Chapter 5: A Yellow Paper

(Note: In this book, one foot equals 20 centimeters, and one zhang equals two meters.)

Cai Wu was over nine feet tall, with strong muscles and a robust build.

At this moment, Xu Daoyan was only a little over six feet tall, just a twelve-year-old child, and there was no comparison between the two. Cai Wu was already thirty-two years old.

His bones were thick, and his muscles were well-developed, having reached the peak of a man's physical development.

There was a fierce light in his eyes, and Xu Daoyan felt that he must have taken lives before. He was somewhat wary but not afraid. If he had encountered Cai Wu before, he would have been scared stiff, but after cultivating his liver, his courage was bolstered, and he naturally wasn't afraid.

"What do you want to do?" Xu Daoyan instinctively took a few steps back, his eyes narrowing slightly. He had beaten Cai Qiang yesterday, and today Cai Wu had come to find him. He should have known that Cai Qiang couldn't keep it a secret.

"Nothing much, just to break both your legs. Let you and your mother starve to death, that would be quite nice, wouldn't it?" Cai Wu's smile was cold.

"Are you really not going to let me off?" Xu Daoyan was very clear about why Cai Wu wanted to break his legs. Both of them understood each other's intentions.

A twelve-year-old child and a thirty-two-year-old man, the difference was too great. At least on the surface, there was no suspense at all.

"Hehe, it's too late to beg for mercy now. Taking both your legs is already a favor to you. Kneel down obediently!" Cai Wu didn't take Xu Daoyan seriously at all.

"Let's see how strong this Cai Wu is!" Xu Daoyan activated the Immortal Wood Appraisal, and a spiritual sense was transmitted: "Lifespan of seventy years, upper class of the ninth rank."

A life of seventy years is rare, and for an ordinary person, it's not easy to live that long. So for Cai Wu to have a lifespan of seventy years, he was indeed very strong.

The lower three ranks, which are the seventh, eighth, and ninth ranks, each have a lifespan of seventy years.

As long as his lifespan reaches seventy-one years, he will be a lower class of the eighth rank.

"Compared to me, he's not just a little bit weaker. However, his bones are thick and his muscles are well-developed, so I can't fight him head-on." Xu Daoyan had listened to the old beggar's explanation all night and understood that he was still growing. A child's bones are very brittle and can easily break. In terms of hardness, he couldn't compare to an adult. He looked around and suddenly had an idea.

"If you kneel down and kowtow to me a hundred times, I might just break one of your legs!" Cai Qiang looked down on Xu Daoyan, thinking it was too easy to deal with such a young boy. He didn't take him seriously at all. For a man in his thirties to bully a child in school was no challenge at all!

Xu Daoyan ran backward, moving very quickly. Cai Qiang frowned and moved as well: "You're actually thinking of running? I'll show you what it means to be worse than dead!"

However, Xu Daoyan only ran for twenty zhang and then stopped. Cai Qiang, who was chasing him, laughed loudly: "Boy, can't run anymore, can you?"

Xu Daoyan's lips curled up. He squatted down, and under his feet was a pile of gravel. On the back mountain, stones were everywhere. Xu Daoyan put the roasted sweet potato aside, picked up a handful of pebbles the size of a baby's fist, grabbed one, and threw it with all his might. The pebble flew in a straight line, and a faint sound of breaking wind could be heard.

Cai Wu couldn't dodge in time and was hit directly. The sharp edges of the gravel pierced his body, and blood spurted out.

It's important to know that Xu Daoyan's current strength could easily lift a cow and break a tree trunk with one punch. The pain from being hit by a stone thrown with full force was unimaginable.

Children fight like this; if they can't win, they pick up stones to throw. Once the momentum is up, the other side is scared away.

Cai Wu was hit and felt the pain, seeing the blood flow, his face became even more ferocious. He wanted to pounce and kill Xu Daoyan. At this moment, he no longer wanted to break Xu Daoyan's legs; he wanted to beat him to death!

"You little bastard, I'll make sure you don't die a good death. After I beat you to death, I'll go and rape your mother, strip her naked and throw her in the village for everyone to see, and let all the men take turns with her." Cai Wu's eyes turned red, like a wounded beast.

Hearing his words, Xu Daoyan's eyes widened in anger, and he no longer held back. He threw pebbles one after another, and cries of pain could be heard.

Crack! A pebble hit Cai Wu's forehead, shattering his frontal bone and piercing his skull. Blood and brain matter splattered, and he died on the spot. At this moment, Cai Wu had nearly ten wounds of various sizes, all embedded with gravel. If he hadn't practiced martial arts, making his bones and muscles much stronger than ordinary people, his body would have been pierced through long ago.

"Dead? Did I kill someone?" Xu Daoyan's body couldn't help but tremble. Seeing the blood and brain matter, he stood still. Cai Wu was really dead, and he had been suppressing his nervousness: "Cai Wu deserved it. Anyone who wants to harm my mother should die!"

Xu Daoyan immediately picked up the roasted sweet potato and ran home. This was the back mountain, and no one usually came here. If he, a child, had killed Cai Wu, no one would believe it, not even the village chief.

Xu Daoyan ran all the way, calming himself down so that others couldn't tell anything was different. With his courage bolstered, he quickly calmed down. At this moment, he finally understood what the old beggar meant by "liver and gallbladder in harmony."

If an ordinary person lacked courage, after killing someone, they would be suspicious and afraid of being discovered, living in constant fear that the dead person would come back to seek revenge. This was the difference!

After calming down, Xu Daoyan returned home and placed the roasted sweet potato on the wooden table. Wu Shi looked at him and said, "Did you go digging for sweet potatoes again?"

"Yes, there's no choice, only roasted sweet potatoes. But today I found a treasure, let me show it to you, Mother." Xu Daoyan took out a small jade bottle.

The jade bottle was smooth and lustrous, emitting a glow, transparent and flawless, and felt warm to the touch. The value of this small jade bottle alone was extremely high!

Seeing the small jade bottle, Wu Shi was startled and quickly closed the door, whispering in surprise, "This jade bottle is very valuable."

"What?" Xu Daoyan was taken aback. He didn't care about the value of the jade bottle. Hearing Wu Shi's words, he finally came to his senses: "Is it that valuable? Forget it, Mother, don't worry about it. Just drink what's inside the bottle; it's good for your health."

"Where did you find this jade bottle? Take it back immediately. It's not ours, and we can't keep it. If the village chief sees it, it will cause trouble." Wu Shi clearly understood the principle that a commoner with a valuable possession is in danger.

"Alright, Mother, drink what's in the bottle first. I've already drunk it, and I felt my strength increase, and my body feels very comfortable. Look, the dead skin on my hands is gone. It seems to slow down aging. Aren't you waiting for Father to come back? What if you become a yellow-faced woman?" Xu Daoyan extended his hand, and indeed, the calluses from years of hard work, chopping wood, and carrying water were gone.

Wu Shi was also surprised, especially when she heard that it could slow down aging. She wanted to try it. All women love beauty, and no one can escape this.

Wu Shi wasn't particularly beautiful, but she was at least pleasant to look at, a very down-to-earth woman. She was naturally melancholic, and she did both farm work and embroidery, as well as chopping wood, which made her age faster. Although she was not yet thirty, she already had many wrinkles on her face. She wanted to meet her husband with the youngest possible appearance and immediately drank it.

Indeed, changes began to occur. The wrinkles on her face disappeared, the dead skin and calluses fell off, and all the impurities in her body were expelled, turning to dust. Her originally dry and rough hair became black and smooth, and her skin became even more supple, more delicate than that of a twelve- or thirteen-year-old girl.

Wu Shi looked at herself in the bronze mirror and saw the dramatic changes in her body, feeling unbelievable. She even felt that she wasn't hungry anymore.

Seeing this, Xu Daoyan was very excited, and Wu Shi was moved to tears. This was too magical for her.

"Alright, Mother, don't go out for a few days. These roasted sweet potatoes should be enough for you to eat until tomorrow. I'll go out to look for more of this kind of thing." Xu Daoyan put the valuable jade bottle in his pocket. He didn't expect that a bottle from the old beggar would be so valuable. He didn't understand much and opened the door, running toward the back mountain. Although he didn't know who the old beggar was, he was naturally happy that his mother had received such a great benefit.

"Be careful!" Wu Shi was very happy, thinking it was just a lucky find while the child was playing outside. She didn't take it too seriously. She knew that such things were rare and hard to come by. She had once heard some incredible things from her husband, including that his surname was Xu. Although she had told Xu Daoyan, she had asked him not to tell others.

Xu Daoyan's name was written on a yellow paper with cinnabar, left by his father before he went to war, along with his birth date and time.

Indeed, just as the yellow paper left by his father indicated, Xu Daoyan was born in that year, month, day, and hour.

However, only Wu Shi knew this. She understood that Xu Daoyan's father was not an ordinary person, but as a woman, she couldn't say anything. She could only keep it in her heart.

Xu Daoyan was the son of that person, and it was not surprising that he had such an extraordinary encounter. Although Wu Shi hadn't thought about it, she was mentally prepared.

Wu Shi looked at Xu Daoyan's back and touched the silver bracelet on her wrist, whispering, "When will you come back? The child has always wanted to see you!"

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