My Cultivation Techniques Upgrade Automatically

Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Loves to Talk Big

"There are more of them now."

Wu Chen scanned his surroundings. Seeing the countless shimmering green glows, his heart sank.

Ever since the night he started traveling with Liu Linshan and his daughter, he had noticed deep green eyes in the darkness, spying on the refugees under the cover of night.

As expected, they were the Demon Corpses Liu Linshan had mentioned.

Moreover, they were all Demon Corpses that had achieved a certain level in Martial Arts.

From three on the first day, to five on the second, and now... a whole crowd of them.

Wu Chen did a rough count of the flickering eyes.

Over twenty of them!

Their numbers had truly skyrocketed.

Fortunately, the refugees fleeing through here all had some foundation in Martial Arts to protect themselves.

This was the only reason the Demon Corpses were wary and hadn’t broken through the veil of night. They merely spied from a distance, only occasionally appearing to devour those who fell behind the group.

"Young Master Wu, there’s no need to worry. As long as we stick close to the group, these demonic creatures won’t dare to rashly attack the crowd."

Liu Linshan was naturally aware of the Demon Corpses in the night. They had followed the fleeing masses, eating their fill along the way. Seeing Wu Chen’s worried expression, he offered some words of comfort.

But Wu Chen shook his head. "Master Liu, I’m not worried about the Demon Corpses."

"Not the Demon Corpses..."

Liu Linshan thought Wu Chen considered him and his daughter a burden and was about to offer some sort of apology.

But he saw Wu Chen, whose gaze was still fixed on the distance, meeting the eyes of the Demon Corpses, speak in an indifferent tone:

"Earlier, when there weren’t so many Demon Corpses, I was planning to go and test my mettle against them."

"But now, I’m not so confident."

He waved his hand, said no more, and just continued onward with the father and daughter.

Wu Chen was telling the truth.

Ever since he learned from Liu Linshan that the Demon Corpses here were mutated from evil men who practiced Martial Arts, his mind had been racing with possibilities.

Wu Chen guessed that these Demon Corpses must be carrying the Martial Arts and Cultivation Technique manuals that these practitioners had studied in life.

’Not everyone is like me, able to learn Martial Arts after seeing it just once,’ he thought. ’They would surely carry their Martial Arts Manuals on their person to review and study them often.’

’In that case, killing monsters to get Martial Arts loot seems perfectly reasonable.’

But Wu Chen didn’t dare to take the gamble. If he had gone to slaughter those few Demon Corpses at the beginning and failed to get any Martial Arts drops...

...leaving the helpless father and daughter to be harmed by bandits and robbed of all their possessions, it would have been a catastrophic loss!

’Martial Arts... where can I get my hands on some Martial Arts!’ Wu Chen sighed deeply in his heart.

"Alone... to kill demons?"

Wu Chen had said it so casually, but Liu Linshan and his daughter, walking behind him, were stunned.

They had seen for themselves how formidable these Demon Corpses were, especially Liu Linshan.

Having suffered at their hands, he had a vivid memory of the Demon Corpses’ methods.

If not for his background as a Hunter, having battled beasts in the mountains for most of his life, his physique was far more robust than that of Martial Artists at the same level.

He would have likely lost his life to the Demon Corpses during the previous attack, rather than just getting away with an injury.

A common Martial Artist, all flash and no substance, would have had it much worse. It wouldn’t be surprising for them to end up torn to shreds by a Demon Corpse.

’Young people are all like that, aren’t they? All talk, love to brag a little.’

Watching Wu Chen’s back, Liu Linshan shook his head repeatedly. It was clear he didn’t believe a single word of what Wu Chen had just said.

It wasn’t surprising that he thought this way.

During their breaks over the past few days, he had often seen Wu Chen take the opportunity to practice with his steel saber.

His slashes were powerful, but his movements were clumsy and lacked any discernible form. He clearly didn’t know any saber techniques.

’With that kind of skill, he could kill a man.’

’Killing a demon, though? Difficult!’

In a flash, another two days passed.

In the darkness, the group spotted the silhouette of an abandoned village in the distance and quickened their pace.

The village contained forty or fifty simple houses with walls of rammed earth mixed with dry grass, and roofs thatched with wheat straw to keep out the wind and rain.

The construction wasn’t sturdy; it could barely offer shelter from the elements.

Worn down by years of wind and rain, the outer layer of many walls had begun to mottle and peel off. Some were in even worse shape, looking as if they were on the verge of collapse.

The great drought had clearly affected this area; the original villagers had long since fled.

The only ones stopping here to rest now were people like them, common folk traveling together, fleeing the famine toward the south.

"We won’t travel tonight. Let’s rest here for the night."

Wu Chen stopped in front of a courtyard gate. The father and daughter following him naturally nodded in agreement, having no objections.

But looking at the courtyard gate, which was bolted from the inside, it was clear someone had already occupied the place. This made Liu Linshan hesitate for a moment.

He understood the unwritten rules of the world.

In a masterless place like this, whoever arrived and claimed it first was the owner.

Latecomers who entered uninvited were considered to be breaking the rules.

Just as Liu Linshan was wondering how Wu Chen planned to explain their purpose to the people inside and get them to open the door...

...he saw Wu Chen bend his knees, push off, and use both his hands and feet to vault over the courtyard wall.

CLICK!

With the crisp sound of a bolt being drawn, the courtyard gate opened.

By the time the father and daughter entered the yard, Wu Chen was already striding toward the inner room.

A few moments later, he came out and said curtly to the two outside:

"Bury the bodies from inside in the backyard."

His indifferent voice sent a chill down the father and daughter’s spines.

Seeing their troubled expressions, it seemed they had misunderstood him. Wu Chen had no choice but to explain:

"The people inside starved to death a while ago. Besides, do I look like someone who kills the innocent indiscriminately?"

"No, no, you don’t." The pair shook their heads repeatedly.

Liu Linshan cursed himself inwardly for his foolishness.

’The other courtyards all had some noise, more or less, but this one was dead silent. It’s obvious the people living here met with misfortune.’

’I don’t know if it’s because of the fatigue from traveling for days on end, but for an old Hunter like me to not even notice a detail like that...’

’How muddle-headed!’

Embarrassed to have failed in his area of expertise, Liu Linshan blushed and said to his daughter:

"Weiwei, you stay here and look after Young Master Wu. I’ll go bury the bodies."

After speaking, he hurried into the inner room.

On the bed in the inner room were two emaciated figures, likely a husband and wife, who had died peacefully in their sleep, holding each other.

’In times like these, this might be a good way to die.’

Liu Linshan muttered to himself, hoisted the bodies onto his shoulders, and quickly went to the backyard, where he began to grunt and heave as he dug a grave.

In the front yard, Liu Wei used the dry firewood she had gathered along the way to start a bonfire.

The warmth from the firelight dispelled the chill that rose from the ground at night.

Wu Chen sat quietly for a while, and once he felt warm, he planned to get up and practice his saber.

’If I accidentally perform some kind of move, I wonder if it will trigger a Deep Red point allocation?’

For the past few days, he had been practicing his saber whenever he had free time. Although the panel had never once flickered, he had no intention of giving up.

But before he could get up, he saw Liu Linshan, having finished burying the bodies, run excitedly into the front yard carrying a wooden bucket.

"Young Master Wu, there’s some water in the well in the backyard! I tasted it, it’s fine, just a bit murky."

"And there was a surprise bonus!"

Hearing this, Wu Chen’s eyes lit up, and he looked at the bucket Liu Linshan was holding out.

But when he got a clear look at what was inside the bucket, his face fell with disappointment.

This half-bucket of water wasn’t just "a bit murky"...

It would be more accurate to call the contents of the bucket mud than water.

Taking in Wu Chen’s expression, Liu Linshan gently placed the wooden bucket in a cool, shady spot in the inner room and said:

"Don’t worry, Young Master Wu. We just need to let it sit for a little while. Once the silt settles, it will look much better and be safe to drink."

Wu Chen nodded, not dwelling on the water issue for too long.

He grabbed a handful of wheat grains and soybeans from his food pouch, stood up, and walked toward the outside of the house.

"Master Liu, I’m going to take a look around outside. I’ll be back soon."

"No problem, no problem. Young Master Wu, you can look around for as long as you like. My injuries are recovering well now. An ordinary person won’t get the better of me."

Liu Linshan felt a bit fortunate that he hadn’t been stingy with his silver coins before fleeing and had bought the best quality Blood Supplement Pills.

Otherwise, he really would have lost his life on the road.

"..."

At the village entrance, Wu Chen leaned lazily against an earthen wall, his steel saber tucked casually under his arm. He had a completely slovenly posture.

From time to time, he would pinch a grain of wheat or a soybean from his robes, toss it into his mouth, and chew it with a loud CRUNCH, eating quite contentedly.

With every swallow and breath, puffs of white mist escaped his mouth and nose.

While the blazing sun killed all things by day, the night brought a biting cold wind that radiated a bone-chilling cold.

"Damn these wretched days. It’s a fucking travesty."

"It really doesn’t give a person any way to live."

As the cold wind swept by, Wu Chen couldn’t help but curse.

He wrapped his layered clothing tighter around himself, but his gaze was locked firmly on the darkness outside the village.

Out there, besides the drought, the extreme heat and cold, and the lack of food and water, was an even more terrifying disaster.

From a distance, they looked like alluring, flickering fireflies, blinking in and out of existence in the dark.

In reality, they were a countdown to death, man-eaters that wouldn’t even blink.

’The number of Demon Corpses gathered now... there must be fifty of them...’

Looking at the eyes that shimmered faintly like fireflies in the dark night, Wu Chen took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the unease in his heart.

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