Confucian and Taoist Cultivation Starting from the Equipment Slot

"What? Father has disappeared?"

Chen Zhuo looked at his elder brother in disbelief.

You should know that my father is a martial artist of the eighth rank, and his strength is among the top in Qingshan County.

How could they possibly disappear without a trace?

"So what exactly happened?"

Chen Zhuo looked at Chen Zheng with a puzzled expression.

Chen Zheng sighed. "It's a long story."

"After my father and I arrived at the camp, we were in the middle of a great fight against the demons when we suddenly discovered clues about our missing goods."

At this point, Chen Zheng emphasized, "It's not those cats, it's the actual lost cargo."

Chen Zhuo nodded and pressed further, "What happened after you discovered the clues about the goods?"

"After that, we continued to investigate and finally found the head of the Gongyuan Gang."

"Gongyuan Gang?" Chen Zhuo repeated the question. In his memory, Gongyuan Gang was a low-level gang organization in Qingshan County.

They were responsible for managing the lower-level areas that the county government could not reach.

"Yes, it's the Gongyuan Gang!" Chen Zheng's tone was full of resentment when he mentioned the Gongyuan Gang.

"It is called Gongyuan, but in reality it is a force secretly supported by the county magistrate."

Hearing this, Chen Zhuo was a little confused.

"Why would the magistrate's forces rob our goods?"

Then he remembered the county magistrate's private visit that night.

Could it be that his father was angry with the Chen family because he refused to deliver goods for him?

After thinking about it, he rejected the idea. What kind of status does a county magistrate have? Wouldn't doing this leave him with a handle for his own purposes?

"Who knows?" Chen Zheng shrugged. "But my father suspects that someone might be using the name of the Gongyuan Gang to frame the magistrate, or it might be someone under the magistrate's command doing it behind his back."

"That's not the strangest thing. The strangest thing is that when we approached the Hongyuan Gang, their leader had been injured and was still recovering."

"When we pressed them for details about the shipment, we discovered that it had been hijacked by a bird demon."

"A bird demon?! The one you and Father injured that day?" Upon hearing this, Chen Zhuo recalled the strange experience his father had recounted that night.

"Uncertain, but most likely."

Chen Zheng took a sip of water and continued:

"After that, the servants from the family came, and my father told me to come back first to build the camp while he went to find the goods. He hasn't returned yet."

"Brother, don't worry. Perhaps Father is just being held up by the demons. He'll be back soon."

Chen Zhuo said reassuringly.

The main problem is that they don't know where their father is, so worrying about it is pointless.

"My father's spirit lamp has not been extinguished, so his life is probably safe. It's just that we haven't received a response from our attempts to send a message."

Chen was anxiously stamping his feet inside the tent.

Seeing this, Chen Zhuo could only comfort him, "Brother, don't worry, let me ask Master to help take a look."

Upon hearing Chen Zhuo's words, Chen Zheng's expression became somewhat excited. "Yes, please ask Scholar Song for help."

As he spoke, he took out an exquisite jade box.

"Even if Scholar Song is your teacher, don't let him do his bidding for nothing. Take this with you."

Chen Zhuo took the jade box and looked at Chen Zheng with a puzzled expression. "What is this?"

"Open it and take a look."

Upon hearing Chen Zheng's words, Chen Zhuo did not hesitate and immediately opened it.

What came into view was a blue inkstone, the carvings on which were of a far superior quality to the one in his hand.

[Superior Qingshan Jade Inkstone (Blue): Made from superior Qingshan jade, meticulously carved by skilled craftsmen; both materials and craftsmanship are of the highest quality.]

Items of blue quality!

Why isn't it showing as equipable? Is it because it doesn't belong to me?

Chen Zheng's voice came from the side.

"This is a high-quality raw jade from Qingshan that my father acquired from an old miner years ago. It was later handcrafted by a master craftsman from Shengtianfu. It is quite valuable, and I believe it should be enough to ask Scholar Song for help."

Chen Zhuo was somewhat shocked; he hadn't expected his family to have such good stuff!

Then it seemed normal; as a large family in Qingshan County, it was reasonable for them to have some family background.

It's just that the original owner was too spoiled and didn't bother to understand these things carefully.

After closing the jade box, Chen Zhuo hurried to his master's tent.

Meanwhile, in a cave in the green mountains, Chen Tiansheng was silently and intently moving forward.

"This damn place is really weird. Who would have thought that the demon race would actually dig a base in the green mountains and block internal and external communications?"

"If I don't destroy this base, my strength might even rise further when the imperial court rewards me."

As for the dangers involved, what dangers could a martial artist at Sequence 8 possibly face?

Chen Tiansheng was lost in thought when he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Not far in front of him, a dog and a wolf, two demons, were kneeling with their heads bowed in front of a stone tablet.

The stone tablet emitted a voice that was neither male nor female.

"Idiots! You two are idiots who deserve to be in the Terran exhibit!"

"We sent you to pick up goods, and what did you bring back? Grain and cloth! What use are these things to us? To eat them?"

"Lord Elvis, please calm down! Lord Elvis, please calm down! It was all the birdman's doing! The goods he delivered were defective! I have absolutely nothing to do with the gods!"

The wolf-headed man hurriedly knelt down to defend himself.

"A god? Who are you calling a god? The dog next to you?!"

"My lord, please calm your anger!" the kobold hurriedly kowtowed and said in a low, urgent voice, "My lord, please calm your anger. This is all just nonsense from that foolish wolf. He insists, insists..."

"Oh, there's a hidden story? Tell me in detail."

The voice from the stone tablet seemed to express a hint of interest.

The wolf and dog demons secretly exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with relief; they had passed this hurdle.

All that's left is to tell the story well, and everything will be fine.

After the wolf and dog finished vividly recounting the story they had heard among the humans, the voice from the stone tablet let out an "Oh".

"So what about my shipment?"

Upon hearing this, the two wolfhound demons, whose nerves had just relaxed, tensed up again.

What exactly was that shipment that made Elvis so concerned?

The two demons, wolf and dog, exchanged a glance and were about to say something when a voice came from the other side of the stone tablet.

"You two idiots don't need to do anything, the thief came to our door..."

Chen Tiansheng noticed their conversation growing quieter and couldn't resist moving closer.

"Could the Cat King that these two demons mentioned be related to that batch of cats?" At this moment, Chen Tiansheng felt that he was getting closer and closer to the truth.

Suddenly, he felt a powerful aura emanating from the stone tablet.

This aura belongs to a powerful demon at the Core Formation stage! It corresponds to the seventh rank of the human race!

At this moment, Chen Tiansheng felt his scalp tingle and, disregarding his concealment, unleashed the full power of his martial arts aura.

He felt somewhat relieved; thankfully, the other party wasn't the real body descending. If it had been the real body of a demon beast, he would have been in a situation where he had no chance of survival.

the other half.

Chen Zhuo arrived at Song Zhiyuan's tent with the jade box in his hand.

As soon as they entered, before Chen Zhuo could speak, Song Zhiyuan said:

"Little Si is here, just in time. I have a task for you to complete."