章節 13: Chapter 13 Chen Family Members
The village grew darker as plumes of cooking smoke rose in the air.
The occasional sound of barking dogs broke the silence, only to fade back to stillness quickly.
Chen Yuan noticed that at this time, there were still no signs of Chen Tai and Chen An returning, which made him feel uneasy.
Even the stance training he had mastered for a long time could not be continued at this moment.
Their brothers were both experienced, having grown up in the mountains. Even though the youngest loved to play, he should have returned before dark.
Suddenly, Chen Yuan had a bad feeling.
He glanced at the sky, knowing that going up the mountain now was like asking for death, so he put on a fur coat and stormed out, knocking on his neighbor's door.
Opening the door was a fellow clan member from the Chen family, ranked fifth, known as Chen the Fifth: "What's up, Chen the Eldest?"
Chen Yuan directly asked, "Old Fifth, did you see my two younger brothers on the mountain today?"
Chen the Fifth was slightly taken aback but quickly responded, "No, I was on the mountain with some from the main room and didn't meet anyone else. Why? Haven't the cousins returned yet?"
Chen Yuan shook his head and said, "No, they haven't."
"Wait for me, I'll call the Chen family's main room group and ask around house to house."
In Hongshan Village, with over thirty households, the Chen family made up ten, making them quite a force.
In this desolate place, blood relations became important bonds.
One family's trouble meant help from the entire family.
Families like the Tian Family, which had fewer members, often found themselves at a disadvantage in Hongshan Village.
With that, Chen the Fifth also put on a worn-out coat and followed Chen Yuan, calling out all the men of the Chen family.
In an instant, the quiet Hongshan Village erupted into chaos and noise.
"Open the door, open the door."
"Old Tian, are you home? We need you for something."
"..."
The Chen family went door to door asking around, rousing even those who had already gone to bed.
In the face of the overbearing Chen family, no one in the village dared to oppose them.
In a simple adobe house,
Shen Qing was wholeheartedly practicing the Nine Skills.
As the cultivation continued, the progress of this cultivation technique visibly fluctuated before his eyes.
Each breath Shen Qing took seemed to be devouring the essence of heaven and earth, integrating it into his own qi and blood, causing his skin to glow faintly red, as if filled with qi and blood.
[Skill: Nine Skills (Entry Level)]
[Progress: 18/100 points]
[Status: Cannot be improved]
[Note: A refining qi and blood technique, continued practice can improve progress, achieving great perfection in qi and blood, with strength as great as a bull.]
"At this rate of cultivation, I'll be able to break through to the next realm in just a day."
After practicing for a while, Shen Qing's waist and knees felt numb and weak, and his legs ached as if pricked by needles.
He directly slumped to the ground, panting heavily.
Whether it was an illusion or not, after just a bit of practice, he felt that most of the food he had just eaten was digested.
His whole body was filled with warmth, feeling no trace of cold, making Shen Qing find the experience exceedingly strange.
Shen Qing looked at the small blue book in front of him, feeling a bit regretful.
Besides pictures, it also contained some text annotations.
He guessed it might be related to some key aspects of realms, but unfortunately, he was illiterate and couldn't fully grasp their meaning.
Having experienced the wonders of martial arts, Shen Qing thought he should take some time to learn how to read and write.
His life was gradually improving day by day, and he could afford to take some things to Zhang Shu Chi in the village to learn some characters.
Just as Shen Qing made up his mind, he suddenly heard a commotion and noise outside.
For some reason, he immediately became alert, calling Shen Fang to hide the things they brought down from the mountain under the bed.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
"Shen Qing, are you home?"
"Coming, coming. Be gentle, don't break my door."
Shen Qing opened the door to see Chen the Fifth.
Before Shen Qing could speak, Chen the Fifth had already asked, "Did you see the two Chen Family brothers when you went up the mountain today?"
Upon hearing this, Shen Qing's heart skipped a beat.
Luckily, he was extremely calm, and his face showed no abnormality as he replied placidly, "No, I haven't seen them. People in the village find my hunting skills raw and don't want to take me. I always go up the mountain alone to hunt."
Chen the Fifth scrutinized Shen Qing twice, finding nothing amiss, and instructed, "Today, Chen Tai and his brother still haven't returned. Keep an eye out if you go up the mountain later."
"I will," Shen Qing said, bowing his head. "If I see them, I'll let you know immediately."
"Alright."
Without thinking much, Chen the Fifth moved on, knocking on neighboring doors.
Watching Chen the Fifth's departing figure, Shen Qing quietly breathed a sigh of relief, closing the door with a creak.
That night, the Chen family kept at their efforts until halfway through the night.
All the villagers could do was internally seethe without daring to voice their grievances.
Come the next day, the wearied Chen family collectively went up the mountain to search for Chen Yuan and Chen Tai's whereabouts.
It was only then that the villagers pieced together that the brothers had hunted in the mountains overnight and hadn't returned, their fate unknown.
Most people in Hongshan Village relied on hunting in the mountains and knew that in such cases, there was a good chance they perished in the depths of the forest.
The mountain teemed with danger, filled with wolves, insects, tigers, leopards, and more.
One moment of carelessness could easily lead to trouble.
No one expected that the powerful Chen Tai and Chen An from just the day before would suddenly vanish.
Tian Chuan's parents stood at the door upon hearing the news, tearfully thanking the heavens, leaving people with mixed feelings.
Since the Chen family members all barged into Shicheng Mountain, it led to a crowded mess.
Many hunters refrained from entering the mountain, opting instead to rest at home.
Shen Qing did the same.
He stayed at home, focusing all his energy on practicing the martial art of Nine Skills.
As for the bodies of Chen Tai and Chen An, Shen Qing wasn't worried about the Chen family finding them.
Shicheng Mountain was enormous, and it was snowing.
Shen Qing himself had been running around randomly that day, and without any markers, he might not find the spot again, let alone them.
By the time they might find it, the bodies would likely have been devoured by beasts.
Shen Qing locked himself in his room, repeatedly practicing the four stance exercises: Hunyuan Stance, Mao Dun Stance, Tuo Ying Zhuang, and Floating Cloud Stance.
With consistent practice, he felt a fine, thread-like warmth inside him begin to move continuously throughout his body.
This warmth grew more substantial the longer Shen Qing maintained the stances.
Compared to the initial practice the day before, today the feeling of fatigue and soreness was much reduced.
"In the end, this is a proper health cultivation martial art for refining qi and blood. As long as I can push through and make it through the entry level, the practice will become easier and easier."
Shen Qing knew that among the martial arts halls in the county, this martial art might not be considered good, but it did not stop him from placing high hopes on it, hoping to use it to pave the way into the martial arts world.
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