Chapter 2: Erase the Traces

  "Master, I'll go find some more firewood," said Qian Biao.

  "Go." Su Tang nodded.

  Qian Biao turned around and walked into the woods, a moment later, he appeared behind Su Tang with a wooden stick in his hand, his eyes narrowed slightly, his forehead bulged with blue veins, and his hands holding the stick were also covered in cold sweat.

  It's not because Su Tang is so formidable, but everyone in Xiaolinbao knows that Young Master Su is lazy and doesn't know the difference between five grains. If he didn't have a good family background, he would be considered useless. Qian Biao's tension comes from the fact that this one move will completely overthrow the deeply rooted moral principles and the foundation of his existence for over a decade. As a servant of the Su family, he must be loyal to them. Therefore, although Qian Biao has prepared himself for action, he still hasn't made up his mind.

  Su Tang was still unconscious and continued to roast the leopard meat.

  Qian Biao instinctively held his breath, the wooden stick in his hand trembling slightly. To do it or not to do it? Not to do it... His life would not change much, he would just have to spend his whole life serving others as a cow and horse. Moreover, that was the head of the Tie family from Changshan County! If the matter were to be exposed, Xiaolinbao would definitely face disaster, and he would not be able to escape. To do it... He could enter the Tie family and become a local guardian, even if he had no talent, he would still become a great figure in the region, bringing glory to his ancestors!

  Qian Biao's distance from Su Tang was gradually decreasing, he stayed for a moment, took a deep breath, remembered an old saying: no poison is not a man! Then go ahead!

  Qian Biao exerted all his strength, let out a loud roar, swung the wooden stick and struck it towards Su Tang's back of the head.

  Su Tang's body suddenly leaned to one side, dodging Qian Biao's wooden staff. As he rolled on the ground, his right leg stuck out and kicked Qian Biao's calf.

  Qian Biao's stick fell empty, his body had already lost some balance, and he was swept across the small leg, involuntarily falling forward with a thud, right into the bonfire.

  Su Tang flipped over and jumped up, the sharp stick in his hand, wearing leopard meat, stabbed down with force, actually piercing Qian Biao's neck, and nailed Qian Biao firmly to the bonfire.

  Qian Biao let out an inhuman whimper, his limbs dancing wildly, but his efforts only made the wound on his neck tear open even wider, with more blood flowing out. Su Tang had one hand gripping the sharp stick and the other pressing against Qian Biao's occipital bone, while his knees were pressed firmly onto Qian Biao's back. No matter how hard Qian Biao struggled, his hands and legs remained as still as iron, unmoving.

  "Well done! Hahaha... " The old man let out a night owl-like laugh again, he couldn't see the scene here, but only heard some movements, thinking that Qian Biao had moved his heart and already got what he wanted: "That fellow, you can rest assured, I, Lao Fu, can make a poisonous oath to definitely take you as my closed-door disciple! Hahaha... "

  After a brief moment, Qian Biao finally stopped moving. Su Tang let out a sigh of relief and slowly stood up, his slightly dazed gaze sweeping over the treetops and into the azure sky. Although Qian Biao had brought it upon himself, a life disappearing at his hands should have elicited some remorse, but instead he felt a thrill, a sense of comfort.

  This feeling seems long overdue.

  In an instant, Su Tang drew out a sharp stick and walked slowly outside.

  Seeing Su Tang's figure, the old man's smile suddenly became stiff. He never thought that the weak-looking young man could actually survive!

  Su Tang sat far away on the grass, slowly tearing and chewing the already roasted leopard meat. Although he never looked this way, the old man knew that the other was waiting for him to die!

  A wave of despair rose to his head, the old man coughed hoarsely several times. He had lived a life of unbridled freedom and unparalleled glory; if he were to die so quietly, he truly would not be reconciled.

  However, all four limbs were fractured, and the intense battle left more than a dozen wounds that remained soaked in water, unable to heal, and it was unknown how much fresh blood had been lost. Exhausted and drained of energy, nothing could be done.

  "Cough, cough... Little guy, I apologize to you... " The old man said: "Continuing like this will not benefit either of us. Iron Canlan swears that everything that happened before can be forgiven and forgotten, as long as you can take me ashore. The gold and silver mountains and seas of the Iron family are yours for the taking, whatever I have, whatever the Iron family has, there will be no second thoughts! How about it?"

  Su Tang chewed on the roasted meat with a poker face, as if she hadn't heard anything.

  "Are you a Su? Are you related to Su Xiang from Xiaolingbao?" The old man had originally wanted to get closer, but seeing that Su Tang still didn't react, he could only change the subject: "Young Master Su, why must you be like this? You can rest assured, we cultivators fear nothing more than having emotional baggage. As long as you can help me once, I absolutely won't do anything to repay kindness with resentment..."

  The old man kept talking non-stop, his expression becoming more and more sincere, but Su Tang remained as still as a stone. After a long time, the old man finally stopped speaking, suddenly letting out a mournful cry: "How hateful... I'm so hateful..." As soon as his voice fell, his body convulsed violently several times, and his head slowly sank into the water.

  Su Tang smiled and muttered to himself: "This acting skill is really bad..."

  It wasn't until about seven or eight minutes later that the old man's head suddenly emerged from the water, coughing and spitting out water as he let out a low growl. His eyes, filled with icy killing intent, were fixed on Su Tang's silhouette. He had planned to pretend to be dead in order to lure Su Tang over, and even if he couldn't survive, at least he would take that little scoundrel down with him. However, Su Tang completely ignored him, leaving him helpless.

  The roars continued intermittently, lasting for over an hour before finally subsiding. It was a long and painful process. The old man's injuries were severe, almost extinguishing his life force, but his physical strength was still good enough that he couldn't die quickly. Of course, he also refused to give up.

  When the old man became motionless again, Su Tang's gaze slowly turned around: "This time it's quite realistic, great progress... with a few more years of practice, you'll be worthy of an Oscar."

  After a while, the sun had already set in the west. Su Tang slowly got up and walked into the creek, coming to the old man's side, carefully searching around. The old man was dead, his goal had been achieved, of course he had to clean up the battlefield and collect the spoils of war.

  Su Tang found a finely crafted pouch containing a water-damaged map that was barely legible, with only vague outlines and several markings visible. The pouch also contained several gold and silver coins. Su Tang took out the money and put everything else back on the old man's body.

  Cut off all the threads that triggered the association, it's the simplest common sense of crime. As for the broken sword, he had to take it away with a hard head, because his intuition was telling him that there were particularly important things waiting for him to understand.

  Su Tang walked to the other side, just as he flipped over the body of the man in white, a light yellow mask fell into the water. At first glance at the mask, Su Tang's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and a bond stronger than the broken sword surged into his mind like a tidal wave, almost suffocating him.

  What does this feeling mean? Su Tang stood still for a long time, forget it, let's deal with things here first.

  Su Tang dug a hole in the forest, lacking suitable tools, he could only use the large iron spear that had killed the old man, fortunately the soil in the forest was damp and soft, saving him a lot of effort.

  They threw the old man, the white-clad figure and Qian Biao's corpses into the pit, covered them with several layers of soil, and then carried Hu Dantou's corpse over. He had originally wanted to build a separate tomb for Hu Dantou, but his current energy did not permit him to do so, so he could only make do.

  The big iron spear was placed beside Hu Niang, and with both hands, the mud at the edge of the pit was pushed back. As much as possible, it was trampled flat with feet, and then grass leaves were transplanted from other places to cover it up. After that, only one more rain was needed, and all traces would be covered up.

  This is a desolate and uninhabited primeval forest, even if he doesn't do anything, it's unlikely that several corpses would be discovered by others. The problem is that some kind of obscure thing is driving him to be so busy, as if he had obsessive-compulsive disorder.

  Professional ethics?!!

  Everything was settled, and Su Tang didn't even have the energy to go into the water for a bath. He barely managed to start a fire, then leaned over to one side, knowing it was very dangerous, but his eyelids really couldn't be opened anymore.

  As the night passed, at dawn, Su Tang opened his sleepy eyes. The moment he regained consciousness, he immediately jumped up from the ground, first looking around to understand his surroundings, then taking a deep breath and checking if there were any injuries on his body. He slowly unbuttoned his pants and clothes. Sleeping in the primitive forest was not a joke, the wild beasts that roamed at night were terrifying, and the warm snakes, scorpions, and other poisonous insects were equally frightening.

  Fortunately, none of the things he worried about happened, and there was no sign of being bitten by mosquitoes. Su Tang rekindled a bonfire, hung his clothes and pants on one side to dry, then jumped into the creek to wash up properly, eat something, and boost his spirits. For this body, walking out of the primeval forest alone would have been impossible, but for Su Tang now, it was no problem at all.

  Although his mind was still a bit dazed, or rather bewildered, he clearly knew that he had experienced an indescribable rebirth!