Starting from his vigorous old age, he began to conquer Liaozhai.

The powerful tremor caused most of the houses on Erlong Mountain to collapse.

Cao Xiong quickly walked out of the courtyard and looked outside.

Birds flew up and circled in the air from the mountains on both sides, creating an unusually chaotic scene.

"What happened?"

The tremors lasted for nearly half an hour before finally stopping.

Now that Erlong Mountain is no longer habitable, Cao Xiong had no choice but to take the people and the gold, silver and grain that he had searched for on Erlong Mountain down the mountain.

Just outside the Erlong Mountain area, all sorts of ferocious beasts appeared outside the forest, including wild boars and tigers that are rarely seen.

Cao Xiong could only lead his soldiers forward while clearing away the wild beasts that were ramming against them.

"It seems we have no choice but to send people to escort these people back to Guobei County."

"But it's all good. We seized quite a lot of things on Erlong Mountain, so we might as well bring them all back to the Hundred Household Office."

Cao Xiong looked at the civilians closely following behind the soldiers and considered his next plan.

"Report! Commander, we've encountered an injured colleague in the cave ahead. He's from the Second Command and says he has an emergency to report."

Just then, a scout came to his side.

"lead the way."

Cao Xiong hurriedly followed the scout who had brought the news, and saw that the Second Banner officer was seriously injured and on the verge of death. "Greetings, Banner Commander Cao. When we were suppressing the bandits with the Centurion and Banner Commander Xue, we encountered a great demon. Banner Commander Xue was killed in battle, the Centurion was seriously injured, and the troops were scattered."

Cao Xiong frowned. "Do you know where the centurion is?"

The soldier shook his head. "I don't know, but they should have returned to Guobei County."

After thinking for a while, Cao Xiong ordered a direct return to Guobei County and a halt to the siege of the mountain bandits.

It was three days later when we returned to Guobei County.

Upon returning to Guobei County, Cao Xiong immediately sent people to inquire about Wei Qiang's whereabouts.

He was relieved to learn that Wei Qiang was recuperating at home.

Although he didn't like Wei Qiang, these were turbulent times, and he hadn't yet broken through to the Tendon Refining Realm.

If Wei Qiang dies, the court will most likely have to parachute in a new centurion, which is not what Cao Xiong wants to see.

Besides Wei Qiang leading his men back, Fang Zheng's Third Banner also returned earlier than Cao Xiong.

Cao Xiong originally intended to use this bandit suppression campaign to kill Fang Zheng without anyone noticing, but ultimately he didn't get the chance.

Cao Xiong met Fang Zheng again the day after he returned to Guobei County, when the two were summoned by Wei Qiang.

"Commander Cao is getting younger and younger, but he should be careful."

Fang Zheng looked at Cao Xiong with a gloomy smile.

"Commander Fang looks alright, but his lips are purplish-black. Could he be practicing some kind of evil technique?"

Cao Xiong remained expressionless.

"Hmph~"

Fang Zheng straightened his armor and went into Wei Qiang's house first.

"He's almost turned into a monster."

Cao Xiong couldn't help but complain as he watched Fang Zheng's retreating figure.

Fang Zheng was now pale, with black lips, and a faint, strange odor emanating from him, making him even more repulsive.

Led by the butler, Cao Xiong entered Wei Qiang's bedroom.

Wei Qiang, lying on the bed, was emaciated and lacked any of the aura of a martial artist who had refined his tendons.

"Please have a seat."

Wei Qiang leaned shakily against the headboard, waving his hand to refuse the butler's offer to help him.

"This time I was too reckless. I never expected that bandits and monsters could get mixed up together. Commander Xue was killed in battle, and I was also seriously injured."

"I have already reported this to the Thousand-Household Office. For the next period of time, Commander Cao will temporarily handle the affairs of the Hundred-Household Office."

After speaking, Wei Qiang did not look at Cao Xiong, but looked at Fang Zheng.

Fang Zheng looked displeased, but could only nod.

"We hope you can put aside your grievances and work together to safeguard the safety of Guobei County."

"Don't worry, Commander-in-Chief Fang. I have no major grudge against him."

Cao Xiong quickly reassured Wei Qiang.

He hadn't expected Wei Qiang to choose him to act as a centurion, after all, Fang Zheng was Wei Qiang's right-hand man.

"Alright, if there's nothing else, Commander Fang, you can leave now. I have something to tell Commander Cao."

Fang Zheng's face was grim. He stood up, clasped his hands in greeting, and said, "Please take care of yourself, Commander. I'll come to visit you again when I have time."

After Fang Zheng left, Wei Qiang sighed, "Chief Cao, you need to be careful of Fang Zheng."

"Why do you say such a thing, Hundred-Household Commander?"

Cao Xiong looked at Wei Qiang with some surprise, wondering if Wei Qiang also thought that since they were practicing evil arts anyway...

Sure enough, Wei Qiang's next words confirmed Cao Xiong's guess.

"You must have noticed the changes in Fang Zheng during this time; he must have been practicing some demonic arts."

"Although the imperial court does not prohibit demonic arts, it also has to consider the nature of the arts."

"A few days ago, I also sent people to investigate Fang Zheng. Although we couldn't confirm what Fang Zheng did, he often went to the western district of the outer city. You know, that place is a mixed bag, and people die there every day."

Cao Xiong understood what Wei Qiang meant. He wanted Cao Xiong to continue secretly observing Fang Zheng. If he found anything unusual about Fang Zheng, Cao Xiong would have to take action and not tolerate it.

"Thank you for reminding me, I will pay attention."

Wei Qiang seemed to have put a weight on his mind, and his complexion became slightly rosy.

"Then I'll leave the rest of the time to you."

……

After returning to the garrison from Wei Qiang, Cao Xiong found Cao Man and took him to have clothes made and weapons forged.

Cao Man was over three meters tall. When he first entered Guobei County, he caused a commotion and was almost mistaken for a monster.

Nowadays, when you walk down the street, you're bound to be pointed at and talked about.

Cao Man loathed this feeling and kept baring his teeth at the crowd.

Cao Xiong believed that if he hadn't been watching from the sidelines, Cao Man might have already started a massacre.

Cao Xiong first led Cao Man to Lu's blacksmith shop in the eastern part of the outer city.

The narrow alley was barely big enough for Cao Man to move around in.

"What is that?!"

Old Lu, who was resting in a rocking chair in the backyard, had just opened his eyes when he saw a large head sticking out into his yard.

The two-meter-high courtyard wall barely reached the giant's waist.

This startled Old Lu so much that he kept rubbing his eyes, afraid that he was hallucinating.

Looking again, the giant actually lifted his leg and walked straight into Lu's blacksmith shop.

Old Lu was so frightened that he quickly got up from his rocking chair.

"Haha, what's wrong? Surprised or not?"

Cao Xiong had just arrived at the backyard of the blacksmith's shop when he saw the panicked old Lu, and couldn't help but find it amusing.

"Old Cao, what the hell have you brought?"

Old Lu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and only felt relieved after seeing that the giant had come with Cao Xiong.

"It's obvious, he's a person. You can call him Cao Man."

Cao Xiong lay back in the rocking chair without any hesitation and began to introduce himself to Old Lu.

Old Lu's expression softened considerably. "Don't tell me you brought the giant to the shop just to scare me. You'd better really be in trouble."

"I brought Cao Man back from the Ten Thousand Mountains. I was just thinking of making him a weapon."

Old Lu clicked his tongue in amazement at Cao Man, "Just tell me what kind of weapon you want to forge for him."

"I'm not sure either. Let him try and see what weapon he's interested in."

Then, Cao Xiong led Cao Man to the weapons rack and let Cao Man choose whatever he wanted.

Cao Man touched each weapon as if he had discovered a new continent.

In the end, Cao Man took a fancy to a long axe and couldn't put it down. However, the two-meter-tall axe looked somewhat out of place in Cao Man's hands.

"Do you like this?"

Cao Xiong looked at Cao Man and asked.

Cao Man has gradually gotten used to communicating with Cao Xiong. Now he can understand what Cao Xiong means immediately without having to think about it anymore.

So when he heard Cao Xiong's question, he nodded quickly.

"Alright, then let's forge a long axe."