Chapter 20: A Play of Twenty

Deep mountains, a slope.

The savage man looked at the young face in terror and astonishment.

He had never expected to encounter an ambush here, and judging by the speed of the opponent's strike and the force of the blade, the opponent was not only stronger than him but also experienced in killing, with ruthless ambush tactics. Just as the savage man was about to speak, Song Cheng pressed down hard on the blade, driving the tip into the savage man's neck.

Savage man:??!!?!

Why? You didn't even ask a question?

Song Cheng swung his blade quickly.

*Squelch. * The head rolled down the slope with a "gurgle," stopping only when it hit a rock.

Song Cheng let out a breath.

He suddenly felt it was safer to just kill the man.

After all, if he needed to ask questions, he could ask Nan Hui and the others; why keep a bandit alive? To wait for a counterattack? He calmed himself slightly, confirmed the savage man was dead, and then searched his chest.

He hadn't held much hope, but as he felt around, he actually touched a thin booklet. He pulled it out and saw it was a book without a cover.

He flipped through it briefly.

"It's a cultivation technique!"

Song Cheng was astonished.

Well, the legendary "killing monsters to drop cultivation techniques" had actually happened to him.

After a moment of thought, he roughly understood.

Cultivation techniques were precious, and these mountain bandits might have to run at any time, so naturally, they would carry them on their person; after all, "you never know if you'll make it back when you go out."

But what about the silver? Why wasn't the silver carried on him? He and Tong Jia were dirt poor.

Immediately, his mind turned, and he had a guess: it must have been kept by the two women they had with them? At this moment, Tong Jia walked out from behind a tree, and upon seeing the decapitated, fierce bandit, she looked at Song Cheng in shock.

Song Cheng nodded.

Tong Jia said: "Master, you..."

The words "killed someone" were swallowed, turning into "are you alright?"

Song Cheng shook his head again, then continued: "This man should be a bandit, and he brought two women with him. Let's go take a look."

"Were they kidnapped?"

"I don't know, but one of them should be Nan Hui."

"Lady Nan Hui?" Tong Jia was astonished.

That savage man had wielded great power; he told the two women to stay put, and they had stayed put.

It wasn't until Song Cheng and Tong Jia appeared that the two women showed expressions of astonishment.

Nan Hui widened her eyes and said: "Doctor Tong!"

Tong Jia also said with pleasant surprise: "Lady Nan Hui?"

The two ran over.

Nan Hui suddenly said: "Doctor Tong, run quickly, that great bandit..."

Tong Jia said: "He was killed by Cheng-ge'er. Cheng-ge'er had a fortuitous encounter; not only is his eyesight healed, but his strength has also improved by leaps and bounds."

"Cheng-ge'er?" Nan Hui looked behind Tong Jia; she hadn't recognized the person at all.

How could that frail little blind boy have transformed into such a heroic, slightly wild-looking youth?

The air was quiet for a moment.

Suddenly, Tong Jia inexplicably felt a sense of crisis.

Nan Hui ran to Song Cheng, her beautiful face showing surprise: "Big Brother Song, is that bandit really dead? He was very powerful; no one in the village could block a single strike from him."

Tong Jia:??? She called him Cheng-ge'er? Why does Nan Hui want to call him Big Brother Song?

What does this mean? The sky darkened quickly.

That night, the four of them stayed in the small hut together.

Aside from the moonlight, there was no other lighting.

Tong Jia used the wolf and fox skins she had dried earlier, along with soft branches, to make a floor bed in the room for the two women to rest. The two women also took out a bag of broken silver, totaling over a hundred taels! Song Cheng accepted it without ceremony, then sat by the window at the wooden table, chatting with the two women.

The fair-skinned and beautiful young girl next to Nan Hui was named Guan Xi; she was a grain merchant who had encountered bandits while transporting grain through Tanghe Village, and she had been kidnapped because of her beauty.

In chaotic times, beauty is a disaster.

After the bandits entered the village, the chief bandit had kidnapped Nan Hui, ordering her to serve him along with Guan Xi. After he died miserably in Tanghe Village, the two women were passed to the third-in-command. The third-in-command was the bandit Song Cheng had killed.

The three of them were lucky to have successfully escaped Tanghe Village.

Then, the third-in-command waited for some days at the foot of the mountain behind the village; during this time, quite a few villagers and even bandits had emerged.

Everyone was too afraid to go through Tanghe Village again, so they wanted to take a detour.

But even the bandits were not familiar with the Hou Shan of Tanghe Village.

Food was limited, and with nothing left to wait for, everyone began to look for a path.

Today, this third-in-command had also found his way here by accident.

Lady Nan Hui said: "Big Brother Song, the people who survived in the village all say it is Yun E causing trouble."

"But I don't think so; if it were Yun E, she should only kill those who had grudges against her."

"That day, not everyone went to watch her being drowned in the pig cage; some people didn't even know about it, yet they died too."

Song Cheng said: "How did they die?"

Nan Hui said: "They all suddenly disappeared; when we escaped, we saw many corpses floating in the river."

Suddenly disappeared, appearing in the river?

Spatial teleportation? Song Cheng felt his hair stand on end.

It truly was a Taboo method.

He couldn't help but glance at the "Blessing of the Drowned Ghost."

He had once thought about returning to Tanghe Village, but now he finally dismissed that idea. Taboo kills, and it doesn't care about personal connections at all.

Admittedly, Yun E might be different toward him.

But he, Song Cheng, only had one life.

How to test it? Run to Tanghe Village and gamble on the odds?

Forget it.

At this moment, Tong Jia's bedding was laid out.

Song Cheng glanced at the other girl with snow-white skin and a flower-like appearance, and seeing her silent, he said nothing, only: "Let's rest first."

Nan Hui asked nervously: "What if those bandits come looking for us again?"

Before Song Cheng could speak, Guan Xi said: "They won't. If the Third Master didn't return, they will only feel fear; they won't come looking at all."

Nan Hui said: "Brother Song, then... should we go save the people in the village?"

Song Cheng said: "We'll talk about it tomorrow."

As he spoke, he also got onto the pallet, pulled the only quilt over himself and the Young Mistress.

Under the quilt, Tong Jia's small feet nudged against his calves, curled up, gave a sharp pinch, and then she leaned close to his ear and whispered: "Brother Song, does it feel good?"

Song Cheng was caught off guard and couldn't help but laugh.

Tong Jia said angrily again: "Nan Hui, I'm telling you, you can't be like this. Song Cheng is my man, you cannot call him Brother Song."

She spoke very quickly, like popping beans.

Nan Hui said softly and tenderly: "Tong Dafu, you've misunderstood..."

Having said that, she added in a pitiful tone: "If you don't like it, I won't call him that anymore, so as not to make Brother Song feel awkward."

Tong Jia was so angry she turned over, facing away from Song Cheng.

Song Cheng leaned over and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear: "She was humiliated by bandits and barely escaped with her life."

Tong Jia thought for a moment, then turned back over and whispered: "Sleep."

No husband, no home, born beautiful, and fell into a bandit den to be humiliated repeatedly... Sigh... Forget it.

The Young Mistress's heart softened, and she said: "Nan Hui, if you want to call him that, go ahead."

But Nan Hui remained silent and said nothing.

As the saying goes, "Three women make a play."

Especially three beautiful girls in troubled times, even more so.

Song Cheng felt as if this small wooden hut had suddenly turned into a stage, and the air was flowing with the scent of "Heart Eye."

A night passed.

Morning light fell aslant.

Song Cheng got up and skillfully invested 7 points into Profound Turtle Steps.

It was still 7 points, which meant the Young Mistress really wasn't angry.

Instantly, the progress of "Profound Turtle Steps" became "(Great Accomplishment) (3/16)."

Song Cheng's strength also became "16~29."

Steady progress—for someone who is "Chang Sheng Bu Lao," this is entirely a good thing.

He took firewood to prepare to boil water, but saw Nan Hui also sit up, seemingly wanting to help.

He waved his hand, then sat beside the "handmade" stone stove, filled the pot with water, and while tossing firewood to start a fire, he grabbed the cultivation technique he had obtained from the Third Master yesterday and began to read it intently.

When the water in the pot boiled, he added the air-dried wolf meat chunks into the pot.

It was meat soup again this morning.

And it was meat soup without any salt.

A while later... seeing the pot lid rattling, Song Cheng ignored it and continued to add firewood.

Wolf meat is hard to cook; if you take it out as soon as the water boils, the meat is too tough to chew.

He estimated the time in his heart while his eyes kept scanning the technique.

Snap. After the last page was turned.

A line of information appeared on Song Cheng's 【Technique】 panel: Tiger Roar Blade (Yellow Grade Grade D) (Not Yet Initiated) (0/2) (Conflicts with existing technique). At the same time, a "+" sign actually appeared after "White Snake Blade."

The corresponding information emerged:

Stones from other hills may serve to polish the jade of this one; with broad knowledge, there is a chance to go further.

1% probability to deduce a "Yellow Grade Grade C" technique.

Song Cheng stared at this "1%" and hesitated for a moment, thinking, should he just continue to lay low in the mountains? For one, it's far from trouble and leisurely; for another, although the deduction is slow, why would someone who is Chang Sheng Bu Lao fear a lack of time? The only problem is the Taboo.

In the wilderness, where people are scarce, and now that the "Taboo" has been unlocked, is it really okay to stay here?

'I can see the Taboo, so it should be fine, as long as I avoid it in advance, right?'

He comforted himself.

Harboring a glimmer of hope in his heart.

As for the conflict, he roughly understood.

"White Snake Blade" follows a path of agility, while "Tiger Roar Blade" is clearly fierce and rigid.

Having mastered one type of footwork, going to learn a completely different one is no different from "Handan learning to walk"—not only does it conflict, but one will also forget their original method.

But perhaps when the realm is higher, one can be compatible and inclusive, melting all techniques into one furnace to temper oneself.

Who can say for sure?

(End of this chapter)