Lu Yu left early and returned late, hoping to find some wild animals or bandits around Windmill Town to kill, to see if he could gather enough experience points.
However, he only caught a few pheasants, each giving him 1 experience point.
When he returned to the courtyard with the pheasants he caught, he saw Little Tail lying on the table, and asked, "Why are you lying here?"
"Hungry~" Little Tail weakly replied.
"Didn't you eat lunch? And not even dinner?"
"No." Little Tail nodded.
"...," Lu Yu shouted, "Why didn't you ask the guard at the door for food! So stupid! How have you lived until now?"
He threw the few dead pheasants in front of her, "Cook them yourself."
Seeing the pheasants in front of her, Little Tail's eyes lit up, she quickly jumped up, grabbed a few pheasants, and ran to the well to start processing them. This time she was smart and knew to ask the guard at the door for tools and seasonings.
The things she asked for were common, many of which could also be used as herbs, and the guard quickly brought her what she needed.
After a while, Lu Yu, who was practicing cultivation, smelled something delicious, stopped his training, and found that the pheasants had been turned into roast chickens, emitting an enticing aroma.
He naturally grabbed a roast chicken from Little Tail's hand, ignoring that it was freshly roasted and still a bit hot, and took a bite, feeling the deliciousness explode in his mouth.
Little Tail looked bewildered as the roast chicken in her hand suddenly disappeared, and only realized after a moment that Lu Yu had snatched it away.
She touched her stomach and picked up the second roast chicken.
Out of the three roast chickens, two ended up in Lu Yu's stomach. After finishing a pot of tea to cleanse his palate, he looked at Little Tail unexpectedly and asked, "You know how to roast chicken? Who taught you?"
"An old beggar, but he's already dead." Speaking of the old beggar, Little Tail looked a bit downcast.
Seeing this, Lu Yu didn't say anything, continued practicing for a while, and then went back to his room to log off.
For several consecutive days, Lu Yu left early and returned late. Those who didn't know better thought he was wholeheartedly completing the tasks assigned by Steward Zhang, but in fact, he was just looking for a place around Windmill Town where he could grind for experience.
"I've looked in every direction. There are no wild animals, nor any bandits." Lu Yu gazed down the road leading to the Han Mansion, "This is the only place I haven't been to yet. I wonder if there's a place to grind monsters here?"
Normally, outside a newbie village, there should be places for players to grind for experience.
Actually, Windmill Town originally provided players with ways to grind for experience, but unfortunately, those underground gangs all died in the Han Mansion, making it difficult for Lu Yu to find a place to grind for experience now.
Heading towards the road leading to the Han Mansion, Lu Yu certainly wasn't going back but wanted to see if there were any places here to grind for experience.
At the fork in the road leading to the Han Mansion, turning and going up would lead to the Han Mansion, which Lu Yu naturally wouldn't do, so he continued walking straight ahead.
Soon he discovered a small path leading into the forest, and Lu Yu took out his sword from his backpack and headed down the path.
After walking for a while, he heard a noise up ahead, and Lu Yu became alert, slowed his pace, and quietly crept forward. Through gaps in the leaves, Lu Yu saw a strange creature.
Overall, it appeared gray-white, resembling a stone, with short hind legs and large forelegs, and a horn on its head, like a cross between a gorilla and a rhinoceros.
What surprised Lu Yu even more was that this strange creature was eating stones, crunching them away, making hard stones rapidly disappear into the monster's mouth.
"Is this a demon monster?" Lu Yu was a bit curious. He had heard Zhang Lun say that terrifying great monsters lurked in deep forests and mountains, and even Martial Cultivators dared not enter lightly.
"Whatever you are, monster, as long as you're strange, I'll fight you!" With his sword out, Lu Yu charged with the momentum of a Fierce Tiger Descending the Mountain, slashing powerfully towards the gray-white creature munching stones.
Clang~ The sound of hard materials clashing.
Buzz~ The sword vibrated, and Lu Yu's arm couldn't stop trembling.
Hard! Too hard, what kind of ghost thing is this? It's harder than steel!
Lu Yu didn't doubt for a second that with his Fierce Tiger Descending the Mountain move, he could cut through stone. But all it did was leave a white mark on this gray-white monster, completely failing to break its defense.
Looking at the gray-white monster that had stopped eating stones, Lu Yu felt panicked. Running into such a powerful creature just after leaving the newbie village, who could keep playing this game!
"You monster brother, keep eating your stones, just pretend I wasn't here. You eat yours, I'll walk my way, let's each take a step back, okay?"
While speaking, Lu Yu retreated, retreating so fast that he was almost using the Eight Steps to Surpass the Cicada technique to vanish on the spot.
"Roar~" The gray-white monster seemed to disagree with Lu Yu's suggestion, dropping the food from its mouth and charging towards Lu Yu.
"Oh shoot!"
Lu Yu didn't hesitate anymore, turned around, and ran, with the gray-white monster relentlessly pursuing, crashing into obstacles head-on, its sturdy horn easily breaking through tree trunks as thick as an adult's thigh.
Very soon, Lu Yu realized it wasn't that the gray-white monster had a violent temper and wanted to hit everything in its path, but rather that it found it difficult to change direction once it started running, so it had to charge straight through everything.
After dodging the grey-skinned monster's charges several times, Lu Yu realized that this monster wasn't as terrifying as he initially imagined.
Although its defensive power was astonishing and its straight-line sprinting speed was quite fast, as long as one seized upon its weakness of lacking agility, even a Martial Cultivator at the third level of Body Refinement could escape from its pursuit.
Running along, Lu Yu noticed the trees around him were decreasing, and soon he rushed out of the forest into an area full of rocks.
Although the grey-skinned monster couldn't hit him, Lu Yu also felt helpless, as the monster seemed determined not to give up on chasing him.
After running for a while, Lu Yu heard voices in the distance.
"Over here, that Wind Rock monster ran this way."
Immediately, Lu Yu saw an acquaintance.
Zhang Lun was surprised to see Lu Yu here; wasn't he supposed to be in Windmill Town? How could he appear here?
Just as he was about to ask Lu Yu, he noticed the Wind Rock monster charging behind him and was captivated by it. He quickly said to the people around him, "Quick, surround the Wind Rock monster; don't let it escape!"
Numerous Martial Cultivators dressed in Han mansion's Protector uniforms surrounded the Wind Rock monster, which, realizing it was cornered, gave up chasing Lu Yu and charged toward Zhang Lun, trying to break through the encirclement.
Zhang Lun saw the Wind Rock monster charging at him but didn't dodge. He didn't even draw his short knife, instead taking a deep breath and assuming the initial stance of a fist technique.
Flowing Water Rock-Breaking Fist!
Bang~ The Wind Rock monster crashed into Zhang Lun and stopped in place. Immediately, Lu Yu heard continuous cracking sounds emanating from the monster.
Bang, bang, bang~
The massive size of the Wind Rock monster, comparable to a rhino, was actually forced to retreat step by step by Zhang Lun, its short hind legs carving two deep grooves into the ground.
Immediately after, several Protectors threw a large net over the Wind Rock monster. The special material net ensnared the monster, and the others hurried forward to pull the ropes in four directions simultaneously.
By the time the net was thrown, Zhang Lun had already retreated from the range covered by the net.
Under the combined strength of more than ten people, the Wind Rock monster, whose power was comparable to a Martial Cultivator at the seventh level of Body Refinement, was captured. As Zhang Lun walked towards Lu Yu, he shook his two hands, grimacing.
Lu Yu clearly saw that Zhang Lun's hands had turned bright red.
Zhang Lun said, "This Wind Rock monster is really damn hard. Its strength isn't great, but it's tough enough, stronger in defense than many Qi Cultivation beasts, it can't even be beaten down."
After speaking, he looked at Lu Yu and asked, "Why are you here? How did you provoke the Wind Rock monster?"
Lu Yu recited the excuse he had already prepared, "I found some clues and followed them here, only to unexpectedly run into the Wind Rock monster."
"Is that so? Then you're really unlucky, running into the Wind Rock monster even here." Zhang Lun didn't doubt Lu Yu.
Hearing this, Lu Yu curiously asked, "Could it be that the Wind Rock monster wouldn't appear here?"
"Indeed, most Wind Rock monsters are gathered at the back of Wind Rock Mountain. There is a large exposure of Wind Rock ore there. The Wind Rock monsters survive by consuming Wind Rock ore, which is why they're so tough."
"The Wind Rock monster being so close to Han mansion, doesn't that make Han mansion very dangerous?" Lu Yu asked.
"Actually, Han mansion is situated on Wind Rock Mountain precisely to prevent Wind Rock monsters from storming into Windmill Town. But most of the time, the Wind Rock monsters quietly stay in their lair and don't run amok, so it's not as dangerous as one might think."
Watching the Wind Rock monster being dragged away by the others, Lu Yu curiously asked, "Why do you capture it?"
From the previous actions, it was evident that Zhang Lun and the others were specifically here to capture the Wind Rock monster; otherwise, their coordination wouldn't have been so smooth.
"The Wind Rock monster itself isn't much use, but what it excretes is a treasure. After consuming a large amount of Wind Rock, its excrement contains genuine rare materials—Iron Essence."
"Iron Essence is a grade-one spiritual rare material, and it's traded by the liang. If you have enough Iron Essence, you can pay a handling fee to custom order a spiritual weapon at the Divine Weapon Pavilion."
The two of them chatted as they walked, unknowingly arriving at the Han mansion's Wind Rock mining area. Lu Yu suddenly stopped and said to Zhang Lun, "Brother Zhang, I need to return to Windmill Town to continue investigating the clues about the mysterious person. Let's part ways here!"
"Alright, take care."
The two of them separated, and Lu Yu quickly left the mining area at full speed.
Zhang Lun, leading the captured Wind Rock monster, headed towards a place specially designed for confining Wind Rock monsters and encountered Yang Xiu on the way.
Yang Xiu noticed that someone familiar had just been talking to Zhang Lun and asked who it was. Zhang Lun, not thinking much, directly replied that it was Lu Yu.
When visiting Windmill Town earlier, Yang Xiu had noticed Lu Yu in the team, and now seeing him here again, he curiously asked, "What exactly is that Lu Yu up to, running everywhere like this?"
"The steward Zhang has tasked him with finding someone; why are you asking about this?" After saying this, Zhang Lun somewhat curiously asked, as Yang Xiu didn't seem like someone with such a keen curiosity.
After listening to Zhang Lun, Yang Xiu casually replied, "Oh, nothing much. It's just that I taught Lu Yu for a period and thought quite highly of him, so I was just curious about what he's been doing."
"Is that so?" Zhang Lun was a bit puzzled. Yang Xiu didn't seem like the type of person he claimed to be. During the year at Han mansion, Zhang Lun rarely saw Yang Xiu taking an interest in others' matters.