Running into Trouble

…

A month passed in the blink of an eye. Fang Zhengzhi persisted in his daily studying routine - studying in the morning and revising once more before bed. In the day, he stopped sleeping outside the Hall of Dao.

One early morning, the sky just began to brighten.

"Damn it, who on earth is it? Why am I missing another Fire Plume Chicken?!" Within the Li Family courtyard, Mrs Li’s voice was just as domineering as before.

Isn’t it just one chicken?

Did you think that by shouting out so loudly, I will return it to you? Naive!

Along the small river outside the village, Fang Zhengzhi was leisurely adding wine and colourful seasonings on the Fire Plume Chicken. Then, he brought his nose towards the chicken, took a sniff, lightly tore off a piece and placed it in his mouth.

Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. Just right!

Then, the immediately took down the entire chicken from the roasting racks and started to wolf it down...

Fang Zhengzhi didn’t have any other choices. Even though these days his dad repeatedly brought the hunting squad to the mountain, but, due to the village rules, when it was time to distribute the spoils, their portion was close to pitiful.

His appetite grew exponentially, but the food was really too little, completely unable to meet his growing needs. Faced with no other options, he could only once again leverage on his "friendly" neighbour.

Anyway, the Li family didn’t contribute anything at all, but were always given the largest portions from the hunting spoils.

Fang Zhengzhi felt no guilt. Devouring the entire chicken, he patted his round belly and felt his body surge with strength.

Then, he gradually made his way to the grass field beside the river, found a fist-sized stone in the field and gently placed it on the floor.

Fang Zhengzhi closed his eyes and slowly regulated his breathing. Then, his eyes flew open, opening his palms and brought it down upon down the stone.

"Crack!"

A deep crack formed on the fist sized stone. Without much hesitation, Fang Zhengzhi’s hand moved in a flash once more. Another palm landed on the same spot on the stone.

"Crack!" This time, the crack on the stone opened up rapidly like a web.

Fang Zhengzhi’s eyes flashed, a third palm struck the stone.

"Boom!" The stone finally shattered completely and reduced into a pile of smashed pebbles.

Fang Zhengzhi immediately rubbed his slightly reddened palm. But, his expression still seemed to be rather delighted.

Three palms! It is a huge improvement from the five palms a week ago!

This strength although compared to Lolita and General Li was akin to the difference between Heaven and Earth, but for someone who used to be a meek and wimpy scholar in his past life, Fang Zhengzhi was indeed happy.

No matter what, he was now a fierce man who could shatter stones with one hand! Even though he needed three palm strikes, but if it was his past life, it might not have been able to make him a fighting champion, but it was still possible to make him a black belt.

"Aha!"

Fang Zhengzhi imitated the sound of his idol in his past life, took a stance, looked at his own reflections in the river and felt rather cool.

"Fang Zhengzhi!"

Just as he was grinning happily, a young voice sounded out from behind.

Fang Zhengzhi turned his head and saw an eight year old boy from his village.

"Bad… Bad news, the hunting squad… hunting squad ran… ran into trouble… village… village chief asked me to look for you!" The boy shouted, panting for breath as he ran.

"What?!"

When Fang Zhengzhi heard this, an extremely uncomfortable feeling rose up in him. The village chief sent someone to find him, and it was regarding the hunting squad, could it be...

This is bad!

Fang Zhengzhi didn’t dare to think any further, and sprinted towards the village, his speed as fast as the wind.

The eight year old boy was instantly stunned. Staring at Fang Zhengzhi’s stumpy legs bolting away, he couldn’t understand - how can someone run so fast? Recovering from his initial shock, he immediately began to open up his footsteps and started to run, following behind Fang Zhengzhi. But he realised after a while, he couldn’t even see Fang Zhengzhi’s backside anymore…

…

Once he entered the Southern Mountain Village, Fang Zhengzhi heard a wave of faint crying sound.

His heart raced again, his tiny palms filled with sweat. Not bothering to keep up his pretence of being a small, delicate kid, he immediately sprinted towards the source of the crying.

Very quickly, he arrived at the village square.

At this moment, the square was packed with villagers. The villagers were huddled together, the wailing cries of women coming out from within the crowd. His mother Qin Xuelian was among them.

"Boo hoo… Houde, you… something better not happen to you…" Qin Xuelian completely lost her usual calm demeanor, her face filled with tears.

Her words sent a shiver down Fang Zhengzhi’s spine.

Without even thinking further, he instantly dove into the crowd.

Very quickly, Fang Zhengzhi located his dad. Fang Houde was lying flat on an old, thick piece of leather, his face pale and white, the ground around him stained with blood. Apart from Fang Houde, another seven or eight villagers were in this same state.

"Zhengzhi is here!"

"Don’t worry, your dad is fine, it’s only a few injuries…"

Once the villagers saw Fang Zhengzhi, they immediately attempted to reassure him. They were all afraid this young boy would be triggered.

"Injuries?!"

When Fang Zhengzhi looked at his dad Fang Houde, he saw a huge gaping wound bleeding profusely on his thigh, along with streaks of blood on his chest and waist.

From Fang Zhengzhi’s point of view, it looked like he was sliced open with a knife, but upon closer inspection, he realised that it didn’t seem like it. Because, around every streak of blood was five lines of open wounds.

Looking at the other villagers, he realised that their injuries were all similar. Every injured villager had claw marks on their body, blood flowing uncontrollably from their wounds…

"Who would have thought that Blue Fire Wolf would come down the mountain again!"

"Indeed, that lone wolf which separated from its pack harmed many people at the foot of the mountain these few years. The Northern Mountain Village also met with it last time, I heard that two people were injured by it.

"But this time our Southern Mountain Village suffered seven or eight casualties!"

The villagers chipped in their views one by one, each of their faces flashing with anger. However, there was nothing they could do. The Blue Fire Wolf was too strong. It was something that these common villagers would never be able to match up to.

Anyone who encountered it in the mountains, could only run!

"Blue Fire Wolf?!" Fang Zhengzhi’s fist instantly tightened.

He recalled what his mother told him in the past - His dad’s right arm was broken by a Blue Fire Wolf. At that time, the Blue Fire Wolf had found its way into the village, his dad stood at the frontline blocking its advance. Only when faced with the combined efforts of the entire village did the Blue Fire Wolf finally flee.

Could it be the same one?

"That Blue Fire Wolf didn’t appear these few years, we thought it was already dead, who knew that it will come out at this time…" A villager drawn out a long sigh.

It’s really the same one!

"No matter how much you have, all of you go and retrieve the medications you have for stopping blood flow!" Village Chief Meng Bai was leading a team of villagers to apply medicine onto the wounds of the casualties, his face dripping with sweat.

"The hunting squad suffered so many casualties, how are we going to preserve our livelihood from now?" A familiar voice erupted from the crowd. It was Mrs Li.

"What’s the point of saying this now? Saving lives is the priority!" A villager instantly retorted.

"The livings of hundred or so households in the village all depend on the hunting squad, without the squad, the entire village would starve to death! How can I not say this?" Mrs Li refuted huffily.

"Sigh, this is indeed true…"

"If the hunting squad cannot hunt more animals, I don't know how we are going to carry on living."

A few thirty-over year old women began to sigh.