Chương 27: Change

The Li Residence. Song Que stood blankly outside the door, staring at Aunt Li and her children as they tearfully clung to Old Li's body. An overwhelming sense of guilt washed over him. His lips trembled, but he didn't even know where to begin offering comfort. He paid no mind to the crowd of villagers pointing and whispering in the distance behind him. At this moment, a burly middle-aged man walked over, parted the crowd, stepped up behind him, and gently patted his shoulder.

Song Que turned around, forcing a bitter smile as he muttered:"Uncle Zhong."

"Song Que, what happened?" The corners of his mouth twitched, not knowing how to explain. Ultimately, he just let out a heavy sigh and shook his head. Seeing his demeanor, Old Zhong didn't press the issue for the moment. He simply offered words of comfort and consolation. Right then, Zhao Hu, Guo Shan, and a group of robust men arrived. Seeing the tragic scene in the courtyard, a glint of malicious joy flashed in Zhao Hu's eyes.

Not daring to act too brazenly, he forced a sorrowful expression, though his tone was dripping with sarcasm:"Oh my, little Song, I just heard about Li Tie. How could you two be so careless?" Seeing Song Que remain silent, he grew even more smug:"Everyone, take this as a warning! The deep mountains and toxic waters are incredibly dangerous. You must stick together in a group to be safe." Suppressing his boiling anger, Song Que had no patience for this drivel.

Staring coldly at him, he said indifferently:"Zhao Hu, today is already a terrible enough day. Don't force me to make it even worse." Meeting Song Que's emotionless, dead-eyed stare, Lord Hu instantly cowered. A gentleman takes revenge, ten years is not too late! I'm just choosing not to stoop to the level of a madman! Finding an excuse to convince himself, Lord Hu decisively turned around. Naturally, in front of everyone, he didn't forget to maintain his pride, shouting loudly:"I only came to offer my condolences.

Since I'm not welcome, we'll leave!" Despite his words, he couldn't completely mask the smugness in his voice. Zhong Kui watched his theatrical exit and secretly shook his head. We are all neighbors from the same village; is there a need for such behavior? Only then did Song Que turn back to Old Zhong:"Uncle Zhong, I'll trouble you to help me handle Uncle Li's funeral arrangements. I need some quiet time." Sigh, such a good kid. Let's hope he doesn't carry too heavy a burden in his heart.

Zhong Kui looked deeply at the youth before him, patted his shoulder, and nodded to show he understood. Old Zhong was an experienced man; entrusting this matter to him was the best choice. Song Que sighed and walked toward Mirror Lake. He had already sent Husky and Mengmeng back there before entering the village. Sitting quietly by the lake, Song Que's turbulent emotions gradually settled. He wanted to be alone to reflect on his mistakes regarding Li Tie's death.

This was a habit he had learned from a seasoned mentor back when he was studying. No matter what you do, whether you succeed or fail, always take the time to reflect on yourself. Song Que always treated this advice as a golden rule, strictly adhering to it. Through this incident, he truly realized there was much he needed to fix. If he had improved on certain aspects today, perhaps this tragic outcome could have been avoided. First, he was too careless. He had lost his reverence for the dangers of this world.

And those who look down on death are usually the first to die. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Second, he wasn't flexible enough. His physical attributes and reflexes far surpassed those of ordinary people, yet when he needed to be fast, he couldn't act fast enough. Clearly, he hadn't fully tapped into this body's potential. Finally, he needed a new companion.

The Mountain Sparrow had repeatedly proven its limitations—it couldn't fly high enough, far enough, and its vision was too short, preventing it from offering him more substantial help.... Regardless of what happened, life had to go on. After sitting for an entire afternoon reflecting on himself, Song Que finally felt slightly better. Perhaps his past life as a doctor, witnessing so much life and death, gave him resilience; he was deeply remorseful, but he absolutely would not let himself sink into despair.

Looking at Husky and Mengmeng, who had remained silently by his side the entire time, Song Que secretly blamed himself. This wolf was covered in wounds that hadn't even been treated yet! Taking a deep breath, he stood up, cleaned Husky's body, and bandaged its wounds. After bringing out some dried meat for them to eat, Song Que and the two beasts decided to stay and rest in the shed by the lake. He was too physically exhausted today, and his mental tension had been stretched to the breaking point.

He needed a long, deep sleep. Closing his eyes, Song Que couldn't rest as he had hoped. He noticed that the Tesseract in his mind had, at some unknown point, turned pale pink, and his Storage Space had doubled in size! This thing can level up?! When did this happen? Song Que was baffled. Calming his mind to analyze the situation, he quickly reached a conclusion. Presumably, the higher the quality of the energy source, the more powerful the Tesseract became.

First, it was ghost energy, and now, it was the energy from a spiritual herb. To confirm his theory, Song Que took out the wild ginseng, took a massive bite, and carefully observed the reaction. In less than a moment, his stomach bloated. The Tesseract spun violently, its color deepening significantly. It continuously exuded an incredibly pure stream of energy that seeped into every cell of his body, making him groan in comfort.

Furthermore, he genuinely felt his physical strength—which had been stagnant for a long time—growing stronger again. It seemed that once the Tesseract leveled up, it could resume enhancing his body! Thinking of his practically limitless potential, Song Que was secretly thrilled. The prerequisite, of course, was finding increasingly higher-quality energy sources in the future. This new discovery helped dispel some of his sorrow. Song Que let out a soft breath and finally sank into a deep sleep.

For the next few days, Song Que kept an extremely low profile, practically vanishing from the sight of Giant Willow Village's residents. He stayed by Mirror Lake almost exclusively, only appearing during the funeral and Li Tie's burial. Other than that, he never stepped half a foot outside. Carrying guilt in his heart, he didn't want to face the Li family, so he could only hide here, living self-sufficiently. These few days weren't spent idle.

Aside from training and completely digesting the ginseng to turn the Tesseract deep red, he focused on another task: brewing wine. Yes, he still remembered his promise to treat Old Li to strong liquor. He absolutely would not disappoint the man's final wish. Thus, after several days of experimentation using the most primitive bamboo tube apparatus, he finally managed to distill two jars of wine that he deemed satisfactory. Having fulfilled a lingering worry in his heart, Song Que decided to go out today.

It had been almost seven days since Uncle Li's passing; he remembered it clearly. His eyes turning icy as he gazed toward the distant Great Ridge Mountains, he muttered to himself: Some debts need to be settled. Two days later. The Giant Willow Village Cemetery. A crowd of villagers stood fearfully in the distance, constantly whispering and pointing at a newly erected grave. A new grave was nothing spectacular to look at.

The true spectacle was the youth standing before it, and the massive tiger bound tightly at his feet, struggling helplessly.... The spiritual lives of the Giant Willow Village residents had never been as enriched as they were this past week. The topics of gossip were endless, with explosive news constantly spamming the headlines, completely shattering the village's long-standing tranquility.

This morning, the Song family's orphaned brat had sent shockwaves through the entire village by hauling back a tiger weighing over five hundred catties! Standing at 1. 6 meters, Song Que carrying the massive tiger on his back was almost entirely engulfed by it. Accompanied by the tiger's whimpering groans, villagers who saw him on the road literally thought a ferocious tiger was attacking the village, scaring several people into fainting on the spot.

Previously, when people discussed him single-handedly beating down a group of hunters, some had secretly harbored doubts. But after today's display, absolutely no one dared to question it. Daring to venture into the Great Ridge Mountains alone and capturing that massive beast alive? If you're not convinced, why don't you try doing it for everyone to see?!... At this moment, Song Que was standing before Li Tie's tombstone.

He had erected this headstone himself; it was the only marked grave in the entire village cemetery, incredibly easy to spot. Fortunately, he recognized the characters for 'Li Tie'. Three incense sticks burned on the grave. In front of it sat an unsealed jar of wine, prepared by Song Que. He held another jar in his hand. Tilting his head back, he took a massive gulp, then poured the rest onto the ground around the grave, whispering:"Uncle, let me tell you a secret. I am not Song A'niu.

But rest assured, I remember your kindness to me clearly. I will take care of Gou'dan and Er'ya in your stead."

"Today, I will also avenge you. You can rest in peace now." At this moment, the distant crowd automatically parted. A few people slowly approached Song Que—it was Old Zhong and the three members of the Li family. Seeing them approach, a trace of panic flashed in Song Que's eyes. Looking at the usually lively Er'ya, her eyes swollen as she nervously clung to her mother's pant leg, his heart ached. He forced a smile and greeted:"Uncle Zhong, Auntie, you're here. Gou'dan, Er'ya, hello."

Looking at the massive tiger on the ground and thinking of her husband, Aunt Li instantly broke down in tears. A moment later, the mother and her two children were hugging each other, sobbing uncontrollably. Old Zhong stared fixedly at the giant beast still struggling on the ground. His heart felt like it was tumbling with the force of an overturning mountain. Is this thing actually a Hello Kitty wearing a tiger skin? If so, this Hello Kitty is way too damn big!

The guy standing in front of me is absolutely not human! A human being absolutely cannot be this ferocious! Zhong Kui mentally warned himself, while also silently praying for the Zhao father and son. Let's hope that troublesome pair has the sharp eyes to not provoke this absolute Lord!