Starting to Gain Experience from Push-Ups Chapter 1391 - 672:

The village guards who were still approaching suddenly froze in place as if they were petrified.

With a gust of eerie wind, a layer of frost formed on the ground at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Xu Hao’s back suddenly stiffened, and the sweat on his skin instantly turned into ice shards.

He hadn’t even heard any footsteps when he felt an intense aura of danger suddenly close in behind him.

A fierce gust came, with five sharp claws aiming straight for the back of his head.

Xu Hao’s heart tightened, and relying on years of combat instinct, he swiftly tilted his head to the left.

The claws nearly grazed his right ear, leaving a burning slash.

Before he could regain his balance, the missed claws abruptly twisted at the wrist, transforming into a palm that mercilessly struck his chest.

"Bang!"

In that instant, Xu Hao felt as if he was slammed head-on by a massive iron hammer, a muffled groan of burden resonating from his chest.

The last bit of True Qi he had painstakingly gathered dispersed instantly under the impact of this fierce strike.

He staggered backward several steps, his legs losing all strength, and he collapsed heavily to his knees.

The whole world seemed to tremble violently before his eyes, leaving only a sharp buzzing sound in his ears.

Xu Hao propped his hands against the ground, his fingers digging forcefully into the soil as he tried to resist the dizziness dragging him into the Abyss.

Tap, tap, tap.

Gentle footsteps echoed in the alley.

A pair of black old-fashioned cloth shoes leisurely entered his increasingly blurred vision.

Biting his trembling teeth, Xu Hao slowly lifted his head to look upward.

The ambusher stopped half a meter away, looking down at him from a height.

The face bore no expression, and the eyes were like a stagnant pool, devoid of ripples.

It was none other than Supervisor Wu who had originally hired him for this place.

"Take this two-legged sheep as well. The offerings are complete."

Supervisor Wu spoke with a wooden expression, his voice icy cold.

Xu Hao opened his mouth, wanting to curse, but could only emit a dry "gurgle" from his throat.

The next second, endless darkness completely swallowed his consciousness.

His entire body thudded to the cold, muddy ground.

At the moment Xu Hao lost consciousness, far away in a sanatorium over ten kilometers away.

A man standing by the window seemed to sense, pausing in his action of holding water for tea.

He then turned his head, his gaze crossing the heavy night mist, looking toward the depths of West Mountain.

He sensed the sudden disconnection in the Sun Heart Net.

.........

Deep within West Mountain, in Ancient Locust Village.

A cold wind swept over the treetops outside the ancestral hall.

Crows cawed, taking flight in alarm.

The nearly full moon in the sky gradually descended, finally disappearing behind the undulating ridgeline.

The horizon took on a layer of bluish-gray, and the dense fog gradually dissipated as if it had never appeared.

Neighboring West Mountain, East Capital also began to awaken slowly in the darkness.

The first rays of dawn pierced the clouds, slanting onto the glass curtain walls of high-rise buildings.

The early morning bus left the station, its wheels rolling over the dew-covered asphalt, emitting a low tire noise.

Traffic lights at the intersection alternated flashing, while steam rose in clouds from the steamer at the corner breakfast stall.

The sound of people chatting intertwining with the roar of car engines, the entire city began a typical noisy day.

But this hustle and bustle of the living halted at the outskirts of West Mountain.

In the depths of the endless forest, time seemed to slow down its flow.

Sunlight struggled to penetrate the dense canopy, casting fragmented patches of light on the leaf-laden muddy ground.

As the sun moved from east to west, the shadows on the tree trunks slowly shifted, distorted, and elongated.

The daytime temperature kept rising, yet it didn’t drive away the chill lingering in the mountain hollow.

The moisture accumulated on the surface was baked by the sunlight, and instead wafted up as a layer of grayish-white mist, making the hidden Ancient Locust Village at the valley’s bottom seem like a Secret Realm.

The sun set, the moon rose, and it was the setting sun again.

When the office buildings in the urban area gradually lit up with neon lights, the sun over West Mountain had also completely sunk below the horizon.

The last of the dark light had just faded from the sky when a perfect round bright moon rose from the eastern mountain peak.

The newly risen moon carried a hint of dim orange.

As it climbed bit by bit to the middle of the night sky, the only remaining warmth was completely stripped away, and the light turned into a forest-bearing cold white.

The icy moonlight pierced through the thick mist, straight into Ancient Locust Village, spilling onto the empty ground of the ancestral hall’s old site.

The cracked stone slab surface quickly condensed a fine layer of frost.

From the depths of the village’s few narrow alleys, the creak of wooden door pivots could be heard.

One lamp, two lamps ten... ten lamps...

Dots of faint green flames lit up one after another at the end of each alley.

Accompanied by the "gudu" sound of a single-wheel wooden cart, a neat sound of footsteps simultaneously rose from all corners of the village.

Dozens of shadows holding white paper lanterns formed a long line, stepping over the cold frost-covered ground, and slowly converged toward the abandoned well in the center of the ancestral hall.

The traditional sacrificial offering in Ancient Locust Village officially commenced on the full moon night.

.........

"Mmm..."

Xu Hao groaned, his fingers twitching slightly twice.

A sharp pain pierced through his chest, tearing at his nerves with each heartbeat.

He slowly opened his eyes, his vision initially blurred with doubles, then gradually focused under the cold moonlight.

A strong scent of blood, mixed with the smell of rot and mold, assaulted his nostrils.

He realized he was tied to a thick, solid wooden pillar.

His hands were bound behind him, a thumb-thick hemp rope wrapped around his body.