Chapter 158: Settling Accounts

Inside an extremely rugged and narrow tunnel, Jin Bi carried a huge python skin, his body arching forward as he crawled.

The tunnel reeked of a fishy smell, and on the oily, water-slicked floor there were rippling patterns like water—clearly the traces left over many months by a huge giant snake constantly burrowing back and forth, which had worn them smooth.

Jin Bi occasionally glanced back, panting heavily, muttering curses under his breath the whole way, and only with great difficulty managed to crawl out of this tunnel.

"Next time, don't expect me, Jin Bi, to do something like this again…… It's simply, too embarrassing……" Jin Bi flung the blood-soaked python skin onto the ground and shouted at the several burly men standing before him: "For a few Gold Snake Stones, I actually came to do this barbaric thing……"

"I am Jin Bi, Wa Valley's best information broker, the most well-informed information broker—why would I come to do something so crude, barbaric, dangerous, and bloody?" Jin Bi fiercely pointed at the four huge fangs on the python skin, as well as the valuable gallbladder, eyes, and an extremely long tendon.

"Because you're poor!" the burly man over two meters tall laughed loudly.

He was on good terms with Wu Jin, had accepted Wu Jin's commission, took Jin Bi to find Jin Bi, and had him send a message via the rat people's secret channel to look for Jin Bi's 'Shan Dun'. True to his name, Shan Dun was stout as a mountain, and his divine powers and techniques were all closely related to the 'shield'.

He gave Jin Bi's shoulder a hard pat, and Shan Dun shouted loudly: "Alright, Jin Bi, this tunnel is too small for us to crawl into."

Behind Shan Dun, his fellow old hunters laughed at once. They were all burly, sturdy men; this cave could barely fit them crawling in, but once inside they would certainly be unable to maneuver or dodge, making it obviously impossible to deal with this heavily injured poisonous python.

"This python counts as your two-tenths," Shan Dun said in a deep, resonant voice: "Even so, it could fetch fifty or sixty Gold Snake Stones—enough to pay off your gambling debts."

"I don't owe that much money," Jin Bi muttered with a dark face, and he kicked hard at the bulging pile of python skins.

Without a storage bag or spatial bracer, Shan Dun, the veteran hunters, and Jin Bi—this unlucky fellow temporarily thrown in—each shouldered a mountain-like load of loot as they headed back to Wa Valley.

This time, they had stayed out for nearly three months, and their haul was quite good; the various materials taken from the slain beasts were worth nearly ten thousand Gold Snake Stones, enough on average for them to live comfortably in Wa Valley for a while.

They stacked the materials on the backs of the two black lizards serving as pack animals, and the group hummed a little tune as they slowly walked along the winding passage.

As they walked, Shan Dun stroked the several ferocious scars on his chest.

He suddenly sighed: "I don't know how Brother Wu Jin is doing…… Jin Bi, do you have any news from your side? Ah, Brother Wu Jin is right—money comes fast in Wa Valley's arena, but that's earned at the cost of one's life."

"Or perhaps this honest hunting is what suits us……" Shan Dun extended a finger and jabbed hard at the back of Jin Bi's head: "Any news at all? Where exactly did Brother Wu Jin's younger brother run off to? Did you definitely get the word out?"

Jin Bi rolled his eyes and gave a proud, cold snort: "Believe me, our information channels are something you muscle‑brains could never even dream of……"

Jin Bi muttered: "Although I don't even know how they spread news…… but in three days, at most three days, they can get the word out to a radius of forty‑fifty major regions around."

"As long as that kid called Wu Tie is in this area, and as long as he has rat people nearby, there's a seventy‑to‑eighty percent chance he'll get the news."

Jin Bi proudly lifted his chin: "Believe me…… I am Wa Valley's best information broker, the most well‑informed information broker."

"That's because it seems Wa Valley has only you as an information broker." Shan Dun poked Jin Bi's head again with his finger: "Moreover, you're a down‑on‑his‑luck information broker, constantly chased for debts…… an information broker who almost lost his pants."

Jin Bi flared up in anger: "No one can question my professional ability…… I'm just unlucky…… a good information broker isn't necessarily one who makes money every day, do you understand? That's two different things!"

Shan Dun spread his hands, shook his head, and sighed.

Shan Dun's old comrades all burst out laughing; they loved seeing Jin Bi flushed with anger. This proud fellow, who often loses everything and is forced to spend the night in the abandoned mines outside Wa Valley, is a hapless soul……

"Still, you little guy, you've got guts." A hulking iron dwarf swinging an axe with a big nick in the blade laughed loudly: "You actually dared to burrow into a snake den to hunt a poisonous python…… even if it's heavily wounded…… as a rat person, aren't you supposed to be most afraid of snakes?"

Jin Bi's face darkened, his body trembled slightly, and the hairs on his scalp stood up one by one.

Only now did it seem that Jin Bi realized fear.

He fell silent for a moment, then heaved a deep sigh: "You don't understand…… poverty is far scarier than snakes. Ah, the feeling of having not a single copper coin in your pocket…… believe me, that's far scarier than snakes."

After hurrying along, Jin Bi, Shan Dun, and their party had already entered the bounds of Wa Valley.

In the passage, a faint stone‑knocking sound suddenly came; Jin Bi cocked his ear to listen, then his eyes widened: "Hey? Did Wu Jin's younger brother come to Wa Valley? He actually came on his own? And…… he even went to the arena?"

Shan Dun and the others' bodies stiffened instantly, and Shan Dun let out a low growl: "He went to the arena? What is he doing there?"

Jin Bi shook his head: "Hurry back, I need to round people up and inquire carefully…… Hmm, what do you have to worry about? His mother is now the matriarch of Wa Valley—what else is there to worry about?"

Jin Bi's blackened face stretched long and long: "I'm the one who should be worrying, okay? I owe so much money…… damn it, interest accrues every day, every day…… damn Old Luo, damn Old Jiu, and that whole damned bunch…… why do I owe so many people so much money? Why?"

"Because you're unlucky." Shan Dun jabbed Jin Bi's head hard with his finger.

The party quickened their pace, rushing at full speed to the outskirts of Wa Valley's sole tavern.

Two old hunters stayed behind to watch the black lizards carrying the game, while Shan Dun, Jin Bi, and a few others pushed open the tavern's door—just in time to hear everyone inside erupt in simultaneous cheers.

Nearly a thousand burly men simultaneously raised their drinking cups, each shouting out loud in cheerful uproar.

Old Luo held high a set of gleaming, fluorescent soft armor, shouting cheerfully: "Brothers in the tavern, let me buy you another round…… hahaha, generous Old Luo, never letting his brothers down!"

"Damn black‑hearted ghost Old Luo, when did you become this generous?" Jin Bi screeched sharply: "Give us a drink too…… since you're buying for everyone, we deserve a share!"

The tavern suddenly fell silent; everyone, sober or drunk, male or female, turned their heads to look at Jin Bi.

The atmosphere in the tavern turned strange; suddenly a bald, burly man burst out laughing: "Hahaha, Jin Bi, you're back? Do you believe that a rat person wearing soft armor worth tens of thousands of Gold Snake Stones came looking for you?"

The bald, burly man laughed: "We never knew you had such wealthy…… friends?"

Old Luo also burst out laughing, smiling at Jin Bi and giving a vigorous shake to the exquisite set of armor he held—finely forged from giant python skin, enhanced with defensive formations and runes, the 'Primordial Soldier' armor: "Jin Bi…… you really are a lucky fellow, you've brought me good luck…… so I'll treat you and your comrades to ten cups each, all on my tab."

Old Luo laughed, raised his cup, poured a full glass of cheap liquor into his mouth, and gulped it down with a 'glug'.

Glaring with bloodshot eyes, Old Luo fixed Jin Bi with a stare and said: "But one thing is one thing—you owe me money, and you must pay it back…… Of course, in return for the luck you've brought me, I'll cut the interest on the principal by ten percent."

Jin Bi looked at Old Luo, bewildered: "What happened? You damned black‑hearted ghost, what did you do? Did someone come looking for me? A rat person? Damn it, your soft armor……"

A dangerous cold light flickered in Jin Bi's eyes: "What did you do?"

Old Luo shook the soft armor he'd snatched from Old Bai, laughing loudly: "Didn't you hear? A rat person came looking for you…… a very wealthy rat person, and this soft armor was taken from him…… hey, you actually know someone that wealthy? This armor is worth a fortune."

Just as Jin Bi was about to speak, a tremendous boom came, and the tavern's roof vanished.

After about seven or eight breaths, far off at the edge of Wa Valley came a series of dull thuds—the sound of countless heavy objects striking the ground.

Hundreds of pale blue‑white fireballs, each the size of a water jar, hovered above the tavern, their ghastly white light illuminating the whole place.

The tavern keeper, Old Jiu, stared blankly upward, watching the scorching fireballs overhead; sweat beaded on his forehead as he murmured lowly: "My great‑grandfather……"

Wu Tie hovered above the tavern, looking down with a lofty gaze at the stunned crowd inside.

Just moments ago, Wu Tie had used Great Strength God Magic to snatch the tavern's roof in one grip and casually flung it away.

The roof, made of stacked boulders plus those metal‑cast beams, weighed only a few hundred thousand catties; Wu Tie swung it with one arm, hurling the whole roof dozens of li away, where it crashed heavily into the wasteland at Wa Valley's edge.

Old Jiu was about to announce his great‑grandfather's name when Wu Tie glanced at him; an invisible force field compressed into a strand, seized Old Jiu, and slammed him hard onto the counter.

The metal‑cast counter 'boomed' as a large dent formed; Old Jiu, who had just stepped into the Chonglou Realm, let out a muffled groan, his whole body cracking with fractures, and he instantly passed out.

"Who your great‑grandfather was—I don't want to know…… Hmm, I've heard that in Wa Valley men have no status, so trotting out your great‑grandfather carries no real intimidation." Wu Tie gave a grin, then turned his gaze to the set of soft armor Old Luo held.

"This set of soft armor, I find it very familiar." Wu Tie gave Lao Luo a toothy grin: "Are you Lao Luo? You stole my companion's things."

Old Luo glanced at the instantly knocked-out, heavily injured Old Wine, then coughed once: "Who are you?"

Wu Tie said calmly: "I am Wu Tie... If you don't know me, then I can tell you, the one who killed Gongsun Yuan, Gongsun Ying, Gongsun Xiong, and nearly a hundred people of the Gongsun family during the day, that's me. Now you should know who I am."

Old Luo drew a sharp breath.

After all, in the entire Wa Valley's ecosystem, he only belongs to the middle tier.

Elite descendants like Gongsun Yuan, who come from a great clan, belong to Wa Valley's high tier.

And the women of the Wa tribe, especially those of the direct line core, are the true top-tier predators, towering above, ruling over all of Wa Valley.

Wu Tie could kill Gongsun Yuan and the others; his mother is the matriarch of Wa Valley, so he belongs to the absolute top-tier predators.

Old Luo fawningly smiled at Wu Tie, raising both hands high holding Old Bai's set of soft armor, and with a thud knelt on the ground: "Lord Wu Tie, sorry, I didn't recognize you at once...... I didn't know he was your person, nobody knew he was your person......"

"You injured him and stole his things." Wu Tie coldly stared at Old Luo.

"We were wrong. We accept punishment." Old Luo readily, with thuds, thud-thud, continuously kowtowed three times to Wu Tie: "We were wrong, we accept punishment, I am willing to give him adequate compensation."

Wu Tie gave Old Luo a deep look, he reached out and grabbed, the set of equipment on Old Bai's body flew up suddenly and fell into his hand.

He flipped his right hand, a large flame hand condensed out of thin air, with a whoosh it formed a flaming palm three feet across, and he slapped it down onto Old Luo's head.

The sound of breaking bones was like popping beans, Old Luo was burned until his skin split and flesh tore, but Wu Tie left him with his life.

"Take your people and leave Wa Valley...... From now on, don't come back." Wu Tie gave a cold snort, and at the same time pointed at Old Wine: "Take your boss and leave Wa Valley. No matter who his great-grandfather is, if my people had an incident in his tavern, he must take responsibility."

Hundreds of fireballs the size of water tanks went out one after another, Wu Tie turned and flew toward the Stone Tower.

Standing on the ground, staring dumbfounded at Wu Tie, Shan Dun suddenly shouted: "Wu Tie? I am Shan Dun, friend of your brother Wu Jin...... Your brother said to let me bring you out of Wa Valley...... but......"

Shan Dun suddenly gave a bitter smile: "It seems there's no need now."

Wu Tie stared blankly, he looked at Shan Dun: "You are Wu Jin's friend? Then come with me."