Chapter 32 - The Missing Ox Hand
Hours went by as Han Yu practiced under the watchful gaze of the ghostly man.
To the ghostly man, however, the entire situation was stranger than usual. No matter how much he smacked Han Yu to correct his posture or shouted at him to adjust his form, the boy never retorted—not even once. Instead, he simply did as he was told and even improved.
It made the man feel like he wasn't instructing some street urchin but rather a disciple who had already been in a sect for years.
'He just might be able to do it,' the ghostly man thought as he continued sipping the wine Han Yu had brought.
As the lesson went on, his voice grew increasingly slurred with each sip. Eventually, the guidance stopped altogether. By then, he had veered off into rambling about his past exploits.
Han Yu sighed. "He's drunk again." He shook his head. "Useless. Completely useless."
With his so-called mentor incapacitated, Han Yu shifted his focus to drying the rest of the meat he had hung in the trees, all while half-listening to the ghostly man's wild stories.
Tonight's tale was particularly ridiculous. The ghostly man claimed that over ten thousand years ago, thousands of immortal experts had united to eradicate an evil sect. According to him, the sect was so vile it used humans as puppets for battle, boasting an army of over fifty million.
And yet, somehow, these valiant cultivators had managed to defeat the entire sect.
'All fantasies,' Han Yu thought, rolling his eyes. 'Even if you combined all the kingdoms, they wouldn't be able to take on an army of that size. Where do old drunks even come up with this stuff?'
Eventually, a loud THUD signaled that the ghostly man had passed out face-first into the dirt. That was Han Yu's cue to leave.
By now, he had finished drying most of the meat. He hung the remaining strips back on the tree branches and packed a sizable portion for himself.
'About twenty kilograms—should last me a month, maybe more if I stretch it out. I could even sell some for extra money.'
Satisfied with his haul, he made his way to the river and tried his hand at fishing again.
"HAAH!"
Han Yu thrust his broken spear into the water—and missed.
Again.
"Damn, still too fast!" he muttered through clenched teeth.
He continued trying for another half hour, but the fish proved too elusive. Eventually, as the sky darkened, he sighed in defeat.
"Guess it's another failure."
Dejected, Han Yu trudged back to town.
At the gate, he ran into Guard Shen, who took one look at the boy's slumped shoulders and shook his head knowingly.
"Worked hard today?" the guard asked.
"Yeah... but no gain." Han Yu sighed.
"It's fine. What matters is that you keep trying. Not every day will be a success, but one day, you'll be able to do it without fail."
Han Yu gave a small nod. "Thanks, Guard Shen."
With that, he entered the town and headed straight to his hideout, dropping off the meat before heading back out. He still had one last thing to do.
He needed to find Ox Hand.
The Vital Wave Charge Pill was his goal, and it was currently in the hands of that maniac.
'I need to get it as soon as possible. I can't wait until the month's end—that'll be too late. If I can find him earlier, that'd be ideal.'
Determined, Han Yu began scouring the usual taverns where Ox Hand was known to frequent.
"Is Ox Hand here?" he asked one of the waiters.
"Ox Hand? Why are you looking for that madman?" the waiter asked warily.
"I just have something to discuss with him."
"Best not go looking for him. Yesterday, he almost broke two men's legs over a gambling dispute. I heard they ended up getting arrested because they literally lost their pants!"
Han Yu blinked. 'Damn, the news has already spread this far?'
"Still," he pressed, "if you know where he is, tell me."
"Sorry, but I don't. He hasn't been here in a week."
Han Yu frowned but thanked the waiter before heading to the next tavern.
And the next.
And the next.
After hitting five different taverns, he finally caught a break.
"Ox Hand? Yeah, I saw him leave town this morning," one waiter said.
"He left?" Han Yu's brows furrowed.
"Yeah, took his whole crew with him. I think they headed into the forest. Left through the western gate."
'Western gate... then they definitely went into the forest.'
The eastern and western gates both led to the forest, while the northern gate led to a steep hill—a dead end unless you wanted to experience an express downhill tumble. The southern gate, on the other hand, led to the city, which was a good eighty kilometers away.
"Any idea when he'll be back?"
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The waiter snorted. "How would I know?"
Han Yu sighed but thanked the man and left. He wouldn't be getting anything more.
With no other leads, he returned to his hideout to rest.
'Until he returns, I'll just have to wait and train.'
Stretching out on his mattress, he allowed exhaustion to pull him into sleep.
The next morning, Han Yu woke early and made his way straight to the ghostly man's usual spot in the forest.
To him, every minute was valuable. He needed to cram in as much training as possible.
At the very least, he needed to successfully execute the Bolt God Fist once.
Yet, when he reached the clearing, he found nothing.
No ghostly man.
No drunken ramblings.
Not even an empty wine bottle rolling in the wind.
Just... silence.
Han Yu stared at the spot for a long moment before rubbing his temples.
"Did he just... vanish? Or did he finally drink himself into another dimension?"
"May as well train on my own till then." He reckoned and took the battle stance.
He practiced his moves for a couple of hours until he got hungry and then ate. Assimilating the energy, he got up again, resuming his training.