After leaving Dafan city, Zhu Furong walked for about half an hour before reaching a small village. The village is more like an assembly of poor merchants living together. There are several shops and stables here. The prices of items are considerably cheaper compared to Dafan city.
Zhu Furong took some rest in the small village and decided to buy a ride. He went to the stables to look for a good horse but he later realized that a horse can't carry him while he is wearing weights. So he tried to buy a low rank spiritual beast which may be able to carry him and his 1 metric ton weight.
Yes. This guy is now wearing 1000kg of weights on his body. Totally nuts.
After searching through three or four stables, Zhu Furong still couldn't find any spiritual beast capable of carrying that much weight. The best they could do is to drag a wagon or carriage with a metric ton of weight. But Zhu Furong doesn't want to ride a carriage, he wants to feel the wind on his face. Somebody has to compromise, so Zhu Furong took off all his weights and put them inside the Nine-Layers Pagoda.
He went around the stables again and bought a black horse in the end. The black horse is quite big and strong. Its muscles are filled with explosive power. It looked more like a spiritual beast than a normal horse. Zhu Furong just randomly named it Blacky. He was quite surprised to find such a nice horse there. It was quite expensive but it was worth every bit of his money.
Riding Blacky, Zhu Furong trotted towards the nearest town to the Dafan city, Shaoqu.
Being the closest town to the capital of Ming Dynasty, Shaoqu is quite a large town thriving with population.
Zhu Furong didn't stop there for long. He just bought some snacks and went on his way.
Riding his horse on the way outside Shaoqu town, Zhu Furong came across a peddler selling face masks. Interested, Zhu Furong bought a black coloured full-face wooden mask. The mask has the pattern of tree bark and only has two slits for the eyes. Zhu Furong bought it because it matches his usual black-disguise attire.
He just bought the mask on a whim, but he never expected he would have to use it so soon...
About a mile away from Shaoqu town, Zhu Furong noticed an elaborately decorated horse-drawn carriage parked in the middle of the road. Beside it is a horse-drawn wagon parked off-road.
Zhu Furong noticed four men surrounding a kneeling, middle aged man and a young woman. The driver of the carriage is still sitting on his driving seat while a young man is leaning on the carriage outside with a smirk on his face.
From their attire, the young man seems to be some Young Master of a wealthy family or maybe he is from some noble family. The four surrounding men look like the young man's bodyguards.
The middle aged man seems to be a merchant as his wagon is filled with crates and boxes. The young woman from her age looks like his daughter.
Zhu Furong frowned and pulled the reins of his horse trotting towards those people. Upon getting close to the group he could hear them talking. The middle aged man seemed to be begging the young man for something.
Before Zhu Furong could listen to any useful information, two of the supposed bodyguards walked towards him.
"Stop!" One of the bodyguards raised his hand towards Zhu Furong.
"Kid, name yourself. What are you doing here? What is your purpose? Where are you going?" The guard rudely asked.
Zhu Furong made an astonished face hearing the questions.
'Is these the questions you ask to a passerby? Name is fine, but why should I tell you about my purpose and where I am going? Are you my mother or what?' Zhu Furong thought while scratching his head.
Getting no answers, the guard looked insulted. He rushed towards Zhu Furong, seemingly wanting to hit him or something.
"Wait!" Zhu Furong came back to his senses.
He spoke calmly. "I say, isn't it manners to introduce yourself first before asking for someone else's name? What kind of education did you have? Humph!" Zhu Furong scolded.
"How dare you!" The other guard roared, pulling out his sword from the scabbard.
"Stop messing around you idiots and put your sword away, I don't want to see any blood." The young man shouted from behind.
The guard inserted his sword back into the scabbard. The other guard who had rushed again towards Zhu Furong, stopped on his way. Both the men turned back and bowed. "Please forgive us Young Master, it won't happen again." They slowly walked back to their positions.
Zhu Furong was amazed by their strict discipline. It shows the potential of their owner, this young man.
Sitting on the horse, Zhu Furong turned his attention towards the young man.
The young man also looked towards Zhu Furong. He inspected him for a while but couldn't find anything interesting or amusing. A cheap cyan hanfu, average looking face, Zhu Furong just looks like a commoner. The young man noticed Blacky which is quite a high class horse for a commoner to be riding. He liked the horse very much so he decided to talk with Zhu Furong, thinking he may be able to buy it off him or if needed snatch it.
The young man frowned. "I am Shi Guang, who are you?" He asked.
Zhu Furong gave a fist-palm salute. "So it's Young Master Guang. Please forgive this boy for not recognizing you, hehe. Young Master Guang's name reaches far and wide, this one made a mistake,hehe" Zhu Furong smiled like a humble servant.
The young man raised one of his brows. "You know me?" He asked.
Zhu Furong still sitting on Blacky, rubbed his hands. "Hehehe, of course Young Master Guang, who doesn't recognise the symbol of the Duke house?" He pointed at a golden symbol carved on the door of the carriage. The symbol saying 'Shi' is carved with elegant, Chinese, golden characters.
"If I am not wrong, you must be the first Young Master of the Shi family, Shi Guang, right?" Zhu Furong smiled, showing his bright, white teeth.
"Humph! If you know that much, why ain't you kneeling down to me? You dirty piece of shit. Are you trying to dishonour me?" Shi Guang shouted angrily with his arms across his chest. He tried to assert his dominance.
Zhu Furong doesn't care. He scratched his head with an innocent look. "Hehe, forgive me Young Master Guang, this piece of shit is in a hurry. So if you will excuse me." Saying this, Zhu Furong pulled the reins and kicked the sides of Blacky. Blacky neighed, raising its front legs, then it dashed from the side of carriage at a fast speed leaving only dust behind on the faces of the gawking Shi Guang and his men.
After a while... "Cough! Cough! Poof! Cough!" Shi Guang and his men coughed out the dust from their mouths. They spat together in harmony and then wiped their faces with handkerchief or hanfu sleeves. Together they again gazed towards the direction Zhu Furong had left.
"That fucking bastard. That uncivil rascal. How dare he, to me... I will fucking kill his whole family! Catch him for me." Suddenly Shi Guang roared at the peak of his voice.
The four men just stood with their heads down and didn't move. No one followed the Young Master's orders.
"Are you all deaf? I said chase that boy and bring him to me. What are you waiting for? Want your Young Master to chase instead?" Shi Guang shouted with anger. Then he roared again. "I want his horse."
'So that's your real target.' All the men present there thought at the same time.
One of the four men slowly raised his head, fear discernible on his face. "Forgive us Young Master, we four are just peak Foundation Establishment rank Cultivators, we can't chase that fast horse after it has run so far."
"Fucking useless! I am just raising pigs in my house." Shi Guang gritted his teeth and stamped his feet.
"Send a message to the house, ask someone to look for that boy. Place a bounty on him or whatever." Shi Guang ordered.
"Forgive me Young Master but we don't know his name." The bodyguard replied with anxiety.
"What the fuck!" Shi Guang cursed. "Just make a portrait of him or something, whatever, just find that horse." Shi Guang said with anger then he turned towards the kneeling middle aged man, he raised his leg and kicked hard on the man's chest, sending him rolling about 10 feet. He vented his anger on the poor man.
'It came back to the horse in the end.' The four bodyguards thought at the same time.
"Father!" The young woman cried in alarm, she stood up, about to rush towards the middle aged man.
Shi Guang grabbed her hand from behind at a fast speed and pulled her closer to him. He whispered in her ears. "Get into the carriage or I will kill your father, believe me or not I am not in a good mood right now. Also, I am running out of patience. You understand?" He threw the woman towards his carriage.
With tears flowing down her cheeks, the woman looked towards her father who was lying on the floor holding his chest, groaning in pain.
"Father..." She called in a muffled voice but was scared quiet by the sharp gaze of Shi Guang.
Biting her lips and squeezing the hem of her dress, she slowly climbed up inside the carriage.
Seeing this Shi Guang made a lecherous smile and climbed into the carriage as well. He closed the door and shut the windows.
The four bodyguards stationed themselves at the four corners of the carriage at a proper distance wiping the cold sweat off their forehead. The carriage driver all got off and walked far away.
They all thought. 'Now this fucker wants the woman, what about the horse? What about the portrait? Just make up your mind, damn it!'
The woman's father couldn't utter a single word due to immense pain. That kick from Shi Guang must have broken his ribs. He is just a commoner while Shi Guang is at peak Foundation Establishment rank, just like his bodyguards.
The father still tried his best to drag his body towards the carriage to stop what's about to happen to his daughter. He growled in pain and bit his teeth but still kept crawling slowly.
The bodyguards, rather than feeling pity, enjoyed the scene very much. One of them even dragged the poor man a few feet back to keep him away from the carriage for a longer time.
The middle aged man, smeared with tears and blood, had lost all his hopes by now as the time was passing by every moment he was struggling to reach the carriage but then a miracle happened...
Bang!
…
Well we all know the drill. During such a plot there has to be a hero coming to save the damsel in distress right?
…
Zhu Furong had not left the vicinity yet. After traveling for about a kilometre, Zhu Furong found a tree and tethered Blacky to it, then he zoomed back towards Shi Guang and his men.
Looking at the situation back there and the behaviour of the middle aged man and the young woman, Zhu Furong has a general idea about what is happening.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Still to make sure, he spread his Divine Sense to spy on them from a safe distance of 500m hidden on a tree. While at it he also changed into a black attire and covered his face with the wooden mask.
While arguing with the bodyguards of Shi Guang, Zhu Furong had figured out their Cultivation ranks from their movements. That's why he is using his Divine Sense now without any worries.
Even though no one in the Lower Realm can use Divine Sense because of the Cultivation limit, it still can alert the enemy as they will feel something amiss. It's all about the battle instincts of the Cultivators. After surviving through many life and death situations they automatically grow a sense for danger. The higher the rank of a Cultivator, the sharper their sense is.
It's quite a coincidence that the moment Zhu Furong spread his Divine Sense is the moment when Shi Guang closed himself inside the carriage with the woman. Looking at the sorry state of the middle aged man, Zhu Furong didn't need any more answers.
He moved at a lightning speed, leaving only a blur behind. He closed the distance of 500m in just a few seconds and kicked the roof of the carriage horizontally with a bang, sending it flying away before shattering into pieces mid air.
Zhu Furong jumped inside the carriage and carried the half-naked woman outside to her father. He pulled out a blanket out of nowhere and covered the woman. Then he crouched and checked the middle aged man's injury before feeding him a healing pill.
Any healing pill made for a Cultivator is good enough to cure any physical wounds on a normal person. Though stuff like broken bones and shattered organs need some good rank pills.
Zhu Furong is a level 3 Pill Refiner by now, so he has an abundant amount of rank 3 pills, which are more than enough to bring the middle aged man back to his optimum state.
The middle aged man recovered so fast that it took him a while to realise that he had completely healed. Not only that, but it seems that some of the injuries he had received during these past few days have also vanished. It's like a miracle.
Miracle indeed. In the Lower Realm, rank 2 pills are quite rare and rank 3 pills are hard to be seen. Let alone the middle aged man, if Shi Guang finds out that Zhu Furong has just fed the man a rank 3 pill, Shi Guang will curse aloud and faint. Such a waste of a treasure to be used on a commoner who is not even a Cultivator.
Zhu Furong doesn't care. He pulled the middle aged man up and dusted him.
"Are you alright?" Zhu Furong asked.
"I-I..." The middle aged man is still shocked at the miracle and is at a loss for words.
Zhu Furong just patted his shoulder. "Alright, take care of your daughter, let me take care of them." Saying this he turned towards the carriage.
Shi Guang has walked out of the carriage by now and is watching everything. He too is amazed by the miracle recovery of the middle aged man. He knows very well how hard his kick was. He wanted to find out what this strange black clothed man has fed the middle aged man but he knows well that this stranger is not his friend.
Shi Guang frowned and analysed the situation. His four bodyguards walked close to him as well. After a while Shi Guang raised one of his brows in realisation and smirked. He whispered something to one of his bodyguards, the bodyguard then stared at Zhu Furong for a while then shook his head. Shi Guang nodded in response.
They all were confused about how this strange man suddenly appeared here, no one noticed him approaching the carriage. He is quite skilled in covert operations it seems.
Shi Guang clapped his hands once and rubbed them. "I say, you black-masked man, you are a Body Cultivator aren't you?" He asked with a wide smile.
"So what?" Zhu Furong crossed his arms across his chest and asked with his chin raised.
Due to Zhu Furong's taller height compared to the average height of a ten-year-old, Zhu Furong now looks like a short adult. He has also altered his voice to match his disguise as he always does. This time he is also wearing gloves just in case. You know, well... Yeh, just in case.
"Humph!" Shi Guang sneered. "Even though Body Cultivators are quite strong compared to Qi Cultivators of the same rank, that only applies to lower Cultivation ranks. What are you acting so haughty for?"
"So what? We all here are low rank Cultivators aren't we?" Zhu Furong sneered.
"You really think you can fight us all huh? As far as I can see, your physical strength is also at the peak Foundation Establishment rank. We are 5 peak Foundation Establishment rank Cultivators on my side, you are not dreaming that you can win right?" This time Shi Guang haughtily raised his chin.
Zhu Furong raised his hands and clasped them above his head, turning his palms towards the sky, he stretched his body with a blissful moan of comfort.
He then put his left hand's pinkie finger inside his ear and shook it, he said. "I will win once we fight."
"Quite an optimist, aren't we?" Shi Guang squinted his eyes with disdain.
"Nope. I stopped being optimistic after my past life. I am just stating the facts right now. You all will die if we fight." Zhu Furong flicked his clean pinkie finger towards Shi Guang. Seems like he couldn't find anything inside his ear to throw at Shi Guang, sad.
Shi Guang rolled his eyes. "Stop your bullshit. We all know who will die. Rather than losing your sorry life here, how about you work for me?"
"Just so you know, I am the first Young Master of the Shi family. The Duke house of the Ming Dynasty. You won't be treated badly." Shi Guang said with a serious face.
"Aha, so you want my pills huh? You don't want to kill me because you see value in me right? You noble Young Masters are quite cunning." Zhu Furong said with an amazed tone.
Shi Guang didn't try to hide his intentions. "You are right. I want those miracle pills of yours. Far better if you can tell me the name of the master who concocted those pills. If I am not wrong, that was a rank 2 pill right? A rank 2 Pill Concocter is quite rare. You and that master will be treated quite generously if you work for our family." Shi Guang said solemnly.
Zhu Furong shook his head. "Hehehe, you are wrong Young Master, that wasn't a rank 2 pill, that was a rank 3 pill. To not even recognise such a treasure, you really disappoint me." Zhu Furong said in a coquettish manner.
"What?" Shi Guang along with his bodyguards opened their mouths wide with shock, wide enough to put an ostrich egg inside.
"Well anyway, how are you going to pay for your actions, Young Master? You are not going to bail out of here after what you have done to this lady right? That's quite irresponsible of you." Zhu Furong gestured with a limp wrist then asked with his arms across his chest, in a dominant tone.
Shi Guang came back to his senses. He frowned. "What responsibility, what are you talking about? I am the Young Master of a noble family and she is just a commoner. She should feel honoured to sleep with someone like me. Humph!" Shi Guang sneered.
Zhu Furong rolled his eyes. "Honour my ass. You fucking rapist, you think you can do whatever you want to a lady and the lady should feel thankful to you? Are you smoking weed or what?"
Shi Guang looked frustrated. "Why do you care so much, is she your sister or what? Don't you Cultivators see common people as dirt, we nobles do the same. Where is the difference? Why care now?"
"I am the difference." Zhu Furong gave a quick reply. "I don't know about other Cultivators, nor do I care about them. I have my own principles and my principles don't allow one to hurt innocent people for their own benefits." Zhu Furong vigorously said.
"What bullshit principles, didn't you kill our innocent carriage driver?" One of the bodyguards pointed towards the dead body of the carriage driver lying far away. Zhu Furong had killed him on his way to the carriage earlier.
The other four turned their heads and followed the direction the bodyguard was pointing at and they were all astonished. The carriage driver was indeed lying limp on the ground without making any sort of movements, he wasn't breathing.
"Siiii..." All four sucked in cold breath at the same they thought. 'When did he kill the carriage driver? When did that happen?' They all turned their heads in inquiry towards the bodyguard who had pointed the corpse earlier, but the bodyguard helplessly shook his head.
"What innocent? Being together with you guys has already made him a criminal. He didn't say anything to his Young Master who was committing a crime nor did he try to stop him, he just walked away and waited for his Young Master to be done with his disgraceful deed. He deserves to die and so do you. Ptui!" Zhu Furong made a spitting sound with disdain.
"You sure you don't want to work for me? You are missing a great opportunity. I can make you rich, can give you a high position in society and can even help you with Cultivation resources. And if you tell me the name of the Pill Concocter, I can even get you a noble rank. You won't find any other kind man like me. Think carefully, you don't want to play a hero just for some random strangers." Shi Guang tried to convince Zhu Furong one last time.
"No thanks. Also, I am not playing some hero, I was just looking for some battle experience and you seemed to be the right target for it. By the way, just so you know, the kind one dies first." Zhu Furong mocked.
"What? You are just messing with us to gain battle experience? Are you mad or are you an idiot? To fight one against four without any advantages, I can only say you have a death wish." Shi Guang sneered.
"Didn't you call me a Body Cultivator? My tough body is my advantage. Now take my fist." Saying this Zhu Furong dashed towards Shi Guang and his men at a lightning speed, shocking them.
Zhu Furong rained his rock-hard punches and kicks at the five men one at a time. He tried to make it a one-on-one battle with his fast movement speed and agility, though it was two-on-one most of the time but Zhu Furong still avoided having a five-on-one.
The battle ensued and continued for quite a long time. By the time it ended, three of the four bodyguards had multiple broken bones and fractures. They were all lying limp on the ground, bleeding heavily.
One bodyguard only has a broken leg and a broken arm. As for Shi Guang, his crotch is bleeding heavily.
For Shi Guang, this bastard, Zhu Furong only focused on his little monkey. After today Shi Guang can't spank his monkey anymore. Let alone tease any women with it.
Shi Guang too is lying on the ground, curled up like a prawn, crying and groaning in pain.
On the other side, standing, Zhu Furong is breathing heavily, with his whole body drenched in sweat. He too has several broken bones and flesh wounds. Even though tough like steel, his body still can't protect against Qi infused attacks. It's already a miracle to survive a battle against five Foundation Establishment rank Cultivators with his Cultivation.
Zhu Furong pulled out a jade bottle out of thin air, he poured himself quite a few pills and gobbled them in one go. These are the same healing pills he fed the middle aged man earlier.
Zhu Furong fell on the ground with a thump after consuming the pills. He laid motionless.
Seeing Zhu Furong fall, the last bodyguard who was supporting himself with one leg fell down too. He looked tired and in immense pain too, just like his partners.
The middle aged man and the young woman who were watching from a distance rushed to Zhu Furong's aid with worry on their faces.
Zhu Furong slowly raised his hand indicating he is alright. The young woman kneeled beside Zhu Furong to look at his wounds. She couldn't help but feel scared at what she saw. Zhu Furong's whole torso was in a mess, there were multiple deep wounds and the inner organs and broken bones could be seen clearly through them, though the wounds were miraculously healing at a visible slow pace. Seems like the pills Zhu Furong took earlier is showing its effects.
Zhu Furong didn't groan in pain like those men, but the gritting noise of his teeth could be heard clearly.
...
It was past evening when Zhu Furong could stand up on his own. His wounds were still oozing blood from the bandages applied by the young woman and her father but there seemed to be no problem in moving around.
Zhu Furong had sent the father and daughter away after they had applied his bandages as it's not good for them to stay here, not after what has happened to the Young Master Guang. If someone from his family or any other noble family arrives here, it will be a death penalty for the father and daughter.
Even though hesitant, the duo complied with Zhu Furong and left after thanking him generously. Well the generosity is only the items in the wagon. The merchant only took the two horses pulling his wagon and left the whole wagon with the items behind for Zhu Furong.
During the day many travelers and merchants passed through the road, but looking at the scene no one dared to approach them. For common people, the world of Martial Arts is something they shouldn't get involved with. Fortunately for Zhu Furong, none of the passerby were related to the Duke house.
After getting up Zhu Furong slowly walked towards the five men. 3 of the bodyguards had died from excess bleeding by now. Their wounds were even worse than Zhu Furong's. Unlike the clean sword cuts on Zhu Furong's body, their bodies have claw marks and finger holes. That's the fighting style Zhu Furong uses. He doesn't like using weapons. Using his body as a weapon gives him an adrenaline rush.
Clean cuts are indeed deep and deadly, but they are also easy to treat. But the uneven tattered wounds caused by claws and fingers are hard to close and treat, that's why they ooze more blood too. The excessive blood loss caused the death of these three men.
The fourth bodyguard is not in any better condition than his partners, but he is still alive for now, though unconscious.
Shi Guang doesn't have any other injuries except for his missing monkey but he too is unconscious due to immense pain.
"If you weren't from the Duke house, I would have killed you right now. You are quite lucky, killing you will only cause trouble for me and other people, who may have to work day and night looking for the culprit. It's better to not make that old man of mine work so hard for a waste like you." Zhu Furong muttered while staring at Shi Guang.
Then he looked towards the bloody crotch of Shi Guang and made a disgusted face. "Your little monkey was too kind to women so I had to take its life. Hope this will make some difference. Well the next time will be different. You will be on the receiving end won't you? Hehehe." Zhu Furong smirked.
After that he walked to the unconscious bodyguard and broke his neck killing him in his sleep.
Zhu Furong didn't touch anyone else but collected the Spatial Bag Shi Guang was carrying and the whole wagon of the merchant. After that he left to where Blacky was.
Blacky was still tied to the tree, grazing on the surrounding grasses. It's quite fortunate that the spot is well hidden from the main road and no robbers or bandits seem to have approached here.
Zhu Furong untied Blacky and rode it off.
He checked on his bandages pressing on them, he murmured. "Is it the Monster Race's blood or the Demon Race's blood or is it both? This healing speed is quite extraordinary. I have read in the books that Monster Race has incredible regeneration speed and according to Master Demon God, the Demon Race too has fast healing speed." He clicked his tongue. "Quite interesting. If I could Cultivate to higher ranks, the regeneration speed will increase too, it will be like having an immortal body. Cool."
...
The night has fallen by now, Zhu Furong didn't go to any nearby town or village, rather he took shelter in a small forest. He has all the needed supplies inside his Space Ring and Nine-Layers Pagoda, so it's quite comfortable to camp in a forest too. Also the forest only has small animals like rabbits and foxes, so nothing to worry about.
The first proper battle he had was quite satisfactory but the bloodlust he showed was also bugging him a bit, he enjoyed the flow of blood. Despite his bloodlust he somehow managed to show mercy to Shi Guang 's life.
Zhu Furong was sure that Shi Guang had done similar things before too, else he wouldn't have dared to force a woman in broad daylight, that too in front of her father.
Zhu Furong hates these types of men but he doesn't want to kill Shi Guang right now. Everything has a proper time for it.
"Let's look for some more fights after healing, I need more experience." Zhu Furong murmured before falling asleep.