Chapter 150: The Night Before the Beginning (Part 1)

Late that night, a confidant of the Oakes Brothers rode a Nanyangshandima, galloping through the night along a small path toward the largest village nearest to 【Meiqian Chakou】.

To avoid taking a wrong turn on the small path, he had specially installed two carriage lamps—the kind used on carriages—on both sides of his horse. These were, of course, not tools prepared by the Oakes Brothers at the inn, but valuable items the confidant had temporarily borrowed from a merchant caravan staying there.

The carriage lamps were about thirty centimeters high, with a canister at the bottom filled with high-quality lamp oil, inside of which was a flammable byproduct produced when alchemists made their materials. Although it was a useless byproduct, it was still quite valuable, and could burn steadily once the wick was soaked.

Around the lamp housing above the canister, several thick pieces of transparent glass were embedded, so that no matter if it was windy outside or how strong the wind was, the oil lamp could continue to burn under any circumstances, radiating limited light in all directions.

With these two tools, originally intended for night lighting on carriages, the confidant of the innkeeper Oakes Brothers dared to gallop on horseback along the wild paths at night; there was only one moon in the sky, and the light it provided was not enough to illuminate the entire uninhabited wilderness.

The confidant on horseback successfully arrived in the fields surrounding the village. Thanks to the small stream under a wooden bridge he had just crossed, it was because of this stream that never ran dry that the vast fields around the village ahead were irrigated by diligent farmers, and the crops were growing vigorously.

Because of the intense sunlight recently, as well as the water sources the farmers diligently irrigated with, the crops in the fields grew even more vigorously. At a time when everywhere else was desolate and on the verge of famine, this large village called 【Bianji Cun】 was about to have a bumper harvest before autumn arrived this year.

In the silent dead of night, the sound of the horse's hooves galloping on the dirt path was very clear. From a great distance away, some strong farmers keeping watch at the edge of the fields vigilantly picked up their pickaxes and wheat-cutting sickles, shouting to call their friends and neighbors.

Torches that were not often used were lit by the farmers. More than a dozen of them crawled out from their simply constructed triangular shacks, gathered together, and stood in battle formation to block the path leading to their village.

Before the galloping Nanyangshandima could even get close to them, the farmers shouted loudly to stop the other party, not letting them approach quickly.

The Oakes Brothers' confidant ignored them entirely, the horse's speed not slowing, and he shouted loudly, "Get out of the way! I am a subordinate of the Oakes Brothers, working for them. You lowly wretches, do you not want to live?"

Upon hearing that he was a subordinate of the Oakes Family—the big shots in the village, or rather, the two Oakes Brothers of this generation who, while not the Cunzi Chief, actually held more power than the Cunzi Chief—the farmers blocking the road immediately retreated to both sides of the path subconsciously, careful not to step on their own or others' wheat to avoid disputes later.

But there were still some stubborn fellows who did not believe whatever the newcomer said. They did not move their feet, shouting loudly, "You say so, so it is? Prove your identity, or the tools in our hands will not spare you!"

After saying this, they lifted up wooden poles topped with some blurry things and walked up, blocking the path completely.

The confidant, who had finally managed to slow the horse to a stop, widened his eyes, and only then, by the light of the carriage lamps temporarily hung on the front sides of the horse's Muan, did he see what was on top of the wooden poles held by the farmers.

They were the green heads of several poor goblins.

These poor little things had been caught by the farmers with nets, humiliated, and then beaten to death. To scare away the flocks of birds that often flew over the fields and to warn other scattered goblins who liked to steal things, the young, playful farmers had chopped off the goblins' heads, stuck them on wooden poles, and placed them at the edge of the fields during the day.

As for the goblins' bodies, they were thrown to the village dogs, letting the domestic dogs tear the goblins' bodies to shreds.

Suddenly startled by these ugly and smelly things, the Oakes Brothers' confidant made a sound of disgust. He gave a heavy snort and took out the token that Xiao Aokesi had given him earlier from the leather pouch at his waist.

It was an exquisite balance scale, but the difference was that the main body was actually made of white bone.

It was human bone, made personally by the older of the Oakes Brothers a few years ago after he subdued a Bandit Group that had set its sights on 【Bianji Cun】, using the bones of a Bandit Leader who had been beaten to death by his younger brother.

You might ask why one would use human bones to make a weighing scale? Is he a pervert?

Of course not; this was merely a means for the Oakes Brothers to subdue bandit groups. Superstitious bandits not only believe in power, but they are even more superstitious about strange, mystical things. Perhaps unlike the villagers who always live in safe villages, bandits who are more likely to deal with strange things in the mountains and wilderness are born believing in those mystical things.

As for the bone scale made from their bandit leader's bones, just by the older Oakes brother taking it out and claiming he wanted to weigh the sins and repentance of those bandits, these superstitious fellows would kneel beside him, begging for forgiveness.

As villagers from the same village as the Oakes Brothers, they had of course all seen this thing in person and heard the exaggerated stories related to it.

"It is, it is the real thing!"

A middle-aged farmer who was close by identified the bone scale, and was immediately so frightened that he sat down on the ground, shouting loudly, "It is real, that thing is real, he is one of the Oakes Brothers' men!"

The other young farmers holding the wooden poles with goblin heads were suddenly startled, abandoning the wooden poles in their hands, throwing them to the side of the path, and retreating to clear the way for the other party to pass.

"Hmph, a bunch of damned things!" The confidant rode his horse through these farmers, his horse whip striking the heads of those who retreated slowly on both sides twice.

Of course, he didn't really hit them; after all, a reprimand is a reprimand, but if he really angered the young farmers, those fellows with a screw loose in their heads would really dare to pull him off his horse and beat him up.

If he got beaten up and delayed the Oakes Brothers' business, this confidant himself would be the one in big trouble.

"Don't just stand guard at the edge of the fields, come back to the village with me. I didn't bring the token here for fun; the boss has orders for the villagers to carry out! Follow me!"

After saying this, the confidant led the way, and the farmers behind, not understanding the situation, followed while scratching their heads.

The 【Bianji Cun】 ahead was like a Plowing Ox about to be awakened, seemingly slow and clumsy, but actually possessing astonishing strength.

Unlike the confidant who rode his horse swaggeringly with carriage lamps hanging from his Muan, the younger of the Oakes Brothers—that strong fellow wearing special Leather Armor with two axes at his waist—took two subordinates and set out on foot from 【Meiqian Chakou】, heading into the darkness toward the lairs of several local bandits in the surrounding area.

Because he left early and boldly cut directly through the Shulin and low hills in the wilderness, he actually arrived very quickly outside the nearest bandit lair along the Shanglu.

This Bandit Group was called 【Duanjiao】; their boss had one of his feet chopped off in battle and used a wooden leg to make do, so the group was naturally called this name by others on the road.

Being out on the road is often like this: the impressive name you give yourself doesn't work; only the nickname others give you based on your most prominent, distinct feature counts as proof of your status in the circles of the road.

This bandit lair, not far from the Shanglu, was located behind a hill. Among a maze of mountain rocks, there was a waist-high wooden door plastered with a layer of mud; behind the wooden door was the lair of this Bandit Group.

Don't look at the entrance as being small; the actual area inside was astonishingly large. The hill should have had an internal cavity, and after being discovered by the bandits, it was additionally excavated and reinforced, so it was no problem for thirty people to live inside for a long time.

Arriving at the wooden door, Xiao Aokesi unceremoniously kicked the small wooden door plastered with hard, dry mud with his foot.

Bang, bang, bang. Thump, thump, thump.

He kicked harder and harder, and the bandit keeping watch inside even recognized Xiao Aokesi's identity just from the different way of 'knocking on the door'.

"Master Oakes, please don't kick anymore. It's not easy for us to repair the gate once, and it's not easy to find suitable mud in this weather."

The wooden door opened, and a slovenly, disheveled middle-aged bandit emerged. Xiao Aokesi was not polite either; after pushing him inside, he bent over and walked in himself.

"You can find a pile of dirt, then pee a few times to mix some smelly mud to plaster the gate; I guarantee I won't kick the door next time. Hmph, I'll switch to arson instead!"

He was not polite with his words, nor was he polite with his hands. After entering the lair and standing straight, Xiao Aokesi kicked the gate-keeping bandit in the butt: "Notify your boss, gather your men, there's work to be done."

The originally reluctant, slovenly middle-aged bandit heard this, and his butt didn't hurt anymore, the complaints in his mouth vanished, and with urgent joy on his face, he ran toward the interior of the lair with light steps.

While running, he shouted loudly to his companions sleeping on the wooden beds on both sides of the spiraling downward passage: "Haha, Master Oakes has brought us new work! I guarantee that work that can make this master come in person to notify everyone is definitely not small. Get up, all of you get up! Don't you want to make money? Don't you want to take money to town and touch the delicate little hands of those girls? Don't you want to have a sweet kiss with them? All of you get up and pack your gear. Haha, I've waited until the flowers have withered—no, I mean, bloomed."

One by one, the bandits who were woken up saw Xiao Aokesi walking past with large strides, and they all became excited, without a hint of the irritability of being woken up.

Recently, the number of merchants traveling on the Shanglu had plummeted, and those small and medium-sized Caravans they usually robbed were basically not active, which had left them sitting idly for a long time. After all, the Caravans that dared to trade on the Shanglu at this time were basically convoys organized by very large Merchant Guilds.

Bandit groups like them that relied on their legs to move, and were not very large in scale, really couldn't take down the convoys of large Merchant Guilds.

They couldn't even beat the caravan guards hired by or cultivated by the large Merchant Guilds.

The bandits had even tried it; when the Shanglu was first depressed, they had set their sights on a freight carriage convoy of the 【Golden Sickle】 Merchant Guild, only to be beaten up by the mounted caravan guards, and at least seven or eight bandits were killed by short spears thrown by the guards.

After this, they knew that with their level, it was best not to disturb the trade convoys of large Merchant Guilds.

Otherwise, caravan guards skilled in throwing short spears could often take away a bandit's life with a single throw.

Soon, the group leader, who walked with a limp, simply draped a beast-skin skirt over his body and directed his men to gather. Unlike his other subordinates who slept early out of boredom, he kept two captured women in the lair; those two women had been captured for a long time, and had even given birth to two children for this old man.

However, the 【Duanjiao】 boss was not sure if the two women were pregnant with his children. Therefore, as a bandit who was not young, he still worked hard every night, striving to have a few more children; even if those children had different hair and eye colors, there would always be one or two that were his seed, right?

"Boss Oakes, our group's people are all gathered here. Except for a few fellows on guard and those who are sick, everyone who can fight is here. A total of twenty-three good hands, all bad seeds who can stab people with knives!" The Bandit Group leader pointed at these old, weak, sick, and disabled people standing crookedly, claiming that these fellows who had no posture when standing or sitting were all good hands.

'Good my ass, good hands.' Xiao Aokesi cursed inwardly; if his older brother wasn't in a hurry for men, who would look at these rotten potatoes and stinking eggs?

However, this old fellow Duanjiao is a cunning and resourceful guy himself; he is just too suitable to be a Bandit, he is naturally cut out to be a Bandit.

Therefore, because of the leader of this Bandit Group, the Oakes Brothers did not directly wipe out this Bandit Group a few years ago when they subdued them, nor did they take their heads to the town to exchange for a bounty.

Instead, after suppressing the Bandit leader Duanjiao, they allowed him to plunder some small-scale Caravans along the road from Meiqian Chakou to Suishi Cheng.

The goods plundered by the Bandit Groups can be exchanged for higher profits at a lower commission rate in the secret black market of the Zihonghua Inn. After all, if one were to go to the black market in Duoen Town, a large portion of the profit would be skimmed off by the Thieves Guild.

Even though the Bandits are engaged in a capital-less, head-lopping business, no one would complain about having too much money, right?

"Hmph, let me tell you all: tonight, a very large Caravan has arrived at Meiqian Chakou."

Just as he finished saying this, the Bandits below began to whisper; no, it could no longer be described as whispering, but rather they were whispering to each other right in front of his face, discussing this news.

Xiao Aokesi was furious; he snatched the axe from his right belt and raised it, making a gesture to hack a talkative fellow to death, and only then did these Bandits realize that the one speaking to them was not their boss, but their boss's boss.

For a moment, the underground space beneath the hill went quiet, with only the sound of some fellows passing gas and the crackling of the firewood used for illumination.

"Very good, all be quiet and listen; once I finish giving you instructions, I still have to continue on my way."

Xiao Aokesi cleared his throat and continued: "But just because this Caravan is large does not mean it is a suitable target for plunder. On the contrary, this Caravan is led by a young Knight, and this Knight also has a force of nearly thirty armored Refining Qi Warriors under his command."

The Bandits were not surprised or discussing it, not because they were still afraid of Xiao Aokesi's might, but because not a single one of these fellows had a clear understanding of armored Refining Qi Warriors.

Even Xiao Aokesi himself did not have a clear understanding of this, but although he was unfamiliar with it, his elder brother liked to read books and listen to passing Bards tell various adventure stories, so he had some understanding of these representatives of decisive power in books and stories.

"Hmph, you wouldn't understand even if I told you; with this number of armored Refining Qi Warriors, basically, if you were to fight them, you would all be dead after their first charge."

The Bandits felt that Xiao Aokesi was bragging; they are all human, so how much stronger could one be than another?

Only Duanjiao, who had some experience, gasped in cold air.

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