Chapter 22 Accident

Chapter 22 Accident

Chapter 22 Accident
The next morning, in Xingyefang, on the guard training ground.

More than a hundred warriors in tight clothes, carrying bags on their backs, wearing weapons on their waists, and leading horses, stood in a line. Chen Yuan and Zhao Shan were among them.

In front of the crowd, Wei Wuding was also leading a horse and bidding farewell to Shopkeeper Sun:
"Thank you for seeing me off, Senior Brother. I am going to clear out the bandits in Black Wind Village. The time is uncertain, but I will definitely return within a month at the latest."

Shopkeeper Sun said with a smile:
"Then I wish you immediate success. A mere bandit dares to provoke my Fuhu Gang. He is really courting death."

The two exchanged a few pleasantries, and Wei Wuding jumped on his horse, turned his horse's head, and said loudly:
"Let's go!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yuan climbed onto the horse's back somewhat clumsily and rode to catch up.

He had learned horse riding from Zhao Shan before, but after all, he was not the leader of the guard, so he had few opportunities to ride a horse, and his horsemanship was not as proficient as Zhao Shan.

After getting on the horse, Chen Yuan and Zhao Shan walked side by side. Zhao Shan whispered:

"Didn't Deacon Wei say that we'd be in the mountains for quite a while? Why are there horses to ride?"

The terrain of the Chimang Mountains is complex, and horses can only be ridden in Yuanpingxing. If you want to enter the mountains from the mountain trails, you can only walk.

The last time Baibingtang and Heifengzhai conducted a transaction, except for the carts loaded with weapons which were pulled by mules and horses, everyone else walked, even Manager Li and Zhang Jinkui.

But this time, more than a hundred warriors all had horses to ride, which was really strange.

Chen Yuan shook his head and said:
"I don't know either. Let's wait and see for now. Be careful and don't be careless."

Zhao Shan nodded and said no more, but his expression became noticeably more serious.

……

Shopkeeper Sun watched Wei Wuding and his group walk away. The sound of horse hooves gradually faded away. The smile on his face slowly faded. He snorted heavily and said:
"You dared to bring so many people into the mountains without finding the Black Wind Village, and you only brought a marrow refining manager with you. How arrogant! If you don't come back within a month, don't blame me for reporting you to the Law Enforcement Hall!"

Then, he turned and left, not forgetting to instruct Senior Brother Hu who was following him:
"Tomorrow you will go recruit warriors and rebuild the guard team. No matter if they are clean or not, as long as they are in the Skin Refining Realm, you can recruit them. Then you can slowly eliminate them later to avoid the need for the headquarters to send more people here."

"Yes!"

Senior Brother Hu responded respectfully and asked:
"Master, what are the arrangements for Junior Brother Zhao and Junior Brother Chen?"

Shopkeeper Sun hesitated for a moment and said:
"Give Zhao Shan a position as acting manager, and give Chen Erniu a position as the leader of the guard team."

Senior Brother Hu was surprised:

"Agent?"

Shopkeeper Sun said:

"The guard team suffered heavy losses this time, and almost all of them were wiped out. Although Zhao Shan is only at the peak of bone refining, he is an elder in the hall and has a lot of experience. He can be trusted to serve. Since I can't promote him to be the manager, I will promote him to be the acting manager first."

Senior Brother Hu suddenly realized and talked about another thing:

"Master, Li Ying'er has been trying to commit suicide these past few days. She insisted on going to the Chimang Mountains to find Li Yong, saying that she wanted to see him alive or his body dead. She has been quarreling with Madam Zhang for several days. She almost ran away from Xingyefang yesterday. How do you think we should deal with this matter?"

Shopkeeper Sun frowned slightly. After receiving the secret book and silver from Madam Zhang, he asked Senior Brother Hu to send someone to keep an eye on the Li Mansion to prevent any lawless people from bullying the widowed mother and her daughter.

But I didn't expect Li Ying'er to be so ignorant. She immediately said impatiently:
"Send more people to guard the Li Mansion and don't let her cause any trouble!"

"Yes!"

Senior Brother Hu responded respectfully, but Shopkeeper Sun became even more annoyed and quickened his pace.

Li Ying'er's disturbance reminded him of the secret book of "Six Yang Gong" that Wei Wuding copied away yesterday.

That was a second-rate martial arts book. Although it did not have any matching martial arts skills, it was enough to serve as the gang-guarding martial arts book of a small gang in the county. If it were put on the market, it could be sold for at least two thousand taels of silver.

Shopkeeper Sun felt heartbroken when he thought that Wei Wuding had extorted so much money from him just by talking.

To rob him of his money is to take his life.

However, Wei Wuding is the disciple of the head of the main hall, Hou Yan. Although he is very young, he has already cultivated to the peak of internal strength. He is highly valued by Hou Yan and even appreciated by the gang leader Luo Zhenwu.

However, he was old and frail, and was only able to come to Leping County to retire and become a wealthy man because he had served as Hou Yan's bodyguard for a period of time and later had the chance to break through to the level of internal strength.

Wei Wuding bullied him, and he could only swallow his anger.

But he will not give up just like that. If he finds an opportunity, he will definitely trip Wei Wuding!

……

Wei Wuding and his party rode their horses all the way to the outskirts of Leping County, and then followed the official road to the Chimang Mountains.

But halfway through the journey, Wei Wuding suddenly raised his hand, and everyone slowed down.

Then he turned his horse and headed down a small path, and the others followed.

The road was quite narrow, but the surface was extremely flat. Wei Wuding rode his horse slowly, passing through a large field, and stopped at the gate of a farm.

This farm covers an area of ​​several hundred acres and is surrounded by an earthen wall about ten feet high. The gate is wide open and there are more than a dozen people waiting outside. When they saw Wei Wuding, they all came forward to greet him.

Wei Wuding dismounted from his horse and showed his silver badge.

After the leader read it, he immediately clasped his fists and saluted:
"Liu Wei has met Deacon Wei!"

Wei Wuding waved his hand, threw the reins over, and said:

"Have you arranged the board and lodging?"

"It has been arranged. Deacon Wei, please come in and rest."

Wei Wuding nodded, turned around and greeted:

"Follow me into the village!"

The others had already dismounted and were waiting. Upon hearing what was said, they led their horses and walked into the farm one by one.

Chen Yuan followed behind Zhao Shan, looking around at the environment of the manor. After entering the gate, there was an open space of several acres, and then a large building complex, including granaries, mills, workshops, warehouses, etc. On the left were rows of stables, and on the right were more than a dozen courtyards with one entrance, three courtyards with two entrances, and a large mansion with three entrances, arranged neatly.

Along the earth wall, there is a wooden watchtower every ten feet, but there is no one guarding it.

Everyone stopped in the open space, and the dozen or so farmers took the reins and led the horses into the stable.

Wei Wuding whispered a few words to the leader of the farmers, then came to the front of the crowd and said loudly:
"You will all follow Manager Liu's instructions. You are not allowed to move around or go in and out of the manor. Someone will deliver your three meals a day on time. Do you understand?"

"Yes!"

Everyone agreed and followed Manager Liu to live in different courtyards.

The skin-refining warriors live in a courtyard with one entrance, the eight bone-refining warriors live in a courtyard with two entrances, and the only marrow-refining warrior, Luo Hai, lives alone in a courtyard with two entrances.

As for Wei Wuding, he naturally lived in a large mansion with three entrances.

Chen Yuan and Zhao Shan had always walked together and were assigned to the same courtyard.

This two-entry courtyard has four bedrooms, excluding the gatehouse and the back house in the front yard, and the main hall and ear rooms in the back yard. In addition to Chen Yuan and Zhao Shan, two other bone-refining warriors also live there.

After Manager Liu left, Zhao Shan came to Chen Yuan's room, looking quite nervous, and asked:

"Brother, aren't we going into the mountains? Why did Deacon Wei bring us to this manor to stay? Do you think it's something that happened in the mountains..."

Chen Yuan frowned and said:
"Brother, don't talk nonsense! Deacon Wei has his reasons for doing things. All we have to do is wait patiently and prepare to go into the mountains to suppress the bandits."

Zhao Shan was startled, still looking quite worried:

"But……"

Chen Yuan said again:

"Brother, don't worry too much. According to my guess, Deacon Wei is probably waiting for the most appropriate time. You also know that mountain bandits come and go without a trace, and the location of the mountain stronghold is even less known. If you rashly enter the mountain, it is easy to alert the enemy."

Zhao Shan's doubts were gone and he nodded repeatedly:
"Junior brother, you are right. I was overthinking it."

After saying that, he stood up and was about to leave.

Chen Yuan raised his hand to stop him and said:

"Wait, what Senior Brother said makes sense. After all, we are going into the mountains to suppress bandits, which is quite risky. It is not convenient for me to come out, so you can make friends with the other two Senior Brothers in the courtyard so that you can take care of them on the way."

"Okay, I'll go right away."

At this time, Zhao Shan obeyed Chen Yuan's orders and agreed immediately. He got up and went out, knocking on the door of another bone refining warrior.

……

An hour later, Chen Yuan, Zhao Shan and two other bone-refining warriors sat together.

With Zhao Shan's introduction, Chen Yuan learned that the other two people's names were Yu Zhenchuan and Lai Zhong, and they both called each other senior brothers.

Yu Zhenchuan and Lai Zhong also had a good impression of the honest and straightforward Chen Yuan. The four of them had a great conversation and after having lunch together, they returned to their respective rooms.

The smile on Chen Yuan's face disappeared. He took out the jade pendant from the coarse cloth bag he kept close to his body, frowned, and looked at it carefully.

He has been in a bad mood since last night.

It was a sunny night last night. When it got dark and the stars were in the sky, Chen Yuan took out the jade pendant as usual.

But the jade beads did not emit any green light, and could not attract the starlight to infuse the body!

Chen Yuan tried several times but failed every time, and he was very confused.

The jade beads are his biggest trump card. If they suddenly lose their function and he can no longer draw starlight into his body, he will be just a mediocre internal force warrior.

Chen Yuan did not give up, and tried other methods such as soaking in water and dripping blood, until late at night, before he finally accepted the fact that the jade pendant could not attract starlight.

Chen Yuan was in a depressed mood and sat in the yard for a long time. Suddenly, he remembered that the starlight infusion had been extended to twenty breaths. Was the change in Yujue related to this? Was it just that the interval had become longer?
He found the possible reason for Yu Jue's change and finally calmed down. However, he still tossed and turned in bed for a long time before he could barely fall asleep.

Fortunately, after being infused with starlight many times, his spirit is more vigorous than that of ordinary people. Although he only slept for two hours, he is still full of energy.

However, Chen Yuan had to follow Wei Wuding into the mountains, so he had no way of verifying whether the interval between the starlight infusions had really been extended.

He frowned and stared at the jade pendant for a long time, his mind was in turmoil and he was uncertain for a long time. So he simply picked up his long sword, went to the yard, and practiced the Five Tigers Breaking Door Sword Technique.

This fifty-tempered long sword was given to him by Manager Sun before he set out. It is better than the previous thirty-tempered long sword.

There were too many people in the village, so Chen Yuan could not practice the Six Yang Kung Fu, nor the Shadow Step or the Red Yang Sword Technique. He could only practice the sword technique.

When he first started practicing with the sword, Yu Zhenchuan and Lai Zhong watched for a while with great interest.

But after seeing that Chen Yuan was practicing the Five Tigers Breaking Door Sword, the two of them lost interest and just flattered him perfunctorily before returning to the house.

Chen Yuan didn't care and continued practicing his sword skills.

Although the Five Tigers Breaking Door Knife is simple and direct, it can just bring out Chen Yuan's tremendous strength.

If the moves were sophisticated, it would not be suitable for Chen Yuan's method of defeating ten with one force.

The same is true of the Chiyang sword technique, which is extremely masculine and strong, with simple moves. Chen Yuan likes it very much.

Brush brush!
Chen Yuan's hands moved faster and faster. The blade in the yard flashed, reflecting a cold light under the sunlight, dazzling people's eyes.

Suddenly, Chen Yuan paused, slowed down, and most of the cold light disappeared.

After a moment, a clear voice came from the hanging flower gate at the entrance of the courtyard:
"Such a fast sword technique, such a strong murderous aura!"

(End of this chapter)