32. Tracking

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After deciding to win over the young lady, Song Cheng began to think.

Terrifying as the sea, the great tide was coming. If he couldn't board a ship now, should he count on "Yune to save me" once the waters rise?

Ruyi Commerce Chamber was that ship.

The young lady was the helm.

Song Cheng had a bit of affection for the young lady and also thought she must be a capable and good woman, but these feelings certainly hadn't reached the point of discussing marriage.

However, feelings could be cultivated later. For now... he had to begin to "seize the helm."

It was... driven by interests.

In the darkness, the young man's eyes narrowed into two cold blades.

Suddenly, raindrops fell on the oiled paper window.

It started raining.

At the beginning of spring, it's naturally spring rain.

The rustling sound was like a lullaby that quieted the heart.

Song Cheng carefully covered Young Mrs. Tong with a quilt and moved aside himself.

"Are you going again?" Young Mrs. Tong wasn't asleep.

Song Cheng replied with a smile, "Yes."

"Be careful."

"Mm."

In the quiet darkness, a Yin Soul emerged from the young man's body and swiftly exited the door.

Tonight, light rain, calm wind, two hours to return.

A few days ago, he had already roamed the entire county.

The northern and eastern districts weren't much.

The area with the highest martial power in Shanghe County was in the southern district.

And the strongest, the master of the Water Bird Martial Arts Hall in the southern district, had already been defeated by him.

Therefore, today his mission was no longer to patrol the entire county but to... become a scoundrel for a while and inspect Miss Ling's boudoir.

The Yin Soul moved like a phantom through the rain, unseen by anyone.

Until he arrived at Miss Ling's boudoir.

A glance.

The room was dark, and there was no data.

'The young lady just left the county today, and Miss Ling just isn't in her room late at night?'

Song Cheng turned around, left the residence with the wind. Outside the door, with a movement of the Yin Soul's form, he floated up like wind into the long sky.

A Yin Soul, of course, could ascend to the sky.

As long as it wasn't a windy day where it could be blown too far to return.

After ascending, Song Cheng steadied his form and quickly swept around.

There was almost no one walking on the streets on a rainy night, so if Miss Ling were still on the road, he would see her.

Time quickly passed.

Song Cheng's luck wasn't great. After waiting for the time it took three incenses to burn, he didn't find Miss Ling and had to start heading back.

He went almost to the city gate, even ventured out of the city, and wandered a bit outside city east, so the way home wasn't short.

Just as he turned around, he suddenly felt something, and sharply turned his head. There, at the edge of the woods, was a broken, strange wooden sign, like one used by peddlers to shout their wares.

The sign was cracked, and there wasn't a single word on it, just slantingly stuck in the dirt.

'It seemed... it wasn't there just now? Or did I miss it?' Song Cheng stared at the wooden sign, then looked into the distance. The east of the city led to Tang River Village, and the two places weren't far apart...

But pondering is just the matter of a few thoughts.

Immediately, Song Cheng ceased to dwell on it, gathered his form, and swiftly left.

...

...

The next day, early.

The sky cleared.

Young Mrs. Tong wielded a blade in the courtyard.

Recently, she truly had abundant resources and even high-quality demon beast meat, brimming with vitality, plus Song Cheng's careful guidance, so rapid progress wasn't unheard of.

She practiced for a while, and during her rest, Song Cheng went out the door.

"Brother Song, early, facing so much pressure, you still go out for a walk?"

"Brother Wang, early, I just need to reflect, that's why I stroll around."

"Brother Song, early."

"Morning."

Smiling and exchanging greetings along the way, Song Cheng arrived in front of the young lady's residence, raised his hand to knock, and looking down, saw some dirt on the stone steps at the corner of the wall not far from the door.

The soil in the chamber's courtyard was also compacted, even walking in the rain wouldn't get one muddy.

Moreover, around the young lady's residence, stone bricks were laid, with no trace of soil.

He squinted, looked around, saw no one, then quickly squatted, picked the dirt with his fingers, pinched a bit, and sniffed.

There was a smell of chicken poop.

Very faint.

Unnoticeable to the average person.

But to one who had been blind, who had lived in a village common with chicken and duck droppings, this smell was distinct.

Song Cheng dusted off his hands, and in his mind's eye appeared a "three-dimensional map."

Not only had he been carefully observing the strength of Shanghe County's strongest, but also its terrain.

The distribution of alleys, the core industries and so on... he remembered them all.

In the county, places that possibly still kept chickens were only three: Dates Lane, Wengshizi, Mai Family Lane.

So, Miss Ling went to one of these three places yesterday?

As he was thinking, a sneeze suddenly came from the door.

Miss Ling, wearing pretty attire, stepped out in small boots from inside.

"Morning, Miss Ling." Song Cheng smiled. "Recently, the spring chill makes the late wind sharp, I shall ask my madam to make you a special ginger tea, guaranteed effective."

Miss Ling wore a furry pink jacket. Her delicate body was graceful, her eyes like stars. As the young lady's close maid, she served as a perfect green leaf.

Seeing Song Cheng, she seemed not yet to have completed her facial management, instinctively showing a trace of disdain, then coughed once, cleared her throat, and took back that disdain, then said, "You aren't training but slacking!"

Song Cheng chuckled, "I want to take a knife from the armory, different blade shapes train differently too."

Miss Ling said, "Oh, not even mastered what you have, and already asking for more, aren't the ones on the weapon rack enough for you to practice?"

Song Cheng replied agreeably, "Alright, I'll go find another one."

"Suit yourself!"

Miss Ling's attitude wasn't very good, her favorability score dropped from 50 to 45.

She snorted coyly, turned around, and swayed her hips hugged by the pink skirt into the distance.

Song Cheng gave a glance at her retreating figure.

Last night, did she go to meet a lover?

He went to the few armory racks in the commerce chamber, searched them one by one.

The enhancements the weapons could bring flashed by one after another.

Each offered either a one-point or two-point increase, inferior to his previous Fine Blade.

In the end, he still didn't find a suitable weapon.

...

Night fell...

The light rain came again.

The young man, with a knife over his back, sat cross-legged under the eaves.

He glanced at the panel, then without hesitation, added the remaining "37 points" to "Extreme Force."

Instantly, the progress of "Extreme Force" leaped from "Uninitiated (0/4)" to "Great Achievement (9/32)."

His strength shifted from "39~78" to "41~80."

A mysterious sensation surged forth.

After "Pouncing Force" that evolved from the White Snake Blade and the "Relaxing Force" brought by the Willow Returning Force, the arrival of this "Extreme Force" was just right.

Pouncing, Relaxing, Absolute—seemingly three stages of a force.

Pounce, swift and fast.

Relax, flicking and pulling force.

Absolute, like a mountain collapsing, ground cracking, an instant burst, cold, crisp, and fierce, shattering inch by inch.

After pouncing, the large muscles become like a bow, force like arrows piercing through. But as the arrow approaches, there's a sudden tremor. This tremor brings forth a terrifying rupture force.

The knife stance hadn't changed; it was still "White Snake Swallows Sparrow." It seemed it needed perfection to enhance the stance along with it.

Song Cheng suddenly stood up, went inside, and told Madam Tong, "I'm going out for a while."

Tong Jia didn't ask, just softly said, "Husband, be careful."

Song Cheng nodded, then without an umbrella, stepped out the courtyard door, quickly hid in the bushes near the young lady's residence, and quietly waited for any movement within.

His Yin Soul couldn't linger long outside and couldn't stay long at the entrance, so he had to watch himself.

But perhaps, today Miss Ling wouldn't go out...

No matter, keep waiting.

With the young lady gone, Miss Ling would eventually have to leave, if not today, then tomorrow.

He closed his eyes, squatted in the spring rain, black hair wet and drooping.

In an instant, the world was like an ink painting.

Raindrops fell, transforming into countless sources of sound, then expanding into ripples, colliding against surfaces, sketching their outlines, weaving a world of plain white lines.

Around midnight...

The door creaked open slightly.

Miss Ling cautiously peered out, looked around, then holding an umbrella and carrying a scarlet gauze lantern, hurried into the rain.

Her breathing was somewhat fast...

Her heartbeat too.

In the rainy night, the dark, if anyone walked here without a lantern, they would be blind; yet with a lantern, they were conspicuous.

Song Cheng walked in the dark, trailing Miss Ling from afar.

He was once blind.

Carrying a lantern or not, it mattered not at all.

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