The twenty-fourth year of Yongjia in the Great Jin dynasty, the tenth day of the ninth lunar month.
Early in the morning, the chill of autumn was growing stronger, and the white dew had turned to frost.
Zhao Xuan finished practicing a round of the "Savage Bull Strength", adjusted his breathing, and reined in his internal energy.
"You have diligently practiced 'Savage Bull Strength' once. Your mastery of 'Savage Bull Strength' has increased, and your realm has improved."
"Savage Bull Strength: 2/100."
Zhao Xuan had obtained the "Savage Bull Strength" half a month ago, yet his progress had only increased by two points.
Compared to his Basic Archery, which increased by four or five points every day, this speed could only be described as exceptionally slow.
Given that he understood nothing about it and had no one to guide him, the fact that he could make any progress at all through blind practice demonstrated the terrifying power of his "Effort Brings Rewards" talent.
Besides, at his current rate, Zhao Xuan could bring the "Savage Bull Strength" to perfection in two years at most.
By then, he would be barely seventeen years old and still had boundless potential ahead of him.
After the incident with Young Master Hu Si, he knew deeply that the outside world might be prosperous, but it was not necessarily safe.
He had no desire to be trampled to death like an ant by someone just because he happened to catch their eye in a crowd.
With his strength currently insignificant, he might as well hole up in Dishan Village.
Practicing martial arts and going hunting every day, carefree and unrestrained, with meat at every meal—how wonderful was that?
"Dong, dong, dong..."
Just as Zhao Xuan was preparing to head up the mountain to hunt, heavy drumbeats echoed from the entrance of the village.
This was the signal used by the village chief to summon the villagers.
Whenever something major occurred, the chief would beat the drum to gather everyone to discuss important matters together.
For instance, competing for water sources with neighboring villages, or raids by bandits, and so on.
Every single household in Dishan Village was required to send at least one person to attend. Anyone who failed to show up three times would be cast out by the entire village community.
Likewise, if the village chief summoned everyone repeatedly for his own selfish gains or over trivial matters, the respected elders in the village would join forces to depose him.
This was the survival rule of ancient villages.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Since Zhao Xuan still intended to get by in the village, he immediately put down his bow and arrow, grabbed a thick club the size of a wrist, and headed to the village entrance to assemble.
Along the way, villagers could be seen everywhere holding shoulder poles and hoes, looking aggressive and menacing.
Barren mountains and treacherous rivers breed fierce people.
Those who weren't fierce were already dead.
When Zhao Xuan arrived at the village entrance, he saw from afar a group of strangers, in twos and threes, guarding every intersection holding long spears and steel sabers.
There was also a group of bailiffs armed with iron-reinforced staves, ordering the arriving villagers to drop their shoulder poles and hoes and line up in a single file.
Whenever any villager showed dissatisfaction or dragged their feet, the bailiffs immediately stepped forward and met them with a flurry of blows and kicks.
Using vicious officials to govern stubborn people was simply a match made in heaven.
Realizing that the situation was turning sour, Zhao Xuan involuntarily slowed his pace.
This lineup was even bigger than that of three years ago when the crops failed and the grain tax could not be collected.
His gaze pierced through the crowd and spotted a table set up in the open space, piled high with chicken, duck, fish, meat, and wine.
A burly man in lavish clothing sat there with an imposing posture, tearing off a chicken leg and devouring it in large bites.
The village chief, nearly forty years old, stood to one side nodding and bowing, with a faint red handprint still visible on his face.
Good grief, even the village chief—who could act like a tyrant covering the sky with one hand in Dishan Village—had been struck.
The situation was far worse than Zhao Xuan had imagined.
Scolded by the bailiffs, he dropped his wooden club, lowered his head, and hid himself among the crowd, keeping an extremely low profile.
This was hardly the familiar battlefield he was used to, nor did he have the advantage of being in the dark while his enemies were in the light.
Every single one of these men looked fierce and vicious, armed with sharp blades, and they were simply not people he could afford to provoke.
After a while, the burly man, having eaten and drunk his fill, wiped his hands and asked, "Has everyone arrived?"
"I'll go count."
The village chief hurriedly went to take inventory and came back to report, "All one hundred and twenty-six households of Dishan Village have sent people here."
The burly man beckoned to his subordinates.
Immediately, someone took out several portraits and shouted loudly, "Half a month ago, a group of people passed through Dishan Village. These are their portraits."
"Whoever among you has seen them and can tell us which direction they went will be rewarded with a hundred copper coins."
"Whoever can help us find them will be rewarded with ten taels of silver."
Under heavy rewards, brave men will naturally appear.
The villagers, who had previously been as docile as quails and frightened by the grand display, instantly boiled over at these words and crowded forward to take a look.
Zhao Xuan deliberately lagged half a step behind before pushing forward with the rest.
Sure enough, those who rushed to the front and nearly caused chaos were beaten back across the head and face by the bailiffs.
"One by one! No shoving!"
With his sharp eyes and quick wits, Zhao Xuan recognized from afar that the portraits depicted Young Master Hu Si and his companions.
Yet he put on an act of staring at them for a long time, and under the urging of the bailiffs, gave the same answer as the other villagers—that he had never seen them—before reluctantly leaving.
Clearly, Young Master Hu Si had gone missing, and in this era of isolated information, the Hu family had realized something was wrong and come looking for them.
Among them were strong young men dressed in gray clothes, who should have been servants of the Hu family.
The bailiffs were probably helpers the Hu family had enlisted through connections.
And that burly man in lavish clothing was the person in charge.
According to Chen Ergou's account, the village chief must have seen the people from the Hu family.
Just as Zhao Xuan thought of this, he heard the village chief step closer and say, "Aren't these the folks who came by some time ago saying they wanted to go up the mountain to hunt tigers?"
Instantly, everyone's gaze fell squarely upon him.
The moment the words left his mouth, a trace of lingering regret flashed across the village chief's face.
He suddenly realized that he seemed to have walked right into a huge disaster.
The burly man let out a sinister laugh, grabbed the village chief by the collar, and practically hoisted him into the air: "You old rascal, you knew and didn't say so earlier, making me go to all this exhausting trouble to gather everyone here!"
"Speak, where did they go?"
Choked until he could barely breathe, the village chief decisively sold out Chen Ergou: "There's someone in the village named Chen Ergou who knows the mountain paths well. He led them up the mountain, and I haven't seen them come back since."
The burly man dropped the village chief and turned to face the crowd: "Where is Ergou?"
The crowd automatically parted, making way for Chen Ergou's parents.
When a clan faces a danger sufficient to destroy the entire community, and selling out an individual can buy safety for the group, the outcome goes without saying.
Before the burly man could even signal, two men in gray dragged the couple right up before him.
"Are you Ergou?"
The burly man looked at Chen Ergou's father.
Old Man Chen shook his head hurriedly: "I'm Ergou's father. Ergou went missing half a month ago."
With that, he glared fiercely at the village chief: "So Ergou's disappearance had something to do with you all along! No wonder when I asked you to help mobilize the whole village to search for him, you made all sorts of excuses."
"You beast! Ergou called you uncle for over a dozen years, how could you bear to harm him?"
The village chief defended himself: "Those people looked like they were either wealthy or noble, and I thought Ergou was going to live the high life following them. How could I have known they weren't good people?"
Before he could finish speaking, he took a heavy slap across the face from the burly man.
The burly man glared viciously at the village chief: "What do you mean they aren't good people? They were all people from my Hu family, and my own nephew was among them."
"If we can't find them, you're dead meat."
The village chief was stunned. With such a massive fanfare and even the bailiffs mobilized, weren't they hunting down bandits?
Seeing the burly man's livid expression, he suddenly realized that catastrophic disaster was upon him.
He lunged forward to grab Old Man Chen by the collar and said viciously, "Quickly speak, where did Ergou take them? Make him bring them back immediately, or people are going to die, you understand?"
Old Man Chen roared, "How would I know where they went?"
Of course the village chief knew Old Man Chen had no idea, but he had to say it anyway.
He only hoped to shift all the blame onto Chen Ergou's family so that he could be safe.
What did clan brothers matter?
If it could buy safety for his own family, they could all drop dead for all he cared.
The burly man sneered, shattering his illusions: "None of you are getting away."
"Lock up the entire family of these two and interrogate them thoroughly."
"Constable Zhang, I must ask you to report this matter to Head Constable Yu and have him arrange for a tracking expert to come to this village to help hunt down the whereabouts of the missing people from the Hu family."
"As for you lot of worthless scum, stay in your homes starting today and wait to be summoned. Anyone dares to sneak away will have their legs broken at the very least, or be beaten to death with no questions asked."