Cultivation System: Stronger with Age Chapter 14 - 13 Acquiring the Stone-Throwing Skill, That Damn Old Swine Dog

Moments later, Lin Xuankong moved the bodies of Ma Xiong and the others into the depths of the forest and meticulously cleaned up the birdcages and other traces of evidence by the roadside.

Deep in the forest, there was indeed a freshly dug pit.

Unfortunately, the pit was somewhat small and insufficient for the task. Originally, it was intended for one person; trying to fit six people in it was impossible!

So, he had no choice but to use the shovel belonging to Han Si, the Black Tiger Gang member, to enlarge the pit a bit.

After burying the six bodies, Lin Xuankong stood by the dirt mound and gathered the items he had found on them.

There were over sixty silver taels in total, mostly from Ma Xiong.

There were also four Hundred-refined Steel Sabers, each worth about eight or nine silver taels, totaling over thirty taels.

What intrigued Lin Xuankong the most was a manual titled "Stone-Throwing Skill" found on Hu Lin. It wasn’t a Martial Dao Technique, but rather a training guide for projecting Flying Locust Stones.

He was certain that if Hu Lin’s elder brother had also known how to use Flying Locust Stones and hadn’t been killed early on, the two brothers using the Stone-Throwing Skill together would have definitely put him at a disadvantage.

Looking at these gains, Lin Xuankong felt somewhat emotional. After being ambushed and then counter-killing his attackers, the silver and treasures he obtained could probably equal more than ten years of selling flatcakes—wealth indeed comes with risk.

After leaving the forest, Lin Xuankong first visited the Li Mansion, declined the offer of being the flatcake master, and then quickly headed towards Wutong Village.

To save his life, or perhaps to die more comfortably, Ma Xiong had revealed a lot. The first revelation was Zhang Wu’s arrangement.

But what made Lin Xuankong feel disgusted was that Wang Po had also received favors from Zhang Wu to specifically get close to the Young Lady.

Moreover, Ma Xiong had told him a piece of news he wasn’t sure was true or false: after Wang Po came over that day and saw Little Hu heading to the Lin Family, she, fearing that the meddlesome Little Hu would ruin her plans, had specifically sent someone to deal with him.

Upon returning to Wutong Village, Lin Xuankong knocked on the door of Little Hu’s house but received no response.

Glancing around and seeing no one nearby, Lin Xuankong leaped into Little Hu’s courtyard.

He looked at the somewhat cluttered courtyard and had an ominous feeling.

He quickly walked to the wooden building, opened the door, and saw a dish of salted vegetables on the Li Family’s outer table, along with two half-eaten flatcakes and two bowls of unfinished porridge.

Lin Xuankong took a closer look, his brows furrowing tightly. he observed.

"Little Hu!" Lin Xuankong called out loudly, but the wooden building was silent; there was no response.

He quickened his pace, searching the Li Family’s wooden building thoroughly, up and down, but he couldn’t find the father and son.

Remembering Ma Xiong’s words, the vile deeds of that old hag Wang Po, and the fact that he hadn’t seen Little Hu selling fruits on the street for the past two days, a surge of anger began to rise in Lin Xuankong’s heart. He clenched his fists and walked out of the wooden building.

As he passed the outer room, Lin Xuankong suddenly paused, looking towards the rice vat in the corner. He thought he had just heard a faint RUSTLING sound coming from inside.

Lin Xuankong continued walking out.

However, after stepping out of the wooden door, he turned back.

Approaching the rice vat, he reached out and lifted the lid. The sight that met his eyes made his expression change dramatically.

Li Dahu, whom he had seen just two or three days ago, lay twisted and curled up inside the large vat. His face was a ghastly pale blue, eyes wide open, and his expression contorted, clearly indicating he had suffered terrible pain before dying. A strong smell of blood mixed with a foul stench emanated from the vat.

What made Lin Xuankong’s heart turn cold was that Li Dahu was not alone in the vat. Beneath Li Dahu’s corpse lay Li Xiaohu, his body tightly bound with hemp ropes, pressed underneath. His mouth was gagged with a dirty cloth, and his vacant, fear-filled eyes stared out at Lin Xuankong!

...

...

Lin Xuankong fought desperately to restrain the boundless anger and impulsive urges raging in his heart.

Suppressing his fury, Lin Xuankong used his internal Transcendent Qi Blood to carefully regulate the flow in Little Hu’s arms and body.

Having been bound with hemp ropes for nearly two days and a night, Little Hu’s arms, legs, and torso had sustained varying degrees of damage due to the lack of blood circulation. When he was first taken out of the rice vat, his hands and legs were almost completely numb.

As blood flow gradually returned, the intense numbness, itching, and pain that followed were surely unimaginable. After all, when an ordinary person’s foot merely falls asleep for a short while, the returning sensation is highly uncomfortable; Little Hu was experiencing this all over his body!

Little Hu clenched his teeth, his breathing ragged, but he didn’t utter a single cry of pain from start to finish. This boy possessed a fierce, wolf-like tenacity.

「After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn,」

With the nourishment and regulation of the Transcendent Qi Blood, Little Hu’s arms and legs gradually recovered. The madness in his eyes slowly receded, hidden deep within, and a look of astonishment appeared on his face.

When Lin Xuankong stopped the treatment, Little Hu immediately rolled off the bed, threw himself to the ground, and kowtowed heavily several times. "Elder Lin, words cannot express my gratitude! From now on, Little Hu’s life is yours!"

Lin Xuankong reached out and pulled Little Hu to his feet. Looking at the boy who had survived such a great ordeal, he wanted to offer some words of comfort.