Chapter Twenty-Five: Entanglement of Grudges and Favors

  The team leader occasionally turned his head to look at the two young men, but found that they seemed to be tired and looked like they were asleep, so he didn't pay attention to them anymore, sitting on horseback looking around.

  In fact, Xu Hua and Luo Cheng did not fall asleep, but were cultivating. However, since the two were scholars, the leader of the escorts didn't think in that direction.

  These past few days, Luo Cheng has been cultivating the "Body Refining Technique" and has already tempered his entire body's eight muscles, causing his strength to soar, exceeding a thousand jin. He is comparable to a strong expert who has just entered the Martial King realm. His true energy also relied on Xue Ying and the others' help in successfully breaking through the early stage of being a warrior, becoming a martial artist. However, he still hasn't cultivated the "Shattered Stone Fist" to completion, nor has he mastered any martial skills, which greatly reduces his actual strength, so he can only be considered a strong expert among martial artists.

  Xu Hua's gains over the past few days were not small, and he had successfully condensed three Life Crystals. At this moment, it was clear that he couldn't absorb enough life energy, so Xu Hua also began to cultivate the "Body Refining Technique".

  Xu Hua's physique was much stronger than Luo Cheng, with internal strength approaching 2,000 jin. Most early-stage martial artists were no match for him. The life energy in his body was dense and intimidating. When he activated the "Body Refining Technique", a large amount of life energy began to nourish the first block of muscle. He could feel that his fully saturated body was absorbing even more life energy, and this block of muscle was being continuously tempered, with both strength and toughness rapidly increasing.

  They rushed for another half day, but didn't encounter any thieves. By now the sky had darkened and the leader ordered everyone to set up camp, light torches and prepare dinner.

  "Ah......" Xu Hua pretended to stretch, and Luo Cheng did the same.

  "Little brother woke up! Looks like you guys must have been exhausted these past few days, come eat something first and continue resting tonight!" The escort head was very enthusiastic, which warmed the hearts of Xu Hua and Luo Cheng.

  "Thank you, uncle."

  At night, the sun's rays had just dissipated, and the twinkling stars emitted a faint glow, making the sky not so dark. On the empty land by the side of the road, four or five fire racks were surrounded by twenty-odd big men and two young boys. At this time, everyone was tearing at the beef in their hands, having traveled all day, everyone was hungry, and they swallowed loudly one after another, from time to time a few dirty words would be spoken, causing everyone to burst out laughing together, the atmosphere was not quite dignified.

  "After this trip, I'm done with being a courier. I'm getting old and I have a wife and kids at home. If something happens to me, they won't be able to make ends meet. In recent years, being a courier has become increasingly dangerous. Many of my brothers have already gone, and if I stay, who knows when I'll die? Over the years, I've saved up quite a bit of silver, enough for my family of four to live off for over a decade. After I return, I can open up a shop and live a stable life."

  Many people were silent, and the leader sighed: "Old Yu, you're right, but I'm still planning to take advantage of my youth for a few more years. Later on, when I've saved up enough money, I'll buy a house in the city, marry a beautiful wife, and live a good life."

  "Boss, houses in the city are expensive now, you must work hard!"

  "Haha, at that time, the boss will have to treat us all to a drink!"

  "Of course, you are all my sworn brothers with whom I have shared life and death. If it weren't for the current chaos of bandits and horse thieves, I would never have had this idea." We've been through decades of emotions together, who would want to separate if it weren't too dangerous?

  "By the way, Escort Head, have you found a suitable girl? Do you want me to introduce my distant niece to you?"

  "My distant cousin is pretty good too, she matches well with Biao Tou."

  "A bunch of bastards, thinking they can take advantage of me! No way." The leader bellowed.

  "Haha! Haha! Haha!"

  This sentence made all the bodyguards laugh even more recklessly, and Xu Hua and Luo Cheng also smiled lightly on the side.

  Half a time later, everyone had eaten and chatted enough, so they went to sleep one by one. Xu Hua and Luo Cheng also got a small tent for themselves. The two were very grateful to this group of simple and honest escorts. At night, someone was on duty, taking turns, the fire rack kept burning fiercely, illuminating the surroundings brightly, making it convenient for the escort to observe the situation around.

  In Xu Hua and Luo Cheng's tent, they didn't sleep together, but one slept while the other cultivated, always staying vigilant.

  It's night! The mountains always have mountain winds blowing through, giving people a few more degrees of coolness. Even with the tent blocking it, you can still hear some "whooshing" sounds.

  Today, Xu Hua began to cultivate the "Body Refining Technique" and also felt the charm of this body refining method. The feeling of his body slowly becoming stronger made him feel very comfortable, and he continued to cultivate at night.

  A crystal of life within the body emits waves of vital energy, pouring into that piece of muscle, being continuously absorbed under the effect of "Body Refining Formula".

  Ordinary body refinement, when starting to practice the meat refining period, requires a large amount of food intake, supplementing energy through food and medicine to make up for consumption, which is slower than cultivating true qi. Even some young masters from large families, who have been taking various precious medicines since childhood, need 30 or 40 years to fully temper all 639 muscles in their body, consuming countless resources, enough to raise ten decent-quality, foundation-less warriors to the late stage of martial king. For large families, this is not a worthwhile investment. Therefore, nowadays, there are fewer and fewer people willing to practice body refinement, and some small families and sects do not even know of its existence.

  But for Xu Hua, it was another phenomenon, with the help of his vital energy, he and Luo Cheng cultivated the "Body Refining Technique" dozens of times faster than the "Breath Holding Technique". In just a few days, Luo Cheng had tempered eight pieces of muscle, which was the best evidence.

  Unconsciously, it was already late at night. Suddenly, Xu Hua seemed to have heard some movement and immediately activated the "Life Devouring Technique" to sense the life aura around him.

  "Luocheng, wake up quickly!" Xu Hua suddenly pushed Luocheng who was fast asleep.

  Luo suddenly woke up and said: "Young master, what's wrong?"

  "Someone's coming, I think it's the strongman from Iron Mountain, but no one has noticed. I reckon there's a traitor among us." Xu Hua's face turned somewhat unsightly, earlier he had said that these men were simple and honest, didn't expect to immediately discover that there was a traitor among them, truly...

  "What should we do?" A flash of murderous intent flickered in Luo Cheng's eyes.

  "Just watch and see how things develop, after all we don't know who is a traitor either, this won't help the escort leader."

  Xu Hua had just finished speaking when a sudden shout came from beside his ear: "A powerful person! A powerful person!"

  "Let's go out and take a look!" The two of them immediately left the tent.

  Many bodyguards rushed out of the tent, and at this moment, two groups of people were standing opposite each other in the open space in front.

  A burly man with a scar on his forehead opposite the bodyguard laughed and said, "Li Biao, we meet again."

  Li's face was extremely solemn, without a word, but with an angry expression, he stared at the escort responsible for guarding the night and said: "Yue Heng, I, old Li, didn't do anything to wrong you, did I? Why are you betraying me?"

  The man named Yue Heng, who was hiding in the crowd with his head down and didn't dare to speak, while the scar-faced big man sneered and said: "Li Biao, let me tell you this! This kid's wife and children are all in my hands, if he doesn't do as I say, then I'll kill them, look at him, isn't he obediently following my orders?"

  "It's no wonder, then, that Yue Heng is like this. It's not your fault, but it's a pity for the brothers." The leader of the escorts sighed and immediately turned his cold gaze to the scar-faced big man. "Zhou Qing, you're really a beast. You betrayed Old Escort Leader back then and became a bandit. Now you're still scheming against your former brothers. Today, let's settle this once and for all!"

  "Don't speak to me in that tone, I'm not the same person as before, I'm no longer the little Biao Shi who follows your orders. Do you know why I hate you so much? Because you're too self-righteous! What makes you think what you want is what I need?! What makes everyone listen to you?! Bah! Look at what your great righteousness has brought in the end - betrayal! What qualifications do you have to lecture me?" The scar-faced big man roared back, the grudges between them ran deep and couldn't be explained with just a few words.

  "Haha, you still want to fight me? You originally had 26 people, but I killed four of them and one surrendered. Now you only have 21 left, while I have 30 brothers, all of whom are martial arts masters. Today is your day of death." The scar-faced big man, also known as Zhou Qing, pointed at his brothers behind him and shouted, "Kill him!"

  "Charge! Let's go at them! Kill those sons of bitches!"

  ……

  The two sides immediately went into battle, both sides like mortal enemies, every move was a killing blow, all kinds of killing sounds and shouting voices were continuous.

  Xu Hua listened to the conversation between the two parties and knew that they had some grudges, especially this knife-scarred Zhou Qing was a despicable person. Although it was their private grievance, Xu Hua had received kindness from the leader of the escorts, so he couldn't ignore this matter.

  "Luò Chéng, come on!"

  Two people struck at the same time, and in the midst of the battling crowd, two miserable cries suddenly rang out. One person was punched directly in the chest by Luo Cheng, causing his chest to explode, while another had his head plucked off by Xu Hua. The terrifying way they died made the hearts of Knife Scar Zhou Qing's side turn cold with fear. On the other hand, many of the escorts watched as two young boys were knocked down with a single punch, each one falling like a tiger or wolf, and they couldn't help but let out "hiss" sounds as they inhaled sharply.

  "Isn't this Xiao Xu and his brother? How can they be so strong!"

  "What a terrifying strength! I didn't expect that Brother Xu Xiao was actually a deeply hidden mastermind, we don't have to die now!"

  The bodyguards were shocked and then excited, no one wanted to die.

  As for Zhao Qing, after a few more people died, someone suddenly shouted: "Quickly escape, there's an expert!"

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