Back at the village, Jun Wu dragged his exhausted body, covered in bruises and various degrees of cuts, inside his room.
He took off his robe, stained with dry blood, and began to attend to his injuries meticulously. He had learned from his first mistake.
Cleaning off the cuts and bruises with clean water, he applied another round of copper to the wounds.
With the injuries attended to, he laid on the bed and drifted into a deep sleep.
The following morning, he woke up with his body in pain. He groaned and came down from his bed.
In the sitting room, Uncle Kai was eating his breakfast.
Without raising his head, he said, "You need to take care of your body. If you continue like this…"
His voice trailed off.
He raised his head and looked at Jun Wu. "Take this, it is the yellow silk powder. It is more effective than the copper powder."
He threw a small sachet at him. Jun Wu caught the sachet subconsciously. He looked at the sachet without any change in his expression.
"Thank you..."
"Just don't die." Uncle Kai shook his head. He knew at this stage, nothing could dissuade Jun Wu from revenge.
"I've already prepared your food. Eat and rest, I'll be at the workshop."
With that, Uncle Kai left the room.
Looking at Uncle Kai's departing back, Jun Wu's eyes flickered with gratitude.
'As long as I get stronger, I'll repay this favour tenfold.'
…
…
At the backyard, Jun Wu picked the heavy hammer, but it felt somewhat lighter in his hand.
'Why do I feel the hammer is a lot lighter?' he mused.
'Perhaps, I've gotten a lot stronger since the heavy hammer was no longer heavy in my hand.'
It was then he remembered the Skin Tempering Martial Artist among the Fierce Tiger Gang he killed.
Indeed, he had gotten a lot stronger than before. The current him was no longer an ordinary human.
"Let's see what this Mountain Stance Training Method is all about." He thought out loud and returned inside to take the training manual.
Quickly, he was back in the courtyard. He read the manual for a couple of minutes, trying to comprehend its content.
This was the first time he read the training manual. Thus, he took his time.
It was a set of physical training exercises to push the body to the limit, tempering the skin.
Filled with curiosity, he tried to practice the Mountain Stance training method.
Ahhh!
He winced in pain. Just moving his arm and leg made him groan in pain.
His injuries were more severe than he imagined.
Taking a deep breath, he sat on the wooden bench and stared calmly at the sky.
'I need to be patient. I can't rush it.' he reminded himself.
'I just need to wait a couple of days, and my injuries will heal…'
With that thought, he returned inside to relax.
…
…
Deep inside the Hearthgroove Forest, makeshift houses spread everywhere.
Sturdy men with rugged expressions entered and departed. The air reeked of alcohol.
In a corner were many metal cages. Inside the cages were people of various ages. Most of them were women.
The few men were bound in chains, while the women were naked.
Their eyes were hollow, lifeless.
This was the hideout of the infamous Fierce Tiger Gang.
Inside the biggest house, a loud, deep voice echoed.
"What do you mean?" a man shouted.
"B-Boss… the team was killed. Their corpses were mutilated. It was very difficult for us to identify them." A middle-aged man responded with a terrified expression.
The Boss's expression was unsightly.
The room was quiet for a moment. All the naked women inside the room did not dare make a noise.
The man standing a couple of feet from him had his heart in his throat, pounding heavily like a war drum.
"What about the goods?"
Finally, the Boss broke the silence.
"B-Boss, the goods are intact. Whoever attacked them seems not to care about the goods." The man responded quickly, afraid of the Boss's fury.
'Hmm? The goods were untouched…' The Boss thought, many things appearing in his mind.
As the leader of the Fierce Tiger Gang, he knew he had many enemies.
Thus, he needed to be wary and consider everything before he made a decision.
"How did they die? Be specific." He commanded, staring directly into the man's eyes.
The man swallowed the lump in his throat and replied.
"From what we see, they seem to have died from a blunt weapon. I mean from a hammer."
Apart from a hammer, he did not know any weapon that could crush people's heads like that.
Just thinking of the gory scene sent a cold shiver down his spine.
Even though he was a member of the gang and they had committed many nefarious actions…
He had never seen such ruthless and brutal killing.
It made him wonder if it was done by a human.
"A hammer?" the Boss mused.
In his memory, none of his enemies used a hammer. Besides, he had never met a martial artist using a hammer before.
Thus, he came to a conclusion—this was not done by his enemies.
With that thought, he looked at the man and commanded:
"Gather everyone. Tomorrow, we're going to those damned villages to look for the killer."
Surrounding the Hearthgroove Forest, there were only five villages, and he did not believe he wouldn't find the killer among the villages.