Chapter Seventy-Four: A Major Event in the Village

The sun was setting in the west, painting the sky with the glow of evening clouds.

On the long country road, Fang Xiao was galloping forward atop his sturdy blue donkey. The donkey’s hooves beat a steady rhythm, kicking up little puffs of dust behind them.

Before long, Fang Xiao spotted a familiar figure standing at the roadside fork on the edge of the village. The girl noticed him at the same moment, eagerly waving her arm and calling out, “Brother Fang Xiao!”

Fang Xiao patted the donkey’s neck, signaling for the beast to slow down. As he drew near, he asked curiously, “Huaihua, didn’t you go to the temple with your mother?”

Just yesterday, the Taoist Pang had helped butcher a demon boar and said he would invite Madam Qin over to prepare a pork feast. Fang Xiao hadn’t expected to see the little girl here today.

But to his surprise, Huaihua was still waiting for him!

“No,” the little girl pouted. “I had to stay home and look after Zhen, my grandmother, so she wouldn’t wander off.”

Fang Xiao leapt down from the donkey’s back. “Then let me take you to the temple now. We’ll enjoy the pork feast together.”

Huaihua’s eyes curved into joyful crescents as she flashed a wide smile. “Brother Fang, you’re so kind!”

Fang Xiao scratched his head and chuckled.

“Let me help you up,” he said, spreading his arms and gently lifting Huaihua from behind by the waist. To his surprise, he found her waist to be astonishingly slender—much more delicate than he’d ever imagined beneath her clothes.

“Mm,” Huaihua nodded, a faint blush tinting her cheeks, her eyes shimmering like clear water. But Fang Xiao didn’t notice.

“Hold on tight,” he said, hoisting her onto the donkey’s back.

The blue donkey stamped its hind legs uneasily, its furry tail flicking as if ready to bolt at any second.

“Behave!” Fang Xiao quickly seized the reins and gave the animal a firm slap on the head.

The Taoist Pang had warned him: this beast had a demon’s bone in its skull. You mustn’t spoil it. The moment it showed signs of rebellion, it must be brought to heel without delay.

Having received a smack, the blue donkey immediately shrank its head, eyes brimming with tears, and became docile again.

Fang Xiao vaulted up and settled himself securely in front of Huaihua.

He turned and said, “Hold on to my clothes—don’t fall off.”

“Alright,” Huaihua replied, blinking her bright eyes as her small, fair hands gripped the hem of Fang Xiao’s garment.

“Let’s go!” Fang Xiao gave the donkey a squeeze with his legs, and the obedient beast trotted off toward Little Jing Mountain.

Seated behind him, the little girl’s lips curled in a sly smile. She pursed her lips and called out, “Brother Fang, did you know? Something big happened in our village!”

Fang Xiao was intrigued. “What happened?”

“I heard the village chief fell ill last night with horse wind and hasn’t woken up since. Not even the doctor from the county could save him this morning. His whole family has been crying their hearts out!”

“Brother Fang, do you know what horse wind means?”

“Uh...” Fang Xiao scratched his head. “I have no idea.” Horse wind? Did he go mad riding a horse?

“But everyone’s secretly glad. They all say he deserved it!” Huaihua continued. “That village chief was terrible, always bullying us villagers. He even tried to drive my mother, my sister, and me out of the village once!”

“Well deserved!” Fang Xiao spat on the ground. He recalled meeting the village chief before—after he’d dealt with the demon fox troubling old Zhen’s family, the man had come to confront him, threatening to take him to the Taoist Pang. Later, Fang Xiao even ran into the chief’s men extorting women to collect taxes.

Such a landlord, preying upon the villagers, deserved his fate!

“By the way,” Fang Xiao remembered something. “Where’s your sister? Is she with your mother?”

He recalled that Huaihua had an older sister named Xiaodang, though he had never met her.

Sister?

Huaihua instinctively straightened her back, gripping the hem of Fang Xiao’s clothes tighter, her eyes suddenly wary. “My sister? She’s cultivating at the Daotang of Six Rivers Academy. She rarely returns home.”

“And besides, my sister really dislikes Taoist priests,” she added. “Brother Fang, if you ever meet my sister, don’t pay her any mind. Her temper’s terrible!”

“Alright, alright,” Fang Xiao nodded vigorously. He hadn’t forgotten how Huaihua once cried to him, saying her sister had snatched a candy right out of her mouth.

What kind of sister was that? Even though he’d never met her, Fang Xiao already had no fondness for Xiaodang.

Huaihua secretly let out a sigh of relief.

She went on, “Brother Fang, you have no idea how awful my sister is. Anything I like, as soon as she sees it, she has to take it for herself…”

Amidst the little girl’s incessant, chattering complaints, the blue donkey carried the two of them back to the temple.

From afar, Fang Xiao could already smell the tantalizing aroma of roasting meat.

He couldn’t wait—he leapt off the donkey, helped Huaihua down, then took her small hand in his and led her into the courtyard.

“Taoist Master!” he called.

Taoist Pang was sitting in a rattan chair, scratching his head and looking positively ravenous. As soon as he saw Fang Xiao and Huaihua arrive, he quickly wiped the drool from his mouth and coughed into his fist. “Ahem, you’ve arrived just in time. Huaihua’s mother says the food will be ready in another half a stick of incense.”

Fang Xiao could hear the bustling sounds from the kitchen, his curiosity and anticipation growing. He knew Madam Qin’s skill in the kitchen, but this would be his first time tasting a pork feast—and with meat from a demon beast, no less!

“Brother Fang, I’m going to help my mother,” Huaihua said, gently slipping her hand from his and running off to the kitchen.

Taoist Pang gave Fang Xiao a knowing, teasing smile. “Student Fang Xiao, you—”

“Taoist Master,” Fang Xiao interrupted before the other could finish his joke, “there’s something I must tell you!”

He then recounted his experience at the academy that day in full detail. He explained that he and Gao Hong were strangers, with no grudges between them, yet the man had sent someone to deliver an invitation to a victory banquet—truly baffling.

Ordinarily, Fang Xiao wouldn’t have thought much of it. But Han Dahuo’s warning had made him wary, especially since it involved the Pure Wind Temple.

After listening to Fang Xiao’s account, Taoist Pang’s face darkened. “Those old rats again. When the tiger lies low, they think he’s dead!”

He told Fang Xiao, “Make no mistake—though it seems they’re targeting you, their true aim is me!”

“I understand,” Fang Xiao replied, his fists clenched tight.

“If he dares mess with me, I’ll hit back—hard!”

Crack!

The knuckles of Fang Xiao’s right fist snapped with a crisp, explosive sound, his arm muscles standing out in bold relief, brimming with boundless strength.