Staying Alive Cautiously in the Celestial Realm and Becoming the Strongest

In the bathroom, the air was misty with a thick medicinal scent.

Wang Chen sat in a large tub nearly the height of a person, his body submerged and enveloped in a dark brown medicinal solution.

The charcoal fire beneath the tub burned fiercely.

This large wooden tub was wrapped in iron and specially designed for Martial Artists' medicinal baths.

Many children of Noble Clans had soaked in medicinal baths from a young age, washing and refining their sinews and Physique to strengthen them, making their starting point in Martial Arts much higher than that of common people.

Poor in literature but rich in martial prowess was the most true depiction of this world!

And the medicinal bath that Wang Chen soaked in was far more precious than those used by the average Noble Clan children.

This tub of medicinal solution contained ginseng, Lingzhi mushrooms, rhino horn, deer antler, gastrodia elata, snow lotus, and other aged medicinal ingredients, valued at over five hundred taels of silver!

As Wang Chen's Life Qi circulated within his body, the abundant and rich medicinal strength was continuously absorbed into his flesh and bones, eventually being stored as potential energy.

In the past, this process required one or two hours to fully absorb the medicinal strength of a tub of solution.

But now that Wang Chen had broken through to the fifth tier of Martial Ancestor realm and condensed the Dantian of a Martial Artist, his ability to absorb the medicinal strength had dramatically increased.

Therefore, the soaking time was compressed to within the duration of a single incense stick!

When the color of the medicinal solution in the large tub turned pale brown, Wang Chen suddenly leapt up with his body steaming, and then he landed steadily on the ground.

The instant his feet touched the ground, the water droplets on his body evaporated completely.

Fetching clothes and his uniform from his storage space, Wang Chen left his dwelling and rode his Yellow Fatty Horse towards the outskirts of town.

He galloped westward for dozens of miles before turning onto a narrow and rugged mountain path.

After running another dozen or so miles, a mountain village appeared ahead.

Mountain-leaning Village.

Just this morning, Wang Chen had received a mission assignment from the Defense Area.

Seventy miles from the county town, Mountain-leaning Village was suspected to harbor evil Demons, and he was ordered to proceed there for investigation and verification.

Wang Chen gladly accepted the order.

Upon reaching the entrance of the village, Wang Chen noticed several villagers standing by the roadside.

Seeing the splendidly dressed Wang Chen arrive, they were visibly panicked, retreating backward.

Wang Chen raised his eyebrows, reined in his Yellow Fatty Horse, and asked in a deep voice, "Is this Mountain-leaning Village?"

He had found this place based on the Linjiang County Map issued by the Defense Area, but he couldn't be certain he hadn't gone to the wrong place.

After all, the map provided was quite rudimentary.

The villagers looked at each other, and one of them mustered the courage to answer, "This is Mountain-leaning Village, may I ask what brings the sir here?"

"Where is your village chief?"

Wang Chen said, "I am ordered to investigate the demonic disturbances in your village!"

"Ah?"

The villagers seemed to wake from a dream, bowing and scraping in a flurry of confusion, "We... we will bring the sir to the village chief at once."

Guided by these villagers, Wang Chen soon met the village chief of Mountain-leaning Village, the village head.

This village head had white hair and appeared quite aged, clearly recognizing the rank associated with Wang Chen's flying fish suit, and he hurriedly showed great respect, "This humble one, Zhang Ziwu, pays respects to the sir!"

The village head was usually a respected elder from the village itself and not part of the official bureaucratic cadre, so seeing Wang Chen, a Junior Flag of the Blood Cloak Guard of the seventh rank, he was naturally very apprehensive.

"There's no need for such courtesy."

Wang Chen extended his hand to help the man up, "Take me to see what exactly is going on."

"Yes."

The old village chief immediately led Wang Chen to a mud-brick house at the west end of the village, tremblingly said, "This is the house of Zhang Xiaoqi from our village, a family of four. Last evening, when the neighbors discovered the door was open and went in to have a look..."

They found that the entire family of four had met with a tragedy. Upon learning of this, the old village chief immediately sent someone to report to the county town overnight.

Wang Chen nodded after listening, then entered the house.

The house was not large, with only two bedrooms in total. In one of them, a middle-aged couple lay on the bed, both pale-faced, dead with their eyes wide open.

The other room housed two children, whose death appeared even more tragic!

Wang Chen examined the bodies and found that each member of the family had two rows of bite marks on their necks, as if bitten by some animal's canines, which looked quite unnerving.

Bloodsucking Ghoul!

A name instantly surfaced in Wang Chen's mind.

Bloodsucking Ghouls were a type of low-level demon that, like all demons, were adept at camouflage, hiding among ordinary people, and they sustained themselves by drinking human or animal blood.

Some Bloodsucking Ghouls even secretly imprisoned and bred humans to satisfy their bloodthirsty cravings.

Wang Chen had previously received professional training from the Blood Cloak Guard and had mastered a vast amount of knowledge about demons, allowing him to reach the correct conclusion through analysis.

He asked the elderly village chief, "Has anything like this happened in your village before?"

The village chief nodded, "It happened once, over a decade ago, and a whole family died then too. Officials from the county had also come to investigate."

But after their visit, there was no follow-up.

However, since that incident, Mountain-learning Village had been peaceful and incident-free, and everyone had long forgotten about it.

But the village chief remembered it vividly, his eyes showing a tinge of fear, "They, they have come back!"

This village head had lived for six or seven decades and had witnessed the calamity of demons more than once or twice; he knew too well how terrifying evil demons could be!

Wang Chen thought for a moment and then asked, "How many households are there in your village?"

The village chief swallowed hard and answered, "There are a total of one hundred seventy-nine households, six hundred eighty-three people, including Zhang Xiaoqi's family."

"Gather them all together."

Wang Chen said commandingly, "I'm going to screen everyone!"

"Ah?"

The village chief was taken aback, "You, can you manage alone?"

Wang Chen looked very young, and though he was dressed in the flying fish suit, he was all alone. What if he had to confront a demon head-on and died in the village?

Wang Chen just looked at him, not saying a word—Are you teaching me how to do my job?

The village chief immediately backed down, "Your humble subject obeys the order."

Dang Dang Dang!

The loud sound of the Bronze Bell quickly shattered the tranquility of the small mountain village.

Hearing the sound, villagers rushed from the fields and their homes to the entrance of the village, filling the clearing with noise and bustle.

Wang Chen had the village chief arrange for the village defense team to maintain order, and then he checked off each name one by one.

Each passed in front of him.

In Wang Chen's hand was a Talisman.

A Demon Identifying Talisman!

This Talisman could be used to identify demonic creatures. It was a gift from his master, Wan Hui, to keep on him as protection against demons.

The Talisman had a limit to the number of times it could be used, and its "shelf life" was not long.

The Talisman contained a faint Spiritual Energy that would gradually dissipate over time.

Thanks to his storage space, Wang Chen could avoid this problem.

Moreover, he had studied the Demon Identifying Talisman.

The villagers of Mountain-learning Village were screened one by one, and until the last person passed, Wang Chen did not detect anything unusual.

"There are still fifteen people missing."

He said to the village chief, "Where did these people go?"

Wang Chen remembered the number of villagers reported by the other party very clearly!