"Hah, I've been walking on this stupid road for so long and I still havn't found or seen anything!" Xue Shen shouted in annoyance until the sound of hooves echoed behind him caught his attention. Suddenly, a man shouted
"HEY!!, YOUNG MAN, WATCH OUT!"
Xue Shen turned and saw an old man atop a wooden wagon pulled by a single horse. The old man pulled at the reins, urging the horse to halt. Seeing the wagon barreling toward him, Xue Shen quickly stepped aside to avoid being run over.
"Sorry about that, young fellow, are you alright?" the old man on the wagon called.
"See! I told you, dad, you shouldn't be going so fast on the road!" another voice chimed in. A young woman leaned forward from the back of the wagon, her face full of concern. "I'm sorry, sir, about my father."
"It's quite okay, ma'am. And I'm fine, sir, no need to worry," Xue Shen replied.
The old man and young woman gave him a curious glance, looking him up and down. His strange clothes stood out, and a dead rabbit in his hand.
"You're not from around here, are you?" the old man asked curiously.
"Indeed, my friend. I was hunting in the forest with some companions, but I accidentally wandered too far and got lost," Xue Shen said smoothly, lying through his teeth.
"Oh, that's unlucky, friend! Well, it doesn't look like you have any way of getting around. Lin City is days away by wagon and even longer on foot. Why don't you hop onto the back of my wagon? We're heading to Lin City anyway. You can come with us along until we reach it!" the old man smiled warmly.
Xue Shen looked at him suspiciously, weighing his options. After a moment of thought, he said, "Since your offering, how could I dare decline, sir?" He put his fist into his palm in a gesture of respect, then moved to behind the wagon and climbed aboard. He didn't want to keep walking to "Lin City" for days, so he decided it was better to just go with them.
Once aboard, he noticed a young woman, looking about to be in her twenties, sitting across from him. Around them were boxes, barrels, crates of apples, chests, and noticed a sharp blade tucked in the corner.
"Hello, sir! What's your name?" the young woman asked shyly, her cheeks flushed as looked at Xue Shen figure.
"My name is Lan Wei, fair lady. And yours?" Xue Shen replied with a friendly smile.
The young woman's blush deepened. "O-oh, um… my name is Nan Li."
"Haha, young man, what did you do to make my daughter this shy?" the old man teased, laughing loudly at her expense.
"Father!" Nan Li covered her face in embarrassment, looking away from Xue Shen.
"What a beautiful name for a beautiful lady," Xue Shen said, still smiling. All the while, his eyes kept flickered toward the sharp blade in the corner. A dark thought stirred within him. `Could I kill theses two?'
"Th-thank you, Mr. Wei… Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking?" Nan Li said softly, still facing away from him.
"I actually don't know. I was an orphan, raised by a few kind souls. We lived like nomads, never sticking to one place."
"Oh, I see. What kind of places did you live—?"
But before she could finish her sentence. she felt sharp blade slicing her throat. This was because of Xue Shen's, when he was conversating with the lady he lunged, and seized the blade's next to him and tightly held the hilt. In a swift motion, he turned and drew the blade across her throat.
Her eyes widened in horror. Blood spilled as she struggled to breathe, she a faint whisper escaping "Wha—" before her body slumped.
the old man turned his head and saw his daughter and cried out, "Nan Li!" turning in shock. But Xue Shen was faster. The same blade that cut the girl now thrust into the old man's back.
"Uuaghh!" the old man groaned, his eyes wide. "What are you doing, you maniac?! Are you insane?!"
The wagon screeched to a halt as he stumbled off, clutching his chest. He tried to run, but age and pain betrayed him. Xue Shen leapt from the wagon, sprinted after him, and tackled him into the dirt.
"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS—WHA—"
His words didn't even register in Xue Shen mind, and he just brought the blade down again and again. He slashed without pause, cutting through cloth and flesh alike. Blood sprayed, staining his hands and face. Xue Shen didn't stop until the old man's body went limp. For good measure, he drew the blade across his throat, then slammed it down onto his skull with a sickening crack, and blood covered Zha Wei.
[Ding! 10 EXP]
[Ding! 1 exp to blade mastery]
[Ding! Level up]
[Ding! 10 EXP]
[Ding! 1 exp to blade mastery]
Xue Shen looked curiously at the new notification "Blade Mastery" but decided not to think about after disposing of the bodies. Dragging both corpses, he hauled them to the trees by the roadside, concealing them in the underbrush though their blood left a trail. Returning to the wagon, he rifled through the cargo.
Inside the chest, he found three waterskins, dried meat, a pouch of silver and gold coins, fresh clothes, shoes, a brazier, and a bucket. In the crates, he found rice and fruit, and the barrels contained nothing but water.
"Hmm… I could take this wagon straight to this Lin City… or use it to bait more travelers," he murmured, a dark smile tugging at his lips, he decided the latter being the better option.
"Stats."
[Name: Xue Shen]
[Level: 2 | EXP: 11 | 20]
[Gender: Male]
[Age: 24 | Lifespan: 70]
[Race: Human]
[Cultivation: Mortal]
[Bloodline: None]
[Physique: None]
[Spiritual Roots: 0 | Status: Rootless]
[Talents: None]
[Unspent Stat Points: 2]
[Constitution: 0.4 +^]
[Strength: 0.5 +^]
[Dexterity: 0.8 +^]
[Intelligence: 1 +^]
[Endurance: 2.8 +^]
[Perception: 0.9 +^]
[Charisma: 2 +^]
[Luck: 0]
[Skills: Blade Mastery: Level 0 | 2/10]
[Techniques: None]
After some thought, he placed one point into Strength and another into Dexterity.
[Strength: 0.5-> 1.5]
[Dexterity: 0.8-> 1.8]
Xue Shen's gaze shifted to the horse at the front of the wagon. After a moment of analyzing, he tightened his grip on the blade, deciding to kill the horse for the EXP.
"I should aim for its legs so it can't run," he muttered.
He moved swiftly, swinging at the horse's front legs. To his surprise, he cleanly chopped it off. The animal neighed and thrashed wildly, but pain and imbalance soon brought it crashing to the ground, its head bowing low. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Xue Shen struck the other leg, severing it cleanly. The horse struggled to rise, and Xue Shen's eyes narrowed as he aimed the blade higher, aiming for its neck.
With his full force, he swung, but it didn't cut cleanly; the blade became wedged in the tough flesh. Xue Shen yanked it free and swung again, but it still didn't slice completely through, though this time the blade didn't become wedged. He tried a third time, and with a final, powerful strike, the horse's neck split, blood spraying as its head was cleanly severed from its lower body, some of the blood splattering his clothes.
[Ding! 15 EXP]
[[Ding! 1.5 EXP to Blade mastery]
[Ding! Level up]
"Stats."
[Name: Xue Shen]
[Level: 3 | EXP: 6 | 30]
[Gender: Male]
[Age: 24 | Lifespan: 70]
[Race: Human]
[Cultivation: Mortal]
[Bloodline: None]
[Physique: None]
[Spiritual Roots: 0 | Status: Rootless]
[Talents: None]
[Unspent Stat Points: 2]
[Constitution: 0.4 +^]
[Strength: 1.5 +^]
[Dexterity: 1.8 +^]
[Intelligence: 1 +^]
[Endurance: 2.8 +^]
[Perception: 0.9 +^]
[Charisma: 2 +^]
[Luck: 0]
[Skills: Blade Mastery: Level 0 | 3.5/10]
[Techniques: None]
"Fuck it. Let's me go balls deep in on Strength," he muttered. A surge of power rushed through his body as he allocated the points.
[Strength: 1.5-> 3.5]
Xue Shen raised his blade high, testing his newfound strength. With one powerful swing, the blade cleaved clean through the horse's neck, splitting it into 2.
"Haha! Now that's more like it!" he grinned, savoring the rush of power.
Xue Shen began meticulously formulating multiple plans to ambush any travelers who might come down the road,but just as he was thinking, he smelled the odor on himself.
"Holy fuck, I stink. I need to remove these clothes," Xue Shen muttered. He poured water from the barrel into a bucket, grabbed the clothes and shoes from the chest, and headed into the forest to clean himself off.
After he cleaned himself and put on the new clothes and shoes, he started thinking again.
Ten minutes of careful consideration later, he settled on a few strategies. His first plan, if the incoming wagon carried only a handful of people, he would use the wagon as a blockade, and once they stopped, he would lure them into the forest using the blood trail, then strike them mercilessly once they were isolated among the trees.
His second plan, if the group was too large to successfully eliminate one by one, he would draw them out of their wagons, seize their supplies, and leave them stranded while keeping their wagon and goods for himself. He also planned to return later, once they had run out of food and weakened from thirst, since he intended to taint all the water in the barrels with spoiled rabbit blood, leaving them vulnerable to food poisoning, infections, and disease. Also because he would burn most of the all of food in the brazier, leaving only a small portion for himself to live off of while waiting. At that point, the large group would be too weak to resist, and he could finish them with ease. His plans were foolproof.
He even considered urinating and defecating in the barrel of water, but decided against it, as he wasn't that much of a FREAK.