Chapter 22: Striking It Rich

Under the cover of night, the chaotic battle continued.

Suddenly, a voice rang out, echoing in the ears of the people present.

"Stop."

It was calm and indifferent, brooking no doubt.

As if a stop button had been pressed, the clamor of the two bully gangs ceased instantly in response.

A steward, finding the noise here bothersome, had spoken up.

A mere word projected through the air was enough to make the two gangs, accustomed to doing evil, slink away and shrink back as fast as they could.

"Opportunities like this don't come twice; it's a rare chance to get rich, and we're making a fortune off the dead wealth of these guys. If we miss this, who knows if there will ever be another!"

What if the corpse transporters came back to drop off more bodies and discovered them?

What if there were someone bold among the two gangs who also wanted to scavenge the dead?

What if, what if the steward actually still cared and chose to come over to take a look?

Amidst this anxiety of gain and loss, the five of them erupted with indescribable strength in the following moments.

"Why would you joke about this?"

"Boss is wise!"

Although he would have acted even if the others didn't want to join in, the current situation was clearly for the best.

The group rummaged among the corpses with iron shovels, turning the pile of bodies every which way, then shouting and hollering as if they had never seen the world before—which, indeed, they hadn't.

The night gradually deepened, and then the sky began to brighten.

With so many spirit stones on me, I have no sense of security!

Concise and to the point, it made everyone feel vaguely relieved.

"The stewards won't come over to dig up the corpses to check, ahem... I mean, this old bag of bones of mine is going all out this time!"

"No need, there's a lot of work."

It wasn't that the others didn't respect Du En, but the facts were as they were; there was much work today, and they couldn't afford to lose even one person, let alone Du En, the absolute main force.

They didn't speak to each other, moving in a hurry, with only Wei Ming looking over curiously a few times.

As for the gravediggers, they naturally lowered their guard long ago, cleared away their things, and returned to their respective rooms, carrying their own thoughts, whether to sleep or cultivate.

Especially He Bo, who was particularly disgusted by Du En.

One thousand two hundred and twenty-five pieces!

This massive sum of money made their heads spin, feeling exceptionally surreal.

Because there was a lot of work today, they couldn't take it easy and had to time their arrival at the burial wasteland perfectly.

Because the terrain was chaotic, the two gang leaders, unable to control the scene for a moment, first breathed a sigh of relief, then tightened their nerves again, not caring at all about the situation on the ground, and scrambled away to beg for forgiveness outside the Qingya Courtyard.

As the name suggests, it is to use magic power to conjure a burst of light sand.

Du En watched them like this without saying anything, just lowered his head and silently looked at the paper in his hand, which was stained with blood but still had clear content.

It was still because of the steward's might!

No one dared to touch that pile of corpses.

When the sun fully rose, under the sunlight, a pile of low-grade spirit stones was gleaming.

"Everyone, this time, it's finally our turn to get rich."

"Each of you take one hundred, I'll take seven hundred, and the twenty-five remainder will stay with me for now; when they come to collect protection fees or when we need to make purchases, we'll use this portion first."

Hearing Du En's words, everyone felt it made sense, and their intimidated minds immediately became active again.

The six of them set off early, arriving at the wasteland right on time, just brushing past the corpse transporters' convoy.

If everyone took action and took the spirit stones, then after the fact, no news would leak out.

A total of one hundred and sixty-eight!

Among them, at least one hundred and twenty were dead bodies from the two gangs; it was truly a heavy blow, which showed how fierce the slaughter was last night, and it was no wonder the two gang leaders couldn't control the scene for a moment.

Looking at the spell notes while feeling anxious about gain and loss.

Brilliant!

Truly brilliant!

Only then did the corpse transporters arrive in a hurry, not daring to delay anything, throwing the corpses directly onto the flatbed carts and heading straight for the wasteland with their heads down.

It really has to be you!

While we were muddled and terrified, you had already made plans and preparations.

"I know what you are worried about, but we gravediggers have always lived hand-to-mouth; furthermore, once the heat of this matter passes, the Blood Eagle Gang will come to collect protection fees again. If Luo Heng leaves, there is still Lü Xiang, and even if Lü Xiang is gone, there are others. Relying only on begging the steward for wages won't be enough to withstand that gang's bone-picking and marrow-sucking."

The steward's might is evident!

Du En stopped in front of the pile of corpses, his head and face wrapped, only his eyes slightly narrowed.

Everyone hurriedly took the bags and loaded their share; it was heavy, and they never imagined that in this lifetime, they could possess so many spirit stones!

Even if these were "black goods" that couldn't be spent directly, just counting them before bed every night was enough to bring comfort to the soul, making them feel like life had something to look forward to.

"Good heavens, everyone was carrying a handful on them; doesn't that mean there must be more hidden at home?"

The members of the two gangs now only wanted to stay far away, other unrelated bystanders didn't dare to step close at all, and even the corpse transporters treated these bodies like hot potatoes, dumping them onto the wasteland and running away without looking back.

"Ahem, Du En, how do we split this?"

In their view, it was impossible for Du En's side to go and beg for wages every month.

Ning Cai's heart was beating very fast at this moment, his vision was a bit dark, and he asked stumblingly: "Du En, you aren't, joking, are you?"

Their excitement also began to level off.

"Eh? This is, hiss! A spell!"

"But, but..."

"Boss is mighty, I listen to Boss!"

"Haha! In the past, it was always them shaking us down; now it's our turn to loot them. This is what they call the turning of the tides!"

It was his first time seeing this caravan.

No one objected; after all, if not for Du En, they would have muddled through and buried the corpses, missing out on this windfall.

Low-grade spell, Sand-Raising Technique.

"There's even a spell, what a pity, only a low-grade Sand-Raising Technique."

Du En made arrangements once more, then took out the six bags he had prepared in advance.

The corpses currently piled on the wasteland also matched this scale.

"Boss, there are also hidden weapons and blades... Ah? Don't take them, that's such a pity."

The others were stunned for a moment.

"Hmm, everyone memorize this after reading it, and all of you learn it. In the future, if you show it in front of others, just say you were lucky and happened to scavenge a corpse."

At this time, before the sky had brightened, Du En exited his cultivation state, rose, and knocked on doors to call the others.

Seeing that everyone had reached a consensus, Du En took the lead and began to carefully loot the corpses.

If Du En hadn't said anything, they wouldn't have realized it, but now that it had been pointed out, looking at the corpses all over the ground, they immediately realized that these corpses showed no signs of having been looted.

Therefore, if they wanted to maintain their current livelihood and cope with the bullying and extortion of the Blood Eagle Gang, they indeed needed to make a windfall!

"Damn it! The boss is right. We have cheap lives; if we don't get rich now, when will we ever get rich?!"

"The barefoot aren't afraid of those wearing shoes! Anyway, if we get discovered or despised, the worst it can get is just like that!"

Having memorized the contents, he handed the paper to the others.

"Boss, why don't you... rest for another day?"

"Boss, why don't you... pinch me... Ow! You really pinched me..."

"These goddamn bastards, just how many people have they bullied?"

"Oh! Spirit stones!"

Du En looked at the others; they were likewise intimidated by the steward's might and only wanted to bury the corpses as quickly as possible.

Its main function is to obscure sight and attack the field of vision; if practiced to a high level, it also has decent power.

And indeed, no one had looted their remaining possessions.

However, even though they had been blinded by bloodlust, when the steward shouted to stop, both sides retreated and ceased immediately, not daring to hesitate or delay in the slightest.

Their fragile bodies at the early stage of Qi Refining could not withstand a few instances of harassment from Steward He Bo.

"Ah?"

Although the stewards probably wouldn't care about such trivial matters, if it really reached their ears, it would be hard to avoid some unexpected trouble.

It could be called frantically digging pits and burying corpses!

As long as the corpses were buried and the evidence destroyed, there wouldn't be so many "what ifs"!

As long as they buried the corpses as quickly as possible and returned to their dwellings to hide the spirit stones, they could feel slightly at ease!

Driven by this mentality, the corpse-buriers' efficiency increased dramatically; fearing neither hardship nor fatigue, they managed to bury these hundred-plus corpses by dusk.

They were almost exhausted to the point of collapse!

(End of chapter)