48: Holding a sword in both hands, Wangyou Temple
time flies:
The martial arts academy's preliminary exam was drawing nearer.
At this moment, the wind had stopped, and the rain had also ceased.
However, floods still lingered in many areas.
A large number of disaster victims continued to gather outside the city, and even more, sparse groups of victims were still converging.
This group of disaster victims, having consumed all the wild grass outside the county town, had no choice but to enter Shiji Mountain to survive.
The mountain was abundant with bamboo, offering bamboo rats, bamboo worms, and bamboo shoots to fill their stomachs, so for a while, no one starved to death.
But… they were all gaunt and sallow, and their situation was dire.
These past few days, Chu Qing had not been idle; he had been constantly inquiring about Apothecary Li’s whereabouts.
He even contacted the families of the missing apothecaries, forming a small search team.
As the martial arts academy's preliminary exam approached, he grew increasingly anxious.
In recent days, his progress had almost stalled.
Neither Mantis Fist nor Eagle Claw Skill had allowed him to refine even a single Bronze Tendon.
Instead, the first requirement for Mantis Sword, which was useless for the preliminary exam, had been practiced over seventy thousand times.
“If I had the Toad Skill Secret medicine, I could at least refine dozens of Iron Tendons for Toad Skill.”
“But…”
That afternoon:
As he was practicing calligraphy, a servant brought news:
“Young Master Qing, someone named ‘Seeker of Medicine’ is looking for you.”
Seeker of Medicine was the name of the small team.
Chu Qing’s heart stirred; he excused himself from Madam Jin and hurried out.
Outside the gate, a young man in plain clothes was anxiously pacing.
Upon seeing Chu Qing emerge, his face immediately lit up with joy:
“Qing Ge, there’s news.”
Chu Qing raised an eyebrow and said, “What news?”
“The people are at Wangyou Temple!”
“All the missing apothecaries are at Wangyou Temple.”
Wangyou Temple was a temple outside the city.
Its Incense Faction was quite good.
There were many monks inside, all burly and well-fed.
After the disaster victims appeared, they also went to Wangyou Temple to beg for vegetarian meals.
The result was:
After the monks of Wangyou Temple bludgeoned dozens of disaster victims to death, no one dared to ask for vegetarian meals anymore.
“No wonder there’s no one in the county town.”
“So, they were sent outside the city.”
“But… why would a group of monks capture so many apothecaries?”
Chu Qing was suspicious.
However, he was too lazy to ponder it.
He only needed the Toad Skill Secret medicine from Apothecary Li.
About ten minutes later:
The young man led Chu Qing to a courtyard at the foot of the city wall.
More than a dozen people were gathered there.
They were all family members of the apothecaries.
After Chu Qing arrived, The Crowd was discussing what to do, all speaking at once.
A young man said, “How about we ask the yamen for help?”
A woman cried, “The yamen are greedy for money; even if they take the money, they might not bring the people out.”
A scholarly-looking young man said, “We’ll just demand them directly.”
“With so many of us, we should be able to get them out.”
The others felt this was also a viable method and nodded in agreement.
Only Chu Qing shook his head.
Are you kidding?
With tens of thousands of disaster victims outside, the monks of Wangyou Temple dared to kill them.
They must act domineeringly and with confidence.
Just a dozen ordinary people going to demand them?
It was simply impossible to get them out.
Ten minutes later:
Everyone marched grandly towards Wangyou Temple.
Upon reaching the outside of Wangyou Temple, they were filled with terror.
Because:
Dozens of rotting corpses hung from several trees.
Ugh!
Someone vomited.
However, for the sake of their families, they still bravely knocked on the door.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
A monk with a scarred face opened the door and fiercely asked, “What do you want?”
The scholar said, “I heard my father is at Wangyou Temple; I want to take him home.”
The monk sneered, “Scram!”
“There’s no one from your family here.”
The others pleaded with the monk to release their family members.
As a result, the monk grew angry, grabbed a staff, and fiercely said, “All of you, scram!”
“If you keep babbling, I’ll beat you to death.”
At this moment, seven or eight more scarred-faced monks emerged, holding staffs.
“Scram! If we say no one is here, then no one is here.”
As he spoke, he swung his staff, hitting people.
The Crowd retreated helplessly.
Chu Qing blended into The Crowd, not saying a word.
He carefully observed this group of monks.
“They show no trace of the compassion of renunciants; only ferocity.”
“These are a group of fake monks.”
A group of fake monks occupying a temple and capturing apothecaries.
What… exactly did they want to do?
Another ten minutes passed, and The Crowd returned helplessly.
They gathered together to discuss what to do.
Chu Qing suddenly said, “The monks are fierce; only if we are fiercer than them can we get the people out.”
“Everyone chip in some money, find some Thugs, and snatch the people back.”
The Crowd suddenly understood.
“That’s right, we can’t do it, but Thugs can.”
“Thugs will definitely be fiercer than the monks.”
They discussed finding Thugs.
Some suggested finding Thugs from a gang, while others suggested finding Thugs from the refugee camp.
Chu Qing listened for a while and then fell silent.
These people took half a day just to find a Thug.
He stood up and quietly left; since he knew where Apothecary Li might be, why waste time here?
When Chu Qing left, a few people saw him, but no one tried to stop him.
Only after he was gone, someone suddenly said:
“Once we find Thugs and rescue our family members, we’ll just abandon the apothecary that person wanted to rescue and ignore him.”
The Crowd nodded in agreement.
At home:
Chu Qing drew his long sword and flicked his fingers.
His ten fingers flew, clanging like a torrential storm.
[Sword Flick +1]
[Sword Flick +1]
In one second, he refreshed twenty to thirty progress points; the Sword Flick progress was close to eighty thousand.
At this moment, three days remained until the preliminary exam.
“Looking for Apothecary Li these past few days has cost me a lot of time.”
“Otherwise, my Sword Flick progress would have reached Perfection long ago.”
“Those damned fake monks, they’ve made me waste so much time… what will you compensate me with?”
The tapping of his fingers, the clanging of metal, stirred his rising killing intent.
“If there hadn’t been an accident, ten days ago, my Toad Skill might have reached Perfection.”
“Toad Skill at Perfection might accelerate the improvement of Bronze Tendons.”
“How much progress have they delayed me!”
As night fell, Chu Qing’s killing intent grew three times stronger with the deepening darkness.
He held his sword with both hands, masked his face, and headed straight for Wangyou Temple.
Upon reaching the outside of Wangyou Temple, he leaped onto a large tree and gazed at the temple.
The temple:
It was brightly lit, and the scent of meat drifted on the wind.
There were also faint sounds of women’s voices.
“They are indeed a group of fake monks.”
Chu Qing waited silently.
He wanted to see if that group of people would hire Thugs after all.
If they did, it would be a good opportunity to let the Thugs test the fake monks’ methods.
Otherwise, he would have no choice but to take the risk and act.
One hour… two hours… It was past ten o’clock at night, and the fake monks were sleeping; many lights were extinguished; but, in key locations, the lights remained bright, and fake monks were still patrolling.
Chu Qing observed carefully and found that the fake monks were in teams of two or three, carrying gongs and whistles; their alternating shifts and patrol routes were quite methodical.
After watching a bit longer, he felt it resembled military patrol tactics.
“Rebels?”
“Or… regular army?”
One hour… Chu Qing realized that without alarming the patrols, there was no way to sneak in silently.
“It seems that group of people didn’t hire Thugs after all.”
“This time… I can only force my way in.”
During several hours of observation, he noticed that the fake monks paid particular attention to a certain wing room.
Outside the wing room, there were many lanterns and torches, and anyone who came out of the room, no matter when, would be seen by the patrolling monks.
“Apothecary Li and the others might be imprisoned inside.”
He stretched his limbs, preparing to forcefully break in and kill.