darknovel #122 - Back to the village
#122 - Back to the village
Chapter 122: Back to the Village
Again, it was a feast. Zhang Chen and Cheng Yu ate heartily, their mouths greasy with food, before extinguishing the lights and going to bed.
Zhang Chen had been tormented by pain for the past seven days and hadn't had a good night's sleep. And what about Xiaodouding?
Xiaodouding, in order to take care of Zhang Chen, had also been working day and night for seven days, developing dark circles under her eyes, and naturally hadn't slept well either.
The two of them, full and satisfied, lay in bed embracing each other. Zhang Chen seemed to be holding his own daughter as he fell into a deep sleep.
Time flew by, and suddenly a bell rang outside the door. Zhang Chen was jolted awake. It was the morning bell, but Zhang Chen was too sleepy to get up. So, he nudged Cheng Yu: "The morning bell is ringing. Get up and wash up quickly."
"I'm so sleepy. Don't push me. I'll sleep a little longer. I won't wash up this morning. There's still time," Xiaodouding mumbled sleepily, swatting Zhang Chen's hand away, and said grumpily.
Silence fell in the room. Zhang Chen didn't get up either. Last night, he had traveled through the dark world, studying the world barrier and thinking about ways to break it. His energy was almost completely depleted, and he was very tired.
He didn't know how long had passed, but suddenly, at some point, Xiaodouding abruptly kicked off the quilt, then sat up, her voice filled with horror: "Zhang Chen! Get up quickly! We overslept!"
As she spoke, her little feet kicked Zhang Chen frantically, and then she stepped over Zhang Chen's body, picked up her shoes from the ground, and started running without bothering to put them on properly.
She had been working for seven days, and her fingers were blistered. She didn't want to continue working for another seven days.
"Damn!"
Zhang Chen on the bed woke up with a start, also sat up, grabbed his shoes without a word and put them on haphazardly, then chased after Xiaodouding, his clothes disheveled.
The two of them ran all the way, only to find the Taoist temple empty and deserted. At this moment, they felt even more uneasy and quickened their pace.
Zhang Chen took the lead and directly picked up Xiaodouding, carrying her on his shoulders, running wildly for his life. Who likes to work? Even practicing martial arts was delayed.
Zhang Chen's speed was very fast. He rushed through the halls like a whirlwind. In the distance, he saw that the senior brothers had just lined up and hadn't started their martial arts practice yet.
"We're not late this time," Zhang Chen secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Stop!"
Unexpectedly, just as he stepped into the gate of the martial arts field, the Elder of Discipline shouted with a gloomy face.
Zhang Chen had to stop, his eyes looking towards the Elder of Discipline, only to see the Elder of Discipline looking down at the incense burner placed on the table in front of him. At this time, the flame in the incense burner had almost burned out, with only the last bit of red light struggling and flickering tenaciously.
"Late!" The Elder of Discipline looked at Zhang Chen and Cheng Yu with dissatisfied eyes.
"There's still a little light," Cheng Yu stared at the dim red spot and said crisply to the elder.
As soon as the words fell, the remaining embers of light burned out, completely plunging into darkness.
"It's extinguished now." The Elder of Discipline looked at the incense, a serious expression on his face: "You don't have to attend morning class today, and you're not allowed to eat breakfast. Stand here until noon."
Zhang Chen was speechless when he heard this, then led Cheng Yu, who was like a disgruntled quail, to the platform of the martial arts field, and obediently stood up straight in front of the three thousand disciples.
Zhang Chen was speechless, feeling like when he was in school in his previous life, he was late for morning exercises and was caught by the teacher, then punished to stand in front of the podium.
Facing the strange gazes of the three thousand disciples, Xiaodouding gritted her teeth in hatred: "The incense was clearly only a little bit away from being extinguished. The Elder of Discipline is too unreasonable."
Then Xiaodouding lowered her head, her soles rubbing hard against the ground, seemingly venting the dissatisfaction in her heart: "It's too embarrassing! It's really too embarrassing!"
"What's so embarrassing about it? How many people in this world are going to pay attention to you? We have to live our own lives," Zhang Chen's skin was very thick, comforting Xiaodouding.
Cheng Yu kicked Zhang Chen's foot angrily when she heard this, and said angrily: "It's all your fault for making so much noise last night, causing me not to sleep well."
Zhang Chen glanced at Xiaodouding when he heard this, always feeling that something was not quite right with her words.
"Don't you want to make noise?" Zhang Chen hinted, asking Xiaodouding if she didn't want to eat meat?
Xiaodouding was defeated when she heard this, then lowered her head and puffed out her cheeks. Although being late was very embarrassing, she smiled again when she thought about being able to gnaw on meat tonight.
At this moment, the Elder of Discipline walked onto the high platform, his eyes looking at the three thousand disciples in the martial arts field, his face gloomy: "In the past two months, two extremely serious and heinous incidents have occurred in the Taoist temple. Someone actually went to the kitchen in the middle of the night to steal meat, not to mention knocking out the disciple guarding the kitchen, causing the kitchen disciple to bleed from the back of his head. It's simply outrageous!"
"I know that one of you must have stolen the meat. Not only did you dare to steal meat in the middle of the night, but you also dared to injure the guarding disciple. It's simply outrageous! I have already ordered people to go to your rooms to search for evidence. I want to see who is so bold and dares to do such a thing. If I find evidence, I will definitely break your legs!" The Elder of Discipline's voice was full of coldness.
Zhang Chen was shocked when he heard this, not expecting the fox spirit's old habits to return.
Xiaodouding kicked Zhang Chen's ankle at this time, and then the two of them looked at each other. A hint of worry appeared in Xiaodouding's eyes, but Zhang Chen smiled slightly, revealing his white teeth, which made Xiaodouding stunned: "Zhang Chen, you seem to have become different."
The Zhang Chen in front of her seemed to have become different in Xiaodouding's eyes. His skin was too delicate, too white!
So delicate that you couldn't see the pores, his skin was white and rosy, so smooth that you could squeeze water out of it, seeming even smoother than her own skin.
"What's wrong with me?" Zhang Chen asked in surprise.
"Your family's genetic disease is so good. How can I get your family's genetic disease? I hope that when I get older, I can have skin as delicate as yours," Xiaodouding's eyes were full of envy.
Zhang Chen raised his palm and looked at it. His skin was indeed unreasonably delicate, even to the point where all the pores on his body had disappeared. The skin on his body seemed to have become a whole, sealing all the essence within his body.
"What are you thinking about at such a young age?" Zhang Chen glared at Xiaodouding unhappily. This girl seemed particularly precocious, starting to care about her appearance at such a young age.
Today's martial arts practice was suspended, and even the morning class was suspended. It wasn't until the sun was high in the sky that a disciple of discipline hurried over from afar, lowered his head to the elder's ear, and whispered for a while.
The elder frowned upon hearing this, a gloomy look appearing in his eyes, a storm seemingly brewing within: "You all are quite capable, handling things so cleanly and efficiently. I, this old man, have truly learned something today. But you best pray that you leave no trace each time. If I discover it again next time, it won't be just a matter of breaking a leg or two."
"Disperse!"
The Enforcement Elder coldly snorted, flicked his sleeves, and turned to leave.
As the Enforcement Elder departed, the disciples dispersed, their gazes sweeping over Xiao Dou Ding and Zhang Chen, as if they were the underachievers being gawked at in later generations. Zhang Chen didn't care; he had lived two lives, so what was there to take to heart? However, Xiao Dou Ding beside him was overwhelmed with shame, lowering her head to look at her toes.
Once everyone had left, Xiao Dou Ding glared at Zhang Chen, annoyed: "It's all your fault, making me lose so much face."
"Oh? Then will you still want me to call you next time we eat meat?" Zhang Chen asked with a smile.
"If you dare not call me, I'll let you know what it means to receive 'care' from a senior sister," Xiao Dou Ding said, waving her fist, which was as big as a sandbag.
It wasn't until noon that the two of them, carrying rice buckets, ran towards the kitchen.
Fortunately, they weren't late this time. Each of them held a bucket of porridge and two steamed buns, returning to their house to feast.
However, after taking a couple of bites of the steamed bun, Zhang Chen directly put down the rice porridge and steamed bun, handing them to Xiao Dou Ding: "I can't eat anymore!"
He had eaten stewed meat and noodles late at night; it would be strange if he could still eat steamed buns and rice porridge.
Xiao Dou Ding also put down the wooden bucket, which was bigger than her face, with the rice porridge untouched, then stroked her bulging little belly: "Turns out being too full is also a very uncomfortable thing."
"You can practice martial arts to digest. I'm going upstairs to catch up on sleep. You clean those two temples for me; I've done seven days of chores for you, so you have to pay me back," Xiao Dou Ding said, clutching her stomach and shuffling upstairs.
Once Xiao Dou Ding had walked far away, Zhang Chen closed the door and summoned the Fox Fairy Nannan.
"Your little senior sister is acting strangely," Fox Fairy Nannan said directly.
"Of course, I know something's not right. Who has ever heard of a five-year-old achieving Transformation Strength, unless their spiritual realm is profound to an unpredictable degree?" Zhang Chen said, annoyed.
After complaining, he looked at Fox Fairy Nannan and scolded: "This time you stole meat, the job was done too crudely. If I hadn't been careful, I'm afraid we would have been exposed."
"Then I won't steal it next time?" Fox Fairy Nannan looked at Zhang Chen unhappily. Did she want to steal meat? Clearly, someone was instructing her to do the dirty work, right?
"I'm just reminding you to be gentler in your methods and do things more beautifully next time," Zhang Chen quickly changed his tone.
"Hypocrite! When I move things from your house, I'm detestable, but when I move things from other people's houses for you, it's perfectly justified. Hehe, men!" Fox Fairy Nannan's voice was full of sneering.
Zhang Chen ignored Fox Fairy Nannan's ridicule, instead pondering the matter of learning to read and write from a teacher.
Next, he needed to analyze the Yellow Court Scripture and study the path of Qi Refiners. He needed to personally interpret such important texts, not daring to entrust them to others. If there were any mistakes or if he were misled, it would be a disaster.
"I wonder where there are private schools, even if it costs a little more money, it doesn't matter."
He was asking the Fox Fairy this question, after all, since he had the Fox Fairy, he had never worried about money.
The Fox Fairy shook her head: "There are no private schools in your county! Not to mention your county, there aren't any in the entire Northern Lands! How can commoners and merchants be qualified to study? Large families do have clan schools, but they only teach the children of large families. Ordinary people, no matter how rich, have no chance to squeeze into that circle."
"Then I can only focus on Mr. Wu Liu? I have a life-and-death feud with that Zhang Xiaohua, even if I want to seek a teacher to learn to read, I need to go incognito. Also, I don't know what the situation is like at the battlefield where the Flood Dragon walked. I remember Zhang Shicheng's dragon body was left behind? I wonder if there's a chance to get some dragon meat to taste,"
Zhang Chen's mind flickered with thoughts, he was a little concerned about that Flood Dragon's body.
"How far is this place from my hometown village?" Zhang Chen looked at the Fox Fairy.
"Huang Li Temple is outside the Prefectural City, about five hundred li from your hometown," the Fox Fairy said.
Zhang Chen smiled upon hearing this. A distance of five hundred li would have been very far for him in the past, but now he could transform into a vampire bat, and a mere five hundred li was just an hour away.
"Which direction is it in?" Zhang Chen asked again.
Fox Fairy Nannan pointed out the direction, then said to Zhang Chen: "This Huang Li Temple is a bit strange, you should find a chance to run away as soon as possible, it would be bad if you get involved."
Zhang Chen ignored Fox Fairy Nannan's words, he knew Fox Fairy Nannan was afraid that something would happen to him and implicate her. However, he had no intention of leaving Huang Li Temple. There was a mysterious power here, perhaps there would be a chance for him to discover more mysteries. Especially since even a Qi Refining technique like the Yellow Court Scripture had been created, Zhang Chen had to find a way to excavate the tomb where the Yellow Court Scripture came from, maybe there would be new gains.
He casually transformed Fox Fairy Nannan into a rune and stored her in the Dragon Qi. At this time, having made a plan in his mind, he carried the broom all the way to the temple. After cleaning the temple, seeing that it was still noon and there was still time, he immediately came to a dense forest in the Taoist temple. He opened his Eye of Law to investigate, and after not detecting Wu Elder's aura or the incense aura of the gods, he directly transformed into thirty-six vampire bats and dispersed. Passing through the trees in the Taoist temple, in just over thirty breaths, he had bypassed the trees, mountains, and rivers, flew out of the Taoist temple, and then scattered into the mountains.
He didn't dare to fly in the high sky, flying in the high sky was too eye-catching, and there were also sparrowhawks and other natural enemies of bats. He wanted to act in a low-key manner.
Soaring among the mountains and rivers, the flying speed was indeed very fast.
In addition to the wide field of vision in the high sky, an hour later, Zhang Chen had already seen the familiar mountain peak, transformed into a human form and landed in front of the karst cave.
The bumblebees were still there, and the beehive had become quite large.
The falcon was so hungry that it was skin and bones, like a skeleton.
The bumblebees sensed Zhang Chen's aura and immediately swarmed over, directly surrounding Zhang Chen, emitting an aura of closeness.
Zhang Chen looked at the bumblebees surrounding him, a helpless look appearing in his eyes: "Aren't there tens of thousands of these bumblebees? They are actually still alive and well in such a great drought year, it's really not easy."
Fortunately, there was still water flowing in the karst cave, so he wasn't afraid of them dying of thirst.