Chapter 59
Previously, Lu Sheng did not catch sight of anyone because his line of sight had been partially blocked by the door . But now that the carriage had shifted forwards, the angle changed and another corner of the courtyard entered his view .
The stone bridge and the scholar were in that corner .
The scholar stood in that spot, stiff as a statue, staring at the passing horse carriage .
Lu Sheng, too, examined that scholar in detail . His clothes were tattered and torn . They were filthy and worn, as if they had not been washed for many days . It was also riddled with holes . Moreover, his hair fell all over his shoulders in a mess . Presently, he was standing still on the stone bridge like a pillar, without so much as a budge .
"No one has entered or exited the manor for many days . I don’t think there’s anybody staying in it anymore . After all, without anyone entering or exiting the manor, what would anyone staying inside eat?" Duan Meng’an explained, not having seen the scholar from his angle .
"But there is someone indeed, as a matter of fact . Isn’t he one?" Lu Sheng wagged his chin towards the manor .
Duan Meng’an quickly glanced in the direction .
Yet, curiously, when he glanced over, the scholar had vanished into thin air in the blink of an eye .
Lu Sheng’s eyes narrowed to a slit . It was just a single moment of distraction as he spoke to Duan Meng’an, yet he had actually failed to notice the moment when the scholar had disappeared .
"Where? Young Master, please don’t frighten me," Duan Meng’an was starting to have the shivers because of Lu Sheng . He peered through the gap between the doors carefully again but saw no sight of any figure .
Lu Sheng’s eyes focused .
"It's nothing . Perhaps it was my imagination . "
The horse carriage slowly pulled away from the manor . All the way, Lu Sheng kept recalling the scholar’s looks . Somehow, he had a peculiar intuition that something was off about the man .
Soon, the team arrived at Iron Mine Village .
The village was silent and deathly still, just like a cemetery . Wooden houses, some with doors left ajar and others shut, stood one after the other . The wooden doors swung and creaked in the wind .
Each of the men in the team, despite their original strength and vigor, could not help but feel deeply unsettled as they walked between the houses .
Dusk began to fall . Lu Sheng and Duan Meng’an alighted from the carriage and entered a relatively intact wooden house .
Some of these houses had leaking roofs and were ill-suited to housing people once it rained . The gang of men each found wooden huts to stay the night . They made do with the water skins and dry rations they had brought .
Lu Sheng settled into a wooden house that was larger than the rest . He had men move his tent and blankets down from the carriage . After starting a fire in the house, the men then boiled a pot of water drawn from a nearby brook . With some dried meat and mushrooms thrown in and after waiting for it to stew, it turned into a pot of delicious mushroom and sliced meat soup .
The gang squeezed into the cramped quarters, each with a bowl of mushroom and sliced meat soup, eaten together with the dry rations . It made for a rather enjoyable meal .
Lu Sheng, however, was not in the mood to share a meal with the gang . He exited the wooden house and stared in the direction of the manor from the day .
Moonlight spilled down like a white sash . Under the moonlight, the manor was a faint ball of gray shadow in the distance, a short journey away from the village of wooden houses .
Lu Sheng clutched onto his cloak tightly . His brows locked together in a furrow as he gazed at the manor .
Duan Meng’an staggered out with a hint of drunkenness .
"Young Master, why aren’t you coming and joining the brothers for a drink?"
Lu Sheng shook his head lightly, "Have sentries been arranged?"
"Don’t worry, Young Master . It’s been arranged . Three men keep watch in three directions separately . After some food later, we’ll go replace them," Duan Meng’an was one of Wu San’s key personnel in the past, after all . He was an old hand at dealing with such matters .
"Tomorrow, we’ll check out the mine first . Then, we will proceed to the manor," Lu Sheng retracted his gaze and said calmly .
"Yes, sir . The mine is just nearby . If not for the fact that we haven’t managed to hire any miners so far, we’d be producing a lot of iron ore each day," Duan Meng’an said with pity .
"Oh, that's right, what skill do you practice in the sect?" Lu Sheng asked casually .
"It’s the Bear-Wrestling Arm from the Martial Proclamation Library, a secret manual on the third level…" Duan Meng’an chuckled .
"Bear-Wrestling Arm? Sounds like it’s a strength-related skill?" Lu Sheng’s interest was piqued whenever a conversation's topic turned to martial arts .
"That’s right . I, Old Duan, haven’t got any other advantages, except for above-average strength that I was born with . That’s why I chose this as my main skill . "
Seeing as he had nothing better to do, Lu Sheng began inquiring with Duan Meng’an on other matters that had to do with martial arts .
Duan Meng’an was an experienced member of the sect and Lu Sheng was pleasantly surprised with the results of his inquiry . He'd obtained a general impression and overall idea of the skills of the sect’s few top leaders from Duan Meng’an .
As for the skills belonging to the rest, they fell by and large within his expectations . Hearing a description of them, Lu Sheng surmised that they largely paled in comparison to the might of his own Blood Fury Skill .
That was, of course, with exception of the Sect Master and Deputy Sect Masters . According to Duan Meng’an, each time these three showed their hand, they would settle the score instantly and resolve any problem within a short time . Hence, none had actually truly witnessed them go all out .
"Young Master is now qualified to enter the Martial Proclamation Library and browse through the free manuals too! My Bear-Wrestling Arm isn’t much to brag about within the Strength Proficiency tier; it’s just very well suited to me," Duan Meng’an smiled .
"Well, I must say you’re a smart one . You understand that the best skill is the one that suits you best," Lu Sheng smiled too . "Bear-Wrestling Arm is one of the sect’s free manuals, I know… but I’ve never seen it . Is it a hard body skill?"
"That’s right . It’s a hard body skill that specializes in training strength . And no medicinal potions are needed . Very simple," Duan Meng’an scratched his head .
"Oh? Do you mind performing a demonstration for me?" Lu Sheng’s eyes lit up . He had long since desired to practice a hard body skill, but almost all of them required medicinal potions and so didn’t work out . He hadn’t expected that Duan Meng’an was practicing a hard body skill that didn’t require any medicinal potions at all .
Duan Meng’an didn’t mind in the slightest . In the first place, the skill was free for all sect disciples . Moreover, the one asking him for a demonstration was his own boss whose skills far surpassed his own . There and then, he found a withered tree and performed Bear-Wrestling Arm’s technique on it .
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