Chapter 8: Slaying the Ruffian, Physical Transformation, and the Giant Python

The mountain wolves were ferocious, and from the look of that carcass, it must have weighed at least seventy or eighty pounds.

Who knew how many peasants gathering herbs in the mountains had been dragged off and eaten by wolves?

"Isn't this brat supposed to be a gambler? And as weak as a reed—when did he become a hunter?"

Song Bao was utterly speechless.

He had long had his eye on Xia He’s wife, Li Huilan. Her face might have been marred by a birthmark, but hadn’t he seen that her hips were broad as millstones?

He had nearly had her in his grasp. One more day, and if Xia He still could not repay the debt, the house would be gone. By then, wouldn’t the two of them be at his mercy?

And yet Xia He had somehow, for no reason at all, suddenly straightened up and become capable of hunting wolves!

That was precisely why he had just now felt a bit intimidated.

All in all, Song Bao was deeply frustrated.

Holding the three taels of silver he had extorted, he could not feel the slightest satisfaction.

"Not willing to accept it. Truly, I’m not willing to accept it."

"But brute force definitely won’t do..."

Though Song Bao was a street rogue who frightened ordinary folk at first sight, he was still only a displaced drifter at heart, and he did not dare to overstep.

Otherwise, did those military households from the garrison twenty li outside town seem like easy pickings?

Maybe they were not so good at fighting the northern barbarians, but when it came to cutting down rogue migrants like them, they would not even blink.

"Damn it. Let’s follow this brat’s path into the mountains and take a look too. I want to see what secret he’s hiding."

After shutting the door, Xia He glanced at the few copper-tipped arrows in the basket in the corner of the courtyard.

Song Bao and the others were nothing but trouble. If they took advantage of his absence to torment Li Huilan, what would be left for him to regret afterward?

Though those rogues might not have the nerve, Xia He had already decided not to let them go, and he did not want to wait another moment.

He looked at the darkening sky, his eyes slowly gathering murderous intent, then turned and went into the house.

On the table lay a piece of fresh wolf meat he had just brought back.

Xia He picked up his knife with practiced ease and began carefully processing the meat.

He trimmed away the sinew and impurities, then cut it into neat, even pieces.

Next, he lit the stove, heated the wok with oil, and added scallions, ginger, garlic, and other seasonings to release their fragrance.

With a sharp sizzle, a mouthwatering aroma instantly filled the room.

Before long, a dish of wolf meat, rich in color, aroma, and flavor, sat ready before them.

At that moment, Xia He’s wife, Li Huilan, sat nearby, her face still somewhat pale, clearly frightened badly earlier by those rogues.

Seeing this, Xia He quickly set aside his work, went to her side, and gently comforted her. "Don’t be afraid. Those thugs won’t have another chance to come bother us."

After soothing his wife, Xia He turned around, took out several hundred coins, placed them on the table, and pushed them toward Li Huilan. "Don’t worry about the medicine. Take this money to your sister’s house. They’re not doing well either."

Hearing her husband’s concerned words, tears of gratitude welled in Li Huilan’s eyes. She nodded slightly and said, "Mm. Thank you, Brother He."

In the past, whenever times were hard at home, her sister’s family had often helped them.

Every time she returned to her parents’ home, she felt she could not lift her head.

Now the wheel of fortune had turned. At last, she could go to her sister’s house with her head held high. The feeling was truly wondrous.

Looking at Xia He before her, Li Huilan was overjoyed, her eyes full of admiration.

"Brother He, you’re amazing."

"Uncle, Auntie, are you done yet? I want to eat meat."

Only then did Xia He remember that little Wen was still there, practically drooling onto the table.

He could not help but laugh. "Eat up. Have as much as you want and grow strong!"

The family ate together in lively cheer, and afterward they sent little Wen home.

After nightfall, Xia He began tinkering with the copper arrows he had bought, turning them into javelins.

"Brother He, aren’t you sleeping yet? Don’t work too hard."

Li Huilan came over to urge him to rest, but Xia He refused. Disappointed, she pursed her lips and could only lie down dressed as she was, twisting her waist as she slept.

After making four javelins, Xia He went into the courtyard to test their power. With only a slight exertion, he drove one straight through the tree in the yard.

Only then did he show a satisfied expression. Returning to the room and confirming that Li Huilan was asleep, he slung all four javelins onto his back and disappeared into the night.

...

On the mountain road outside town.

Song Bao and the others, filthy and cursing under their breath, staggered back in disgrace.

"Damn it, we found nothing at all! We nearly got dragged off and eaten by that python."

"Brother Bao, it was terrifying! That python was as thick around the waist as a water barrel!"

"Do I look blind to you? You think I didn’t see it? You yanked me backward just now—were you trying to get me killed?!"

"Brother Bao, I didn’t mean it..."

The whole group hung their heads, each face full of disappointment and confusion.

This trip into the mountains had yielded nothing at all; they had not even found a decent object. That only made them feel more curious and more envious of Xia He.

After all, Xia He came back from every trip with astonishing treasures, while they returned empty-handed. Why should that be?

"Damn it. When Xia He isn’t home, we’ll sneak in and see what exactly this brat is hiding."

Song Bao was driven nearly mad with greed and resentment, and he made up his mind.

As night deepened, the mountain road grew darker and harder to travel.

All around was silence, broken only occasionally by the chirping of insects.

Song Bao and the others were uneasy, hurrying along in haste. Because they were so tense, and because the light was so faint, they paid no attention to the sounds around them.

At that moment, a black shadow appeared silently behind them like a ghost. A razor-sharp javelin sliced through the night sky and shot toward the crowd with lightning speed.

In an instant, a horrible scream rang out. One man’s head was pierced clean through by the javelin. Blood splashed everywhere, and he collapsed into the pool of blood on the spot. After twitching a few times, he went still.

The remaining rogues were so frightened that their souls nearly flew out of their bodies. They did not even have time to react.

But it was already too late. The lethal javelin did not stop there. Instead, it continued to sweep mercilessly through the group. In the blink of an eye, all of them, including Song Bao, were struck down one after another, sprawling in the blood in a ghastly scene.

...

"Heh. It’s cheap of them to die this easily."

Song Bao and the others spent their days goading people into gambling, then luring them into debt, ruining countless families.

Killing them was no different from killing beasts, and Xia He felt no burden at all.

The javelin’s power was indeed formidable; nearly every one of them had been pierced through the head and had not even been able to cry out.

Xia He walked up to Song Bao’s corpse and searched him, only to find the three taels of silver he had earlier extorted and returned.

"Now it’s back where it belongs."

Besides that, the others together carried only another four or five taels in broken silver. They were utterly pathetic.

These men had spent their lives harming the villagers, ruining who knew how many people, and all they had to show for it was this little money?

"I heard this Song Bao always wanted to learn martial arts and even joined one of the town’s martial schools, but his talent was too poor and he never got anywhere."

From the looks of it, he must not have given up, and had poured all his money into training.

"What a waste. Didn’t it all end with a single javelin?"

After pocketing all the silver, Xia He suddenly remembered what they had said earlier.

"A python in the mountains? A waist as thick as a water barrel? Could it be, like that wild wolf, some spiritual creature that swallowed medicinal herbs?"