Chapter 52

Zhu Lingwu listened to Liu Ping's words, blinking his eyes, and asked out of interest about such matters. As a lich who had lived for several decades, he naturally had the life experience to understand that in the wilderness where no one cared, the station masters and station guards would naturally have to find their own means of making a living.

"Oh, is that so! Then when I arrive at the Yeliu Station, I will have to take a good look. I wonder if this Yeliu Station is also a black inn! By the way, Master Liu, the journey seems very peaceful. Wasn’t it said that the road is very dangerous? Sitting in this carriage is really quite boring. If there really are bandits on the road, Master Liu, you must let me try my skills!"

Zhu Lingwu deliberately spoke according to the original habits of his body, for if he didn’t, it would seem too calm.

"Haha, Young Master, I’m afraid there won’t be any bandits with no sense of self-preservation who dare to provoke us! To attack us, they would at least need to gather a few thousand people. In the Chong'an Kingdom, there probably aren’t such large bands of bandits!"

Liu Ping couldn’t help but laugh when he heard this, thinking to himself that even if there were such bandits, he wouldn’t dare let this young master go. He would naturally deal with them first.

But what he said wasn’t wrong. Not to mention that he, a martial arts expert at the ninth level of the innate realm, was leading the group, and ordinary adventurers wouldn’t dare to cause trouble knowing his reputation. Even if it were just the thousands of people in his group, although in reality, the Zhu family’s private soldiers and the guards of other merchants combined only amounted to about a thousand combatants, this was still a considerable force.

As for the other helpers and assistants, they were all young and strong men who could also fight when they picked up weapons, making the total number of people around three to four thousand.

Apart from a large band of several thousand bandits, who would dare to attack such a large group? Unless it was the Chong'an Kingdom's southwestern army.

In fact, just the Zhu family’s two hundred private soldiers were enough to make most bandits retreat. The bandits on this road were at most a hundred in number, and smaller groups often consisted of only two or three people, with many being lone wolves.

So Liu Ping really didn’t have to worry too much; he just needed to be careful not to be ambushed or bitten by a small group of bandits.

"What a pity! I wanted to try my skills. The guards you sent earlier were all hesitant when sparring with me, it wasn’t satisfying at all. They couldn’t be considered real combat practice. They lacked the killing intent that Master Liu mentioned, it was really boring! If I were outside and really encountered an opponent, I wouldn’t be like them. By then, I might not have the chance to regret it!"

Zhu Lingwu deliberately made a reluctant expression, idly stroking the white fox’s back fur.

But what he said wasn’t wrong. Although Liu Ping had sent a few guards with fourth or fifth-level innate realm strength to spar with him, they were easily defeated, but most likely they were just pretending to make Zhu Lingwu happy.

Who was Zhu Lingwu? If he were really an eight-year-old child, he might have been pleased, but Zhu Lingwu was dissatisfied.

Zhu Lingwu wasn’t a spoiled young master who thought he was invincible after beating a few servants. He knew that when he truly encountered an adventurer, even if the other party was weaker, he might not be able to easily defeat them.

Combat experience truly needed to be gained through bloodshed; practicing in isolation was like looking at the moon from the bottom of a well!

"Hehe, Young Master, it’s not their fault! Actually, with Young Master’s status, there’s no need to think about fighting like us rough people! Young Master is a noble, these things should naturally be handled by us!"

Liu Ping naturally knew what his subordinates were thinking. He didn’t like Zhu Lingwu’s desire for fighting and killing. You are a noble, not a commoner, why should you take our business?

Of course, he now had to advise Zhu Lingwu, as he was more worried that Zhu Lingwu would use the martial arts he had learned to cause trouble on the road, bringing him trouble.

Just as they were talking, several riders suddenly galloped up to Liu Ping. One of the riders whispered, "Bad news, Commander Liu, something has happened at the Yeliu Station ahead, everyone inside is dead!"

Liu Ping couldn’t help but frown as he looked at the rider who had come to report. These riders included people from the Zhu family and guards from other merchants, all of whom Liu Ping had sent out as scouts.

These scouts rode ahead to prevent any bandits from setting up roadblocks, to investigate the wild forests on both sides, and to check if there were any ambushes in the mountains.

Soon, one of the scouts reported to Liu Ping about what they had discovered. About an incense stick’s time ago, they had already reached the Yeliu Station.

Following Liu Ping’s instructions, they had presented the Zhu family’s token to the station master, asking him to prepare the station for Zhu Lingwu’s arrival, so that he could have a hot meal and a hot bath when he arrived.

However, when they reached the station, they found it empty. Finally, behind the station, they discovered the bodies of the station master and nine station guards.

These ten bodies were quite peculiar; they had no visible wounds and looked as if they were sleeping. But upon closer inspection, their bodies were covered in blood vessels, as if all the blood had been forcibly drained from their bodies.

Most importantly, the bodies had not been dead for long. There was no need to examine their condition; just by looking at the completeness of their bodies, one could tell they had not been dead for more than a day.

Given the location of the Yeliu Station, if these bodies had been left outside, they would have been eaten by wild animals.

Seeing this, the scouts did not dare to delay and quickly returned to report. It seemed that the Yeliu Station had encountered something monstrous, possibly lured out of the station by a monster, leading to their orderly deaths on the ground.

Liu Ping’s expression turned grim upon hearing the scouts’ report. He was not afraid of the usual dangers of the road, but he was afraid of such strange occurrences.

Monsters in this world were not rare, especially in such remote and wild areas. Even he, a first-rate expert in the martial arts, would feel uneasy if he encountered such a situation.

"Master Liu, it’s very strange. How could the people in the Yeliu Station die so strangely? Can we determine when they died?"

Zhu Lingwu naturally heard these words and his heart skipped a beat. The image of Meng Yashi appeared in his mind again, but he pretended not to know and asked.

"Reporting to Young Master, we have examined the bodies, and they have been dead for no more than an hour. It seems that the Yeliu Station may indeed have been troubled by a monster, and the monster may still be near the station! Commander Liu, what should we do?"

The scout who had gone ahead first reported to Zhu Lingwu, but then he asked Liu Ping, for if there were indeed monsters blocking the road, they would need to come up with another plan...