The atmosphere in the ancestral hall froze for a moment. The village head's face sank. "What, Li Erlang, are you dissatisfied with my arrangements?" The ruffians and scoundrels had already begun to rub their palms together. The favus-headed man in the lead even held a chopping knife in his hand.
The other elders either closed their eyes or tried to persuade him, "Waiter, don't be angry." "You can't win against him." "Caretaker Liu allowed you to work in the estate. He'll pay you more. Why don't you have food to eat?"
Li Qingshan gave a muffled reply. He left the ancestral hall by some unknown means. When he left, he even tripped over the favus-headed man and almost fell, leaving behind a wave of laughter.
He came across the witch along the way, and she smiled complacently. "Disaster, disaster. If you worship the god now, it's still not too late."
Li Qingshan returned to his new residence below Crouching Ox hill and laid down. He no longer felt any joy at all.
The sun set in the west, and the sky darkened. The crowing of chickens and barking of dogs gradually died down, and the village recovered its peace.
Oxen strolled in from outside. Li Qingshan propped himself up. Just when he was about to speak, Oxen said, "I saw everything, but I didn't help you."
"I didn't want your help. I don't care about those fields either. I just …"
"You can't accept this?"
"Yes."
"There are plenty of things in the world where black and white are indistinguishable and right and wrong are inverted. Let alone a mere mortal like you, even immortals, buddhas, and saints with extraordinary powers have times when they feel wronged and humiliated. What's a little bit of pettiness like yours?"
Li Qingshan shot a glance at him. "But I don't want to accept it." Suddenly, he thought of the dagger again.
Oxen stared at him silently for quite a while before suddenly laughing aloud. "Alright, alright, alright. As long as you don't want to accept it. When a man goes about his business, he is quick to repay kindness and vengeance. The kindness of a single meal must be repaid, and the hatred of a single grudge must be avenged. Originally, I thought your willpower had been worn down over the years, but you actually still have some manliness in you. Only like that can you be worthy of my guidance."
Li Qingshan was taken aback. "You're testing me?"
The green ox sniffed and said, "This is considered a test? I'm just asking which path you want to take. "
"Which path?" Li Qingshan did not understand.
"There are thousands of ways in the world. There are ways to swallow one's anger and protect one's own life, and there are also ways to rise with a sword and die for a noble cause. Humans have the human path, demons have the demon path, gods have the divine path, and ghosts have the ghost path. Each path has its own glory, and each path has its own choice …"
Li Qingshan felt dizzy as he listened to it "Dao" non-stop. Are you going to sing a song "Dao, Dao, Dao" for me? At the end of the conversation, he interrupted, "I will seek my own path!"
Oxen was startled at first, then delighted. "You actually understood. That's right, there are thousands of great Daos. I will seek my own Dao." Li Qingshan took out a big gourd out of nowhere, and the gourd flew into his hand by itself. "Since you refuse to swallow your anger, I'll teach you a way that doesn't require you to swallow your anger."
Li Qingshan felt something heavy in his hand, as if there was some kind of liquid swaying in it. He opened the bottle and a strong smell of alcohol assaulted him.
Li Qingshan smiled bitterly. After eating meat, he would drink wine? It seemed reasonable, but who would rely on these two things to cultivate? If eating meat and drinking wine could help one become an immortal, then all the rich people in the world would become immortals. Could it be that immortals were all good-for-nothings?
Oxen only said eight words, "Meat strengthens the body, and wine strengthens the liver and gallbladder."
Li Qingshan clenched his teeth, raised his head, and gulped down the wine. Although it was only the village's unrefined wine, he still felt dizzy after drinking the gourd. He stared blankly at Oxen. Could it be that it wanted him to drown his sorrows in wine?
"Go kill someone, and I'll teach you cultivation." Oxen said in an extremely calm tone, as if it was talking about something insignificant. Then, it lay down.
Li Qingshan felt a chill run down his spine. He suddenly realized that the thing in front of him wasn't a hard-working old bull that had been plowing the fields with him for more than ten years, but a real bull spirit. What it taught him was not the peaceful Dao of Immortals and Buddhas, but the fierce and domineering Dao of Demons.
It hadn't taught him any cultivation techniques, it only taught him to eat meat, drink wine, and now, kill people.
Was he really going to kill people? Faces appeared in front of him. He hated these people, and he wanted nothing more than to kill them, but he knew that he didn't dare to do so. Oxen also saw through this, which was why he wanted to drink wine to strengthen his courage.
Was this a proof of allegiance, or a gift to become his disciple?
Thinking back to what happened today, the drunkenness and anger rose. Li Qingshan raised his head, took a deep breath, and lowered his head, "Kill who?"
"That's your problem. I'll say it first, I won't help you, and I won't save you. I'm just an ordinary bull."
Tonight, the moon was bright, sprinkling a layer of white frost on the ground. Li Qingshan walked alone on the white frost. He felt that the full moon above his head was so dazzling that he wished for a dark cloud to cover it up.
The village was silent. Li Qingshan's footsteps swayed as he walked around the village, his heart was at a loss.
He came to the front of a run-down house, and there was a hubbub coming from inside. Li Qingshan heard it clearly. It was the ruffians from the ancestral hall today. He hurriedly squatted down against the wall and listened to what they were saying.
"Today's wine came so easily. I just stood in the ancestral hall, and Steward Liu gave me so much."
Li Qingshan recognized the voice at once. It was patch-haired Liu, a famous ruffian in the village. He spent his days idling around and stealing things. He was surly and fierce, and he often carried a chopping knife with him. The villagers were afraid of him, and even if they caught him stealing, they didn't dare to do anything to him. The other ruffians also treated him as their leader.
"This is all because of you, Big Brother. Didn't you see that kid's face? He was so scared that it turned pale." The room roared with laughter.
Li Qingshan didn't know what his face was like at the time, but it was definitely red now. His drunkenness mixed with anger rushed to his head.
"It's a pity that the coward didn't make a move. I haven't exercised my fists and legs in a long time. I was going to use him to practice, but that bastard never took me seriously."
Li Qingshan had lived two lives, but he wasn't as afraid of him as the ordinary villagers. He didn't expect to attract such hostility.
"Isn't it easy for Big Brother to beat him up? That idiot built his house outside the village. Wouldn't it be easy for us to beat him up? We can also take his cow and sell it at the market. We can even exchange it for a few drinks."
The other ruffians agreed one after another.
Li Qingshan let out a breath that reeked of alcohol and tightened his grip on the short knife in his arms.
Patch-haired Liu drank a bellyful of alcohol and went outside the house to pee. He didn't return to the house, but walked along the small path to the south of the village.
Li Qingshan felt strange and immediately followed him. He saw that Patch-haired Liu came to the door of the famous Widow Liu in the village and shouted for her to open the door. Only then did he know what he wanted to do.
The door was tightly shut, and the lights in the house were not turned on. It was obvious that they were afraid of him. There were a few thatched cottages not far away, but no one paid any attention to them.
Patch-haired Liu took advantage of his drunkenness and said a lot of obscenities. He kicked the door hard and cursed for a while, causing the dogs in the village to bark loudly. Then he turned around and left.
Inside the door, Widow Liu calmed down a little. She peeked outside through the crack in the door and saw that Patch-haired Liu had indeed gone far away. Only then did she relax. Suddenly, her eyes flashed and she saw a figure following behind Patch-haired Liu. The night was dark, so she couldn't see the figure's clothes and appearance clearly. She thought it was his attendant, and she faintly felt that something was wrong.
Li Qingshan followed Patch-haired Liu to a desolate place. He made up his mind, shouted, and pounced on him.
Patch-haired Liu turned around in shock and saw a dull short knife stabbing at him. He immediately sobered up and wanted to run away to resist, but his hands and feet were weak. He usually only used a knife to scare the common people and fought in a few group fights. He had never experienced a real life and death fight. Although the other party was only a youth, his decisiveness and murderous aura made him look like a fierce beast in the mountains.
Without any obstruction, the knife entered his body. Li Qingshan didn't expect that the usually arrogant Patch-haired Liu would be so weak. Looking at the frightened and pleading look on Patch-haired Liu's face, he seemed to be even more drunk. His eyes faintly glowed red, and his brain seemed to stop working. Only his hands kept moving.
The blade and blood-red light danced about in the darkness.
By the time Li Qingshan had calmed down, Patch-haired Liu had already collapsed in a pool of blood. He was as dead as he could be. The heavy smell of blood also gave off a chilly smell in the moonlit night.
Li Qingshan forcefully composed himself and turned around to leave. He rushed to the stream below Crouching Ox hill in a single breath. Just Now, he stopped. Illuminated by the water, he could not help but leap in fright. Is this still me?
The water reflected a bloodied youth. He pursed his lips and widened his eyes, still radiating with killing intent that had yet to disperse. It was extremely terrifying.
Li Qingshan cupped the icy-cold stream water and washed away the blood on his body. Only then did he return to the hut. He ignored Oxen who lay beside him and collapsed on the bed.
Only now did his hands begin to tremble, and he suddenly became covered in cold sweat, drenching his clothes. He had completely sobered up.
Oxen asked with a smile, "Aren't you going to run?" It was as if it was not the one who had told Li Qingshan to kill people.
Li Qingshan said, "Do I still need to run if I'm going to kill something like that?" He had not chosen patch-haired Liu out of a moment of impulse. This bastard was utterly wicked in the village. No one would stand up for him, and if the people did not report him, the officials would not investigate him. As long as he did not leave behind any overly obvious evidence, the death of someone like him would probably end up unresolved.
The praise in Oxen's eyes deepened. It was very easy to find an ignorant person who would kill in a fit of rage, but it was very difficult to know who to kill and who not to kill, as well as how to protect oneself while killing. Even if the composure before him was an act, it was enough to demonstrate his willpower.
Li Qingshan's trembling hands could not fool it, but in its eyes, not only were there no shame in killing people, but there were also people who were vicious and looked down on killing people everywhere. However, it was truly impressive that he could suppress his nervousness and fear until now to erupt.
After quite a while, Oxen asked, "How do you feel?"
"So scary! So satisfying!" These were Li Qingshan's heartfelt words. After the fear, he actually felt an indescribable sense of contentment. Most of the pent-up anger in his chest had dissipated. He recalled the feeling when he watched "Water Margin", Instructor Lin at the Wind Snow Mountain Holy Temple, and Wu Erlang's blood splattered on the Lovers Brothel.
Oxen chuckled. "Go to sleep. There are many things to do tomorrow!"
Li Qingshan's heart skipped a beat, and he revealed a joyful expression. "You mean …"
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