Chapter 9: Cultivation!

Amidst the gnawing anxiety of Li Dashan and Huang Xiaoru, three days passed in a flash.

By now, nearly the entire village had caught wind of Li Chang'an's heroic feat—a mere toddler of two and a half years, standing alone, had slain six or seven armed, grown men, among whom was Old Eight Han, a name that usually struck terror into their hearts at its very mention.

It sounded utterly surreal.

Yet, the truth stood unassailable, for many a villager had seen with their own eyes that Old Eight Han and his cohort had drawn their last breaths right inside Li Dashan’s home.

For a time, rumors spread like wildfire through the village; some whispered that Li Chang'an was the reincarnation of a divine lord, while others claimed he was a prodigy versed in immortal arts, born to execute the cruel officials who preyed upon the common folk.

Speculations of every stripe abounded, endless and varied.

In truth, had such an event transpired in the county seat or the provincial capital, it would have surely triggered an earth-shattering commotion.

But here, in a hamlet where not a single soul could read a word, the peasants found it rather reasonable.

After all, their horizons were narrow, and whenever they encountered a phenomenon defying explanation, attributing it to gods or spirits was never wide of the mark.

It was at this juncture that the authorities in Sanhuang County finally sensed something amiss, dispatching a squad of over ten constables to Li Family Village to inquire after the whereabouts of Old Eight Han and his men.

Though the villagers had already whispered twenty different versions of the tale among themselves.

Faced with these beasts draped in official robes, they naturally could not report the truth, telling them instead that Old Eight Han and his men had collected the tributary silver three days prior and departed that very afternoon upon completing their business.

The squad of constables then pressed outward along the path pointed out by the villagers.

Before long, beside a desolate, overgrown field, they discovered five or six heavily decomposed and mangled corpses, next to which lay a chest carelessly abandoned in the mire, still packed with the silver coins Old Eight Han and his crew had squeezed from the populace.

Under such circumstances, there was hardly any need for further investigation; the constables all surmised that Old Eight Han’s party must have fallen prey to a demonic entity from the nearby mountain forests during their journey, for had it been the work of men, the silver would never have been left behind.

The twists, turns, and counter-twists typical of conventional detective stories never materialized; upon recovering the silver, the squad quickly closed the case and hastened back without a moment's delay.

Throughout the entire process, no one conducted a detailed inquiry.

Or rather, those constables simply did not care.

Their primary mission was to recover the funds; if the men were unharmed, so much the better, but if they were unfortunate enough to be slain by demons, the officers were at most responsible for notifying the families to claim the bodies.

As for hunting down the demonic entity?

In ordinary times, perhaps the county office would send a few men to make a show of searching the perimeter.

But lately, Magistrate Chai was preoccupied with gathering funds and provisions from all quarters for the ritual sacrifice to the River God; while Old Eight Han was alive, he possessed some modicum of value for his ability to squeeze wealth for the magistrate, but in death, he was utterly useless, unworthy of raising a grand fuss.

Thus, the matter seemed to blow over without a ripple, leaving only Li Xiao, Li Dashan, and Huang Xiaoru nursing an anxious dread, deeply vexed.

The reason was simple.

During this period, Li Xiao and Li Dashan had pried into Old Eight Han’s family background, learning that in his youth, he had enlisted in the army alongside two brothers of his clan, and their bond was exceptionally tight.

Eighteen years ago, the foreign tribes of the extreme west launched the Shanhai Campaign, and the demonic Qing court suffered a disastrous defeat, failing to repel the invaders.

To prolong its own decadent and drunken rule, the court chose to retreat a hundred paces, not only accepting a colossal war indemnity from the foreign tribes but also proactively disbanding part of the army that had fought in the Shanhai Campaign as an gesture of apology.

It was precisely then that the three Han brothers, lacking any backing in the military, became the unfortunate scapegoats and were discharged.

The second brother, Han Li, and the third, Han Fei, possessed superior talent in the martial arts; upon their return, they opened a martial arts hall in the neighboring county and were currently flourishing, riding the waves of success.

Old Eight Han’s talent was somewhat inferior, and unwilling to depend on his brothers, he resolutely returned to Sanhuang Village to do the dirty, underhanded work for the county magistrate, though the brothers still gathered every ten days or half-month.

Now that Old Eight Han had met an obscure and mysterious end, if Han Fei and Han Li received the news, there was a high probability they would come knocking on the door to investigate the cause of death thoroughly.

Although Li Xiao believed he had cleaned up the tracks well enough, no wall in the world was entirely airtight, let alone when Li Chang'an’s killings had been witnessed by so many fellow villagers; if a rigorous investigation were truly launched, it could never be concealed.

Regarding this, Li Chang'an harbored very little mental burden.

Even if Han Fei and Han Li truly came looking for trouble, it mattered little to him.

It would simply mean a few more corpses left in the woods.

During this time, he transformed into a master of time management, devoting himself to diligent cultivation in the courtyard every day, his schedule packed tightly.

Because he had already revealed his extraordinary nature, there was no longer any need to hide his cultivation from his parents; every day before dawn, Li Chang'an would rise and sit cross-legged outside the courtyard gate, drawing energy into his body to expand the vortex of vital energy within him.

The energy vortex was the fundamental source of supernatural power, and thus Li Chang'an expended the greatest amount of time on it each day, often sitting cross-legged for three to five hours at a stretch.

Around ten o’clock in the morning, Li Chang'an would cease his breathing exercises and begin practicing his martial techniques.

During his previous battle with Old Eight Han, his defying comprehension had allowed him to grasp two techniques: the Thirteen Blades of the Ghost Gate and the Heart Cleansing Mantra.

Among them, the combat prowess of the Thirteen Blades of the Ghost Gate was remarkably formidable.

Grasping a wooden stick picked up by the doorway, Li Chang'an delivered thirteen downward strikes; the blade technique coalesced into a momentum, and the momentums stacked upon one another, each strike more cunning in its angle and heavier in its weight than the last.

The final strike unleashed a momentum grand enough to cleave gold and shatter stone.

One had to remember that this was achieved despite Li Chang'an’s physical constitution and internal energy circulation being unable to keep pace.

If he were to reach adulthood and wield a sharper long blade, the destructiveness of this technique would be terrifyingly immense; it would be no exaggeration to say he could fell an opponent with a single strike.

By comparison, the Heart Cleansing Mantra was entirely an auxiliary method.

Yet, even for an auxiliary method, nothing spawned from a defying comprehension could ever be weak.

In this world, there were a thousand paths and ten thousand methods.

It was no exaggeration to say that if many paths were walked to their absolute limits, they could lead to divinity through alternative means.

However, the vast majority of people in this world did not possess the special gift of absolute focus and undivided attention; many endeavors yielded no returns in the short term, and even those with steadfast wills could not help but lose heart.

For those who cultivated, a restless and impetuous mind was the ultimate taboo.

The Heart Cleansing Mantra was a scripture designed to adjust one’s mindset and soothe the spirit; through specific internal mantras, it brought tranquility and peace to the soul, highly effective in preventing a cultivator from becoming agitated or falling into madness.

Seeing his absorbed devotion to study, Li Dashan and Huang Xiaoru had even seriously considered sending him to a martial arts hall in the county seat to practice the martial path.

This idea had also received the backing of Li Xiao.

However, it was rejected by Li Chang'an.

With his current strength, if he were to truly enter a martial arts hall, he would likely frighten a great many people; hiding in the courtyard to cultivate by himself was by no means a bad thing.

As for apprenticing himself to a master to learn arts, Li Chang'an harbored his own objectives.