After returning home, Jiang Chen first put away one fish, then carried another toward Village Chief Old Jack's house.
Speaking of which, Old Jack was his lifesaver. Back then, he had lived together with Old Jack until he was three years old. After he began cultivating that evil technique, the entire village regarded him as a plague god.
Even Old Jack could no longer bear it and would fall seriously ill every few days. Eventually, Old Jack could endure it no longer, so he gave Jiang Chen the most remote courtyard and had him live there alone.
Jiang Chen also knew that he had brought harm to the villagers, so he held no resentment toward their exclusion.
After he had cultivated successfully and his abilities greatly increased, he learned to hunt and had caught plenty of game to give to the villagers, but they all refused it mercilessly.
The villagers' fear of him had reached an unimaginable level. They not only dared not approach Jiang Chen, but they even dared not accept the game he sent, afraid that they would be tainted with bad luck because of it.
The only ones who were not so afraid of him were Old Jack and the Tang San family.
Every time he caught some wild game, he would send some to Old Jack. Old Jack also felt greatly gratified by Jiang Chen's behavior.
Along the way, anyone who encountered Jiang Chen, whether women going out to wash clothes, men carrying farm tools preparing to work, or children who had just woken up and gathered to play, all avoided him with fearful eyes, terrified of being contaminated by misfortune.
"He's a scourge, a jinx!" The women whispered among themselves.
Some children even threw stones at him from far away, but how could they possibly hit Jiang Chen?
Jiang Chen suddenly turned his head and made as if to pounce, instantly frightening the group of children into shrieking and scattering in all directions like frightened birds.
"Heh, with just that much guts you still want to mess with me?" Jiang Chen shook his head and smiled. Usually scaring these ignorant little brats was actually a kind of amusement for him.
Old Jack's house was located near the center of the village. It didn't take long before Jiang Chen arrived there.
At this moment, the morning sun had already risen. Old Jack knew how to enjoy life; he had moved a bamboo recliner early in the morning and was lying slantwise in the courtyard basking in the sun.
"Grandpa Jack!" Jiang Chen called out from far away.
Hearing Jiang Chen's voice, Old Jack's body trembled almost imperceptibly. Then he quickly stood up, dashed to the courtyard gate in one go, and deftly locked the door. The whole set of movements was smooth and seamless, completely unlike what a sixty-something-year-old man should be capable of.
After closing the door, he retreated a few steps before finally letting out a long sigh of relief.
Jiang Chen was already accustomed to this sight and felt no anger in his heart. He quickly walked to the courtyard gate and stopped.
"Grandpa Jack, I've come to bring you some fish."
"Mm, Little Chen is really a good child. Just hang the fish on the gate; I'll take it in myself later." Old Jack stayed five meters away from the gate, not daring to get too close.
Jiang Chen skillfully hung the fish on the door handle. Looking at this large courtyard where he had once lived for three years, a trace of nostalgia appeared in his eyes.
From the time he was still a swaddled infant crying for milk, Old Jack had already picked him up and raised him for three years.
It was said that he was an abandoned child. Back then, he had been discarded outside Notting City. When Old Jack found him, he was skin and bones, only the size of a rat, with breath as faint as a thread.
Old Jack had once thought Jiang Chen wouldn't survive, but unexpectedly, he stubbornly pulled through.
Moreover, according to the villagers, on the very day Old Jack picked him up, dark clouds covered the entire village, thunder roared, as if the gods in heaven were furious, scaring many people.
So later, when Jiang Chen cultivated that evil technique and brought disaster to many people, the villagers connected his evilness with the thunderous sky that day, believing he was a person abandoned by the heavens, which was why even the heavens themselves were enraged.
Jiang Chen naturally did not believe these legends. He was perfectly fine—just a child—how could he possibly provoke the wrath of heaven?
...
After hanging the fish on the door, Jiang Chen turned to leave, but then he remembered something very important.
"Grandpa Jack, when will Su Yuntao come?"
"I've told you so many times, be polite and call him Lord Su Yuntao, got it?" Old Jack scolded.
Then he continued, "Lord Su Yuntao will arrive at our village the day after tomorrow. You should come and awaken together then."
Jiang Chen immediately felt something was off and asked suspiciously, "Grandpa, did you forget about me? If I hadn't asked today, were you planning not to tell me that the awakening ceremony is the day after tomorrow?"
Old Jack coughed dryly a few times to cover his embarrassment. "I'm old, my memory isn't what it used to be."
Jiang Chen was somewhat speechless. "Fine then, I'll head back first. The day after tomorrow, I'll be there on time for the awakening ceremony."
"Go on, go on." Old Jack waved his hand repeatedly.
After Jiang Chen had left, Old Jack quickly opened the gate and happily brought the big fish inside.
"I really didn't misjudge him back then. Little Chen really is a good child." Jiang Chen would send him these nutritious wild delicacies every few days, making him feel that picking up Jiang Chen all those years ago had been a very wise decision.
Jiang Chen, who had already walked far away, twitched his ears and heard Old Jack's muttering to himself. A faint smile appeared on that somewhat handsome little face.
Clang… clang… clang…
The sound of blacksmithing rang out. Jiang Chen stopped in his tracks and looked toward the head of the village.
There were three simple adobe houses there. Above the central house hung a wooden sign with a crude drawing of a hammer.
Jiang Chen knew that was Tang San's home. At this time, Tang San should be practicing blacksmithing. The slovenly blacksmith Tang Hao wouldn't get up until noon.
He had never approached that place. He was the only one in the village who knew Tang Hao's true identity, that was an incredibly powerful Titled Douluo. Right after stepping into the Titled Douluo realm, he had defeated a group of Titled Douluo from the Spirit Hall and even hammered the former Pope until he was severely injured and on the verge of death.
If Tang Hao also viewed him as a scourge like the other villagers and hammered him to death with one strike, that would truly be unjust.
After returning home, Jiang Chen ate that fish, then fell asleep. This was his habit: daytime was not suitable for cultivation. Apart from eating, drinking, and other necessities, he usually stayed inside the house sleeping.
It wasn't until evening that he slowly woke up. After simply preparing dinner, he lightly leaped and landed on the roof, waiting for night to fall.
Finally, the setting sun sank behind the great mountains, and the bright moon also poked its head out from the horizon. Another wonderful night had descended upon the land.
Jiang Chen began cultivating toward the newly risen moon. As his technique circulated, strands of moonlight that were difficult for the naked eye to see poured down from the sky and were absorbed into his body.
His pupils instantly turned pitch black like ink. His originally short fingernails rapidly grew, reaching more than an inch long, jet-black and incomparably sharp at the tips.
Two pure white little tiger fangs strangely lengthened, protruding from his tightly closed lips, adding a touch of cuteness to his handsome little face.
A wisp of black qi seemingly from the depths of the nine hells emanated from his body, swirling around him. His small frame appeared faintly within the black qi, somewhat eerie and terrifying.
Absorbing the essence of the moon, Jiang Chen felt completely refreshed and immersed himself in cultivation.