Mythology Returns! Starting with Folklore and Strange Tales

"Are you alright, child? Are you alright?"

"It was my fault, sob sob sob. I shouldn't have been so willful as to go back to your uncle's house, and I shouldn't have abandoned you and your brother!"

Zhang Wei looked at the woman with a strange expression, glancing at her chest and then at her wailing face.

While he hesitated, the group that had lagged behind caught up. The man reached out and patted his head, forcing a smile: "Dad's here. Don't be afraid. Dad's here if anything happens. Here, give Dad the gun!"

"oh!"

As Zhang Wei nodded, he handed the hunting rifle to the man. He paused for a moment, feeling a pulling force, and then a flash of dark light streaked across the room...

"what!"

"You brat, what have you done? How dare you stab your mother!"

Amidst the roars, Zhang Wei remained silent, only continuing to brandish the butcher's knife.

The next moment, the woman in his arms reached out to snatch the butcher's knife from his hand, but caught off guard, Zhang Wei's strength pulled her forward two steps. And after those two steps, a small, dark object suddenly pressed against her body, and then:

Bang bang bang bang!

Fortunately, the old gun did not jam during the process, and Zhang Wei evenly distributed the eight bullets onto the couple.

Then, to the disbelief of the other party, Zhang Wei, who had thrown down his knives and guns, snatched his short-barreled shotgun and fired.

The roar of gunpowder, the flying of steel balls, and an old man's painful cry accompanied the scene. The men and women and the crowd gradually faded away, replaced by an old man covered in blood lying two steps away from Zhang Wei, with several bright holes in his body from which bright red blood was flowing.

"At your age, never been with a woman? Can't even pretend!"

As Zhang Wei watched the old farmer who had been selling vegetables yesterday pick up the butcher's knife that had fallen from the ground, he casually made a sarcastic remark.

"Bullshit! I've slept with more prostitutes than you've ever seen a woman!"

Clearly, Zhang Wei's words hit a nerve.

Well, it's not exactly a sore spot. For normal men, the topic of women might be something they disdain in their teens, or something they might try to hide in their twenties, but by their thirties or even later, the term "single" or "unmarried man" really hits home.

"Sorry, I misspoke. Let's start over."

"Judging by your terrible acting, you probably don't have a mother, do you?"

A mother's embrace is always warm and soft, and it always carries a familiar motherly scent. But in the hallucination just now, while it was soft, it wasn't warm at all. He even smelled a faint aroma of flour.

Is this correct?

Clutching two steamed buns in her arms and trying to act as a mother? That might fool a terrified child, but Zhang Wei...

An embrace is merely the last straw that breaks the camel's back.

In fact, Zhang Wei had already sensed something was wrong when the shouts from the crowd came.

The timing is abnormal.

Even if Auntie went to see the old man after her own accident last night, and a woman in a hurry lost her composure, does an old man not know the taboo of not going up the mountain or into the forest at night?

Even if they set off at dawn, they wouldn't arrive until almost noon, since last night they were carried by the old cat and monkey for a while and chased for a long time, so they had run quite a distance from the village.

Besides, even if the parents, who were supposed to go to their uncle's house but were replaced by a wolf spirit, survived, it's clear from the village elders' comments about manpower allocation yesterday morning that they wouldn't be able to return to the village before evening. And the seven or eight men following behind them are even more unrealistic.

In the past, if a child went missing in a rural village, the whole village would be mobilized the next day!

Even if women and children are not allowed to go up the mountain, Liujia Village could still gather 30 to 50 able-bodied men if its population were halved or halved again. And based on the bloodstains left by the old cat and monkey along the way... seven or eight people, what a joke!

Of course, there was no need to explain these inner thoughts to the old man.

Seeing the old man's face, which was already pale from blood loss, turn bright red quickly because of Zhang Wei's words, and his moving lips seemed to want to say something, but then a kick straight to his face silenced his possible nonsense.

Can't explain it?

Then let's not say anything!

Go to the underworld and do your homework, taking your terrible acting skills and clumsy mouth with you!

He gripped the butcher's knife in reverse, slashing across the neck with one stroke and plunging it straight into the chest with the other.

During this process, the old man tried to resist, but he was shot several times and his magic was broken. His body was already extremely weak, so how could he resist Zhang Wei, who was seventy pounds stronger than a normal child?

As the headless and body-splitting corpse beneath his feet gradually stiffened, Zhang Wei let out a long sigh of relief.

So far, apart from the evil spirits suppressed by the local earth god, Zhang Wei has dealt with all those who have targeted him.

And it was at this moment that the Patriarch's blessing arrived, albeit belatedly:

[Eliminating evil: Begging (harvesting and mutilating living beings) for reward: Qi cultivation technique]

Those who eat grains are wise and skillful, while those who eat qi are divine and long-lived. They are born with qi that nourishes all spirits. This technique can draw on the qi of all things to nourish the flesh, blood, soul, and spirit, return to the origin, and obtain all kinds of inconceivable innate power.

Note: Although the Qi Refining Technique can sense and gather the Qi of heaven and earth, there are countless types of Qi. One must choose the righteous and peaceful Qi to nourish oneself. Firstly, it is difficult to find traces of other types of Qi. Secondly, absorbing too much Qi can easily change one's own nature and cause all sorts of unpredictable consequences.

Based on one's own foundation, the amount of Qi that can be refined each day is limited. Too much rigidity leads to breakage, while too little leads to decay. One must not be greedy for quick results or rush ahead rashly.

This technique has the following additional effects: improved eyesight and spiritual clarity.

Through the flow and transformation of Qi, the practitioner can more easily discover hidden clues.

[True Yang Arrow]? [Golden Cup and Silver Plate]? [Qi Refining Technique]?

After mentally summarizing the three blessings received from the patriarch, it's not hard to see the linear connection between the latter two. While the [True Yang Arrow] doesn't have a direct link, it's likely that there will be a complementary or upgraded path in the future.

Zhang Wei felt as if he were playing a game, where he would gain a skill point each time he leveled up (eliminated evil), and then unlock one of the skills in the skill tree.

I wonder if other travelers will have the same experience as him.

But so far, Zhang Wei's impression of him isn't bad?

Although this sounds a bit like forcing a connection, it's always better to have an elder carefully planning your future than to try and build your own success from scratch!

Even looking at it from a negative perspective, having value to be utilized is better than being a useless piece of trash.

Although it is still unknown what the patriarch saw in him, things will eventually become clear, and he will do his best to repay him if needed.

"..."

Having figured this out, Zhang Wei stopped daydreaming. He first rummaged through the old man's bulging chest, took out two steamed buns wrapped in white cloth, threw away the one stained with blood, and then ate the clean buns while searching the old man's body.