Two points of Fortune consumed.
At the point of concentration, the white silkworm baby seemed to wriggle a bit, as if it had come to life.
Then it stopped moving.
In the subtitles, the talent "Trace Origin and Steal Fortune" flashed with a burst of golden light...
The golden light scattered in his mind, Chen Ping's vision blurred for a moment, and the scenery changed dramatically, with loud shouting ringing in his ears.
"You bastard, Number Two, don't waste time, hurry and kill Shopkeeper Shen, damn it, there's even a repeating crossbow..."
The voice was very familiar.
Amidst cries of lamentation and sorrow, Chen Ping realized this was a wilderness.
A dirt road stretched into the distance, with green hills faintly visible on both sides.
At the site of an overturned carriage, a plump middle-aged man in landlord's clothing was holding a small crossbow arrow, shouting wildly: "Shoot you dead..."
Unfortunately, his words were fierce, his weapon, the repeating crossbow, was fierce too, but his skills weren't up to par.
His chubby body really lacked agility. Just after shooting one person down, a burly bearded man rushed in like a fierce deity and split him in two with a single slash.
The one shouting earlier was none other than Chen Ping's old acquaintance, Boss Yan.
His two palms swelled up, turning a bluish-black, and with a slap, he struck the chest of a man dressed as a guard, nearly piercing it through... His figure shot forward like a tiger, killing two more in quick succession, and his companions cheered loudly behind him.
Subsequently, the five men slaughtered all the men in the merchant caravan, dragged the women into the woods, and after violating them, gathered the corpses to feed the wolves.
From the setting sun in the west until deep into the night, these bandits returned to their city residence through the sewer system. Afterwards, they divided the silver and celebrated with a feast.
Chen Ping's perspective remained fixed three feet above Boss Yan's head, watching these men commit evil, witnessing their gains and celebrations...
'The Trace Origin and Steal Fortune of the Spring and Autumn Silkworm extracts past time segments from the dead opponents, allowing me to experience them firsthand.'
He realized that earlier he seemed to exist in an invisible state, unable to interfere with anything. He could hear sounds, see images, and discover some of the most hidden things, but he couldn't stop them.
'This is the use of Fortune. Trace Origin and Steal Fortune, did I seize nothingness...'
'It's alright for investigating cases, but not very useful. Boss Yan is already dead, could there be deeper meaning?'
Chen Ping grumbled silently.
It wasn't until he saw in the picture that Boss Yan hid a stack of golden leaves, small bags of silver, and that ten-shot repeating crossbow in a small hole at the bottom of the wall under his bed that he suddenly understood.
'That's it, the so-called fortune-stealing and destiny-changing doesn't depend on the size of the opportunity but on what the current body needs to maximize the opportunity.'
'Boss Yan and his men actually didn't have very strong fortune; their skills, just some superficial external hard skills, spear and saber technique, vaguely resembled military arrays and weren't worth the attention. However, this job they did earned them gold and silver and a repeating crossbow, which is the greatest opportunity for me right now.'
Thinking about his own situation, Chen Ping's heart pounded heavily.
During the day, Zuo Duanshou went to buy medicine, and he only prescribed ordinary wound medicine. It wasn't because there were no better remedies, nor was it that he didn't want the body to become stronger quickly and recover peak strength.
It was simply that financial capability didn't allow it.
He had only a few taels of silver; those wild ginseng, Chinese fleeceflower root, and other powerful vitality-boosting herbs were unaffordable.
So, wanting to heal his injured leg quickly and strengthen his body, money is the key.
Also, most importantly, that repeating crossbow that can be strapped to the forearm...
It looks very small, but its power is actually very strong.
In the picture, the middle-aged man shot an arrow, and someone flipped over and fell on the spot.
However, his accuracy was lacking. He only managed to pierce the opponent's shoulder. The next two arrows missed completely, which was unfortunate.
The man's skills weren't great, but the item was very good.
Of course, in others' hands, it might not deal with masters, unless it was used for an ambush.
But Chen Ping was different.
Back then, he made a name for himself with the Eight Trigrams Step and a short spear.
His figure moved like a ghost, his spear strikes lethal. In complex environments, even if ten people held the best weapons, they weren't his match.
Spear techniques, footwork, and body technique were ingrained in his bones, instant attacks were beyond words to describe.
Half of his skills were truly in the spear.
Combined with the strange and swift Eight Trigrams Body Step, he had matchless deterrence.
Right now, there's no spear.
But there's a crossbow...
'If I can get these things, the injuries will heal quickly, and the body will recover sooner. Moreover, obtaining the repeating crossbow for protection, although it may still not contend with formidable masters, using terrain and body and footwork, my attack power would be more than doubled.'
'Thus, this is the opportunity.'
'It's the most suitable thing for me at the moment.'
Chen Ping's eyes gleamed with anticipation. He remembered, the courtyard he had just exited from was next to the street, with rippling river water across, willow trees by the riverbank, and an old locust tree in the yard, visible from afar.
...
The next day, the weather was clear.
Hua Lian'er and the others couldn't sleep early, busying themselves with preparing food.
Chen Ping, on the other hand, wasn't in a hurry, slowly adjusting his qi and blood in the courtyard, exercising his muscles and bones.
Mainly squatting on his left leg and doing handstands to build arm strength, plus the regular practice of walking in circles.
The skill of the Eight Trigrams Palm lies mostly in walking in circles.
If practiced to the level where the body moves like a dragon or snake, striking in all directions without any blind spots.
The requirement for body technique is extremely high.
Even now, with one leg unable to exert strength, he persisted in practicing.
Feeling the heat rolling in his body, his qi and blood boiling, and seeing sunlight spill into the main room, they finally tidied up their things and returned to the performing place from the day before.
"Here they come, here they come, it's them, that song was sung so well, even better than Yuang Monarch at Jadeite Tower."
"I was waiting since early dawn before the light came up, funny thing, these little beggars aren't even anxious to earn silver..."
"Sir has money, sing quickly, I won't withhold the reward!"
"Don't push, don't push, you're stepping on my foot, you fat ass."
...
The surroundings were a cacophony.
Just after their performance started, they were immediately surrounded by a large crowd.
As Chen Ping spoke a few opening words and beat the rhythm of the General's Order, the surrounding noise quieted down.
"Seventh Brother, will you be singing a new song today?"
Despite the boisterous and coarse shouts from the "song fans" around them, Hua Lian'er didn't feel uncomfortable at all, instead feeling a bit excited and eager to perform.
The day before, she had pestered Chen Ping to learn the new song "Shuidiao Ge Tou," and wasn't able to fall asleep until late at night, humming incessantly, keeping Chen Ping from calming his mind for a long time.
Seeing the crowd now, she wanted to show off.
"No rush, the heat for "Farewell" hasn't subsided, just look at these people, it can still last for a while, let's sing it first."
"Then listen carefully."
Hua Lian'er raised her eyebrows in a showy manner, her eyes flickering as she glanced at Chen Ping. With the clinking rhythm, she opened her cherry lips lightly, her singing soft and charming, moving the listeners to tears.
'Ah, it's even better than yesterday, by a margin of three. Once her identity was revealed, she stopped hiding?'
Listening to the song, Chen Ping wondered to himself.
It's likely that Zuo Duanshou and the Kuihua Brothers had guessed she was a girl, but didn't expose it.
Hua Lian'er continued to pretend to be a tomboy, as if no one knew.
Since she was exposed, she no longer hid her features... As she sang, her voice turned and twisted, sorrowful but not hurting, with an underlying tone of reunion after separation, deeply moving.
As Chen Ping accompanied with percussion, he glanced around and saw people shedding tears, some with snot running down their faces, unaware, others with eyes lost, as if entranced, and more with drooling expressions, swallowing frantically.
No, the desire in their eyes was too intense, like they wanted to devour someone, what's that about?