Chapter 262

Bai Lang never imagined how a woman like Wei Zhenzhen would manage all that gold and silver— he hadn't really estimated, but Wei Zhenzhen had carefully counted the silver, almost a thousand taels, and the gold was about 115 taels. Converted to copper cash, it would fill half a small house, no problem.

That amount of money could buy hundreds of mu of good irrigated fields near Chang'an and Luoyang; a local landlord's liquid wealth wouldn't reach that figure. Only a fortress lord commanding over a thousand soldiers would likely have such ready cash in his storehouse. This era also had no banknotes, so Wei Zhenzhen ultimately had to ask Bai Lang for a solution.

「Just leave it there. 」 Bai Lang thought about the situation at the end of Sui and beginning of Tang; it seemed Yangzhou hadn't suffered much impact, and by mid-to-late Tang there was the anecdote of a waist wrapped with 100,000 strings of cash, "In Yangzhou city, look for a nice residence and buy one." As for Bai Lang himself, he casually grabbed a few pieces of gold and silver, rubbed his fingers together and they turned into strips, which he stuffed into his belt.

The Twin Dragons never returned after obtaining the secret manual, and Bai Lang, before recovering from his own injuries, was too lazy to travel the world. He did know that beneath some bridge in Chang'an lay the Yang Gong treasure vault, but what's the point? Actually it's meaningless—Yang Su's son Yang Xuan'gan was even called a rebirth of Xiang Yu, yet he never succeeded in rebelling after excavating the Yang Gong vault. After all, he was then the Minister of Rites, with ample time and ability to dig up his father's left-behind vault.

So this thing is just for fooling people—that's what Bai Lang thinks.

These past few days he didn't go out, just practicing boxing in the courtyard, using moving exercises to drive true qi, to expel the stray true qi still seeping from the bleeding wound; he completed the expulsion earlier than the originally estimated one month, and the wound was immediately sealed by his true qi twisting the muscles. "It must be because he has money to eat foods that greatly replenish primordial energy and increase blood energy...." Since he had money, Bai Lang had Wei Zhenzhen buy and eat large amounts of meat daily; unfortunately, ginseng wasn't in vogue these days, so he didn't buy any—otherwise, stewing chicken with old mountain ginseng would have worked even better.

How did these ten years pass? Bai Lang had actually considered whether to get involved in the Tales of Heroes at the End of Sui—"Although the Eighteen Heroes of Sui and Tang are long dead, if I were to make a move, I'd probably have no problem being the first hero, hahaha." Thinking of his own Golden Bell Shield Divine Skill that renders him impervious to blades and spears, and then wielding heavy weapons dual‑wielded while charging on horseback into battle.

The future Junior Guardian Bai is indeed adept at breaking formations; single‑handedly riding alone to shatter enemy formations has happened more than once. "Why not go for founding emperor? Li Shimin did it, why can't I? My ability to break formations is far stronger than Li Shimin's." Bai Lang, thinking this, shook his head and laughed happily.

But really let him become emperor? This guy has no interest in that; he has no interest in building and maintaining a power base; if it were just constantly breaking formations, that would be fine, but having to do government work would be pointless. While Bai Lang was healing his own injuries, he also tried to urge Wei Zhenzhen to practice martial arts.

This woman obviously has resistance to practicing martial arts; I don't know why, Bai Lang can only say he's forcing her—with such a frail physique, using force isn't good; a bit more force might kill her. "After looking at these pictures, do you feel anything?" Bai Lang asked Wei Zhenzhen; the woman just kept her head down and said nothing.

"Well then, let's practice this; it'll at least give some self‑defense ability." Bai Lang took out a martial arts manual; after selecting the essence and discarding the dross, he chose a set of boxing techniques with small movements, light physical burden, suitable for women to cultivate, and it can also cultivate Internal Force—as for the cosmetic and complexion‑improving effect? Sorry, Bai Lang doesn't know whether it has that.

Under Bai Lang's supervision, Wei Zhenzhen finally managed to practice this martial art; Bai Lang arranged it to be similar to a dance, which gave Wei Zhenzhen a bit of initiative. "If we could find suitable music, that would be better." Bai Lang thought, but that will depend on future circumstances.

Wei Zhenzhen has a supple figure; practicing this external skill is still quite suitable for her—in just a few days she's already laid the foundation—thanks to Bai Lang standing aside and using true qi to remotely guide her, she has cultivated a strand of true qi. This is her own true qi, not true qi infused by Bai Lang, so naturally it's under her control like an arm and finger, not lost. Now that she's cultivated it, the next step is simply gradual, diligent practice.

At that very moment, news spread throughout Yangzhou City—because he privately concealed the Longevity Scripture, a divine skill, and did not present it to the court, Yuwen Huaji accused Stone Dragon of this crime. The "Number One Expert" of Yangzhou City thus died at the hands of Yuwen Huaji, a high‑ranking expert of the Yuwen clan; his icy cold energy froze his entire meridians, extinguishing Stone Dragon's vitality. As for the Longevity Scripture, it was also taken away...

A few days later, news spread that Emperor Yang Guang had been assassinated; the whole city went on a massive manhunt, causing chaos in Yangzhou as chickens flew and dogs jumped. The assassin was a Goguryeo woman, and Bai Lang at this moment was also leaving the city alone—Wei Zhenzhen had gone to buy a residence, and those gold and silver had been buried in pits. Bai Lang relied on spiritual perception, walking leisurely outside Yangzhou City.

As for who stripped the unconscious Bai Lang who had come over and left him naked and filthy, Bai Lang now realizes he can't find the culprit—this day and age, thieves are everywhere in Yangzhou City; stripping a foreigner's corpse is truly a trivial matter. Indeed, we don't know who did it, and we can't even say whether that person is still alive.

Before Bai Lang's eyes were a woman and two youths; the two youths were quite familiar—they were the Two Dragons; and that woman, Bai Lang recalled, was called Fu something, probably the assassin. Bai Lang didn't approach them; from over a hundred zhang away he just watched the three people. "Should I go out and kill them? Actually I don't need to lift a hand; that female assassin will die anyway… just for the heat… forget it, that's too tasteless. It's a good thing that non‑our‑kind dies at the hands of Yuwen Huaji, so I'll just leave her be.

Bai Lang's reason for coming here is that he wants to know how the Two Dragons cultivate the Longevity Scripture—"Just curiosity, nothing more." That's what he thought, so he kept a distant watch on the three people. He had already told Wei Zhenzhen that he might be away for a while due to some matter, and instructed her to practice martial arts diligently.

Given Bai Lang's current martial skill, as long as he locks onto them with his spiritual perception, even if they're several li away he won't lose them. And Fu Junruo's martial skill couldn't possibly know that someone would be tailing them from afar. So Bai Lang, from a distance, saw the Two Dragons, in order to survive, having to debase themselves in every way, even going so far as to adopt a foster mother—this woman is only about five years older than them...

Bai Lang still admires these two people; if it were him, he'd probably have died early because he wouldn't yield—if he had the same martial skill as these two at this very moment. "A true man can bend and stretch, but pretending to be genuine is rather unbecoming." Bai Lang clicked his tongue in approval.

These two kids indeed seem to have hard-trained the manual Bai Lang gave them; their agility is much greater than when Bai Lang last saw them—at first they could even dodge the female assassin's attacks. Unfortunately they haven't cultivated true qi—after all they don't have Bai Lang by their side, and cultivating true qi from the martial arts given to them is not that easy.