Cultivation: Starting from a Fighting Cock

Chapter 88 Catching Demons on Monkey Mountain
"It's just a fighting cock. It's no big deal if it's lost. Anyway, it has already created enough value for our Zhao family."

Zhao Qian said he didn't care whether the fighting rooster was stolen or eaten by a monster.

Some people speculated that the fighting rooster was secretly killed by Zhou Mu and the Blind Taoist, since they had suffered a lot because of it.

At this moment, Master Zhao came out of the room. He had overheard the conversation between the three and spoke up:

"The second son's fighting rooster won too much money and was destined to have a bad end. Now that it's gone, it's not a bad ending."

Master Zhao firmly believed in cause and effect. If you win two or three thousand taels of silver for no reason by relying on a fighting cock, you must pay a corresponding price elsewhere.

The fate of Master Zhao is a powerful illustration of this.

Master Zhao believed that if the fighting rooster remained in the Zhao residence, it might cause even more trouble for the Zhao family in the future.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yan felt a pang of sadness, realizing what it meant to be forgotten once the chicken is gone.

The feelings she and her father, Master Zhao, had for the ever-victorious general were something the rest of the Zhao family could never understand.

"In my opinion, is it possible that the fighting rooster really did become a demon?"

At this moment, Zhao Kun spoke up.

His knowledge far surpassed that of ordinary people like the Zhao family. Although it was unprecedented for a fighting cock to become a demon, he considered the cock's behavior and the fact that the blind Taoist priest also had doubts about it, so he thought it was not impossible for the fighting cock to become a demon.

Zhao Yan, Zhao Qian, and Master Zhao looked at each other, shook their heads, and thought it was impossible.

Seeing this, Zhao Kun nodded and said nothing more.

……

Ma Yuan bought a set of body-tempering herbs from Zhao's pharmacy.

That afternoon, Ji Cheng experienced the wonders of the medicinal bath.

His body was like withered, parched crops, frantically absorbing nutrients after being fertilized.

In less than an hour, Ji Cheng had completely absorbed all the medicinal power in the bath, leaving only a pile of medicinal waste and dirty water.

"One medicinal bath is equivalent to ten days of arduous cultivation!"

Ji Cheng felt the changes in his body and was amazed by the effects of the medicinal bath cultivation.

No wonder martial arts training is so expensive. Anyone who can afford to buy medicine would rather torture themselves every day to deplete their qi and blood.

Two crops, one without fertilizer, relying entirely on nature, will still yield a harvest in the end.

However, the plant that was fertilized matured earlier and had a more abundant harvest.

Similarly, in the martial arts world, two martial artists with the same talent may have different abilities. One may have medicinal herbs to aid their cultivation, and in ten years, the other may have already achieved mastery of internal strength, while the other may still be struggling to hone their skills in the middle stage of Qi and Blood.

"Looks like you have to spend money to get stronger quickly at everything!"

Ji Cheng exclaimed "Good, good, good!" He now understood what the path of martial arts was all about.

If he takes two more medicinal baths, he estimates that he will reach the initial stage of Qi and Blood cultivation.

Three days flew by.

The four demon hunters still found nothing, having not seen any trace of the demon beast, and they prepared to leave.

Before leaving, Situ Ying went to Guo Laosi's house, grabbed Guo Laosi by the collar, and gave him a good beating.

He told Guo Laosi not to report these petty thieves to the authorities anymore, and to wait until someone is killed before taking action.

This made no sense, and Guo Laosi was naturally unconvinced. With a mind racing, he mustered his courage and revealed that the monster was hiding in the dark, gloomy forest to the west. He claimed that the forest to the west was called Monkey Mountain, and the older generation in Wuzhen knew that in the old days, there were large groups of monkeys on that mountain that would come down from time to time to steal chickens and crops.

One of the monkeys was suspected of becoming a demon. Wuzhen organized strong men to go up the mountain to slay the demon several times, but none of them returned.

However, in the last two or three decades, we haven't seen many monkeys, but we've seen a lot of masked palm civets.

The masked palm civet has a habit of stealing chickens to eat. Once, a villager killed a masked palm civet, and the next day it was found dead in its home, its flesh and blood devoured by wild animals, leaving only a pile of bones.

Several similar incidents occurred afterward, and anyone who harmed the masked fox suffered retribution within three days.

The villagers of Wuzhen then revered the masked fox of Monkey Mountain as a mountain god, worshipping it constantly, and their lives finally became peaceful.

"Therefore, Master Situ, if you are truly interested in catching demons, you should go to Monkey Mountain!"

Guo Laosi lowered his eyes and stole a glance at Situ Ying's reaction, wanting to see if he had the courage to go to that monkey mountain.

"Snapped!"

Situ Ying raised her hand and slapped him across the face, angrily saying, "Damn it, you're only telling me something this important now?"

Guo Laosi's face immediately swelled up. He leaned on the shelf next to him, covering his face and said aggrievedly, "Sir, the secret of the mountain god is a taboo in Wuzhen. If I hadn't been forced to, how could I have dared to reveal even a little bit to you?"

Situ Ying had waited for three days, and now he didn't want to waste even a quarter of an hour.

He glared at Guo Laosi, then turned back to the Cui family and called his Daoist companion and two brothers to prepare to go to the monkey mountain to catch the demon.

Ji Cheng was practicing martial arts diligently in the courtyard and didn't want to get involved in their demon-catching business. However, when he heard that they were going to the dark, gloomy forest to the west, he immediately stopped them.

“Master, I heard from Uncle Cui that the dark forest to the west is extremely dangerous, with powerful demonic beasts lurking there. Unless absolutely necessary, you should not venture there!”

Although he had only been a disciple for a few days and Ji Cheng had only entered Wuzhen using his identity as Situ Ying's disciple, without any deep feelings for him, Ji Cheng still did not want to see Situ Ying and the others go to their deaths in vain.

He hoped that the group would clearly understand the dangers of the forests in Xishan and not be fooled.

"Hahaha, you little brat, you're worried about us now? What, do you think your master isn't strong enough?"

Situ Ying lifted the heavy black hammer with one hand and showed off the muscles on his arm to Ji Cheng.

Ji Cheng was both amused and exasperated, and quickly explained that that was not what he meant.

He wanted to persuade him further, but Situ Ying waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, your master's wife, your two uncles and I have been demon hunters for over twenty years. What dangers haven't we seen?"

"What powerful monsters could there be in such a remote town? If there were really powerful monsters of the third or even fourth tier, the villagers of Wuzhen would have been eaten long ago."

"Besides, we demon hunters are very experienced. If things go wrong, we can get out unscathed. You don't need to worry about it."

After Situ Ying said this, Ji Cheng could not say anything more and could only wish them a good start.

After the four demon hunters left, Ji Cheng continued practicing his boxing in the courtyard.

That evening, Cui Sheng prepared a large table of food, but only Ji Cheng and he ate together.

"Sigh, I wonder when your master and the others will return?"

When Cui Sheng heard that Situ Ying and his three companions had gone to Monkey Mountain to capture a demon, he couldn't help but feel a little worried. That was the mountain god of Wuzhen, not someone to be trifled with.

He went out to buy groceries in the afternoon, unaware that Situ Ying and the other three were going to Monkey Mountain; otherwise, he would have tried to dissuade them.

As soon as he finished speaking, a sound rang out, the sound of something heavy falling to the ground.

Ji Cheng leaped up and went into the courtyard, where he saw Huang Cuicui holding half of Situ Ying's body as they fell to the ground.

(End of this chapter)