yasinovel Chapter 57 New Year's Eve
Chapter 57 New Year's Eve
Chen Luo looked closely and realized that it was Liu Tao, the one who had greeted him at Licheng Martial Arts Academy.
What's Liu Tao doing here? He was taken aback. He had noticed someone nearby, but hadn't looked closely. He hadn't expected it to be this person.
Under the cover of night, Liu Tao was also holding a knife, with a wild boar carcass behind him. His face was somewhat blurred in the darkness, but even without relying on his vertical pupils, Chen Luo could sense that he was looking at him.
At this moment, Chen Luo understood that the horse frames he had seen earlier, besides those from Qingyun Martial Arts School, included several others, which must have come from Liu Tao and his private school disciples.
He was not surprised by this, because in both private and charitable schools, there were many disciples whose Nine Yang Strength was stuck at a bottleneck. These people would occasionally try to participate in some life-and-death battles in order to find an opportunity to break through.
For example, when he was questioned by the mountain guard at the back of the mountain guard team, after he revealed his strength of the fifth level of strength, the mountain guard did not stop him anymore.
On one hand, it was because of his fifth level of strength; on the other hand, the mountain guards thought he was a disciple of a private school and wanted to use the monster tide to break through to the next level.
Liu Tao clearly came here for this reason; he had been trapped in the Sixth Level of Strength for a long time.
Chen Luo figured out why Liu Tao had come here, while Liu Tao couldn't understand why Chen Luo was there.
The night was dark, and he only noticed Chen Luo a few moments before, having not noticed Chen Luo slaughtering the wild boar.
Upon seeing Chen Luo, Liu Tao narrowed his eyes, a hint of murderous intent flashing within them, yet he also felt a restless urge to act.
He knew that Chen Luo had recently broken through to the fifth level of strength, and his progress was incredibly rapid. If nothing unexpected happened, he would be able to join the Qingyun Martial Arts School in no time.
Although he had expressed goodwill to Chen Luo, this did not mean that he truly wished Chen Luo well.
If Chen Luo were to actually join the Qingyun Martial Arts School in the future, he wouldn't gain any benefits. On the contrary, if Chen Luo were to die here today, it might allow some of the resources that Huang Mingyuan should have given to this person to flow out.
In addition, he already loathed this person from the bottom of his heart. The inspirational story of a poor farmer who gradually rose to prominence was an encouragement to the students of the free school, but for him it was almost a mockery.
It was late at night, and the distance between the front and rear lines was considerable, making it the perfect opportunity for a killing.
Most importantly, killing Chen Luo would be easy. After all, he was at the sixth level of strength, while Chen Luo was at the fifth level. With one slash, Chen Luo would definitely not have the strength to defend himself. The odds of victory lay with him.
As Liu Tao thought this, his murderous intent intensified, and he tightened his grip on the long knife in his hand.
For some reason, just as he was about to make his move, an uneasy feeling arose in his heart, preventing him from immediately killing Chen Luo.
This omen seemed like a warning sign, but Liu Tao felt it was more like a pang of compassion within him. He was immediately surprised, never having imagined that he was a person with principles. After struggling for a moment, he finally sighed, cursing his inexplicable kindness, and decided to spare Chen Luo's life.
He then sheathed his knife, silently retreated into the night, and returned to the rear.
Chen Luo was unaware of Liu Tao's thoughts, but he could clearly sense the fleeting murderous intent in him. He had been on guard, but he did not expect that the other party would turn around and leave directly.
"Gone?" Chen Luo raised an eyebrow, pondered for a moment, but did not chase after them.
After resting for a while, he returned to the rear and joined the team to hunt down the wild boars. Before long, all the wild boars were killed, and no more wild boars were sent to the front line. It seemed that this wave of monsters was over.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before the mountain guards on the front line arrived one after another to provide support. However, they were all surprised to find that the battle on the rear line seemed to have ended even earlier than theirs.
"Xiao Chen?"
Just as Chen Luo was about to go home to change his clothes, someone called out to him. He turned around and saw that it was Liu Zhengshan.
Liu Zhengshan was accompanied by Wang Lan, and the two appeared to have come from the south. Upon unexpectedly seeing Chen Luo, their eyes fell on his blood-stained coat, and they immediately became anxious and hurried over.
"Why are you bleeding so much!" Wang Lan's voice was strained, and Liu Zhengshan's face was also full of anxiety. "Where are you hurt? Quickly bandage it up and stop the bleeding!"
"I'm fine, the blood on my clothes is just animal blood," Chen Luo explained with a smile. "Brother Liu, Brother Wang, you guys came from Nanshan, right? Did something happen there?"
Wang Lan, still worried, pulled open his collar to examine him closely. Only after confirming that he was truly unharmed did she breathe a sigh of relief. "Beishan and Nanshan are both fine. We were ordered to come and provide support."
With that, he slapped Chen Luo hard on the back of the head, "The monster tide is none of your business to show off. Our Mountain Guard isn't just for show. If anything happens to you, your future will be ruined!"
"That's right." Liu Zhengshan also said in a deep voice, "You have been practicing martial arts at the martial arts school, and at most you have only gone up the mountain to catch snakes. You have never experienced a proper fight, nor have you ever trained deliberately. It is really reckless of you to face these ferocious beasts rashly."
"I understand." Chen Luo smiled helplessly.
His martial arts talent was gradually becoming apparent, which Wang Lan and Liu Zhengshan naturally knew. Therefore, they were worried that he would become arrogant and get injured, ruining his bright future.
But the truth is he probably killed more wild beasts tonight than any of the Mountain Guards, but he simply doesn't have the energy to explain much right now.
After enduring a few scoldings, he no longer needed to go home to change clothes. Liu Zhengshan found him a new overcoat, and the two of them solemnly gave him a few words of advice. Just as they were about to leave to deal with other matters, someone else came looking for them.
"How are you?"
It was the same mountain guard who had thrown the knife at Chen Luo earlier. He came up to Chen Luo and was about to say something when Liu Zhengshan and the other man beside him saw the mountain guard and their expressions immediately turned serious.
"This subordinate greets Captain Lan!"
Chen Luo was taken aback and looked at the mountain guard in surprise. He did not expect that the other party was the captain of the Mountain Guard Division, a position second only to the deputy commander and the commander.
"Liu Zhengshan, Wang Lan?"
Captain Lan then noticed Liu Zhengshan and his companion. His gaze fell on their light armor, which was neatly dressed and unstained by any blood.
His face immediately darkened. He stared at the two of them, suppressing his anger, and asked in a deep voice, "Did you just arrive?"
"yes..."
Liu Zhengshan responded, hesitating as if to explain, but was interrupted by Captain Lan's angry roar, "The demon beasts have all been wiped out, how dare you only arrive now!"
"Reporting to the captain, we arrived earlier, but were stopped by Captain Zuo." Wang Lan quickly explained, "Captain Zuo thought we would only cause trouble and get injured if we went, so he ordered us to guard the outer perimeter while he led his men to provide support."
"Zuo Yong?" Captain Lan paused, a hint of doubt in his eyes.
The Captain Zuo they were referring to was another captain of the same rank as him, Zuo Yong.
Liu Zhengshan and Wang Lan were both at the third level of strength, and they were mainly responsible for logistics, so they were indeed prone to injury when dealing with demonic beasts. But since they were already here, there was no reason for them to retreat. Moreover, both of them were under his command, so even if they were to retreat, it should not be Zuo Yong who gave the order.
Moreover, Zuo Yong is as brave as his name suggests. He is fierce and courageous by nature. He would dare to charge into a lion and tiger tide by himself, let alone wild boars. How could someone with such a personality allow his subordinates to retreat outside?
The anger in Captain Lan's eyes gradually subsided. He silently looked at the blood-soaked snow and the wounded mountain guards all around him, realizing that Liu Zhengshan and his companion weren't lying; he had simply forgotten it was New Year's Eve, while Zuo Yong remembered. The brothers shouldn't have been here tonight.