From a refugee to a martial artist

Chapter 22 Catching Monsters
Get up early the next morning.

Meng Yuan shot the arrow two hundred times, and then practiced the Kuangfeng Sword Technique with the students several times, correcting the key points of the movements.

Being cheated out of ten taels of silver yesterday was a small matter, but going out to subdue demons today was a big deal, and Meng Yuan was looking forward to it very much.

The descriptions of monsters in history books are not very detailed. Often in times of turmoil, there are often "monster disasters" and even in peaceful years, monsters often kill people.

But he didn't know more details. Meng Yuan felt that if they were all monsters like my grandma, they might be able to steal but they wouldn't be able to cause chaos.

Not long after breakfast, Nie Yannian finally arrived.

Meng Yuan was already prepared, with a knife on his waist, a quiver on his back, and a bow in his hand.

Meng Yuan had just entered the rank and was very clear about his abilities. He had no problem fighting against five or six strong men, and could also fight with warriors of the same level.

But no matter what, bows and arrows as long-range attack weapons are a must.

"Master Nie, do you want to change to a five-stone bow?" Meng Yuan had been practicing with a two-stone bow.

"Forget it. Although you can pull the five-stone bow, it's too tiring to do it for a long time. It's just like a person. It's plump and beautiful, but it's too easy to drain your energy and you can't do it for a long time." Nie Yannian said casually.

What is this? Is there such a comparison? Meng Yuan was reminded of the beautiful woman who ran the Zuiyue Tower.

However, Meng Yuan always listened to advice and didn't say anything more.

When Wu Changsheng and others saw that Meng Yuan was fully equipped and looked like he was going out for some training, they all looked expectant, hoping that Master Nie would take them with him.

"Take good care of the house!" Nie Yannian said casually, then took Meng Yuan away from the training ground and came to the stable.

Meng Yuan doesn't know how to ride a horse, but fortunately the horses here are well-trained and have gentle temperaments.

Moreover, Meng Yuan was quite good in both strength and reaction. Although he had no experience in riding a horse, he was able to keep his body steady once he stepped on the stirrup and mounted the horse.

After leaving the palace, Nie Yannian first talked about the difference between riding a horse and riding a person, and then talked about the purpose of this trip.

It turns out that the problem is still with the farm outside the city. The princess has a medicine farm in the south of the city. Things have been missing recently, several patrol dogs have also disappeared, and some villagers have said they saw monsters.

After saying all this, Nie Yannian put away his lazy look and started talking about monsters again.

There are innumerable monsters in the world, no matter they are snakes, insects, rats, ants, jackals, tigers and leopards, all of them can become monsters and do evil.

If wild beasts in the mountains want to become spirits, they need to absorb the essence of the sun and the moon, or swallow precious herbs and medicines, so as to develop spiritual light and intelligence. Intelligent ones can also refine their horizontal bones and speak human language.

Monsters also have their own ways of cultivation, but they have more disadvantages and the effects are slow. Nowadays, monsters have fought with humans for countless years and have slowly learned the ways of cultivation from humans. Most of them follow the path of martial arts, but some follow the path of Taoism and Buddhism.

After the monster begins to practice, it will slowly develop a human form, which is called transformation.

However, most of them will retain some characteristics of wild animals. Generally speaking, the more intelligent and agile the transformation is, the more complete it is, while the dumber and stupider the transformation is, the more wild animal characteristics it retains.

Of course, there are also special ones.

Low-quality monsters are usually not very smart, or their brains are not very flexible. However, some monsters are close to humans, and some read books and even read military strategies.

Some monsters are ferocious, some are timid, some like to live in groups, and some live alone in the mountains and forests. Their temperaments are changeable, and their animal instincts have not been completely eliminated, so most of them are very wild.

Fear comes from the unknown. After receiving some instruction, Meng Yuan's fear of wild spirits disappeared, and he became interested in precious herbs and medicines. He thought that if he had the chance, he might try some to improve his spirit fire.

Walk out of Songhe Prefecture from the south gate and after three miles you will see a big river, which is the Canglang River.

The Canglang River originates from the west, turns east to the south of Songhe Prefecture, and finally flows into the sea.

The two men rode their horses and traveled along the bank of the Canglang River for more than ten miles, and then they saw a manor.

This is the medicine village, which is much smaller than the pasture village and surrounded by high walls. There is also a medicine garden nearby, and many villagers also grow herbs.

The medicine shop is used to transport bulk medicines, prepare medicines, and collect medicines, and the profit is extremely high. After entering the village, the village head came to greet him, along with a young man who was dressed the same as Meng Yuan.

The young man's name was Ren Debiao, and he was also a palace guard and a ninth-rank warrior. He had come to the medicine store to investigate first.

Without further ado, they entered the lobby together, and Ren Debiao began to talk about the investigation.

"They are monsters that came down from the mountains. They stole a total of seven dogs, a small donkey, and a lot of prepared medicines, mostly ointments and pills for nourishing the essence and qi." Ren Debiao looked very capable.

"Songhe Prefecture is next to a mountain. Although there are always many monsters in the mountains, Songhe Prefecture is a big city, and the monsters don't dare to go out of the mountains to cause trouble." Nie Yannian obviously knows a lot about monsters. "They went out of the mountains to steal medicine. Did the monsters get hurt in an internal fight? Or did some ignorant youngsters do it?"

"Also, two people died in the village. They were a man and a woman. They went out to have sex in the middle of the night. Their stomachs were cut open and their internal organs were eaten." Ren Debiao said.

"Having sex out in the middle of the night? Aren't you too cold?" Nie Yannian smiled.

"Master Nie, please give me some rules. Should we report to the authorities or handle it ourselves?" asked the head of the medicine shop.

"Report to the police? Reporting to the police for a few little demons, how will I, Nie Yannian, save my reputation if this gets out?" Nie Yannian was very confident. "Let's cook and eat first. We'll stay here tonight. If one comes, we'll catch one. If two come, we'll catch a pair!"

The village head said no more and ordered the villagers to kill chickens and sheep.

It is still cold in early spring, and the delicious mutton dipped in mashed garlic and then swallowed with a sip of mutton soup is truly the ultimate delicacy.

As traces of nutrients were absorbed into his essence and fire, Meng Yuan felt that if he could eat mutton as much as he wanted every day, his essence and fire would be perfect again in less than two months.

After eating and drinking, Nie Yannian slowly inspected the medicine store and finally came to a remote room to check the two mutilated corpses.

The internal organs are gone, and judging by the wounds, they must have been caused by the sharp claws of a monster.

"It's probably a monster like a dog or wolf." Nie Yannian went to the scene again to check for any traces left by the monster.

However, this monster was very clever and all its footprints were erased, so it was impossible to tell what kind of monster it was.

It was not until after dinner that Nie Yannian made arrangements. He, Ren Debiao and Meng Yuan were to guard the roof of the back wall. The other farmers did not participate, but just went to sleep. They were not allowed to go out to check if they heard any noise.

In fact, it is just waiting for something to happen.

"It doesn't matter if you say it works or not." Nie Yannian tapped his temple and said, "After taking advantage of you once, you will want to take advantage of you again. Unless you feel pain from the bite, you will come every day. Besides, most monsters hold grudges, so either kill them directly or let them know that they can never bully you, otherwise they will definitely come to trouble you again."

It is chilly in early spring, and the wind is strong at night.

The three of them were all warriors, so it was no problem for them to withstand the coldness for a while.

As the night deepened and dawn approached, it became increasingly quiet, and between the pitch-black sky and earth came a faint sound of a sheep bleating.

Meng Yuan immediately perked up, opened his eyes wide and looked towards the source of the sound.

I saw a figure in the darkness running out from outside the courtyard wall, and then jumping straight onto the two-meter-high wall.

Then the figure looked around, and when he saw that there was no danger, he made another bleat, and another black shadow appeared and jumped onto the courtyard wall.

The two figures looked around for a while before jumping into the yard.

Meng Yuan was more than ten steps away from them. Although the sky and the earth were dark, he could see everything clearly.

These two figures were not human at all. They were both about ten feet tall, with bulging muscles and thick hair. One was black and the other was white. They had huge sheep heads on their heads, and the huge horns on their heads were curved like scimitars.

The two sheep monsters had slightly hunched bodies, with sacks hanging on their shoulders and bone sticks in their hands. Their yellow eyes were expressionless and extremely scary.

Seeing that the prey had been hooked, Meng Yuan took the longbow, slowly pulled out an arrow, and was ready to attack at any time.

"You can't hold back and shoot now?" Nie Yannian laughed mischievously, "Take the knife and go down and fight them!"

(End of this chapter)