parentshiftbook Chapter 20: Ruyi, Night Patrol Battle
Chapter 20: Ruyi, Night Patrol Battle
"Nearly three hundred spirit foxes?!" Zhang Ping's mouth dropped open as he looked at Quan Hongyan, desperately hoping she would laugh and say it was a joke.
Unfortunately, Quan Hongyan simply shook her head with a solemn expression, her face grim.
"Even Master didn't expect so many people to appear in Lishan Town."
She had just returned from her master's place, where he was in a terrible mood and had even almost threatened to leave with his men, disregarding all sentimentality. If it weren't for the intervention of the eldest madam of the Lu family, who offered a large amount of the Lu family's assets as compensation, the situation would likely have been far from resolved.
Zhang Ping's expression shifted between light and dark, his good mood about plotting against demons on the way had completely vanished.
"Sister Yan, why are these spirit foxes so fixated on the Lu family's caravan?" he asked. Spirit foxes are quite intelligent and usually don't provoke targets far stronger than themselves. With Chongxin personally leading the team, their strength is undeniable; shouldn't the spirit foxes have backed down by now?
Quan Hongyan shook her head, indicating that she was also puzzled.
"Master has arranged for night patrols, four people per team. You'll be with me tonight."
"it is good."
……
The night was deep, and the town was eerily silent.
Inside the temporary lodgings of the Lu family caravan, candlelight flickered. Lu Qiang stood by the table, his gaze involuntarily drawn to the woman sitting before him.
"Madam, are we really going to hand over half of our assets to Sitong Martial Arts School?"
Lu Wanrou put down her brush, her gentle lips parted slightly, and she sighed, "As long as we're alive, there's hope. Tonight, we must cooperate well with Master Chongwu. If we can endure one more day, we'll set off to leave."
"Brother Lu, is there anything else?"
Lu Qiang abruptly withdrew his overly direct gaze, sensing Lu Wanrou's intention to see him off, and felt a pang of bitterness in his heart. "I'll go check on the night patrol. Madam, please rest early. If there's any disturbance, just call the people waiting outside."
He left the room, but couldn't help looking back.
He is the servant, she is the master.
Lu Qiang's father was a servant of the Lu family. He was born and raised in the Lu family. As a child, he was lucky enough to be chosen as the follower of the Lu family's heir. He was also cultivated because he showed some talent in martial arts. From then on, he worked diligently to protect the Lu family's caravan.
Thirty years have passed since I was sixteen. My status has changed drastically; I've been freed from slavery and become the martial arts instructor of the Lu family, free to come and go as I please.
The reason he stayed... was solely for the woman he had glimpsed and fallen for at first sight that year. Unfortunately, back then, he was merely a lowly servant, while she was already a high-ranking mistress of the household.
This affection remained buried deep in his heart. Her gentle appearance became the obsession that drove Lu Qiang to hone himself day after day.
"The patriarch... is no longer here... you..." The barely audible murmur escaped Lu Qiang's lips before he was overwhelmed with shame; it was clearly blasphemy. He hurriedly lowered his head and quickly left.
A faint sigh drifted from the room, illuminated only by the flickering candlelight.
……
"How was it like facing demons for the first time?"
Under the moonlight, several figures leaped silently across the messy rooftops of the small town. Having gained nothing in the first half of the night, Quan Hongyan, who had been tense, relaxed a little, and her tone became somewhat teasing.
Zhang Ping lightly tapped the roof tile with his toes, the power from the horse's leg markings propelling him at lightning speed, keeping pace with Quan Hongyan. "Isn't Sister Yan here? The spirit fox is here, I just need to run for my life."
"Haha, you little rascal..." Quan Hongyan was amused and burst into laughter, abandoning all her feminine reserve.
"Fifth Senior Sister!" The other two martial arts disciples caught up, panting heavily. They glanced at the black cloth covering Zhang Ping's face, their eyes filled with surprise and doubt. This kid is clearly only at the mid-stage of Skin Tempering, how come his speed is faster than theirs, who are at the late stage of Skin Tempering?
"Have you found any trace of the spirit fox?" Quan Hongyan stopped laughing and asked seriously.
The two shook their heads: "We've searched the entire area, but we haven't found the spirit fox, nor have any people gone missing."
Their group was relatively lucky, as they were responsible for the central area of the town.
"Don't be careless, the spirit fox is extremely good at hiding," Quan Hongyan warned.
Although individual spirit foxes are not particularly strong, their methods of stealth and concealment are quite sophisticated; even those one or two levels stronger than them may not be able to detect them. This is why they are so difficult to capture, making the materials from spirit foxes rare and precious.
In the latter half of the night, the four men did not separate again, but gathered on a rooftop to keep watch.
The moon was setting in the west. After three days and nights of continuous travel, and finally arriving in the town only to be assigned to patrol at night, even a martial artist felt exhausted.
"Haaah—those beasts definitely won't dare to come. Why don't we take the initiative and fight our way out?" He Qiang, one of the four, yawned and suggested listlessly.
Quan Hongyan and another disciple ignored him. Zhang Ping, on the other hand, focused all his energy on activating the Dog Nose Mark, simultaneously detecting any unusual auras in the air and silently improving the progress of his Beast Mark. Since perfecting the Ox Strength Beast Mark, he had mainly focused his energy on martial arts cultivation, and his Horse Leg Mark had not improved much.
However, the donkey whip pattern, through the "unremitting efforts" of Madam Fu, finally reached perfection and awakened a special ability—Ruyi (meaning "as you wish").
Zhang Ping
Age: 20
[Realm: Mid-stage Skin Tempering Realm]
[Branding: Donkey Whip Mark (Full), Ox Strength Mark (Full), Horse Leg Mark (65%), Dog Nose Mark (73%), Cowhide Mark (33%), Earthworm Regeneration Mark (11%), Eagle Eye Mark (65%), Danger Perception (2%)]
[Ruyi-shaped pattern - donkey whip pattern: Significantly increases the volume and strength of the lower limbs.]
[Divine Power - Ox Strength Pattern: Increases physical strength and improves physique.]
[Horse leg lines: Improve leg strength and increase flexibility.]
[Dog nose print: Enhances the sense of smell, enabling the ability to distinguish, remember, and track different scents.]
[Stretch marks: Improve skin suppleness and enhance resistance to impact.]
[Earth Dragon Regeneration: Enhances the body's vital essence, significantly improving the ability to regenerate severed limbs]
[Eagle Eye Pattern: Enhances visual distance and improves the ability to capture moving objects]
[Danger Perception: Able to sense impending danger and, with a small probability, identify the source of the danger.]
The "divine power" brought by the perfected Ox-Strength Beast Pattern is Zhang Ping's biggest trump card, making him comparable to a Body Refining Realm martial artist! Therefore, he is full of expectations for the abilities of other beast patterns after they have reached perfection.
But when he saw the words "Ruyi" (如意), his heart skipped a beat. After trying it, it was exactly as he had feared! It was clearly just a bedroom skill, nothing more than a small Ruyi. For a man as fierce as him, it was merely icing on the cake, of little use.
Zhang Ping was disappointed for a long time because of this.
Refocusing his attention on the dog-nose pattern, Zhang Ping felt somewhat relieved. Since entering this town, the progress of the dog-nose pattern had been rapid, increasing by ten percent in a short period. At this rate, this could very well be his third perfected beast pattern.
What surprises will it bring?
He Qiang was still rambling on when a gust of cold wind suddenly swept by, giving him goosebumps. "Hiss—where did that eerie wind come from?"
"Tsk, your yang energy has been completely depleted, hasn't it?" another disciple teased.
Zhang Ping snapped out of his daze and was about to laugh along when his nostrils twitched suddenly, and a very faint, slightly fishy smell abruptly entered his nasal cavity.
This is...?
His expression suddenly tightened: "Something's wrong!" Before he could finish speaking—
An intense, overwhelming demonic aura erupted without warning from beneath the rooftop beneath everyone's feet!
"Scatter!" Quan Hongyan's expression changed drastically.