Chapter 46: Faith, the Essence of Money

During the daytime the next day, the dwarves came out one after another; they went to the place where Feng Yan had killed the masked man, several of them joined forces to lift the corpse and walked deep into the forest.

Sunlight filtered through the parasol-tree grove, shining on the few dwarves who were digging the soil; it was the first time they had felt sunlight since being captured.

They knelt toward the rising sun, then kowtowed, slowly rose, slowly placed the corpse into the pit, then slowly scattered soil into it with both hands, slowly the corpse in the pit was buried; Jin Meng watched the dwarves' actions from the shadows, utterly unable to comprehend—before him were the people who had captured them for a bounty, yet why could they still bury him? He rubbed the gold nugget on his body; he only trusted this, and his employer, who had sent him to protect them.

He lifted his head and muttered to himself: "Why? This is probably our duty, or maybe our work."

Zhang Xiaobo finally entered Li State; last time, because he had no gold, the soldiers stopped him outside the gate and drove him away with spears and bows, but this time he took a large piece of gold from that corpse; the officer received the gold, turned it over in his hand, feeling its weight, then smiled at Zhang Xiaobo and said: "Please go in; there are still a few adventurers inside, who might be your friends or enemies."

Zhang Xiaobo finally entered that country; he shielded his eyes with his right hand while observing the nation, seeing that all around were golden buildings, he continually exclaimed: "Wow! Truly a land of filthy rich! Really, I've lived long enough to see this."

He continued forward, arriving before an inn; the inn was extremely luxurious, yet only a single attendant was working, the help-wanted sign outside seemed to have hung for many days, but the onlookers merely glanced, shook their heads, and slowly left.

Zhang Xiaobo watched the waiter and the proprietor at the counter discussing, apparently about wages, yet there was only one person; no matter how logistics went, they had to keep him! The proprietor said a few words, the waiter kept nodding, then turned back to work. This scene made Zhang Xiaobo feel bored; he slowly turned his head and continued walking through the city, arriving at a pharmacy where a sound came from inside; he stopped, turned back, and saw only a few soldiers grabbing a woman and not letting go; Zhang Xiaobo looked and knew it was the woman Feng Yan had brought back.

One soldier seized the woman's hair and insultingly said: "You are nothing but a tool for us to vent our desires; since you were thrown down by people and yet survived, you must serve our soldier grandfathers properly, right?"

The remaining three soldiers clapped together and shouted in approval, yelling at the same time: "Right!"

The soldiers were going to drag him from the street, preparing to take him to a deserted alley, and the soldier who had grabbed the woman's hair continued: "It's really been a long time since we've vented our desires; we were almost suffocated, brothers, shouldn't we let her serve our grandfathers well!"

The woman's face showed a despairing smile; clearly she had just returned from the terrifying Gates of Hell to the mortal world, yet these soldiers dragged her back into a human hell—how could she not feel despair? Having just recovered from a serious illness, how could she oppose these sturdy soldiers? She closed her eyes, accepting her fate, yet deep down she still hoped someone would come to save her, even if only a glimpse, a single word!

At that moment, Zhang Xiaobo walked up to the soldiers and said: "Let her go!"

The soldiers looked at each other and asked: "Who is this?"

"An adventurer." The soldier pointed to the badge on his chest and said.

"'What do you think, is he or the palace's black‑sword wielder stronger?' a soldier asked."

"'That one is truly terrifying, but this one? We few should be able to take him down!' the soldiers replied."

Zhang Xiaobo watched the soldiers conferring, without interrupting their talk; he stood aside silently, and when their discussion ceased, he laughed and said: "Come on, all of you together—just a few grunts pretending to be tacticians!"

The three soldiers charged straight at Zhang Xiaobo, each with a formidable posture, bearing the dignity and bearing of that sort; Zhang Xiaobo watched them rush in, first punching one soldier in the nose— the soldier covered his nose, blood dripping steadily onto the ground, not daring to act rashly; the other two, seeing their comrade suffer, lunged together, attacking from front and back, but these fellows seemed usually lazy gluttons; Zhang Xiaobo grabbed one with his left hand, the other with his right, then twisted hard— their arms emitted a cracking sound, the two soldiers cried out in pain; then Zhang Xiaobo released his grip, kicked one in the armpit, then released his left hand; that soldier writhed on the ground in pain, and Zhang Xiaobo released his hold on the other.

That soldier saw Zhang Xiaobo release his hand but still kept an attacking stance; as a result, Zhang Xiaobo looked at him smiling and said: "Do you think you can beat me? The adventurer you speak of who wields the black sword is my companion, and all his skills were taught by me! Take your other two companions and leave—I don't want to make a big deal of this."

That soldier dragged his two companions away; Zhang Xiaobo watched them go, then slowly approached the woman and asked: "Are you alright?"

The woman made no sound; Zhang Xiaobo hoisted her onto his shoulder and took her to the pharmacy, at the same time telling the doctor: "I recall you're supposed to treat patients—shouldn't you give her proper care?"

The doctor nodded, indicating understanding.

Seeing the doctor's demeanor, Zhang Xiaobo smiled and said: "All right, but I have no powerful weapon in hand; it seems I ought to lay low."

Wangzi Fu—inside came a clear ringing sound.

With a crack, another precious piece of pottery was smashed on the floor, making a sound; the prince shouted loudly: "Since those two adventurers appeared before me, my days have been nothing but bad—at first it was the princess of the Giant State, yes, she was beautiful, but she still wasn't in my hands; that's fine, but they came all the way to my country and made me wash their feet in public—I have never suffered such utter humiliation! Moreover, yesterday they even stepped on my head with their shoes! One day I will surely kill those two adventurers!"

The prince, exhausted from shouting, gasped heavily; a maid hurried over with a cup of water, which he drained, then he looked at Yang Xin and continued to berate: "You're just a good‑for‑nothing; every time your intel, only once was it accurate, and even though your weapon might count as a treasure of the Lilliputian Kingdom, you still can't kill those two—what good are you? A worthless good‑for‑nothing, utterly lacking the bearing of an adventurer!"

Yang Xin could bear it no longer; he forced himself to stay calm and said: "Prince, I won't allow you to insult me like this."

Hearing that, the prince grew even angrier and roared: "What should I say? No is no; compared to those two, you are nothing but trash, waste, a failure! I've always trusted you, but what have you brought me? Arrows that never hit, and insults that grow worse each time!"

The fact is thus: since that time he failed to completely kill Feng Yan, his crossbow bolts can no longer threaten Feng Yan; he lowered his head, fell silent, and acquiesced to this fact.

Seeing Yang Xin like that, the prince also realized the strength of those two adventurers; with a sorrowful expression he said: "Must it be only like this? I'll admit defeat inwardly? No, absolutely not—I'd rather die than relinquish my dignity! A prince's pride! Enough, everyone get out."

The prince waved his hand; the maids all left, leaving only one maid sweeping up the shards of pottery inside the room.

After Yang Xin walked out, he sighed and said: "Having received a bit of favor from others, you can't talk back no matter how they scold you."

"Indeed!" Wang Tingwan looked at the sun and said: "Otherwise how to say it? Eating someone else's white radish or a big ginseng root still wouldn't clear the debt."

Feng Yan opened his eyes, slowly rose; Forget‑Worry was still lying asleep beside him, Feng Yan smiled, he regained some strength, held her on the bed, covered her with a blanket, walked out of the room, and went to find Chen Hao.

At the doorway, Feng Yan saw Chen Hao already leaning against the pillar asleep; Feng Yan smiled, then reached out his right hand to rub Chen Hao's head, continuously rubbing, Feng Yan suppressed his laughter so as not to laugh out loud.

Chen Hao was gradually awakened by Feng Yan's actions; noticing Feng Yan repeatedly rubbing his own head, he kicked out straight away, sending Feng Yan flying legs‑up, then cursed: "Are you sick? I'm keeping watch for you, and when I wake up you play like this with me?"

Seeing Chen Hao angry, Feng Yan apologized: "Don't be angry; I can't beat you, let me get you whatever you want."

Hearing that, Chen Hao's spirits rose and he asked: "What thing?"

Feng Yan showed a comical expression and said: "You guess."

Chen Hao nodded, revealing an evil grin, and said: "Oh, I get it."

"'What do you understand now?' Feng Yan feigned ignorance and asked."

"'Enough, I'm not going to bullshit with you—how did the matter turn out?' Chen Hao got serious and asked."

Feng Yan laughed and said: "Not bad; everything's been sent out—I almost got shot to death by Yang Xin's arrow!"

"'You're not hurt, are you?' Chen Hao laughed and said: 'You look in good shape.'"

Feng Yan nodded and said: "We can proceed with the next step of the plan."

Feng Yan and Chen Hao nodded, exchanging a tacit understanding; they turned their heads and stared wide‑eyed.

Feng Yan shouted: "Wang Tingwan!"