The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#601 - cook

Following Lu Jing's instructions, Yu Zhen tore strips from her clothing and wrapped them around her arms and calves. Read М

Afterward, the two of them entered the woods together.

They hadn't walked more than a few steps when they spotted a boot on the ground. Yu Zhen found a wooden stick nearby and poked at it a few times before saying to Lu Jing,

"This is a boot from Hu Ji Clothing. Hu Ji Clothing is the best clothing shop in Ju County. The prices... of course, are also the most expensive. People who buy clothes there aren't short on money."

"How can you tell?" Lu Jing was somewhat surprised.

He had also looked at the boot just now, but hadn't gleaned much, as there were no markings on it.

"Style, craftsmanship," Yu Zhen said, "and the material. This isn't anything special. If you, Great Hero Lu, were to become a bandit for a few years, you'd quickly master these things. Otherwise, how would we know how much to squeeze out of our targets?"

"… … … …"

"Alright, so the Golden Light Taoist and his followers really did run into these woods." Lu Jing changed the subject in a timely manner.

He had a basis for saying this. The only people who would come here were the previous quarry workers and the Golden Light Taoist's group.

The former obviously couldn't afford such expensive boots, so the boots could only belong to the latter.

It's said that there were quite a few wealthy families among the Golden Light Taoist's followers, so it wasn't strange that they could afford such boots.

But the question was, why would these people run into the woods?

You should know that they usually wouldn't even step foot in a field for fear of getting mud on their boots.

As Lu Jing and Yu Zhen continued to venture deeper, they saw more traces left behind by that group, including, but not limited to, headdresses, clothing, and even purses, which, when opened, contained quite a bit of loose silver.

It wasn't until they reached a mulberry tree that everything finally had an answer.

Yu Zhen looked at the pool of dried brown blood beneath the tree, as well as the torn clothing. Even though she knew that all of this must have happened several days ago, she couldn't help but shudder.

"Were they being chased by that wild dog from before? But wasn't that dog the Golden Light Taoist's?"

Yu Zhen was puzzled. Moreover, she later discovered that there wasn't just one set of footprints on the ground, meaning that the unlucky fellow wasn't just being chased by one wild dog.

But Yu Zhen still found it somewhat difficult to accept. After all, there were martial arts experts among the Golden Light Taoist's group. Logically speaking, their people shouldn't have been forced into such a sorry state by a few wild dogs, even if those wild dogs were much more powerful than ordinary wild dogs and, for some reason, difficult to kill.

So she looked at Lu Jing again, only to see him looking down and examining the bushes at his feet.

"What are you looking for?" Yu Zhen asked.

"Bones." Lu Jing said, "Judging from the amount of blood lost, that person obviously couldn't have survived. But even if the flesh entered the wild dog's belly, the bones should have been left behind. However, I haven't found them anywhere nearby."

"This… maybe his companions heard his screams, someone came back, drove away the wild dogs, and then took him away to prevent his corpse from being eaten by the wild dogs after his death."

Lu Jing remained noncommittal, only saying to Yu Zhen, "Let's continue forward."

"Okay." Yu Zhen steadied her mind and nodded.

Having already become a bandit and being the second-in-command of Qinglong Stronghold, she had, of course, seen blood. Not only had she seen blood, but quite a few people had died at her hands.

In the past, she wouldn't have even frowned at the sight of bloodstains or even corpses, but ever since entering this valley, strange things had happened one after another.

First, nearly two hundred people had disappeared without a trace. Then, she had seen the wild dog that should have already been dead, yet was still able to move freely, as well as the sika deer that had been half-eaten by the wild dog, yet had come back to life.

This valley seemed to be shrouded in a mysterious power. Yu Zhen didn't know what was waiting for them ahead, but since she had already come here, she would find it difficult to leave without figuring out what had happened.

Moreover, Qinglong Stronghold wasn't far from the quarry. If something really happened to the people here, then the bandits of Qinglong Stronghold might be next.

After figuring this out, Yu Zhen no longer had any thoughts of turning back.

She and Lu Jing walked for about half a mile, following the traces left behind by the people ahead, until they came to a small stream.

And there, they finally saw other people.

Judging from his back, it should be a cook. The reason Yu Zhen thought that person was a cook was because he was squatting by the stream, slaughtering something.

Yu Zhen took half a step forward, clasped her fist, and took the initiative to speak, "I am Yu Zhen, the Charming Lady of Qinglong Stronghold. This is our Qinglong Stronghold's current… uh, boss, Great Hero Lu. We've come here to find the Golden Light Taoist and want to discuss a business deal."

The man remained unmoved upon hearing this.

So Yu Zhen leaned forward again and repeated her previous words. This time, the man finally reacted. His body shook, and then he slowly turned his head.

He tried to sniff something in the air with his half-nose, then threw away the half-eaten fish in his hand and suddenly darted towards Yu Zhen.

His movements gave people a very awkward feeling. His hands and feet were not coordinated at all, but his speed was much faster than ordinary people. However, Yu Zhen's martial arts were enough to deal with him.

Of course, that was on the premise that she wasn't scared silly, standing still in place like she was now.

Lu Jing sighed at the sight and was already preparing to take action.

But he had only taken half a step when Yu Zhen on the other side finally recovered from her panic. She hurriedly channeled her inner strength and performed a series of flying kicks, landing squarely on the man's chest, causing him to stagger and fall to the ground.

Yu Zhen followed closely behind and kicked at the man's head again, but she didn't expect that the man, despite having just suffered a heavy blow, wasn't bothered by the pain at all. He directly reached out and accurately grabbed Yu Zhen's calf, opening his mouth to bite down!

But Yu Zhen had already calmed down at this time. Seeing this, she wasn't too panicked. She activated her inner strength and moved it down along the Foot Taiyin Spleen Meridian, shaking off that hand.

After freeing herself, she used a trick and simply kicked the man in the face as he approached. She used all her strength in this kick, turning the man's head about two hundred and seventy degrees.

Lu Jing, taking advantage of this gap, threw the Mountain Fire over and said to Yu Zhen, "Use this, insert it into his head."