Chapter 106: The Commotion of the Return

Hmm?

Du En?!

Regarding this name, regarding this person, the residents of these shantytowns had all heard rumors that he had been taken to the Elegant Garden for confinement; how could he have walked out on his own today?

Released upon completion of a sentence... laughable. What kind of character do those stewards have? Could they really let you finish a sentence normally?

Or perhaps one should ask, why was he only arrested and locked up, rather than killed on the spot?

Could it be that the rumor is actually true?!

As people thought of this, they looked at each other in the silence, unable to stop themselves from recalling that rumor, and then, starting from a single point, it spread rapidly, leading to a flurry of discussion.

The rumor went that previously, an evil cultivator had run amok, slaughtering the overseers and then killing all the prominent figures in the shantytown who were at the middle stage of Qi Refining or higher.

Listening to these noisy remarks, Du En could basically imagine what had happened.

Finally, it came before Du En, the rising star among the corpse-buriers, who was also at the middle stage of Qi Refining at the time.

They did not dare to disturb this side either, silently retreating back into their own homes.

Facing the evil cultivator's arrival, he could have calmly avoided it, but thinking that this villain was so rampant, he must have intended to continue the slaughter of ordinary, suffering people after finishing off the prominent ones, which was why he chose to expose himself and strike back.

But before that, Du En had already come out on his own.

He collected the spirit stones and waved his hand to tell them to get lost.

In the end, Du En slew that evil cultivator with his blade, accomplishing what all the other prominent figures could not, yet because he had hidden his cultivation, he was taken away by the stewards for house arrest and interrogation.

They turned their heads to look one after another.

It was mainly because their foundations were too thin; too much is as bad as too little. While taking medicinal pills was indeed very effective at the time, once the potency faded, they still needed to spend extra time to stabilize their cultivation and nurse their hidden ailments.

"Truly an extraordinary spirit; a great man should be like this!"

Thump!

This person's knees went weak, and he knelt down heavily, raising his hands to slap his own face: "Lord Du! My heart was blinded by greed! Please, in your greatness, do not hold a grudge against a small person like me, and just let me go like a fart!"

Who would have thought that this person, simply because he did not wish to be arrogant and high-profile and wanted to enjoy life with the common people, had chosen to hide his cultivation, when his actual cultivation was the unreachable perfection of Qi Refining!

These fellows were overjoyed, as if granted amnesty; one by one, they hugged their heads and scrambled home, their cold sweat having long since soaked their clothes.

"Respectfully welcoming the return of our Lord!"

"It seems Overseer Li has been looking after you all quite well."

It was not that they did not want to convert the spirit stones into their own strength, but even if they bought medicinal pills, eating just one would take them a long time to digest.

What are the stewards even doing!

Crying and wailing in their hearts, their mouths could not stop, blurting out pleas for mercy and forgiveness, their guts literally turning green with regret.

"You all don't need to."

Du En shifted his gaze over.

Du En stopped in his tracks and looked up ahead.

The rest and recovery over this past year or so had left these fellows with quite a bit of surplus wealth; now, they emptied their family coffers to pay the life-saving ransom, totaling thirteen thousand four hundred and twenty-two low-grade spirit stones.

At the corpse-buriers' small courtyard, the corpse-buriers had long since heard the commotion and rushed out one after another.

Du En heard it in his ears.

The two sides fought a great battle, even grinding the small grove into nothingness.

"To think it has been spread into such a shape; it looks like... well, it must have been Overseer Li who spread it."

People discussed it heatedly.

The stewards would never care about the thoughts of these lowly laborers, and these people at the bottom had not actually believed much of it before; even those who truly believed it mostly would not speak of it openly.

Why were you able to come back on your own and be released after being taken to the Elegant Garden!

Of course, it was impossible for everyone to be like this; there were a few standing sporadically, watching the behavior of their neighbors, feeling awkward, as if standing wasn't right and kneeling didn't seem quite appropriate either, fearing it would be seen as collusion and lead to being punished together.

Seeing the return of their backbone, they were naturally extremely excited, but as things stood, it was impossible to just crowd around, so they restrained themselves and stood in rows.

That howl sounded just like a slaughtered pig; the sound of begging for mercy, which was sincere to the extreme, immediately drew the attention of other neighbors.

Because their words carried no weight, speaking out might instead implicate themselves.

One knelt faster than the other, their expressions filled with sudden sorrow.

It was nothing more than the fact that a leopard cannot change its spots.

But they still felt something was not quite right, so they could not help but secretly pay attention to the developments outside.

"Get lost."

You talk too much, and besides, isn't this quite flowery?

Therefore, it could only be the corpse-transporting overseer Li Jian, who had managed to inquire about his situation, and because his gratitude was hard to express, he had thought of relying on public discussion to try and save him indirectly, which was why he had spread the rumors everywhere.

Even more so, because they had long been accustomed to all these various kinds of unfairness.

Du En's tone was calm, as direct and straightforward as always.

"What composure; we should be like this ourselves!"

The crowd immediately shrank back, feeling very embarrassed; in their excitement, they had forgotten that this person did not care about such pageantry at all.

"Do not engage in such empty displays; they have no meaning at all."

Perhaps it would only be when their rare good days were shattered like bubbles that they might finally erupt.

These fellows, filled with regret, had no spare capacity at this moment to ponder the metaphor in this; one by one, they gave a violent start, dragging their weak, trembling legs as they turned to run home and ransack their houses.

But clearly, it was useless!

In a daze, people watched that figure calmly walk away from afar, their awe and admiration mixed with secret gratitude.

Bags of spirit stones were handed to Du En; he flicked his sleeve, and the spirit stones within flew out, shrinking as they were collected into a storage bag.

Now that he had finally seen the light of day again, could it be that the matter had been cleared up?!

They shouted in unison, with great momentum.

Du En continued walking slowly, speaking again to the few scattered individuals, which made them heave a sigh of relief, secretly feeling lucky and fortunate that they had truly repented and had not chosen to collude with the others earlier.

Although Steward Shi appeared kind and appreciative in his attitude, it was actually just that; he would not go to such lengths otherwise.

"Is there a need to be so flowery? Lord Du killed the evil cultivator, stopped the spread of chaos, and indirectly saved our lives; just saying thank you directly is so much more sincere and pure!"

Why!

Then.

Thump, thump, thump...

He did not take these things to heart, walking alone in peace and tranquility, and soon arrived at the area where the corpse-burier's small courtyard was located.

Before he could finish his sentence, he caught a glimpse of that familiar figure, and his words immediately got stuck; for a long while he could not speak, his expression like a suffocating fish.

The voice was not loud, yet it spread throughout the entire scene.

Before even getting close, he could already smell that familiar stench of rot, and it was much more intense than before.

Thus, Du En nodded slightly and said, "The usual."

Based on the fact that corpse-transporters often run around everywhere, they could do this without anyone noticing, perhaps even making up some deathbed wills of the corpses, making it vivid and dramatic, which the masses love to see.

Ning Caize then spoke up alone: "It's like this, at first we suspected whether Supervisor Li might be in cahoots with He Bo, but the facts proved that we were wrong."

Du En said this again because the current situation of Ning Caize and the others was fine, one could even say it was quite good.

Someone by the roadside was very disgusted, cursing: "Damn it, that bunch of low... Du, Du, Du, Du, Du..."

The others also nodded, appearing moved and filled with admiration.

Naturally, they admired that Du En had only met the other party once, yet was able to win them over and have them secretly look after them during this period.

(End of this chapter)