Chapter 18: Steward He Bo's Malice

"In any case, by the time I finish my shift and come back today, I want to see at least twenty spirit stones, otherwise, hmph hmph!"

Dropping this threat-filled remark, Lü Xiang, feeling thoroughly disgruntled yet somewhat helpless, sheathed his blade, turned around, and left the corpse-buriers' small courtyard.

He had come to extort money and didn't want to cut off the sustainability of this place too quickly, but as it turned out, Du En was impervious to reason, leaving him nearly unable to step down gracefully.

In the end, he couldn't even leave with a show of force!

"Pah! This brat, does he really think I'm that waste, Old Luo?"

After stepping out the door, Lü Xiang spat a glob of phlegm onto the firewood piled by the entrance, his eyes filled with killing intent.

As a veteran here, he had people he could talk to across every aspect of corpse-related affairs.

However, upon actually arriving outside this building located near the city gate, one would discover that this place was truly a scene of beautiful mountains and clear waters, with fresh air and abundant spiritual energy—it lived up to its name!

It was like a buffer zone stretched between prosperity and filth, serving as a transition in an abrupt and sudden manner.

"Cough, cough, cough... what is to be done about this?"

Because this seemed to be the only viable course of action right now.

"The wolf has left, but the tiger has arrived!"

Wei Ming was not happy to hear this and immediately became agitated.

Du En shut him up with a single sentence, calmly stating his resolve.

The various stewards responsible for matters outside the city would live and work inside a building called the Qingya Garden; sometimes, the Chief Administrator of Outer City Affairs would also come here.

You don't say, really don't say, it actually looks a bit similar!

Amidst this astonishment, their emotions eased slightly.

Sweeping his gaze around, he glared fiercely at the people who had just stepped out and were peeking at the situation with their heads tucked in; several were scared stiff, while the others trembled and shook incessantly.

Just like that, harboring strange expectations and chewing on the bitterness in their hearts, the corpse-buriers repaired the courtyard gate, and after walking some distance away, amidst Wei Ming's irrepressible sighing, they headed toward the corpse-burial wasteland.

The others were stunned upon hearing this, and after looking more closely, they realized that the clothes Du En was wearing today were clearly his clean, well-kept clothes kept at the bottom of his chest.

Walking straight into the open gate and following the signs, he stepped steadily forward, finally stopping outside the pavilion of the Corpse Affairs Hall.

Now that Lü Xiang had come knocking, being exceptionally overbearing and intimidating, they spoke up hesitantly, following the momentum of the situation.

Therefore, He Bo had already been waiting, waiting for Du En to come again to demand his wages.

"What is borrowed must be repaid; sooner or later, there is no escaping this, so we might as well scrape it together in one go."

The reason was actually quite simple: he just hated that calm and composed expression.

When Du En arrived at the Qingya Garden, the place was quiet and elegant, and no other figures could be seen in the immediate vicinity.

To let Du En first go and be maliciously harassed by the steward, only to return and hand over the hard-earned wages to that guy Lü Xiang with both hands—just thinking about it made one angry, and couldn't help but breed bitterness.

Without needing to say anything or do anything, he just stood silently in place and waited.

He couldn't really work for nothing!

He has quite a lot of nerve!

Twirling his little mustache, He Bo sneered inwardly.

It wasn't that he was particularly vain, nor did he care about his attire, but he didn't want to give the stewards any opportunity to nitpick or breed malice in that regard!

"You, are you really going?"

"Mm, don't worry, you don't need to worry about this."

"Alright, no more joking, I'm going to demand the wages now; you guys fix the door, and then, today's corpse-burying work will be left to you."

"Isn't this just extending your neck for a blade, and then retracting it only to get hit by another?"

Ning Caize's eyes flickered, and he said somewhat hesitantly, "If we really must scrape it together, I'll put aside this old face of mine and go find some acquaintances to borrow from; we should still be able to gather it."

He only wore this set of clothes on specific occasions, such as when demanding wages.

Even if the Blood Eagle Gang hadn't come knocking, he would have gone to demand the wages anyway.

Ning Caize knew he couldn't persuade him, so he couldn't help but sigh. Looking at Du En's calm face, he couldn't help but say, "Things have come to this, and you can still be so indifferent and calm; your composure is truly excellent!"

"Hmm, perhaps it's because I have a paralyzed face?"

Lü Xiang burst into hearty laughter, slung his blade over his shoulder, and strode away with his head held high.

As for Du En, he had already gone against the current; while most of the people in the shanty area were flowing away, he moved in the opposite direction, approaching the towering city wall.

"Hahaha!"

At this moment, he had just finished his daily cultivation, walked out of the quiet room in the pavilion, and intended to go handle some affairs.

Named "Qingya" (Clear Elegance), it appeared completely out of place with this dirty, messy shanty area.

And he, dressed cleanly with a calm expression, blended into this environment very harmoniously.

Therefore, as long as Du En stood here and appeared within the spiritual sense range of the Corpse Affairs steward, the other party would naturally know.

To tell the truth, he did not like Du En.

Du En made a small, not-so-small joke.

Du En merely nodded: "Indeed, it is time to go demand the wages."

Just after coming out, he immediately discovered Du En.

However, this instead left the others somewhat stunned.

"Boss Du, look, why don't you go find the steward and demand last month's wages? Only then will we be able to scrape together..."

This steward, named He Bo, appeared wealthy, wore gorgeous clothes, had a fairly kind-looking face, and sported two little mustaches.

Seeing that Du En had agreed at the beginning of the month to represent everyone in demanding wages from the steward, but now it was already the twenty-eighth, and he still hadn't made a move, some people began to grumble in their hearts.

The murderous intent had not yet subsided, and it was stirring!

Not counting Du En's private savings, if the six people's savings were added together, they really couldn't scrape together twenty low-grade spirit stones!

So in the end, everyone looked toward their backbone in unison.

The people in the shanty area dreamed of living in the Qingya Garden, while the people in the Qingya Garden dreamed of living inside the border city.

"Luo Heng's situation was already terrible before he died, and it became even worse after he died; wouldn't that mean Luo Heng died in vain?"

When this kind of person walked through the Elegant Garden, they appeared unexpectedly harmonious, completely without abruptness, which would give people the illusion that they were actually the same type of person.

The six people still in the courtyard looked through the kicked-in gate at this arrogant back.

Thinking this, they couldn't help but swing their blade to hack several pieces of firewood to shreds.

Because those in the Foundation Establishment stage possess divine sense, this invisible sensory ability allows them to "see" various situations from very far away, bypassing many obstacles.

Furthermore, it is also necessary to confirm the specific attitude of the steward toward him.

"Sigh~!"

What level are you, that you are worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as me?

The fight against the brats of the Iron Hand Gang earlier wasn't satisfying enough; if this Du En really doesn't know what's good for him, then I'll just kill him directly and chop him into eight pieces!

A mere lowly laborer and base person should honestly be servile and fearful!

However, even though they had long been thinking of teaching him a harsh lesson, seeing that Du En was still the same as always and hadn't learned his lesson, that nameless fire in their heart couldn't help but flare up!

Thus, they did not waste time, directly raising their hand in a wave to make a window open, then took the opportunity to fish out a bag, weighed it in their hand, and with murky malice, threw it directly out.

"You want your wages, right? I've given them to you, but whether you can catch them depends on your own ability!"

(End of this chapter)