Chapter Seventeen Harvest

  Finally getting rid of those overly enthusiastic uncles, Gan Ping followed Mr. Zhang back to the private school. Mr. Zhang didn't ask much, just casually instructing him to rest well, but the meaningful glance he gave before leaving made Gan Ping wonder if Mr. Zhang knew he was telling a lie? Thinking about it, these words could fool the villagers, but how could Mr. Zhang not know about his daily cultivation when they spent every day together? Smiling and shaking his head, Gan Ping stopped thinking about these things. Since Mr. Zhang didn't expose him on the spot, it meant he wouldn't reveal his lie. Anyway, Gan Ping firmly believed that Mr. Zhang would never harm him.

  After such a hard fight, Gan Ping saw his own shortcomings. Recently, he had been slackening off, practicing day and night in the mountains, but after arriving at Majiacun, his speed had slowed down a lot. The comfortable life made him forget about danger, but today's battle made Gan Ping, who was still somewhat complacent, calm down, realizing that he was nothing after all.

  Today, just a second-order demon beast almost killed itself. What about the more powerful ones? If encountered, would it still be as lucky as today, suddenly bursting out and killing them? It seems that this world is not as imagined, full of crises, only when one's own strength is sufficient can they grasp life and death in their own hands.

  At this moment, the unyielding conviction of Xuan Mingzi and Huo Longyuan's divine spirit finally merged into one. After arriving at Ma Jia Cun, Gan Ping had also thought about spending his life in such a way, peaceful and calm, plain and simple. However, after the demon beast attacked the village this time, he truly realized that it was not the life he wanted. Savoring the thrill of victory and the pain of the great battle with Tie Jia Kui Niu, who wouldn't like the taste of being a winner?

  Gan Ping stopped thinking and sat cross-legged, his five hearts facing the origin. He began today's cultivation by running the Bing Fire Fusion Decision once, carefully experiencing the difference from before. Having reached the peak of the Iron Cutting Realm, he clearly felt that this run of the decision was much faster than before, and the spiritual energy absorbed from around him was several times stronger than before. His heart couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement - at this rate, it wouldn't take long for him to reach the Jade-Cutting Realm, where he could absorb various true fires and refine them, cultivating a Dragon- Patterned Bing Fire Origin Seal. Only then would this technique be considered to have entered the gate.

  Even so, Kan Ping clearly felt the increase in physical strength, and his body's intensity was now more than double its original value. His power was enough to rival that of a giant. Kan Ping believed that if he were to meet Tie Jia Kui Niu again, without relying on the Dragon Clan's combat skills or techniques, he could defeat it with just his own strength alone.

  After checking the progress of Binghuo Rongyuan's decision, Gan Ping stopped and began to cultivate Minghun Huasitu, opening the storage ring as soon as possible is the most urgent and important thing at present.

  The bodies of the two demonic beasts were still in the village. The next day, Old Horse Head gathered all the men in the village and dragged the bodies to the small square on the west side. Then they began to repair the damaged walls and gates. This time, the village suffered heavy casualties, but fortunately, it was a defensive battle, otherwise, there would have been more deaths and injuries. The top priority now is to repair the damaged walls and gates, and to settle the villagers whose houses had collapsed. As for the two demonic beasts, they were frozen stiff and didn't rot or stink, so there was no need to rush.

  After three days of continuous busy work, the damaged wall was barely repaired. The collapsed houses were used to build walls directly. With one side of the wall missing, the village was extremely unsafe. A large gap appeared in the wall body, and even the village became much colder. Finally, the wall that allowed monsters and cold winds to enter at will was repaired, and a stone in the hearts of all villagers fell to the ground.

  After the wall was repaired, it was time to divide the spoils. The iron-armored Qiu Niu was nearly three zhang tall and five zhang long, weighing several thousand catties. Its iron armor made Old Horse Head and all the hunters anxious, even in death, this demon beast's iron armor was still so sturdy. In the end, they had to use a crude method, calling for saws and large axes, and after expending the strength of nine oxen and two tigers, they were finally able to dismember this massive creature.

  Every household received dozens of kilograms of beef, which was a rare opportunity for ordinary people to taste the meat of a demon beast in their lifetime. The demon beast had been absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth every day, its flesh contained a large amount of spiritual energy, it was extremely nourishing. In Xiaoyue City, only high-ranking officials could eat this nourishing demon beast meat, now that every household has received dozens of kilograms, how can these villagers who rarely see meat be surprised?

  This iron-clad buffalo is a treasure trove, its hard armor can be made into armor, its tough tendons can be used to make crossbow strings, its rich blood and energy are just the right medicine to supplement the deficiency of innate energy and blood. The long tail, whip, and hooves are all silver in the eyes of old horse head, who knows how many years this fierce buffalo has lived, and from its abdominal cavity, a piece of cow bezoar weighing over ten kilograms was dug out, shining brightly like gold, truly priceless.

  Even if every villager had distributed dozens of kilograms of meat, the iron-plated Kui cow still had most of its meat left. Under the leadership of Old Horse Head, the villagers skinned and dismembered this enormous monster, leaving only a huge cow head. The hardest part of the iron-plated Kui cow was the pair of horns on its head, which were also good things in the eyes of blacksmiths. As long as these horns were removed, ground into powder, and sprinkled with a little bit when casting weapons, ordinary weapons would immediately become divine swords, truly extraordinary.

  Although the effect of the cow bone is not as good as this pair of horns, it is also a good material for making weapons. Looking at these things in front of him, Old Horse's eyes laughed so hard that they almost became a slit. The entire Ma family has been iron-making for generations, how could they not know the preciousness of these things? With these, Old Horse can already imagine the prosperity of Ma Jia Cun in the future, how can he not be happy?

  Finally, the ghostly blood wolf was also taken care of. The originally spacious small square was already filled with piles of demon beast materials. The precious ones didn't need to be mentioned, just the leftover demon beast meat, transporting it to Xiao Yue City would be enough to exchange for a year's worth of expenses for the entire village. It seems that they could have a good year after all.

  That night, every household had a savory aroma wafting from their homes, and the entire Majiacun was enveloped in a rich meaty fragrance. Gan Ping also ate a few pieces of Tie Jia Kui Niu's meat, feeling that this demon beast's meat was indeed extraordinary. The texture and flavor were not to be mentioned, but with just one small piece of meat going down his throat, a surge of heat rose up, spreading throughout his limbs and bones, truly greatly nourishing.

  The next morning, Old Horse Head got up early and personally drove the cart to transport the remaining demon meat to Xiao Yue City. By the time he returned in the evening, he had pulled a whole cart of New Year's goods. Seeing the villagers' faces filled with joy, Old Horse Head thought of Gan Ping but didn't see him among the crowd. Ignoring the children asking for firecrackers, Old Horse Head headed towards the private school.

  As soon as the door was pushed open, two bookworms of different sizes were seen holding a book each, looking at it. Old Ma smiled and said, "Mr. Zhang, with all the commotion outside, you don't want to go out and take a look?" Mr. Zhang saw that he had arrived and said, "I don't like the noise, I'd rather stay home and be quiet." "Hehe, I forgot about this. The meat of this monster has already been sold, and it's almost New Year's. It was sold at a good price, and I brought back a big cart of goods for the new year. Later, I'll have someone send some over to you." Seeing that the two bookworms didn't say anything, Old Ma turned his head towards Gan Ping. What a great kid, knowledgeable and reasonable, with a strong physique too! He secretly thought to himself, "My granddaughter Ling'er is about the same age as this kid... why not discuss a marriage arrangement with Mr. Zhang? Maybe it'll work out." As he thought of this, Old Ma's gaze towards Gan Ping changed, looking at him like a grandfather looking at his future grandson-in-law, and the more he looked, the more he liked him.

  Gan Ping was sized up by Old Horse's playful gaze, feeling a bit unnatural, and hastily said: "Hello, Uncle Ma." Old Horse looked him up and down again, smiling and saying: "Gan Ping, I sold the meat of that Iron Shell Kui Cow. That thing can't be kept for long, the remaining materials are still on the square side, I came to ask you how you plan to deal with these things. Since you killed that demon beast alone, these materials are yours. However, there's a rule in the village: when a big game is hunted, each household must get a share of the meat. So yesterday, I took the liberty of letting each household take a piece back, and what's left is all yours."

  Here is the translation:

  Gan Ping had been so focused on his cultivation over the past few days that he had completely forgotten about the Iron Armor Qiu Niu. It wasn't until someone mentioned it that he remembered, and he said: "I don't need the materials from that Iron Armor Qiu Niu either, you can just keep them for me. If anyone needs them, they can go ahead and use them." With the memories of Xuan Mingzi and Huo Long, two great masters, he didn't think much of the materials from this small second-tier demon beast. A few ordinary innate masters could hunt it down, so in his mind, it wasn't anything special. However, he hadn't thought that even a big shot like Yan Rong would only have two or three innate masters at most. These masters weren't something you could find on the side of the road; they were extremely rare and precious. If not for his repeated lucky encounters, Gan Ping would also be helpless against the Iron Armor Qiu Niu.

  Seeing Gan Ping casually discard those materials, Old Horse's head was about to speak but stopped, seeing Gan Ping's continuous light tone, he only then remembered that the child in front of him couldn't be measured with ordinary logic. At such a young age, he already had such strength, and naturally, the materials for this second-tier demon beast were not worth mentioning. Thinking of this, his idea of wanting to make friends with Gan Ping became even stronger. Looking at these two bookworms who seemed to have no interest in anything else, Old Horse told Mr. Zhang that he would go to his house to drink wine tonight and then retreated, busy with his own affairs.

  He saw him leave, but didn't pay attention to it, and started searching on the bookshelf. He was able to kill that demon beast all thanks to the fire dragon's inheritance of the "Blazing Dragon's Fusion Origin Technique". However, in the fire dragon's memories, he discovered something very interesting - this fire dragon wasn't a living being from this realm, but rather came from another space known as the Nine States. That space was filled with powerful beings and masters, where ancient times saw the rise of the witch and demon tribes, who dominated the desolate wilderness. Later on, the two tribes went to war, resulting in the downfall of the Witch Ancestor and Demon Emperor, after which humanity rose to power, becoming the rulers of heaven and earth. In the fire dragon's memories, those great witches and demons could move stars and seas with a mere thought, their powers shaking the heavens.

  This memory made Gan Ping feel a strong sense of yearning, thinking that the fire dragon was also a master of the primordial spirit, and in comparison, he was like an ant, relying only on his innate spiritual species and long life to step by step reach where he was today. In Gan Ping's view, since Xuan Mingzi could summon this fire dragon with secret methods into this space, it was possible that someone else had done something similar before, perhaps leaving some clues in this world. Every time he had a break from his cultivation, he would flip through those books recording strange and miscellaneous talks, wanting to see if there were any leads, but unfortunately, Mr. Zhang's place had fewer books, and there were no leads at all.

  Days passed day by day, and the New Year arrived quickly. Gan Ping also grew one year older and was now ten years old. For other children, this age was still a time of innocence and play, but after experiencing these successive events, Gan Ping's mind had long surpassed that of ordinary children.