God of Pets-Chapter 418: Lights in the Night

Hu Quan buried himself in the soil under the cowshed, standing motionless like a corpse.

Although there were no cows in the cowshed anymore, the smell of cow dung had already seeped deep into the soil, or rather, the soil here was just cow dung turned into earth. That smell was truly unbearable for most people.

Fortunately, Hu Quan had practiced the Turtle Breathing Technique, which allowed him to enter a state of feigned death. Unless Chen Guan and Xiu Jie Ming turned the place upside down, finding him wasn’t going to be an easy task.

Hu Quan knew he couldn’t leave Ancient Well Village; otherwise, not only would he miss the legacy of the Netherworld Emperor, but he might also miss the chance to leave this place.

"That guy Chen Guan is just like a ghost. How could his secret skills be so strong? It doesn’t make sense." Hu Quan kept replaying events in his mind but couldn’t figure out why.

Such a primordial energy recovery ability was indeed extraordinary. However, no matter how fast one’s primordial energy recovered, it only meant having more energy than others; secret skills couldn’t exceed the expected strength.

Even if Chen Guan had reached level 20, even if he had unlimited energy recovery and could continuously practice skills, even if he had extraordinary talent, at most, he could bring his secret skills to level 21 or 22, which was already incredible.

It was no longer a matter of having energy; to have secret skill levels surpass one’s class, one must have insights beyond their class to advance. Moreover, the difficulty of further advancement increases each time.

A genius like Xiu Jie Ming, his commonly used secret skills were mostly trained to level 30, and reaching level 31 was extremely rare.

Xiu Jie Ming probably didn’t have higher-level secret skills right now.

Even if Chen Guan was more of a genius and many times stronger, assuming he trained his secret skills to level 25 would already be an impossible task.

Hu Quan couldn’t think of any level 25 secret skill that could withstand those terrifying secret techniques of the secret collection.

"Even if it were a secret divine skill, it probably couldn’t easily withstand the bombardment of the secret collection techniques." Hu Quan truly couldn’t understand why such a situation would occur.

He kept replaying and deducing scenarios in his mind, yet all results showed no chance of victory.

He couldn’t do anything against Chen Guan, nor could he defeat that monster-like person beside Chen Guan, let alone Xiu Jie Ming standing with Chen Guan.

"Damn it... How did things turn out like this..." Hu Quan could only wait, waiting for changes in the situation.

He still didn’t know what the legacy of the Netherworld Emperor entailed; perhaps there was still a turn of events.

Chen Guan and Xiu Jie Ming had passed by this household several times without discovering Hu Quan.

Before long, the sky darkened, and night fell.

Ancient Well Village was as silent as death, yet in the village, a few household windows emitted light.

Hu Quan waited until it was dark before crawling out of the soil, only to be surprised to find that the light in the hall of the courtyard where the cowshed was located was on.

"There... is someone here..." Hu Quan looked at the dim light filtering through the paper windows, his expression changing unpredictably.

He didn’t know what was inside this house, nor did he dare to push the door open casually to check.

But he knew if he couldn’t seize the opportunity, he definitely wouldn’t be a match for the three of them.

Clenching his teeth, Hu Quan went to push the door of the hall, wanting to see if he could open it, to check if the things inside were related to the Netherworld Emperor’s legacy.

He thought the door wouldn’t be easy to push open, but unexpectedly, with a simple push, it indeed opened.

Hu Quan paused slightly, gazing inside, only to find the house’s owner living with poverty as the walls. Inside the house, apart from some broken wooden stools and a mud-brick bed, there wasn’t even a table to be seen.

A ragged quilt covered the bed, with an old woman sitting on it, the quilt draped over her legs.

The old woman’s eyes were unfocused, as if her face was inscribed with apathy. She just sat there blankly, and if not for her breathing, one would think she was dead.

"Elder, I apologize for the intrusion," said Hu Quan, cupping his fists respectfully.

He truly couldn’t discern what background this old woman had.

She appeared no different from an ordinary person, seemingly not even a cultivator.

However, appearing at such a bizarre place and time, if someone claimed she was an ordinary person, Hu Quan wouldn’t buy it.

"Son... You’ve come back... Come to mom... Mom will cook porridge for you... There’s still grain at home... Mom will cook porridge for you..." The old woman stretched out a dry, rough hand covered in wrinkles and age spots toward Hu Quan’s direction, attempting to get off the bed, speaking with a voice trembling with emotion.

"Elder... I’m not your son... You’ve mistook me..." Hu Quan finally realized that the old woman was blind. He waved his hand in front of her eyes, but she had no response.

"Right... You’re not Anan... Anan can’t come back... He’s not coming back..." The old woman, who had been anxiously groping to get off the bed, froze upon hearing Hu Quan’s words as if struck by a thunderbolt, collapsing onto the bed like a deflated balloon. Tears streamed from her unfocused, murky old eyes.

She murmured to herself, seemingly lost.

"Elder, where is your son? Perhaps I can help you find him," Hu Quan thought this old woman’s appearance was too suspicious, probably related to the Netherworld Emperor’s legacy, possibly a test set by him.

"Anan... was taken by an evil ghost... My son... he was eaten by the evil ghost..." The old woman cried out heartbreakingly, though her eyes were dry.

...

Chen Guan, Xiu Jie Ming, and Fu Tianji, after searching for over an hour until darkness fell, had yet to find any trace of Hu Quan.

In the dark, they also saw houses with lights on and can’t help but look at the nearest one.

"Are there still people alive in this village?" Chen Guan was a bit surprised. During the day, he had tried pushing some of the room doors but couldn’t open them.

He didn’t dare to break them forcefully, fearing trouble, so he hadn’t gone in.

"Let’s check them, maybe there are clues," Xiu Jie Ming said as he walked toward the nearest house.

Chen Guan and Fu Tianji followed along, and Xiu Jie Ming stood in front of the door and called out, "Is anyone there?"

Repeating the call several times with no response, Xiu Jie Ming and Chen Guan exchanged glances, and he directly reached out and pushed the door, which creaked open.

The things inside were very shabby; in fact, there wasn’t much. Besides a heated bed and a pot, there was nothing substantial. On the bed, forget about a quilt; there wasn’t even a mat.

A thin, black, withered old man, wearing an old cotton coat, nestled beside the oil lamp in the corner, taking puffs of pipe tobacco.