While Li Dashan and Huang Xiaoru remained fraught with anxiety, three days quickly passed.
Almost everyone in the village now knew of Li Chang'an's heroic feat. A two-and-a-half-year-old child had single-handedly killed six or seven armed adult men, including the infamous Han the Eighth—a man whose very name struck fear into their hearts...
It sounded completely unreal.
Yet it was the truth. Many villagers had seen with their own eyes that Han the Eighth and his men had all died at Li Dashan's home!
For a time, the village was abuzz with all sorts of rumors. Some villagers claimed Li Chang'an was the reincarnation of a Divine Monarch, while others said he was a Child Prodigy who practiced an Immortal Technique, sent to execute the cruel officials who preyed on the common folk.
The theories were endless...
In truth, an act like this would have likely caused a massive uproar at the county or even provincial level.
But in a village where most people were illiterate, the common folk found it perfectly reasonable!
After all, they weren't worldly. When faced with something they couldn't explain, blaming it on things like 'Gods' or 'ghosts' was never the wrong answer!
It was then that Sanhuang County Town finally noticed something was amiss. They dispatched a team of a dozen or so government officials to Li Family Village to inquire about the whereabouts of Han the Eighth and his men.
Although the villagers had already circulated a dozen or two versions of the story among themselves, they would never report the truth to this pack of beasts in official robes.
They told the officials that Han the Eighth and his men had collected the 'tribute silver' three days prior and left that same afternoon.
The team of government officials then headed out in the direction the villagers had pointed.
Before long, by a desolate field, they found five or six severely decomposed and mutilated bodies. Next to the bodies was a chest, carelessly tossed into the mud, containing the silver coins Han the Eighth and his men had collected.
Under these circumstances, there was almost no need for further verification. The government officials all guessed that Han the Eighth's group must have been attacked by some demonic evil from the nearby mountain forests. Otherwise, if humans were responsible, they wouldn't have left the silver taels behind.
The twists and turns of a typical detective story never materialized. After finding the silver taels, the team of government officials quickly closed the case and returned posthaste with the money.
No one conducted a detailed investigation.
Or rather, that group of government officials couldn't have cared less.
Their primary mission was to find the silver coins. It would have been better if the men were fine, of course, but if they were unlucky enough to be killed by some demonic evil, the most the officials would do was notify the families to come collect the bodies.
As for hunting down the demonic evil?
Ordinarily, the county might have sent a few people to put on a show of searching the area.
But recently, Magistrate Chai was busy collecting money and grain for the 'Sacrifice to the River God'. While Han the Eighth was alive, he was valuable for his ability to collect funds. Now that he was dead, he was useless. He wasn't worth making a big fuss over.
Thus, the incident seemed to blow over peacefully. Only Li Xiao, Li Dashan, and Huang Xiaoru remained anxious and deeply worried.
There was a simple reason for this.
During this time, Li Xiao and Li Dashan had inquired about Han the Eighth's family background. They learned that when he was young, he had joined the army with two of his clansmen brothers, with whom he was very close.
Eighteen years ago, an Alien Race from the Land of the Far West launched the Shanhai Campaign. The Yaoqing Imperial Court suffered a crushing defeat and failed to repel the Alien Race.
To continue its hedonistic rule, the Yaoqing Imperial Court chose to retreat. Not only did it accept the Alien Race's exorbitant war reparations, but it also proactively disbanded some of the armies that had participated in the Shanhai Campaign as a form of apology.
It was then that the three Han brothers, who lacked connections in the military, became the unlucky ones and were discharged.
The second brother, Han Li, and the third, Han Fei, were more talented in the Martial Dao. After returning, they opened a martial arts dojo in the neighboring county town and were now doing quite well for themselves.
Han the Eighth, however, was less talented. Unwilling to depend on his brothers, he resolutely returned to Sanhuang Village to handle some of the County Magistrate's unsavory business. The three of them still met up every ten to fifteen days.
Now that Han the Eighth had died under mysterious circumstances, if his two brothers, Han Fei and Han Li, heard the news, they would very likely come looking for the truth.
Although Li Xiao felt he had covered their tracks cleanly, there's no such thing as a perfect secret. Besides, so many villagers had seen Li Chang'an kill the men. If someone investigated thoroughly, the truth was bound to come out.
Li Chang'an, however, felt little pressure about this.
Even if Han Fei and Han Li really did come knocking, it wouldn't matter to him.
'It would just mean a few more bodies in the woods, that's all.'
During this period, he became a master of time management, dedicating every day to cultivating diligently in the courtyard, his schedule packed tight.
Since he had already revealed a glimpse of his abilities, he no longer needed to hide his cultivation from his parents. Li Chang'an would wake up before dawn every day, sit cross-legged outside the courtyard gate to perform Energy Introduction, and expand the Qi vortex within his body.
The Qi vortex was the fundamental source of his Extraordinary Power, so Li Chang'an spent the most time on it each day, often sitting cross-legged for three to five hours at a stretch.
Around ten in the morning, Li Chang'an would stop absorbing Qi Force and begin practicing his Cultivation Techniques.
During his previous battle with Han the Eighth, his Heaven-defying Comprehension had allowed him to grasp two Cultivation Techniques: the Ghost Gate Thirteen Blades and the Purifying Heart Technique.
Of the two, the Ghost Gate Thirteen Blades was remarkably powerful in combat.
Li Chang'an picked up a wooden stick from near the gate. As he executed the thirteen strikes, his Sword Technique formed a blade momentum, which then stacked upon itself. Each successive strike was more cunningly angled and carried more force than the last.
The final strike was powerful enough to shatter Gold and split stone!
And this was with Li Chang'an's physical conditioning and internal Qi circulation still unable to keep up.
If he were an adult and armed with a sharper long blade, the lethality of this Cultivation Technique would be terrifying. It would be no exaggeration to say he could fell an opponent with every strike.
In contrast, the Purifying Heart Technique was purely a supportive Technique.
But even for a supportive Technique, nothing produced by his Heaven-defying Comprehension was weak.
In this world, there are a thousand paths and ten thousand Laws.
It's no exaggeration to say that many paths, when pursued to their absolute limit, can lead to a different form of Divine Communication.
However, the vast majority of people in this world do not possess the special talent for being 'completely focused and free from distractions'. When many endeavors don't yield short-term rewards, even those with a strong Will are bound to become discouraged.
For a Cultivator, impatience and restlessness are the greatest taboos.
The Purifying Heart Technique was a Cultivation Technique for adjusting one's mentality and calming the spirit. By using a special Heart Method Mantra to bring peace and tranquility to the mind, it could effectively prevent a Cultivator from becoming impatient or suffering from cultivation deviation.
Seeing how focused he was on his training, Li Dashan and Huang Xiaoru had even seriously considered sending him to a martial arts dojo in the county town to practice the Martial Dao.
This idea even received Li Xiao's support.
However, Li Chang'an refused.
With his current strength, if he actually went to a dojo, he'd probably scare a lot of people. Hiding in the courtyard and cultivating on his own was not a bad thing.
As for finding a master to study under, Li Chang'an already had his own goal in mind!
...