Under the fist

Chapter 72 Encountering the Enemy, Responding to the Battle

After rubbing the mother bear's chubby head, Lian Youming stood up and then used his foot to push the cub, who was still clinging to the yellow sage and gnawing on it, aside.

"This thing is pretty strong, phew, it almost killed me."

After catching his breath, he bent down and dug out pieces of Solomon's Seal from the soil. He ate as he dug, and casually asked the ragpicker, "What kind of herb are you collecting?"

The old man was carrying a cloth bag, not very big, but it looked bulging. "Angelica sinensis, Eucommia ulmoides, deer antler, Codonopsis pilosula..."

The old man rattled off more than a dozen medicinal herbs in one breath.

Lian Youming chewed on the Solomon's Seal, finding it slightly bitter at first, but quickly followed by a sweet aftertaste. It wasn't very juicy, but its flavor was rich.

"How come it's more than what's written on the prescription?"

The things that the ragpicker mentioned were clearly five or six more than those recorded in Yan Lingyun's prescription.

The junk collector casually tossed it aside and explained, "That little girl already has a good understanding of medicinal properties. But these things vary in medicinal properties depending on the season and the geographical environment in which they grow. So, what do you say, do you want them or not?"

Lian Youming, with a shameless grin, quickly swallowed the yellow essence in his mouth, wrapped the cloth bag around his waist, and chuckled, "Of course I want it, how could I not?"

After the Polygonatum was ingested, the physical strength and weakness that had been previously depleted began to recover rapidly.

Before the mother bear could get up again, Lian Youming quickly dug up another thirty or forty catties of Solomon's Seal, leaving most of it behind. Then, amidst the mother bear's disgruntled roars, he carried the Ragged King on his back and dashed into the forest.

Seeing that the boy didn't have the idea of ​​digging up all the Polygonatum, the ragpicker nodded, "Not bad, not greedy."

Lian Youming rolled his eyes. He was exhausted. To be able to fight a mother bear for over half an hour and still manage to take her down was quite an improvement in his skills.
The ragpicker said softly, "The rare and precious plants in this world are all limited. It takes countless years of accumulation to create the true manifestation of the wonders of creation. They are also what our predecessors left to future generations... and are a kind of indirect inheritance."

Lian Youming hesitated and said, "Wasn't the rest eaten by that mother bear anyway?"

The junk collector sighed meaningfully, "It only digs up what's right in front of it."

Lian Youming nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.

After leaving the Taoist temple, the two wandered around the mountains for a long time. Under the old man's guidance, Lian Youming walked around and saw many Taoist relics.

But it's just a relic.

The old man knew the Louguan School, the Danding School, and the Quanzhen School like the back of his hand.

"Since ancient times, Zhongnan Mountain has been home to many immortals. This mountain holds too many unknown secrets. You can at least take a look now, but in a few years, perhaps everything will return to dust."

The junk collector suddenly sighed.

"Secrets? What secrets could there be? What secrets could there be in this godforsaken, desolate place?" Lian Youming looked left and right. Apart from some dilapidated Taoist temples and some incomplete stone carvings, there wasn't even a single living person in sight.

The junk collector's mood was ruined, so he slapped Lian Youming on the back of the head and cursed, "Short-sighted!"

The two talked and walked, traversing the rugged mountain path, sometimes bickering and arguing, sometimes reciting the stone carvings on the cliff face.

These stone carvings include verses, poems of enlightenment, and old inscriptions. The characters are either elegant and graceful, lively and flowing, or sharp and unrestrained, ever-changing and mysteriously powerful.

Moreover, some of them were Taoist scriptures inscribed by Taoist masters. They were obscure and profound, and although they contained hidden meanings, they were extremely difficult to understand, giving Lian Youming a headache.

The ragpicker said earnestly, "In the path of martial arts, you can't just look at yourself. You have to broaden your horizons, look at others, and see all living beings... Literature carries the way. These stone carvings convey not only words, but also the mindset of the ancients. You are not yet at the level to see the mystery, but remember this path well. When you encounter difficulties in your cultivation in the future, come and walk it more often, and maybe you will understand."

Lian Youming nodded, "Okay, I've got it."

Looking at the somewhat desolate mountains and forests, the ragpicker said listlessly, "So many things are gone... Let's go down the mountain."

"wait for me."

Lian Youming smiled with narrowed eyes, his gaze sweeping over the mountains. He put the old man down first, then darted into the forest like a tiger pouncing on a sheep, causing a commotion as he went to catch a wild boar.

……

Da Zhuang and Xiao Zhuang had their carriage ready early and arrived at the foot of the Qinling Mountains as agreed.

I just didn't expect Lian Youming to arrive even earlier.

But when they saw his beggar-like appearance, the two brothers were startled.

"Brother, what's wrong with you?"

Lian Youming blushed. His clothes and pants had been torn to shreds by the mother bear. If he hadn't been agile, he probably wouldn't have been able to cover his buttocks.

Don't look at me, look at the ground.

Among the weeds on the ground, two large wild boars, each weighing over a hundred pounds, lay with blood dripping from their mouths and noses. Beside them were seven piglets. The whole family had been wiped out by Lian Youming in one fell swoop, making five trips back and forth.

“I’ll keep one big one and one small one. You two can take the rest back to the village and let my uncle and the villagers divide them among themselves.”

Da Zhuang and Xiao Zhuang couldn't take their eyes off the wild boar on the ground, and when they heard that they would be sharing the meat, they were overjoyed and readily agreed.

"I won't go into the village. You two go back and bring me a pair of pants."

The two brothers couldn't bear to delay, so they packed up the wild boar and headed back to the village.

By the time they went and returned, it was already three or four in the afternoon.

Under the setting sun, the group drove their horse-drawn carriage slowly back to the city.

……

South Gate Barbican.

The sky was already darkening, the sun was setting, and the afterglow was like blood.

Song Xiehu stared at his men lying groaning in the courtyard, his face ashen. Opposite him stood a young man in black with deep-set eyes and narrow, slanted eyebrows.

This person had slightly sunken cheeks, eyes like a hawk, a pale and bloodless face, and his ten fingers trembled slightly, yet his knuckles were strong and powerful. With a slight curling or bending, his muscles and bones were immediately exposed.

"I told you to find him, and you actually dared to relay his message? Do you think my Eagle Claw Sect is made of clay?"

The young man had a sharp voice and a murderous look in his eyes.

Song Xiehu, wielding two swords, his eyes dark, spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto the ground. "I live my own life. I'm not one of your Eagle Claw Sect members. If you have the guts, go and deal with him. What's with all of you bullying me? And taking your anger out on my men. You've really got guts."

While cursing aloud, Song Xiehu was also cursing in his heart, cursing Lian Youming.

Didn't this kid say he was coming to sell gold bars today? Why hasn't he made a move yet? Besides, he didn't expect the Eagle Claw Sect people to arrive so quickly. He sent a message in the morning, but who knew they would come over in the afternoon, and they wanted to make an example of him.

Now that the matter is settled, we can't let him bear the blame too.

"Brother-in-law, why waste words with him?"

Suddenly, Song Xiehu's brother-in-law rushed in from outside, his face ashen, but he was clutching a bundle of homemade explosives in one hand and holding a torch in the other. His lips trembled as he said, "Brother-in-law, I know I'm stupid. This is all my fault. Don't be impulsive. Take good care of my sister. Today, I'm going to blow this bastard to bits."

Song Xiehu's expression changed drastically. "Xiao Wu, don't be impulsive. Listen to me and put out the fire."

The young man in black also narrowed his eyes slightly and sneered, "You try ordering one, and I'll slaughter all of you scum later."

Xiao Wu, who was initially a bit timid, was provoked like this. His rat-like eyes widened, and he roared with bloodshot eyes, "Who are you calling a scoundrel? You despicable bastard, I'll blow you up right now."

But it seems that he was moving too much and wasn't paying attention. While he was speaking, the fuse accidentally touched the torch, and it immediately caught fire.

Song Xiehu shouted anxiously, "Xiao Wu, it's on fire!"

The young man in black opened his eyes wide, but remained calm and casually picked up a person from the ground. "Try throwing him, he'll die too."

Xiao Wu was startled by Song Xiehu. When he saw the sizzling explosives in his hand, his face turned pale, and he froze as if he had been scared out of his wits.

Just as the fuse was about to burn out, under Song Xiehu's bloodshot gaze, a large hand suddenly reached out from behind Xiao Wu and extinguished the burning fuse.

"What's happening here?"

Lian Youming emerged from the twilight.

"You finally arrived, you son of a bitch!" Song Xiehu cursed.

"Sorry, I was a bit busy today. I just took a shower and changed my clothes. Here, I even brought you a pig's leg." Lian Youming glanced at the scene in the courtyard, then looked at the young man in black, his expression immediately becoming playful. "Looking for me?"

The young man in black threw the person he was holding aside and said in a sinister tone, "So it was you, you blind fool, who killed my junior brother? And you even dared to say you'd go to Cangzhou to help? Who do you think you are?"

Lian Youming shoved the pig's leg in his hand to the rat-eyed youth, then pondered for a few seconds before saying with a mix of certainty and mockery, "You can't even tell? I think I'll be the number one person in this martial world in the future."

But at the end, Lian Youming laughed again. It would have been better if he hadn't laughed, because as soon as he did, his eyes flashed with a fierce light, his face turned evil, and a wild and unrestrained arrogance appeared between his brows and eyes. "But I think you definitely won't have the chance to see it."

Seeing this, Song Xiehu didn't hesitate for a moment and quickly ordered, "You all go out first."

He himself quickly retreated.

The young man in black remained expressionless. "I won't give you the chance to go to Cangzhou."

Visiting someone's door to offer assistance, regardless of victory or defeat, is a great humiliation to any sect.

Moreover, Lian Youming is an unknown and inexperienced nobody.

Don't hit someone in the face; hitting someone in the face is a fatal enmity.

"See? I told you you were asking for it."

With his back to the setting sun, Lian Youming's once imposing shadow stretched out to the feet of the young man in black, resembling a ferocious tiger with bared fangs.

The young man in black remained silent, slowly raising his arms, which trembled like the scales of a python. With a twist of his body, the power between his muscles and bones was instantly transmitted to his hands, transforming into a pair of eagle claws.

Their eyes met, and feeling the murderous intent that seemed to penetrate from all directions, Lian Youming said nothing more, only a cold laugh.

His hands hung naturally at his sides, and he strode forward without stopping. With each step, his body stretched and moved, and his spine rose and fell like a dragon or snake raising its head. Deep grooves appeared under his clothes, as if something alive was moving inside.

Silently.

Three to five meters apart, the two figures suddenly quickened their pace in unison, like swordsmen meeting on a narrow path in ancient times, neither dodging nor avoiding, but facing each other head-on.

In an instant, claw shadows appeared, fist shadows expanded and contracted, clothes trembled, and a strong wind pierced the air.

But everything started quickly and ended just as quickly.

The sun had set, and the night was deep.

Looking again, the two figures passed each other by.

Lian Youming's expression was solemn. He raised his hand and rubbed the claw marks on his neck. A faint metallic taste appeared in his throat. There were also two holes in the sleeve at his wrist.

The young man in black turned even paler, a pain that no one could see between his brows, and a huge fist-shaped dent, the size of a bowl, appeared on his back, striking his spine squarely.

"What a brilliant Tai Chi hammer!"

With a murmur, the young man continued walking a few more steps, using the momentum he had left. But with each step, his spine creaked and groaned as if it were falling apart. By the time he stepped out of the courtyard, he had collapsed to the ground with a thud, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Song Xiehu and his group had disappeared without a trace.

In the thick darkness of the night, someone rushed out and took the young man away. At the same time, a hoarse voice rang out, "On the last day of the year, Eagle Claw Sect awaits your arrival!"

(End of this chapter)