Don't Panic

Hearing Qiao Zhi's question, Chu Qiguang smiled and said, "First of all, I don't believe in the Heavenly Master Sect, nor do I hold any deep-seated hatred toward demons and monsters. Besides, didn't you say that humans and demons were originally one and the same? Humans can undergo demonization to become monsters, monsters can cultivate into human form, and they can even bear children together. In my eyes, the boundary between human and demon is inherently blurred. "Secondly, as for the imperial court, if what you said is true and this Great Han Dynasty will fall in forty-eight years, then given how the court is gradually losing control over the localities, their suppression of monsters must already be waning. "Could it even be that people within the court are already colluding with monsters?" Watching Chu Qiguang's gaze, which seemed capable of seeing right through his soul, Qiao Zhi cried out in astonishment once again, "How did you guess that?" Chu Qiguang stroked Qiao Zhi with his right hand, smoothing down from his head all the way to his tail. "Didn't you tell me all of this? But most importantly of all... when I was at my most helpless and in the greatest danger, Master Qiao, it was you who helped me. You are my benefactor." Rubbing Qiao Zhi's chin with his fingers, Chu Qiguang smiled and said, "We'll be good friends for life, won't we?" "Mm-hmm, mm-hmm!" Meeting Chu Qiguang's gaze, Qiao Zhi nodded vigorously. "Of course! We will definitely be best friends for life!" Yet in his heart, he thought: 'Has Chu Qiguang figured out my background? But I'm famously tight-lipped and never said a thing—how did he guess? This guy really is something. 'Damn it, why am I scared of him again? Don't be afraid, Qiao Zhi! You're fighting so that all the cats of the world can stand tall! 'Still, if he's already guessed, maybe I can drop a few more hints here and there? We're already good friends now... I actually became good friends with Chu Qiguang... I'm so damn incredible, I could sing my own praises to the sky!' While Qiao Zhi silently hyped himself up, Chu Qiguang was already nearing his home. From a distance, he could see his younger sister playing with Qiao Zhi's stray cat subordinates, Yudan and Jinxiu. Upon returning home, however, Chu Qiguang did not tell his mother and sister about the three hundred taels. For one thing, explaining it would be far too troublesome; for another, with their limited perspective, they might end up doing more harm than good. So Chu Qiguang kept forty taels of silver on his person, dug a hole in the courtyard to bury the rest, and only then entered the house to prepare for his daily Daoist meditation. Yet after only a few steps, his face turned pale, and he secretly cursed his luck. "Fuck! Another flare-up." Just as Chu Qiguang's face drained of color and broke out in cold sweat, Ergou's younger sister climbed up from the kang bed and shouted, "Brother, you're back? Do you have diarrhea again?" Chu Qiguang glared at her irritably. "Shut up and go to sleep." Ergou's mother also woke up nearby. She was very concerned about where Ergou had gone today and why he had returned so late. Chu Qiguang brushed her off with a few perfunctory words and left the house under the pretense of having to relieve his bowels. Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Chu Qiguang panted heavily and muttered, "No, I have to deal with this immediately. But in the dead of night..." Chu Qiguang looked around. Almost the entirety of Wang Family Village lay blanketed in pitch darkness. With no entertainment to speak of in the countryside at night, most villagers had gone to sleep long ago. 'If there really is no other way, I can only...' At this thought, Chu Qiguang turned to look at Qiao Zhi beside him. Qiao Zhi tilted his head and looked at Chu Qiguang. "Meow?" Yet the moment Chu Qiguang walked out the front door, someone's gaze locked firmly onto him. Hiding behind a tree, Chen Gang slowly drew out the stone hidden in his shirt, his eyes full of resentment as he stared at Zhou Ergou. Earlier at the Wang manor, being savagely beaten by Zhang Da right in front of Zhou Ergou had filled Chen Gang with bitter resentment toward Ergou. "I don't know what trick that Ergou used to hoodwink Master Wang. If you ask me, we should have just knocked him out with a stone! Make him sell his land if we want him to sell land, or make him sell himself into servitude if we want him to sell himself—what's with all these damn formalities?" Having grown up alongside Ergou since childhood, he knew what kind of person Ergou was better than anyone: a useless coward whom he had bullied for as long as he could remember, someone who wouldn't utter a peep even if you kicked him around. And so, after being thrown out of the Wang manor, the more Chen Gang stewed over it, the angrier he became. He had waited all this time for Ergou to return home, determined to knock him senseless with a rock and drag him back to the Wang manor, just to prove to Zhang Da and the Wang family that he had been right all along. ... Meanwhile, Chu Qiguang grew increasingly agitated. Driven by his mental affliction, a wave of ferocious hostility surged within his chest, demanding release. He was itching to barge into a neighbor's home right that second and tear into them with a barrage of curses—or even beat them black and blue. After walking a dozen more meters, Qiao Zhi's voice suddenly rang in his ears: "Someone's behind us." Chu Qiguang turned around and saw Chen Gang tailing him suspiciously not far behind. Seeing Chu Qiguang turn, Chen Gang raised a stone high above his head and charged straight toward him. Seeing this, Chu Qiguang felt a sudden jolt. 'Chen Gang? Why is he here? Did what I pulled at the Wang manor blow up?' Alarmed by the thought, Chu Qiguang turned on his heel with practiced ease and ran. 'Did the Wang family lay an ambush for me? Or the authorities? The Daoist temple? That doesn't make any sense.' All sorts of possibilities flooded his mind, temporarily suppressing even his mental flare-up. On the other side, seeing him run, Chen Gang gave chase with even greater fervor. "Ergou! If you've got any balls, don't run!" Chu Qiguang only ran faster, asking Qiao Zhi as he sprinted, "Qiao Zhi, check quick—who else is out there? Who made a move against us? Where can we run where there are fewer people?" Hearing Chu Qiguang's question, Qiao Zhi leapt onto a dirt wall. His eyes, gleaming with green reflections, swept in all directions, and his ears pricked up high as he listened to every sound around them. Qiao Zhi said in confusion, "There's no one else lying in ambush." "Just him alone?" Chu Qiguang realized what was going on in an instant. He screeched to a halt, turned around to face the pursuing Chen Gang, and felt the hostility in his chest surge with renewed fury. Qiao Zhi: "Do you want me to take care of him?" Chu Qiguang: "Don't panic when trouble comes. He's just a nobody. What were you panicking for? You made me run all this way." Qiao Zhi: "Bah!" Chu Qiguang: "Watch me handle him." As the hostility surged inside him like a tidal wave, his expression gradually turned sinister. Clenching his fist, he accelerated, explosive power bursting from beneath his feet. His first step surged toward Chen Gang; with his second step, he was already within two meters of him; and as his third step came down, his right fist struck out with tremendous momentum. In this three-step sprint, his fist drove forward like an artillery shell blasted from a cannon barrel—it was the Heavenly Spirit Body Tempering Fist that Chu Qiguang had been cultivating day and night. In this single punch, Chu Qiguang drew power straight from the soles of his feet. Rising from the ground, the force surged seamlessly through his legs, spine, shoulders, and arm like a fierce tiger descending a mountain, unexpectedly stirring up the faint rumble of wind and thunder. Bang! Accompanied by a sharp crack of detonating air, Chen Gang didn't even have time to react. His vision blurred, and Chu Qiguang's punch slammed directly into his chest, blasting his entire body into the air before crashing heavily onto the ground. Seeing this, Qiao Zhi narrowed his eyes, which instantly contracted into vertical slits. 'A punch that cracks the air, Qi Coursing through the Entire Body? The first stage of martial arts? He reached it just like that? Without even using any medicine? What the meow...'