Promise!

Chapter 190, Hidden Dragon

The north wind howled, and the snow fell like reed catkins, covering the world in a blanket of white.

Linji County, County Government Office.

On a small red clay stove, a small iron pot sits, with red oil mushrooms bubbling inside. On the table are thinly sliced ​​beef and mutton, tofu, vegetables, and warm wine.

Teng Yuansong lay on a rattan chair, holding a storybook in one hand and hot pot meat in the other, occasionally picking up a long straw made of some kind of reeds to drink his beverage, thoroughly enjoying himself.

This way of eating, which is more like hot pot, involves adding the broth, and the long straw used for drinking is something he learned from Zhuang Jin. Especially in this freezing weather, this way of eating feels even more pleasant.

"After eating this hot pot of mutton and tofu, even the emperor can't compare to me!"

Teng Yuansong hummed a tune in the style of an opera singer, swaying his head and tilting his neck to sip the warming liquor from a nearby long straw.

For an ordinary person, drinking through such a long straw would be difficult, but for a martial artist with sufficient lung capacity, it's a piece of cake.

But this time, he couldn't suck anything up.

He glanced at it, saw that the straw was fine, but still didn't believe it. He took a deep breath and sucked hard again. This time it felt like the straw was pinched in the middle and then released. With a "plop," the drink splashed all over his face.

"Damn it!"

Teng Yuansong wiped his face with his sleeve, exhaled, leaned back in the rattan chair, reached for the plate on the side, picked up a winter lychee, pressed the top with his index finger, and twisted the other finger, peeling it with force.

In the blink of an eye, a tender white fruit was peeled off, tossed into the air, and landed precisely in the mouth.

He opened his mouth repeatedly for a full breath or two, but still no fruit fell in. He opened his eyes, looked up, and looked around, wondering how strange it was. How could his technique have gone wrong? Besides, he hadn't heard the sound of the fruit falling!

Click!
Peel another one.

This time, I used the same trick again, keeping my eyes fixed on it, and finally it landed precisely in my mouth.

"This is right!"

Teng Yuansong lay down humming, peeled another one, and fed it to himself. This time, without watching it, it was gone again.

Once is an accident, a coincidence; twice...

He sensed something was wrong, sat up expressionlessly, and carefully sensed the surroundings again with his martial arts intuition. He found no one there, but refused to believe it was his imagination: "May I ask which senior master is passing by and playing a joke on me?"

No one answered.

"If you don't show yourself, senior, I'm leaving!"

Teng Yuansong got up and tentatively took a step forward. Seeing that no one appeared, he took another step forward and soon arrived at the door. He was about to go out.

Snapped!
The door, which was slightly ajar, closed automatically without any wind.

Teng Yuansong quickly turned around and saw what appeared to be a white shadow flash by.

"Is it not a person, but a ghost?"

He thought of the storybook he had just read, and his eyes lit up. He rubbed his back. Although the doctor told him to abstain from sex, if it was a female ghost or monster, even if it meant "dying under the peony flower," it would be worth it!

—Because the Great Qian Dynasty has a clearly recorded immortal, stories about gods, ghosts, and strange tales are very popular among the people. However, such rumors have never been definitively verified. The problem is not with that, but with this guy.

When this person thought of female ghosts and spirits, his first reaction wasn't fear, but rather that he was about to have a stroke of good luck in love... It's hard to tell if this is a clear conscience or just a lustful nature!
"May I ask if you are a wrongfully deceased female ghost? What injustice did you suffer? I, this official, will seek justice for you! Or perhaps you are a fox spirit, snake demon, or some other kind of mountain spirit? I am a virtuous and benevolent person, and I have no prejudice against anyone. Miss, please show yourself, and we can discuss matters of the heart..."

"As expected of Magistrate Teng, he doesn't even spare female ghosts and monsters." Zhuang Jin finally couldn't stand it anymore and appeared on the other side, praising him.

"So it's Master Zhuang!"

Teng Yuansong was subconsciously a little disappointed, but then his eyes widened: "Hmm, it's Elder Zhuang?! Then why didn't I sense it with my martial arts intuition just now?"

"That's not right. To be able to block out martial arts intuition, one must be at the Innate Realm, opening up the Ren and Du meridians, connecting with the Heaven and Earth, awakening the innate spiritual light, opening the Xuan Guan acupoint, and merging with the world... You broke through to the Innate Realm without saying a word?"

"Impossible! That's the embryonic breathing realm, and he's cultivated a high-level breath-concealing secret technique?" He muttered to himself, guessing the correct answer.

"Magistrate Teng is knowledgeable and well-traveled."

Zhuang Jin has indeed successfully mastered the Hidden Dragon Technique. He was just testing it out, and it was indeed amazing.

"Just like a chameleon camouflages itself and blends into its environment, the Hidden Dragon Technique feels somewhat similar to this. By utilizing the Ren Meridian, a bridge connecting heaven and earth, one merges with the universe, dispersing one's presence throughout, as if becoming one with it… Martial arts intuition, like perceiving heaven and earth, naturally feels empty."

"However, I only opened the Ren Meridian, the bridge between heaven and earth, and concealed part of my cultivation level. This kind of invisibility through martial arts intuition is limited to the time it takes to drink a cup of tea."

"I was just saying, and you actually broke through to the embryonic breathing realm?"

Teng Yuansong looked at Zhuang Jin with the eyes of someone looking at a monster: "When Elder Zhuang came last year, he was at most at the second meridian level, right? How long has it been, and he's already at the seventh meridian embryonic breathing level!"

“Alas, Master Zhuang is a true genius. The county town and the prefectural city are just small ponds where he can stay temporarily. He will eventually leap into the sea and go to the vast world of the state capital.” He sighed with a complicated expression.

"Speaking of the state capital, as the year draws to a close, the primordial energy tide of the Funiu Mountains in the state capital... If I remember correctly, this year is a big year, isn't it?"

"It is indeed a great year, but even so, the beasts that have escaped from the Funiu Mountains and come to our county below along the Mangcang Mountains are usually only at the Yi Jin realm. Beasts at the Duan Gu realm or higher may appear once every twenty or thirty years. Even if they do appear, they will not be so unlucky as to appear in our Linji County... With the Zhuang Gongfeng at the Nai Xi realm, there is nothing to worry about!"

Teng Yuansong glanced at Zhuang Jin with a resentful look, then plopped down on the rattan chair, settling into a comfortable position... lying flat.

……

"Ahem, why use a sledgehammer to crack a nut? Master Zhuang, please observe first. Let your men go first with me, and we'll take action only if that fails."

In a pavilion high above the medicinal fields outside the city, Teng Yuansong and Zhuang Jin stood side by side, looking down at a strange beast the size of a small mountain. Teng Yuansong said this to Zhuang Jin.

Although he had previously said that with Zhuang Jin by his side, he could lie low, he still wanted to struggle a little more because he believed that 'responsibility' and 'power' should be equal.

Zhuang Jin understood this point. After spending a year and a half together, she also knew that Teng Yuansong was not a power-hungry person.

"Perhaps they're worried that now that I've broken through to the Nascent Soul stage, our strength will be unbalanced, and my mentality might change, becoming arrogant and domineering. Or, for more benefits and cultivation resources, I might abandon my previous inaction and start doing whatever it takes... This would cause suffering for the people and put them in a difficult position. That's why they want to use this opportunity to demonstrate their power, making me more cautious in my future actions?"

"I can only say that this person is overthinking it. I have no bottlenecks. Cleansing the resources of the Fei and Yao families is enough for me to complete the accumulation of the Ren and Du meridians. I am also indifferent to power and the like. Everything in Linji County is nothing but fleeting clouds to me, like a mountain breeze, not worth worrying about at all!"

He sighed inwardly, agreeing with Teng Yuansong's suggestion, and nodded slightly: "Then so be it! However, this beast is not easy to deal with..."

Below, a giant tin pig grunted and strolled over.

It is three to five feet wide and over ten feet long. Its tusks are comparable to ivory and have a texture like white jade. When it walks, its weight, like a small mountain or tons, seems to make the ground tremble slightly. What is more noteworthy is that this is an armored beast, a wild boar, with a thick layer of resin-like substance on its body.

This is no ordinary beast, the Iron-skinned Pig. It can be called the king of Iron-skinned Pigs, the Iron-skinned Pig King!

"He's not easy to deal with, but we shouldn't overestimate this beast."

Teng Yuansong said, "Just like us martial artists, even those at the Meridian Opening Realm or the Fetal Breathing Realm are not invulnerable to swords and spears. We still have fear when faced with strong bows and crossbows and a barrage of arrows... Only when we reach the Innate Realm, where we can create a three-foot-high wall of qi with every move, can we be fearless."

"The realms of Yi Jin and Duan Gu of exotic beasts roughly correspond to the realms of Tong Mai and Tai Xi of martial artists. Exotic beasts have thick skin and flesh, which is an advantage over martial artists, but they are much less intelligent. Traps can be set for them, and various tools can be used... When they encounter military formations, they will not avoid their sharp edge or behead them like we martial artists do... Therefore, even exotic beasts that have reached the minor or major stages of Yi Jin can be surrounded and annihilated by martial artists of the first or second stage of Tong Mai, in coordination with the army."

He pointed downwards, saying, "Master Zhuang, look, that Iron-Shelled Pig King has fallen for the trap." ...

Below, the Iron-skinned Pig King grunted and followed its sense of smell to an open space. There was a patch of ancient medicinal herbs, all cultivated with Qingyuan Liquid, which was rich in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Upon seeing this, the guy shook his head and eagerly rushed over.

next moment.

boom!
The camouflage turf broke apart, and it fell into the pit, where there was an iron plate covered with steel blades.

Meanwhile, the soldiers who had been hiding in the surrounding area, concealed by dry grass, and whom the Iron Pig King had previously regarded as ants and even ignored, now emerged in well-trained form, scattering large iron nets covered with caltrops and pushing down rolling stones.

"Hululu!"

From the pit came the furious roar of the Iron-skinned Pig King. At this moment, strange power surged within its body, its tusks were surrounded by dark light, and the resinous, needle-like hairs on its body shimmered with a dazzling light. Its entire armor was like reinforced concrete, indestructible.

The steel blades on the iron plate crumbled like tofu as it rolled over, knocking away the falling stones. Then, with its two hind legs exerting force and its tendons like dragons, it leaped into the air, its massive body baring its fangs to tear through the iron net and jump out of the trap.

call!call!call!
The Iron-Skinned Pig King was panting heavily, his eyes wide open as he looked at the two-legged beasts who had angered him.

"Array up!"

A thousand armored soldiers surrounded them from three sides, their shields linked together, pressing forward relentlessly.

boom!
The tin pig charged forward and crashed into the shield formation. Even with three hundred men sharing the force, the shield swayed and twisted backward. Many elite soldiers turned pale, but they still managed to block it.

"prick!"

At a command, long spears emerged from the gaps in the shields, piercing towards the Iron-skinned Pig King, only to shatter into pieces as easily as straw amidst its sudden bursts of energy.

"put!"

At another command, the sound of powerful bows and crossbows firing incessantly rang out. Arrows rained down on the Ironhide Pig King, as if giving it a bath, but the sheer number of them caused it pain like being bitten by ants, making it grunt as it was forced to be driven away.

……

"What a beast! Everyone says that armored wild boars are more powerful than bears and tigers. I've seen it for myself today!"

Teng Yuansong sighed, "Judging from its aura, this iron-skinned pig is only at the minor completion stage of the Yi Jin Jing, but with the added advantages of its race and size, it is comparable to ordinary martial artists with four or five meridians. Moreover, because it is wearing armor, even martial artists with six meridians would probably find it difficult to kill it."

Zhuang Jin nodded slightly in agreement. Relatively speaking, this Iron Pig King had low attack and high defense. Its armor, which was like reinforced concrete, was something even he found a little troublesome.

"However, I want to try today and see if I can take down this big guy! Now, our elite soldiers are exhausted and depleted of their supernatural power. The boar king's momentum has weakened, and it has been driven into a suitable position. It's time for me to make my move!"

Teng Yuansong went to the mechanism next to him, put on a silver crossbow, and while operating and calibrating it, he explained to Zhuang Jin: "This is an armor-piercing crossbow. See the crossbow head? The tip is made of mithril, which is extracted from one tael of silver for every 100,000 taels of silver, mixed with meteorite iron from outer space. It is not very useful against martial artists, but it is excellent against strange beasts."

Click!
The mechanism rotates, the calibration locks in place, and then it releases with a bang.

Swish!
The seven-foot-long armor-piercing crossbow bolt shot out swiftly. Its already rapid speed, combined with the downward launch, transformed its potential energy into kinetic energy, making it resemble a silver streak, as swift as a shooting star.

The Iron-skinned Pig King sensed the danger, and its internal power erupted. Its tusks shone with a dazzling black light, as if they were burning, and it met the armor-piercing crossbow head-on.

boom!
Click!

With a loud bang, one of the Iron-skinned Boar King's tusks broke off, and the armor-piercing crossbow also flew away in the collision.

……

"What a vile beast!"

Teng Yuansong sighed and looked at Zhuang Jin, preparing to ask for help, but he also knew that if he did, all his previous efforts would be in vain, and from now on he would have to grovel and submit to Zhuang Jin.

"Let me do it. Magistrate Teng should have more faith in me."

Zhuang Jin spoke first, leaving those words behind, before darting down.

“Hurrah!”

The Iron-skinned Boar King's tusks broke, and the intense pain enraged him. With a furious charge, he shattered one side of the shield formation, and hundreds of people fell to the ground, many of them vomiting blood.

Just as it was about to rush in and wreak havoc—

Swish!
When Zhuang Jin arrived, the strange two-legged beast, which was not even as big as a small insect in the Iron Pig King's perception, suddenly burst out with an extremely strong presence. This deadly danger forced it to calm down, even though it originally wanted to unleash its ferocity.

boom!
Zhuang Jin landed a palm strike on the Iron-skinned Pig King.

The Iron-Skinned Pig King suddenly turned its head and thrust its tusks at the target, but only managed to pierce through the afterimage. Zhuang Jin shifted a step to the side and struck again with a palm.

As the light and air currents distorted, Zhuang Jin seemed to split into many clones, flashing and piercing, passing by the Iron-skinned Pig King.

Swish!
Zhuang Jin let out a soft breath and stood up, retracting her palm.

Behind.

Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!
Click, click, click!
Amidst the extremely sharp and explosive sound, the armor on the Iron-skinned Pig King cracked like parched land, with a chilling, ink-like aura flowing within it, clearly indicating that it had been forcibly disarmed.

"Great!" Teng Yuansong couldn't help but exclaim in admiration upon seeing this.

The elite soldiers not far away were even more shocked. The armor on the Iron Pig King, which had previously been impenetrable by steel blades, rolling stones, spears, and crossbow bolts, collapsed after being lightly patted a few times by Zhuang Jin?!

Just then, Teng Yuansong seemed to notice something and exclaimed, "Master Zhuang, be careful!"

boom!
The resin armor on the Iron Pig King exploded under the catalysis of a strange force, instantly filling the air with a golden mist.

Amidst the billowing fog, it charged forward and lunged at Zhuang Jin.

Zhuang Jin was sent flying with a thud.

Just as Teng Yuansong's heart skipped a beat, he saw Zhuang Jin, who had been thrown into the air, surrounded by streams of dark light, manipulating the air currents to soar five zhang into the sky. In mid-air, he touched the back of a bird, clasped his hands together, and then flipped and fell down.

With head down and feet up, the right palm presses down, internal energy surges, and swirling energy transforms into a large handprint with a coiled dragon.

“Hurrah!”

Seeing the seemingly unavoidable palm strike, the Iron-skinned Pig King let out a anxious and fearful sound. Instinctively, it squeezed out its remaining supernatural power, causing its last tusk to burn with dark light as it swung upwards.

boom!
Like a comet hitting the Earth, a deafening roar seemed to silence the heavens and earth.

Time seemed to slow down at this moment. The Iron-Skinned Pig King's last tusk was shattered into dust. Then, the giant handprint continued its momentum and entered the Iron-Skinned Pig King's body, causing its massive, over-ton body to instantly become covered with a layer of frost and stiffen as it fell to the ground.

Beside it, Zhuang Jin leaped through the air and landed lightly, her white robes fluttering in the breeze.

……

(End of this chapter)