"Xiao Jiu'er, come here quickly! Don't get close to that sour, smelly person..."
From the team across the way, a girl walked up from behind. She had a doll-like face, considered delicate, but her figure was excellent, fiery enough to be called stunning.
It was only that the look she gave Lin Ning was full of disgust.
Lin Ning had the memories of Lin Xiaoning, so he naturally understood why.
Although Lin Xiaoning came from a mountain stronghold, his mother was a lady from a good family. Since childhood he'd secretly read storybooks about talented scholars and beautiful ladies, so his aesthetic sense leaned closer to that of the scholars of the current era.
In the eyes of scholars, the best women wore light makeup with a touch of tearful delicacy, and the ideal figure was slender like a willow swaying in the wind, with a modest bosom. A girl like the one before him now, tall and with such a fiery figure, could at best find work as a wet nurse in some prominent family, or take up some lowly, base trade.
Although, for the sake of Fourth Boss Deng Xueniang, Lin Xiaoning had never said anything to her face before, behind her back he'd taken to calling Deng Xueniang's daughter Zhou Nini "Wet Nurse Zhou."
For an unmarried young girl, the shame and hatred that name carried was on par with the hatred for a father's killer.
As for Fang Zhi, he had a face full of pockmarks just like his father Fang Lin, so Lin Xiaoning had sarcastically nicknamed him "Second Generation of the Many-Pockmarked Star."
At first, Fang Zhi had actually thought it was meant as a compliment, but once, when Lin Xiaoning saw that no one was getting the joke, he wrote it out.
He himself laughed wildly for a good while, but from then on Fang Zhi never spoke another word to him.
Hu Xiaoshan's situation was even worse. Strangely enough, as Hu Dashan's son, Hu Xiaoshan resembled his father in almost no way at all.
Hu Dashan was a burly man with a curly beard and an enormous head, his voice like thunder from a legendary beast, which was why the jianghu had given him the nickname "Bull Head." Not satisfied with that, he'd changed it himself to "Big Bull Head!"
But Hu Xiaoshan's head was, unexpectedly, a bit smaller than an ordinary person's. If not for the fact that his features were almost identical to Hu Dashan's, people might have suspected some kind of mistake...
This was a forbidden topic in Hu Xiaoshan's heart, one that few of his peers in the stronghold dared bring up. Yet Lin Xiaoning had deliberately given him the nickname "Rooster Head."
If it weren't for Lin Xiaoning's sensitive background — being the sole bloodline of the Old Chieftain, with Lin Long and his wife both deceased — Hu Xiaoshan would have cracked his skull open every single day.
In short, almost no one in that group across the way had escaped Lin Xiaoning's venomous tongue...
Young people cared most about face, and having been humiliated so thoroughly by Lin Xiaoning, yet unable to take revenge due to his status, they were left suffocating with resentment. One could well imagine how these people felt about Lin Xiaoning...
"Jiu Niang, come here, I picked you a bunch of red mountain fruits!"
Hu Xiaoshan, whose head was noticeably a size smaller than normal, seeing that Fang Zhi's little rabbit hadn't worked as a lure, pulled out a handful of bright red little fruits from a cloth bag hanging on his chest. Lin Ning clearly heard the sound of someone swallowing saliva, a "gulp"...
He spoke to Jiu Niang again, "Go on over. They all like you, they treat you well, don't let them down. Once I finish carrying water for Grandma Zhou, I still need to help Auntie Sun and the others carry water too. I'll come back to see you in a bit."
Hearing this, Jiu Niang was finally tempted, but she still tilted her little head up to look at Lin Ning and proposed, "Brother-in-law, why not let Sister Cui'er help carry your water?"
Lin Ning thanked her for her good intentions and said, "I'd still rather learn to do it myself... All right, go on and play. I'm off."
With that, he lifted the shoulder pole from the ground, swayed and nearly toppled over — not for lack of strength, just that he wasn't very skilled at first. Then, amid the faint snickers around him and Jiu Niang's worried gaze, he slowly made his way down the mountain...
"Xiao Jiu'er, why do you still like getting close to him? He's always scolding you and bullying you, and you never learn!"
After Lin Ning left, Zhou Ni'er stepped forward, first flinging the large deer off her shoulder into the river with a splash, then pinching Jiu Niang's little cheek, speaking with a mix of annoyance and affection.
Hu Xiaoshan also came over, tossing the wild boar to the group of lads who'd rushed forward to meet them, then took the cloth bag hanging from his neck and handed it to the beaming Jiu Niang, chiming in, "That's right! You never learn!"
Fang Zhi, helpless, handed the little white rabbit to Jiu Niang, who was watching him eagerly, then sighed and said, "What does Xiao Jiu'er even understand? It's all because Aunt Chun teaches her this every single day. That person and the Great Chieftain are Xiao Jiu'er's last remaining family, and she's been taught to be all confused..."
Someone else came up from behind and also handed over a cloth bag, this one containing some small golden jujubes; even the faintest whiff of their scent seemed fragrant and sweet. He asked Jiu Niang, "Has that bad thing been bullying you lately?"
Jiu Niang took the bag excitedly, pulled out a jujube and popped it into her mouth, her whole little face breaking into a smile, making the young people around her burst into laughter as well.
Zhou Ni'er pinched Jiu Niang's little cheek again and said irritably, "So now you know it's delicious? A moment ago you wouldn't even come over — remember, you're supposed to be family with that bad thing, and outsiders to us?"
Jiu Niang just giggled and said nothing, nearly infuriating Zhou Ni'er to death.
The young man who'd brought the jujubes asked again, "Jiu Niang, come on, tell Older Brother — has that bad thing been bullying you again or not?"
Jiu Niang raised her head, looked at the young man with a serious expression, and said, "Brother Shi Tou, brother-in-law isn't a bad thing. He hasn't bullied me."
The young man called Brother Shi Tou looked both helpless and exasperated. They didn't think much of Lin Xiaoning at all, but when it came to Aunt Chun, who had always protected him, it truly gave them a headache.
Not just them — even their own fathers had no way of dealing with that woman called Aunt Chun. Not only did they not dare to signal any displeasure toward her, they had to defer to her at every turn.
Shi Tou was the son of Zhou Cheng, the Fifth Boss of Qingyun Village, and his actual name was Zhou Shi. Everyone in the stronghold, young and old, called him Shi Tou.
Only Lin Xiaoning called him something else — because Zhou Shi had, from birth, a bit of an odor under his arms, Lin Xiaoning had mockingly nicknamed him "the stone in the outhouse."
This hatred was irreconcilable!
"You say he hasn't, but he nearly threw the young lady off the Cliff of Contemplation..."
Cui'er, standing to the side, couldn't hold it in any longer — and since these second-generation stronghold members would find out sooner or later anyway — so she blurted the matter out.
The moment she said it, the group of young people, who a second ago had been laughing helplessly, suddenly froze, and one after another their faces darkened.
As the new generation of Qingyun Village, though they were nowhere near as astonishingly talented and exceptional as Tian Wuniang, they were still quite outstanding and hardworking in their own right — not yet twenty years old, and already ranked among the second-rate masters.
These days, all the meat in the stronghold came from their hunting expeditions into the mountains.
Tempered and honed among tigers, leopards, wolves, and jackals.
Even compared to disciples from some of the world's famous and prominent sects, they would hardly come off worse.
So this sudden, unified show of anger from them was, frankly, rather astonishing.
Jiu Niang hastily waved her hands. "It wasn't really throwing me off, it wasn't! Brother-in-law was just playing with me!" As she spoke, she frowned and shot Cui'er a reproachful look.
Cui'er, helpless, could only say, "It was just playing around. And besides, he — Master Lin — was also beaten badly by A Niu. Doctor An almost couldn't save him, and he was bedridden for over ten days."
Jiu Niang added, "That's not even all. Yesterday, I don't know who, but someone beat brother-in-law up again for no reason, blood all over him, blood coming from his eyes, ears, and nose. Aunt Chun and I were both so scared, we thought brother-in-law was going to..." At this, Jiu Niang's eyes turned red, and she choked up, unable to continue.
The second-generation group of Qingyun Village exchanged glances. No matter how much anger they felt inside, it wouldn't do to go beat up Lin Ning again, would it...
Once, twice, but not a third time. If they hit him again, then...
Thinking of the consequences of Aunt Chun coming to their homes in tears, sobbing, the group of people who feared neither heaven nor earth couldn't help but shudder in unison. It really could get someone killed.
Though they themselves hadn't received much kindness from Lin Long and his wife directly, their own fathers and mothers were deeply indebted to them. If not for that, they wouldn't have tolerated Lin Xiaoning's abuse of them for so long without retaliating...
"So that's why A Niu didn't come to supervise this bunch of little brats today... Never mind."
Fang Zhi, at the front of the group, said to Jiu Niang, "Listen to Older Brother — from now on, spend less time fooling around with that person. Even if you do go near him, make sure Cui'er is always with you."
Then he turned to Cui'er and said, "The Oldest Leader's kindness to you — we don't need to say it, you know it in your own heart. Don't let there be a next time. Don't leave Xiao Jiu'er's side."
Cui'er nodded, full of regret, and agreed in a muffled voice.
Seeing this, Fang Zhi smiled, then called loudly to the half-grown youths who had already gathered around, "Clean up these black bears, deer, wild boar, mountain tigers, and river deer properly, then skin them! Tonight the stronghold feasts — let's eat well!"
"Oh!!"
"Amazing!"
"Kill it, kill the bear, hehe, ha!"
The group of half-grown youths scattered — some to washing, some to fetch knives.
Fang Zhi, Hu Xiaoshan, Zhou Ni'er, and the others planned to take Jiu Niang back to the stronghold with them. They'd been in the mountains for half a month, and although they'd been able to bathe, it still wasn't very convenient — they needed to go back and change clothes.
But Jiu Niang was unwilling to go back with them; she was still waiting for Lin Ning.
.....
"Splash!"
"Splash!"
Two large wooden buckets of water were poured into the stone vat, filling it up. Lin Ning watched the merit points shown on the panel go from 2 to 3, then happily said goodbye to Grandma Zhou, whose company alone never made him feel entirely safe, and strode off toward Auntie Ye's house...
One had to know, learning Qingyun Village's highest ultimate skill, 《Qiankun Strength》, cost only 8 merit points just to get an initial glimpse of it.
With all the good deeds he'd done today, he'd probably managed to save up enough for another entry point into some ultimate skill.
Speaking of which, although the original body, Lin Xiaoning, hadn't amounted to much, he'd had parents who treated him extremely well, and they'd left behind quite the inheritance...
An ultimate skill like 《Qiankun Strength》 would count as a solid martial art even among the world's famous and prominent sects.
And Lin Xiaoning's mother, Madam Ning, had also left him a high-grade sword technique called 《Seven Star Sword Technique》.
Madam Ning came from a prominent family in Qi State, but as her family's fortunes declined, she was arranged to marry into the Lu family of Qin State for a political alliance. At its peak, the Lu family had held power over all Three Kingdoms!
The Ning family, after going to great lengths to curry favor, sent their legitimate daughter off in marriage — only for her to be captured, by sheer chance, by Lin Long during a robbery on the road, and she became the mistress of the mountain stronghold.
It was also Lin Long's good fortune that, before the Lu family could take revenge, the Lu family itself was wiped out, entire clan executed, by Qin State. The Ning family, meanwhile, harbored deep hatred but had no power to seek revenge.
Otherwise, Qingyun Village would have been destroyed long ago...
That high-grade sword technique, 《Seven Star Sword Technique》, was the most precious part of the Ning family's dowry.
Of course, precious and high-grade as the sword technique was, it also demanded a much higher level of cultivation to practice.
Only those who had achieved Sword Heart Clarity could learn it. In all of Qingyun Village, only Tian Wuniang was able to practice this sword technique.
Ordinary people couldn't even understand it just by looking...
What's more, Madam Ning had loved Tian Wuniang no less than she loved Lin Ning, so 《Seven Star Sword Technique》 remained in Tian Wuniang's hands to this day.
It was by relying on 《Qiankun Strength》 combined with 《Seven Star Sword Technique》 that Tian Wuniang, at the mere age of eighteen, became Qingyun Village's number one master, and after Tian Hu's death, repeatedly crushed and turned the tables on invading enemies, securing the stronghold's foundation.
Of course, if Lin Ning went to ask for them back, he could naturally get them.
It was just that he wasn't going to do that for now, because his next step wasn't about blindly chasing short-term strength.
In his previous life, Lin Ning had once heard a saying: for those who cultivate, wealth, companions, methods, and land matter most — and wealth comes first.
The economic base determines the superstructure — that holds true across all ages.
And as far as Lin Ning was concerned, the meat that Fang Zhi and the others hunted, and even the Dragon Blood Rice that Tian Wuniang and the others had painstakingly accumulated, none of it counted as his wealth.
His wealth was merit, and merit alone.
So Lin Ning's next step was to work hard at accumulating merit.
Although Lin Ning didn't want to fight tooth and nail for fame and fortune the way he had in his previous life — this time around, he wanted to live a bit more freely, at ease and unburdened — he also understood, deep down, that to live as he pleased usually required a much stronger foundation of power to back it up.
At the very least, he couldn't spend his whole life hiding under Aunt Chun's wing just to scrape by.
So how could he accumulate a large amount of merit?
Lin Ning recalled a famous Buddhist saying:
Saving a life is better than building a seven-level pagoda!
.....
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