44 Do you see anything?
Li Jun once again found himself at the entrance to the dark forest. He had no plans today and wanted to help with Mr Bai's mutated beast problem.
"A horse with a tiger's head and black fur." Li Jun muttered softly as he turned to the black kitten that was still perched on his shoulder. It was strange how most people didn't even notice the kitten, even Mr Bai hadn't questioned it.
He wasn't sure, but Li Jun thought it must have had some kind of stealth ability that let it hide in plain sight. He wondered if the beast he was hunting would have a similar ability or perhaps something stranger.
Without delay, he stepped into the forest and looked around. He watched the floor as he carefully avoided branches that would snap if he stood on them. Whatever the beast was, he certainly didn't want to alert it of his presence.
Minutes turned into hours as he searched the dark forest, but he didn't find even a trace of a mutated beast. The beast king seemed to have lured them all into its cave and eaten them. They had yet to repopulate the forest. But how would Mr Bai get attacked by a beast if that were the case?
The sun began to set as an idea came to mind. Searching the forest was like looking for a needle in a haystack. There was simply too much ground to cover, and if the beast was stronger than the second stage of body refining, it would have sensed him from way further away than he could sense it. If it was smart, it would stay away.
"Do you see anything?" He turned to ask the kitten, but it turned its head away as he asked the question. It seemed to have understood his intentions and was refusing to help.
'This little bastard.' Li Jun thought as he stared angrily at the kitten. Although it had chosen his shoulder as a form of transport, it clearly didn't like him very much.
Upon realizing that he couldn't find any beast in the forest, he decided to head back to Mr. Bai's farm. If the beast wanted to eat chickens, it was sure to turn up again to kill them. Perhaps he could surprise it and kill it in a single attack.
Li Jun made his way to Mr Bai's house and stood on a hill a few dozen meters away so he would have a better view. As he sat down to wait, a strange feeling washed over him. It was wrong to use someone's livestock as bait, especially without asking for permission. What if the beast killed more of them?
Li Jun sighed. 'I guess if any of them die, I can just give him some money to buy more, ' he thought as the small black kitten jumped down from his shoulder and curled up into a ball on his lap.
"What do you want, huh? I thought you didn't like me." Li Jun asked as the cat dug its claws into his leg.
"Agh." He let out a muffled cry, and it immediately retracted its claws.
'Just you wait until I'm stronger. I will kick your arse!' Li Jun vowed as he stared at the cat with frustration. There was nothing he could do against it right now; it could kill him with a single swipe of its razor-sharp claws if it wanted to.
The two of them sat atop the hill, looking down at Mr Bai's farm. After a while, the candle flame flickered out, and Mr Bai drew his curtains. He was heading to bed for the night. Li Jun smiled from the distance. After consuming the pill, his complexion looked better, and his bruises had already begun to heal.
Unlike a martial artist who could use healing pills and absorb the medicinal pills quickly, for a regular person, it would take days for it to completely absorb. That was a fact that should have told him that his mother wasn't a normal person. She had helped the pill absorb into his body quickly. But he didn't have the knowledge back then to know the truth.
As the night grew dark, the howls of wild animals soon emerged from the wilderness as the moon drifted high into the sky; however, there was no sign of any beast.
As Li Jun remained watching, he noticed a light in the distance coming down the path from the city gates.
'That's strange.' He thought to himself. The city guards usually remained at their posts. They wouldn't patrol the countryside this late. However, after a few minutes, Li Jun realized that it wasn't the city guards.
Four masked figures walked towards Mr Bai's house; two of them held wooden bats in their hands, and another had a sword strapped to his waist.
Li Jun looked at the man with the sword; although his face was covered, he recognized the dragon-engraved sword even while it was in its scabbard.
'Li Chen…' He thought as he watched the four figures stop outside Mr Bai's house.
One of the figures was slightly wider than the rest. It was the boy who had wet himself the last time Li Jun fought against them. The chubby boy crept toward Mr Bai's chicken pen and untied the gate.
As soon as he stepped inside, the chickens began to squawk wildly as they fluttered around the cage. They couldn't fly as Mr Bai clipped their wings, and the chubby boy tried his best to hit them, although he missed every swing of his wooden club.
Li Jun stood up, and the black cat climbed up onto his shoulder with its ears pricked up. It, too, was disgusted by the actions of the four boys. Suddenly, Li Jun shot forward. He had become more proficient with phantom steps and quickly dashed across a cornfield.
Before he could arrive, Mr Bai had rushed outside with a hatchet in his hand and began to shout.
"What are you doing back here!? I thought you agreed to leave me alone!?" He asked with tired eyes, he glanced towards the chubby boy who was now holding a chicken in his hands, it was dead.
"We did." Li Chen spoke from beneath his mask.
"But I believe I told you to make Li Jun work the fields again."
"I asked him, but he refused!" Mr Bai shouted out, hoping they would leave him alone. "What did you expect me to do? I can't force him."
"Then why didn't you tell me!? We waited out in the scorching sun for so long, but he didn't turn up. Did you think I was joking when I said I would kill you!?" Li Chen roared with anger.
'This has gone on for long enough.' Li Jun thought as he silently approached the group.
Li Chen drew his sword and raised it towards Mr Bai.
'I have forgiven you too many times, my foolish cousin.' Li Jun looked at Li Chen, who was moments away from slashing his sword toward Mr Bai's neck.
Before Li Chen could strike Mr Bai, a deep aching pain stuck him in the back. The pain shot up his spine, and then back down, as he fell to the floor. The sensation stopped at the area where it had originated, the center of his spine.
He howled in pain as he tried to stand, but his legs refused to move.
The three masked boys were horrified as Li Jun appeared before them. It was Li Chen's idea to sneak attack him out in the field. The others in his group had refused out of fear, but the remaining three thought they had a good chance of catching him by surprise and carried out the plan to threaten Mr Bai.
However, it seemed that their plan had backfired entirely. They were the ones caught by surprise as their leader lay with his face in the dirt and screaming in pain.
