Chapter 105

After finishing breakfast, the officials at the gate came to request an audience—facing these experts capable of resisting monsters, the clerk of the office was very amiable, and of course the local elders he brought along were even more amiable.

As soon as they entered the door, these people knelt down with a thump, 'Please, exalted ones, save the people of our whole city!' Bai Lang listened and watched from the side, feeling something was off. Naturally, the one who stepped forward was Ma Rulong, who politely first asked for their name and position, then asked how to save the city's populace.

Then these people's words made Bai Lang chuckle, 'Exalted ones naturally have divine abilities and peerless skills, which we cannot match. Yet this expedition of yours will bring disaster to our whole city's populace—the monster cannot harm the exalted ones, but it will surely vent its wrath upon our city's people...' In their words, at most every few days the monster would devour a dozen or so people; the tens of thousands in the city basically didn't care about such loss... but if the monster grew angry, this city would surely be in trouble...

Bai Lang burst out laughing at this, 'These people are nothing but sycophants, utterly cowardly. You fear only the toad, yet you do not fear us?' However, Bai Lang had no interest in killing such people—he was no monster, would not kill indiscriminately; even back in the massacres at the end of the Ming, he had only slain rebels and Tartars. For people like these before him, Bai Lang felt no urge to kill—dirtying his hands on them would be pointless.

In Bai Lang's view, he didn't mind leaving, but he needed to extort sufficient benefits—he wasn't a goody‑two‑shoes. Ma Rulong seemed the same; this small team seemed to qualify as 'good people,' so they had no intention of lingering in the city, instead straightforwardly demanding benefits.

The benefit was for Qin Lian'er's sake—they directly demanded a large quantity of the precious medicines she needed; otherwise, refusing to leave was also an option. Bai Lang laughed heartily and put forward his own demand: 'Does your city have any decent treasure armor?'

Murong Hua asked whether there were any treasure swords here; Murong Jiujiu wanted the city's rare curiosities—being a lady of a noble family, she could naturally recognize their treasures. Ma Rulong had no particular needs, but he also could not possibly just leave so easily. After these people pleaded repeatedly, they could not change Bai Lang and company's wishes, so they had no choice but to comply faithfully.

'Didn't they think of using force to settle this?' Bai Lang laughed, saying, 'You should see our current state...' But as he spoke, he realized that he alone was wrapped head to toe in bandages and splints, while the others looked no different from ordinary people.

In their battle with that toad, there were spectators on the city walls; although the city's soldiers seemed vigorous and spirited to Bai Lang, their combat skill surely could not compare—otherwise the toad would not be so arrogant. Lacking the courage to fight the monster, they instead knelt to beg those capable of fighting the monster to leave, lest they incur its wrath.....

Bai Lang found nothing strange about such people; as the saying goes, 'People who have seen much and know much gain this benefit—you can see all sorts of oddballs...' He sighed, having originally not wanted to stay in this place; who knows whether this lot will scheme against him.

The treasure armor arrived; it seemed these people were quite clever, not bringing nonsense to fool Bai Lang—thinking day and night about getting them out, one couldn't give them an excuse; yet if Bai Lang and company did not wish to leave the city, what use would all their schemes be?

Bai Lang unfolded the treasure armor to look; it was a mail of fine unknown metal, with large metal plates riveted at several vital points. This treasure armor was very light—Bai Lang judged it weighed about ten catties. 'Soft treasure armor?' he said, gazing at the heart‑mirror on the chest and the beast‑head patterns on the shoulder guards.

That lion‑like decoration is the soft armor; Bai Lang, as a former young master of the Bai family, still knew this. The armor is light yet quite sturdy—arrows cannot pierce it, blades cannot cut it. Thanks to the special nature of the interlocking mail rings, once they are dented inward to a certain degree they lock up, preventing any harm to the body beneath the armor—thus eliminating the damage that spears and heavy weapons could inflict via horsepower or mere human strength.

'Supple like mail yet able to serve as plate—this is indeed a valuable treasure.' Bai Lang was quite pleased; of course, the office also gifted him a three‑pointed steel spear. Murong Hua also gained a long sword as limpid as spring water; Murong Jiujiu got something unknown, but Qin Lian'er truly received a large quantity of precious medicines.

Since the other side's 'sincerity' was sufficient, Bai Lang and company naturally kept their word and left the city directly. 'Leaving is fine; I really don't want to encounter that yin thing beneath the city a second time.' Bai Lang muttered, shouldering the steel spear as he walked—this way of carrying it is the proper over‑the‑shoulder method, akin to how a monkey carries a stick.

They had just left the city when the other side hurriedly shut the gate. 'What now?' Bai Lang asked again, 'Let's just find a spot nearby; if anything goes wrong, we can still return to the city!' Ma Rulong said this. 'Indeed, it's the treacherous horse, I like it!' Bai Lang laughed heartily.

Murong Jiujiu held an ink‑line reel, occasionally pulling out a line and twanging it on the ground; then a whoosh as the ink line shot out, glowing and burning up completely. 'What is this? Miss Murong, are you still a carpenter?' Bai Lang was quite curious. Murong Jiujiu glanced at him, also giving a look to the equally curious Murong Hua, 'This is used to determine the yin energy of the subterranean yin thing; it's called a Lu Ban reel.'

Bai Lang didn't bother saying, 'Does this world also have Lu Ban?'—just the things he'd seen in the storeroom; this world certainly has plenty of immortals and bodhisattvas he's quite familiar with.

Lu Ban's ink‑line reel can detect ghosts; Bai Lang convinced himself of this with movie plots—after all, this world has everything, martial arts and Internal Force, monsters and ghosts, so having such a reel is nothing strange. Walking and twanging along the way, finally about ten li outside the city, the ink line left by the reel stayed on the ground unchanged.

'This is not where the yin thing resides.' Murong Jiujiu put away the ink‑line reel, smiling brightly, 'At least we only need to worry about that toad and the monsters it summons.' Bai Lang pursed his lips; he wasn't that optimistic, and judging by Murong Jiujiu's expression, he guessed she was merely psyching herself up.

The absence of yin energy doesn't mean that yin thing can't come over; but since we've come this far, everyone should still make preparations—take advantage of the good weather to get ready, rest if needed, for tonight might turn out very unpleasant....