Chapter 16: Bad News

Zhang Qinglong’s fist aimed directly at Ling Mo’s center, the force of the wind preceding it, carrying with it a faint whistling sound.

Ling Mo secretly praised him. His opponent’s attack, both in speed and power, far surpassed ordinary people, enough to rival a warrior at the first level of the Spirit Realm in the Canglan Continent, even slightly better than his current self.

However, as an old monster who had cultivated for over twelve hundred years, when it came to martial skills and combat experience, Ling Mo could beat his opponent hands down, even with his eyes closed.

Ling Mo stood as still as a pine tree, raising his palm to intercept Zhang Qinglong’s fist. Just as their fist and palm were about to meet, Zhang Qinglong’s fist suddenly changed, transforming into a knife-hand strike aimed directly at Ling Mo’s chest.

But Ling Mo had anticipated this, and his palm followed the momentum, pressing down to block Zhang Qinglong’s knife-hand strike, arriving first despite moving later.

However, Zhang Qinglong’s attack changed again. His palm stopped, but his elbow, in a flash of lightning, whipped towards Ling Mo’s head like a whip.

“Snap!”

Ling Mo’s palm had somehow already moved in front of Zhang Qinglong’s elbow, striking his arm and completely shattering his offensive.

But Zhang Qinglong shifted his footwork, circling to Ling Mo’s side and launching another thunderous attack.

Zhang Qinglong’s attacks were like a violent storm, a raging wave, but against Zhang Qinglong’s attacks, Ling Mo remained like a towering mountain, unshakable.

“Bang!”

Suddenly, with a loud explosion, Ling Mo’s body swayed, but Zhang Qinglong staggered back four or five steps.

Zhang Qinglong stared at Ling Mo in disbelief. Finally, he took a deep breath and said, “You win.”

Ling Mo laughed: “I just blocked your attacks, we can be considered a draw.”

Zhang Qinglong shook his head, seriously saying: “I have used almost all my strength, but I can’t even break your defense. Although you didn’t attack, I know that once you do, I will definitely lose.”

Ling Mo said: “I may have a slight advantage in martial arts, but if it were on the battlefield, the situation might be different. Brother Zhang, your strength should be at the level of a ‘Soldier King’, right?”

Zhang Qinglong revealed a hint of reminiscence, a trace of dimness flashed in his eyes, and he shook his head: “Not anymore.” Then, he looked at Ling Mo with burning eyes, “If you were to go to the army, you would be enough to compete with that person.”

Ling Mo laughed: “I’m just an ordinary person, I dare not expect such honor. Now I just want to stay at home and take care of my parents.”

Hearing Ling Mo’s words, Zhang Qinglong’s expression softened, and he nodded: “Yes, our parents have raised us for a lifetime, giving everything for us, we should take good care of them.”

But then, Zhang Qinglong’s expression became excited again: “Ling Mo, I really didn’t expect that our village would have an expert, and a great expert at that. The days to come will finally no longer be lonely, haha.”

Ling Mo shrank back, and said strangely: “Brother Zhang, I am not that kind of person.”

Zhang Qinglong was stunned, then his forehead was covered with black lines: “You brat, what are you thinking? I’m not that kind of person either! I mean, let’s spar more often in the future!”

Ling Mo suppressed a smile, pretending to breathe a sigh of relief, and said: “Oh, that’s fine.”

Seeing Zhang Qinglong was completely a pleasant surprise for Ling Mo. The other party’s physical foundation was solid, and he was honest, filial, and loyal, making him an excellent candidate for a subordinate.

As the supreme overlord of the Canglan Continent, Ling Mo couldn’t help but feel a surge of joy at discovering talent.

After a brief chat, the two picked up their respective prey and walked towards their homes.

Ling Mo walked happily on the mountain road.

Zhang Qinglong, as a “Soldier King”, an elite in the army, was willing to give up everything to come back and take care of his mother. Why couldn’t he do the same?

Moreover, he not only had to take good care of his parents, so that they could live a long and healthy life, but also had to fulfill their wish for him to become successful, to make a career in his hometown, so that everyone would praise him and make his parents proud.

It was time to make more money.

Ling Mo calculated that if he contracted the ninety acres of land on the hillside, at a price of one thousand yuan per acre per year, the price for ten years for ninety acres would be nine hundred thousand. This was all the money he had left.

And after contracting the mountain land, it would need to be leveled and developed, and even a road that trucks could drive up would need to be built, all of which would require money.

Ling Mo had also considered contracting wasteland, which would be much cheaper, but the subsequent development costs of wasteland would not be low at all, and the process would be even more troublesome, so his first goal was still the ninety acres of mountain land.

“Aunt, you’re here?”

Returning home, Ling Mo found his aunt, Ling Hongying, chatting happily with his parents.

“Yes, your mother told me earlier that your dog died and wanted to raise another one. It just so happened that my dog had puppies after I went back, so I caught two of them to bring over.” Ling Hongying said with a smile.

Ling Mo followed her gaze and saw a bamboo basket placed at the door of the house, with two palm-sized puppies constantly tumbling around inside, looking adorable.

Ling Mo walked to the bamboo basket. The two puppies looked over when they heard the sound, their eyes dull and a little fearful.

Ling Mo’s heart moved, and he circulated his spiritual power, gently touching the puppies with his palm. He saw the two puppies sniffing his palm suspiciously, then showing happy expressions, rubbing their little heads against his palm.

“Huh? These puppies just left their mother, and they don’t get close to strangers. They don’t even pay attention to me, but I didn’t expect them to like Xiao Mo so much.” Ling Hongying said in surprise.

Ling Mo laughed: “Thank you, Aunt, these two little fellows are very cute.”

During this period, he had tried communicating with plants and cultivating plant growth, but he had not yet had time to communicate with animals.

Compared with plants, communicating with animals was more difficult and required more spiritual power.

However, the younger the animal, the lower the difficulty. The two puppies that Ling Hongying brought were perfect for him to train in animal communication.

In the Canglan Continent, spirit communicators were divided into plant spirit communicators and beast spirit communicators. Among them, plant spirit communicators were more inclined to auxiliary treatment, while beast spirit communicators were more inclined to combat.

Of course, the plants and animals of the Canglan Continent were very different from the plants and animals of Earth. But these did not prevent him from conducting research.

Under the influence of spiritual power, the two puppies grew very fast, and in just two or three days, they were already able to run around behind him.

At the same time, during these few days, the news that he had resigned from his job in the big city and was going to stay in the mountain village to contract land and farm, spread throughout the entire Dashan Village like wildfire.

The first reaction of everyone who heard it was whether this guy was stupid? He actually wanted to get rich in the mountains. What could he rely on to make money in the mountains?

In everyone’s opinion, Ling Mo was just stupid, completely whimsical.

Getting rich by relying on the mountains was a dream that the people in the mountains had been thinking about for hundreds of years, but had never realized.

Soon, Zhou Zhishu brought bad news to Ling Mo.

Many villagers refused to contract their land.