Black Monster

　　At the doorsteps of the Huai City’s Red Rock Gang in Chu County.

　　It was already the afternoon, and the sky would start to grow dark in another three hours.

　　“Brother Qingshan, why are you in such a hurry to leave when I’ve asked you to stay for a few more days?” Zhu Chongshi asked. “Was it because as your brother, I was not a good host?”

　　“Brother Zhu, you have been an excellent host. It’s just that our Black Armored Army has been recruiting new people recently and there will also be new additions to our division. There is still a lot of work that we need to do, including the managing the replacements, removing soldiers from our ranks, and training the new recruits. We really cannot stay much longer.” Teng Qingshan replied.

　　Zhu Chongshi looked up at the sky, seeing that the sun was no longer scorching hot, “Qingshan, it seems that it will turn dark soon. You should head off tomorrow morning.”

　　“It’s not too late, and the weather is not too hot. We will be able to rush to the next city in one trip.” Teng Qingshan smiled as he cupped his hands. “Brother Zhu, there’s no need to keep us. We brothers will reunite when you visit our Jiangning County in the future.”

　　“Alright.” Zhu Chongshi also cupped his hands, “Then I shall not keep you any longer. Brother Qingshan, please take care!”

　　Under Zhu Chongshi’s gaze, Teng Qingshan and his soldiers mounted their warhorses and left.

　　The horses kicked up sand and dust as they dashed off.

　　Twenty-odd black figures travelled on the main road at extreme speed. Under a situation where they did not have to be concerned with goods and carriages, the Black Armored Army was able to proceed at a very fast pace. Previously, it took them one whole day to travel from Yun Lai Inn to the base of Red Rock Gang, but now, it only took them slightly more than an hour to reach the inn from the base of the Red Rock Gang.

　　“Hmm?” Teng Qingshan perked up his ears as he gazed towards the direction of Yun Lai Inn.

　　“Currently, there are many warriors who are on their way to Jin Jia Village!”

　　Teng Qingshan’s hearing was much stronger than the average person. “There are many people disappearing consecutively for no reason from the Jin Jia Village and now there are warriors heading over? Has someone discovered the reason?” Teng Qingshan felt a sense of curiosity towards the pitiful Jin Jia Village.

　　Since it was also getting late, it would not delay their trip by too much if they rested earlier.

　　“Stop!” Teng Qingshan commanded.

　　“Lu lu~”

　　Following Teng Qingshan’s commands, the horses were held back and the twenty odd calvary men came to a stop in an orderly manner.

　　Upon seeing such well-trained cavalry, the waiter from Yun Lai Inn, as well as some of the traders and martial art practitioners who were resting at the inn were all shock. To be able to move at such speed and order despite the fact that even their horses were equipped with heavy armor, cavalry of such calibre could definitely not be from any ordinary family.

　　“Dear guests, please come in.” The waiter immediately warmly invited them.

　　After depositing the war horses in the stables at the back and assigning three men from the Black Armored Army to stand guard, the rest of the men entered the hall of the inn. The seventeen of them took up four tables.

　　“Get everyone a bowl of herbal tea first!” Du Hong instructed the waiter.

　　“Immediately.” The waiter replied in a loud voice.

　　Du Hong looked towards Qingshan and spoke in a low voice, “Lieutenant, although the sky is turning dark, the nights of summers tend to come later. We should be able to rush to the next city if we are to increase the pace a bit more.

　　But Teng Qingshan held absolute authority. When he said to stop, obviously no one dared not stop.

　　Teng Qingshan smile and called out, “Waiter.”

　　Immediately a waiter ran over, “Sir, what can I do for you? Ah, you stayed in this inn the night before. I was the one who served you then.”

　　Teng Qingshan smiled and nodded as he asked, “Has something big happened to that Jin Jia Village in these past two days?”

　　“Ah, you are certainly well-informed.” The waiter was surprised. “A month ago, the Jin Jia Village has had many of its members vanish for no reason. At first, one person disappeared everyday. A while later, two people disappeared daily. From two days ago, three people start to vanish into thin air! Sir, are you able to guess the reason?”

　　Teng Qingshan smiled and said, “Continue your story!”

　　The waiter, being scared of Teng Qingshan and his men, did not dare to keep them in suspense as he replied, “Sir, I reckon that you will not be able to guess it. In these two days, the horrifying event at Jin Jia Village attracted quite a number of adventuring warriors to investigate the issue. Just last night, they discovered the reason!”

　　Teng Qingshan’s eyes lit up.

　　“They realized that there is actually a man-eating monster!” The waiter lowered his voice. “That monster was all black! It disappeared with a flash and even the martial arts expert who noticed it was not able to see clearly what it looked like. He only knew that the monster had swallowed a person whole in just a flash!”

　　Teng Qingshan was shocked.

　　To swallow a person whole in just a flash?

　　“Waiter, you better not be talking gibberish.” Du Hong, who was at the side, spoke out.

　　“I wouldn’t dare.” The waiter quickly said. “Dear guests, you better believe it! The stories vivid and convincing. Furthermore, it was witnessed by a martial arts expert. It cannot be false! Just today, we were patronized by a quite a number of warriors. All of them headed to the Jin Jia Village.

　　There were many warriors who roamed the world with huge passion as they underwent the trainings of life and death situations.

　　These warriors love to take part in such strange events.

　　Knowing that there was a black monster, these people were of course more than happy to come and investigate.

　　“Alright, you can go now.” Teng Qingshan instructed. At the same time, another waiter had brought up dishes of food to be served.

　　“Lieutenant, you trust the words of that waiter?” Du Hong and Qinghu looked towards Teng Qingshan.

　　“To be able to spread to this extent, it cannot be just some baseless rumors. Maybe there really is a black monster.” Teng Qingshan said, as he recalled that enormous Flood Dragon in the ‘Great Yan Mountain’ from his hometown. In this world, even Flood Dragons existed. It may not be impossible for there to be a black monster that can swallow a person whole in an instant.

　　Du Hong laughed. “Lieutenant, what do these waiters know? There are many reckless rumors in this world. We cannot believe all of them.”

　　“It is true that these horrible events have been happening at the Jin Jia Village for over past month .” Teng Qingshan looked towards Du Hong. “Old Du, let me ask you, are you able to say why people has been disappearing from the Jin Jia Village? Furthermore, no one in the village has discovered anything!”

　　Out of nowhere, a person has vanished.

　　Losing one, two, three……when the numbers get bigger, of course the Jin Jia Village would be wary. They had even sent many of their members to stay on guard, but still the people continued to vanish.

　　“In a village, each family is connected to one another. If there are many people standing guard, even an expert would not be able to get off with bringing out people without any traces.” Teng Qingshan said. “Alright, we will rest here for tonight. You guys can just stay here. I will head to the Jin Jia Village to do a thorough investigation tonight to see what the identity of that black monster truly is.”

　　Once Teng Qingshan had decided, the rest could only obey his orders.

　　……

　　The sky had turned dark! Hu! With one leap, Teng Qingshan leapt out from the window and quickly reached the stables. There were a total of nine men of the Black Armored Army who were stationed on guard at the stables. The war horses of the Black Armored Army were extremely valuable. When they were outside, there would always be people on guard.

　　“Lord Lieutenant.” The nine soldiers greeted Teng Qingshan.

　　“Alright, bear with it a little longer. There will be another batch of men taking over your duties later in the night. You will be able to rest well then.” Teng Qingshan consoled them as he carried the bag with his Reincarnation Spear and stepped into the darkness, headed towards the direction of the Jin Jia Village as he increases his speed.

　　Teng Qingshan did not use the move Crossing Worlds, but rather relied on the explosive energy of his muscles.

　　Hu! Hu!

　　Strong wind blew at his ears. The speed at which Teng Qingshan was running at was much faster than that of the war horses.

　　In just a little while, Teng Qingshan was able to see the well-lit Jin Jia Village.

　　“Who goes there!” The guard at the entrance of the Jin Jia Village bellowed.

　　“Brother, I was roaming across the land alone and heard that there was a black monster at your Jin Jia Village and decided to come and check it out.” Teng Qingshan said cheerfully. From what he could see, the Jin Jia Village today should be glad to welcome martial art practitioners here.

　　As expected —

　　The door opened and a white-haired old man came up to welcome him with many others.

　　“My Lord.” Grief spread across the face of the old man. “To meet such a monster, we Jin Jia Village can only rely on the help of highly skilled experts such as yourself. Last night, we found out that it was a black monster. Hopefully tonight, together with the other martial art experts, you can help our Jin Jia Village to be rid of that monster!”

　　The unknown was the most horrifying thing to most people. The people from the Jin Jia Village were also more at ease to have found out last night that it was the work of a black monster.

　　Everyone was hoping for these martial art experts to eliminate the monster.

　　Afterall……none of them would want to move to a new location if they could help it.

　　“Old man, please rest assured.” Teng Qingshan consoled him as he stepped into the Jin Jia Village.

　　The Jin Jia Village was slightly smaller compared to the Teng Jia Village. The training grounds was also smaller, but at that moment, the training grounds were filled with over a hundred people.

　　“Hmm?” Teng Qingshan scanned across the crowd. “The group who are gathered together must be the men from the Jin Jia Village while the rest are dispersed and seemingly unsociable must be martial art practitioners.” Martial art practitioners who did not know each other tended to be more wary of the other parties. They would not be as tight knit as the clansmen of the Jin Jia Village.

　　“I didn’t expect for another expert to be here.” A voice rang out. A slender youth in short sleeves came running, “My name is Duan Hou. Brother, what about yours?” The Duan Hou was very friendly.

　　“Qin Lang.” Teng Qingshan replied.

　　The name ‘Teng Qingshan’ had received too much attention now. Word had spread across the Xuyang County and Chu County that Teng Qingshan had defeated Meng Tian. Teng Qingshan did not wish to involve himself in any trouble at the moment, and thus reported a alias.

　　“Brother Qin Lang, including yourself, there are a total of twenty-eight martial art practitioners here today. But……” Duan Hou grinned. “Most of them are not that strong. Take those good-for-nothings for example, even if they were to attack together, they are not deserving to be my opponent.” Duan Hou pointed to six fierce-looking men who had gathered together.

　　“To be looking for the black monster despite having no capabilities. They are really courting death. The person who saw that black monster yesterday was a Second Rate Warrior. Even a Second Rate Warrior was not able to see the monster’s movements clearly. Just the speed alone is terrifying.” Duan Hou sighed. “But Brother Qin Lang, from your poise alone, I could tell that you are an expert.”

　　“Oh?” Teng Qingshan showed a bit of interest as he laughed, “One can tell if the other is an expert from their outer appearance?”

　　“Empty vessels make the greatest sound!” Duan Hou grinned as he said, “Those who flaunt their skills tend to be mediocre, but Brother Qin Lang, there are still experts amongst us. Take a look at that man. He is the expert “Jin Tao” from the Tie Yi Sect and a direct disciple of the Sovereign.”