Cultivating for Immorality: I Evolved Martial Arts into the Immortal Path – Chapter 58

Chapter 58: News Spread

The county town is a place with rules.

With the County Government suppressing things, everyone has to act according to the rules.

At least on the surface, they can’t cause too much trouble, otherwise it’s disrespecting County Magistrate.

The Green Robe Gang has been able to create chaos throughout the city recently because they have the tacit approval of the County Government; otherwise, let alone the disappearance of Nineteenth Wife, even if the Gang Leader disappeared, they wouldn’t dare to make such a fuss.

“In the county town, everyone has to restrain themselves, including Wu Neng. Unless he becomes a Skin Tempering Realm expert, but with his talent, it will be difficult for him to achieve that even in twenty years!”

Song Zhong spoke bluntly, disparaging Wu Neng’s talent as worthless.

“Chu Liang, you have remarkable talent. If you train in the county town for three to five years, surpassing Wu Neng won’t be a problem!”

As he spoke, he pointed to the Tiger Demon’s carcass.

With the large sum of silver obtained from the Tiger Demon’s carcass, it wouldn’t be difficult for Chu Liang to stay in the county town for three to five years.

Song Zhong’s intentions were naturally good.

But his arrival disrupted Chu Liang’s entire plan.

Chu Liang had guessed that Wu Neng and the others would act tonight. He had originally planned to wait for them at home, letting them walk into his trap.

He had the little rats constantly monitoring Wu Neng and the others.

Even if Wu Neng and the others didn’t act, Chu Liang would find an opportunity to eliminate them.

Now, it was daytime, and Wu Neng and the others were blocking the village entrance, making it inconvenient to act.

If he killed them all in broad daylight, Chu Liang would definitely become a wanted criminal in the county town. Moreover, he only had one chance to strike. Once Wu Neng and the others knew his true strength, they wouldn’t be so careless.

But Song Zhong suddenly arrived.

His timing was terrible.

Coincidentally, both Chu Liang and Wu Neng felt that Song Zhong had disrupted their plans.

Both were now thinking of ways to get Song Zhong to leave.

“Thank you for your kindness, Master Song!”

Chu Liang thought for a moment and said, “But I still have relatives here. I’m really worried about them and can’t leave just like that.”

“Relatives?”

Song Zhong was taken aback. This was indeed a problem.

He was an orphan; his parents and other relatives had been killed by demon beasts long ago. He had never considered this kind of issue.

“How many relatives do you have?”

“Let me see, Second Uncle, Third Aunt, Fourth Uncle, Fifth Uncle… Their families combined have about twenty people, most of whom are children.”

“So many?”

Song Zhong immediately felt troubled.

With so many people, just the transfer of household registration was a big problem.

The government office loved to exploit this kind of thing. To transfer a person’s household registration from the village to the county town, it would cost at least ten taels of silver.

Twenty people, that’s over two hundred taels!

Moreover, these people would have no means of livelihood in the county town and would have to rely entirely on Chu Liang for support.

How could this work? Just thinking about it briefly gave Song Zhong a headache.

It was still better to be an orphan, one person eating was enough for the whole family.

“Forget it, I’ll find a way to lure Wu Neng away and delay him for a few days. You think about it carefully these next few days and come to the county town soon.”

Song Zhong had no other options.

He was very optimistic about Chu Liang, but he couldn’t protect him forever.

He took out a contract and said, “The market price of the Tiger Demon carcass is about one thousand five hundred taels. We’ll trade at this price, what do you think?”

“No problem!”

Chu Liang nodded. Even if he transported it to the county town to sell, he wouldn’t get a higher price.

Actually, he had originally wanted to keep the Tiger Demon carcass for himself, after all, he needed demon beast meat for his own martial arts training, and the Evolutionary Treasure Mirror also needed it.

But this Tiger Demon was too notorious; it would inevitably attract covetousness and trouble from all sides. Selling it was the easiest solution.

Song Zhong said, “Since there’s no problem, then let’s sign the contract.”

“Okay.”

“I don’t have that much silver on me right now,” Song Zhong said to Chu Liang, “I’ll write an IOU. I’ll deliver the silver to you within three days. If it’s overdue, you can take this IOU to the Martial Alliance to find me.”

He took out two one-hundred-tael silver notes and placed them in front of Chu Liang.

The others in his team also chipped in, gathering three hundred taels of silver, for a total of five hundred taels.

Soon, a drafted contract and IOU were placed before Chu Liang.

Chu Liang wasn’t worried about Song Zhong breaking his promise. He trusted this person, and he didn’t value money that much.

With the Evolutionary Treasure Mirror, he could get as much money as he wanted.

“Chu Liang, what do you think?” Song Zhong asked him.

“It’s fine.”

Chu Liang immediately picked up the brush and signed his name on the contract.

Master Hu stood by the side, having already ground the ink for them. His cautious demeanor made him look like a personal attendant.

The contract was signed, with each party keeping a copy.

Song Zhong put away the contract and said to Chu Liang, “I’ll be going now. I’ll take Wu Neng with me. You’ll be safe for the next few days. You should think things over carefully.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Song Zhong came and went quickly, arriving and leaving in a hurry.

It took less than fifteen minutes.

He waved his hand, and immediately two people stepped forward and lifted the massive Tiger Demon carcass.

Seeing this, Master Hu hurriedly said, “Master Song, my family has an excellent horse carriage that can transport this Tiger Demon back to the county town for you.”

“Good, prepare one for me.”

“I’ll go right away!”

Master Hu hurriedly ran back to his house.

Soon, he returned to Chu Liang’s house with a horse carriage.

Several martial artists worked together to throw the Tiger Demon carcass into the carriage.

“Just right, let’s go!”

Song Zhong nodded, bid farewell to Chu Liang, and then left the courtyard, heading towards the village entrance.

Wu Neng was still waiting at the village entrance with his men, each with a hostile expression.

His narrow eyes swept over Song Zhong and the others, pausing on the horse carriage. He immediately demanded, “Song Zhong, you bought that Tiger Demon carcass?”

“Do you have a problem with that?” Song Zhong retorted.

“No.”

“Very good.”

Sitting on his tall horse, Song Zhong suddenly took out a demon hunting notice and announced loudly, “Wu Neng, you and I both received this demon hunting notice. The officials at the Merit Hall instructed us to act together and support each other… Do you still remember?”

Wu Neng was stunned, immediately understanding Song Zhong’s intention.

◈◈◈

His face turned extremely ugly, and he gritted out, “Of course I remember!”

Song Zhong continued, “Now that the Tiger Demon is dead and the carcass is in hand, we should both return to the Merit Hall to report.”

“I still have things to do…”

“Wu Neng, what’s more important than reporting back? Could it be that you don’t take the Merit Hall officials seriously?”

“You…”

Wu Neng stared at Song Zhong, his eyes practically spitting fire!

He knew clearly that with Song Zhong obstructing him, he wouldn’t have another chance to deal with Chu Liang in the next few days.

If he had known this would happen, they should have just barged into the village earlier, captured Chu Liang, and then interrogated him slowly somewhere secluded.

“Let’s go, what are you waiting for?”

Song Zhong mounted his horse, giving Wu Neng no more opportunity to delay. He waved his whip and galloped away.

The group of more than ten people all waved their whips, like a hurricane, blowing past Wu Neng and the others.

Horses’ hooves pounded urgently, raising a cloud of dust.

Wu Neng’s face was like a suppressed volcano, his heart surging with rage, wishing he could immediately tear Song Zhong and the others to shreds.

Someone beside him asked, “Boss, are we really going back to the county town?”

“What else can we do?”

“But that Chu Liang…”

“Forget it, let him live a few more days!”

Wu Neng took a deep breath, forcing down the fury in his chest. His icy gaze lingered on Chu Liang’s courtyard for a moment.

The next moment, he withdrew his gaze and mounted his horse.

“Let’s go!”

He waved his whip and spurred his horse to catch up with Song Zhong and the others.

The rest had no choice but to follow.

The two groups of horsemen gradually moved further away, finally disappearing from sight.

Just like that, a storm subsided without a trace, and Qing Shi Village returned to its usual tranquility.

The villagers all breathed a sigh of relief, coming out of their homes and praying to various deities that such a thing would never happen again.

Master Hu, however, was not at ease. His heart was heavy.

He knew very well that the current peace was only temporary.

“I’m afraid there will be even bigger trouble in a few days. If it’s not handled well, a single misstep could cost lives,” he worried, sighing repeatedly.

Chu Liang also sighed.

He had originally planned to capture Wu Neng and the others in one fell swoop. Now, all his plans had come to nothing.

He couldn’t blame Song Zhong for this; after all, he had come with good intentions.

From Song Zhong’s perspective, he had genuinely resolved a crisis for Chu Liang, and taking the Tiger Demon carcass was just incidental.

◈◈◈

In the afternoon, Song Zhong and his group returned to the county town.

As soon as the Tiger Demon carcass appeared, it attracted countless gazes.

“What a huge mountain tiger!” a guard at the city gate exclaimed.

“It’s a Tiger Demon!” another guard said.

“Could it be that Tiger Demon that’s been causing so much trouble in the southern villages recently?”

“It should be. The bluish-black hide and those frightening claws match the rumors.”

“As expected of Master Song…”

The guards all expressed their admiration, casting respectful glances at Song Zhong and the others.

Song Zhong’s expression remained unchanged, and he shook his head slightly, “It wasn’t me.”

“Not Master Song?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

Song Zhong didn’t explain further, riding his horse into the county town.

Inside the town, the Tiger Demon carcass caused another wave of exclamations.

This Tiger Demon had been wreaking havoc for over a month. Information about it had already spread throughout the streets and alleys of the county town. Even three-year-old children knew about this demon beast.

Song Zhong and the others ignored the surrounding noises, their expressions calm as they returned to the Martial Alliance located in the north of the city.

Not long after, the news spread from within the Martial Alliance.

“What? That Tiger Demon really wasn’t killed by Master Song and the others?”

“I heard it was a Martial Artist Master from a small mountain village.”

“Who? Which village? Black Stone Village?”

“No, Master He of Black Stone Village is already dead. It’s said he colluded with demon beasts and was beheaded by Master Wu.”

“Could it be that Master Hu from Qing Shi Village?”

“…”

People discussed amongst themselves.

Many people were paying attention to this matter, so the news spread extremely quickly.

Before long, an unfamiliar name spread throughout the county town.

Chu Liang!

Most people were hearing this name for the first time, only a very few found it somewhat familiar.

In Yunlai Restaurant.

Shopkeeper Qi Shun had a serious expression, checking accounts with the accountant behind the counter.

A thin young servant hurriedly ran over and whispered to Qi Shun, “Shopkeeper, the news is true. That Tiger Demon that was causing trouble in the south has really been killed!”

“Really?”

“Absolutely true!”

“Which Master from the Martial Alliance killed it?”

“It wasn’t a Master from the Martial Alliance, it was a Martial Artist Master from a village, his name is Chu Liang.”

“Hmm?”

Qi Shun’s hand paused, immediately stopping his accounting work. He looked up at the young servant.

He asked solemnly, “Chu Liang? Which Chu? Which Liang?”

“The ‘double wood’ Chu, the ‘lose all conscience’ Liang.”