Chapter 83: Shedding the Cicada's Skin, Unexpected Harvest!

"Many thanks, Envoy! Many thanks, Envoy!"

Zhao Hongyuan kowtowed repeatedly, grateful and tearful, and backed out of the room step by step.

The courtyard was quiet.

Until he was far from the wing room, Zhao Hongyuan straightened his back. He looked at the head steward, Lin Guiyong, who was hiding in the shadows, and quietly raised an index finger.

"One?"

Lin Guiyong was overjoyed and hurriedly ran out to pack his valuables, preparing to run away.

The leaves of the two jujube trees in the courtyard had all fallen, and the setting sun shone through the gaps between the branches, forming mottled light.

He reached out and broke off a withered branch, holding it in his hand and rubbing it repeatedly.

Jujube trees were not easy to raise. This was already the fifth year since he had planted the jujube trees, but unfortunately, he had only eaten jujubes once, and he wouldn't be able to wait for the second harvest next August.

Zhao Hongyuan stood in the courtyard and took a deep breath.

Five years ago, he was still a small merchant, relying on his wit to do some small business. He couldn't be called rich, but he lived much better than ordinary families, and even had spare money to take a concubine.

Everything started with that injured old man in gorgeous clothes who fell by the roadside.

Out of the mentality of hoarding for a rainy day, Zhao Hongyuan made a decision within a few breaths of seeing him, secretly placing the old man in a carriage and taking him back to recuperate well. After the old man woke up and told Zhao Hongyuan his identity, everything was beyond redemption.

Damn it, a monster of the Water Bath Sect!

At that time, Zhao Hongyuan was very regretful, but now, not only was he not regretful, he was very fortunate.

If you want to get rich, how can you not go crazy?

From then on, the Water Bath Sect had been providing help in the dark, allowing him to develop and expand his business on the surface, while actually acting as a member of the Water Bath Sect, going to Pingyang Town and surrounding large villages to raise mountain ghosts, waiting for the harvest.

Rather than saying Pingyang Town was chosen, it was better to say that the favorable environment of Pingyang Town attracted the Water Bath Sect.

More than twenty years of development had made Pingyang Town's population very large, and it was a town, not a county, so there was no government obstruction.

The second reason was the martial arts hall, where there were many mobile martial artists; if one or two disappeared every month, no one would notice at all.

For example, Lu Shaohui, who was lonely and indifferent by nature; no one cared even if he died.

In such an environment, the mountain ghosts raised were very sturdy.

What the Water Bath Sect paid was only a plantable treasure plant, and when he encountered competitors, they would secretly use some means, which was beneficial and cost-effective.

Zhao Hongyuan even felt that the Water Bath Sect had cultivated many people like him in other places, just like the branches on that jujube tree, dense and overlapping, yet not intersecting with each other.

Over the past five years, everything had gone very smoothly.

The number of mountain ghosts was increasing, and they were recyclable; they could be taken away after use, waiting for the next breeding cycle.

Zhao Hongyuan's family business had also increased dozens of times, with assets spread from small towns to large counties!

The only problem was...

Master Zhao didn't believe in the sect at all!

What Water Bath Sect, the name sounded good, very upright, but what they believed in was actually the Yin-Killing Water Mother!

The Water God of Disaster!

It should be called the Ghost Mother Sect!

Something that had been violently killed once decades ago was completely a rotten ship about to sink!

And look at Great Shun?

In its prime!

Evil mountain bandits could live well, and they could live comfortably by changing their names.

But if you were a rebel leader, you couldn't escape even to the ends of the earth; you would be pursued until death!

If he really let them lead everything, he shouldn't think about escaping afterward.

Unless he followed the Ghost Mother Sect to hide in the ten-thousand-mile water marsh for the rest of his life, neither human nor ghost, gnawing on raw fish every day, and finding it difficult even to buy some soap to wash away the fishy smell.

Squeezing dry the three nails on the Ghost Mother Sect's rotten ship and running away was the best strategy!

The opportunity to escape came very quickly; it was this blood sacrifice!

Over the past half month, Lu Shaohui's death, the mountain ghosts at the River God Festival, the stronghold at Fahua Temple.

All of them were Zhao Hongyuan's active exposures!

The purpose was to let himself "cause trouble" and let himself be "stupid," so that he could entrust all the blood sacrifice tasks to the Ghost Mother Sect Envoy.

Huang Zejun really agreed, but Zhao Hongyuan wouldn't go to any headquarters.

Bullshit, if he went, he wouldn't be able to come back, and he would be a wild dog for the rest of his life.

He had long since made arrangements to take a boat and turn to Huangzhou!

Huangzhou was far away from the Jianghuai marshes and located in the Central Plains; the lingering Ghost Mother Sect would be powerless.

Although there were many shops that couldn't be cashed out in time, two Galloping Horse Realm fetal pearl elixirs and four thousand-tael silver notes were enough for him to make a comeback!

Fortunately, the people of the Ghost Mother Sect were stupid enough.

A Hunting Tiger Realm martial artist could live to be one hundred and twenty, and a Perfected Form was even higher, but sixty years had passed since the fall of the Great Qian.

The older generation was fine; the old immortals could really live, but the middle generation had long since died out, and the Perfected Form old generals couldn't lower themselves to run errands.

The newborns born after the fall of the Great Qian became the "backbone," like the Envoy Huang Zejun.

They had strength; a thin camel was bigger than a horse.

But they had been hiding on water islands since they were young, had never gone out to explore, and had never seen the vastness of the world. They were only constantly influenced by the glory of the past by the elders in the sect, and had to accept the current misery.

Thinking of their ancestors eating and drinking well, while they actually gnawed on raw fish meat and had to deworm regularly.

Living like this for a long time, the whole person was distorted.

Impulsive, arrogant, and incapable, they were still a group of giant babies!

Zhao Hongyuan had been struggling for so many years, and it was easy to deal with them. Huang Zejun had only been here for two days, and he was already thinking about his kindness.

Zhao Hongyuan casually inserted the branch in his hand into the soil and called Zheng Xiang, stuffing a stack of papers into his hand: "You give this to that Liang kid."

Zheng Xiang looked terrified.

"What are you thinking? If I wanted to abandon you, would I have told you about it a few days ago? Didn't you offend him before? Just give it to him secretly under the guise of an apology, and it will be logical.

That kid should arrive at Pingyang Pier around dark. Before you go, remember to smear some mountain ghost blood on your body so he can smell it.

After it's done, go to Yunjiang Pier. I've arranged a small boat for you to go to Huahong County. Don't move when you get there; I'll find you. In the future, follow me to Huangzhou to eat and drink well!"

"Master!"

Zheng Xiang was moved in his heart. If Zhao Hongyuan hadn't told him, he might have really stayed at the mansion foolishly and been liquidated.

Zhao Hongyuan wasn't lying; making a comeback required manpower.

He hadn't told Zheng Xiang before because saying too much would lead to mistakes, and doing too much would lead to errors. Now that he was leaving, he naturally had to take his confidant with him.

Zheng Xiang was capable; many strong men were painstakingly "earned" by him. For a long time, he thought his master really liked men.

As for the note, it was Zhao Hongyuan's final preparation.

To avoid being liquidated by Great Shun, minimizing the disaster was the safest way.

He could only make the Ghost Mother Sect suffer a bit more.

Night fell, and pedestrians on the street walked home in twos and threes.

Liang Qu leaned quietly in the middle of the fishing boat, the bows of the boats touching, making a muffled sound.

He saw Zheng Xiang running over to the pier with large and small bags, as if he knew in advance when he would return and was waiting specifically for him.

"Young Master Liang, long time no see."

Liang Qu didn't go ashore, holding the oar in his hand, straightening his waist, and smiling squintingly: "Steward Zheng, what medicine are you selling in this gourd?"

"Young Master Liang is joking. Didn't I come to apologize?"

"Oh, what is there to apologize for? Aren't we..." Liang Qu just wanted to mock a few words, but he saw Zheng Xiang winking and handing over the package.

The package wasn't the key; the key was that he smelled a scent.

A stench unique to mountain ghosts.

Liang Qu changed the subject and took the gift: "What conflict could we have? Let the past be the past."

"Good, good, good. Young Master Liang is magnanimous; you are truly a hero of Pingyang, a man of great talent."

Zheng Xiang was sweating profusely. The matter concerned life and death, and the cleverness he had previously used to handle things on all sides was gone. After saying a few dry, pretty words, he hurriedly left.

Really strange.

It was like an underground party meeting.

Liang Qu frowned and calmly took the things back to the martial arts hall. ===== CHAPTER 84 =====