Starting from the Tiger Demon Yaksha, the demon immortality

Chapter 19 Troubled Times Are Coming, Gao Family in Danger (19 Two-in-One)

Ever since Li Cunxiao came, Gao Cheng's life has improved visibly.

Not only did the shopkeeper give him a raise, but the usually rigid Master Zhang seemed to finally come to his senses and taught him the third dish he had made in the five years since he became his apprentice.

With hope in life, Gao Cheng worked harder and left home early in the morning.

After her husband left, Gao's wife couldn't stay idle. Although she had some minor problems, she was actually a hardworking person. She washed clothes, cooked, chopped wood, and kept everything clean.

But not long after they started working, there was a knock on the door. Gao's wife was sewing winter clothes for Hu Zi. When she heard the noise, she picked up a fire poker and moved to the crack in the door. Seeing that it was someone she knew, she breathed a sigh of relief.

The common people might not understand the talk of separatist regimes and the inability to get rid of the powerful, but they could clearly see that there were more beggars on the streets and that food in rice shops was getting more expensive.

The world is deteriorating, and everyone is on high alert. Even without her husband's warning, Gao's wife has recently started to keep a close eye on Hu Zi and isn't too keen on letting him go out to play.

"Gao's sister, I'm here to see you again"

"Aunt Zhou, didn't I tell you that I won't be attending that Dharma Assembly?"

Aunt Zhou wore a white linen dress and a black scarf on her head, and she smelled of incense and candles. She was in her forties or fifties, her skin roughened by years of hard work.

But when she spoke, her face did not show much sadness, but rather a hint of compassion:
"If there is an enlightened messenger who appears in the world to teach sentient beings and free them from suffering,

"Sister Gao, the world is a dark and bitter sea. It is a great blessing to have an angel preaching the gospel."

Mrs. Gao was indifferent when she heard this and raised her hand to close the door. Seeing this, the old woman quickly spoke:
"It's not in vain to listen, I'll give you eggs when you go."

Mrs. Gao's hand suddenly stopped, her eyes lit up:
"Will you get it when you go?"

Seeing Aunt Zhou nodded, Mrs. Gao hesitated for a moment, then went back to the house to instruct her son not to run around and to practice calligraphy with a clay tablet at home - this was what Li Cunxiao taught her.

After packing up her things, she took a basket and went out, which made the old woman surnamed Zhou's mouth twitch.

She didn't listen to any instructions, she just took the eggs and left. Nothing could happen, right?
The autumn weather is clear and a flock of wild geese fly across the sky.

The feather fluttered and swayed, and when it was about to fall onto the escort cart, it was grabbed by a bony hand out of thin air.

Li Cunxiao looked back and saw that the gate of Chuqiu County had become very small. The wooden wheels of the two escort carts in front of him rolled over the dirt road, raising a cloud of yellow dust.

Feihu Escort Agency is the leading escort agency in Chuqiu County. Whenever they go on an escort mission, they prefer quality personnel over quantity.

If it is a short distance, there is usually one escort leader and eight escorts.

The eight escorts are at least strong enough to control Qi and blood, and some are even warriors with small and large Qi and blood circulation.

The escort leader himself is a warrior in the second major realm, the muscle realm.

Not to mention that among these eight people, four were armed with swords and shields, and four were armed with long sticks. They were all personally trained by the Cui brothers in the art of military formations. With such a team, ordinary bandits of dozens of people would not be able to stop it.

"So, Brother Li, you can rest assured. For our Flying Tiger Escort Agency, it's rare for one out of ten escort missions to have an accident."

"Who among the local tyrants and gentry around Chuqiu County wouldn't give the chief escort a bit of respect?"

"Only tactless bandits and refugees would dare to ram our convoy. The more prominent they are, whether they are the Chai Gang or the Eight Kings Bandits, the less likely they are to attack us."

While listening to Qian Laosan chatting, Li Cunxiao glanced at the scene outside the city, and it was basically as he said.

Half an hour after leaving the city, only occasional horse-drawn carriages and ox-drawn carts passed by on the official road. There were not many passengers, so if something was wrong, it would be discovered immediately.

Not far from either side of the official road were vast stretches of fields. It was harvest season, and the golden ears of wheat swayed like waves in the wind. Besides the busy farmers, there were even some strong servants watching over them.

These are all fields belonging to the inner city families, and one of them might belong to Zhang Lishi.

"It seems that although the world is about to be in chaos, there is still a little order. Even if it is an order where the masters exploit us, it is still better than being a sheep in the market."

Li Cunxiao listened to Qian Lao San's talk and asked:
"Brother Qian, can you tell me which powerful figures are outside this city?"

Qian Lao San chuckled when he heard this and held up three fingers:
“Not many, just three.”

"The first is the Chai Gang. They occupy Pingqiu Mountain, which is closest to Chuqiu County. There are many agile hunters there. Sometimes when they are short of money and food, this group of people has also done bandit work."

"The second is the Eight Kings bandits, a hundred or so men, gathered in Tiejiao Mountain. Twenty miles from Chuqiu is our territory; beyond twenty miles, it's the Eight Kings bandits' territory."

"Third brother, why is it twenty miles?" This was related to the safety of the escort, so Li Cunxiao asked because he didn't understand.

"Ahem, as the military book says," Qian Laosan was very pleased. These words had been said so many times that they could only be shown off in front of newcomers.

"If the situation is slow, the cavalry must march 120 miles day and night, and the chariots and infantry 80 miles; if the situation is urgent, the cavalry must march 150 miles day and night, and the chariots and infantry 100 miles."

"That is to say, elite soldiers can travel 80 miles a day. These 80 miles are the area where swords and guns can deter them."

"But our Chuqiu city guards are far from elite, and the cavalry is nowhere to be seen."

"Those guys can walk about the same distance as us, twenty to thirty miles a day, so you understand, right?"

Li Cunxiao was lost in thought, and couldn't help but think of the soldiers he saw when he left the city. They were dressed neatly, but none of them had a decent piece of armor on them.

There were only a few leaders who wore half-body iron armor. According to other people in the team, these leaders were all close confidants of the county magistrate.

Aren’t the city guards the private army of County Magistrate Murong Bai?
Li Cunxiao secretly noted these in his mind and was about to ask what the third one was when a loud shout suddenly came from the front of the team:
"alert!"

Qian Laosan's face turned serious. He held his sword and shield in front, while Li Cunxiao took a step back and formed a stick formation with the other three. From a distance, only a few black dots could be seen at the end of the official road.

Sitting on a tall horse on the side was the escort leader who had just spoken, Ge Yingyang.

He drew his bow and arrow, and at some point, the pupils in the whites of his eyes changed from brown circles to black pupils in golden circles. The golden outer circle expanded, and for a moment the whites of his eyes seemed to have disappeared, like the eyes of an eagle.

"Go!"

With a light rebuke, the arrow shot out like lightning, and the people nearby couldn't even see its shadow. But after a moment, they heard the escort leader snort coldly:

"Sly beast, running pretty fast"

Li Cunxiao had been paying attention to the only second-level warrior in the team, so he naturally saw the change in the other party's eyes.

He couldn't help but think of what Chunyang Sixteen had described, the miraculous things that would happen after a warrior broke through the second realm with the magic of inducement.

But when he looked again at this time, the eyes of the Ge escort leader had returned to normal.

After the convoy had gone a while, the other escorts saw a pool of blood beside the bushes on the side of the road. Li Cunxiao smelled the fishy smell and suddenly felt a sense of familiarity.

It's a demon.

"There are actually demons stalking the road in broad daylight?"

Escort Captain Ge and several older escorts all looked unhappy, but several escorts in their twenties didn't notice it and just praised Escort Captain Ge's archery skills.

The so-called "shooting the arrow through the willow tree from a hundred paces away" means that the ancients took one step as a footstep and two steps as a step. A hundred steps is about 120 to 130 meters, and the arrow that Ge Biaotou just shot was almost 200 meters away.

"Could it be that the ability of this escort leader Ge is Eagle Eyes?" Li Cunxiao had heard that among the eight escort leaders in the escort agency, that is, eight second-level warriors, four were disciples of the chief escort leader Zhang Lishi, and the other four were recruited, each with their own unique skills.

In fact, for those who have perfected their qi and blood after the age of 20 but have not been accepted by Zhang Lishi, the best place to go is to become disciples of these four escort leaders.

The chief escort, Zhang Lishi, was famous for his two-handed long sword and was known as the "Tiger Eye Mad Sword".
Tiger eye? Could it be night vision?
The alert was lifted, Qian Laosan stepped back and said softly to Li Cunxiao:
"The third most powerful character is the demon. Demons can be found everywhere, on the roadside, in the bushes, and in the streams."

"There are hundreds of different types of demons, with all sorts of strange abilities. They are man-eating and ferocious. Bandits can be bribed, but demons won't reason with you."

"Our escort agency is able to travel unimpeded thanks to the maps the head escort team has obtained after risking their lives and traveling time and time again. They know where the demons are and what their habits are."

"If Brother Li ever becomes a leader of a convoy, he'll have the chance to see this picture."

After saying this, Qian Lao San lost interest in talking. From then on, the convoy continued on its way, and except for stopping at noon to eat some dry food, the convoy never stopped again.

Occasionally, they encountered groups of refugees on the road. Some of the brave ones were shot and killed from a hundred meters away before they could get close. The rest of them dared not move forward.

At 15:00 in the afternoon, the convoy arrived safely at its destination, in front of a dock under construction.

The owner of the fort was the client of this escort mission, the Xie family, a wealthy family in Wowo Township. Li Cunxiao and his men would rest here for the night, rest and replenish their water, and then return the next day.

"Captain Ge, brothers, thank you for your hard work in escorting the convoy all the way! Come, prepare some drinks!"

The Xie family's head was a hospitable man. Even before the cargo was unloaded, he had already begun arranging a welcome for the Flying Tiger Escort Agency. The respect and eagerness in his attitude surprised Li Cunxiao.

"Very surprised?"

After the darts were delivered, Qian Lao San suddenly became lively again. He hooked his arm around Li Cunxiao's shoulder and said with a low laugh:

"Of course the Xie family is a big family in this countryside, but when it comes to military strength, they only have one Xie Shisan who is a second-level warrior, and they can barely gather a dozen or so people in the Qi and Blood realm. They are far inferior to our escort agency."

"Besides, his two carts of goods total nearly a thousand taels of silver. Who else but us can guarantee that all the goods will be delivered?"

Li Cunxiao remained silent for a moment, just watching the servants unpacking the goods. Among them were not food and daily necessities, but pieces of silk, furs, gold and silver jewelry, famous porcelain and spices. They were all luxurious items.

In the fields outside the fort, the ragged tenant farmers were sweating profusely, swinging their sickles vigorously on land that did not belong to them, hoping to do more work before dark - to harvest the rice early, and then dry it and pound it.

Li Cunxiao suddenly felt unreal.

The world was clearly on the verge of disintegration and war, but while the poor peasants were toiling for a bite to eat and a few coins, the masters on the ridges of the fields were spending huge sums of money to maintain their dignity.

If it happened in the previous life, this would undoubtedly indicate that a storm from below was about to come.

but.
"Brother Li? What are you looking at?"

Qian Laosan noticed Li Cunxiao's gaze and followed it. He saw the beautiful scenery of wind blowing through the fields, with golden waves undulating. He thought that Li Cunxiao had never seen this since he was a child in the city, so he joked:
"Come to think of it, the chief escort also has a manor, and it's usually guarded by the great escort Shi. That manor is much more spectacular than this."

The head of Shi Dabiao is Zhang Lishi’s eldest disciple Shi Tie.

Li Cunxiao heard from others that Shi Tie himself had several properties in the city and was quite wealthy, not to mention that he was the chief escort.

However, Zhang Lishi himself was not a powerful person in Chuqiu County. The foundation of Feihu Escort Agency was built by him and the Cui brothers with every sword and gun. It has only been twenty years, but it has become a force that all the families in the inner city are vying to win over.

All of this comes from Zhang Lishi's own military force.

In previous lives, troubled times were often an opportunity for the lower classes to rise and reshuffle the cards.

But this is a world where demons and martial arts coexist.

The future is destined to be a stage for the strong, and no one will care about the weak even their cries before death.

At the night banquet, Li Cunxiao was extremely restrained. He drank a few glasses politely and then found an excuse to go back to his room to rest.

He took out the dried demon meat from his arms, and as the heat and evil spirit dissipated, he practiced the Eight Tiger Forms over and over again in the room.

After a long time, when the whistling sound of fists in the room stopped, Li Cunxiao, who was sweating all over, felt refreshed, and all the worries of the day disappeared.

Since only strength can allow you to gain a foothold in the world, what you need to do is to hold the strength tightly in your hands.

He concentrated his mind and thought, and in his mind, the vajra was finally full again after being replenished by the piece of demon meat just now, emitting a faint golden light.

He thought about it and whispered in his heart:
break!
The vajra did not react at all.

Although Li Cunxiao had expected this, he was still a little disappointed.

He originally wondered whether the Vajra Pestle could not only bring about a simple breakthrough, but also be able to deduce based on existing martial arts and elevate it to a new level.

But now it seems that it is not possible.

Without the right method, even a good cook cannot cook without rice.

But the current Vajra is not good enough, maybe there is room for upgrading the Vajra in the future?

"I remember that the vajra has one prong, three prongs, five prongs, and nine prongs."

"Vajra, you have to strive for excellence. You are already a mature treasure. You need to grow on your own."

Li Cunxiao muttered about his outlook for the future, washed his body with hot water, and went to bed early.

Gao Cheng hummed a little tune, carrying half a roast goose and some braised bones in his hands, and walked towards home with ease.

As the saying goes, happiness brings joy. The Li brothers, whom he had always cared about, finally found a good place to stay, and Li Cunxiao was even able to repay his former good brother. His son's illness had healed, his salary had increased, and the shopkeeper and Master Zhang had become more amicable.
"Hey, the best days are yet to come"

Gao Cheng was thinking happily, but when he was about to reach home, he suddenly saw two yamen runners in black robes guarding his door, and his face changed immediately.

These constables and yamen runners were nicknamed "bad people" and were often selected from among young and strong men who were brave and had bad records.

The advantage of doing this is that since they all come from the same street background and are familiar with folk gangs, the bad guys can find ways to catch criminals and thieves.

Moreover, unlike some clerks who have been passed down from generation to generation, no one feels sorry when these bad guys die or are injured, and they are just thrown away.

Provincial flow: temporary workers.

"Are you Gao Cheng?"

Before Gao Cheng stepped forward, the man with a faint tattoo on his collar among the yamen runners took the initiative to speak, his eyes looking at him as if he was looking at a fat sheep to be slaughtered:

"Your wife participated in a gathering of the Vegetable Eating Demon Cult and was caught on the spot. She is now in jail."

"Tell me! What is the connection between your family and the Ming Cult?"

Gao Cheng's face turned pale in an instant, and the paper bag in his hand fell to the ground with a thud.

"Sir, this is unfair!"

(End of this chapter)