SHOCK Chapter 24

The Jianghu is chaotic, a melting pot of all sorts.
The moment Zhou Wu’s identity is exposed, he will immediately become a rat running across the street, not only will the imperial court vigorously pursue him, but the major Jianghu gangs will also deeply detest the assassin organization.
There are also two major assassin organizations that will take the opportunity to kick him when he’s down.
Therefore, as long as Zhou Wu’s identity is exposed, it will mean death, with no chance of survival.
At that time, Soul Severing Cliff will not only fail to provide assistance, but will also refuse to acknowledge Zhou Wu’s identity.
Just thinking about this situation is enough to make one despair.
Zhou Wu sat in the ox cart, traveling through the wilderness. This area had not yet been affected by bandits; it was sparsely populated, as silent as a place of death.
The Great Zhou Dynasty was in a state of turmoil, the central authority almost completely disintegrated, with feudal lords in separate regimes, fighting each other.
Bandits were rampant, and the common people were in dire straits.
The villages they passed through were silent, without a single person to be seen.
Zhou Wu rummaged through his luggage. Besides two worn-out quilts, the box contained some coarse linen clothes.
Together with the tattered clothes he was wearing, they made Zhou Wu look like a bumpkin.
However, if it cannot be concealed, the job must be done thoroughly.
Under the dilapidated ox cart was also placed a rusty, chipped firewood knife.
In this chaotic world, one can never have too few weapons.
He diligently comprehended the cultivation technique, hoping to improve his strength as quickly as possible, so that he could live better in this chaotic world.
For nearly half a month, he only managed to understand that the requirement for entering the first level of the technique was speed, speed, speed.
This is important enough to be said three times; it was not his own wild guess, but a true understanding he had gained.
The Soul Startle Spike required true qi within the body. If it could be used with the Soul Cutting Technique as a foundation, it would produce unexpected and astonishing effects.
Dugou Qingping (False) had also explicitly told him that true qi could not be cultivated in a year or six months; it required long-term, painstaking cultivation.
Zhou Wu did have a baleful aura swirling within his body, but it did not obey the commands of the body’s owner, nor did it cause any trouble.
It seemed that this divine weapon, which the Mountain and Sea Tower Lord was so proud of, was temporarily just a snot worm in his hands.
Dugou Qingping (False) warned him that if he could not use this divine item within three years, she would reclaim it on behalf of her master.
Zhou Wu was depressed. Every day he ate the gruel cooked by the deaf-mute old man, which was not only coarse and difficult to swallow, but also had no taste at all.
In the wild grass-covered slopes, it was difficult to see a single large animal, which greatly disappointed Zhou Wu, who wanted to do some barbecue.
Zhou Wu also had a travel permit on him, which stated: Name: Zhou Wu.
From West Liang County, Jiang Country, farmer, age seventeen, height seven chi, dark complexion with a beard.
Dugou Qingping (False) said that it cost a lot of silver to obtain such a travel permit, and taught him to read it thoroughly and remember it in his heart.
This kind of identity was much lower than those of merchants.
But Zhou Wu couldn’t understand where exactly it was superior.
Dugou Qingping (False) told him not to be pretentious, pointing to the ox cart and telling Zhou Wu that this thing was something that ordinary people didn’t have.
Indeed, this dilapidated ox cart was equivalent to a luxury car in his world.
Seeing that the sky was gradually darkening, with no village ahead and no town behind, it seemed that he would have to sleep under the starry sky again tonight.
Only the biting cold wind passing over the slope was truly unforgettable.
While pondering the questions in the cultivation technique, the old man driving the ox cart in front turned around and “Ah, ah” called out a few times.
Zhou Wu looked into the distance and faintly saw, in the twilight, a dark mass, like a forest or a village.
Waving his hand, he told the old man to drive faster, trying to reach the village before dark to find lodging.
He really wanted a kang and a windproof house, even if it was just a thatched hut.
Driving faster, they finally drove the ox cart into a large village in the dim light.
Wild grass, earth walls, broken walls and ruins were the epitome of this village.
The creaking ox cart did not attract the barking of dogs that should have been there; the surroundings were silent.
Zhou Wu told the old man to drive the ox cart in front of a relatively intact house, jumped out of the cart, and began to knock on the courtyard door.
After only two knocks, the courtyard door creaked open on its own.
Zhou Wu poked his head in and glanced around.
There was nothing there, so he had to step inside.
The cold wind blew through the weeds and dust, looking like no one had been there for a long time.
Facing him were three thatched houses, the doors half-closed, the inside dark and empty, as if he had returned to the exam.
“Is anyone there?”
Zhou Wu shouted a few times, but no one answered.
It seemed that no one lived here.
Turning around, he told the old man to drive the ox cart into the yard, while he went into the house to prepare for sleeping.
The middle thatched house had a stove as soon as you entered, but the iron pot was gone, only revealing the black ash under the stove.
The room on the left had half a kang, half of which had collapsed.
A half-torn straw mat was still stubbornly attached to one corner of the kang.
The old man was already gathering firewood and started to cook porridge.
After the two of them ate a hasty meal and fed the ox, Zhou Wu went into the house and slept on the side of the kang, while the old man stayed close to the ox cart.
The night was deep, and the cold wind whistled through the broken windows, the surroundings were silent.
Taking advantage of the warmth of the bowl of gruel, Zhou Wu quickly fell asleep.
Suddenly, Zhou Wu’s ears perked up in his sleep; he heard a strange sound.
It sounded like an old man coughing, or like a “kakaka” laugh.
Reaching out, he grabbed the wooden stick beside him, and slowly got up from the kang.
Dark clouds obscured the moon, making it impossible to see in the darkness.
However, Zhou Wu was very familiar with this kind of darkness. According to the position in his memory, he quickly walked out of the door.
In the courtyard, the old ox was quietly chewing food in the corner, and the old man was sleeping next to it.
Everything was normal, except that the strange sound still intermittently passed over with the cold wind.
Zhou Wu stood quietly at the door, wanting to see who was putting on an act of ghosts and gods here.
His education made him uninterested in the talk of ghosts and gods, and he had never personally seen any phenomena that transcended human nature.
The “kakaka” sound was getting closer and closer. There were no footsteps, indicating that this thing was floating.
Zhou Wu felt a little nervous.
After waiting for a while, there was nothing to be seen, only a “plululu” sound, as if it was getting closer and closer to him.
Something ghostly was going on; he couldn’t see anything, so how could he feel that it was about to approach his body?
Suddenly, “kaka,” two sounds rang out in front of Zhou Wu.
Zhou Wu was startled and shivered. “Damn, when did it run into the house?”
Still brave, he turned to look.
Vaguely, in the darkness of the room, there seemed to be a shadow floating, vaguely seen, with long robes and large sleeves, fluttering in the wind.
“Hehehe…”
A series of sounds that did not resemble human voices seemed to ring in his ears.
“There really are ghosts!”