Starting from the Greyhound, seventy-two changes.

Chapter 121 New Year's Eve, Big Brother Chen Xin
"Hahaha!"

Chen Ku couldn't help but let out a long howl in the forest with excitement.

With such speed, speed is power. He pounces over, holding a thousand-pound iron rod and smashes at the enemy. What's the difference between this and riding a thousand-mile horse to charge into battle?
Not to mention, with this speed, if one encounters an opponent that he is no match for, he can easily pull away fifty feet in an instant and escape.

but,
At this time, Chen Ku could also feel a burning sensation in his chest.

"After all, the Piercing Sound Step is a method of bursting out speed. The key is to burst out at an astonishing speed in an instant, so that before others can react, they will be slaughtered... But bursting out often means that it is not sustainable. It requires condensing the energy and strength to burst out in an instant... It has very high requirements on the body."

Chen Ku took a few breaths:

"My current speed... is far beyond my physical strength. The price I pay for not being able to keep up with the burst of speed..."

Therein lies a key issue.

The Chuan Yin Step is a footwork that is used to match the fifth level's unique skill, the Black Tiger Slaughtering Knife.

Its entry, minor success and major success are often closely related to the improvement of its cultivation.

Obviously, neither the senior from Yaowang Hall who created the Piercing Sound Step, nor Shang Yunfang could have imagined that Chen Ku could achieve a minor level of Piercing Sound Step at the level of Internal Energy and pounce fifty feet away.

In the history of Yaowang Hall, even the most talented people could only achieve the accomplishment of Piercing Sound Step after reaching the Xuanguan Realm.

Chen Ku tried a few more times on the spot.

Finally, I felt that all my internal organs were unable to bear the strain and I estimated my own limits.

"With my current internal energy cultivation, which is at the level of 'minor success', I can only perform 'three consecutive pounces' at most when my energy is at full strength, which is 150 feet. This is the limit my body can withstand. If I pounce a fourth time, the blood flow will be too fast and my blood vessels will burst."

Chen Ku's eyes flickered:

"Unless I break through to the Xuanguan realm, and my physical and life levels advance to the next level, or... there are other ways to make up for this shortcoming."

Chen thought hard.

Returned to his home.

Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. Everyone in Yaowang Hall will have a day off and go home to celebrate the New Year.

It’s New Year’s Eve.

New Year’s Eve today.

The entire Baojiao County is filled with a festive atmosphere.

During Chinese New Year, every household, whether rich or poor, tries their best to celebrate the New Year as they can, just like the saying goes, "Who doesn't eat dumplings during Chinese New Year?"

On this day, even the poorest families will try their best to prepare the best meal for a good omen and strive to have such meals every day in the coming year.

This is also the most simple wish of ordinary people.

At Chen Ku's home.

As early as yesterday, my mother and sister-in-law took the maids and farmhands to decorate the house inside and out, cleaned the house and the yard, pasted fresh red paper-cuts on the windows, hung up red lanterns, and bought the Spring Festival couplets long ago, just waiting to paste them up early tomorrow morning on New Year's Day.

Hu Zi was in the yard, wearing festive red clothes and a tiger-head hat, looking like a New Year picture doll. He held a burning incense stick in one hand and a bunch of firecrackers in the other. He squatted on the ground and tried several times to light the fuse.
It finally lit up.

He let out a loud shout, covered his ears with the incense and firecrackers with his hands, spread his short legs, and ran towards his mother.

Snapped!
Chen Ku sat cross-legged in his room, listening to the sound of firecrackers in the yard and Hu Zi's excited shouts, feeling the New Year atmosphere.

Opposite him, Zhao Chuanzu was sitting cross-legged, deducing the possibility of integrating the [Nine Dragons Combined Heart Technique] and the [Mountain Supporting Palm Technique].

After all, it's an incarnation, so there's no need to feel bad if it's damaged. Just turn it into evil spirit, take back the transformation diagram, and use your energy to nurture it.

Half a cup of tea passed.

The incarnation of 'Zhao Chuanzu' who was sitting cross-legged opposite him suddenly groaned, and then blood spurted out of his mouth and nose. The next moment, it dissipated into a white mist and returned to Chen Ku's brow.

Chen Ku retracted his changes and saw the "incarnation of Zhao Chuanzu" experimenting with the exercises inside his body.

"This meridian won't work. There's a conflict. I'll try another meridian next time. Anyway, as long as my incarnation is immortal, I'll have endless opportunities for trial and error. Sooner or later, I'll be able to find the correct route to use the Nine Dragons to launch the Mountain-supporting Palm."

Chen Ku let out a breath.

It was New Year's Day, but he sighed.

"Three pictures are really not enough. As I have more and more things to do, it's like a grown-up child still wearing last year's pants, with a part of the ankle exposed. It's really not enough."

Three pictures of changes in my mind.

In the first picture, there is a transformation of a spotted marten hanging on the wall. It is released to dispel evil spirits, devour monsters and search for treasures, and it cannot be removed.

The second picture shows a fire-mouthed kettle, which is used to make elixirs at home 24 hours a day and cannot be removed.

Only the third map is more flexible, but it also has a cooling time.

Originally, he often changed this one, but now he has to deduce the Mountain Supporting Palm and the Nine Dragons Combination, and he needs to use Zhao Chuanzu to deduce it. If the deduction is wrong, he has to take it back into his body to warm it up...

All of a sudden, the spaces for the three pictures were all occupied.

He couldn't even hang up his newly acquired "Stepping on a Swallow Horse", which meant that if he wanted to perform his minor skill of Chuan Yin Bu, he had to take off one of the other three variations before he could use it.

"The 20,000-jin iron mother from the Chai Tie Shop has not been delivered yet, so I can't open the fourth picture."

Chen Ku analyzed:

"Xie Qingfeng could even take out 80,000 taels without blinking an eye, so he wouldn't be stingy with an iron mother worth 20,000 taels. It seems... Alas, this iron mother is indeed not easy to collect."

He sighed.

I can only wait silently.

Walked out of the house.

Seeing the family in the yard, my sister-in-law, the cook and the maid, all busy in the kitchen, I saw Chen Ku coming out, walked out the door, and whispered:

"Brother, let's make sixteen dishes tonight, eight cold and eight hot. Is that enough?"

"That's enough. After Master Li finishes cooking these dishes this afternoon, he will go back to celebrate the New Year. The maids and farmhands will also have to go back. There will be only four of us at home."

Chen smiled bitterly:

"Besides, I guess when my eldest sister and brother-in-law come over tonight, they'll have to bring a few boxes of food."

"Isn't this because I'm worried that you and your brother-in-law are both martial artists and won't have enough to eat?"

Sister-in-law Xu Lan smoothed her hair and said seriously:
"By the way, I also prepared two jars of wine for you and your brother-in-law. It's New Year's Day, and you two heads of the family should drink a little. I'd better add a few more dishes."

"That's enough. That's enough."

Chen Ku said:

“This is what will definitely remain.”

"Leftovers are good. Every family has leftovers during the Chinese New Year."

My mother's voice came from the kang in the room, old but cheerful:

"There will be surplus every year."

"Okay, then you guys just take care of it. I'm going to go out and meet my friends."

Yaowang Hall was closed for one day, but Chen Ku couldn't stay at home. He had the habit of going out subconsciously during the Spring Festival holiday in his previous life.

At the same time, I also remembered a small thing.

He turned around and went to Young Master Chai's residence and presented him with a silver note worth 10,000 taels.

Chai Tiangui had originally come out with a group of maids and servants to greet them, but when he saw that Chen Ku had come to repay the money, he immediately looked unhappy:
"Brother Chen, what are you doing? It's New Year's Day."

"It's because it's Chinese New Year."

Chen smiled bitterly and said:

"As the old saying goes, if you don't ask for debts on the first day of the month, you have to pay them back on the 30th. This is an old rule. Besides, when it comes to paying back the money, I took advantage of you. I wanted to get you to invest so that you could make some money, but you refused to do so and only asked me to pay you back. Now that the iron bank has recovered its investment and started to make a profit, of course I have to pay you back the ten thousand taels first."

Chai Tiangui could only smile helplessly after hearing what Chen Ku said.

But he also knew that Chen Ku had previously received the 80,000 taels that Xie Qingfeng had lost, so he was not short of money, so he said:
"Well, I'll take it."

This ten thousand taels of silver was nothing to him. When Chen Ku opened the iron shop, he gave him three thousand taels, but that was different from this...

Chen Ku could tell the difference even more clearly.

What is borrowed is borrowed.

"Although the money has been repaid, the friendship I have shown to Mr. Chen cannot be repaid. I will keep it in my heart and will continue to repay him when I have the chance in the future."

After Chen Ku finished speaking, he drank a glass of wine at Chai Tiangui's house.

After declining the lunch offer several times, I finally left.

Finally, I ended up at Jiang Shaoyou's shop. I had no particular purpose in the first place, just to chat, eat some melon seeds, and see if there were any interesting books I could take back.

He has the ability to transform into a spirit pigeon. After being hung up, he has a photographic memory. Reading more books, he can learn about the various strange events in this world, or strange stories, or the court's laws, and local customs. It is always beneficial to his survival in this world.

Jiang Shaoyou was also very happy to see him. He was similar to Chen Ku. On the New Year's Day, every household was busy. The restaurants and entertainment places in the county were all closed. He was just bored...

So he found some books for Chen Ku.

A book of "Baojiao County Chronicles", a book of "Historical Records of the Previous Dynasty", a book of "Night Talks of Ghosts and Foxes", a book of "Weapons Atlas", and a book of "Records of Grudges in the Jianghu"...

Chen Ku was bored and flipping through these books, waiting for the New Year's Eve dinner tonight, but unexpectedly, Jiang Shaoyou smiled and asked
"Junior Brother Chen, do you want to keep watch after the New Year's Eve dinner tonight?"

"No, what's wrong?"

Chen Ku asked while flipping through the book:
"What do you mean, Brother Jiang?"

The elders in the family might keep watch, but he did not have this habit in his previous life. After eating the New Year’s Eve dinner, he would still meditate and practice.

"Here's a funny thing."

Jiang Shaoyou laughed and said:
"You should also know that on New Year's Eve, all the 'Nian monsters' in the world will come out from the rivers and seas. I remember when I was a child, every New Year's Day, I would follow the elders in my family, carrying gunpowder and red cloth, to chase and kill the Nian monster. Now that I'm older, I rarely experience the New Year atmosphere."

"Zodiac?"

Chen Ku had actually been thinking about this demon that had the ability to avoid water, so he raised his eyebrows and asked:

"Brother Jiang, do you know where the Nian beast will emerge from?"

He originally thought that if the Nian beast really appeared at that time, there would be a high probability that it would be found in the butchery of Yaowangtang. However, if he went hunting himself, he could save the effort, and the materials of the Nian beast could also be his.

"Although I don't know the exact location, every year along the Longjiang River in Baojiao County, there are hunters from the Hunter Forest who prepare many traps and wait for the Nian Beast. I roughly know some places where the Nian Beast often appears."

Jiang Shaoyou said excitedly:

"How about we go to the river tonight and look for it? If we really encounter the Nian beast, we can work together to catch one and bring it back. The 'Water Repellent Pill' made from its horn is worth a fortune."

"It's not impossible."

Chen Ku put down the book in his hand and said:
"Let's meet after dinner."

"Okay, after dinner, we'll meet at the ferry crossing in Longjiang Xiaozhuang Town outside the city. It's New Year's Day, but it's so boring..."

In this way, Chen Ku and Jiang Shaoyou agreed on a location.

By the time he walked out of Tongwenguan, the sky had turned gray and the streets were filled with children's happy shouts and the sound of firecrackers.

On the last night of the 153rd year of the Daji Dynasty, the fireworks in the inner city of Baojiao County were brilliant, while those in the outer city were much dimmer.

Chen Kucai returned home.

I saw that my sister and brother-in-law were already sitting at home. A large table in the living room was already filled with food and candied fruits. Some were prepared by Chen Ku's family, and some were brought by Li Yuancheng and his wife.

"Brother-in-law, you've spent a lot of money. This precious fish is not cheap." Chen Ku came in and saw the fish that Li Yuancheng brought first, and joked.

"It's not as big as the one you caught last time." Li Yuancheng said with a smile, "There are fish every year. This time your sister changed her method."

"Uncle, uncle, I want to set off firecrackers. Grandma said we can have dinner after we set off firecrackers." Hu Zi shouted.

"You've been doing it for a whole day. Your face is all blackened, and you're still doing it." His mother said angrily.

"It's New Year's Day and he's still a child, let him go." Eldest sister Chen Tian looked at Hu Zi with love in her eyes.

She has been with Li Yuancheng for six or seven years and they still don't have a child, so she loves Hu Zi very much.

Soon.

When the sister-in-law brought all the dishes to the table, Chen Ku and her children stood up and toasted their old mother with a glass of wine.

The old woman of the Chen family drank a glass of wine, her eyes became red again, and she said:
"I never thought this would be our family's situation. To have such a big yard in this county town and to be able to eat such a big table of food during the New Year, it really feels like a dream."

Chen Tian looked at Chen Ku, her eyes slightly red, tears about to fall: "It's all Erlang's credit."

Li Yuancheng nodded.

As a deputy constable, he earned at most twenty taels of silver a month.

He now has shares in the railway company, and the company distributed dividends to him a few days ago. In just two or three months, he received 500 taels of silver, which is more than his salary for two years.

These days, they are also thinking about moving to a bigger yard. All these are the changes that this brother-in-law has brought to their family.

Xu Lan looked at the happy family and wanted to say something, but she saw her brother-in-law happily clinking glasses with Chen Ku. She felt ashamed and did not speak.

But she didn't say anything, but the old mother couldn't help wiping away tears and said:
"It's New Year's Day, and I don't know if Dalang..."

Sure enough, when Li Yuancheng mentioned Chen Xin, the eldest son of the Chen family, his face darkened.

Chen Ku was about to say something.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of bricks and tiles moving on the wall outside.

He turned his head suddenly and shouted:
"who?"

Immediately walked out of the hall.

As the deputy chief constable, Li Yuancheng had been a police officer for four or five years and had developed a keen sense of alertness. He rushed out almost immediately after Chen Ku opened his mouth.

Immediately, two people arrived at the door.

Then I saw a figure on the roof outside the courtyard gate. After shouting from inside the house, he flashed away into the distance like lightning.

at this time.

The women in the house also ran out in panic.

Just when Chen Ku was about to use his hound's sense of smell to lock onto the man.

Then I heard two screams from my sister-in-law and mother behind me.

"what!"

Xu Lan's voice broke down in tears as she looked towards the figure in the distance:

"Dalang!"

"What?" Chen Ku turned around suddenly.

Then I heard my mother's voice coming from behind, she was crying and her eyes were red as she looked at the figure going away:

"That seems to be your brother's figure. Yes, there is no mistake. A mother would not mistake her son's figure."

"Huh?" Li Yuancheng's face changed drastically: "Is it Chen Xin?"

Just as he was about to say something, his wife grabbed his arm. When he turned around, he saw Chen Tian's face shaking excitedly.

Just at this time.

Then I heard Chen Ku's voice.

"Brother-in-law, stay at home, I'll go after her!"

Turn around.

Chen Ku leaped out and chased after the receding figure.

(End of this chapter)