Chapter 110

Upon seeing this situation, Li Rui took to his heels and ran.

"Damn, old man, I'm talking to you, stop right there!"

"Still running!"

Li Rui was seen scooping up a large clump of soil from the ground, as agile as a seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth, and in a flash, he rushed into the woods nearby and disappeared.

Zhang He was immediately furious and shouted at the people behind him:

"Useless trash, what are you looking at? You lot, why aren't you chasing? Chase him for me!"

"Yes, yes."

That old man's movements were truly too fast, displaying with fluid grace what it meant to grab a bag and run; they hadn't even reacted yet.

Several subordinates were kicked by Zhang He, and only then did they hurriedly chase after him.

Zhang He walked to the pit, cursing and swearing.

That old man running was one thing, but he had actually grabbed a large clump of soil—that was not right.

Since he had seen it.

That thing belonged to him, Young Master Zhang; did others deserve to touch it?

Zhang He squatted down.

And began to observe carefully.

"Sanfu, what do you think is the trick to this soil?"

The middle-aged man named Zhang Sanfu was the Zhang family's guard commander and also the only Eighth-Rank among the group.

However, his original surname was not Zhang, but Liu.

The Zhang surname had been personally bestowed by the Zhang family patriarch.

Such situations were very common in wealthy households; bestowing a surname was a form of affirmation for the servants in the house, and in the eyes of the servants, it was a great favor, representing that they had become part of the family.

At least on the surface, that was what it meant.

Zhang Sanfu pondered for a moment, pinched a bit of the soil, and tasted it lightly, after which he was greatly shocked.

He pointed excitedly at the soil in the pit.

"It's Spirit Soil!"

Zhang He, who had been smiling, instantly froze upon hearing this.

Spirit Soil?!

It was actually Spirit Soil!

Zhang He switched modes in a second, overcome with wild joy.

"Good stuff, good stuff."

The value of Spirit Soil to a sect or a family far exceeded its value to an individual; it was a family heirloom that could be passed down to future generations.

The Zhang family had paid a great price to collect Spirit Soil.

"If I can bring this Spirit Soil to Father, I will definitely be able to receive Father's praise."

Zhang Hao had a total of seven sons.

He was third in line.

The competition within a great clan was far more cruel than outsiders saw, and they all fought with their lives to gain the recognition of the older generation.

Behind that recognition represented those cultivation resources.

Zhang He was not the most outstanding among the seven sons.

In ancient times, there was a saying about the beloved son guarding the home; only the son most favored by the father would be left behind to guard the home.

Coming out this time, Zhang Hao had brought a total of four sons.

All of whom were usually not favored.

Zhang He naturally wanted to take this opportunity to present the treasure, at least to get ahead of his other three brothers.

"Sanfu, this is a great meritorious deed; hurry, pack up all the Spirit Soil."

They had come to hunt.

They only had hemp ropes tied around their waists and had brought nothing else.

Zhang Sanfu simply took off his outer garment, carefully scooped up the Spirit Soil, and put it into his clothes.

Then he tied it into a bundle shape that wouldn't leak.

He and Zhang He exchanged a glance.

Both saw the excitement in the other's eyes.

With this Spirit Soil, their status in the Zhang family would definitely be raised by a large margin, and the rewards would certainly not be few.

This time, they had made a huge profit.

Zhang He was not at ease, so he took the bundle from Zhang Sanfu's hands and held it himself.

Zhang Sanfu sighed in his heart.

A servant is, after all, a servant.

On ordinary days, Zhang He might still call him Brother Sanfu, but when it really came to a critical moment, the gap between master and servant was revealed.

Look at this—even if he was the one who discovered the good thing, he couldn't keep it.

Just because he had the surname Zhang didn't mean he had truly become a member of the Zhang family.

Holding the bundle, Zhang He finally felt a bit more at ease.

But soon, he showed displeasure:

"A bunch of useless trash, taking so long to catch one old man."

From the time they arrived here until now, a full cup of tea's time had passed, yet the few who went to catch that old man still hadn't returned.

Logically speaking, it was just an old man. Moreover, except for Zhang Sanfu and himself, everyone else had been sent out; there was no reason for them to be so slow.

Zhang Sanfu's brows furrowed slightly:

"Something's not right."

He had spent years guarding the home, and he had an instinctive alertness to danger.

"Young Master, why don't we just leave? The old man didn't take much anyway, let's just forget it."

He couldn't help but offer advice.

Zhang He glanced at Zhang Sanfu: "Sanfu, you really are generous, saying we should just forget about Spirit Soil."

His tone became stern: "Spirit Soil is an extremely important resource for my Zhang family; not a single piece can be allowed to fall into the hands of outsiders."

The words were spoken with righteous indignation.

Zhang Sanfu had a bit of a headache.

He knew that saying more would be useless.

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A young master of a great clan like Zhang He had never experienced any storms, was headstrong, and would never listen to the words of a servant like him.

"Then I'll go take a look."

He didn't continue to advise.

Mainly because he had observed that old man earlier; he was at least sixty, and he himself was an Eighth-Rank, so it shouldn't pose too much of a threat.

After weighing it, he also felt he was overthinking.

"Brother Sanfu, why don't we just wait a bit longer."

Seeing Zhang Sanfu about to leave, Zhang He was suddenly panicked.

He was currently only a Ninth-Rank, and being alone in these deep mountains and old forests without Zhang Sanfu's protection, he really was a bit panicked.

Zhang Sanfu was even more helpless.

Neither leaving nor letting him go find the people.

Wasn't this falling into a stalemate?

Just as he was thinking about how to break the deadlock, the sound of light footsteps rang out in the woods.

Zhang He showed joy.

He cursed: "A bunch of useless trash, taking so long to catch one old man."

But Zhang Sanfu, beside him, had his expression change.

Although the footsteps sounded numerous, it was clearly someone pretending to have more people.

Because he had used such tactics himself.

"Who is it!"

Zhang Sanfu shouted loudly.

But before the other party could answer, a hidden arrow from his sleeve was shot out.

This scene was too sudden.

Zhang He's eyes widened.

He hadn't expected that the usually timid Zhang Sanfu would dare to be so bold, daring to deal a lethal blow without even seeing the other party's face.

Wasn't he afraid of killing the wrong person?

Yet he heard a sound—

Ding!

"It's armor!"

Zhang Sanfu's heart tightened; he had very rich combat experience and knew from the sound that the hidden arrow had hit metal, most likely something like protective armor.

Just as he was preparing to take the next step—

The leaves before his eyes moved without wind.

An invisible force swept across his neck.

"Hmm, they're all dead."

Li Rui looked at the two corpses at his feet.

And glanced at the small hole that had already been torn in his abdomen.

"This soft armor is indeed useful."

The methods of the corpse on the left had indeed surprised him a little, but it was still within a controllable range.

If it weren't for the worry about external reinforcements.

The speed of death could actually have been much faster.

Li Rui leaned over and grabbed the bundle that Zhang He had been clutching tightly, which contained the Spirit Soil he hadn't had time to dig out yet.

He glanced at the corpses at his feet, then looked at the seven or eight corpses not far away.

"It's a good thing this is in the mountains, otherwise this old man would be exhausted today."

People dying in the mountains.

Or seven or eight people dying, were all the most normal things.

He knew there were several sinkholes nearby.

Just throw them in, and no one would ever find them; in less than two days, they would be gnawed clean by wild beasts and disappear completely.

(End of chapter)