Chapter 40: Haha, I, the Daoist, have succeeded!

Inside the thatched shed, one disaster victim after another gradually emerged, and they were increasing at an extremely steady rate.

They had identical clothing, identical appearances, and everything about them was identical.

Furthermore, they treated the others appearing beside them as enemies and began to slaughter and devour one another.

It was just that they seemed unable to leave the area within five or six zhang of the shed.

The slaughter and flight were forever restricted to this range, unable to break free from this area.

"Don't worry about so much, let's go." Chen Mo suddenly slapped him, bringing him back to his senses.

The situation here had clearly exceeded the understanding of ordinary people, and even more bizarre things had occurred.

Leave first, then ponder these questions after getting out.

Such things were happening within Qingzhou, and there were also bizarre monsters like the Qingyi Daoren.

The Imperial Court could not possibly ignore this; he could just report it when he turned back.

Ma Cai carried Chen Mo on his back all the way back to the carriage, meeting two other new recruits on the way who had gone to find Chen Mo first.

Although their speed in coming to their senses was worse than Ma Cai's, they had ultimately managed to react first.

The series of situations they had just suffered brought them too great a shock; it was already not bad that they could react now and suppress the fear in their hearts to do things.

There was still one person who was still slumped in the carriage, having long since been scared out of his wits and unable to do anything.

"Dig a pit to bury him first, set up a simple monument to let him rest in peace, and if there is a chance to come here again in the future, find a way to retrieve his remains and send them back to his hometown for burial."

Walking back to the carriage, Chen Mo ordered the few people.

They could not possibly take a corpse with them on the road ahead, so they had to bury it first.

If there was a chance to come here again in the future, they would consider moving his remains back to his hometown.

Fallen leaves return to their roots; let the dead rest in peace.

For people of this era, this was an extremely serious and earnest matter.

Having received the order, the few people immediately found tools and dug a pit on the spot.

Chen Mo sat down on the ground slowly, took the leather book he had obtained earlier from his Huai, and only then had the heart to flip through it.

Opening the cover, the first thing that caught his eye on the title page were the five large characters "Dutian Great Dao Scripture," which should be the name of this book, or rather, this cultivation technique.

Fortunately, the text in this book was the common script of Great Gan, which he could read.

Below this cultivation technique, there were several other lines of small text, which were likely annotations by a practitioner.

"Haha, I, the Daoist, have succeeded!"

The first line of small text that met his eyes was slightly sloppy, enough to show the writer's excitement.

"After seven years of bitter cultivation, I have finally succeeded in drawing Qi into my body, stepping into the realm of Qi Refining; from now on, I am free from the mortal world, with hope for longevity and hope for the Great Dao!"

It seemed this technique was indeed a cultivation technique, and it appeared to be a Cultivator's technique that could allow one to step into the realm of Qi Refining.

Only, combined with the signs displayed by the Qingyi Daoren, although this technique had a good name, it was clearly by no means a righteous technique.

The Qingyi Daoren had used his arm as a weapon earlier; no matter how one looked at it, he did not seem like a righteous person.

Unless the Cultivators of this world were all like him, using such bizarre methods, then this Dutian Great Dao Scripture was definitely an evil technique.

Flipping to the next page, it was there that the formal recording of the cultivation method began.

"Dutian Dao, passed down by Grandfather, this Dao is true, do not speak falsely, obtain the wondrous method, the heart rejoices..."

Suddenly, Chen Mo felt the text on the book begin to flow, like one swimming flying insect after another, trying to force its way into his mind.

"Boom!" The Qi and Blood in Chen Mo's body surged, his internal organs vibrating, sounding like a tiger's roar and thunder.

His Blood Qi was like wolf smoke, blocking all these characters outside; Chen Mo suddenly came to his senses and hurriedly closed the book.

What he had in his hands was definitely an evil technique; if those insect-like characters had drilled into his mind, it was hard to say what kind of situation would have resulted.

If he were not a Martial Artist whose power of Qi and Blood far surpassed that of ordinary people, he would likely have fallen for this technique's trap.

This technique could not be read, at least not now, but that did not mean it had no value.

From the Qingyi Daoren and some of the expressions in this technique, Dutian Dao was very likely a faction.

This faction definitely consisted of more than one person, and the bandits circulating within Qingzhou were very likely their handiwork.

With the Qingyi Daoren's strength, his willingness to lie in wait here meant his goal could not possibly be mere money; there must be a greater scheme.

"Pack up, let's hurry and go find the others." Chen Mo carefully put away the Dutian Great Dao Scripture, boarded the carriage, and urged the new recruits who were burying the corpse to the side.

The few new recruits then busied themselves in a flurry; the sounds like Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound that had emanated from Chen Mo's body earlier had truly given them a fright.

But since Chen Mo did not speak, they did not dare to ask more, and could only continue to work honestly.

After burying their comrade's corpse, they set up a piece of wood as a monument, which counted as making a mark.

Only then did Chen Mo drive the carriage, crossing the official road toward another wild country path.

The roads in Qingzhou were still fairly easy to travel; the long-term drought had made the land here quite firm, without a trace of mud.

Chen Mo held the map to confirm his orientation; the area he needed to investigate was very close to Zhao Yuncheng.

As long as he searched, he would definitely be able to discover the other's tracks within a day or two at most.

After finding him, the two of them could then take the opportunity to go find Mo Hu.

After that, they could consider withdrawing from Qingzhou; there was no need to go find others, because it was not on the way, and the distance to travel would be much longer.

Even if they wanted to find others, they had to first send someone to notify his foster father, telling him about Dutian Dao and the things happening within Qingzhou.

It was even possible that it was already too late for them to notify him now; the people of Dutian Dao might have already made their move.

Chen Mo could not speed up now; even if he could drive the horse forward alone, he could not get very far in the Qingzhou territory without supplies.

Not to mention that if his luck was bad next, he might encounter a Cultivator similar to the Qingyi Daoren.

Finding people to group up with was safer; acting alone carried too much risk.

After walking for about half a day, several figures gradually appeared ahead, and Chen Mo immediately became vigilant in his heart.

It was not until he saw clearly who they were that he breathed a sigh of relief; Zhao Yuncheng was driving a carriage, coming over together with several new recruits.

Chen Mo did not bother with the other new recruits for the moment; he flicked the reins and quickly rode to meet Zhao Yuncheng.

He had already spotted Chen Mo as well, and after only a brief moment, the two finally met.

"Seventh Brother, what happened? What's wrong with you!" Chen Mo asked urgently upon seeing the state he was in.

Zhao Yuncheng's right arm was empty, merely crudely bandaged, and his entire body leaned against the carriage, his complexion extremely weak.

"Don't ask. I ran into a monster on the road; it didn't say a word before attacking us," Zhao Yuncheng said with indignation.

"That monster had bizarre methods, able to use its tongue as a weapon. I was caught off guard and had an arm severed by it. But it also took a spear strike from me, and I even managed to snatch its tongue."

Zhao Yuncheng took out a wooden box and opened it; inside was indeed a bright, blood-red tongue.

"After that, neither side dared to pursue the other, and we each went our separate ways."

His tone was mixed with terror and lingering fear; the methods of that mysterious monster had left too deep an impression on him.

Chen Mo was not particularly surprised that he could severely wound the monster; for one, the monster they encountered was not the same one, and their strength might not be equal.

Secondly, if it weren't for that Qingyi Daoren borrowing the power of those bizarre disaster victims, killing the opponent with his own strength, while not easy, would not have been all that difficult either.

Moreover, the monsters they encountered all shared one extremely obvious characteristic: their long-range attack methods were strong enough, but their close-quarters combat was not much better than an ordinary person's.

Even if Seventh Brother's strength was far inferior to his own, as long as he could seize the opportunity to get close and wound the monster, forcing it to retreat was not a difficult task.

"I also ran into one and luckily killed it; that person could use its arm to harm others."

Chen Mo likewise took his own trophy from the carriage; he had also tested this arm.

Its texture and structure were exactly the same as a human hand, the only difference being that it was quite sturdy, with internal bones comparable to refined iron.

Chen Mo had no way to use this arm, so he could only put it away for the time being.

"Then you didn't suffer any trouble, did you?" Zhao Yuncheng asked, his gaze scanning Chen Mo's body.

He knew the monster's strength well; it wasn't particularly strong, still a mortal body of flesh and blood. A single spear strike could still pierce it through, and in close-quarters combat, it was definitely no match for him.

The key was that its methods were bizarre; anyone would suffer a great loss the first time they met one.

However, that Chen Mo could actually kill that monster still made him feel quite surprised.

"I was lucky and managed to kill it. I suffered some injuries on my back, but the situation is fine," Chen Mo explained.

Compared to Zhao Yuncheng having an arm severed, his own injuries were truly light.

Furthermore, the new recruits on his side had lost three men in total, leaving only two now.

"Next, let's go find Fifth Brother and see if he is injured. Once we reach there, we will be close to leaving Qingzhou. Let's find a way to arrange for someone to send you to Qingmu County to heal," Chen Mo told him of the plan ahead.

Zhao Yuncheng nodded; this was indeed the best choice for now.

In his current condition, there was truly nothing he could accomplish.

The reason he came to find Chen Mo was because Chen Mo was closest to him. By joining forces, if they encountered that monster again, he would at least have some power to protect himself.

And judging by the fact that Chen Mo could slay such a monster, his current strength was definitely not weak.

Even if that monster was extremely weak in close-quarters combat, so what! It wasn't as if everyone had the strength to get close to the opponent and engage them in close-quarters combat!

That Chen Mo could manage this point already proved that his strength was likely greater than his own.

Regarding this, Zhao Yuncheng had actually anticipated it long ago; Chen Mo's talent was far better than his own, and his Martial Dao cultivation was faster than his.

The Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist was inherently a martial art that progressed extremely quickly; he had reached a bottleneck years ago and needed to practice Internal Martial Arts to continue improving.

In any case, the progress of this Internal Martial Arts was so slow that he had practiced for three years and still hadn't cultivated a single wisp of Inner Qi.

Therefore, even if Chen Mo hadn't been practicing for long, relying on his talent, the difference in strength between them was not very large.

Originally, he thought that by relying on his experience, he would still be able to suppress Chen Mo.

It was just that now, it seemed Chen Mo's strength was already greater than his own.

However, these matters would have little to do with him in the future. Thus, he felt not a shred of jealousy toward Chen Mo, and even hoped the other could be even stronger.

Having had an arm severed, it would be difficult for him to remain in the army and take orders; he only hoped his foster father could pull some strings to help him secure a position near his hometown.

If Chen Mo did well for himself, as his foster brother, he would at least receive some care.

With the decision made and discussed, the two groups merged into one and headed straight for the area Mo Hu was to scout.

(End of chapter)