The God of the Human Realm!

Chapter 21 Lure the snake out of its hole
Yang Family Martial Arts School, in the training ground.

A new large wooden bucket was placed on the sand and filled with water. Several apprentices took turns struggling to move the stone balls inside, but they couldn't create any eddies.

Bang!Bang bang!

On the other side, Meng Yue's eyes were cold and his face was gloomy. He exuded an aura of being someone to be trifled with. He threw punches and kicked, causing the jujube wood stakes to shake repeatedly, and sand and gravel to fly out from beneath them.

'Damn it, is that kid surnamed Hong a turtle? Does he only know how to stay in his shell?'

Three more days passed in the blink of an eye, and Meng Yue still couldn't come up with a way to lure Hong Yuan out of the martial arts school.

He also encouraged Li Hai and another apprentice who was affiliated with him to invite Hong Yuan twice. He himself would also go up to Hong Yuan from time to time to curry favor and get close to him when Hong Yuan was instructing the apprentices.

But it didn't work.

'What to do? What to do? Mr. Cui is getting very impatient. We can't delay any longer. Maybe we should try drugging him, but…'

Meng Yue was anxious and racking his brains for a solution when he heard his apprentices calling out "Senior Brother." He turned his gaze and saw that Hong Yuan was not wearing his usual training clothes, but had changed into a black brocade outfit with a long sword at his waist.

Meng Yue's heart skipped a beat, and a certain thought arose in his mind.

"Senior Brother Hong, are you going out?" an apprentice asked.

“Yes!” Hong Yuan nodded, his gaze sweeping over the dozen or so apprentices in the training ground. He smiled and said, “I’m going to Little Lonely Mountain outside the city to practice the Ape Movement Technique. You all should practice diligently and not slack off.”

The body-strengthening methods passed down by Yang Erhu, such as stretching tendons and bones and lifting stone locks and balls from the Rock-Stone Kung Fu, can all be practiced in the martial arts school. However, the Ape Walking Technique, which trains body movements, is somewhat difficult to practice within the space of this martial arts school.

Moreover, the Ape Walking Technique is based on the climbing, leaping, and rolling movements of apes, so it is best practiced in the mountains and forests.

Hong Yuan greeted everyone and then leisurely walked out of the martial arts school.

On the training ground, Meng Yue watched Hong Yuan's receding figure and was suddenly overcome with emotion, feeling like a daughter-in-law who had finally become a mother-in-law after many years of hardship.

It's been so difficult; this turtle Hong has finally decided to go out.

At this point, Meng Yue didn't care whether it would arouse suspicion. He summoned Li Hai and asked him to ask Yang Erhu for leave under the pretext of having something to do at home. He then ran out of the martial arts school in a flash.

"Little Lonely Mountain... Little Lonely Mountain, is it! This trip will be your last."

Meng Yue gritted his teeth, his heart hardened, and without stopping, he quickly crossed a long street, heading to find the contact person arranged by Yan Tieshan.

"Alas! I haven't offended anyone, yet there are always treacherous subjects trying to harm me..."

A tall, slender figure stood at the corner of the alley, his face hidden in the shadows of the wall, but he let out a soft sigh.

It was Hong Yuan!

After his comprehension improved once again, Hong Yuan also gained some mysterious spiritual perception.

Although Meng Yue usually treated him with great courtesy and respect, Hong Yuan could sense a trace of malice from him from time to time.

Moreover, during this period, the idlers and vendors on the street would always peek inside the martial arts school intentionally or unintentionally when passing by, and their eyes would often fall on him, which aroused Hong Yuan's vigilance.

Hong Yuan had not forgotten the incident at the 'Azure Phoenix Wonderland'. He was cultivating so diligently in order to resist Wei Zhenzhu's possible revenge at any time.

His first suspicion was that Wei Zhenzhu's men had come to his door, but then he thought it was unlikely, since Meng Yue had been at the Yang family martial arts school for two years.

Hong Yuan was always a man of action. Since he felt that Meng Yue was not right, he could not be on guard against him for a thousand days. Thinking about the fact that his apprentices had invited him to gatherings several times recently, he vaguely suspected that Meng Yue was instigating it. So he simply gave in to Meng Yue's wishes.

Lure the snake out of its hole!

"I hope I'm just paranoid, otherwise it would be really heartbreaking to have my first blow to a fellow disciple after leaving that fat pig farm... Oh! I guess we can't really be called fellow disciples, so never mind."

Hong Yuan still had time to daydream. He hung slowly behind Meng Yue, only to casually toss out some silver coins and pick up a bamboo hat to put on his head when they passed a general store.

In fact, ordinary people mostly used copper coins or barter for their daily expenses, but Hong Yuan found copper coins troublesome to carry, so he carried silver instead.

After pulling down the brim of his hat to cover half of his face, few people paid any more attention to him.

Amidst the chaos and rampant banditry, the number of chivalrous knights-errant, armed with knives and swords, has also surged across the land in the past decade or so.

Meng Yue wasn't very vigilant, after all, he didn't expect anyone to be following him. He only occasionally glanced back habitually, but Hong Yuan was always able to avoid his gaze beforehand.

The Ape Walking Technique is best practiced in the mountains and forests.

Given Hong Yuan's exceptional physical constitution, these technical skills are not limited by location for him. He can learn them after watching them once, and with a little training, he can master them with ease.

After making several turns, Meng Yue hurried along for about fifteen minutes and arrived at a secluded, independent courtyard.

Meng Yue knocked on the door, but no one answered at first. He had to strain to make the door bang loudly. After a while, a grumbling man opened the door and welcomed him inside.

There is an old locust tree on the left side of the courtyard. Its trunk is thick and its branches extend into the courtyard wall.

If a thief were to steal something, they could simply climb up the branches and enter without even needing a ladder.

However, Hong Yuan knew that if there were guards inside, this place would be the most heavily guarded. He went directly around to the back of the house, and with a slight push of his feet, his body became as light and agile as an old ape. With a leap, he climbed onto the roof, which was more than ten feet high. His feet landed silently on the roof tiles.

The noise and commotion came from the large room below. Judging from the chaotic sounds, there were quite a few people, and there was also a strong smell of alcohol.

Hong Yuan crouched down, lifted a tile, revealing only a small crack, and peered inside.

The room was spacious, with liquor warming on the stove, steam rising from it.

In the early autumn weather, a dozen burly men, chests and breasts exposed, sat around two tables drinking and eating meat, having a great time.

Hong Yuan withdrew his gaze and surveyed the entire courtyard, realizing that his caution had been completely unnecessary. Everyone was enjoying themselves inside, and there was no one guarding the courtyard.

Meng Yue's earlier heavy knocking had disturbed their interest. Now, as they were led into the house, one of them, his eyes glazed with drunkenness, cursed, "Damn it, who's here?"

Meng Yue frowned deeply.

At this moment, someone who was still sober noticed Meng Yue and quickly stood up with a smile: "Oh, it's Brother Meng! Come! Come and sit down! Let's drink!"

Meng Yue's face turned pale. He took a deep breath and asked, "Is Military Advisor Qian here?"

Qian Junshi was the vicious scholar under Yan Tieshan. Meng Yue didn't want to waste time chatting with these hooligans and ruffians, so he went straight to ask the person in charge.

"Military Advisor Qian? Of course, Military Advisor Qian has returned to Third Master's side. Brother Meng, you're young and inexperienced, and unreliable! You haven't been able to lure that kid surnamed Hong out of here, so we've been left with nothing but drinking and passing the time..."

A man who was three-tenths drunk glanced at Meng Yue, staggered forward, and exhaled a breath of alcohol fumes into the other man's face.

Enraged, Meng Yue quickly dodged.

The man laughed loudly and walked out with his belly protruding: "Ugh... I'm going outside to pee first, I'm really bloated."

"Brother, wait for us to team up!"

Two more men immediately stood up happily and walked out together.

Meng Yue, smelling the pungent smell of alcohol in the room, looked at the dozen or so men in front of him, more than half of whom looked drunk. His brows furrowed even more, and he said in a deep voice, "That kid surnamed Hong went out today. You all go find Strategist Qian immediately and have him arrange for men to ambush us. Don't miss this good opportunity."

"Huh? That little bastard has finally shown himself. Good! Where is he? Tell me now!"

"That's right! We brothers have been waiting for so many days, I'm going to teach him a lesson!"

Several drunkards immediately started shouting, and one of them stumbled to his feet, lost his balance, and fell to the ground, half-lying on the floor, still slurring his words: "Where's my knife? Who hid my knife... Give me my knife, I'm going to kill someone!"

Meng Yue's forehead veins bulged, his hands clenched into fists, wishing he could kill a few of these people to vent his anger first.

Although he knew in his heart that this was because he hadn't lured Hong Yuan out yet, given the habits of these street ruffians, they could barely endure it for two or three days, but after dragging it out for almost ten days, they had simply become dissolute.

They only drank and ate meat indoors; it was already considered restrained that they didn't kidnap any women for their own pleasure.

Only a few relatively sober hooligans exchanged glances, looking at their drunken brothers beside them, and felt a chill run down their spines. These people could barely walk, how could they kill anyone?

“Leave one person here to watch over the brothers. The rest of you who are still conscious, come with me. Brother Meng, let’s go find Third Master together.”

A ruffian who looked like the ringleader composed himself and spoke.

"Okay, let's do it!"

Meng Yue nodded as well.

The ringleader immediately stepped past Meng Yue and walked ahead. As he approached the half-closed door, he suddenly seemed to remember something and turned around, saying, "By the way, Brother Meng, has that kid surnamed Hong been keeping an eye on us? We don't want him to get lost after all the trouble of going out."

"Don't worry, he went to Xiaogushan outside the city," Meng Yue said.

"That's good……"

scoff!

Before the gang leader could even finish saying "good," a sudden, tearing sound rang out. Before he could react, he felt a chill in his chest.

He stared blankly down, when a steel knife pierced through his chest from outside the half-open door.

The gang leader's pupils widened, his smile froze, and intense pain surged through him. Before he could even cry out, a loud bang resounded, and the door shattered into pieces, scattering fragments everywhere.

As the wooden blocks scattered and flew towards the people inside the house, the rogue was also as if he had been struck by a powerful force, his body flying through the air and crashing into Meng Yue and the others.

Meng Yue reacted the fastest. He stepped back to avoid the ruffian's impact, and with a flick of his foot, a steel knife flew into his palm, which he blocked in mid-air!
when!
Almost at the same moment he parried, a flash of light shot in from outside the house, colliding with his horizontally held longsword. As they exploded in a series of sparks, the newcomer chuckled, turned around, abandoned Meng Yue, and moved swiftly among several sober ruffians.

With a series of hissing sounds, the blade flashed in a straight line, like a fleeting glimpse of a startled swan. The throats of the ruffians were slit open, and large amounts of blood gushed out. One by one, they collapsed to the ground in horror, clutching their throats but unable to utter a sound.

Swish!
The newcomer flicked his arm, shaking off the bloodstains on his blade, before turning to look at Meng Yue and chuckling, "Junior brother, you've disappointed me greatly!"

(End of this chapter)