Chapter 19

"Hand over all the treasures you have on you!"

Li Chen said without blinking.

"What?"

"Are you trying to extort us?"

"Looking for death!"

The three fellow disciples were instantly furious. Despite their fine appearances and good backgrounds, they were just ordinary disciples of the Qiu family.

What they carried were things they had saved up by being frugal in their daily lives. How could they bear to part with them?

"Hand them over!"

Yang Rongfeng sternly ordered, then turned to Li Chen, "I hope you keep your word, otherwise..."

He didn't finish his sentence but immediately started rummaging through his pockets and unstrapped his backpack.

Seeing this, the three fellow disciples reluctantly unstrapped their backpacks.

With a series of clinks and clatters, four backpacks, several bottles, and quite a few scattered gold notes appeared on the ground.

"Hand over your weapons too!"

Li Chen glanced at them and said coolly.

He wasn't stupid and was very shrewd. He had suffered a great loss in the forest earlier and had been betrayed multiple times due to his soft heart. He wouldn't make the same mistake again.

"Is that too much to ask?"

Yang Rongfeng's face darkened. Weapons were like a martial artist's second life, and this was a great insult, second only to the hatred of a father being killed or a wife being taken.

"Whether it's too much or not depends on whether you have the life to keep it!"

Li Chen didn't respond, but he applied a bit more force, causing Qiu Qianhua to cry out in pain.

"You... fine!"

Yang Rongfeng gritted his teeth, pulled out his long sword from his waist, and threw it on the ground.

The other three had no choice but to do the same.

"Unhappy? Break the weapons! Pack the rest!"

Li Chen's eyes flickered. Considering that these weapons would be a burden if they tried to escape, he had an idea.

"You... fine!"

Yang Rongfeng was so angry that his eyes almost shot fire, but seeing Li Chen's 'sharp' eyes, he had no choice but to follow the order.

With a series of cracking sounds, several high-quality long knives and swords were destroyed, and the remaining items were packed up.

"Throw them over!"

Li Chen ordered coolly.

"Let the person go first!"

Yang Rongfeng, controlling his remaining patience, stopped just as he was about to throw the backpack.

"Do I look like a fool?"

Hearing his ridiculous words, Li Chen rolled his eyes.

"Hmph!"

Yang Rongfeng coldly snorted and threw the package at Li Chen's feet.

"Move aside, what are you waiting for?"

Using his toe to nudge the backpack, Li Chen looked at Yang Rongfeng, who was trying to take the opportunity to save Qiu Qianhua, and applied more force.

"If you move, how can I guarantee your junior sister's safety?"

Yang Rongfeng's eyes twitched, but he didn't move.

"You can only trust me!"

Li Chen twisted Qiu Qianhua's arm behind her back and grabbed his backpack, pushing her to stand up.

"Fine!"

Yang Rongfeng stopped the three fellow disciples from rushing forward and slowly moved aside.

"Don't follow, or I can't guarantee her safety!"

Li Chen, holding Qiu Qianhua, slowly moved towards the cave entrance. When they reached the corner, the four of them, fearing for her safety, didn't dare to approach. They lost sight of the two of them.

"Ah!"

In just a moment, a惨叫 echoed from outside the cave. The four rushed out and saw Qiu Qianhua lying on the ground, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, while Li Chen's figure had already disappeared.

"Junior sister, are you okay?"

"Junior sister, how are you?"

"Junior sister..."

The three wanted to rush forward, but Yang Rongfeng was already by her side, checking her injuries. After finding that she only had minor bruises, he sighed in relief. He wanted to take out a pill to treat her but realized that all the pills had been taken by Li Chen.

"Let's go back to town quickly!"

Although the injuries weren't serious, they would become a隐患 if left untreated. Yang Rongfeng immediately carried Qiu Qianhua and headed back the way they came.

"Damn, if we meet him again, we must kill this villain!"

The three wanted to take on the task, but it wasn't the time to argue. They could only curse and leave.

...

Rushing water splashed against the hidden rocks, creating layers of foam.

Not far away, a buzzing sound could be heard. Looking up, a waterfall over a hundred feet high was clearly visible.

Under the sunlight, a rainbow bridge of seven colors shone, making the entire waterfall breathtakingly beautiful.

"Comfortable, really comfortable!"

Li Chen, completely naked, was soaking in the pool below, splashing cold water on himself. "This time out, not only did my cultivation break through to the sixth layer of Inner Breath, but my Tiger Roar Fist is also nearing perfection. It seems I should start practicing the Storm Fist soon!"

After washing himself, he made sure there was no strange smell from his breakthrough and swam to the edge of the pool, satisfied.

Squeak!

At that moment, a few small gray shadows flashed by, taking the clothes and backpack left on a large rock. They were a few mischievous monkeys.

"Damn!"

Li Chen was instantly furious. Without caring that he was naked, he jumped out of the pool and chased after them.

Seeing the four monkeys leap onto the nearest ancient tree, he knew that if they entered the forest, it would be impossible to catch them.

Whoosh!

In a flash, Li Chen bent down, grabbed two walnut-sized stones, and threw them.

Squeak!

Two of the monkeys screamed in pain, falling to the ground, creating a cloud of dust.

The two larger monkeys, seeing this, wanted to turn back to help, but seeing Li Chen bend down to grab more stones, they let out a few screams and fled into the forest.

"Damn, bad luck!"

The two monkeys were holding his backpack, which contained his gains from the past half month. Li Chen was in a terrible mood.

Walking over to the two monkeys trying to get up, he grabbed one in each hand, intending to scold them and then throw them to their deaths. However, he noticed that one of the smaller monkeys, with golden eyelashes, was looking at him with tearful, brown eyes.

"Strange, these days even monkeys have human emotions?"

Li Chen paused, feeling a bit sorry for them, and let the two monkeys go. "Go, go, today is just bad luck for me!"

After all, Li Chen was only a fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy. Seeing cute little creatures naturally evoked a sense of compassion in him.

He grabbed his clothes, put them on haphazardly, and was about to leave with his backpack, but then he stopped.

The two small monkeys were limping on the ground. The one with golden eyelashes was particularly injured, with a swollen right leg and blood seeping out.

The other one had only been injured on the shoulder, which didn't affect its movement much.

But for two monkeys that lived in trees, such injuries were almost as good as a death sentence.

"Hmph!"

Li Chen grumbled, scaring the two small monkeys into trembling and moving quickly. But after a few steps, they were caught by two strong hands, causing them to squeal in fear.

"Don't be ungrateful. You've ruined my good mood today, and now I have to save you!"

He quickly walked to the lake, tore some strips of cloth, cleaned the wounds of the two monkeys, fed them blood-activating pills, and applied bruise-healing ointment. Li Chen scratched his head, unsure what to do next.

The two monkeys, now bandaged, looked at him helplessly.