CHAPTER 32: CHAPTER 32: WIELDING THE BLADE TO CUT THROUGH HESITATION

After the rain stopped in the second half of the night, Chen Xu returned silently to Ping’an Lane with the silver box in the darkness.

He divided the silver inside the box into several portions, hid them separately in his house, and summoned the Food Cauldron Celestial Book to check the latest data.

[Total Likes: 767]

[Free Attribute Points: 13]

[Fireworks Value: 113]

This trip wasn’t in vain. Not only did he obtain a considerable amount of silver, but the various data on the Food Cauldron Celestial Book also saw significant growth.

He was getting closer to accumulating 1000 likes, and Chen Xu’s Tri-Attribute was almost ready to be perfected at any time.

Instead of quickly perfecting the points, Chen Xu decided to leave some margin for himself to avoid an overflow in the Tri-Attribute before the unlocking of the Food God Cultivation Technique Scroll, affecting the Perfect Foundation Establishment.

Now he was more concerned that his Level 1 Firewood Splitting Knife Technique had reached perfection; what he should do next was to unlock the Level 2 cultivation method.

But he had checked earlier that Level 2 Firewood Splitting requires 160 Fireworks Value to unlock.

His Fireworks Value wasn’t enough yet.

Would tonight end just like this?

Go home and sleep, waiting for a new batch of Fireworks Value to arrive the next day to unlock Level 2 Firewood Splitting?

Initially, Chen Xu thought exactly that, but upon returning home, he found himself tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep.

The fleeting glimpse he had caught of the sheep’s head kept flashing in his mind, white fur, red eyes, tear marks at the corners, and curved horns like two swords piercing the darkness.

Chen Xu’s heart pounded and he suddenly sat up, cursing under his breath, "Damn it, let’s do it!"

If he didn’t act, his thoughts would remain trapped.

What the hell, openly selling sheep transformed by Beast Creation Technique on South Market Street. If he hadn’t known, it would be one thing, but since he did, why shouldn’t he use the knife in his hand to stand up against injustice?

The chopping knife was in the Fire and Smoke Kitchen, and Chen Xu later discovered that the chopping knife could be taken out and put back at any time.

It was one of the few non-food items in the Fire and Smoke Kitchen that could be retrieved and stored.

Chen Xu adjusted his breathing, not in a hurry to take out the chopping knife, but instead listened for any noise outside. After the night watchman passed by again, he quietly left his house and headed straight for South Market Street.

Chen Xu knew that some of the vendors with permanent stalls on South Market Street actually lived in Ping’an Lane, but the sheep traffickers lived on the other side of South Market Street, in Jingsha Square.

Jingsha Square, homophonous with Jingsha Square.

It’s said that because slaughterers and sheep traffickers committed too many killings, causing heavy evil Qi, strange occurrences often happened at night.

Thus, all the meat-related vendors on South Market Street gathered nearby and pooled their money to have an expert change the name of the neighborhood to Jingsha Square.

As a result, the so-called strange happenings never occurred again, and the four neighborhoods settled back into peace and harmony.

Having moved to Ping’an Lane not long ago, Chen Xu had also heard this legend.

Once, he had considered it a street tale, planning to concoct related stories to include in his own manuscript.

How could he have imagined at the time, when he was ignorant and fearless, that the world’s supernatural beings would be far more bizarre than he could conceive, and that his imagination would prove too impoverished!

Chen Xu stepped into Jingsha Square under the cover of night.

The ground was damp, and the air carried an indescribable moisture and fishy smell. The night sky was deep, with no stars or moon, clouds aplenty, as if another night rain might fall at any moment.

Chen Xu didn’t know precisely where the sheep trafficker lived, but once his Tri-Attribute reached a balanced 30 points, his sense of smell began to become particularly acute.

Simply walking past the dark corners of the street, he could distinguish solely by scent—

For example: this house sells pork, this one sells fish, that one sells mutton... authentic mutton, as the scent of genuine mutton differed after all.

Recalling the various details he had smelled on South Market Street before, Chen Xu continued to delve into the depths of Jingsha Square.

Occasionally encountering rats dashing by, exceptionally large and dark, appearing and disappearing, unlike the two cute rats in Chen Xu’s home.

Suddenly, Chen Xu’s steps halted in the shadowed spot beside a wall corner of a household in Jingsha Square.

Because, in the deep darkness, a cart had unexpectedly emerged from the street, unknown when someone had pushed it from the other side.

Though the wheels were audible, the sound wasn’t particularly loud.

Chen Xu’s vision had improved, allowing him to discern dimly in the dark that the wheels of the cart were actually wrapped with cotton and soft cloth.

The one pushing the cart was a rather short yet sturdy woman, panting as she pushed the cart to the back door of the household at the corner.

She didn’t need to knock before someone inside, seemingly expecting her, abruptly opened the door and whispered, "How’s it this time? Is there much cargo?"

Chen Xu recognized the voice; it was the voice of the white sheep trafficker from South Market Street!

He hadn’t mistaken the location; he had found the culprit.

The woman’s voice was coarse and hoarse, "Quick, come and help push. They’re a bunch of heavy stock, so damn heavy."

The sheep trafficker rushed out to help push the cart, their actions familiar, evidently a frequent occurrence.

The cart was pushed inside, but neither of them noticed, amidst the brief interval when they were pushing the cart and closing the door, someone from the shadow of the other wall corner effortlessly flipped in, beating them into the courtyard.

Chen Xu concealed himself in the wall’s juncture edge, pressed against the shadow, observing the surroundings carefully.

While listening to the conversation between the sheep trafficker and the cart-pushing woman.

The sheep trafficker lifted the cloth covering the cart and exclaimed joyfully, "So many, one, two, three... six, a total of six! Six! Mother, how did you manage to trick so many sheep?"

It turned out the woman was the sheep trafficker’s mother.

Her rough, hoarse voice replied, "They’re all so foolish. I simply observe for a period, find stray children or women, offer to fetch water or give candies, and can easily lure the sheep in.

Ah Zhu, you should learn from me too, this skill can’t be mastered by just me.

If I don’t teach you, what will happen when I’m old and gone?"

The sheep trafficker seemed unwilling, "Mother, you already know, your appearance is gentle, mine is unattractive. Foolish sheep immediately respond to your tricks, yet not one of them pays attention to me. It’s not that I don’t want to learn; it’s just genuinely hard to learn. How will this be resolved?"

"Enough," the mother said. "In the future, I’ll marry you off to a wife to let your wife learn it. Come on, let’s slaughter the sheep before daylight to prevent any mishaps happening overnight."

The sheep trafficker said, "Then, mother, you set up the pot to boil water, I’ll go get the knife."

He turned about to leave, not expecting a flash of lightning-like knife light to suddenly appear from the side.

The knife light came so swiftly, like a bolt striking the night sky, descending from the heavens, pushing aside mountains and overturning jade, that with just one strike, he had straight chopped off the sheep trafficker’s head.

The sheep trafficker didn’t even have time to utter a scream, nor did he have time to fetch the knife intended for slaughtering the sheep.

"Ah—" Behind him, his mother watched in horror as his head was cleaved by the knife light and soared into the air, and immediately let out a piercing scream.

Crash, another strike.

Chen Xu turned slightly, the second knife cutting towards the screaming woman directly.

The woman reached into her waist, seemingly trying to retrieve something, but her actions were truly too slow.

Too slow to outpace Chen Xu’s knife.

The second knife instantly appeared ahead!