Chapter 153: The Water Spirit Has Come Again

Beheading the bandit leader of Wuling Pass—this was a huge merit.

"Hey..."

Commandant Zhao looked over, "What?"

"Lu Yao dying so cleanly is really letting him off easy." He Lingchuan scratched his head. This Commandant Zhao was really a master at competing for merit; sigh, no one was competing with him anyway.

The remaining Lu bandits on the field scattered and fled, never to stir up any waves again.

Yet He Lingchuan felt a wave of heat at his neck.

Was the divine bone necklace acting up again at this time? It was like this in the Immortal Cave this morning, and then it burrowed into the ground and did something, resulting in the collapse of the entire cave.

What good thing had it discovered now? He Lingchuan's spirit lifted, and he tried walking away a few steps.

The further he walked, the hotter the bone became, as if it were roaring at him to turn back.

Run where? There's treasure here! He pretended to swing his saber to chase the bandits, walking back and forth several times, only to find that standing close to Lu Yao's headless corpse made the divine bone necklace quiet down.

In other words, there was something on Lu Yao that the divine bone coveted? He Lingchuan rolled his eyes and squatted down to rummage through the corpse. Whatever was in Lu Yao's bosom, useful or not, he collected; this cannibal king also wore two rings on his hands, which He Lingchuan took off without bothering to distinguish if they were storage spaces, putting them directly on his own hands.

He hadn't done less of this work today, and now he was quite proficient, finishing it in a few strokes, so fast that others didn't even have time to stop him.

Zhao Qinghai coughed twice on the side, "Eldest Young Master, Commandant Zhao is watching you."

The battle wasn't even over and he had started picking corpses; the young master's behavior was too outrageous, making him feel embarrassed as well.

He Lingchuan didn't need to look up to feel Commandant Zhao's gaze full of displeasure and disdain.

Rummaging for treasures on the big boss was originally the welfare of the Zhechong Battalion government troops, but he hadn't expected this kid to steal the show. If he weren't the son of the out-of-town Superintendent, Commandant Zhao would have slapped him twice long ago.

He Lingchuan plucked a few times before standing up and walking away, and fortunately, the divine bone necklace finally stopped heating up.

This proved that the item it had its eye on was already in He Lingchuan's hands.

At this moment, the outcome was decided, and Pei Xinyu and the government troops gradually stopped fighting.

Officials and bandits looked at each other, seeing the wariness in each other's eyes.

Lian Deng rushed over, and Pei Xinyu asked first, his voice raised by three degrees, "Is this the reinforcement you spoke of?"

Lian Deng had no choice but to tell the truth, "General Wu was rescued by the government troops, and together with the Crocodile God, accepted the recruitment!"

He sighed, "From now on, we have to eat public grain."

Pei Xinyu gasped, feeling the world was too fantastical.

Last night, Wu Shaoyi and the frontline intelligence told him that the one recruited by the Yuan Wang Ting was clearly Lu Yao; how did the tune change so much by today, and instead it was Wu Shaoyi who was going to eat public food?

What exactly happened in these few hours, or had Wu Shaoyi betrayed them long ago?

Yet Commandant Zhao's attitude was quite arrogant, raising his head and asking, "Pei Xinyu, do you surrender or not?"

At this time, the fog had dissipated completely, and Pei Xinyu could see the government troops numbered about a thousand, which couldn't compare to his own side. The problem was that the Wu Shaoyi former subordinates Lian Deng had called back were also standing on the government troops' side.

The difference in numbers between the two sides wasn't large, not to mention Pei Xinyu himself had a crippled left shoulder, and every movement was excruciatingly painful.

The atmosphere was quite subtle.

He Lingchuan stepped forward and coughed loudly, "There are still remnants of Lu Yao in Desheng Town, and the surrendered General Wu is fighting hard there. Shall we set aside our disputes and go suppress the bandits first?"

Commandant Zhao had no objection.

Pei Xinyu hesitated and nodded as well.

So the three armies rode together and headed to Desheng Town.

On the way, Zhao Qinghai discovered a sneaky shadow in the small forest by the road.

He gave a look, and several support army soldiers rushed over on horseback.

There was nothing more to say; the Wu Shaoyi unit was currently maneuvering with the Lu bandits in Desheng Town, and the addition of the government troops immediately tipped the scales of victory to their side. The Lu bandits were killed or fled, but most threw down their weapons and became prisoners.

In the chaos, Pei Xinyu led his troops to pursue the fleeing bandits, but they chased further and further, and soon disappeared without a trace.

He Lingchuan knew the result of this clearly; the two generals of the Zhechong Battalion seemed too lazy to care, turning a blind eye.

Pei Xinyu's combat power was quite strong; they had already won many merits today and didn't want to cause any more trouble.

Anyway, this Pei bandit group wouldn't stay in the local area for long; wherever they fled to later, let the local officials have a headache.

After retaking Desheng Town, Commandant Zhao left Captain Li to deal with the prisoners, split his troops to rush to County Magistrate Village in the east, and then went with Wu Shaoyi, He Lingchuan, and others to Qianteng Town.

This journey finally went smoothly.

Soon, He Lingchuan rendezvoused with his own carriage column.

He had already sent Mao Tao back to report the news earlier, and the He family had been waiting expectantly.

Father and son met, both overjoyed.

He Chunhua emerged from the crowd, rode toward his son, grabbed his shoulders, and called out, "You brat, you brat!"

He was too excited, and the words behind were stuck in his throat, unable to come out, his handsome face flushed red.

Seeing him like this, He Lingchuan was also moved and smiled honestly, "Old Dad, I'm not that easy to hang!"

This time He Chunhua automatically translated "hang" into "die," gritting his teeth, "I knew you were a lucky general, with a big life; you didn't die even after falling off a cliff!"

The others also gathered around, saying congratulations to the Eldest Young Master for surviving, returning whole and sound.

Everyone looked closely at He Lingchuan; he had many small wounds but no big ones, and they were all sighing at what kind of luck this was. Others would have become meat paste after falling, but he just got a few scratches and didn't even ruin his face.

The scene of father and son reuniting suddenly became joyous.

He Yue rushed up to hug his brother's shoulders and laughed, "You survived and came back!"

Pressed by him, He Lingchuan let out a "hiss" and bared his teeth, "It hurts!"

There was an axe wound on his shoulder; the blood had long since stopped, but being pressed by He Yue, it split open again.

He Yue was startled, hurriedly apologized, and turned to call the military doctor.

After experiencing a night and a day of fierce battle and rushing, finally lying on the soft brocade mattress, He Lingchuan didn't hold on while the military doctor was treating his wounds and fell into a deep sleep.

However, after the military doctor left, the divine bone necklace hidden in his chest suddenly began to flash with red light again.

That light was very shallow and faint, and it lasted only a few breaths, so no one noticed.

Instead, the turtle egg hidden in his bosom suddenly moved.

He Lingchuan was sleeping soundly when he seemed to hear an old voice in his muddled state:

"He Lingchuan, please bury the turtle egg in the root cave under the old locust tree at Fengling Ferry."

This voice was very strange, and He Lingchuan felt strange: who is this?

The other party seemed to be able to hear his inner voice and said directly, "I am the Water Spirit of County Magistrate Lake. I originally wanted to enter your dream to find you, but I was rejected at the door. After much persuasion, even without ill intent, I could only transmit this trace of divine thought after great effort. Heh, even getting close to your dream is so difficult; I found the right person."

Hey, this guy is the old turtle demon? He Lingchuan remembered he seemed to have a life-or-death question he wanted to ask, but for a moment he couldn't remember it at all.

"You are the only one I calculated who can help me keep my true body away from the crocodile demon, so I asked you for help." The voice continued, "But the great ominous omen I divined is by no means empty words."

He Lingchuan wanted to ask, was he bound to die? "There is no ending in this world called 'destined by fate'." The Water Spirit continued, "It's just a pity that your fate is restrained by great power, and others can't probe it at all. I barely divined a few verses, hoping to help you escape the disaster of death early."

Riddles again?!...

He didn't know how long it had been, but He Lingchuan was shaken awake by He Yue, "We've arrived, hurry up and get off!"

He sat up, muttering something. He Yue seemed to hear his brother muttering something about "hiding talent," and then saying "truth and falsehood," and couldn't help but laugh, "Brother, what are you muttering?"

"Had a dream, an old man in the dream kept nagging at me, but wouldn't say anything useful." He Lingchuan yawned while jumping off the carriage, finding the stars full in the sky and the evening breeze blowing. He had slept for at least two hours.

"We've arrived at Qianteng Town?"

"Qianteng Town was passed long ago; we are in Wuliu County. Qianteng Town is just a small town of three hundred people; if the team wants to resupply properly, we have to come here." He Yue laughed, "The Wuliu County Magistrate sent someone to pass a message, saying he wants to hold a banquet at Hongtai Tower to welcome us and calm our nerves."

"The Wuliu County Magistrate is so attentive?" He Lingchuan was startled, "His news is really well-informed."

"County Magistrate Village, Qianteng Town, Desheng Town—the locations of this event all belong to Wuliu County." He Yue accompanied him as they walked out, "The Magistrate has already heard that the rebels slaughtered villages and held rendezvous here, and even pursued and killed Wang Ting officials, and is deeply shocked, so he wants to express his deep condolences to us."

Wang Ting official refers to Old Dad? Hey, that's right, He Chunhua has already received a letter of appointment and is legally the Superintendent of Xia Province, indeed a local official.

The Wuliu County Magistrate's attentiveness is to be expected. Thinking of this, He Lingchuan stretched beautifully, looking left and right, "Hey, why are there so few people in the team?"

"The post station in the county is not small, and there are local gentry who provided two manors for us to stay for free, so all of us are settled. Then there are the civilians from County Magistrate Village who left the team at Qianteng Town, and their subsequent resettlement will be taken over by Wuliu County."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 154 =====

"The County Magistrate of Wuliu is being so attentive?" He Lingchuan was taken aback. "His intelligence is truly sharp."

"County Magistrate Village, Qianteng Town, and Desheng Town—the locations of this recent incident all fall under Wuliu County." He Yue accompanied him as they walked outside. "The Magistrate has already heard that the rebels slaughtered villages and held a council of war here, and then hunted down high-ranking officials of the Wang Ting; he is deeply shocked and therefore wishes to offer us his profound condolences."

Did "high-ranking official of the Wang Ting" refer to his father? Heh, that's right; He Chunhua had already received a letter of appointment and was, in legal terms, the Superintendent of Xiazhou—truly a high-ranking local official.

It was only right for the Wuliu County Magistrate to be attentive. Thinking of this, He Lingchuan stretched contentedly and looked around. "Huh, why is the troop so small?"

"The post station in the county is not small, and there are local gentry who provided two manors for us to stay in for free, so all of us have been settled. Furthermore, the civilians from County Magistrate Village already left the troop at Qianteng Town, and their subsequent reception and settlement will be handled by Wuliu County."

(End of chapter)