Chapter 2: Erasing the Traces

“Young Master, I will go find some more firewood,” Qian Biao said.

“Go ahead,” Su Tang nodded.

Qian Biao turned and walked into the woods. After a moment, holding a wooden stick, he appeared tiptoeing behind Su Tang. Qian Biao’s pupils contracted slightly, veins popped on his forehead, and his hands gripping the stick were covered in cold sweat.

It was not because Su Tang was power ful. Everyone in Little Forest Castle knew that Young Master Su was lazy and ignorant of basic things. If he didn’t have a good family background, he would be considered a waste. Qian Biao’s nervousness came from the fact that if he swung this stick, he would completely overturn deep-rooted ethical norms and destroy the foundation of his life for the past ten years. He was a servant of Little Forest Castle and had to be loyal to the Su Family. Therefore, although Qian Biao was ready to act, he still could not make up his mind.

Su Tang felt nothing and continued roasting leopard meat.

Qian Biao instinctively held his breath, and the wooden stick trembled slightly in his hand. Should he do it or not? If he didn’t… his life would not change, and he would have to be a slave to others for the rest of his life. Moreover, that man was an Elder of the Tie Family from Changshan County! If the matter leaked, Little Forest Castle would surely face total destruction, and he wouldn’t be able to escape. If he did… he could join the Tie Family. The old man had already said that even if he were the most useless, he could become a town guardian. He would become a top figure within a hundred miles and bring honor to his ancestors!

The distance between Qian Biao and Su Tang gradually shrank. He froze for a moment, then suddenly grit his teeth. He remembered something his master had once said: a man cannot succeed without being ruthless! Then he would do it!

Qian Biao used all his strength, let out a roar, and swung the wooden stick toward the back of Su Tang’s head.

Su Tang’s body suddenly tilted to one side, dodging Qian Biao’s stick. With a roll on the ground, his right leg swept across the soil, kicking Qian Biao’s calf.

Qian Biao’s stick hit nothing, and his body had already lost balance. Being hit in the calf, he fell forward uncontrollably and landed right in the campfire.

Su Tang leaped up and stabbed down with all his might using the sharp stick that had been skewering the leopard meat. It actually pierced through Qian Biao’s neck, pinning him firmly into the campfire.

Qian Biao made inhuman whimpering sounds, his limbs flailing wildly, but his efforts only caused the wound in his neck to tear further, making more blood flow. Su Tang gripped the sharp stick with one hand, pressed the back of Qian Biao’s head with the other, and pressed his knees onto Qian Biao’s back. No matter how Qian Biao struggled, Su Tang’s hands and knees were as tough as iron and remained motionless.

“Well done! Hahaha…” The old man let out a night-owl-like laugh again. He could not see the scene but could only hear the noise. He thought Qian Biao had made his move and had succeeded: “Young man, don’t worry. I can swear a solemn oath that I will definitely take you as my final disciple! Hahahaha…”

In just one minute, Qian Biao finally stopped moving. Su Tang breathed a sigh of relief and slowly stood up. His slightly blurred vision scanned the treetops and moved to the deep blue sky. Although Qian Biao brought this upon himself, a life had vanished at his hands; he should have felt some pity, but instead, he felt a sense of pleasure and relief.

This feeling seemed to have been missing for a long time.

After a moment, Su Tang pulled out the sharp stick and walked slowly outward.

Seeing Su Tang’s figure, the old man’s smile suddenly froze. He never expected that the frail-looking youth could actually survive!

Su Tang sat on the grass far away, slowly chewing the roasted leopard meat. Although he never looked in this direction, the old man knew that the other party was waiting for him to die!

A sense of despair rose in his heart. The old man coughed hoarsely a few times. He had lived a lawless and glorious life; he truly could not accept dying so quietly.

However, the bones in his limbs were all broken. Over a dozen wounds from the fierce battle had been soaking in water and could not heal. He didn’t know how much blood he had lost. He was exhausted and could do nothing.

“Cough, cough… little fellow, I apologize to you…” the old man spoke: “Continuing like this is no good for either of us. I, Tie Canglan, swear that everything that happened before can be forgiven. As long as you can bring me ashore, you can take as much gold and silver from the Tie Family as you want, as long as I have it or the Tie Family has it, without any question! How about it?”

Su Tang chewed the roasted meat expressionlessly, as if he had heard nothing.

“Your surname is Su, right? Who is Su Xiang of Little Forest Castle to you?” The old man wanted to build some rapport, but seeing that Su Tang still didn’t react, he changed the subject: “Young Master Su, why bother? Rest assured, we Practitioners fear heart-knots most of all. As long as you help me once, I will never do anything to betray your kindness…”

The old man kept talking, his expression becoming more sincere, but Su Tang remained like a stone. After a long time, the old man finally couldn’t continue and suddenly let out a cry of grief: “I hate it… I hate it so much…” Just as the cry ended, his body twitched violently a few times, and his head slowly sank into the water.

Su Tang smiled and murmured to himself: “His acting is really terrible…”

About seven or eight minutes passed, and the old man’s head suddenly popped out of the water. He coughed and spat out water, then let out a low roar. His eyes, filled with cold killing intent, stared fixedly at Su Tang’s silhouette. He had intended to fake his death to lure Su Tang over; even if he couldn’t survive, he wanted to at least kill that little brat. But Su Tang completely ignored him, leaving him helpless.

The roaring was intermittent and lasted for over an hour before stopping. It was a long and painful process. The old man’s injuries were severe, and his life was almost gone, but his physical strength was good enough that he didn’t die quickly. Of course, he was not willing to give up.

When the old man became motionless once again, Su Tang’s gaze slowly turned toward him: “This time it looks quite real. Improving quickly, aren’t we… practice for a few more years, and you’ll be ready for an Oscar.”

After a while longer, the sun had already slanted westward. Su Tang slowly stood up, walked into the stream, came before the old man, and began searching him carefully. The old man was dead, and his goal had been achieved; of course, he had to clean up the battlefield and collect the spoils.

Su Tang found a finely crafted cloth bag. Inside was a map blurred by water, where only the general outline and a few marks were vaguely visible. There were also a few gold and silver coins in the bag. Su Tang only took the coins and put the other things back on the old man’s body.

Cutting off all clues that could lead to him was the simplest common sense of crime. As for the Broken Sword, he had to brace himself and take it, because his instinct told him that something very, very important was waiting for him to understand.

Su Tang walked to the other side. Just as he flipped over the body of the person in white, a pale yellow Mask fell into the water. At the first sight of the Mask, Su Tang’s heart leaped. A connection stronger than that of the Broken Sword flooded his mind like a tide, making him almost suffocate.

What did this feeling mean? Su Tang stood still for a long time. He decided to handle the matters here first.

Su Tang dug a hole in the forest. Lacking proper tools, he could only use the large iron spear that had pinned the old man. Fortunately, the soil in the woods was moist and soft, which saved him a lot of effort.

He threw the bodies of the old man, the person in white, and Qian Biao into the hole and covered them with several layers of soil. Then he carried Hu Niu’s body over. He had wanted to create a separate grave for Hu Niu, but his current energy didn’t allow him to do so, so he had to settle for this.

The large iron spear was placed beside Hu Niu. He used his hands to push the mud from the edge of the hole back in and stepped on it with his feet to flatten it as much as possible. Then he moved grass and leaves from other places to cover it. After the next rain, all traces would be hidden.

This was a deserted primeval forest. Even if he did nothing, it was unlikely that the bodies would be found by others. The problem was that something invisible was forcing him to be this busy, as if he had an obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Professional quality?!

Once everything was done, Su Tang didn’t even have the strength to bathe in the water. He barely managed to start a campfire and collapsed to one side. He knew this was dangerous, but he really couldn’t keep his eyes open.

In the blink of an eye, a night passed. In the morning, Su Tang opened his sleepy eyes. The moment he regained consciousness, he immediately leaped up from the ground. First, he scanned the surroundings to understand his environment, then he gasped and began checking his body for injuries. Next, he slowly loosened his pants and clothes. Sleeping in a primeval forest was no joke; the wild beasts roaming at night were terrifying, and poisonous insects like snakes and scorpions that liked warmth were equally horrific.

Fortunately, none of the things he worried about had happened. He couldn’t even find a single insect bite. Su Tang started another campfire, hung his clothes and pants to dry, then jumped into the stream to wash himself thoroughly, eat some food, and recover his spirits. For the original body, walking out of the primeval forest alone would have been absolutely impossible, but for the current Su Tang, it was not a problem at all.

Although his brain was still a bit blurry, or rather confused, he knew clearly that he had experienced an indescribable nirvana!