Chapter 53

So depressed!

What was supposed to be a random adventure in the Jianghu ended because of his failed tracking.

Unfortunately, there was no regret pill to take, nor any game save to reload.

Looking at the time, it was already past noon. Qingxuan decided to return to the mountain. His first Jianghu adventure—failed...

It didn't matter much if he lost any Jianghu treasures; the most important thing was that he hadn't figured out what this strange beast was, and thus couldn't warn the nearby villagers to take precautions. This time, he would have to quickly get his more skilled senior brothers to come and investigate, as he was powerless to do so.

Although this place wasn't far from the Qingyun Temple in a straight line, it required climbing a very steep mountain wall. Thinking about it, he decided to take a longer route, a rarely traveled small mountain path. Although it wasn't as easy to walk as the main road, it wouldn't delay his return to the mountain.

A boring day was finally coming to an end.

Ye Qingxuan drew his sword, brandishing it as he walked in the predetermined direction.

Extremely depressed, Ye Qingxuan vented his anger on the surrounding bushes. Unfortunately, the sword in his hand was too poor, making it difficult to cut even a branch.

Because of his young age, the temple hadn't provided him with a dedicated long sword. Those were extremely expensive, with even the most ordinary steel long sword costing hundreds of silver taels. Therefore, the temple had given the young disciples wooden swords made from ironwood for practice.

The sword in Ye Qingxuan's hand was just a decorative one, essentially a layer of iron. It was originally used by Qing Song to display in the front hall. This time, little Qingxuan was allowed to take it down to look impressive.

This sword, though it looked good, would even become dull when cutting a rabbit. It was just for show.

Shaking the broken iron sword in his hand, Qingxuan was extremely dissatisfied.

Sooner or later, sooner or later, I will get a real treasure sword to play with.

"Ah—"

Suddenly, a scream startled Ye Qingxuan, making him stumble.

Huh? What's going on?

Ye Qingxuan quickly climbed up a large locust tree and looked in the direction of the scream. Unfortunately, the tall grass and dense forest made it impossible to see anything.

"Moo—"

Hmm? Why is it a cow's moo? Did I hear wrong?

As the mooing grew closer, accompanied by the jingling of bells, Qingxuan, full of doubts, dared not get down from the tree.

Sure enough, a moment later, a gray-black water buffalo emerged from the grass, lazily chewing on the tenderest green grass and giving Qingxuan on the tree a glance.

That look was extremely disdainful.

There's a saying, isn't there? A loss in one place, a gain in another.

Ye Qingxuan stared in great surprise at the robust water buffalo and asked hesitantly, "Could it be... you are the legendary Miss Ah Hua?"

I, Ye the Great Hero, am indeed destined to be the protagonist. The random Jianghu adventure task failed, but this small task before it succeeded!

Excited, Ye Qingxuan climbed down from the tree and quietly approached the water buffalo, speaking softly, "Miss Ah Hua, your owner has been looking for you for a long time. I'll take you back... Hey? Don't go, stop... stop..."

Unexpectedly, just as he approached the water buffalo, it turned and walked away. Ye Qingxuan almost caught it by the mouth, but it still managed to escape.

This was the main labor force of the Lu family, and it couldn't be allowed to run away again.

Little Qingxuan ran and stumbled, following the water buffalo.

The young Taoist had never farmed or dealt with large animals like cows and horses, so he didn't know that to control a cow, one must hold the reins attached to the nose ring. Instead, he kept pulling the cow's tail and horns... As a result, he was dragged through the mud by the water buffalo, almost being trampled by its hooves, which would have made him the first "great master" to die under a cow's hooves.

Finally, after a series of chases and bumps, the water buffalo Ah Hua stopped.

On a flat piece of land, not far from the towering cliffs behind the Qingyun Temple. The mountain peak was only about fifty miles away from the temple in a straight line.

Ye Qingxuan, sore all over, lay on the ground, breathing heavily. His previously camouflage-like Taoist robe was now torn into rags, with several bloody scratches on his buttocks, caused by being dragged by the water buffalo.

"Oh my, Ah Hua, Ah Hua, why did you run so much? I've already heard of your great name, why did you still run? I am truly part of the Lu family..."

"Moo—" The water buffalo mooed, its bells jingling, and it started to graze on its own.

Probably tired from running, it finally stopped. Qingxuan grabbed the reins and tied the cow's nose to a large willow tree, securing it first.

Sitting on the ground, Qingxuan adjusted his internal energy. He had overexerted himself, but it wasn't a match for this heavyweight opponent, leaving him exhausted. After a brief circulation of his cultivation technique, his fatigue slightly diminished.

His injuries were basically fine, no longer bleeding.

Fortunately, not far from this flat land was a stream flowing from the mountains. It seemed to be the upper reaches of the stream that flowed through the T-shaped intersection and the old shop.

Tearing off a piece of cotton cloth, Ye Qingxuan rolled up his pants and stood in the water, taking off his tattered Taoist robe. He washed his wounds with a piece of cotton cloth torn from the robe.

This time, he was in a bad state, with bruises all over his body and many scratches, especially a large scrape on his buttocks, which had worn away a large piece of skin, with sand particles embedded in the wound. He had to grit his teeth and clean the debris from the wound, causing him to sweat coldly and gasp in pain.

With a grimace, Qingxuan was washing the rag in his hand when he suddenly noticed a large amount of blood floating in the water.

Oh no, could I have been seriously injured without noticing?

Shocked by the blood, Qingxuan frantically searched his body for any undiscovered wounds. As before, he only found a few scratches, no other injuries.

This blood clearly wasn't mine. But who else could it be here?

After a careful inspection, he indeed found that the blood was coming from upstream, flowing down from the grass in the stream, hidden by the water plants until it reached Qingxuan.

Ye Qingxuan felt his scalp tingle.

Gathering his courage, he parted the grass and slowly moved upstream.

Oh my, at a distance of ten meters from the shore, Ye Qingxuan indeed found a corpse. More terrifyingly, the upper body and head of the corpse were crushed to a pulp, with internal organs and blood, along with white brain matter, splattered everywhere...

Oh my God—

Ye Qingxuan had never seen such a brutal scene before. He was stunned for a moment, then immediately rolled and crawled to the side, leaning against a large tree by the stream, vomiting uncontrollably.

He only stopped when he was pale from vomiting.

Patting his chest, Ye Qingxuan tried to calm himself, but when he looked up, his face turned even paler. He let out another cry and ran.

On the other side of the large tree, which would take at least three people to encircle, another corpse lay, its chest bones crushed, blood flowing from all seven orifices, and its eyes wide open in death.

Ye Qingxuan screamed like a pig being slaughtered and ran madly.

A college dropout who had become a shut-in, even with extraordinary martial arts, couldn't immediately have the courage to face such a scene.

In his previous life, he had only seen war casualties online, and even those were pixelated. Even if he could see the full picture, the bodies usually only had a bullet hole, with minimal blood. As a reborn shut-in, Ye Qingxuan had never seen such a gruesome scene, like a slaughterhouse where a madman was painting with human blood, in a style reminiscent of the Fauvists, which terrified him to the core.

Terrible, terrible...

After running madly for over fifteen minutes, Ye Qingxuan, almost driven to mental breakdown, slowly regained his senses.

Leaning against a large tree, he panted heavily.

Then, like a madman, he walked around the tree, confirming that there were no "unexpected discoveries" here. Once he relaxed, he slumped to the ground, leaning against the tree.

"Oh, my—ancestors, too damn scary, what's going on here..."

The bloody scene flashed in his mind, and Qingxuan's face turned pale again. His stomach felt another heavy blow, and he felt the urge to vomit again...

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