Chapter 42

Feng Yan and Chen Hao led the newly promoted bounty hunters away; on the spectator stand, people watched as the two slowly escorted Jin Meng away, each preparing to test the two before them.

At that moment, a black-clothed masked person appeared! His appearance made all the restless people honestly straighten up; the black-clothed masked person slowly watched them gradually leave, thinking: 'Is this what an adventurer is like? I hope this opponent won't disappoint me!'

Several people slowly walked out of there; as soon as they exited the gate, a beam of sunlight shone directly onto their eyes, and Feng Yan and the others used their hands to block the sunlight, continuing forward. As they walked, they generally looked at the scenery along the way; golden silence, paved with inferior crushed jade stones, surrounded by glittering gold on all sides, they were surrounded by money, walking within money, yet do the people inside the country not be controlled by money? Each of them knows.

"Perhaps, this is the power of money." Feng Yan thought.

Several people continued forward, arriving at the original inn; the innkeeper greeted the guests, outside piled a large amount of food and other things, the originally luxurious decoration became even more splendid, the flow of customers was endless, coming and going, the guests leaving had flushed faces; the lovely maiden supported the drunk guest official, emitting a silver-bell-like laugh, then spoke in an extremely thin voice: 'Guest official, are you still enjoying yourself today?'

That guest could no longer walk, being supported, while speaking in a slurred tone: 'Enjoy~~ment, of course~~fully enjoyed!'

Feng Yan and Chen Hao slowly watched them leave, inevitably feeling a wave of nausea in their stomachs; then they saw Xiao Er holding a long whip in his hand, displaying a lofty expression, watching the dwarves work; when a dwarf fell behind, he directly flicked the whip at him, producing a 'pa' sound.

Those ahead continued walking forward, not daring to look back; the dwarf who had been whipped had red blood flowing from his leg, yet he could not attend to it, only able to let the blood slowly drip down, staining the ground beneath him red; all that could be heard was Xiao Er scolding: 'You bunch of useless things, with just this bit of stuff, you can't even move it—what use are you? No wonder you'll be used as materials by our great red-clothed mage; this is fate!'

Xiao Er showed a very pleased expression, head raised, looking very pleased; Feng Yan wanted to go up and give him a slap, just as he was about to do so, Chen Hao had already arrived in front of Xiao Er, then directly threw a punch; Xiao Er had no time to react, was directly knocked to the ground, he clumsily got up, preparing to retaliate, but upon seeing Chen Hao standing before him, he instantly became like a deflated balloon, losing all momentum.

Chen Hao stood before Xiao Er and said: 'How does it feel to bully people?'

Xiao Er didn't know what to say, cold sweat poured from his back, and he also knew the person before him was not someone to provoke; then he difficulty spat out two words from his mouth: 'Not bad.'

Feng Yan directly shouted: 'Shopkeeper! Come out!'

Upon hearing Feng Yan's voice, the shopkeeper hurriedly came out, respectfully saying: 'Yo! Several gentlemen have arrived, are you here for tea or a meal? Come, please go upstairs.'

Feng Yan smiled and said: 'Shopkeeper, your business is getting more and more prosperous; today we didn't come here to eat, we just happened to arrive, and it so happens that we saw you have dwarves here, so I want to make a deal with you.'

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper immediately understood and said: 'You folks want our shop's dwarf assistants? Ah, you've also seen that we're very busy; before we only had one Xiao Er, but with more people we couldn't afford wages, so we had an official bring in a batch of dwarves—as you can see, these are those dwarves.'

The dwarves worked while secretly glancing at the shopkeeper discussing matters here; although they would suffer some fleshly hardship here, they still had some food to avoid starvation, yet they still longed for freedom, awaiting the return of their god to protect them again.

Chen Hao looked at the shopkeeper's smile and understood in his heart: the old thing just wanted more money! He then said to the shopkeeper: 'The price is negotiable; go ahead and speak!'

I know your capabilities, then he extended a finger and said: 'One gold brick!'

Chen Hao was pondering whether to give it when he saw Feng Yan directly toss out a gold brick; the shopkeeper hurriedly picked it up, then said to the dwarves: 'Put down what you're holding, you may leave; the several gentlemen before you have bought you!'

"Bought?" the dwarves felt surprised, then followed them away.

The masked black-clothed person stood on a nearby rooftop; the person beside him asked: 'Are you really planning to give up this bounty?'

"Hmm, yes, besides this time, I intend to quit afterwards as well; I've already earned enough money, and I don't want to continue being enslaved by this thing; I need to do other things, to experience life as an ordinary person." The black-clothed person said thoughtfully.

The group, bringing the dwarves, returned to the palace; the moment they entered the main gate, they widened their eyes!

Wang You had already been taken away, and the Black Sword had also disappeared together; however, Feng Yan smiled and said: 'Fool, you really dare to take it!'

Deep in the palace, the dwarf returned once more to the familiar cage; the red-clothed devil revealed a terrifying smile, saying: 'Little brat, you're back in my hands again! Moreover, this worldly beauty, the dancer beside the adventurer, is actually such a beauty—truly enviable!'

Wang You was extremely frightened; the red-clothed devil stepped closer, preparing to pounce on Wang You; just as his hands were about to touch Wang You, the Black Sword suddenly flew to Wang You's side, cutting the rope binding Wang You; the red-clothed devil was thrown back, shouting angrily: 'Who the hell! Ruined this old man's good deed!'

"It's me!" a voice came from within the Black Sword, then black smoke slowly emerged from the blade, gradually turning into a soul-like state; seeing this, the red-clothed devil, the soul of Chiyou, panicked for a moment.

Chiyou's remnant soul said: 'Really troublesome; if it weren't for this kid having backup, I would have killed you directly!' As soon as the words fell, he took the dwarf and Wang You and flew away directly.

The red-clothed devil recovered, only seeing the rope cut by the sword and the cage already split open; at this moment he slowly recalled, but could only stand aside feeling resentful; he clearly knew in his heart that he could not oppose those two.

"Then, do you need my help?" Yang Xin walked in, smiling as he said.

That soul arrived before Feng Yan and said: 'All right, the people have been brought back!' Then it directly returned to the sword, making no further sound.

Seeing that Wang You and the dwarf were unharmed, Feng Yan said: 'Then we can discuss our plan; in any case, let's first return to the traveling palace.'

They slowly returned to the traveling palace; the dwarves gathered together, and Feng Yan said: 'This concerns your fate, and is also your opportunity to turn over and gain freedom!'

"How should we do it?" a dwarf asked.

"Very simple: hide and wait for my orders." Feng Yan replied.

"Just that simple?" the dwarf asked.

"Yes, just that simple." Feng Yan replied.

"Why should we believe you?" the dwarves asked together.

"What do you think, besides me and Chen Hao, who else could you believe?" Feng Yan countered the dwarves.

The dwarves remained silent; Feng Yan waved his hand, signaling them to step aside, and after seeing the dwarves all leave, he said to Chen Hao: 'Then this is our rough objective: first, the treasure of Li State, namely weapons; your mission, Jin Meng, is to observe Yang Xin; as for who that person is, you will find out tomorrow; for now, just remember that he holds a crossbow in his hand, and your task is to prevent his crossbow bolts from shooting at us.'

Jin Meng nodded, understood, and said: 'Just prevent his crossbow bolts from attacking you, right?'

The two nodded, agreeing with his words.

The red-clothed devil was greatly surprised; as fellow adventurers, why does Yang Xin everywhere try to force Feng Yan to die, and why does Feng Yan likewise think the same, wanting to kill Yang Xin; Wang Tingwan turned her head, looking aside, she knew the worst thing had already happened.