out clouds of smoke.

And in his right trouser leg, it was empty.

It was his grandfather in this life, Li Gui.

Seeing this, Li Yan grinned and laughed, "Grandpa, the patriarch rewarded us with a pig. For lunch, do you want meat sauce noodles or oil-splashed noodles?"

However, Li Gui didn't even look at him, puffing on his pipe with a dark face.

Li Yan chuckled and didn't speak, directly carrying the pig into the courtyard and placing it in the kitchen.

He and his grandfather couldn't finish this half-pig in a short while. It was quite time-consuming to process—what needed to be salted should be salted, and what needed to be rendered into lard should be rendered.

Li Yan wasn't in a hurry. After putting down the pig, he came to the courtyard.

The sun had already risen. He took off his clothes, wearing only a jacket, revealing a streamlined, knotted body of muscle. After doing some warm-up exercises and adjusting his breathing, he suddenly placed both fists at his waist, his body straight as a spear.

Then, a single palm supported upward like lifting a tripod, then slowly downward.

Red Fist Ten Great Plate Exercises: Overlord Lifting the Tripod.

Guanzhong Red Fist has an extremely ancient heritage with many branches. Every village and town, every martial arts hall, has its own heritage and trump cards.

What he practiced was the old family Red Fist, which was taught to a military general by a martial general in the army during the previous dynasty, possessing many keys and wonders.

That martial general was a figure often mentioned in teahouse storytelling books, known as "Enemy of Ten Thousand," and what he taught was naturally extraordinary.

His grandfather, Li Gui, was a fierce soldier in the army, having fought through life and death with rich experience.

His father, Li Hu, was a Guanzhong blade-wielder who made a living in the martial world, traveling north and south, incorporating many fierce and ruthless underworld techniques.

But no matter what, the Ten Great Plate Exercises of Red Fist were the foundation.

Red Fist emphasizes "supporting and supplementing as the mother, hooking and hanging as the ability, transforming the body as the wonder, and striking as the method." There are infinite changes in various striking methods, but without a solid foundation, it's all in vain.

The Ten Great Plate Exercises have soft and hard divisions. Li Yan, regardless of wind or rain, scorching heat or freezing cold, had never interrupted his practice for a single day.

And his way of practicing was different from ordinary people.

Those who practice martial arts know that "the body of a fist practitioner is as precious as gold," so one must emphasize gradual progress; being overly eager for success leads to a body full of problems.

But Li Yan seemed to have broken through this realm.

With his single palm supporting upward, his body stretched to the limit, as if he were truly lifting a bronze tripod, and like a bowstring pulled tight, his body actually emitted a *creak, creak* sound.

At the same time, Li Yan also calmed his mind and concentrated.

In his dantian, a stone statue was slowly floating...

New book update time: 10:00 AM every day, two chapters released together. 【133】 (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 4 =====

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